Weekend Stuff

That @#$%ing monkey costume is almost done. I pity the truly beginning sewist that picks up this pattern. Simplicity seems to think that using velcro for a closure makes a pattern easy. NOT! The jumpsuit that makes up the body was easy enough, but the headpiece had several darts. I had to ease the headpiece together, too. The hat was a pain to sew. It was too big to fit under the free arm on my sewing machine, and it was too small to squash. I ended up sewing it by hand. The vest is a single layer of fabric. It's supposed to be felt, so that may be the source of my problems. There was no mention of stay-stitching, so I got ripples. The soft cotton chamois (from Joann's) stretched everywhere that I hemmed it which would be all the way around and in the armholes.

The only thing left to be done is to figure out how to attach the hat. The hat is like a little cup. There are no instructions in the pattern on how to keep the hat on top of a toddler's head. How did they think it was going to stay on a small child's head?

Since the monkey costume is almost done, I decided to trace another pattern. I'm trying to use up the left over fabric from my cheongsam top and matching skirt.

I bought Neue Mode 23135 for the jacket. It's a shaped blazer type jacket out of a knit! When I saw that, I had to have it. So what am I making out of it? Not the jacket; I like the shell. A v-neck is flattering on me, and I might try the tear drop, too. I read thru the instructions last night, and Neue Mode gives sensible instructions. There are no facings. There are only 2 pattern pieces, and they tell you how long and wide to cut the bias strips for finishing the neckhole and armholes. I hate it when Big4 patterns give you pattern pieces for this sort of thing. Maybe tonight I'll trace it. Hey, I swam today!