Jamie Christina Mission Maxi x2

I’m late to the game with the maxis, I get that.  I saw this pattern and had pinned it to my sewing board, and then kept seeing it popping up all over the intarwebs.  It’s like someone was trying to tell me something, or something.  Kwim?

I ordered 2 yards of this knit from Girl Charlee and the pattern and decided to give it a go.  I made View A — originally traced out a size 8 based on my measurements, but graded out the waist to a size 10.  

The construction was dead-ass simple.  Front and back, with 3 pieces of binding for the neck and armholes.  Really easy.

The material was a literal dream to sew, and so soft.  The drape is amazing.  I knew instantly that it would show every lump and roll I have, though, so I thought maybe I wouldn’t wear it out, but then I saw a few ladies in the Flickr pool who wore shirts over their dresses. So. Dang. Smart.  And it looks really cute.

I love the comfort and style of the dress so much, in fact, that I ordered more fabric from Girl Charlee and then made up yet another maxi, this time in black.  This knit is less clingy (the drape isn’t as nice, though) and I did this in a 10 graded out to a 12, and it’s much looser.  Looser = more comfortable and I can actually breathe when I wear it.  

I have another 2 yards of this nautical print knit, which will end up being yet another maxi dress in the new and improved size.  It’s like I’m addicted or something, but 3 just may be the limit.

Sew Lisette Portfolio Tunic with Racing Stripes

Remember when I only used to sew clothes for my kids? Yeah, me either.  

So this dress.  I bought this medium weight grey suiting at the fabric store up the street from my work.  It was, like, $8 or something super cheap.  About 2 yards, 54” wide, and I knew immediately when I saw it that it wanted to be a Portfolio tunic.

I had this vague idea of using piping on it after seeing some of the photos in the Sew Lisette Flickr pool, but I was on the fence.  I didn’t want to screw it up, and I’d only used piping once before.  In the end, though, I really wanted to break up that grey without incorporating another fabric, and I had this hot pink piping lying around that was just begging to be used.

That piping turned out LIKE A BAWSE.  I’m so proud of it, if you can’t tell.  

I had intended for this to be a tunic top and not really so much a dress, but then I found these crazy tights and well, to hell with it.  I am, however, anti-flashing-my-ass so I whipped up some of these Colette bloomers to wear underneath.  Maybe I’ll blog about them separately, but you get the idea.  Satiny-black bloomers to hide my butt.  Pretty simple.  And you guys, it’s a free download, so you should snatch it up. Even if you don’t make yourself a ho-dress, you could still wear them as PJs.

I wanted to preserve as much length as possible on this bad boy, so I used some hot pink ribbon I had lying around to hem that sucker. Stroke. Of. Genius.  It gives some stability and weight to the hem and is a funky little detail that only I can see.

I have thoughts about making another Portfolio, with shorter sleeves and actually making it dress-length.  Once you’ve sewn it once, it’s sort of a breeze to do another one.  Simple construction FTW!

Dress for me! Built By Wendy 3835

More selfish sewing. Love it. The other day I went to a fabric and notions store up the street from my work, and found some cool ass polyester something-or-other on sale for $2. That’s right y’all, two dollars. So. I snatched it up knowing it would make a great dress for warmer weather.

I sewed it up using BBW 3835, in the longer dress version. Gathered yoke, tie sleeves, back darts and zipper.  I’ve made the shirt version of this pattern a trillion times, but not the dress version with the zipper. It wasn’t that hard, but the material was slippery as shit and gave me fits.  

The armbands are too tight, though. If I make this again (and that’s a very big if) I will have to adjust the fit there.  Everywhere else it fits great, not too fitted but it doesn’t end up looking like a tent, either.  

Love the patch pockets.  I tried to match the stripes, but fuck it. I’m not that kind of seamstress.

Love the retro look, like something I could’ve found in a thrift shop somewhere.  And lemme tell you, I’m really proud of what a good job I did on this dress.  I WILL break my arm patting myself on the back, thankyouverymuch.

Conversations with Thea

One of Thea’s and my weekend traditions is to take a nap together (damn y’all, but I love me some nap time) and I generally read her anywhere from 3-5 bajillion books before we close our eyes.  This conversation took place while we were reading Ferdinand, and we were at the part where Ferdinand won’t fight in the bull fights in Madrid, and so he is in the cart being transported back home.

Thea: Is that guy tied up? (talking about the guy driving the cart)
Me: No, I don’t think so. He’s steering the horses.
Thea: Is he drinking milk?
Me: Um, no…
Thea: Is he drinking water?
Me: No, he’s taking Ferdinand back home in a cart.
Thea: … Oh.  He is very handsome.  But… I don’t want to marry him.
Me: Ok, I think that’s a good idea. You can wait until you’re big, like me, before you get married.
Thea: Yes, I will marry Daddy.
Me: Well, no, you will find your own person to marry. When you’re much much older.
Thea: What if I can’t find my person?
Me: You’ll find your person. I promise. I will help you.
Thea: Can you be my person?
Me: Yes, I will always be your person.
Thea: You’re my BEST friend.

After she finished talking she grinned at me, put her head down on my shoulder, and fell immediately asleep.  And then my heart grew two sizes and I ate her up.

Fitness & Being Healthy

Shit, you guys.  I’ve literally written this post in my head like a millions times, and just sat here and wrote out, then deleted 3 posts about it.  Writing about this is hard, and I’m struggling with how much to say, and how much background to give, and what’s the right way to talk about this.  This is all extremely personal, but I’m really proud of myself and I want to share my progress.  

I will say this: I have body-image issues.  I guess I’ll probably always have them.  I try not to talk about it much, and I try to watch what I say around my girls.  For a very long time I’ve worn clothes that hide my shape because my body and I, well, we have a complicated relationship.  It’s been very emotionally hard on me doing this whole weight loss thing.  My instinct is to just stop eating.  Period.  I’m fighting that instinct, but it’s something I struggle with every. single. day.  I don’t want my kids to think that starving yourself is healthy, or heaven forbid “normal.”

It’s hard to convey how far I’ve come without really getting into all the nitty-gritty details.  I get that.  But for me, this journey isn’t just about another mom who decided to get off her ass and work out.  For me, it’s much much deeper than that.  For me, this is about trying to change the way I feel about me, the way I think about me, the way I take care of me.

Around the end of September I forced myself to get off my ass and work on myself.  I sort of didn’t want to talk about it, because it’s a really hard thing for me to do.  Also, if I failed, I didn’t want anyone to know.  I also get really tired of hearing, “What? But you look great for having 4 kids!”  That’s like a knife in the guts.  I just want to look good, and frankly the number of kids I’ve had shouldn’t factor into it.  

I’ve lost about 15 pounds since I started this whole thing.  I went from 150lbs to 135lbs, and that was a shit-ton of work.  I don’t do diets, and I never will.  That’s not what this is about for me.  This is about making overall healthier choices.  This is about choosing to continue to eat while trying to lose weight.  For me, that’s fundamentally counter-intuitive.  My brain screams at me to stop putting food in my mouth, and I have to fight that feeling and sometimes it’s exhausting.

But look, I’ve come really far.  I have photos on Flickr (they’re marked private to friends and family because I don’t want the whole internet to see me in my underwear) so if you check out my Fitness set you’ll see my progress.  The last one I took was about 2 weeks ago, and I’m fine sharing that because it’s not too revealing.  Those are pants that I used to be able to wear, and then pushed to the back of my closet because they were too tight.  I took them out just to see if they would fit me now, and they’re loose.  Which absolutely shocked me.

I’m not done, I’m not 100% where I want to be, but I get that I’m a work in progress.  I’m starting to be a little bit more proud of the way I look.  I’m starting to wear clothes that are flattering, that don’t hide my shape.  I like showing off my baby arm-muscles, because I worked really hard to get them.  My new goal is to get some abs and get more muscular definition, whatever the number on the scale says.  I’m starting to care less about how much I weigh, and more about making myself stronger.  I would like to get my overall body fat percentage down, but I’m not going to say no to a piece of cake, and I’m sure as shit going to eat pizza if I feel like eating pizza.  So, we’ll see what happens.

But I’m getting better and better every day, and I’m sticking with it.  I’m giving myself a big hug right now, because frankly I deserve it.