I purposely didn’t post anything for the past two weeks. First, I was focused on making sure every bit of paperwork was turned in for Dylan’s triannual IEP last Friday. That, and have been working on a dress and wanted to finish it before posting anything about it, but it’s not finished and I’m still going to post about it since I’m nearing the finish line.

Various projects have weaved in and out of my hands.

The knitted vest, I’ve reached the point where I start binding off various stitches for one front panel, and keep calculating how much to bind off on each side.

While waiting for something to happen, wanted to keep my hands busy. It was circular but the stitches were twisted. Ended up frogging that, only to start this. I’m going to use this yarn and experiment, so unsure what the end result will be.

Yet another thing to use up yarn, I started crocheting a shawl, but have since picked up stitches and want to either make cables or lace. This picture was (obviously) taken before transferring it onto knitting needles.

So..the dress. I’m a very avid Instagram user and post regularly. Sometimes every day, sometimes much less. Peppermint Magazine had a long-running stint with a company called In The Folds and I had one of their free patterns, #peppermintpeplumtop, as something I was following. Of course, myself likes to make things more complicated.

First of all, I prefer sleeves to sleeveless. I wanted to try my hand in making the top. I was using the top as an excuse to relax, and instead stressed out more and just kept adding steps to the whole process, which please don’t do that. I made the top into a dress and made a lining for the dress, which is way more than a simple sleeveless top with a ruffled bottom. I didn’t properly measure how long for the ruffle, and at first it was way more fabric than I can handle, so ended up taking off about three inches on each side, which made it much more manageable. Also, added a really long belt and some belt loops, although one got partially mangled while sewing the skirt to the top. I didn’t add any interfacing so it probably won’t last as long as it possibly can, but it still looks amazing.

This is what it looks like, as it is now. I have to sew the necklines together then the sleeve hems, hang it for a day or two, then hem the skirts separately. There is a picture of the dress, before sewing any of the lining together on my Instagram feed, along with a lot of pictures of the process, and I’m pretty chuffed about it. This is a horribly blurry photo but there isn’t much space between where it hung and where I stood. I’m not a selfie blaster that takes hundreds of pictures at a time, and will take up to five and usually the first one is the good one. In this case, also. It does look like it needs a bit of the lining trimmed but that’ll be after everything is sewn up.

By the way, I have about enough material to make one more top. And maybe that scene from Garden State, which has yet to be done.