Here We Go Again - BWOF 3/07 blouse

Obviously, I just do not have a normal body. I'm having all kinds of fit issues again. As you can see in these pix, there are some definite areas of concern.


Some fixes I did on my own. I moved the shoulder seam 1/2 in toward the front and that seemed to help. I also realized I needed to move the bust point down about 1/2 inch. I had already cut a 36 at the shoulder, 38 under the arm tapering to a 40 at the waist and 42 at the hip. I did not raise or lower the waist.

Thankfully, I am taking Shannon Giffords blouse class on PR and she has given me some good suggestions. First of all, I lowered the shoulder 1/2" for a sloping shoulder. Next, I did the dart change, only changing the point of the dart and angling down from the original side seam markings. Shannon suggested that lowering the entire dart would make the bust look lower and I have had this experience (on the dreaded dress)
Next, I took a 1" tuck all the way around the bodice at the elbow to see if this would improve the proportions. I think it has made a good difference.

























I have sent pix to Shannon and am hoping to get "further instructions" tomorrow. This class is not a fit class at all, so I really appreciate her expert advice. She is always so helpful and a great teacher. If you ever get the opportunity, I would recommend taking a class from her.

Tonight PR had an "expert chat" with Aimee of Betsy Ross Patterns. That was interesting and fun. It's great to see people who have put their dreams into reality. Sometimes making fairly good money is not such a good thing. It makes you feel "stuck" in your job. I got into teaching because I really love it. I still do. Too bad "teaching" is so little of what I do. Actually, I am teaching all day long, but I really have no choice over what I teach, or even how I teach it to a certain degree. Our days are practically scripted for us (and are literally scripted in some areas.) Our districts "motto" is Children First. It should be "test scores first" or "Federal money first" or "Administrative upgrades" first. I even know some teachers who have cut the "children first" off of their name tags because of the frustrations of all we are asked to do that has so little to do with the true education of children. Teachiing is almost NOTHING about why I got into it about 25 years ago. It is discouraging. I would really like a change, but I feel stuck because of the money. It's not even the money, but moreso the benefits. Health insurance in particular. My husband has pretty good benefits, but they do not cover me or the kids. Just one visit to the emergency room will give you a quick lesson in why insurance is essential. I have had some great improvements in my health lately (I have rheumatoid arthritis and have recently been able to get OFF of the chemotherapy that I have been on for the past couple of years - Yay!) but even simple things like viruses, medications, asthma, can add up to big medical bills. I'm really thankful that I have good insurance and I intend to make sure that I keep it!

Tomorrow I have the day off. I'm hoping to get some sewing done!! I'm doing TERRIBLY on my fabric diet. It's almost a lost cause (not giving up and still keeping track.) I bought six yards of fabric when I went in to JoAnns today plus I bought a partial bolt of tracing material, about 11 yards. Everything was on sale, so I didn't even use my coupon. I also bought about 5 spools of thread.

Here are the fabrics I bought. The pink one is a lighter weight brocade. The green is a pale lime colored poly silky. It is almost like a chiffon, but a little heavier and opaque. The black and white print is called a crinkle chiffon, but really it is more like a georgette in that it is also more opaque than chiffon, but still fairly sheer. I'm going to make the tie neck blouse from the Feb issue of BWOF in either the green or B&W, or both!