It's Sunday

It's Sunday, and my vacation is over :-(. I didn't get nearly the sewing done that I would have liked to, but I did finally get myself to work on a pants muslin yesterday and get the fit right. I am making the pants from FSG 1961. The picture doesn't show them well, but I think I'm really going to like this pattern.
Here are the features:

• slant pockets in the front
• inner pocket piece has a "tummy panel"
  
• waistband with fly zip
• 2 pleats in each front and 2 darts in each back piece.
• pants pattern includes a separate "pants liner" that can be worn under many pants.
  

I checked the measurements of a pair of pants I already have, and decided to cut a 10, but leave 1" seam allowances. I'm glad I did, because after all my fitting, my pattern now lines up exactly with the 14. No change in rise, crotch length, curve of hip. A 14 will fit me perfectly with no alterations other than 1" off the bottom hem! Now of course, I made the muslin of, well, um muslin, and my fabric does have a little stretch, so I may end up taking in the waist a bit. I'm making them black, so I know they won't photograph well, but I have another pair planned in a lighter color as well.

I would be sewing right now, but I'm too sad today. Dear old Dad is just not doing that well. He is finally at the point where he is now on morphine round the clock and we have taken him off of his other medications. He is not eating much and spending most of his time in bed. Today when I went to visit him, he could barely speak and just really didn't want to wake up. We've known this time was coming, and in fact, expected it to be much sooner. I'm so glad I have had these past several months to really spend a lot of good quality time with my dad. This whole thing has actually caused my brothers and me to become much closer, and I am so thankful for that as well. So many families disagree and argue at times like these, and I feel like we have just grown closer and stronger. It's really painful to see a loved one go downhill physically and mentally to the point of needing assistance with everything they do. I did get a good picture of him yesterday though.


A couple of people have commented about the fabric in my new background. Well, some of you may remember my poltergeist post a few months back. I had two pieces of this fabric that I had ordered from Nancy Erickson at FSG. To make a long story short, I had one piece, it wasn't enough, tried to order more, they were sold out, a week or so later, a lady returned a piece and I got it! Then, I lost the original piece and never did make the jacket. Well, this is the missing fabric. I do plan to make a jacket from it this fall using the FSG 1945 pattern. Hopefully, I'll be able to work on my pants this evening.

OH, and another exciting bit of news! A few months ago I was listening to Lori's Sew Forth Now podcast and she was interviewing Sandra Betzina. Sandra mentioned that she just got back from Uganda (I think it was Uganda) where she spends a year each week teaching women to sew. When I heard this, I told my husband, "I want to do that." Well, today I was talking to a friend of mine at church who made a trip to Uganda in the mission field as a nurse. I was telling her this little story and her eyes lit up. She said she knew someone who had sent out such a crew and that he was coming to their house for lunch today. Well, we went over to lunch and I talked to John about this opportunity. Lord willing, I will be going to Uganda this spring for a week to teach women to sew!