A ruffly top that doesn't fit

I made this pattern, Butterick 4886 our of some flowered cotton lawn that I bought in Portland a year or two ago. I am an idiot and need to remember that a pattern for a 34 bust will not fit if I do not have the magical benefit of Victoria's secret. 

 In conclusion, I declined to model this and put it on Dolly instead.

 I made the buttonholes, but didn't sew on any buttons when it became blatantly obvious that it was huge.

Maybe add some buttons and sell it on Etsy? In my imaginary shop that I have not yet finished creating? Some horrible Molly in Ohio stole "Molly Sews" as a name, so now I am at a loss. Any ideas? I have a lot of patterns I should sell and pass on to people who might enjoy them.

Various Loot and some patterns

Here is my latest assortment of loot. Some is from my mom, some from estate sales we went to in Salem and some from this past Saturday in Chicago. 

 Last weekend I found three pairs of kid leather gloves for $2 each. I can jam my tiny hands into them and many people can't, so I always pick up the gloves. The longer pairs will also cover my wrists, which is something I never considered before moving to Chicago. I also got the little pig salt and pepper shakers. The weekend before I found the blue mug, a boy twin for my pink one. The deer is missing an ear and it was filthy, but they are so cute. "Always drink your milk!" and I read it in a high-pitched creeper voice.

 I bought all of these patterns at a sale in Oregon for 7 dollars. The Advance at the top left is really similar to my favorite sundress (and second ever blog post!) with the same bodice and skirt, just sleeves instead of tiny straps. Sometimes people email me wanting to buy it, but that is one that I want to keep. Maybe I'll sell this one instead. The apron and suit are cute, but I really like that coat and can see myself wearing it all winter!

 The slip pattern was in an envelope, and the two Advance patterns below were behind it. The are too large for me, so maybe I will sell them. I could definitely make a slip and that 1940s shirt dress has such cute details.

 These were from my mom:

I really want to make that sundress before summer is over and the baby pattern cracks me up. I really think the pink version looks exactly like what the baby just came out of, if you get what I mean. :)

Now I am going to go sew for a bit before work. Oh Monday nights at the restaurant, so tragically boring...

My Alma blouse, polka dot style

Once again, I got to be a pattern tester for Tasia's new Sewaholic pattern, the Alma blouse. I would like to think that I didn't subconsciously copy her blouse, since it wasn't intentional but my blouse looks waaaayyy too much like hers. It's even the same version. I am a dork. Go check it out.

So I made the version with cap sleeves in a red polyester with white polka dots. I think I did not sew the notch on the collar correctly, because it is not very defined. However, that would be my error. The pattern is lovely and simple to follow, like they always are. I made a 2 and it fits perfectly. I made no changes to the pattern, other than putting in a handpicked zipper instead of an invisible zip. 

 I saw Lauren's and Marie's, which reminded me that I had let 2 months slip by without taking pictures of my blouse. Both of their blouses are adorable. I also googled other versions to see if I missed any and I found Karen's and Mika's. These are also very pretty. I love how you can see eight version of the same pattern (including Tasia's 3) and they are all so pretty and unique. 

 I love the blouse, but I need to stop making things with cap sleeves. It makes me look like I have the shoulders of a gymnast! Yay, go USA gymnasts; I love watching the Olympic gymnastics, since I used to do it as a kid. I don't really need to emphasize my shoulders, though.

I love this pattern and plan on making the long-sleeve version for the fall. I already bought the brown fabric at the same time, it's a nice sandy brown with big white polka dots. I am in a frenzy for dots, you would think.

In other news, we have chosen March 10, 2013 as our wedding date and are choosing between two locations right now. I need to get going on the wedding dress so that my procrastination doesn't ruin my wedding.

Link in the comments if you see any other Almas pop up in  blog land!

Iron hate

My iron is pretty new, I bought it a month or two ago after my last one just stopped heating up randomly. It's not a fancy, expensive iron, but it wasn't the cheapest one at Target.

Gah, I should have read reviews online before buying one because it has terrible and accurate reviews. It loves to turn itself off really quickly and then not acknowledge that you are trying to use it again. Worse, it apparently has a "non-stick" plate which is the biggest lie ever. It is getting a sticky brown film on it, which then causes the fabric to glom onto it and cause clusters of wrinkles. I had to scrape it off with a butter knife, but it just keeps coming back.

I just wanted a decent, cheap-ish iron. Woe is me!

From Oregon...

We had a fun trip to Oregon to visit my parents and my brother, who came back from South Korea. We did lots of fun things like hiking at Opal Creek, feeding the beagles, going to garage sales and a winery and other fun. We even went crabbing for the first time at the coast! It was not really crab season yet, so we only caught four or five and they were either female or too small to keep. 

 It was fun to see my whole family together with Andrew there too. I got to see my friends from home as well and it was a wonderful break from work!

Look, my mom made me a purse! Isn't it cute? The best part is that it matches my awesome Minoru jacket perfectly. It is pretty big and if I put it flat on a table, I can easily find all of my things inside. 

I have great pictures from the road trip from Oregon to Chicago that show off my last dress that I made. Maybe tomorrow?

Why have you not been sewing, Molly?

Most importantly, my bff Stephanie and her bf came to visit us in Chicago! Yay! They drove (15 hours) to see us and we had a week of fun. So much fun, perhaps too much. Hilariously, Stephanie turned up with the exact same Forever 21 dress so we dressed as twinsies to go to the Reddit meetup. Meeting a bunch of strangers from the internet was surprisingly fun. Ladies, it was like 15 guys to each girl, so you should consider attending the next one... hahaha. 

 We also wore our matching children of the world skirts to the pride parade, which was fun.

 We ate out a ton, played Cards against Humanity of course, did all kinds of touristy activities and even drove up to Milwaukee to do the Miller tour. That was both cheesy and fun. I wish I had worn my High Life girl costume, but I didn't even think of it until we got there. Oops.

Point being, I obviously did no sewing that week. Then, the next week it was sooooo HOT. So hot. Like 100 degrees for days on end, and we have no A/C. It was terribly hot in the house, so I was relieved when it was time to go to work, if only to be cool. 

Now, today I am going to Oregon to visit the rents and then my babby brother is going to move to Chicago, so we are driving back in his car. This will be a fun trip!

Also, I spent the last month or two obsessing over the Game of Thrones books. A friend from work recommended them, and Andrew got them for me on the Kindle app, so I simultaneously became obsessed with A Song of Ice and Fire and reading on the ipad. So my sewing seriously got neglected as I blasted through the five 800+ page books. They deserve a separate post at some point.  

I will be gone for the next week and a bit, so have a great mid-July and tell me your vacation plans for the summer!

Pattern gift!

A few women I work with at the restaurant sew, so that's fun! I so rarely meet people in real life that like to sew. Diana gave me these patterns, which were her mother's. She only has sons and didn't plan on using them so I got them. Yay! I especially like the scalloped dress with the wrap skirt.

Which one is your favorite?