Unexpected Turned Better-Than-Expected.

I was making the stole (pictured at right) two days ago and got unexpected results. One of those "I should've made a muslin moments." until I decided I liked the stole even better a different way. One that provides more coverage for a chilly night. We never know if it's going to be warm or chilly on Prom night in the Poconos.

The stole directions/"pattern" are free and found in this link, a big thank you to Mary.

The problem I had with the stole directions is that it said to use a 60" length. No problem even though my fabric wasn't 60" wide. I pieced it with a CB seam. The issue was that you can see the stole is actually much wider than the one on the model. This could be attributed to the fact that I edgestitched around the perimeter. If I didn't, the stole would have draped in folds. Another thing that bothered me was the 60" of length was far too short, and I'm not a big woman. In fact, my neck shoulders are a pattern size 10 and narrow. My arms are relatively thin as well. The one end stuck out like a 5" stub through the opening and did not drape down to my hipline as shown on the model. What is she, like a stinking size 0 and 5'1"???

However, as I was playing around with it, I decided I liked it pinned at the front, almost cape-like. In fact, I liked that even better than the stole style in the model's pic. The slit will turn into a pocket and I'll put 3 elegant buttons/buttonholes on the top edge where I have pins. A hook/eye will be inserted underneath to keep the other edge up so it doesn't drop unattractively.

One of my sewing shortcomings is that I jump around so much between what I do, and jump around fabrics used, that I feel like a jack-of-all-trades, specializing in maybe one or two things. I sew very occasionally with fancy fabrics. So when I went to interface the opening, which was like a bound buttonhole, I made my markings very lightly in pen. I do this frequently because my kids make off with pencils (and pens too), so often whatever in the drawer gets used. This was one of those times when I should have done a thread tracing, but wanting to hurry up, neglected to use this marking option. When I cut my "box" to the corners and dabbed Fray Check on it, seep, seep, seep...the ink bled to the right side! #*@(*(*(*#@#$#$@$@

To cover up this snafu, I applied fusible web to two tiny squares of fabric and placed them at the corners. Then I handstitched seed beads around the entire opening and fabric squares. This effectively camoflauged the mistake. If you look real hard you can tell, but the casual observer will never notice. I might fill in a few more sead beads at the corners to totally conceal any edges.

In the end, I really like it and will hunt for some buttons this week. I still have to trim some stray threads due to the nature of the fabric.

In other news, I forgot to take a picture of my softball basket with all the things I made! Can you believe it??? I happily overheard a conversation between two ladies while dropping in our tickets at the basket auction. One said, "Don't put more tickets in there! I want to win that basket." :)

Also, DD#2 and I had a heart-to-heart talk about her dress. She is going back to the original design. She keeps hedging on the styles and so indecisive. I had to make her face reality on what she wanted, what would be figure flattering. Yesterday I finished up the pattern alteration tweaks, today I will start the second (and final) muslin.

I leave you with a parting shot of DS#2. He loves to be outside, loves to garden. I'd probably like to garden too if I didn't love sewing so much. At the Softball Fundraiser dance, I won a basket of these flowers. He couldn't wait to plan them. Our yard is looking like crap so it's a pleasure to have him take an interest in outdoor work. He even broke up some old slate and created a sidewalk behind the flowers.I also won a HUGE double-sided flannel bedspread embroidered with our school's logo on one side. Perhaps my luck is changing as I age? I won a huge LL snack basket at Opening Day ceremonies almost two weeks ago too. Time to play the lottery? Maybe it is.