Finished: BWOF 08/2007 #126 & #127

It seems as though I've been working on this outfit forever. This is the first project I began after school started and I went back to work. It hasn't been easy to switch from a "lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer" mindset to a "desperate to relax" mindset. During the summer, I could sew for hours at a time. Now, I'm lucky if I can sew for 30 uninterrupted minutes. And the interruptions are not always external. It's been harder for me to leave work at work and concentrate on sewing. I can't relax enough to do something that is certain to relax me. Sometimes, the only way for me to turn off work is to zone out in front of the TV. (Sad)

The pants are made of heavy weight denim. I will never sew with heavy weight denim again. I used a denim needle and my machine could handle the denim, but it just wasn't as much fun to fondle the denim while sewing. Since the denim was so thick, I used broadcloth for the front pockets. I couldn't imagine sewing through all the layers of heavy weight denim when sewing the hip pockets. One fun aspect about sewing the pants was that I found a good button! I didn't want to try to install a snap in the heavy denim and I found the perfect button. It's metal and goes very well with denim. I usually increase the crotch depth on pants. I forgot to make that adjustment on these pants. I believe I forgot because I was not concentrating fully due to the pressure of going back to work.

The blouse is made from a cotton/lycra stretch woven I bought from Vogue Fabrics by Mail. Now that fabric was really fun to fondle! I loved the way it recovered after stretching! The blouse had quite a bit of top stitching. I'm happy I had an edge stitch foot to help. The sleeve cuffs and the front band had a "frill" inserted. That's the kind of design detail I seldom see on Big 4 patterns (especially the plus size patterns) and one of the reasons I enjoy sewing BWOF patterns so much.

I'm finished sewing for myself for a while. I need to get stared on DD's formal dress so she will have it by mid-December. At the rate I've been going, I'll need every day between now and mid-December to get it finished.