Tuesday 22 June 2021

Sticking to it.

I cannot tell a lie.

I thought I would knit just till my coffee was gone.  Cutting and sewing is much more difficult with a coffee than knitting is.  And I put in one dvd program.  Just one.  

And then I looked up, I'd had more coffee, several more dvd shows, and it was 3 o'clock.  The good thing in my day was that there is another top underway in those pretty greens.  None of that helped my sewing goals though so today, I am being ultra firm.  DVDs or any audio can only be on in my room.  My livingroom tv will have one setting today, over air channels only.  

I have already done the alterations on the test fabric Torrens Box Top and it is looking good.  I have to re-attach the sleeve bands.  It is right over there by the machine, ready to go.

I spent time after knitting yesterday looking at hacks of this top and the way people wear it on Instagram.  Goodness, people are creative.  One lady did an amazing duster version that just blew me away.  There were v neck versions, which were already in my plans, and I saw how others were making it to knee length, which for me, would be the right length for a tunic, and then wearing it with leggings, which is something I saw in my mind with the Waikere  pattern, but not the Torrens. 
 
But mostly, I was looking at the dresses.  Oh there are some lovely dresses made with this pattern.  On version is made in a patchwork of fabrics.  You can tell this person quilts because of the way things are put together colourwise.  She has such a strong hand with colour and scale and shapes,  that you just know that she has looked at this many times before.  It really is a stunning dress. 

The other thing I did yesterday may have been foolish.  Or not.  Torrens was the one pattern that I bought thinking it is a good basic piece but I never really bought fabric thinking of it beyond as a dress. Even as a dress, I did not buy fabric specifically for it, but rather bought dress fabrics and kind of left any decisions of what fabric will be what down to cutting day.  But yesterday, I cought a couple pieces of fabric specifically for Torrens.  

I have lots of fabric and have been working very very hard to stay away from looking.  And since this is the lull in the seasons for new fabrics before fall fabrics come in, it hasn't been too bad.  But it is sale season and the pressure to buy in my emails is heavy.  Even that I could avoid, but the prices right now are quite simply unreal in comparison to the prices at the store. If I was buying a single blouse from the only plus sized store in Canada, Penningtons,  the starting price for a basic tank top is just under fifty dollars.  Even the sale prices at fifty percent off are generally over twenty for a very basic tank.  

The price per metre of the fabric I am buying specifically for Torrens based designs is $5.10 and $5.78 per metre.  Both fabrics have been in my cart before so they are not really impulse buys.  They kept getting kicked out because at the time and at full price, they made my cart total more than I was prepared to spend.  They are very desired fabrics and at these prices...well, even in my well stocked world, I can have this tiny bit extra.   

And that is my story and I am sticking to it.  

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