Tap Pants and the Big Butt Botheration

I am so excited! I woke up this morning to find that Mrs. Depew had emailed me the pdf pattern I had bought from her. She has a lovely blog called A Few Threads Loose, where she charts her sewing adventures. She also has an etsy store, Mrs. Depew Vintage, where she sells pdf patterns.

So anyway, I looked at her blog to see how she put it together. I am fairly confident that I can make these. That is, I was fairly confident. I sat down and cut out the pattern, and then went to fit them together. It just didn't look right. So, back to the blog to see what I was doing wrong. Ah ha, I was missing a peice. So, I went back to my stack of papers and rifled through them to find it. It wasn't there. After about the tenth time going through the papers, just in case I had missed it the other nine, I had an epiphany! It fell off the printer. Sure enough the fan in the bedroom had sent the page all the way to the other side of the room. 

So, with that problem solved, I finished piecing together the pattern. Now, I am not a small girl, and this pattern was for a 28" waist. My waist measures in at 38" (insert a very sad, sad face here). And on top of that, I have a butt that would make Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian jealous. So, I chopped the pattern up to add in some extra inch-age. I also added 3" to the bottom to cover up my bodacious booty. I added in some seam allowances (the pattern was not originally made with them), and FINALLY started cutting it out. Then to my despair, I realized that I had not added  enough inch-age! When I tried to see how it would fit, I discovered I still needed to add about 2" around the waist. And also because of the way I would like it to fit, I need to add a good 3-4" around the legs. I am just determined to get this right, but now it's time to get busy doing homework (I take classes online) and prepare for Shaun to come home. There just aren't enough hours in the day!

Learning Embroidery

I had the great pleasure last Saturday afternoon, to sit across the table from a great woman. Shaun's grandmother sat me down and taught me how to embroider on a tea towel! She picked out a lovely set of transfers that depict fruit correlating with the day of the week. I chose a cherry pattern (of course!) to start off with. We sat for a few hours discussing everything from clothing to childhood memories. I really enjoyed the afternoon and was a bit sad to leave.

I finally finished the pattern today! I'm sure with some more practice I will do better, but for my first attempt, I think I did quite well!

What I want out of my life...

I have thought quite a bit in the past few years about what I want in my life. To be honest, I want to be a lady, a real woman.
So, what is a "real" woman? In my eyes, the first way to see a real woman is by how she presents herself. She is poised, well dressed, and well groomed. You can see the kindness in her eyes. She is a woman who puts her family foremost. She supports her husband or significant other and does right by him.
A woman (even a career oriented woman) is in charge of her home. She is what makes a home. She is the foundation for the family to run smoothly. I long for the housewife of years past. I love everything about it. The clothes, the work, the roles of family members, the manners, the morals... all of it!
I look to the women of the 30's, 40's, and 50's for inspiration on how to be that "real" woman I long to be.

Follow me on my journey to find the woman in me. Who know's maybe you will learn something along the way as well!