Alteration Weekend

Yesterday I went to see my friend Sylvia to say goodbye to her foster baby as he is going to be adopted very soon. Fostering is a wonderful thing and it gives the babies a stable start to their lives but if I did then I would want to keep every one of them. Whilst it's nice to look forward to new babies arriving it's still sad to say goodbye to others even though they are going on to be part of a family.

A little while ago I had crocheted a long coat for Sylvia in James C Brett chunky. With wear it 'grew' and whilst she didn't mind the body getting longer the sleeves had to be turned up twice. I spent the afternoon taking the sleeves back out, unravelling a few rows and then crocheting the sleeve head again and stitching them back in again. That is the beauty of hand made items. If something happens to them in wear or if you decide that you don't like the pattern something can always be salvaged. Yarn can be undone and made into something else.

Today I started thinking about this dress that I bought for my youngest niece's wedding. Whilst it looks like it's shape should be flattering to a larger figure I spent the whole of the wedding day tugging it down as the under bust drape was too high and the buckle kept riding up my bust line. I am not sure if it because I have too large of a bosom for this style or whether the material is so stretchy that it won't stay in place. I decided to see what I could do to remedy this situation as I knew that I would never wear the dress again in it's present state.

I cut the dress at the shoulder seams. Crocheted a couple of pieces and stitched them in thus elongating the shoulders. The dress always was too low at the front and the armholes cut so wide that they showed my underwear. Now the neckline is even lower as are the armholes so I will now wear it with a tiny vest top underneath and with a black short sleeved bolero over it which will cover up my bra at the sides.. It doesn't look as pretty now as it did before my alterations but at least now I will wear the dress in the Summer (if we ever get one) I hate things hanging in my wardrobe unworn just because of something small that I don't like about them. When I was younger I was always taking things apart just to add darts and change sleeves etc. I am not a fashionista who will wear ill fitting things just because they are 'in' I have always been a comfort kind of lady even when I was a teenager.

Yes I did go back to the charity shop. Someone else had been there before I went back for the second time so my choice was limited. The red matches the wool that I bought on Friday so now I have 17 x 50 gram balls of that which is enough to make a sweater or jacket. The green is Jaeger Matchmaker DK and there is 9 x 50 gram balls of that. The mink brown shade is only 5 x 50 gram balls but that will make some nice warm hats for the homeless later this year. The royal blue is labelled on the pack as 4ply wool and there are 7 balls of that.

This is Unchain My Heart by Doris Chan. I made it with 9 x 50 gram balls of Patons Zhivago that my friend Sue gave to me the last time that I saw her. I altered the pattern slightly as it had the same problem as my dress. I must be long waisted and the start of this waistline would have been  half way up my bust if I followed the pattern to the letter. As it is worked from the top down I did some more rows before I started the ribbing pattern stitch. Of course this made the neckline lower hence the 3 buttons to stop the neckline gaping in wear. They look a bit off centre on the photo but that is just the angle of the tunic on the sofa. I also did two rows of UK double crochet around the bottom edge as the pattern was curling upwards. I will take some photos of me wearing it when I have some clothes on that will go with this top. I am not a lover of waistcoats but I think that I will wear this tunic. It will be great to keep my body warm when I am wearing a shop bought sweater and pants.

The weather is still wet and dull here and I am longing for a bit of sun, I am glad that I don't live anywhere near Beverooni as she has snow !!! Much as I am sure that I would love your company Bev the snow would really put me off. You have certainly had your share of it this Winter and Spring.

Thanks to everyone for your lovely comments about my absence and my niece's top. I am touching wood (my head) in the hopes that my Internet stays connected.. It is still having mad moments where it flickers on and off but it is mostly staying on.

Now to think of what to start next. First though a mug of coffee to get the old brain cells working.