A blouse in the meantime

Well, thanks everyone for their compliments. I still went to the gym today (finally!) and lifted weights. I get a fair workout getting there and home again, what with the 20 minute walk and the same going home but carrying groceries. Anyway, I think I have broken my bad habit of not going and hope that those 10 pounds that make me squeeze into the coat will disappear before it is warm enough to wear the coat. And yes, I know it is more about what I eat than how much I exercise! It's the actual doing of it that's difficult.

In the meantime, I have been wondering what new project to start. I have all kinds of stuff here to work on without buying anything new, although I did get a gift certificate for Fabricland for Christmas! (Thanx, N!) While that has been percolating, I have still be debating about the buttons for the grey jacket. Here they are, pinned to the jacket to make them seem more realistic.

And here they are in extreme close up.

I know you guys didn't like the one on the right with the gold band, but I am still thinking about it.

In the other meantime, I have had a length of cotton hanging over the upstairs railing since way before Christmas, when Mum bought it for me off the extreme sale table. I wanted to make a shirt from the pattern I have used many times before and I thought it would be a good type of shirt to take to Florida. It is all cotton with a little bit of Lycra so I can make it in the close-fitting pattern and still have room to breathe. I decided just to cut it out and get going on it.

The pattern is Simplicity 9877 and advertises itself as a cowboy shirt but if you don't add embellishments and just make a shirt out of it, it is a very easy pattern. Plus, when I was cutting the fabric and my scissors were slicing cleanly through it and not getting hung up on fuzz and there was no shredding and fraying, I totally relaxed and knew I'd have the shirt made in no time, just for the fun of it.

I completed the shirt fronts with bands and darts in no time.

When you have Lycra in the fabric, installing the collar is a snap because you can just stretch the fabric instead of clipping it.

And so here it is, about half done. I am flat felling the seams (of course) and will put the sleeves on next so I can fell the shoulder seams more easily, before the underarm and side seams are done.