My dress form shall not remain nameless!

I know a lot of ladies name their dress forms, and I think this is a really cool custom. I've had my dressform for over a year now. She's old and a little battered, her shoulder wingnut is stripped, but overall in amazing shape for being 60 years old! I have an affinity for old things and antiques, as part of what I enjoy about sewing is the nostalgia of it (from my grandmother sewing).
So my dressform, she's my sewing buddy, and I would not trade her in for a new one. I would, however, like to give her a name!

So I've had a few running around in my head, and wanted to see what you ladies thought of them, or if you had any suggestions!
The ones that I've considered are Guinevere (or Gwen, for short), because I'm just into that whole renaissance romance thing.
I've also considered Ella, erm, can you guess why?  lol
Lastly I thought maybe Margaret, or Greta for short, for my German heritage.

What do you think?  Any other suggestions?

Troll beads, not bridges

My father-inlaw and step-mother-in-law came to visit in late January, kind of a late Christmas, as we didn't get tot see them over the holiday season.  They brought along lots of fun books and artistic gifts for Liz, (books for all of us, too!) and they got me the most beautiful new bracelet!   It is a charm style bracelet, the kind you may have seen advertised on TV recently, but the brand is older, called "Troll Beads".

Because I have such small bones, most bracelets are too large for me and I end up never wearing them because they tend to slip off, but being aware of this, they purchased one in my size!  It came with a very pretty starter bead, pale yellow with silver bubbles inside.  The clasp itself is a work of art, if you look closely, you will see it is the head and body of a swan.

Apparently, it is also compatible with the ones shown on TV, called "Pandora".  I don't expect to collect beads very often (though I'm sure I'll get more over time), but I'm excited just to have this one piece of pretty jewelry as it is!

So, I just wanted to share my newest treasure with you.  Do any of you wear these adult style charm bracelets, or find them interesting or attractive?

Free pattern give away!

I have been very humbled and honored by the generosity of the sewing community since I began to truly get into sewing some 2 years ago.  Many people have shared with me when I had almost nothing, just a cheap machine, a handful of 99c patterns, and some thrift shop fabric to sew with.

Now I've amassed enough that I'd like to give back, or more like, pay it forward.  I have quite a large pattern collection, as I seem to be more addicted to buying patterns than fabric, possibly due to all those 99c sales. :D

I have 17 patterns to give away, all of them are uncut, and most are in or near mint condition, not even unfolded. Oh, I have one vintage to give away that is cut, but the rest are basically like new!

Free Pattern Photo Gallery

There are only a few rules for giving these away:
I can only ship these inside the lower 48 states in the US, I'm sorry to those in other countries...and Alaska and Hawaii. :/  The shipping cost, I hope you understand.
First to request a pattern will be the one to receive it.
Any one person can ask for up to 10 patterns!

I would like to note that you do not have to be a current follower of my blog to ask for and of these patterns.  If you stumble across this and would like some of these patterns, please don't be shy!

Here is a list of the patterns, broken down by general category:

Women's tops and coordinates
McCall's 6167
See&Sew 5511
McCall's 7249
Butterick 5495  - Spoken for
McCall's 5388 - Spoken for

Unisex tops
McCall's 6940

Women's dresses
McCall's 3129
McCall's 6024 - Spoken for

Kids clothing
Simplicity 6121  - Spoken for
New Look 6131
McCall''s 6272
McCall's 8380
McCall's 3531

Costumes (child and adult)
Simplicity 9891
McCall's 5904

Accessories and crafts
Simplicity 1958
McCall's 861

If you are interested in any of the pattern listed, please post with the pattern numbers you would like, and an email address I can reach you at, written so it cannot be stolen.  Example:  bobmarley at yahoo dot com.

Or if you don't want to post you email in public, then email me at arouramc at gmail dot com for information sharing, but please also post here the items you would like.  Thanks so much!
I will contact people via email asap, and things off in the real snail mail!

Also, I have a box of more than a dozen women's Medieval and Ren style costume patterns that have been used .  All pieces are still there, but most have been cut to either a size 10 or 12.  If you are interested in these costumes patterns, please let me know, and I'll send you more information.

Happy sewing ladies (and gents), and thanks for your support in reading my blog, it has really kept me motivated. :)

My first Chalis!

At least...I think it is. ?
This fabric was gifted to me well over a year ago, and I've been saving it for the "perfect pattern". I love the results, but the pattern was not exactly perfect.
I chose McCall's 6467, a relatively new pattern that caught my attention the moment I saw it. I love girly blouses that are also easy to wear and this looked to fit the criteria, and my lovely black and yellow floral print had the perfect drape for this style.

What is this style anyway? I'm thinking it looks 1/3 70's poet shirt, 1/3 Little House, and 1/3 modern. I find I am leaning towards a lot of early 70's influences, the Little House,not so much, lol.
I do with the details showed up better in the pictures.

I'm very glad I took the time to do a tissue fitting with my dress form. The neckline was just huge! It needed quite a lot of taking in. I had the raise the front neckline .75" (and I'm not too shy with cleavage, but I don't want my bra showing!), I took in 1.25" in the CF and .5 in the CB, down the entire seams, and after I got the neckline on I realized I should have taken another .5 or so from the CB.
I took 1.5" off the sleeve length, my standard, but the supposed 3/4 sleeves were to my wrists. I had to take another 3.5" off to get the correct length. Because I had sen the cuffs on before sewing the sleeves on, I had to remove and resew the cuffs, which included a lot of hand sewing.

I am overall happy with the fit. I'm glad I didn't sew it right out of the package like I often do, and am taking more time to get a better fit. It's taking me longer to finish garments, but I'm much happier with the results.

The back was originally longer, as I attempted the hem from view C, but the blouse is so loose fitting, it just hung shapeless straight down, and I didn't really like it, so I ended up chopping it off, and just keeping a small rounded shape to the back hem.

Finished Hemline

Original, View C back hemline

My husband originally hated the buttons, and said it looked exactly like a clown outfit (lol). Fortunately, most of the buttons were covered by the ruffle, so I decided to just use the top 2 anyway, and tacked down the flounces under the second button so it would stay visible. I don't think the finished top looks clownish. :) Um...does it??