A Blue Summer Blouse

Rayon challis drapes so nicely and is light without being too see-through. It's also very soft, but not too difficult to work with. It does wrinkle easily, but I still like it anyway. So this blouse is blue stripe rayon challis, lined with some leftover cream rayon challis. I believe they both came from fabric.com.

It's a simple pull-over blouse. I wanted to make it loose enough to wear for early pregnancy and for nursing, should that come about again. I can't afford to have a wardrobe for each specific stage of life!

The stripes meet in the center front. The back has the stripes going straight up and down with two small darts at the waist.

The waistline has a peplum skirt- I hemmed it by hand. Rayon can be pretty bouncy so hemming by hand gave a better look than a rolled him would by machine.

The sleeves have alternating stripes for the cuff.

And that's it! I was very careful making this so hopefully it wears for a long while. Next post, a white swiss dot blouse that I plan to wear to the Very Next Wedding.

A New Year

It's 2020! My goals turned out to be both a long to-do list for the year, as well as possibilities to prepare for. Here are a few small changes I'm working towards at present.

M's school. I figured I needed some specific direction for education this year, so we will at least be working on learning one hymn a month, one catechism question weekly, and reading Proverbs, and meandering our way through learning to recognize lower case letters besides upper case. She can count to fifteen so we'll keep moving onward with numbers, and hopefully read some educational books together. Still debating getting a library card.

New clothes. My wardrobe makes me a bit discouraged these days. Two babies and an austere budget for the past four years have taken a toll. But the budget is still austere, so I can't justify buying new clothes, though I would still like something nicer than used- and I don't have time to go thrifting anyway. So this past year I bought some fabric to make three tees, three blouses, and a sweater. I was also given a new skirt and sweater for Christmas. The girls also have sewing projects continually piled up, but those are all make-overs of my old clothes or fabric leftovers. M loves new dresses made just for her!

Blouse number one completed

Available books. I moved my book basket to the window where it is at least there to be seen and easy to reach(but not reachable by toddlers). My times of reading have suffered. My quiet times are rare. My discipline suffers. So now they're available- I just need to decide to read.

My mode of organization isn't any fancy notebook. Just a pad of paper, with daily to-do lists and grocery lists. I'd be sunk without it! New notebooks for the new year.

And that's all so far!