sewing, not potting

Tuesday was our first day of real summer weather. It was ghastly hot-so hot that I had to flee the studio. So hot that pottery (specifically a large gift platter) dried too fast, warped, and had to be remade. A couple of weeks (a month, even?) ago, Angry Chicken posted a picture of a simple little blouse that got me craving some sewing machine time. It seems like EVERY crafty blogger has made the Built By Wendy 3835 pattern. It looks super cute and super comfortable, but I was willing neither to shell out the cash for the pattern at a fabric store nor drive 12+ miles to said fabric store to get it. And it was hot. Too hot for a tee shirt. I needed a linen/cotton loose top NOW. So I took another pattern* and altered it until it worked. This is my first one- I may make five. Or ten- made out of a very thin red chambray that I've had for ages. There's some liberty cotton that was once a very full 80s skirt, and some thin handkerchief linen calling out to become this little top, too. All in all (hemming excepted) it took about an hour to cut out, alter, sew up, alter again, sew again. I think now that I know what I'm doing, it will take even less time. And I will LIVE in these. End of sewing talk. Back to pottery now.

*New Look #6678, which I bought at (ahem) Walmart when I was out of town and killing time while others shopped at our 4th trip to Walmart that weekend. Long story. Altering: cut out front and back on the fold (ignoring the buttons, using the centerline for fold placement), ignored the collar and all facings, using 1/4" elastic to gather the front and sleeves (I left the back plain because I wanted a lower neckline that what I could get if I gathered the back, too), and finishing it all with a bias strip from the same fabric.