Project Runway Simplicity 2359

Spiritual -  "If a soul seeks for God, her Beloved seeks for her even more" (J.C. LF, 3,28).  Mary looked for the Lord with all her heart and the Lord found her, calling her, Mary!  "Although He has risen gloriously, Jesus is always the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep individually; and he 'calleth His own sheep by name... and the sheep follow Him because they know His voice' (Jn 10,3-4).  When Mary hears her name, she recognizes the stranger as her Lord and cries out to Him, her Master!

Added piping

Sewing - An important event was coming up, and, I needed a "nice" dress  So into my stash of patterns and fabric I went.  I found a silk rayon I bought from one of my favorite online fabric sources, Fashion Sewing Group about 8 years ago, and found a project runway inspired simplicity pattern. 


The dress has two variations, sleeveless and this short sleeved version.  The empire upper bodice is underlined and the sleeves and midriff are self-lined.
The skirt is not lined, but easily could be.  I did raise the v-neck 1 1/2".  The pattern called for top-stitching around the front bands and midriff, but I chose to place self-piping in the seams.  The shaping in the bust is made with soft gathers and there are gathers at the front waist.  There are two length variations to the pattern.  I chose the shorter version.  Difficulty:  intermediate level.

Bill and me

Petal sleeves, lined

An Antique Glass Showcase

Spiritual - I had time to read from my favorite daily meditation book, Divine Intimacy, this morning.  I often beat myself up because of my failures, my lack of attention to the development of virtues, the amount of time I spend on my hobbies, etc.  - you know what I'm talking about.  Today I was reminded that no matter how much I try to be better, I may find my hands empty, just like Peter's nets.  I must not be discouraged due to lack of success, but humbly acknowledge my failure, and have firm confidence that the Lord will fill my nets. too. 

Sewing - My daughter's mother-in-law had this beautiful case in her recent garage sale.  I picked it up, cleaned it up, and filled it up!  I put my favorite things in it - American Girl dolls, wonderful fabrics, old wooden thread spools, yarn from my travels, old sewing need cards, antique candle sticks made into bonnet stands, etc.  I really like it.  It also gave me loads of surface to put more of my treasures. 

Trapunto Jewels Sweater

Spiritual - How much do we love God?  Can we ever love Him enough - totally and perfectly?  Yes -but only in Heaven!  Isn't that consoling?  Only then we can love Him as much as He is lovable.  On earth, we can never achieve this kind and amount of love - it just isn't possible.  It is possible to make acts of love each time we will to do so.  It is always in our power to unite our being, sorrows, desires, heart, will and affections to God by an act of love.  We can do it in a number of ways - prayer, acts of love, sacrifices, smiles, receiving the sacraments, and attending the greatest prayer on earth, the Holy Mass.


Sewing - I subscribe to a wonderful sewing/fashion newsletter,
The Fashion Sewing Group, published by Nancy Erickson.  In the the Fall-2007 issue, she worked out the steps to make a replica of a long sleeved top at the Neiman's Chanel boutique that sold for $1380.00!  It was made of wool.  The newsletter had a beautiful basic knit made of poly/viscose/spandex.  She included a similar pattern for the trapunto which we traced onto silk organza, pinned to the wrong side of the knit, and stitched around the drawings.  A slit was cut through the organza and each "jewel" was stuffed with small scraps of the knit until the look was achieved.  Cut away the extra organza and fuse the trapunto area with a light interfacing.  This will close the slits and reduce the scratchiness of the organza.  The knit top pattern is also a Nancy pattern, 1960.http://www.fashionsewing.com/1960.htm