Time Out and Schoolhouse Take Three

Last month I was lucky enough to attend Time Out for Women in Richmond, Virginia. Time Out is an weekend event that invites women to take a step back from their daily lives and make some room for themselves and their spiritual lives. It's an event filled with inspirational speakers, musicians, laughter, and sisterhood. Because of geography, I'd never attended TOFW before even though I've wanted to, they were always just too far away. So I was excited when the opportunity came up for me to attend the Richmond event this fall as a volunteer staff member. To make the weekend even better, my mother in law came with me and there was a Time Out for Girls being held simultaneously so I was able to bring Madison and Abigail along with us and we made a girls weekend out of it!

Out for a late night dinner at IHOP on Friday night after the first day's events were finished.  Nothing like pancakes and waffles at 10:30 pm to finish up our day.
Having a little fun at the photo booth on day 2 of TOFW and TOFG.  Madison and Abigail were also helping out as volunteers for the girls event so it was a full day for all of us. I'm glad we were able to grab this picture of all of us at the end of the day!
As a volunteer I was asked to wear "nice casual" clothes. That was defined as pants that weren't jeans or skirts/dresses. I actually don't own any pants that aren't jeans - how sad is that? I love skirts and dresses but wanted something new and cute for the big weekend.

So I did what I do when I want something new and cute at the last minute and started sewing the day before we were set to leave for Richmond. I decided to go with the Schoolhouse Tunic which I had sewn two times before, first in the tunic length and then a little later as a dress.  I love my original schoolhouse tunic, I still wear it and every time I do I get compliments. I even love my second take on the Schoolhouse, a purple dress in a funky bumblebee print. In fact, it was wearing the Schoolhouse Dress that earlier that week that reminded my how much I like this pattern.  This time I departed from the original pattern a little bit. Even though I love my Schoolhouses 1 & 2, I've always had a few problems with the fit. They both felt a bit too tight across the chest and shoulders even though they fit well everywhere else. I also wanted to add on seam pockets, make it a bit longer,  and change the sleeve length.

I wore the dress on that Saturday at Time Out for Women and again the very next Wednesday. I love it that much!

It should have been an easy alteration but I wasn't a smart sewist when I first sewed up the pattern over four years ago. Instead of tracing the pattern when I used it originally I cut it out which means that I'm stuck with the pattern in that size or the smaller sizes of the pattern. Yeah, I'm not actually smaller than I was in the spring of 2011. If it felt too small in the chest and shoulders back then, it would definitely have felt too tight now. So I took a risk and started cutting out the pattern pieces from the fabric and just sort of eyeballed it - A little bigger where I wanted more breathing and a little smaller where I felt it would be too large. Then I hacked six inches off the sleeves, grafted in a pockets from an entirely different pattern, and made a wild guess as to how long it needed to be. To make all that work I had to be creative with my fabric usage and cut the skirt back from two pieces of fabric sewn together instead of from one piece of fabric cut on the fold.  The fabric is a mystery clearance fabric that I bought a JoAnn's a few months ago. I don't know exactly what material it is but I kind of love it. It's a little silky, very flow, and has so many great colors. I was so happy when I tried it on and found that it fit! It just might be my new favorite dress.

Comments

  1. Charissa & Don BishopNovember 10, 2015 at 4:24 AM

    You never cease to amaze me! Great job! Only wish we weren't so busy that weekend so I could have gone too

    ReplyDelete

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