House Pics

I am not sure when I will be able to blog again since we are moving Saturday and are moving things over in the evenings as well, until then. We have the phone guy coming out on Monday to hook up our phone and I think we will have to go with dial up since our cable company doesn't service our location. We haven't set up the internet yet with the provider though. . .but I'm hoping to be back online by next week at least. :)

I thought I'd share some photos of the house. These are from Sunday when we went up for a little while.

The House. It has a distinctive look, doesn't it? We were told it was built in the 1920's or 1930's. I love the shape of the roof. It looks quite cottage-ish. :)

The Door. We have a red front door. This is the same color red as the dining room is painted. So you can get an idea of how very red indeed the dining room is! David loves this door since he can open and shut it on his own. He thinks that is a very grown up accomplishment. The Living Room. This is the back half of the room, and the picture is not very good. Note the Tan walls. I think there are eight windows in the living room but there may be only seven. I can't remember.The Living Room - Front Half. These are windows you see on the front of the house. And of course, who can forget about Malachi? The Dining Room. This is about half of the dining room. The hanging lamp in the middle of the room goes above the table, I suppose. It is very low but I think it will nicely illuminate our suppers. It will be much nicer when the red paint is no more. The Kitchen. Or at least part of it. This is a horrible picture as the lens cover on the camera was not all the way open, but it gives you an idea. It is painted pale green. It is almost a pretty color but the more I look at it the more limey it looks. I would prefer a pale sage green. So the sink and cabinets are along one wall, the stove/oven is in a sort of island in the middle of the kitchen and the refrigerator is against the opposite wall. There is a door by the refrigerator that leads into a room that was at one time a back porch. David wants to use it for a pantry and for a deep freezer and for storage.
The Bedroom. I think this will be the bedroom that David and I will use. It is nearest the stairs and David doesn't want the boys room near the stairs. There is a landing on the top of the stairs and two bedrooms are on one side and two on the other. The bathroom and a hall closet is directly in front. This room is a pale peach color. I actually love this. . .I don't think I'll have to do anything to this room. The boys bedroom will be right next door. Those are all the pictures I took of the inside. Here are some outside ones of the boys:

Here is Judah with a dirty face. He had spent a while running through the yard and then decided to spend some quality time with the hay rack.

David decided to climb on it. He loved it. He was taller than me. Our view to the West. David wasn't able to take any time off of work this week to move so I would ask for prayer that he will not be too terribly exhausted when he goes back to work on Monday. He gets off work at noon on Saturday and then is going to pick up the truck we will move in. We don't have anyone to help us move so we are going to have to do this on our own. . .but with God's help it can be done.

Have a lovely week!

Love,

Sarah

Final Sewing Project

I think this is the last thing I will have sewn here. I am pretty sure it is because when we get more boxes tonight I'm going to pack up the rest of my sewing supplies. I can't wait to take everything over to the new house and set up my sewing room! One of the bedrooms has wood floors rather than carpet. I plan to use that one for my sewing room since dropped pins and needles are so much easier to find on wooden floors and it is also easier to sweep up clippings instead of having to vacuum a carpet. I have no idea what I'm going to do with so much space!

Thank you so much for your sweet comments and congratulations! The Lord is so good! We plan to move this coming weekend - I'm dreadfully excited!!

Anyway, over the weekend I finished this blouse from Folkwears Gibson Girl Blouse pattern. It is for my Little House on the Prairie outfit. The blouse only took two afternoons to make but I forgot to add additional length to the hem. I am lucky I am short waisted. I will have enough length to tuck into my skirt, but just barely. Next time I make this pattern I think I will add at least 5" to the length!

It is made from pink cotton calico and has white lace trim at the cuffs and collar. White covered buttons fasten the opening. I changed the design from a back opening to a front opening. Instead of making it open all the way down the front I did a short placket. It enables me to access Malachi's food source and didn't require so many buttonholes or buttons. I love this blouse. It is so comfortable! Once I get established in the new place I think I'll need to make a few more!

Here is my blue calico sunbonnet, also for the LHOP ensemble:

Now I need to make the skirt, apron and I also want to make a waist length cape. But that will have to wait a bit. There is a bit of work to do at the new house that will have to take priority over sewing. I have quite a bit of yardwork to do to make the flower beds neat and we have a huge garden we need to weed whack, burn, and turn. Then I have some painting to do as well, on the inside. The dining room is deep red and the living room a dark tan color. I think a beige or off white would be pretty and really open everything up a lot. I love red and tan but on such huge expanses of wall. . .its a bit overwhelming.

What colors do you all suggest? I have a bright lemon yellow bathroom and an electric-blue bedroom to do something to as well! :)

Love,

Sarah

How God Works

Dearest ones, I thank you so much for your prayers, for we have found a home! Or, rather, the Lord has led us to a home.When I look back over the past weeks, the ups and downs and uncertainties, the waiting games and the disappointments we have endured at not being able to get the houses we thought we wanted, I see the Lord's work.

I had two specific prayer requests: A house with 3 bedrooms and a fenced in yard. OR a house with 3 bedrooms and in the country. We looked at houses with 1 bedroom, houses with 2 bedrooms. The few houses we saw that actually did have 3 bedrooms had the homes listed as 2 bedrooms. I didn't expect to get a 3 bedroom house. I prayed, but did not expect my request to be granted. I prayed I would be happy with whatever size house we got.

God said, "What would you think of a 4 bedroom house, in the country, 20 minutes from David's job, 20 minutes from your parents house, with all the bedrooms upstairs, a large dining room and living room and kitchen downstairs, hard wood floors, a working fireplace, new windows, a new roof, a large yard for the children, half-fenced, flowerbeds and a long gravel driveway? Oh yes, and I want to add that the landlords reduce their rental rate during the winter months so it is easier to afford the heating costs."

And I said, "I am so humbled."

I can see how much I limited my faith in God. How I knew in my head He can do and provide anything, yet how I did not expect Him to provide anything wonderful. I would have been content - happy - with a smaller house, even in town. This is vastly beyond anything I ever imagined or hoped for. David and I both.

It is a crazy, sad, adventurous tale of how we got here. I won't go into details since they would take so long to write out, but the Lord's workings in this are unmistakeable and amazing.

And so - we move on, having learned more about our Heavenly Father throughout this. We leave our little home here with grateful and happy memories, but looking forward very much to the new pleasures of our new home.

Thank you so much for your prayers.

Love,

Sarah

Orange Satin Bag and Bonnety Happiness

Tomorrow I am headed up to the 4-H fair to see what there is to see. My two sisters are participating this year. Alas. I am too old. I really enjoyed 4-H while I was in it. It's been four years since my last 4-H fair. Four! Can it really have been that long?

I am trying to finish up a bag for my sister so I can give it to her tomorrow. It should have been done already but woe, I cannot find my orange thread. I usually sew with either black or white and all the thread I usually keep on hand is either those colors or red. But orange is orange. It needed its own color thread. But I cannot find the durn spool anywhere and I need it so I can sew on the lace and attach the strap and make a buttonhole to close it.

When I was cleaning out my fabric a week or so ago I asked my mother if my sisters would like anything made out of orange satin. I have four yards of this heavy, silky satiny fabric and could not think of what to do with it. My mother replied that my eldest younger sister would like a bag like I made for my youngest younger sisters birthday. So this bag resulted! It is lined completely with the orange cotton print I made Judah's Civil War dress with and I experimented with a fabric covered cardboard strip for the bottom of the bag to help it hold its shape. Well, I hope she likes it. I certainly would not have thought of making an orange satin bag on my own. I've been making bonnets these past few days, part one of my Little House on the Prairie outfit. I couldn't find the butterick pattern I thought I had so I experimented with shapes and came up with my own. This is the most recent one, made of pale pink cotton with teeny, subtle white polka-dots. The hat hunting did not yield any hats. We went to the antique mall but it closed two hours before we thought it would so we had about twenty minutes to look around instead of the long time we thought we would have. There were hats aplenty indeed but nothing suitable for the 1914 dress. I at last found the perfect hat on eBay but I haven't ordered it yet. I don't know if I want to spend $20 on a hat that I might not wear very often. But I'm still thinking about it. I really want it. If I force myself to wear it often I will consider it money well spent. And I don't want to take pictures of my finished dress until I have a hat to wear with it.

We did find this lovely mirror for $4. It is incredibly heavy. I love it! We also found a beautiful white lace handbag with a silver elephant head clasp with long, long fringe. David said it looked like me. I didn't get it but I might go back for it sometime and see if it is still there. The other thing I found that I really wanted (but didn't get!) was a folk art painting of a little girl in an 1820's style pink dress. David said if it is still there after we move I can go back and get it. It was incredibly cheap. I just love antique malls. I could decorate my whole house with findings from one. You just never know what you will discover!

Have a wonderful, God-filled week dear ones!

Love,

Sarah

1914 Afternoon Dress Progress

Almost done. All it needs to finish it is 7 buttonholes and buttons for the back. I need to see if I have thread to match the fabric for the buttonholes. If not, I'll have to get some while I am in town.

And later today I shall go hat-hunting! What a delightful prospect. When did women stop wearing hats or bonnets? I must admit to being more of a bonnet wearer than a hat wearer. I think we need to bring them back.

Love,

Sarah

Honest Scrap Award

Gillian passed this Honest Scrap Award to me a few days ago. Thank you Gillian!

The Rules:

* Thank the person who gave you the award

* Post 10 honest facts about yourself

* Pass the award on to 7 others



Hmm. This might be harder than I thought!



1. I am a born-again believer, saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and am assured of a home in heaven. Praise God!

2. Growing up, I swore I would *never* marry a boy from Illinois. I was firmly convinved, in my youthful follies and prejudices, that boys from Connecticut and Rhode Island were much superior to boys from any other part of the country or world. Ah well. Illinois is not the hick-ville I once supposed it was. How much I have grown up since my snotty years of living in The East.

3. I can't cook steak. It always, always turns out dry. David, by contrast, makes the best steak I can fathom and always gets it perfectly cooked to medium or medium-rare, with plenty of meaty juices and flavored wonderfully with sea salt and sage. Yummmmm.

4. I'm just now reading the Jane Austen novels in their entirety for the first time. I read Pride and Prejudice a few years ago. When I was going to college and had a break between classes I'd head to the library and spend some time with the book. I just finished Northanger Abbey and am nearly done with Persausion. Oh my. What a treat it is to read these!

5. I was born on my grandmothers birthday. If David and I ever have a daughter she will be named for this special great-grandma and her great-grandma on David's side as well. And what be these names? Charlotte Marjorie Rose.

6. I still like to play dress up and pretend. . .in fact, I just got done playing "tent" with the boys. If they follow in the footsteps of my siblings and I, this tent play shall evolve into more complex scenarios, like "Going to Oregon" and "Settlers and Indians" and, later, "Civil War" and "Penniless Immigrant". In most of these make-pretends I used to be the Father, because I was tallest. My brother next in line was the Mother, and whatever littlest siblings happened to be at that time small enough were the children. Middling sized siblings were the horses.

7. I think the age requirements for such things as drivers licenses, firearm cards (for Nazi states like this one) and such are ridiculous. I have known people who possess more maturity at ten years old than other people at twenty, thirty and forty years old. It's too bad there are no maturity requirements. I think that is a much more accurate indicator of how someone will utilize their licenses than mere age.

8. I believe children should be socialized with the focus on people not their own age. It's wonderful to have friends of ones own age but even in observing my own children, I can see how much more they develop and learn by being around people who are older and aslo around the baby, who is younger. It brings out maturity, a nurturing instinct, an eagerness to learn and early abilities to do things that they would not do if they were constantly in company of children their own age.

9. I am not opposed to the notion of secession.

10. I am wonderfully glad to be a Christian, a woman, a wife, a mother and a homemaker. What a blessing to have this opportunity in a world where women are encouraged to work outside the home and limit the number of children they have! And how blessed I am that despite our limited finances, since only my husband has a paying job, we have never been in want of any common comfort and the Lord has provided for us beyond anything we could ask or imagine. How blessed I am that my husband wants and encourages me to delight in my role as a stay at home mother and wife.



I am not sure who all has received this award, so in case you are double tagged don't feel the need to participate! :) But however it may be I tag:



Amy, from Sew and Sow
Jackie, from Jackie's Blog
Emily, from A Beautiful Life
Lauren, from The Lady of Portland House
Sommer, from A View from the Mountain
Deanna, from Home Haven Ministry and
Nicole, from Goatwagon Sutlers

Love,
Sarah

Good Intentions

I have had good intentions lately, about using up my fabric. I cleaned everything out last week and got rid of a lot of fabric I just won't ever use. What I have left overflows a large rubbermaid storage container. It's a lot less than I had, but I'd like to get the cover on the box before we move. So I have been intending to make up some garments or things to help use up some of the fabric. Projects on the to-do list include a roccoco blouse in pink and yellow cotton from Dawn Andersons pattern, a yellow petticoat skirt to go with aforementioned blouse, finishing up some rompers I started for Malachi months ago, making a pink linen spencer jacket from Sense and Sensibility's Spencer/Pelisse pattern, two new aprons from cotton calico yardage I've been hoarding forever, and will never use for anything else, and a regency gown with the black and white sheer plaid I got years and years ago for a Civil War summer sheer gown that never ever came into existence.

We went to Wal Mart over the weekend. . .a Wal Mart which happens to still carry fabric. I got two pieces. I justified it by saying it was not much and I'd use it up right away. I feel awfully guilty, so I am trying to use it up right away.

This week I started a new 1914 Afternoon Dress. I have made a few of these before. My latest one was when I was pregnant with Judah. I still have that dress and I love it but I can't wear it right now because it is not nursing friendly (it buttons in the back).

I am using the sheer red floral fabric I got at Wal Mart for this dress. This is my first time using the nursing option and so far it has gone together very easily. I wasn't sure at first how it would work but I think this will be a lovely feature when it is done! I can wear a gown with the appearance of just a back opening, but when I need to nurse the baby I can unbutton the dress bodice at the waist, lift it up over the inner bodice that has nursing slits, and there you are. A handy and very discreet way to nurse.

It is about half done right now, I suppose. I still need to face the waistband, add the half waistband to the front bodice flap and hem the sleeves and the bottom of the skirt. Then I need to make all those buttonholes and covered buttons to finish it off. I also want to add trim to the bodice and am thinking about a ruched trim in a V shape, going from the shoulders to the middle of the bodice and then back up again.

I have an unexplainable desire for a hat to wear with this dress. I am not a hat person, but I think a dark honey colored straw hat trimmed up with a very large dark blue bow and band around it would look quite nice. I have no idea where I will find one but David said he will go to a few thrift shops and the antique mall with me this weekend so we can look.

I've packed all the boxes I have and now am waiting for more. David is getting a load from the store tonight. Tomorrow I'll tackle the kitchen and put up everything I don't use from day to day. I think a cast iron skillet, a pot and the cookie sheet should be sufficient to hold us over until we move and can get everything out again.

Moving is exciting. I just wonder where we will go. Still nothing definite yet, although we have found a place we both like very, very much. I hate applications for renting! Although I understand them I don't like the wait and we are fast running out of time.

Love,

Sarah

Happy Little Things

July has been quite mild so far, each day following the next with little variation. It has not been hot, has been a bit rainy and today is cool, clear, breezy and full of sunshine. The smell of freshly cut grass and budding day lilies fills the house. Outside are neat lawns, velvet like in the sun dappled shade. What a day to go on a picnic! Or to the river, to fish.

Some days are quiet days. Days meant to go through on tip-toe, silently, watching the antics of little boys who are fast growing into little men. Days to reflect on the satisfaction of a clean sink, clear counters and all your laundry done and put away. Days to look forward to the arrival home of a Dear Husband in the evening. Days to watch the garden grow. So often I find my mind filled with things that crowd away that which is most important. It is a terrible thing. I can choose what I think about. I can choose what I wish to fill my mind with. There is only so much time to think, to live, to enjoy. Why should I let other, less important things take away my thoughts from my dear little ones or my home? It is an evil cheat. The Bible commands us to dwell on what is pure, lovely, good. It at times seems hard to find anything pure, lovely or good in this world. So even in that reflection, one can fall into negative thoughts and despair. But thank God for showing me every day what there is to be thankful for. Thank God for providing me each day with things I can utterly enjoy and delight in. Thank God for the little things that are every where I turn to make me smile and feel His goodness to me, to remind me that I am His and that He loves me and is constantly with me!

"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; there will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him." Lamentations 3:21-25

Love,

Sarah

After a Nap

My Judah. Middle child. Wild hair. Not quite two years old, yet so indespensable to me! What? Did I ever wish for an 8 year old girl as a daughter to help me with the babies? I spurn the thought. I need her not, for I have Judah, who still, at times, even now, looks like as he did when he was a baby. And then at other times so grown up. Sigh. Blonde haired and blue eyed. He is already capturing hearts of women far, far older than he. Let us hope it does not go to his head. And let us hope he chooses a practical woman, of an age considerably less than himself. For I cannot loose him to matrimony for a very long time. Quite a long time indeed. Tender, most affectionate of sons, I love you.

Love,

Sarah

Vintage Style Dress & 2-Yard Skirt

Still no definite house news. We have called about and seen a variety of places. Some nicer, some larger than the others. It is interesting how prices can differ from place to place! For a very small, not-very-nice home one might want quite a bit, while a nicer, larger home is less.

There is one home David and I have in mind, but nothing definite has been decided upon yet. So far, this is the only house that we have both felt rather peaceful about. It is not much larger than this house and in some ways, not as nice but we both feel it could be the right one.

I have started packing in earnest this week. I like to pack and organize, but I don't like the half-moved look of having boxes stacked in all the empty corners and spaces. Thankfully we have a nice large attic which is a convenient place to store the packed boxes. When moving day arrives, all I will have to do is hand the boxes down to David and he will put them into the truck and there we go. I don't want our house to look bare and plain before we move so I always save the decorations and pictures for last. I will probably pack those up the day before we move.

To keep my mind and hands busy I have sewed a bit and finished up a dress and a new skirt. I figure I might as well use up some material so I don't have to move it all! :)

The dress was a test run of my newly made, finally fitted bodice I was having so much trouble with last week. I finally got the darted bodice to fit smoothly and then I swung the bust dart to the shoulder and created a princess seam pattern. I only had three yards of this fabric to make the dress, so the skirt is not quite as full as I wanted it to be, just 2 panels of 45" wide fabric gathered to the waist. The sleeves are short puff ones. Nothing fancy or special. I was going to make cap sleeves but decided puffed ones would look nice in this fabric, which is very light and almost sheer. It is constructed almost entirely with mid-19th century methods. I hate zippers and wanted to avoid one at all possible cost. I can't get the durn things to go in right and its hard to zip oneself up if the zipper is in the back. I also needed a front opening so I could nurse the baby. So the bodice opens in the center front and the skirt opens at the center side utilizing a dog leg closure. The bodice is flatlined with white muslin and the only modern thing I did was to zig zag the raw edges so they won't ravell as much in the wash.

The skirt came to be because of a 50% off Red Tag sale at Jo Anns. I was looking for fabric for a pioneer style around the house sort of dress and I fell in love with this fabric when I saw it. There was very little left on the bolt, however, just 2 yards. I got it because I could not bear to leave it there. So lovely, so soft, a heavier weight cotton in off white, with blue and pink roses and green leaves.

The print seemed to big to look nice as a blouse (my first thought). It was enough for an apron but I didn't want to use it to keep my other clothes clean. The fabric was too pretty. So I at last figured out how to make a long skirt with the yardage I had. I made two tiers. The top one was just full enough to go comfortably over my hips. This used a full width of the 45" fabric, cut in half for the front and back. I had to cut two strips to go on each side to pull the fullness up a bit, to around 50". With the remaining fabric I had enough to make a 15" ruffle almost three 45" wide widths full. I made a casing for narrow elastic at the top and it was done. A quick afternoons project. My current obsession is the clothing from the TV series Little House on the Prairie. I want to make a blouse and skirt like the grown up ladies wear and a sunbonnet. The clothes aren't so terribly odd as to look very out of place worn for everyday so I've been planning what I can do with the patterns I have and the fabric I have.

The Blouse:

I have Folkwears Gibson Girl blouse which looks a lot like the style of blouse Laura wears as the grown-up Mrs. Wilder. I've made the Folkwear blouse before and know that it gives a nice look and it already fits the way it is. I'll just need to change it to a front opening. I want to make mine out of a lightweight lawn or voile.

The Skirt:

The skirts worn by the ladies in this series appear to have a fairly flat, gored front and lots of fullness in the back taken up in pleats. I have Past Patterns 1890's Circular Skirt pattern but it's not quite the look I'm going for. I found two skirt patterns that would work perfectly.

This one is from Laughing Moon Merchantile. I love this!

And this one is from Truly Victorian. The bonnnet won't be hard. I have an old Butterick pattern for a "pioneer" dres and "pioneer sunbonnet" that has the right look. :)

Ah. The only problem I have is the fabric required for the skirt. Around 5 yards! I hardly ever have used that much fabric for a skirt before. I like to get as much as I can out of as little as possible. I will need to overcome this mindset.

May you all have a lovely week -

Love,

Sarah

Cleaning Out Patterns

It came to pass that on Friday we were informed that the loan of the particular person who wishes to buy our house came through, and so, we must move.

Although it shall be inconvenient to pull up stakes and move on I realize that in many ways this is an answer to prayer for me. Although this particular house was an answer to prayer for us last year, I think the Lord is answering yet another of my prayers in that we now must move.

This town has no claims upon my affection. I don't like it. I have tolerated it but have prayed that God would provide a way out for David and I ever since we got married. I honestly did not expect to be so soon, but thus are the ways of our Lord!

So, here we are, seeking out a new home! In the past three days we have called about, gone to see and looked at ads for many different homes. There are a few that are quite reasonable, quite suited to us and so we now must wait and see what the Lord has in store for us. It is hard to know what exactly to do since we still don't have a particular place chosen, nor know when this unknown particular home will be available to move to but I have been cleaning, organizing, tossing and getting things ready for donations so that we have as little as possible to move to our new home.

Today I went through all my patterns - boy, what a mess! I hate patterns, especially tissue-paper patterns and they never, ever fold up nicely to go back into their envelopes when I'm done using them. I have had a tendency to stuff them in a drawer and although I have attempted some organization by putting them into seperate ziplock bags, certain children have, it seems, gotten into the ziplock baggies and scattered them to and fro within the closet (in which they like to hide, on occasion).

I tossed quite a few patterns. I'm at the point where I if I have a good fitted basic bodice pattern would rather try to figure out a style on my own than use a seperate pattern for it.

I did come across these which seemed relatively intact and some I have not used. If any of you are interested in them, let me know. I was going to donate them but thought I'd offer them here first since so many of you ladies pursue sewing as a hobby! Email me at david _ sarahmeister @ mchsi . com (omit spaces) and let me know if you'd like any or all of them! I *think* all of the pieces are in each one but did not take the time to take the pattern out to see - since I knew I'd never get it back in! So, be forewarned. :)

#1 Junior Vogue 3249 -

This is a vintage pattern and I have never made it since it is in a size too small for me and the style would not be flattering to my figure as it accentuates the top too much. I think all the pieces are here. They are not marked pieces and I have never worked with a pattern like this but if you want to tackle it you are welcome to! I don't know the date of the pattern but I asked about it on the Sense and Sensibility board a while back and the general thought was that it was late 40's (if I remember correctly!)

Size: 13 - 31 1/2" bust and 35 1/2" hip

#2 Butterick 6080 "Sew and Go"

This is also a vintage pattern. I did make it up once but found the raglan sleeve style to be too baggy for myself, personally. It is a very basic dress but the pattern cover makes it look cute. :) I don't know what the date is on this but it looks 70's-ish to me.

Size: 12 - 34" bust

#3 Simplicity 7157 "Vintage Closet"

I got this pattern years ago and thought it would make a cute summer sundress in a modern cotton fabric. I did cut out the pieces to the princess seam chemise but I think they are all put back in the envelope. I never made it.

Size: 14-20

#4 Simplicity 3780 "1950's Retro"

I got this pattern last year but never made since I got pregnant with Malachi soon afterwards. I still like it, but its a bit revealing for my tastes, although the little jacket is cute. Never cut, envelope slightly wrinkled.

Size: 6-14

#5 Common Sense 308A "Women's Jewel Neck Dress"

I got this pattern many years ago but never made it. I love the style but since it is so basic I have made dresses in the same style with patterns I already had that I knew fit me. Uncut.

Size: The pattern does not say on the front what size it is but I'm pretty sure it is a "medium". I was about a size 6 or 8 when I got this pattern with about a 26" waist (ah, to have that back again!)

#6 Vogue V2858 "Vintage Vogue"

I got this pattern a few years ago and made it up once. I liked it but had many fitting issues with it since I was a few months pregnant with my first son and my figure was constantly changing. The style is just not very flattering on me. I think most of the pieces are there but do also think I have seen a few little facing pieces at random locations from this pattern, but those are easy to make from the main pattern pieces if you need them. (I like to just line entirely my dress bodices - makes it so much easier and makes the garment last longer!)

Size: 12-16

#7 Vogue V2880

I got this pattern to make to wear to my husbands cousins wedding. Well, I got pregnant and never made the dress, for obvious reasons. I was huge when the wedding took place. I love this dress style but honestly have to say I doubt I'd ever make it or wear it since we just don't go to fancy events very often.

Size: 10-14

#8 Butterick Design 4526

This is a reproduction 1920's pattern I got from Past Patterns. I love the style but back when I made a muslin of it realized the style was not for me. Even then, pre-babies, I had larger hips/bust and this style gave me no waist definition so I looked big all over. But for you slender, slim ladies this style would be just right! I'm almost sure everything is all in there.

Size: Bust 34" (it only came in this particular size, so I had to size up a bit for myself, which is easy to do. Sense and Sensibility has instructions on doing this).

I think that's all for now. I might unearth more as I dig through my sewing stuff!

Love,

Sarah