Hot damn: Vogue 8409!

Hello wiggle dress: Vogue 8409, where've you been all my life? I made up a muslin last weekend to good results. The armscye's a little tight and I had to take in the waist inset by half an inch on either side, but hot damn: this is one killer dress.

Once I've dealt with the sleeve issue, I'll make up the real one in a stretch black sateen and then get Cheech to take photos after that. Meanwhile you will have to content yourselves with the packet cover:

It's a very simple dress to put together, and very satisfying to wear - it takes about 20 pounds off, and no lie. Very cute. If you're bombshell-y, give it a shot. This fall I plan to make it up in some sort of menswear suiting, if I can find one that won't itch me half to death.

I've also got big plans for the jacket in Vogue 8461, below (it has a certain biker je ne sais quoi; if I can muslin it and it turns out well, I'm thinking about buying some lightweight lavender leather to knock off that Parisian leather jacket I saw at Printemps).

I might have to add a few metal zippers, though. Just to butch it up a little.

Then there's V8648, below, which I am planning to make up in a goofy off-weft polka dot (below below). I'd make the sleeveless straight skirt version and wear it with a black cardigan.

A few of you will probably warn me that if the polka dots don't march in a straight line, it will drive me crazy. To you I say, there is a thing called Xanax. There is enough shit going down in the world without making yourself crazy about matching patterns, although if that's your thing, godspeed. I will never notice, but I salute you for your attention to detail.

Of more pressing concern: how to fit this Big Ben and brollies fabric into my workaday wardrobe. Thoughts? When I bought it, I had visions of a pleated A-line, but then I got real and realized I would look like mutton dressed as lamb.

Friends, tell me how a buxom 40-year-old can get away with the below, please. Perhaps a straight skirt with a generous kick pleat and a black turtleneck? Tall black boots?

I mean, it is white, which could potentially limit its application. Although I've never been one of those Labor Day freaks. See not uptight, above. Life is fleeting. Enjoy your white whilst you can.

Below are two swatches from a friend's sewing project. She and I are more or less the same size, but there's enough difference in how that size is allocated that I am freaking out, just a teensy bit, about making her pjs and a skirt. I think I may have to go out and buy a PJs pattern for her specifically, although I think I can draft the skirt just fine.

They'll both need to be lined, which is also making me tense. This is why I don't offer to make things for more people: I always want to, and then I always end up sweating bullets.

There is also this lovely throwback that I am thinking about making up in a chocolate brown. I love the bodice and the retro neckline.

Mmm, mmm, mmm: retro dress. And now that I finally have a couple pairs of flat boots that I like, I can wear dresses and still walk to the shuttle stop for my commute. Tra la! Life is good.

And lest you think I am a slave to Vogue (though I am), I've also got two new Simplicity designs that are calling my name:

So many dress patterns, so little time. Now if I were only braver about wearing them. Me-Made September? Me-Maybe.