Raveled and Unraveled

I posted yesterday, made it password protected, then changed my mind, making it a public post, only without the photo I took of G. (He’s crazy paranoid about having his photo online, justifiably so. He has an ex on par with some of mine, only mine had the good grace to die.)

My sewing adventures are presently curtailed, because our grandson is back for at least a couple of weeks. Then after he flies off (literally – in an airplane) to the Midwest to join his mom, our older daughter is moving in behind him, bringing her six-year-old. Her husband was never one of my favorite people in the world, but he’s devolved to a point of no return. She told him she’s done and he cleaned out their bank account and left her stranded with literally nothing. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Both our girls are driving on their way to the Midwest today. Two of the grandsons will be staying in the Midwest while my oldest comes back to stay with us and to initiate divorce. Everyone is hoping by the time she takes her ex to the cleaners (a lawyer will have a field day with the BS he’s pulling) that she can also follow to the Midwest. I’m sure that’s where she’ll ultimately land; I just hope it’s sooner rather than later, for everyone’s sake.

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I revised my plans for the purple fabric. I love the Milkmaid pattern I originally planned to use with it.

Unfortunately, that pattern was created for somebody with a B cup. (No, really – they have a video tutorial on the site and it literally says “this is designed for a B cup”.) Y’all, I haven’t seen a B cup since I was about eleven years old. My cup doesn’t so much runneth over as it gallopeth like a herd of braying donkeys. I could have adjusted the bust piece to cover the girls. However, I was going to have to redesign literally the entire bodice, because even expanding the coverage wouldn’t allow for wearing a bra. My only option would be to redesign the bodice to add a gusseted corset, which would necessitate trading the zipper and adding ease in the back and… well, you get the idea. I’ll literally have to redesign the whole dang thing, which I might do someday if the rest of my world ever calms down to a dull roar.

So it was back to the proverbial drawing board.

The dress design at right is one I liked. I found the pattern on Etsy for a little over $9, which isn’t horrible, but I was still looking at other options.

And lo and behold, I was yesterday days old when I found the holy grail of pattern websites. What’s more, I found the exact same pattern as the one I wanted from Etsy, only for $3÷ instead of $9+.

The pattern site is called lekala.co. There’s a reason I call it the holy grail of pattern sources. Fact is, almost nobody is a perfect match for the pattern sizes. If I get something in a size to fit my bust, it’s the wrong size for my hips and waist. If I find something to fit my hips, it’s way WAY off for the bust and waist. And so on.

This page – lekala.co – generates patterns according to the measurements you plug in. I don’t know of any other page with that perk.

Yes, I ordered the $3 dress pattern, once I figured out the mechanics of the website — like creating my personal size template, converting from cm to inches, etc. So far, so good. Most of their patterns look simpler to make and probably easier to wear than on most other sites..

They have a top pattern I adore and intend to turn into a dress. Picture at left. I love the tulip sleeves, the asymmetrical collar and neckline, and the clean lines of it. I could either extend the length along straight lines, or add a pleated skirt. Yeah, gathered is easier, by far. Pleats are cleaner, though, and imho this design calls for all clean lines..

Incidentally, I’m linking some of these for my own sake. Their shopping cart empties every time you leave the website. When you buy or get one of their free patterns, they email the custom pattern to you within about 10-15 minutes.

Yes you CAN get custom sizing on their free patterns, too.