Duvet Retro

I am one of those people who likes a lot of blankets, while the other person in bed...not so much.  So, ages ago, I made a just-for-me comforter, two yards by 40"

I recently took a good look at it and realized that I had worn it threadbare in many places, as well as being reminded of the random holes and popped seams, and also the colors were very much not my thing these days.

But, it still worked perfectly well as a blanket, so I decided I'd make a new cover for it, and I decided to go ahead and make it a duvet cover.

A simple dress that really is

Yes, many times in the last year, since making my first iteration of a modified Simplicity 9153, have I intended a dress to be a quick, simple project, and it ended up being...more complicated.  This time, though: I did it!  No appliqués!  No mixing prints!  No "oh, wow, this is going to be too short, I need to add a contrast band at the bottom but I'm not just gonna add a simple ruffle, noo, I'm gonna cut out a curved shape to smoothly extend the skirt."  Not even any "oops, not enough cloth to cut this facing as one piece, I'll have to cut two halves with seam allowance."  Just one quick, simple dress

The zipper is too heavy, I know

An aluminum zipper probably would have been the perfect weight, and, if I had done something as out-of-character as plan this project, I could easily have added a long aluminum zipper to the WAWAK order I had placed the day before I started working on this.  But I hadn't, so I didn't, and here we are, with a heavy nickel-plated zipper on a superlightweight jacket

 I'm still considering it a success, though.

Impulse Curtains (and tablecloth and more curtains and a windowsill runner and oh look another curtain)

Two days ago was the first Saturday of the month, which--around here, at least--is "half off everything in the store" day at all the Goodwills.  I have recently taken back up with houseplants again, and had the idea I could go to the Goodwill that I hadn't gone to earlier in the week and grab some cache pots for cheap, and also maybe find a mirror to put behind the shelf recently installed in here to hold houseplants.

I did find a few cache pots, but no suitable mirrors.  And I also saw this

Marked $9.99, so $5, with indeterminately many yards rolled up in the tube, and with stripes in a nice watermelon-y pink color.  At first I scoffed, because what use would I have for so much interior decorating weight cloth?

Last Dress of 2019

There's a somewhat complicated project I've been trying to convince my self to start for...uh...years, and I thought about starting it yesterday, but I knew I wouldn't be able to work on it today, so I made my excuse be "that would break the flow" and so I sewed a quick dress instead

And while, yes, I did manage to get it made in one day (that day being yesterday, and I'm wearing it now), it still wasn't as quick as I expected.

Last Big Project of the Year

Not 'complicated' big as much as '90" square big, plus matching pillow shams' big.

So.

Many years ago--but I'm not sure exactly how many, because I seem not to have taken a photo of it when it was completed--I made this patchwork bedspread and matching pillow shams for our bed

 And I still like it!  And it is mostly still in good shape...mostly.

Fashion Doll Shawl Collar Coat Pattern (with optional lining)

I have been in a "too much doll stuff, gotta get rid of some of it" mode for the last few weeks (this seems to always strike when winter daylight is at its lowest...)  A result of this is that I have been digging out dolls I've wanted to do more things with, and...doing things.  Like sewing.

I started with making this coat