Yes, there is such a thing as a turtleneck stash. Mine was becoming ridiculous. I wear turtlenecks solo, and under everything from dresses, to sweaters, to t-shirts. After months and years of washings and wearings, some start to fade. Some shrink vertically, and become too short in the body and sleeves. Some develop a bulkier, boxy shape, that doesn’t fit well under other garments.
This winter I summoned the courage to start carving them up. I loved the resulting composite pieces. I lengthened sleeves and torsos, and converted regular t-shirts into long-sleeved turtlenecks.
(All photos taken under the watchful eye of the pupervisor.)
I attend a lot of college basketball and football games, so wearing a color-blocked garment turned out to be a great way to ‘represent’.
Color blocking made layering more fun.
The color blocked garments were versatile.
I also tried lengthening the torso by inserting a band in the middle. This brown and grey one doesn’t look smooth in the picture, but it actually looks fine when worn.
The turtleneck stash had outgrown the drawer, and then the shelve(s) dedicated to their storage. Even after cutting and combining several of them, I still have a bunch of old turtlenecks that need to be boxed up for donation. That will happen once turtleneck wearing season is over.
After seeing many great examples in the blogosphere, of the Coco dress pattern by Tilly and the Buttons, I finally downloaded the pattern and gave it my own try. The pattern is wildly popular, and now I know why. It was fast to make, the fit perfect, and the style cute and comfortable. There’s no need for me to do a full pattern review. It’s been done elsewhere, by better reviewers. You might want to start by checking out the Coco Pinterest gallery.
So, about my version: I went wild with the print. This fabric had been sitting on my stash shelf for several years. It is a spandex swimsuit knit.
This fabric is stretchier and lighter weight than the pattern recommends. But, it worked really well, with the exception of the collar, which drapes like a cowl instead of staying rolled in place. For lightweight fabric such as this, I suggest using an interfacing in the collar for extra body.
Because the print isn’t crazy enough (hehe), I went through my stash of trims, and added some stripes down the arms. I’m super happy with the result.
New phone camera doesn’t do so well on mirror selfies. 😡 Not sure if it is the mirror or lighting. But here is the dress at the end of its first wearing to the office.
When I originally purchased the fabric, it was to make some quick, wild summer car seat slipcovers. Those worked out great, too. But I bought way too much fabric, and the rest sat on the shelf, almost going in the donation box more than once.
The ‘Pup-prentice’
I can’t forget to credit my foster ‘pup-prentice’. He insisted on helping at every step; even when it meant crawling under my chair and up through the sewing cabinet.
It took me an extra month to figure out my goals for 2018. Then it has taken me another month to tell people about it. But here it is: I want to adopt one new habit per month. I started successfully with a January habit, which inspired me to keep going with a new habit per month.
Monthly Habits:
January: Get up at a regular time, and do 15 minutes of yoga stretches.
Janathon helped by giving me fun daily reminders to report my effort.
Our local PBS station has been the other help, by showing Priscilla’s Yoga Stretches each morning from 6-6:30. They fit two 15-minute sessions in that time slot. I’ve been doing the 6:15 session. Perfecto!
February: 90 minutes of ‘Monk Mode’ each morning.
I’ve seen various descriptions of what ‘monk mode’ means, so I’ve tailored my own version to what I need. I’m trying for a straight 90 minutes of office work, in the morning before I get distracted by other things. During this 90 minutes, I am trying to refrain from checking online news sources, blogs, and of course, Facebook. Ideally, the 90 minutes would be with no TV or radio. But, there are things I listen to in the morning to get my daily current events updates. So maybe I need an afternoon monk mode session as well, in total silence. Maybe that is a habit for a later month.
March: ‘Spring cleaning’, baby! One hour, one room, per day
I am focusing on one room per day for cleanup, decluttering, rearranging, reorganizing, etc. I’m trying for an hour per day on this task. Do I include the yard and car as ‘rooms’? Looking at them, the answer is an emphatic yes! Does it make the goal too broad and undefined? Maybe.
April: I haven’t decided on April’s new habit. I want to decide month by month. I have ideas for some of the upcoming months. Potential categories are home management, productivity, conservation, health, fitness, enlightenment, budgeting.
How’s it going so far?
The yoga habit has stuck like glue. I feel great, my posture is better I think, and I love the jump-start it gives to my morning.
The monk mode habit, hmmm. I’m now aghast at how sporadic, sloppy and undisciplined my work concentration has become. If I had charted my month of devotion to this habit, the chart would look like a roller coaster. To me, this means I need to keep ‘monk mode’ in my morning routine, and need to make a consistent effort to accomplish it.
The room-a-day habit is not a habit yet. But each day something gets done. I’m looking forward to what the place looks like on March 31.
The regular activities continue. Fitness, food prep and nutrition, sewing. I don’t need to set goals to make these a regular part of my routine. For that I’m truly thankful.
On 2017 projects:
The puppy/dog fostering has been a wonderful addition to my life:
(All photos taken under the watchful eye of the pupervisor.)
run | sew | read 