For whom the alarm rings

The world of paid work is not just knocking gently. Tomorrow it will be an alarm clock going off loudly. It has been a great summer with much to love and cherish. Brighid had her actual fifth birthday earlier this week which was a furling whirling lovely day of visitors and visiting. Tonight I remembered to go to the supermarket and buy food for school lunches. Mostly, I've been fitting in sewing my blue cardigan, as though it represents organisation itself. If I can have it finished for Monday (no chance for tomorrow), the Global Fabrics sewing project will be complete. It seems almost talismanic, as if completing the sewing will confer order on my world, despite the rational element in my brain noting that time spent sewing is time ignoring everything else which needs doing. A few days ago it looked like this:
A cardigan which reaches to the centre front is a rare and wonderful thing for me. It may still be a smidgen small but that is because I altered to measurements taken before a summer of wine, barbeques and general indulgence. A bit of running around multitasking and possibly the green prescription gym class may see things return to a slightly slimmer version.

As for the second photo, I had to unpick the band and scratch my head a lot and then repin it differently. Now it is much much less puckered. There is nowhere in the house to take a current photo without waking someone or somebodies up tonight. Then again, as for this second photo, you don't see a room like this on the sewing blogs too often do you?

I look at my sewing and think back to my first finished dress (which went into the bin - not even good enough for the Sallies) and I think that the best way I am learning is by carrying on sewing and then carrying on again. I'm getting better at using my machine and working around the limitations of its age and era. The garden has taken something of a back seat to the sewing projects, but not completely. Votes for a dress sewing project please? Both of these dresses have been very popular on Pattern Review (possibly the most useful resource for sewing I have stumbled across)

Pros: I already own Vogue 8379. I have cut the pattern pieces out and attempted an extended bodice as a sop to the FBA situation. [I never sewed it up as the cheapie fabric I chose was so awful I couldn't bear to use it as a muslin after I whipped up a skirt (gone to the Sallies without a single wear) in the same fabric. With my slightly more practised knowledge about bust adjustments and getting wrap dresses to sit flat and not gape, I will have to change the alterations quite a bit.]

Cons: I will probably need 3.5 metres for it, which makes for pricey fabric.

Pros: It is gorgeous. I've seen photos of it on a range of figures and I think it could work. It only uses 2 metres.

Cons: I need to buy the pattern which is $NZ33. It is a summer dress and summer is, sadly, not long for my world.