Alter or Destroy: Black & White Cotton Dress

I have some thinking to do and plenty of other projects before I tackle this one but I thought I'd share anyway.  I've found a great use for Mabel Mae, my new dress form (I seriously considered "Patsy" as a name so that I could blame her for everything I screw up, but thought that was mean).  She can help figure out what the hell is wrong with this dress!  Mabel Mae is a dress detective!

So cute, right?!  Slight problem, the upper waist, just around the rib cage is way too tight.  The top of the bust just fits and the lower waist and hips fit great.  At first I was upset with myself because it didn't fit, but then I was like, "My ribs?  Really?  My ribcage is too big now?" and realized that was probably the dress and not me.  And I was right. 

See how the top comes together at the hook and eye? But the rest is a no-go.  This picture makes it look way closer then it actually is- that gap is big.

Meanwhile the lower waist and hips have plenty of room to spare. The zipper goes down quite a bit, over the hips to the top of the thigh. It's a little more then half way down in this photo.

It doesn't even fit the dress form and she is, technically, perfect.   I'm not sure who is a 40DD with a 30 inch ribcage, but I've got the dress for you if you are out there, mutant!  As far as I can tell, the factory where this was made cheated the full-bust adjustment- adding depth to the front but not lengthening or widening any other part of the pattern. According to the tag the dress was "designed" in L.A. and made in China.  I'm sure a standard set of numbers were given and extrapolated on by whoever makes those decisions on the factory floor.  Probably someone without boobs. 

I could return the dress... but I'm not going to do that.  I'm going to take a gamble and see if I can fix it. I'll either alter it or destroy it!  I feel like a mad scientist!  Wooha-haha!

The dress is cotton (as is the lining) so adding some sort of panel seems like a good possibility.  But where?  And how?   I don't really want to mess with the invisible zipper, but that might be impossible. The stripes make things tricky too.  Here are the options I've come up with:

1. Insert a full panel (pieced, I think? maybe not, maybe more like a racing stripe) all the way down the none-zippered side seam.  Drawback? That will mess up the pretty way the strips are matched to each other. 

They did a pretty good job matching the stripes- not perfect, but not bad for a dress that was less then $100 retail. 

It would also make the lower waist and hips less fitted since they aren't too small now.  A bummer, but less of a bummer then not wearing the dress at all.   I could possible find the same fabric or go with a contrasting color like pink or red or just a solid black.  Very Project Runway Mondo-esque, perhaps?

Okay, maybe something a little more subtle.

A different pattern could work for sure. The dress is so stripey anyway it won't look that strange if you don't know how it is supposed to look. 

Maybe something like this? 

How much do you want to bet my husband tries to scan me with his phone? 
Like that's not going to happen... don't take that bet.

2.  Insert a gusset along the invisible zipper.  This would of course require me to remove the zipper and replace it.  Drawbacks?  My very limited experience with zippers makes this scary.  A gusset  would mess up the pretty pattern too.  However, a gusset might look neater then an added panel.  Particularly in a contrasting fabric- a smaller triangle of color vs. a stripe.  It would probably stand out more though and I'm not sure I want my alterations actually attracting attention. My only issue is that the zipper is currently longer then I would need the gusset since it's just my ribs and bust that need the adjustment.  I'm not sure how to work that as far as inserting the zipper in the new seam.

Could use a fun contrast:



Wouldn't have to worry too much about it being straight.

 or something like this: 

Subtle and girly, fancy black eyelet.  Obviously, I'd line it with white. 

 3.  Add inches to the waist band.  Not just around, but up too.  This would lower the waistband from around my ribs and add some space to breath.  Because I'm short enough I could hem the dress a couple of inches without a problem to get some perfectly matched fabric to do this work,although the stripe would be running the opposite way.


I think, based on my zero experience, that this alteration would make it harder to sew the dress back together. 


Drawback: it wouldn't alter the upper part of the bust which does fit, tightly, and I feel if I'm going to all this effort I might as well make it fit nicely everywhere.  I would still have to mess with the zipper.

4:  Screw it and chop up the dress as a pattern to make another dress, adding inches where needed.  Drawback?  That's an $80+ pattern, plus the cost of new fabric. This will be my fall back if things go poorly with the alterations.

We'll see!  I still have slipcovers to finish, some curtains to hem and another dress to make before I commit myself to re-working this one-  maybe I'll lose a rib in a freak napping accident in the meantime and I won't have to touch it.  Never know!

New Dress Form Fun!

This was my Mother's Day gift to myself:  a professional dress form.  Project Runway eat your heart out!  She needs a name which I'm not settled on yet.  All name suggestions welcomed! As long as you are okay with them being disregarded if they suck.

It may look like I've already spilled cabernet on her, but no.  That red tinge across the bust is just the bad lighting.  

Isn't she lovely?  Not having a head is very slimming.

I can add an arm later if I want.  Build-a-lady!

I poked around and considered a bunch of different options.  The entry-level adjustable models (Dritz, Singer, etc.) that you can pick up at Joann's and other chain stores just didn't look very well made to me.  Plus, I couldn't get over the spacing that goes down the middle.  What if you have to fit something there?  The real deciding factor was the wheels.  I'm going to have to be moving her around a lot since I sew in my dining room. Her rolling base is a solid 25 lbs of metal and real, not plastic, casters. SOLD!

I have no idea what the cage is really for, only that it's considered better then not having one.  Feel free to fill me in if you know the why.  

Plus, she isn't an ugly color, just a neutral linen.  Which I realize shouldn't be an issue.  That said, who wants a red dress form?  It would be a distraction to me and I'd hate it clashing with my decor, even when I'm the only one looking at it.

There are some small issues.  She was a total bitch to put together even with my husband's help.  In fact, I doubt she's assembled correctly.  Technically she is height adjustable, but since I'm 5 feet that's hardly an issue.  At her lowest setting she's still a bit taller then me.  I'll just imagine I'm wearing heels.


Gratuitous new shoe photo-  their cork!  I live in a vineyard!  Yes?  No?  Well, I was amused.

And they were on sale!  Thank you Macy's!  Maybe I should sew in them.

The other issue is the sizing.  She matches up pretty well with some slight problems:  the hip to waist ratio is off a bit, but I'm an oddball so that isn't surprising.  I don't wear form fitting outfits anyway.  The bust measurements are great on paper but I realize now that a goodly portion of my inches are on the front and nearly half of hers are across the back.  I'm not sure how much that matters if you are doing a full-bust adjustment on most patterns anyway (which I am), but we'll see.  Mostly I want to use her for draping.

That is some serious princess seaming.

Because she isn't adjustable if I lose more then, say, 15 lbs I'll be sized out.  Which since it took me a year to lose 42 lbs I'll not be holding my breath.  I figure I'll just sell her on Craigslist and reward myself with a new one when that (glorious) day comes.

A name, an after-use review, and some dressed photos coming to the blog soon!

Hello Kitty Birthday: A Dress & Other Homemade Sweet Things

I'm behind on my blogging so I'm just going to jump in again.  The weekend before last we celebrated my daughter's 5th birthday with a Hello Kitty themed celebration.

I also made, but took no photos of, a whole set of small Hello Kitty coloring books.  This was the cover.  Thank god for the "booklet" and "suppress background" settings on the office printer.  

I promised her a Hello Kitty dress (why? why would I do that?) and was only able to find one licensed fabric when doing my last minute scramble at Joann's.  In addition to being a really busy pattern, the quality of the fabric was not high.  But it was all they had three days before the party so I bought it.  There's a lesson there, but it escapes me.

It's hard to tell since, like an eclipse, you can't actually look directly at this pattern without damaging your eyesight, but the background is pink and HK's bows are red.  Abby's two favorite colors!  (P.S. The solar eclipse yesterday afternoon was super awesome-  I may be blind.)

Thankfully, it has been sunny so the thin fabric worked fine, though I did line the bodice with muslin.  I starched the hell out of the skirt too which helped.  I used the same bodice pattern I've now used four times, but changed it again and simply sewed the straps to the back- no buttons or Velcro.  I remembered to reduce the width of the straps too and it made a huge difference.  I intended to use a 4 inch zipper, but realized it wasn't necessary.  I could slip the whole thing over her head and save myself the effort.

I've been trying to pin horizontally and not vertically like I'm supposed to do for garments, but it is REALLY hard .  Guess I've already developed bad sewing habits.

The biggest pain was the gathering on the skirt.  I'm just not good at it yet.  I need more practice.  I have a gathering foot that I need to give a whirl one day.   I just have to give myself enough time to mess around without a hard deadline.

Look carefully.  There were so many frayed threads from the cheap fabric that finding the gathering threads was  a stressful task.

The cake was my sister Anna's doing. Abby loved it with all of her little heart and soul. I think it is one of those things she'll never forget.  Which is good since it took Anna forever and she might never bake anything again.

I cannot believe Abigail is five years old.  My sweet girl.  

How awesome is that?  See the crazy-cool things Anna does with nail polish here.  Apparently, she was able to transfer those skills over to cream cheese frosting because the cake was amazing (and tasted pretty damn good too). Mmm.  Spice cake.

A boy at the party got within inches of pouring bubble solution on the cake in an effort to put out the candle.  No joke.  

My sweet contribution were two dozen Hello Kitty cookies:

Step 1 (actually step like ten million, but for illustrative purposes, let's say 1):
Hello Kitty's distinct bow.  Dark pink was as close to red as I could get it.

Step 2:  Background takes 24 hours to set before you can finish decorating.

Step 3:  Little faces!  All prepared to be consumed and promptly forgotten. 

I followed directions, step by step, from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle. (Do not compare mine to hers- it will make Hello Kitty sad.) To get to the point where I could even follow those directions I had to delve pretty deep into some baking blogs. I learned more then I ever wanted to know about royal icing.  Sugarbelle's site was by far the most helpful!  Her comparisons to household products for consistency is just genius and is super helpful for a beginner.  I especially liked how she saved the toothpaste after one blog demonstration and made her kids use it. That's my kind of blogger!  Once I prepped everything, the actual cookie making wasn't too hard.  I think I will be volunteering for the bake sales with themed cookies next year! You know, in my free time.

Notes on the project:  Dress was made in considerably less time and with substantially less stress then the cookies.  Both were adorable.

Cost:  The fabric was on sale 40% off and I bought 2 yards for a total of about $8.  The zipper was an additional $1.96,  but I didn't end up using it.  I had the muslin and thread on hand.  Pretty sure I will never use the Hello Kitty cookie cutters or cake pan again but I like to think of them as sunk costs anyway.  I did buy 8 Wilton candy bottles for "flooding" the cookies (that's my new cookie lingo in effect, folks!), some oil free butter flavoring, 4 lbs of confectioners sugar, some cake release stuff, two new cookie sheets, a new box of disposable pastry bags, and a couple extra small tips for about $120-ish.  The frosting, dye and cake mix were all on hand for the Hello Kitty cake so that cost was $0 and about 8 hours of Anna's time. She is the best Auntie ever!  Seriously, that was an act of uncalled for awesome-auntieness. 

Verdict:  Success!  The dress has already been worn again, though one of the seams came loose.  The cookies were cute and not inedible.  I flavored the dough with vanilla and the royal icing with butter flavor, but neither with a strong enough hand.  Next time I will do my best to find some oil free extract for the icing that is tastier. 

What to Wear? Challenge 1: Meet the President

Update on the slipcovers:  I haven't done anything more.  Next week, I hope!

Despite my uniform of jeans, tank tops and hoodies, I really do like fashion.  And while I hate trying clothes on, I do like to shop for them.  Come with me and let's pretend to shop together!  Now that I know (kind of) how to sew I can't help but wonder what I could do myself.  

Challenge One:  Political Mixer
Let's say you are married into a family whose business is highly regulated by the federal government and taxed to the ends of the earth.  What kind of conservative spring outfit do you wear for a late afternoon lobbyist meet & greet in D.C.?  Photos will be taken so color must be considered.

I like the trendy lace look, but don't want be mistaken for wearing lingere which is why I love this dress so much.  Any combo of black and nude or black and pink are out.

These colors would look good on me too.  Just sayin'. 

This is Creatures of the Wind, $1660.  The turquoise and pink is fun!  The dress isn't produced in a size larger then a 8 (which is sold out) so... it's kind of eliminated from our pretend shopping trip anyway.  But I do think it could be made, maybe not in as fine of materials, pretty easily.  Or at least with manageable difficulty by someone who knows how to sew well.  Although it is not a shift-  look how well the waist is defined without  messing up the pattern- they meet and curve gently in a way that screams, "Hey!  She didn't buy this dress at Target!".  Pricey and the neckline isn't the most flattering for a busty woman.

In a similar vein, but a little less dressy are these two Lilly Pulitzer numbers, much more affordable and readily available at Sak's.  Keep in mind neither would be nearly as short on me.

$348.  Fond of the cap sleeves, but would have prefered more of a sleeve and a lower neckline.

$245.  Keyhole back and pockets are a plus, no sleeves means you need a wrap or a sweater of some kind.

I suppose I could buy two each of those Lilly Pulitzer dresses for the same price as the pretty lace one.  They are both cotton though and I'm afraid in person they would read too juvenile.  I imagine with some cotton eyelet and some good dye you could make something similar for half the price anyway.

 

Sleeves, pockets and knee length with a v-neck?!  It's a miracle!

Jonathan Saunders, $1695.  Same pretty coral color.  It's a little Doris Day, I admit and a full skirt is not a friend of my hips.  But it is so difficult to find this combination I feel like everybody should buy one just to reward the designer for the effort.  The shoulders look very complicated and lining up the pattern with the pleats would be impossible for me to do myself.  Look how nicely the points on the lace print hit right at the pleat.  That's a thousand dollars of the price right there.  The more I stare at this dress the more I like everything about it.

More coral pink.  I'm in a mood.  It also comes in peacock and a silver gray.

Temperly London, $900.  I'll just say it:  Alice Temperly is amazing.  Love a lot of her collections.  Edwardian-Modern is my best description of the stuff I love most. Sometimes there is a mistep (like their biker-ish ugliness) but it is rare. I already own one of her dresses in two colors.  She hasn't abandon the open neck like everyone else with their mod-inspired lameness.  I like this because it could easily be dressed down or up depending on the shoes.  I'd have to tack close the back a touch (because I must wear a bra) which brings the design down from evening a bit as well.  Looks better on a body then not: 

I would not wear heels with this dress and that necklace is hideous.

This is so very pretty and (from the front) perfect for late afternoon. I got married in red shoes so they have a soft spot in my wardrobe. 

Okay, the color here isn't the best and would wash me out in photos, but it is simply lovely.  Lela Rose, $2495.  There is one serious dealbreaker in addition to the ridiculous price:  the back is simply too bare.  Whatsherface on Project Runway All Stars hammered on the designers for their inability to design a dress a woman could wear with a bra and she was totally right.  Who is going to be able to wear this anywhere?  The front is lined so it isn't intended to be worn as a peek a boo either.   On the runway the skirt wasn't lined at all.  That said, the criscross in the front and the drape from the waist are perfection.

No bra, no buy.

There is some knock-off potential here.  A simple sheath (so you could wear a bra) in a light liner fabric with a tulle overlay could happen.  I feel that it would look messy though if it wasn't done right, the seams and edges especially.  The tulle would have to be that really high quality bridal stuff which is not cheap and you would needs yards and yards of it, plus I wound need to master my serger which is still in its box.

Final contender in this round is a dress from Ann Taylor which I'm going to find an excuse to buy at some point I'm sure, but probably not the best choice for a photo op;  even the model looks a little washed out. The shot of Kate Hudson shows her wearing it with a bright pink belt to brighten it up.  Some of the detail is lost on the screen.  In person it is to die for and way more affordable at $248.

It is boring, I can see that.

Ann Taylor makes this in a petite too which I appreciate. 

"Hee, hee!  It is so great to be me and not you!"  This is actually a better shot of the color of the dress, it's kind of a super pale mocha, less of an ivory. If it was a v-neck I would have already bought it.  I imagine finding shoes might be a challenge unless you just went for a bold color. 

I still have an entire bolt of crepe back satin in a really pretty dark teal...  I should probably be shopping for patterns instead of already made dresses.  Next what to wear challenge:  other people's weddings! 

St. Patrick's Day: Little Girl Evening Gown

An elegant dress for a four year old, isn't it? We added the shamrock sash and glittery crown for that oh, so sophisticated touch. And who needs shoes anyway?  Footwear is so cliche. 

The Shamrock Princess- so regal.  She is above looking at the camera.

Actually, my husband and I attended a big fancy-shmancy party last night where after a few hours I was wishing desperately shoes were optional.  I really do hate heels. 

The back.  In person the green is more electric then it is showing up in photos.  I should have made a fake bow for the sash, didn't occur to me until right now.  The sash kept slipping during the day so I should have inserted little loops in the side seams to keep it at her (non-existent) waist.

I realized Friday afternoon that I haven't made Abby anything in ages and felt kind of guilty. I got a bee in my bonnet and whipped up this dress.  It is made with the cheapest costume satin ever produced which I think I bought last year imagining I'd make a Tinkerbell costume for her.  The sash is leftover from Viv's jumper, one of three St. Patrick's Day projects I did last year.  I'm slacking.

No sash = pleats in action!

Notes on the project:  Used my turning tool for the first time with the sash, though I'm pretty sure I used it wrong, but whatever, it was long and pointy.  Used the same bodice pattern from Little Girls, Big Style I've used before (it is a really easy pattern, I recommend for beginners highly) and I made the same mistake I did before which was not make the straps more narrow.  I think they are just too wide, or perhaps Abby is just that slight.  I've made a note in the book now so I'll remember if I do it again.

I did pleats instead of gathers for a more neo-classic look and made the skirt longer for the "gown" effect and wider to accommodate the pleats and so cut the two sides of the skirt at 25" X 25" each. I lined bodice with muslin, but not the skirt. The only other change is the buttons:  I couldn't find my button-hole foot (I didn't look too hard) so I just sewed in Velcro and put fake buttons on the outside.  I think in the future I'm just going to put a zipper up the back of the bodice and sew the straps into both sides.  It will look a lot neater. 

Cost:  Took me maybe three hours?  Maybe four-ish.  Went way faster then last year's St. Patrick's Day dress and was considerably less stressful.  I already owned all the fabric and it wasn't terribly high quality so I'd guess $5.

Verdict:  Preschoolers do not need evening gowns.  It is a tripping hazard.  That said, success!

This is Abigail's fake beauty queen reaction:  "I can't believe I won!  Little ol' me?!"

Sewing Sofa Slipcovers: Part 1

This project is a huge pain in the ass.  I'm not finished yet, but thought I'd share what is done so far and how I did it in an effort to restore my enthusiasm.  If nothing else, this project has done its job of keeping me occupied and off the Internet. 

Let me begin with a warning:  do not do this.  Or, okay, do it, but only if you really cannot afford a new couch.  I should have just bought new furniture (yes, wasteful, but dear lord! Way easier).  I guess if you are a great seamstress and have endless free time and no kids or no need to sit on the sofa in question for days and days then, sure, you can give it a go.  Otherwise, seriously, Pottery Barn is your friend. 

This is how 40 yards of 54" fabric is shipped to you from Fabric.com:

I'm only 5 feet tall.  This is nearly a third of my body weight. Awkward isn't really strong enough of a word. 

If you follow any sort of "real" directions you will at this point be measuring out everything before cutting.  The math worksheets inside "Custom Slipcovers Made Easy" ought to earn you college credit. At least a unit.  Needless to say I did not do any of that.  Instead, I followed the "Lazy Girl's Guide to Custom Slipcovers" and just did some draping and cutting.

Down the back I have a good 2.5 inches onto the floor.  I regularly have my couch vacuumed and steam cleaned because that's how I am, but I realize that is not typical so remember to vacuum and clean well before you start because you don't want to be doing it in the middle.

Since the fabric is a solid color I just railroaded it which makes things much simpler.  If this is your first slipcover (like me) DO NOT choose a pattern.  Just don't.  It is already enough work.   Remember you want to drape the fabric inside out.  The backside of my fabric is a bit lighter then how it will actually look.

More draping and pinning. In this photo four sections:  outside back, right arm over,  inside back and bench.   Cushions are removed in this photo and I believe were being made into fortresses in front of the TV at this point.

Instead of draping the inside back all the way down onto the bench I put a seam between the bench and the inside back.  My reason for doing this is that my bench could then drape all the way to the floor without a skirt.  Ruffles aren't really my style.  The important note here is that you have to make sure the bench piece is wide enough to wrap around the outside to meet with the side pieces (not in the above photo yet).  You'll have to trim quite a bit around the inside arms, but it will be better then having to piece together yet another bit of fabric. 

All these pins are wrong.  Every single one.

Here is a tip for beginners that ought to be tattooed on my face:  RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER.  I pinned across the back and along the inside arms before realizing I'd pinned it wrong.  Yeah.  That was rough. I was too busy trying to get it straight and tight.  A stupid mistake that cost me a chunk of time.  Another hint:  you will pin your hands.  It will hurt.  Drink wine.  It will help. 

I used something like 300 pins.  My fancy magnetic pin cushion was worth the investment.  I love mine!  I can't imagine what I would have been doing without it.  Individually poking them into my standard tomato?  No thanks. 

"Lazy Girl's Guide" is skimpy on some details which becomes evident once you are trying to fit the fabric around curves and along angles.  I had to make darts along the corners which wasn't difficult or anything- just wasn't in the directions.  This is where the overwhelming detail and complicated techniques in the "Slipcovers Made Easy" book are helpful in pointing you in the right direction.  Not that I was going to be doing faux-box corners or anything, but at least I knew I wasn't crazy that it wasn't looking right without the darts. 

Cutting bias strips is difficult since my cutting table isn't actually wide enough to cut 42" fabric at a full 45 degree angle.  I cut half than flipped the fabric and cut the other half.  It worked.  Don't use disappearing ink as it'll be gone before you get to cutting.  Use tailors' chalk.

After that initial bout of pinning, I needed to pin the arm fronts which I needed welting in order to complete.  I considered making the welting the easy way, just folding fabric straight over cording, but in the end decided that I was going to make it the right way, encased in bias cut strips that were pieced together one at a time.  I did try to figure out how to make continuous loop bias tape to save some effort, but after watching video after video on YouTube I was still confused and so nixed that too.  I did use my rotary cutter for the first time since I failed with it early last year.  They were using rotary cutters in all of the videos so I picked up some tips on how to use them properly, if not how to make the loop.  Kind of in love with it now. 

Another totally awesome tool to use when making your own welting or piping is this do-dad: 

My bias strips are two inches (roughly, even with the rotary cutter some are a little straighter then others) and the cord is cotton piping in size 8/32.  The 4th grade math student in me so wants to reduce that number properly.

The do-dad is magnetic so sticks to the base plate and pushes the cording up along the zipper foot nice and tight.  I have zero idea when or why I purchased it, or what it is really called, I just happened to find it among my notions while searching for my zipper foot and was pretty stoked I had it.  It will also help you gather pins when you leave the magnetic pin cushion in the other room.  FYI. 

I made 7.5 yards of finished welting.  The whole process, cutting bias strips and sewing, took me about 3 hours.  I will need to make an additional 20 yards for the cushions and then double the whole amount for the second couch.  Yeah.  That should be 10-12 hours of work I imagine.

I then pinned the fronts to the arms inserting the welting along the seams.  I cut into the arm drape where I wanted to run the welt horizontally across the side of the couch.  That was unnerving since I'd already pinned the inside of  the arm to the bench and inside back and was concerned I'd mess it up and have to re-do all the work. 

This eats up pins like crazy.

After all the pinning it is finally time to sew.  Now in "Lazy Girl's Guide" she bastes all the seams by hand before taking it to her machine.  That sounded like a good plan to me so I tried it.  Terrible.  I don't know what I did wrong, but something was not right.  I kept snapping the thread and was really burned out with the whole effort.  I quit basting after one one arm.  Maybe I should have taken a break. 

In "Sewing Made Easy" she doesn't baste, but does outline with marker where she wants the seams.  The problem with that is you have to plan ahead of time how you intend to put the fabric through the machine which spatially I cannot do.   Unless she was doing it on both sides of the future seam?  Maybe that would have worked.  Anyway, I said screw it and dragged the pinned mess to my dinning room.



I'm telling you:  buy a new couch.  Ballard Designs, slipcovered "Davenport" $999 for the frame $280-450 for slips.  Sure, no down cushions, but no million pins pricking you either.


This was difficult.  And all kinds of disastrous.  There is simply way too much fabric!  A tip for beginners (that I will be using on the second slipcover):  pin one seam at a time, sew, check the fit, then pin the next seam, sew, check the fit, repeat-repeat-repeat.  It may seem more time efficient to pin all at once and then sew it all at once, which it may very well be, but don't do it if you don't know what you are doing.  

Completely exhausted, I turned it right side out and put it on the couch.  It did not fit well and I had bunching where I'd sewn through two layers on accident in several places.  I did not take a picture because I was pretty sure I was going to give up.  Wish I had now. (Taken photos, not the giving up.) I talked myself into trying to fix it after a couple of days of moping.  I had to rip out and re-pin a bunch of seams, all of them along the arms.  

Cushions back on the couch. We use this room on a daily basis for hanging out and watching TV, playing games, etc. It being off limits for an extended period of time was not possible so we just used while pinned up.

 

You can see how much brighter the yellow and dark coral will make the room.  One day.  Far, far in the future.

Part 2 will be the cushions and I hope to do them this week.  We'll see how it goes with my time.  And then, of course, I have to do the second couch.  Good grief!

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