Creating Joy--Vogue 1312

 

A few weeks ago my oldest son sent me a text message. The conversation went something like this:

 

 

Him:  What do you want for Christmas?

 

Me:  Joy.

 

Him: Who's she?

 



Since then, that tiny little snippet of conversation has stayed in my mind. Not only because Number One Son has such a quick wit, but because it resonated with me that joy is really and truly what I want more of in my life.

 

I started really paying attention to the things I do or see or hear everyday that bring me Joy.

 

Family, of course, is first on the list. Spending time with them is only part of the equation--it includes many of the mundane things I do (and redo, like laundry and dishes) that makes the family work as a unit so well. Things like meal planning, cooking, trying out new recipes, keeping the kitchen clean and the dishwasher loaded, clean towels in the linen closet, and other things that I don't really consider to be "chores" so much as I consider them to be part of what makes us a family.

 

Working outside brings me Joy, too, but there is little to be had of that particular variety in the wintertime.

 

Reading brings me Joy, but I tend to read more sewing blogs that I do books (unless they are sewing and quilting books).

 

Creating Joy is what I have been missing for quite some time. Creating with needle and thread, whether it be a quilt top or a little girl's dress or a needlework sampler or smocking or Fill In The Blank.....I have not been Creating Joy.

 

This is a long version of what this post is really about, which is Vogue 1312:

 

 

 

Today I am Creating Joy, with a muslin version of Vogue 1312. I've had this pattern for quite some time and recently bought about 5 yards of navy ponte knit from JoAnn's to make myself this dress. I was surprised to read on the pattern envelope that it is recommended for woven fabrics. Living in the Deep South where it is hot as Hades in the summertime (which lasts about seven months), I can see myself sitting on the back porch Joyfully sipping sweet tea while wearing a linen version of this dress.

 

So with that picture in my mind, I have traced off the front and back bodice pattern pieces and am busy making a FBA in a pattern with NO bust darts that is designed for a woven fabric. I don't know what Vogue was thinking, but I know good and well that this will look like a sack in linen fabric without some bodice shaping to accommodate the bust.

 

And now that I have started working on it, I am beginning to feel that old Joy I used to know.

 

It's nice to be back. I hope my followers are still there.