Monday, April 4, 2011

The Anna tunic and spring tulips

Monday already?  I know I'm not the only one thinking that this morning.  At least I hope not.  However, it is supposed to get up to 80 (!) today, and I'll gladly suffer through a Monday for that.

We had a lowkey weekend.  No guests, no plans.  We did our grocery shopping Friday night and came home to a power outage--those are getting more and more common and I'm not a fan.  Saturday we had a few errands to run, including an oil change for ol' Gus, who has been going on the same oil since October, even though we did the 800-mile move in January.  He's alive, that's all that matters.  With all the free time I decided to finally tackle the Amy Butler Anna tunic.  This tunic would've only taken me one day if it weren't for those damned yokes.  I know I've read countless other blogs talking about the yokes--some wanted to scream at them, others didn't have a problem, and I have to say, they made me rethink completing it.  The diagrams didn't make sense and it took hours to finally understand.


If anyone is having the trouble I did, just keep going.  It helped me to take a break (for the night) and to visalize it.  It also helped to pin the arm holes closed.  Ms. Butler doesn't mention it, but I kept sewing the yoke on and getting it stuck inside.  Also, I basted each time until I was absolutely sure I had it.  It took three bastings, but I finally got it!

There are, of course, a few small mistakes, but I don't think they're noticeable to anyone but me.  I hope not, anyway.  Just don't tell me if they are.


As I've said before, I'm the world's worst hand-sewer, so the buttons were less than fun.  I'm hoping they don't fall off.  But hey!  I sewed buttons!  Never done that before.

To usher in spring I bought some flowers from Whole Foods.  Everyone has been talking about ranunculus lately, and I almost went for those, but I like to buy flowers that haven't opened yet and all the bouquets were open.  Boo.  I'm also eagerly awaiting peony season.  They're one of my favorites!


I bought tulips instead.  I love tulips more than anything.  These, amazingly, were all tight and closed when I picked them up.  I put them in a vase once I got home and then went back to sewing.  Once I was done with the tunic I walked into the kitchen and they looked like this!  I was surprised beyond anything.  They're now sitting next to the sewing machine.

So that was my weekend.  Coming this week: books!  And hopefully a job for Nick!  And a sewing class with Betz White!  And Jake's birthday!  And drag queen brunch!  It's going to be a good week.

3 comments:

  1. That tunic is wonderful! Great job! I forgot all about the Anna tunic until this post. Thank you for reminding me! What is the print of that fabric? It is absolutely lovely.

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  2. Thanks! You should definitely give it a whirl. The print is Erin Michaels Uptown, and you may be able to find it on etsy or eBay, but I bought it in 2007 and have it just sitting around since. Here's a link from True Up I found about it: http://www.trueup.net/fabrics-2008/moda-steps-up/. She also did a line called Lush for Moda which features a deer paint-by-number scene. I'm a sucker for paint-by-numbers.

    Okay, I'm officially wordy.

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  3. Thank you so much! I appreciate wordiness- really, I do. I haven't really explored True Up, but I think I might be hooked now. I'd definitely going to try the Anna Tunic. Thanks!

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