July 2 2026

Hello!!

This June has been long and I am very happy to be through it. My little sister moved to town (exciting), our landlord finally had a bunch of work done on our decks (very exciting), I went to my first ren faire (exciting and then real disappointing), and right at the end of the month I had my first surgery (preventative) (don’t worry im not ill or anything) (exciting and terrifying and then slow and achy healing).

In between I did get some art done. I finished up the dragon that I was working on in May (and before that, in September). She was an excellent accessory for the ren faire and now has a lovely little shelf built around her in my display shelves.

feat. some masks I cast from my face in college, a fiery woman I felted during lockdown, and some misc items. I do love my misc items.

The biggest change here was that I added on the fins for her ears and tail, and gave her a face. I’m awfully pleased with it.

And then! In between everything else (and somewhat during the surgery recovery process) I’ve made this shirt, which would be a phenomenally boring gray button up except that the fabric is the most sheer translucent fabric I’ve ever worked with. This had the joint pro and con that I had to finish every seam nicely and neatly and thoroughly, because not only would the fabric fray at the slightest excuse, but the seams would also be fully visible from the outside.

The buttons are a fully translucent plastic that have been in my stash forever, which matches the overall theme really well and means my hand stitched button holes are on display even when it’s buttoned up.

This shirt was fully hand stitched. I didn’t trust my sewing machine with that fabric at all. It will probably be hand-wash only also, which I try to avoid, but I just don’t want to risk it with this fabric.

The pattern for this shirt is Blouse, pattern №1104, by Grasser, which I’ve made up a couple times before. I used less interfacing than instructed, and changed the lower hem line significantly, but it’s still basically just this pattern. I’m thinking for the next one I make I might want to widen the back piece so that I can pleat it into the yoke? Maybe play with the bust darts a little? But that’s for next time.

There’s lots of tiny details that I’m proud of here. All the times that I managed to sew a seam without it being visible on the outside. All of the top stitching along the cuffs and collar. Those button holes! It almost (almost) makes me excited for my medical leave to be over so I can show it off in the office.

For July, I have a few ideas percolating. ArtFight is happening as it does every July and I am of course tempted. I don’t think I have it in me to do nice painterly illustrations like I have previous years, but I might bust out some colored pencils and do something fun and loose and sketchy for a few characters.

There’s also more sewing on the mind. I have a very sheer blue fabric with some embroidery on it. I think it would work nicely for a blouse like this one. Nice and light and breezy for the summer. I also need a little black dress, and have some fabric that might work. I’m thinking something body con, knee length, little slit, maybe a heart shaped boob window. I really really loved the other dress I made with the heart shaped boob window, and I can’t fit into that one anymore, so I think I do need to reuse the detail here. And then of course, once I’ve made a body con dress in an easier fabric, I want to do it again but in velvet, because I found (last September) a local fabric shop that sells lovely stretch velvet in a few different colors.

But before all of that, I want to sew myself a nice Edwardian walking skirt. For my birthday in August I’m going to throw a big fancy tea party and I need a suitable fancy outfit to go with my giant floppy fancy sunhat. There’s no time to waste.

July should be busy.