Back in the saddle again

OK, I kind of fell off the blogwagon for a bit, but I'm back in the saddle once again!

I kinda bailed on the B5300...chalk it up to my Myers-Briggs ESTP type.  (You know, all it takes is for something...Hey, look!  New!  Shiny! Ummm...what was that I was saying? Oh yeah, I have the attention span of a flea.).  In the holy crap has it really been over two months since I last posted, I finished the Kit Kittredge hat for my daughter - in time for Halloween, but then she decided she wanted to be a butterfly princess instead.  (Looks like she has her mama's attention span, too!)

I finally made my way to Unique Boutique in Billerica, MA on my way down to my in-laws for the Thanksgiving holiday and got an updated body scan done.  If you're not familiar with Unique Boutique, it's a fairly new nationwide franchise from Unique Patterns.  For about 15 years now, Unique has been providing custom-fit patterns for women based on their own measurements.  They started out with their own pattern line, then partnered with Butterick (I think, I might be wrong), but then that arrangement didn't work out so now they offer a selection of styles from Simplicity and New Look as well as their own pattern line. In order to receive custom-fit patterns, you need to provide them with a complete set of measurements. You can take your own measurements, or get scanned with the Intellifit® Plus Body Scanner at any Unique Boutique store.  The body scanner uses lasers to accurately (within 1/100th of an inch) measure you from head to toe.

I had my original body scan done about four and a half years ago, just one month after my daughter was born.  What was I thinking?  Not only was my body shape changing on an almost-daily basis, I didn't have the time or energy to sew.  My Unique patterns languished in the closet for months, and when I finally got around to taking them out, I realized that I'd have to alter them as much as I would any other off-the-shelf pattern.  So, back into the closet they went.  Until I finally hauled my butt into the Boston area store the day before Thanksgiving to get lasered once again. 

My new custom patterns (New Look 6952, Simplicity 3962 and Unique 9023 arrived today.  I chose those patterns with the idea of using them as slopers (even though the Unique dress pattern specifically states:  "NOTE:  THIS IS NOT A SLOPER" on the dress that, as far as I can tell, is pretty damn close to a sloper).  The New Look blouse is very similar to the B5300 which was giving me fitting fits.  The Simplicity 3962 is a plain vanilla, dropped-waist fitted straight leg pants pattern that I should be able to modify for jeans, wide leg trousers, etc. If all works out as planned, I should have TNT patterns for shirts, pants and skirts/dresses that I can use for seasons to come.

I'm not sure when I'm going to have time to work on my first Unique pattern, but I'm fairly certain that it won't take me another 4 1/2 years to get around to it.  Oh, BTW, did I mention that I started sewing a Silhouette Patterns blouse?  It's really...Ooooh!  Look!  More SHINY stuff!  I'll tell you more about that soon - I promise!