June Capsule Contest

I’ve signed up to be a part of Stitcher’s Guild June Capsule Contest. The idea is to make a wardrobe capsule of four garments and one accessory during June. One item must be a top, one item must be a bottom and no black! I’ve already decided what I’m going to make:

Skirt – choc brown wool blend fabric, with a split centre front and back to show a gathered underlay of chiffon (or similar). I saw a skirt like this last year, asking $$$$$, and decided to make my own but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Trousers – I need heaps more trousers for work! At this point I’m planning on making them out of a gorgeous dark olive green fabric I’ve seen at Addicted to Fabric. I’ll be using Vogue 1040 as the pattern.

Top 1 – A knock-off of a top I saw in the latest Undercoverwear catalogue. I have to draft the pattern myself for this one, a v-neck tunic style top to just under the bust, with a fitted ribbing body in a contrasting colour. I have an orange/pink/tan fabric that matches perfectly with a choc brown ribbing I have.

Top 2 – A blue/purple/cream almost-paisley patterned fabric, using a crossover top pattern Butterick 5084.

For the accessory I expect (although this could easily change!) to make a necklace using brown, olive and cream beads.

I really need more office clothes for work, so this will be a great opportunity to make some and have some fun with others sewing at the same time!

Chinese Traditional Medicine and Fertility

I’ve been reading The Infertility Cure, that was recommended by a friend and decided to go and see a Traditional Chinese Medicine Dr for the infertility. had my first appointment today.

It was interesting… the Dr doesn’t speak english! LOL! So we had a male translator… I don’t think his english was all that brilliant either! Not to mention the fact that we were discussing my cycle in a lot of detail!

Other than the language barrier, it was really interesting. The Dr took my pulses, then asked “Do you think a lot, all the time?” Absolutely nailed it! My mind is ALWAYS going! I literally go to sleep and wake up thinking! Anyway, apparently I have unbalanced liver and spleen Qi and blockages. I had massage and acupuncture, and have to have another nine sessions of those and pick up some herbal stuff tomorrow.

The massage was fine, not like a normal massage, it’s designed to work on the acupressure points. Which was all very well until she touched the liver points and I nearly hit the roof, several times! The acupuncture stung a little, not when the needles were inserted but afterwards. I had two on each foot, one in each shin and three in my lower belly. The one on the left side of my belly hurt! It felt like something was both pressing down and pulling taut at the same time. The others just stung a bit, but that one hurt!

The things we do….

Recent Sewing

A few weeks ago I made two tops, out of cheap fabric to check the pattern fitting. The first one was a disaster, waaaay too big! (Silly me, I followed the pattern sizing!) The second one turned out well, after I ignored the pattern sizing and just made it in a size that looked right!

I had to add a ‘modesty panel’ partly to cover up and partly to keep the crossover front pieces sitting nicely. The fabric is very stretchy and drapey. I bound the edges, including the hem and sleeves with a coordinating plain purple jersey.

I quite like this top and will be making this pattern again, with a better fabric, now that I know it fits!

Business Changes

It’s been a long time coming…. I’m splitting Excellence Coaching into two separate markets, Life Coaching and Business Coaching. I have a large proportion of Work At Home Mums/Moms (WAHM) as clients, and I really can’t cater to both the business side and the Life coaching side at the same time. So I’ve made the decision to set up a second website, totally separate from Excellence Coaching, that focuses on WAHM Business Coaching. It’s going to be called WAHM Business Builder and should be up and running by June. This should make it a lot easier to serve both the markets that I currently have.