it’s not easy being green

I’ve been eyeing the Deer & Doe Bruyere for quite some time, and I finally got around to trying it out! It took me basically an entire month, both because I had to schedule time to go to my parents’ early on teaching days so my mom could occupy Hobbit while I sewed, and because the cotton voile that I found to use as a wearable muslin was sheer enough that I had to French seam everything. (Except for the armholes, because I have never found a way to make that work.) But I think the effort was worthwhile, because I’m overall happy with how this turned out! Which is nice, since I’ve been feeling pretty meh about my finished projects for some time now.

 

 

 

I did make a couple of changes to the fit. For one, I finally managed a successful FBA! The bust darts will need a little adjusting, because as you can see here, they’re sitting too high. But I’m going to hold off on making that alteration to the pattern until I’m done nursing and can see where they end up when wearing a bra with actual support. (The underwires on my third and final nursing bra fell out about a week ago, so I have literally no options for a decent one now. Nursing bras are a special kind of lingerie hell.) I added a bit of length to the sleeves as usual, and made the bottom the length of the largest size. It’s a change I’m definitely keeping, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it looks with pants that actually fit!

The cream buttons aren’t ideal, but I couldn’t find anything at Joann’s that was a match for the green. So I did the best I could with the options that I had. It’s so nice to have something in such a happy color for the spring!

I’ll admit that there is a part of me that can’t help wondering if this just makes me look huge. The bright white cami underneath doesn’t help that, I’m sure, but I had limited options that are actually wearable right now for me. I’m having a little trouble reconciling myself with my new, bigger size, even though I’d decided long ago to wait to actively try to lose the extra weight until I’m done nursing. Extra calories and all. But at least my older clothes are starting to somewhat fit again, even if they’re leaving me with obvious muffin tops that I didn’t have before. And I do like the style of this shirt very much! I’m thinking a flannel version for this winter would be lovely, though I’m wondering if not plaid might be the best way to go. All of that matching would be a pain with the pleats and waistband! But would a more solid or non-plaid print flannel just look weird? I don’t know.

On a slightly related note, to go back to those nursing bras, I did use some birthday money to buy the basic bra fitting/construction class on Craftsy. I still need to get a supply kit, which has to wait until I can figure out my post-nursing underwire size, but that will be an interesting project for the summer!