Wardrobe Lessons from Mexico

What a month it has been.  I'm honestly not too sure where to start and I think that has me slow to post since returning from Germany.  I want to write about:

• Mexico - I know I've mentioned it, but there are some sewing related realizations of what I need more of in my closet.
• Fabric - My parents brought back a few pieces of fabric and I bought some while I was away.
• Germany - Holy crap that was a good film festival.  Mr. Lina did not come back with any awards but it's an honour to be in a festival with such good films.

It's really more than one post so we'll see where this goes and pick up the rest at a later date.  We're still uploading pictures from Germany and it really deserves it's own post.

When I pack for vacation, me-made clothing get preferential treatment.  I'd rather look at pictures and see things that are me-made.  But looking at these pictures, there aren't many me-made to show.  My me-made bathing suit was my favourite but Mr. Lina (wisely) did not take pictures of me wearing it.  I have 3 pieces of fabric to make another, I should get on that.

I am (clearly) fair skinned and covered with moles.  I'm the girl wearing a hat, a white sweater and SPF 60 in the summer.  It's just not worth the risk of burning and skin cancer.  I'd like to keep what skin I have.  I own MANY summer (and winter) hats.  And guess what I forgot to pack?

Visiting Akumel.

Fortunately Mr. Lina packed both this less than fashionable hat and a ball cap and that hat somewhat fits my rather sizable head.  The shirt is Simplicity 4218, view B.  I made this before I read blogs and heard about full bust adjustments (not something my mom had to worry about when she sewed for herself), so it ended up absolutely huge.  HUGE.  In theory, the back has a tie.  In my version, I had to take inches in off the back so it would stay on my shoulders.  This means the ties are actually poking through a hole I left in the back the shirt and not tied to anything.  Based on my circles on the pattern envelope, I think I made a size 20, I really should have made 16 or even a 12/14 because of the crazy ease and stretchy fabric.  Whatever, I love the fabric, I get compliments when I wear it but it is showing signs of wear.  The knit is pilling at the side bust and the neck has stretched out.  There is a little bit of lace from my bra sticking out in this picture (and the crazy hair is thanks to the hat and the wind).

Akumel again.

I bought a hat about 20 minutes after this picture was taken so you aren't subjected to the green hat again.  Let's move onto what I need to clone (or find a pattern to replicate).  This is a RTW shirt I inherited from my SIL.







Beach/rocks at Grand Sirenis.

It's just a long tank, but there is a ruffle sewn from the bust up to the shoulder on one side.  This makes it a little difficult to layer under a cardi, but it looks much nicer than your typical tank.  It's polyester so it's not going to wrinkle and it does dry fast.  I should make something similar because I find it very easy to travel with.  Maybe a tweak to the Sorbetto pattern.

At Tulum - more about the bust situation below.

"Jungle Maya", the last zip was into water hence the bathing suit.

I bought this top at RCSS, a grocery store, it's "Joe Fresh" brand and I've found it great when it's hot but I want my shoulders covered.  We weren't suppose to wear sunscreen on the Jungle Maya tour because it will cloud the water in the caves (cenotes) we were snorkeling in, this was perfect for cool sun coverage.  Well it has a hole in it now.  It's not the most flattering thing in my closet but it is one of the more functional pieces.  I have a few pieces of cotton voile that could serve the same purpose.

Speaking of bathing suits...

Cave snorkeling with Mr. Lina

More Jungle Maya - repelling into another cave for a swim.

I am wearing a two piece bathing suit under the life jacket.  I bought it when we were on our honeymoon and I felt pretty good about my slimmer body.  The bottoms provide full coverage (I need more than 1" of fabric at the hips to feel comfortable) and up until recently, it held my breasts fairly well.  It's not my favourite bathing suit any more but I thought the two piece bathing suit would be better for the all day adventure.  When we got to Tulum I bent over to rearrange stuff in our bag and felt a snap.  The back clasp broke before we even got 5 feet from the minivan.  Mr. Lina used a hair elastic to tie it back together but it was just not the same (also why my bust looks terrible in the pink shirt above, bad things happen when the band is too loose).  Fortunately we were required to wear life jackets while swimming so I didn't have to worry about it falling off completely.  Now that it's really broken, I'd like to clone it.

Back to tops to clone...

This top was a gift from my MIL at Christmas (Mark's Work Wearhouse).  I also wore it for the screening at the Landshut film festival.  How many tops work in palm trees and snow?

It's sheer and came with a black tank to wear under it.  I love how this moves away from me so I feel pretty regardless of how bloated I feel from Mexican buffet or schnitzel.  It has a silver thread through it so it can look fancy or casual depending on what I pair it with.  I have some sheer fabrics in my stash that I bought for lingerie but I think this might be a better use.  I'm not sure I would ever be attracted to a pattern as shapeless as this, but it actually works in my wardrobe.

Work has been rather crazy for me and having my manager quit won't make it any better.  Mr. Lina has texted me more than once asking if I'm coming home.  It's not all bad, I am feeling good about some recognition I'm getting at work, but it's not leaving a lot of time for things like blogging (pout).  In theory I should write in evenings anyhow, but the 5 hour time difference and thinking all day left my brain a little mushy in the evenings.  Hopefully I'll get to the other two vacation/fabric posts soon.

Unplugged & Restless

That's about how I feel this week.  I've been back since Sunday and I still feel... unplugged.  Although I have done one load of laundry, my luggage is an explosion in the living room and the washed clothing are still in the dryer.  I forgot to run the dishwasher last night so we're out of spoons and I think we have one fork left.  I lost track of time and nearly missed a meeting yesterday.  I made arrangements to pick up our taxes (yeah, I know that's suppose to be in April, the gov't owes us money so it's not so bad) on my way to work yesterday and forgot.  My manager asked if I was okay because my voice didn't sound right.  I was telling him that I'm going for my review appointment at the fertility clinic tomorrow and I'd be leaving work early for that only to be reminded it's an early close day.  How do you forget to leave work at 1pm? 

Mr. Lina and I didn't really talk about babies on our vacation.  It's like there was a little moratorium on the topic.  I talked to his mom a little about where things stood, I gather he talked to his dad (I think Satan might be wearing a sweater, his dad is not one to express emotion in words).  But as the time in Manitoba came to an end, it was in my mind even if I wasn't saying anything. 

Maybe next year we'll be bringing someone with us to Manitoba.
Maybe next year we'll have to put off our visit because I'll be pregnant or have a new born.
Maybe next year we'll have adopted and it won't be the right timing to leave, too stressful for little people who need routine and stability and may have bad associations with packing up suitcases.
Grandma was 50 when Mr. Lina was born, his mom is 64 now, my mom is 67.  There is something sad in that.

My best friend in high school now lives in Winnipeg.  She is pregnant and I am happy for her, but I couldn't see her.  There was opportunity on the Sunday afternoon to see if she was free, but I just couldn't see her with her due date being well, now.   I don't feel regret for chickening out, but I do feel sad I can't do it.

Mr Lina works for a pretty big company that is laying off a lot of people.  A LOT of people.  Thus far, his team has come out of it relatively untouched.  But this week, things are not looking good.  I'm not worried about him losing his job specifically.  We've talked this over since the layoffs started and we'll be okay on my income and his severance for a while, he could work on his movies for the summer and focus on another job in the fall.  We'd have to change a few priorities, but the mortgage will be paid.  As Roobeedoo's daughter would say, LGO.  But this feeling of the guillotine being close and not knowing who it will be... that's awful.  He's talking about work in the past tense, it's just a rumour mill about who and when and how many...  Let's say it's not helping the mood around my house.

This weekend... I am hoping to be more productive.  We're going a Toronto Blue Jays game tomorrow night.  In the "all you can eat" section, believe it or not.  Hot dogs and popcorn for dinner.  BBQ & board games on Saturday, Mr. Lina is doing movie stuff on Sunday.  Somewhere in there should be time to revisit the purple silk noil dress and see if those bust darts look any better than they did prior to my vacation.  I think I need a little push forward to move out of this unplugged feeling.

In catching up on my reading, I've found a sew-a-long going on that I may be joining.  I say may because my wish list is long enough.  Dixie DIY is a new blog to me, but she's got a lot on undergarments and swim wear and is going to host a sew-a-long on Kwik Sew 3779, view B.  I have made this bathing suit, it's fantastic, I have bought bathing suit fabric intending to make it again.  The shirring is really flattering but not overly difficult.  As someone who's cups spilleth over in some bathing suits, this is good.  If I remember right, I made my top triangles a little wider and overlapped them just a little but I'm curious to see what Dixie recommends.  I know I didn't understand FBA at the time although I at least knew of them.  It feels covered and sexy at the same time.  I had two other bathing suits with me at the lake but I didn't want to wear the others.  I'm sure there were pictures taken of me last week, but here is the suit when it was new, in my kitchen.  Not really the best angle, eh?