It's no coincidence that I haven't posted since preschool began this year. My part-time job is as a preschool music teacher, and once that began, life became much busier! The nicest thing though is that this year I get two mornings free of all children while they are in school and I am not working. I always have plans to sew, but so far have just ended up doing housework and errands. Still, the mental break is so nice!

I've actually had some really fun projects this month, even while being busy. I'm going to try to summarize them. Later this week I actually have a purse tutorial for you!

I had one more temple-related project. First there were the mobcaps, then the vests, finally, handkerchiefs. As part of our temple dedication ceremony, we needed white handkerchiefs. A plain white hanky is fine, but on such a special day, many people were ordering customized handkerchiefs with temples embroidered on them. I decided to make my own for me and my family.

I was very happy with the results. I ended up doing some initials on handkerchiefs for a few ladies from church too.

I had a custom nautical order.

I actually redid the first purse in front. The stripes ended up crooked. I can't even count how many of these I've made over the years, and I still managed to make a dud!

I also had another bridal order that turned out really pretty. I love the color and final result! What I didn't like was how long it took to embroider the interior messages. I may need to make a character limit!

Non-sewing related, we spent a beautiful morning at a nearby garden estate. Every year I marvel at its beauty and wonder why we don't go more often!

I made two cardigans, one for each daughter, from Blaverry's Emily Ann cardigan pattern. Blaverry's designs are probably my absolute favorite kid designs. They still need buttons, but my daughters love them and wear them anyway!

I made a couple pairs of pants for myself. I made two muslins of the Sew Over It Ultimate Trousers. I decided to give up. I wasn't feeling it. I switched to Designer Stitch Alyse Taper Pants. My first pair didn't have enough stretch. I didn't want to buy more fabric, so I chose from my stash. I've been holding onto some jacquard knit from Stylish Fabric for this fall, so I used those for the Alyse pants. They are drafted for stretch woven, but worked very well in knit, with no side zipper. Unfortunately, they fall down, so I need to go in and add elastic, but other than that, I love them. I made a lot of changes to the crotch curve, both front and back. I have high hip bones that create a long rear end in the back, and once I've finally figured that out, altering pants is much easier! I did a swayback adjustment, moved the crotch curve down in both the front and the back, and scooped out the back curve to create more of an "L" shape rather than the typical "J" shape. I feel much more ready to tackle jeans this fall. Sadly, I couldn't manage a good picture from my 3 year old.

One final project: menswear alterations! My husband needed alterations done to the white suit he bought online for working at our church's temple. He needed a Short but they only had Regulars in stock, so the sleeves needed to be shortened, and the pants hemmed. He requested cuffs on his pants. He was so eager for me to shorten the jacket cuffs and avoid paying a tailor, that he found me a tutorial online and asked me every day that week about my progress! Ultimately, I finished and was very happy with the results. I still need to find the button that dropped in my sewing area. He'll just have to deal with 3 buttons on one cuff and 4 on the other until I can find it!

In other news, I celebrated the 6th anniversary of Toriska Bags & Crafts this month! I'm closing on 1500 sales on Etsy, and that doesn't count my personal websites over the years, or my other shops. I still love what I do!

September catch-up