The dog ate my homework! [or I got sidetracked...

... and missed doing the vacuuming or finishing my dress and did something new instead!]

As you can see I've made a good start on my spotty dress, but have temporarily stalled.  I need to finish the armholes, but am still toying with the idea of sleeves - I have so many singlet type tops etc., and yet at nearly 40 I feel that perhaps I shouldn't be bearing my arms quite so much.  I'm considering something like Views C or D of the ancient pattern below, or view A of the newer one.

I also need to add a little red ruffle and then a band at the bottom of the dress (the ruffles are much quicker than the pleated trim I did on the trial top, and will be at least as effective once I topstitch along the lower side - sorry for the blurry photo though).  Can't decide whether or not to use the spotty fabric for the band, or try and find some grey (maybe?  not sure?).  I have plenty of the spotty stuff left over, as it was quite wide and as always my cutting out was quite frugal, but figure I should decide on the sleeves before hacking into it for anything else.

** I'm up for comments / suggestions / help!  The idea of adapting a sleeve pattern to fit into a bodice it wasn't designed for is a bit intimidating, so if you have any advice that'd be great **

What's distracted me was Lincraft's 50% off sale.  It went for a whole week longer than I thought, and when I got an email saying it was still on I lost my self control and went shopping.  I bought some lined curtain fabric and have started attacking the mess at the top of the stairs.

"Before" (on an average day)

Stage 1: "Fitted sheet"

Stage 2: A combined cushion cover for 7 of the cushions, all of which are the same size - I know that this'll be used a lot for cubbies, but it should make the whole thing neater and easier to tidy up as a general rule.  The fact that its even better cubby making material than individual cushions is a definite bonus from the Kinder Boy's point of view, hence the fact that I couldn't get a photo without him!  To make it I made a ~3m x 42cm cushion cover, with a zipper along the bottom, then sewed vertical dividers every 42cm from the top down to nearly the bottom (leaving just enough space to open and close the zipper).

Stages 3 and 4 will be a pleated valance style skirt to hide the rest of the drawers, which don't get used much anyway, and some ties or another mechanism to stop the whole lot from shifting about.  Stage 5 will then be some new cushion covers - I've been waiting to use some fabric I got from Yardage Design, and got some coordinating oatmeal linen at the same Lincraft sale, but suspect I have more ideas and pieces of fabric than is really necessary, so some might get reassigned.

My Creative Space has been officially taken over with other things tonight, but I'm hoping to squeeze out some time this afternoon or tomorrow to brave a shot at some calico sleeves for the dress (or maybe just sew the lining to the zipper if I'm still too intimidated by the idea of it all).  What are you up to, have you dropped into Kirsty's yet?