Frugal fabric Thursday

In my creative space today I'm doing something I've never done before: making a trial run of a project.

The spotty fabric that is the basis for what should be my current project according to my 'grand plan' (top left on the pattern below) is a silk-cotton blend that I picked up from Darn Cheap fabrics.  It feels lovely, and I now have some white for lining and a red to match for the trims - all I need is a zipper and I'm set.  But cutting into the silk and messing it up or finding that the dress I'm planning it for doesn't suit me scares me a little, so I'm following the pattern's recommendation and making a mock-up first (am I the only one frustrated by the fact that I wear a size 10-12 but according to my measurements the pattern companies recommend I make a size 20???).  Not one to want to waste the effort or fabric though I've found some leftover blue and some coordinating patchwork fabric in my stash and am in the process of shoe-horning the pattern pieces for View A [bottom right] into about half the recommended fabric (I suspect that it's probably taken as long already as the top will take to sew!).

Hopefully by the end of the day I'll have a nice little stack of cut out pieces, and maybe even a little sewing done.  Maybe by next week I'll have actually finished last week's cardigan (knitting done, sewing up 1/2 way there) and this top and have some 'after' photos to show.