[Sarvi]

I completely forgot to post the photos, will do so in a moment. Fingers crossed for you, janimal! Lots of us who’d love another will be looking forward to hearing your good news and living vicariously a bit.

[Anonymous]

Yes – I will be, Janimal!

[Nicole]

Ohh another baby! Lovely , lovely!

[Sarvi]

(Dark, blurry) photos at last: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hemoglobinhummingbird/5268296008/in/set-72157625487048621/

The two piece dress shown, no. 8, comes with patterns in sizes 9, 11, and 13. Here are the exact centimeter and approximate inch measurements so you can see if they’re plausible for you.

Bust (93.5cm/37in; 96.5cm/38in; 99.5cm/39in)

Waist (77/30.3; 80/31.5; 83/32.7)

Then some other measurements I haven’t figured out yet, for that example 🙂

[janimal]

Thanks for the kind words, ladies. My daughter was a miracle of modern science and we are working on trying again right now with the help of our magical doctors! So I really really really hope maternity clothes are in my future this year.

So with that in mind…..I had a gift cert to Fabric.com so I ordered the Anna Maria Horner Socialite Dress pattern with some Amy Butler Soul Blossoms fabric. Although not maternity, the cut of the dress looks like it might have some room for an expanding belly, at least for the earlier months of pregnancy before I get HUGE, but that I could add a belt and wear it if I don’t get pregnant or post baby also.

[Anonymous]

Janimal, I will be thinking of you and your family and I do hope you are able to have another little one. My husband and I are so lucky that we are very, very fertile (shockingly so!). I can only imagine how hard it would be to have trouble conceiving. It’s great for you to plan on needing room for that expanding belly! 🙂

[Anonymous]

Janimal, I just found this very thorough review on the Anna Maria Horner Socialite Dress pattern. Thought you might like to read it before you start in: http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=808

[Justine J]

Thanks for the pattern review link Sandi – this dress has been on my ‘to do’ pile for about 3 months – maybe over the xmas hols I might actually manage to make it!

Exciting news, Janimal – good luck 🙂

[JohannaO]

I made a socialite dress, it was very easy to do, but I found myself hating all the hand stitching on the inside of the yoke. My stitches have been re-done three times already. I was on vacation with my parents, and I should have begged my mom to do it, she’s great with hand stitching. Otherwise, it came together pretty fast, which is good because I needed it for a wedding the next day. 🙂 Here’s the link-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johanna_e_olson/4995624821/

I should mention that I’m pretty short, and I didn’t make any modifications to the length, so if you’re tall, you may need to add some inches.

[Anonymous]

Just think of all the hand stitching practice you got, Johanna. I bet you are already better at it just for making this dress!

[Anonymous]

Sarvi, thanks so much for posting the pictures from the Japanese books! It looks very intimidating to me, BUT man, so tempting! I ADORE that women’s dress. SO classic. And those children’s clothes? Too adorable! My husband was saying last night that he wants all of us (us and the kids ages 6, 5, and 3) to take Japanese lessons before we move there. I hate studying languages in general so I told him that if he learned to speak/read the language, he could translate patterns for me. He was less than thrilled 🙂 Thanks again!

[Sarvi]

I only took one semester of Japanese, to fill up a few extra credits, but I found it was surprisingly easy to learn to speak. It works completely differently from English, and doesn’t have all those different tenses. The hard part is reading and writing, with three different scripts, only two of them phonetic. I think you need more than a thousand characters for basic literacy, which seems just incredibly daunting to me! But don’t be intimidated by spoken Japanese, it’s a lot easier than you might think. The kids will probably pick it up the fastest, of course.

Johanna, I like your version a lot better than the one in the Sew Mama Sew tutorial, I think yours looks great!

[janimal]

sahmcolorado – Thanks for the review. I had seen that a while back which got me thinking about that pattern. It’s been on “my list” for a while.

JohannaO – I think your Socialite Dress looks great! Love the fabric choice. That’s the part that I seem to have the most trouble with, when making clothes for myself. I second guess and third guess. Fabric choice. When I sew for Delilah, I get excited about my fabric choices because she’s SO cute she can wear just about anything, and it’s fun to use whimsical designs while she’s a toddler. SO well done – your dress looks terrific!

[JohannaO]

I can’t take all the credit for the fabric choice- the dress was made in the same pattern in another color on the back of the pattern envelope. I thought the black and cream would make it look very adult, and the pink makes me happy. I still have 3/4 of a yard, so it may show up somewhere around here on my little girl. I also made it in a black batik, but gave it away to a skinnier friend. It was my wearable muslin, and it didn’t end up wearable at all for me! I have trouble making things for myself because it takes longer, and I frequently fiddle with the fit.