Hi there. This is Cari. I’m feeling rather tired today, so I’m going to turn this post over to a narrator for the retelling of a classic tale. I think my editor will be around to keep her in line. Enjoy the story.
Narrator: Once there was a woman who went by the name Goldilocks…
Editor: Why do they call her Goldilocks? She has brown hair.
Narrator: Maybe because her husband thinks she’s blonde compared to most of his family? I don’t know. It isn’t important anyway. Lets try this again. Once there was a woman who went by the name Goldilocks. She wanted to make something new for Jungle January 2016, so she searched high and low and found the most gorgeous leopard and wildflower print rayon (Viscose) challis from an Etsy shop in the UK. Braving international shipping costs and the risk that her fabric wouldn’t arrive before January, she bought a few meters and waited breathlessly for the weeks to pass for it to arrive.
Editor: Breathlessly? Really? Pretty dramatic for a fabric, don’t you think?
Narrator: Goldilocks really liked fabric, so for her this was a big deal. Anyway…once the fabric arrived she had all kinds of trouble deciding what to make it into. She liked the idea of making something vintage like Simplicity 4949, but decided it was too busy a pattern to be paired with equally busy fabric. She liked the idea of making a skirt, but decided she didn’t want to bother with trying to pair tops with it all the time. Finally, she realized she had the perfect pattern, McCalls 6210, which she had recently made. This time she wanted to make the view with the jewel neckline and shorter sleeves. The drape of the challis was just right for a maxi dress.
After the dress was made, she needed to take pictures. It was winter where she lived and very cold and rainy during the short daylight hours, but she’d also been following Gillian of Crafting a Rainbow as she’s been working on her Better Pictures Project, so she didn’t want to take more unexciting shots in front of her daughter’s curtains like she did with those 6 backlogged projects that one day. She wanted to go outside to some fun location. Unfortunately, her children didn’t agree that going outside would actually classify as fun on that day, especially since they’d already been outside doing other things that morning. Goldilocks was stuck with trying to find a lovely location within the boundaries of her own yard. Accompanied by one cute little baby bear to push the camera button so she wouldn’t have to use a remote, she set off on her photographic adventure.
The first spot she chose had a lovely tree as a background, but the sun chose that moment to make a clear appearance just as the camera started snapping. The wind picked up about the same time, ensuring that hair would be blown into lipstick, and that Goldilocks’ boots, chosen more for their practical qualities than for matching her belt would show unless cropped out. Overall, the main 
problem was that this spot was just too sunny. Goldilocks’ worry about her pictures showed in each one.
Looking for a better option, she decided to head into the woods.
The next spot was just too shady. The dress no longer had overexposed areas obscuring the print, but Goldilocks’ face is unhappily shadowed. This was too cheerful a dress to be confined to so morbid a location. Goldilocks needed to try somewhere else.
Finally, a spot that’s just right.
Goldilocks sank into the tree like a happy trespasser trying out a variety of beds. And they all lived happily ever after.
The end
Editor: Good enough, I guess. I got caught up in the story and missed how you included stash-busting stats.
Narrator: I didn’t work them in. There was no where to put them.
Editor: So what now? Are you just going to put them at the end of the post, the same boring way as last year?
Narrator: Do I actually have to include them? They weren’t in my script? I don’t even have that data; don’t you get that from Cari?
Editor: Fine, fine. I’ll get the info from Cari and include it at the end. Stash-busting stats: 1st project of the year. 3 1/2 yards of fabric used.
Cari: Hey you two, what about the Jungle January fabric swap?
All I’m getting back are blank looks. Anne of Pretty Grievances organized a fabric swap for Jungle January. I was partnered with “SewSarcastic, AKA TiredMamaB” who blogs over at Spinters & Stitches. I wish I could say “here’s what she sent me, already all sewn up,” but I can’t do that. Instead, here’s what she s
ent me, still in its fabric form. There’s a couple of yards of soft leopard print velboa (short-pile fur), a narrow piece of bold zebra jersey (so soft), perfect for a knit top for Guinevere, and multiple yards of handmade bias tape. I’m seriously in amazement at her bias tape skills. Not that I’ve never made bias tape, just that I’ve never made any I’d send to someone else; mine is usually terribly uneven, thus frustrating to use and I’d never subject someone else to that. Hers is perfectly even and crisply ironed. Thanks SewSarcastic for the swap fabric, and thanks Anne for hosting another fun Jungle January.
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