Dress, top, or shorts?

So I went to Hancock Fabrics today with the idea to look at the dress patterns. Found both of the dresses I mentioned yesterday and found another pattern with the exact jacket that I wanted. But, after much careful thought, I decided not to get any of them. Finances, really. I just spent close to $800 on my eyes (contacts, glasses, eye exam, etc.) and I need to be careful about unnecessary expenditures right now. I also want to save $$ to go to Mary Jo's Cloth store in a couple of weeks. Besides, I have so many patterns...

The other reason why I deferred the purchase of the new patterns is that I'm planning on buying a dress form at the end of the month and I want to wait until that purchase before starting on a dress. I have some serious fit issues through my shoulders/upper back and I think a dress form will really help me figure out a solution.

So I've got a nice weekend ahead of me in which I have not much planned, on purpose. I'm in a sewing mood but I'm not sure what I want to make...the dress? A top...my mom's fabrics that she bought while she was visiting are calling out to me. Or those Bermuda shorts that I was working on before Mom came? The top will be quick and easy...very gratifying project. I think I'll do that.

Giving up the ghost, PR meetup in NC, dresses??

Okay, so since Mom came for a visit last month, my sewing has taken a turn. I have given up the ghost on the baggy-butt problem (happens every time!). This is after realizing I had the same wrinkle across my butt in my favorite pair of pants. (The Essential Trouser from Old Navy, if you must know :). If I can live with wrinkled butt in my fave pants (which happens to give me a butt!), then I deal with it in my very own hand made pants. Enough aggravation already. Until I decide to tackle the problem again...in 2 years. I will still make the Bermuda shorts...prolly start this wekend.

There is a NC PR meetup in Gastonia...a bit SW of Charlotte...and about 5 hours from where I live. I can crash at a friend's place in Chapel Hill (she knows who she is if she's reading this...:). Can I afford this? Maybe...if I stick to a budget. Anyway, the meetup is the last Saturday this month...and since there's not going to be a PR meeting in November (boohoo), I really, really want to do this. Well...I just really want to do this! I've been wanting to go to Mary Jo's Cloth store (in Gastonia) for ages but since it's such a long way even from Chapel Hill (about 2 1/2 hours), I've never been. BUT...to meet fellow sewing enthusiasts...worth it.

I recently saw a woman in my choir wear the CUTEST mock-wrap dress. And now I'm all about the mock-wrap dress. I don't usually go for any kind of a wrap dress as the bodice tends to be very low...too low to be appropriate for work wear. And I make most of my clothes for work, honestly. But since my social life is picking up (sigh, I am a bit of a hermit), and I just want a new, cute, freakin' dress...I'm going to make one. There's a cute pattern by Vogue that's doable, and another Vogue mock-wrap dress that I'm eyeing. There also happens to be a sale on Vogue patterns this weekend at Hancock Fabrics. How convenient. I may also just make something from the pattern stash...depends on how, ahem, frugal, I need to be! I'll give an update tomorrow...