Texas. Oklahoma. Texoma! Get It?

People Of Texoma, I Call On You!  Uh.  Or at least, I very humbly would like to ask you a question… and my apologies  to the non-Texomans who read this, of which I'm pretty sure 99.9% of you are.  Just bear with me today.  Today is all about blatant regionalism. 

Right.  What are we talking about?  Oh yeah.

PEOPLE OF TEXOMA, I CALL ON YOU... to help me think of interesting and cheap things to do during my mother-in-law's visit this August.  Yes.  I said August.  She's visiting us in August.  The hottest part of the year.  She is a flippin' lunatic.  (Really it's just that the third week in August is the only week that The Husband isn't in school 10 hours a day, so that's when she's coming.  Although I can't really say that means my mother-in-law isn't a lunatic, because she is.  Bless her stubby little heart.)

We want to do something fun but not horribly expensive, preferably in the nearby area and preferably something we haven't done a dozen times before (i.e. going to the Dallas and/or the Fort Worth Zoo). 

So far I have on my list:

Science Museum Oklahoma  (OKC)

We went there once about 8 years ago and weren't hugely impressed, but I've heard it's been improved a great deal since then.  I have no recollection, for instance, of the World’s Tallest Spiral Slide, which I think I would remember.   The Big One and TLo are both interested in stars and planets, so they would probably also like the planetarium (even though on our previous visit, we were subjected to what I can only call The Most Bizarre Planetarium Show I Have Ever Had To Endure-- to give you an idea, my mother and I were giggling so hard by the end that we were almost asked to leave. It was a bad, bad show).

Fossil Rim Wildlife Area (Glen Rose)

I thought we'd all like some sort of guided tour (not cheap but not super-expensive and something everyone will enjoy as far as I can tell) and the kiddos would love the fossil digging expedition.

The Dallas World Aquarium Zoo (Dallas)

We actually did this last year, but had to go on a holiday and it was so crowded that it wasn't as enjoyable as it might have been.  I was hoping on a weekday in August it would be better.  It's a very cool zoo.

 

And that's what I have so far.  I, of course, was totally willing to spend the entire day at Golden D'Or, but for some reason everyone else thinks this is dumb.  Sheesh.

So there you have it.  My exhaustive list of things to do in North Texas for relatively little money with two young children and a crazy English lady from New Zealand.  Any other suggestions??  Please help!  (I'm looking at you North Texas lurkers... now's your time to shine, people.)

It’s a pattern.

I went back to the drawing board on TLo’s drafting blocks.  When I originally drafted her first “body block”, the resulting trial garment fit just right.  But exactly just right.  There is zero room for growth (I’ll try to get a photo of that garment soon.  TLo took a dislike to it all of the sudden today and refused to try it on long enough to photograph.)  Now, I don’t know about you, but I have no intention of going through the trouble of making a garment for a six-year-old that she is only going to be able to wear for three months.  Nope.  Not happening.  So, back to the drawing--- er, drafting board.  

If I was using standard measurements, I would just draft a block for the next size up (just like I would pick a pattern).  But I want to use TLo’s specific measurements.  The whole point in drafting these patterns myself is to avoid having to trace out and then severely alter a pattern, just to get it to fit TLo.    Her measurements vary pretty widely from “standard”.  For instance, for her height (108 cm), the average shoulder width is 8.2 cm.  TLo’s is 10 cm.  That puts her at a size 134 ( which is about a size 10).  Her chest measurement is 65 cm, which puts her at a size 128 (size 6-8) and her waist is 63 cm which puts her at a size12. 

Her height puts her at a size 4-5.  Seriously, you try altering a child’s pattern that fits a size 10 torso but is only a size 4 in length.  This, to put it succinctly, totally sucks.

Right.  So I’m drafting my own patterns.

I decided that in order to get some growing ease, I would go back and pick the body measurements for the next size up for each individual measurement.  So for her chest measurement, which comes in at a size 128, I bumped it up to the chest measurement for a size 134.  Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.  Here’s a copy of the measurement chart:

After making these measurement adjustments, I redrafted the Body Block.  Here’s an image of the original body block (the “exact size” one) overlaid on the new “room to grow” body block.

 

Next I decided to try out a simple knit shirt to test out the sizing.  I really liked the neckline and sleeve styling on this top from Ottobre (3-2010 #31), so I used this design drawing as my reference.

Using the body block as my basis, I drew in the squared off neckline, drafted the puff sleeves using the slash-and-spread method and added a slight curve at the waistline for shaping.

Pretty basic!  I’d like to say it took as little time to put together the shirt as it did to draft the pattern.  And I would say that.  If I was a complete and utter liar.  

I own three sewing machines, all of which I would normally use to make a basic t-shirt (my sewing machine, my serger and my coverstitch machine).  If I believed in gremlins, I’d say they had found their way into my sewing room this week.  Lets just say I did a lot (a lot) of mechanical work this weekend.  I never did get the serger completely sorted out.  In the end, I had to resort to the stretch stitch on my sewing machine (which I’ve actually never used before and found I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked).

In any case, I finally got the stupid thing sewn up.  Which meant the next step was… trying it on TLo.  Oh the agony of suspense!  Would it fit?  Would it be too big?  Would I have to start yet another block draft with some even more complicated set of measurements?  Would Slayde marry Thallon or would she leave him for the father of her baby?! 

 

It fit.  TLo is spared one more day of nakedness.  Whew.

Well... er. Weller.

 

Fact Number One:  We own The World's Largest Collection of Paul Weller CD's.

Fact Number Two:  Peter Weller is the star of Buckaroo Banzai (a.k.a. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension), which sits close to the top of My All-Time Favoritest Movies Ever list.

Fact Number Three: I routinely get the two mixed up. 

Why do I mention this?  Not a clue.  Other than I was listening to Paul Weller in the car today on my way home for lunch and also happened to catch a clip of RoboCop in a commercial when I turned on the TV.  Coincidence?  Uh.  Yes.  But it amused me.

Did you know that Peter Weller (not Paul Weller) is some sort of professor of ancient Roman art or something?  The Husband and I watch a lot (a lot) of documentaries re: anything remotely related to the ancient Roman world (because the Husband is a Roman Geek and can't seem to stop himself).  Peter Weller (not Paul Weller) comes up rather-unusually-often as a commentator on these things.  It's a bit off-putting, to be honest.   I mean, RoboCop has so much to say about ancient Roman fishing vessels or whatever?  Wow.  He's a Renaissance Robot.

I keep trying to find out if Paul Weller (not Peter Weller) has a sideline as an astronomer or nuclear physicist or something.  Somehow I don't think so.  He can write a pretty mean song, though.  Here's a production clip of "Wild Wood".