McCalls 7243, or goddammit my face really hurts right now

Things I have done in the past week:

1. Forgot to schedule my planning post while I was out of the country.

2. Changed my mind about most of the things in the planning post anyway.

3. Had lots of red wine and Iberian ham and some actual vitamin D in Seville.

4. Got a toothache on our last day, which I thought was somewhat inconvenient.

5. Woke up the next morning to discover the entire lower half of my face had swollen up.

6. Attempted to go out for Patrick's birthday dinner anyway.

7. Got an emergency dentist appointment and got told that I need two root canals. TWO root canals. Two simultaneous root canals. TWO.

8. Also got told that I can't have these two bastard root canals done until after Easter.

So suffice it to say, I am hurting and grumpy right now.  Please excuse my slightly terse blogging, but words are not currently my strong point unless those words are "ARRGGHH" or "my face hurts". 

However, before the Great Mouth Disaster, I did manage to get a few things made and photographed, so let's remember happier times. This was the first successful garment I made after my sewing drought:

I went to visit my parents just after my birthday last month, which of course meant a trip to Fabric Land. I bought four lengths of fabric and had a vague idea for each one, but only this one had a specific pattern in mind. I'm always looking for interesting knit tops and McCalls 7243 seemed to fit the bill (three out of four of the views are dresses, but they're all super clingy and that is not for me right now).

Obviously the main feature of this top is the collar, and it took me AGES to get it right. After the third screw-up I seriously considered abandoning the whole thing. I couldn't work out how they wanted me to finish the neckline (answer: they don't really, the seam just kind of sits slightly more towards the inside so you can't see it), and then getting the collar sewn in to the underarm and side seam took multiple unpickings and redoings. This might just be me and my rusty sewing brain, as all the reviews I could find said THIS IS LITERALLY THE EASIEST THING IN THE UNIVERSE, but I did not find it so. I'm pleased I persevered, though. 

I really like this top, though I'm in two minds whether to make it again. I'm not sure I need two of these, but also I have been wearing this to death since I made it. I think it'll be very dependent on whether I come across the right type of fabric - it looks great and falls beautifully in this sweater knit, but I think it would be kind of terrible in a lighter jersey. We shall see! 

(As I was taking these pictures the upstairs neighbour next door came out onto his balcony, which is basically five feet from my face, and gave me this "haha,women taking photos of themselves" smile. It was awkward.)

Next week: an experimental dress, and a still-pre-root-canals slightly grumpy Jen. Please feel free to send pictures of puppies or videos of terrible 90s pop.