The Problem with PMB

I wanted to answer some questions and comments regarding this recent bout of tweaking I've been doing.

Plus, I will be busy with house guests this weekend, so posting will be delayed...that is, I haven't had time to create all the visual aids to go with this new 'break-through' in fit! But since some of you are really anxious to know about it NOW, I will do the best I can with just words...pictures and more will follow!


>>>I'm not sure about what 'mirroring' the front and back means <<<

When the bust dart is placed in the shoulder position, the front and back sideseams have the same (but opposite) relationship to the vertical grainline. One angles \ and one / but the angle to vertical is the same...you don't have ( with / or anything crazy like that. When placed side by side, they are mirror images of each other.


I mentioned the "levelness of the waist" on the red overlay...aka, the dress sloper...but want to make it clear--

• It is not the LEVEL of the waist...and not the height...when on your body, but the fact that the sloper (pattern)'s waist line is nearly 'level' on screen....horizontal...as opposed to being 'low' in the center and 'scooped upward' on the side. I am NOT talking about the levelness of that waist seam on the fitting garment when on the body...just the pattern shape.
• I know that 'level waist on the sloper' is the goal of WG's fit/tweak suggestions, but that is what I am saying is ruining the fit of the armholes and sleeves!
  

To make the sloper pattern's waist 'level', many of us have increased the cup size we were drafting with.

Bad.

I did it, too, and now have some guilt over echoing the recommendation! I was trying to be a good team player (and we all see where THAT got me! :))...but I have since figured out that using larger cup sizes is exactly the WRONG thing to do!!!


>>>The top of the back fits fine since I reduce the back width, but as it goes under the arm is where the issues lie.<<<

And where it goes under the arm is the part controlled by the front/back bust-width distribution! There is no getting around this...cup size is the key!

>>>I need more darting in the back waist area than in the front.<<<

Me, too. You don't sound all that oddly-shaped to me! The problem is the F-B distribution of bust width AT underarm level. Once you get that equalized, you will be better off. And if your body needs MORE width in back at bum level than in front, well, then maybe you should give your back pattern MORE WIDTH at underarm level than in front, too! It is just that simple. Forget about whether or not the waist of your red overlay is 'level' or 'straight' across...let it scoop as high as it wants!...it is just a pattern! and it is NOT the pattern you will be sewing! Just get the F-B distribution the way you need it for your body, and everything else will take care of itself!

>>>You've told me what needs to be done - how do I do it?<<<

In a nutshell, if you want to go ahead and 'test' this theory with me, here is what to do:

• Save your current best chart with a new name, like 'B-cup Trish'.
• Reduce your cup size until your F & B patterns are equal in width at underarm level...using (-.5) Side/Arm placement (important)...probably need to use a B-cup.
• You'll have to increase your CFL and FSS a lot to make up the front length difference. It takes MORE than just .375" per cup size lost! Don't be alarmed if the CFL grows to be the same number as the CBL! The FSS will be about 1" or maybe 1.25" longer than the back one...
• Compare these new patterns to what you have now, to be sure the front length on the new pattern is as long as it is now (on the pattern made with your big-bust-cup chart). Adjust measurements until the new patterns are as tall (from shoulder to waist) as the old patterns.
• Increase the BP-vertical to put the bust in the right place (it will be higher with the B cup).
• REset AH shape tool to zeros...don't reshape for this test.
  

You will notice that your F-ah will be lower and more scooped in this B-cup pattern...this is a good thing! The back armhole will also be better, I bet! And if you compare the sleeves of this new one to the old one, you will also see a difference.

Ok, so now that you have tweaked the measurement chart to equalized the F&B pattern widths at underarm level, NOW you choose your drafting choices:

• Use S/Arm position of (-1)...this makes the BACK pattern WIDER than the front at underarm level.
• Use S/Hip position of (-5)...this makes the BACK pattern WIDER than the front at hip level...good, since most of us have a larger bum in back!
• Use S/Waist of zero to start with, since the forward S/H point will make the back waist darts larger than the front ones. This can be tweaked at fitting.
• Use 2.5" to 3" bust ease and 3-4" hip ease...whatever you'd normally use. I use 1" waist ease.
  

Print and sew!

Don't worry that your red overlay looks crazy! Mine shows only a tiny sliver of a bust dart, with a VERY upscooped side/waist.

Like many of you, I wear a D cup bra and was using an E-cup setting to get enough dart size. But I have already sewn/tested this at C-cup, and and got marked improvement! (Pictures to follow...what can I say, I am slow!)

I have already drafted and compared and determined the settings to use for the B cup one...just haven't had time to blog about it or sew the B cup one yet! But as I said, weekend company will delay the sewing a bit longer...but if you wish to test along with me, have at it!

And let me know how this works for you!

Peach Eyelet #1

Last week, while suffering with a head-cold/bronchitis, I began tweaking measurements in PMB, to see how things changed. I found that without changing cup size, I could affect the size of the bust dart by just reducing the Bust Measurement.

For example, a 39D-cup produced a larger bust dart than a 41D-cup.

Hmmmm.........

So I decided I would reduce my BU measurement and use more EASE and see what happens.

But of course, I couldn’t leave it at that…I had to make other changes, too!

As you know, I have ‘issues’ with the front armhole in PMB.

• I always have to manually scoop the F-AH to get the right shape. I just haven’t been able to ‘force’ the program to give me a good AH.
• Plus, the sleeves are never ‘just right’….the front of the sleeve hangs free of the arm, but the back of the sleeve tends to lay close to the back of my arm…this is a clue to me that something is wrong with the armhole shapes and sizes, but I just haven’t been able to figure it out (until now!).

So I thought, what the heck…I’ll reduce my cup size, too, and see how THAT affects the armholes.

• I do know that reducing the cup size DOES scoop the F-ah a little.
• PLUS, it changes the FRONT to BACK distribution of the patterns at underarm level…the larger the cup size, the narrower the back width at underarm level.
• PLUS, the larger the cup size, the larger the bust dart.
• PLUS, the larger the cup size, the longer the front length on the pattern. This meant that if I reduced my cup size, I would have to increase the Center Front Length and Front Shoulder Slope, to make up the difference in what the reduced cup size would eliminate. In PMB, each cup size makes a difference of .375” in front length. So, going down one cup letter meant going UP 0.375” on my CFL and FSS.
  

But along with this reduced cup size comes another change...not to the blouse pattern that I will be sewing, but to the RED OVERLAY (aka the dress sloper) that PMB drafts with my measurements, upon which the patterns are based. I have been trying to follow the advice of the company…and that advice is to INCREASE THE CUP SIZE in order to LEVEL THE WAIST OF THE SLOPER.

This is the way my previous patterns looked, with my previous measurement chart (which uses an E cup), before I began this recent tweaking:





Look at where the ARROW is pointing….to the amount the Side/Waist is ‘raised’ above the level of the CF waist. The S/W point on my red sloper is .9” higher than the level of the CF…already a bit higher than recommended.




But look at what happens to the sloper’s waist when I REDUCE THE CUP SIZE from (E to D):







Now, after reducing the cup size, the sloper’s waist is even MORE unlevel…the S/W point is now 1.75” above the level of the CFL!





If I were listening to the fitting advice being given, I would immediately reverse this, and increase the cup size to level that waist.

But “been-there, done-that” (and it didn’t work). So now I am going the other way.

What the heck…it is a test garment!


So I created this new measurement chart and set about drafting my patterns.

Because the reduced cup size changed the width distribution at underarm level on the F & B patterns, this meant I needed to use different settings for Side/Hip placement than before in order to keep my sideseams as mirror images.

I found that I didn’t have to move the S/H point backward as far as before (since the new back underarm point was now more forward) so I used the (+.25) setting.

This also meant I no longer had to use an extra 2” of hip ease and remove it at the front waist darts, as mentioned here.

So I used:

Side/Arm Point: -1
Side/Waist Point: +1
Side/Hip Point: +.25


The Side/Arm Point in PMB will not go any farther forward than -1.

I always use that (-1) setting, to try to widen the back pattern at underarm level as much as possible, although I always WISH I could make it even wider.

Since that S/A point is sort of ‘fixed’ (maxed out), to get mirrored sideseams the HIP must be balanced to that point (wherever it is) by moving the S/H forward or backward.

Here you can see the sideseam relationship of my new pattern.


I didn’t sew it with a shoulder dart…but it is necessary to put the dart ABOVE the armhole to evaluate the sideseams! The actual garment has a side/bust dart.




Ok, so here is the pattern I sewed.

As you can see, I manually scooped the F-ah as described previously. But that was the only change I made…the rest of the pattern was used as it drafted.














And here is the blouse. The sewing isn't my best work...it is hard to do a good job when you are sick (well, for me, anyway)! At first glance, it isn’t too bad (if you don’t count the way the bust dart puckers at the tip!).

But it is too tight.

The back needs more ease to be comfortable. There is no room for my ‘wings’ to spread when my arms move and no breathing room when I sit. Well, it is wearable, but I am ‘aware’ of the tightness all day.

The Bust Point/Level is too high on this one, and the overall front length is still a bit skimpy...too short (I took care of that on the next one though!).


I have reached the point of having made my shoulders TOO NARROW. I have been gradually reducing the shoulder width measurements on each garment I make...and I should have stopped already!


Combined with this close fit, it is apparent that the shoulder width measurements are much too narrow for my body. For a sleeveless blouse, they are ok, but this blouse was designed to have sleeves!

Because these shoulders were so narrow and the bust/back a bit snug, I decided to NOT use the sleeves, and make this top sleeveless instead...much more forgiving!

I DID sew the sleeves in, though, and evaluate the fit before ripping them out...so I know how this would fit if I DID use them.

And the fit would NOT be good.


This blouse is ‘wearable’ and I did learn a few things by sewing it, but this is NOT the measurement chart that I will continue to use in the future!!!



I learned that using the 39" bust (when I really measure 41") was NOT the way to get a larger dart, even though I used more bust ease. The point of this was the larger dart size...but that is so variable, and can be affected by Side/Waist placement and ease and other things, so I am going to restore my BU size for the next one.


Reducing my cup size from E-cup to D-cup WAS a good thing…the waist on my sloper will just have to continue to be 'unlevel', I guess, because the smaller cup size seems better!


The angle of the sideseam above the bust is better now, but as you can see in the side view above, it looks like it could even angle a little MORE toward the front above the bust dart…next time.

With the new cup size comes a new armhole-- BETTER, but still, my sleeves weren’t ‘just right’. But I’ll have to reevaluate that once I widen the shoulder widths and increase the bust ease.





As you can see in these pictures, I STILL have plenty of ease on the sides under the arms, yet the blouse is constricting across the back with arm movement.

This top could use another 0.5 to 0.75 inch width all the way down the back sideseam, from shoulder to hip/hem, without changing the front.

So after making this one, I tweaked measurements and settings and compared patterns and created yet another NEW CHART that will give me that!

And that was the second top I sewed recently….stay tuned!

getting behind...

Well, my blogging cannot keep up with my sewing!

I have sewn 2 new tops back to back and cannot wait to tell you about them!

But gosh...I gotta get the pictures ready...and the patterns (OMG!)...I'll need to post some pattern images to really make things clear, because I KNOW I tend to be the only one who knows what I am talking about once I start talking pattern drafting!!

But I have made some terrrrrific progress in the fit of my basic blouse (finally!). For the first one, I made a very close-fitting top...so close, that I couldn't add the sleeves, because the shoulders were so narrow~! But more about that later...

And that first one led me to experiment with my measurements even further...which has finally got me moving in the RIGHT direction with PMB! The second one is much better....more about that, too!.....and the next one will be better still!

Ok...I'll start working on the visual aids.

What was 'next' was mostly outside!

Not a ton of sewing going on this week. I am looking into fixing a lab coat for DS, but not a whole lot else!

We got a new roof last week. Thankfully, the roofers were as considerate as possible to the landscape. Even the little house got a new roof! The whole thing looks lots better.You can see that I have not yet started my process of "gardening by subtraction" out front! Those are azaleas in that berm, surrounding a young dogwood tree. They are WAY too large, and will eventually be pruned back. That pruning should have already been done, but HEY! I've been busy!

The loripetalum in the back were pruned to within an inch of their life! Fortunately they didn't die...both are showing signs of new growth! These bushes were over 5 feet tall and equally wide...just way too large for the area! I will try to keep them small...

Also last week, I filled in a spot in the concrete walkway out back. The place where these two paths converged was a sharp 'Y'...and if you were walking up the path in the foreground and planned to turn RIGHT, you had to first go slightly left. This was because these paths are actually dry creeks that funnel rain water through the property...but I decided the water will STILL flow just fine if I fill in that area to make walking easier! So I dug out the dwarf mondo and LOTS of soloman's seal that grew in the 'point' and dug out the ground and poured some new stones to fill in. You can see the difference in the old and new concrete now (the new stuff looks slightly pink in these pics) but eventually it will blend. after the concrete was dry, I split the mondo and replanted a little around the edge, along with some impatience, which is tiny now, but will grow.

The concrete didn't do very well...the Readymix apparently didn't have enough 'cement' in it, so a couple of the cobblestones cracked right away when walked on (the next day and the day after that, when they should have been fully 'cured')...but I'll deal with that another day (there are other cracked stones that perform just fine).

There is a hosta in a bag sitting on top of the pot to the left...I will plant it IN that pot when I get around to it! There is also a larger hosta in another bag to the right...I transplanted several of these large plants and this one is leftover. I have a hard time just throwing away good plants...hopefully I can find it a home with someone!

The squirrels keep diggin up the plants in that pot!

Below is an area (which is right across the path from the previous area!) where I had to dig out invading monkey grass! I had originally planted a small clump of Silver Dragon, a white monkey grass, in the curve of that bed. But it began to spread and mutate...changing into the all-green variety that is taller and invasive.. It spread farther and farther into the pachysandra. Last year we used Roundup to try to kill it, but it came right back. So this year, I dug it up...each piece, each underground runner, each root....then replanted the pachysandra to fill in the area (where it is thin). I am sure I must have missed some of the roots (which will come back to haunt me, I know!) but I'll try the Roundup again on any repeat offenders.

My gardenia is blooming!!! Hooray! And it smells wonderful!

I like to pick the blooms and bring inside, because they don't last long outside in the heat. Plus, who's out there to appreciate them? Not I!

I put a few gardenias in cups in the sugar mold that my DSisIL gave me for my birthday. I have soem votive holders that fit perfectly in the holes of the sugar mold. When the new Dawn rose was blooming earlier, I also brought them inside and did the same:

This time, I had enough blooms to fill several vases, in addition to what I put in the sugar mold!

I won't leave these all together...better to spread the scent around the house!

I put one vase in the downstairs powder room--

--and one on the table in the den...

And the small one went on the buffet in the dining room.

If you look closely, you'll see the little pipe-cleaner doll I made today at sewing guild...he is hanging on the lamp post! Remember "art school Dave" that I made back in early December? Well, this one is kinda like that one. In fact, I have made several of these...

...currently, they are all 'hanging around' in the dining room! They are swinging from the chandelier as if it is their own private playground.

Another thing I like to pick in the garden and bring indoors is MINT. I grow spearment and although it IS invasive, I do my best to keep it corralled. I pick a few stems and bring them inside, placing them in a small test-tube-like vase that hangs from a suction cup on an old shaving mirror over my kitchen sink. I pick the leaves off one at a time, to use in my tea!

Speaking of tea...I think I'll say goodbye now and go have a cup!

Empire Crinkle Rayon, the pattern

To make the pattern for my Blue crinkle Rayon Empire top, I started with:

• the PMB DRESS,
• Empire Waist (raised setting 3),
• Double-breasted closure (button size 0.5),
• Curved V-neck with a depth of 11.5”.

In retrospect, that neckline depth was probably a tad low for this neck shape, but I was trying to make the neckline seam meet the Empire seam. If I had chosen the STRAIGHT V-neck instead of the curved one, this depth would probably have been fine, but when you add in the curve,...well....I had to 'tack' the fronts together at the overlap to prevent exposure…and where I tacked them is probably ABOVE where the pattern was designed to overlap! I put on the top and overlapped the fronts as low as I could and still keep my bra covered and tacked it in that position. This DID pull on the fronts a bit…they were telling me they didn’t want to cross that high!...but I forced them to!

I did as before…I divided the single under-bust dart into 2 released tucks. To do this, I first rotated the dart out of the way. Then I placed a point on each side of the bust point, distance away equals .75”. I drew lines from each point to the waist seam. Then I rotated HALF of the bust dart to EACH of these lines.

Next I drew a circle around the bust point, r=-2.5”, then drew another one .25” away. This is because if I cut both lines off at the SAME circle, the lengths of the tuck’s legs don’t match. Making the medial leg longer compensates for the angle of the tucks.

I had just about finished when I realized I might want to shorten the front neck a bit and transfer that to the bust darts, so I did that last...you can barely see the difference in the last two patterns, but look at the empire seam near the CF...it angles upward slightly (you probably can't tell that the dart/tucks are slightly larger.

Oh, gosh! I forgot to explain that front armhole!

Well, as you may remember, I have been trying to discover my perfect armhole shape. I have found that by deliberately MISSHAPING the armhole with the AH SHAPE TOOL during drafting, then reshaping it manually, in PE, gives a better ah shape and sleeve.

I am doing 17 clicks down and 2 clicks to the Right….each click is 1/10th inch, and the tool is moving the F-notch.

Basically, I am creating an armhole with a LONGER seam length by making it more square, so that when I manually scoop the lower front, the sleeve will have adequate length to fit the new armhole.

Ok, to redraw the F-AH
I locate a point 1” ABOVE the F-notch, then draw an arc from there to the underarm point…this arc will scoop 0.375” below the original lower armhole curve.

Then I draw an arc from new point to the shoulder point, again, curving slightly inward…but this time, only 0.125”.

This creates a really good armhole shape. When you align the front and back patterns at shoulder seam, this armhole shape flows smoothly from back to front.

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Ok, so that sounds like a lot of changes….really, it isn’t all that much. Reshaping the F-armhole is critical, but the dart-to-tucks is just a design thing.

Of course, as mentioned before, I must add length below the bust dart….I did report this problem, but was told it couldn’t be fixed. However, PMB’s MIDRIFF style does appear to have the needed dart length…I don’t know why the EMPIRE style can’t (?). But I don’t write code…

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Ok, for the LOWER FRONT area, I eliminated the closure part (shown in pink) as I planned to cut this on the fold.

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And remember, I draft with 2” MORE hip ease than I need in order to get the sideseams correctly shaped, then I eliminate this extra from the front patterns.

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Because of this, I need to remove 1” of width from this lower front pattern.

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I selected the outer part (shown in aqua) and moved it over 1”…basically making the front dart much smaller. I decided that tiny dart wasn’t worth sewing, so I just rotated the front sideseam just a little to close that dart over…yes, this made the sideseams no longer EXACTLY identical F to B, but I figured it was close enough for this crinkle fabric which ‘gives’ so much.

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For the BACK, I compared the size of the waist dart in the lower part to the size of the darts in my TORSO/Blouse pattern, and again, this Empire dart is smaller.

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Because of this, I enlarged the dart by .25” on each side.

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Then, to make the waistline seam of the BODICE back match this now-shorter lower seam, I ROTATED the lower ah and SS (pink area) CW to remove 0.5” at the waist seam.

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The upper dart was sewn as drafted.

Now about those sleeves… I have read where people join the front and back at the underarm seam and cut this as one pattern piece. Sounds ok, right? Well… Notice that when you align the front and back at underarm points, there is a GAP created at the hem edge. Obviously you can’t rotate the pieces to align that underarm seam, as the hem would form a inverted V there…and that would not be good to sew.

So I tried it as shown…with the GAP in the pattern.

The sleeves were awful.

They were large…like circle sleeves, hunging flat against my side under the arm with no shape. The inside of the sleeve was VERY visible.

Yuk.

So I sewed a dart there where the underarm seam SHOULD be…this corrected the problem. In the future, I will NOT join my petal sleeve patterns!

Ok, that’s about it.

Empire Crinkle Rayon

Perhaps I should have titled this post, "The Incredible Shrinking Woman!"

But that is not really the case...it is more like 'the incredible growing blouse'!

I wanted to make another Empire surplice top, to verify that the measurement changes I made after making this one are exactly as desired. I had this crinkle rayon in my stash...it was found on the bargain table at my local Hancock Fabrics* last summer and purchased for $1 per yard or some outrageous $um like that.

*BTW, that local Hancock store, where I have been shopping all my life...even picking out the patterns and fabric for mother to sew my school clothes when I was a kid...BURNED to the ground early yesterday morning!

I just HATE that...it was convenient and close to both my mother's and sister's homes, and I could often find things there that were bargains...not crummy stuff, but decent fabric that had been marked down. Now the store is gone (suspected that garbage truck emptying their dumpster hit a gas line...slow leak caused fire in the night.) and I highly doubt it will be rebuilt. Bummer. Really. Bummer.



Crinkle rayon grows if you iron it. Plus, it grows during wear. So I was aware that this might not be the BEST fabric for evaluating fit. (duh) But I wanted to use it, so I did.

To stabilize the neck and armholes, I ironed on some stay tape. I used a bias tape for these areas...to go around the curves.

Not giving it much thought, I pulled on the tape slightly to barely shrink the neck edge, as I usually do (You can see how the neckline is slightly shorter than the pattern's neck area). HOWEVER, I had already taken a 'dart' from the pattern's neck edge and transfered it to the bust dart (contouring) to make the wrap-style bodice fit closer between the breasts, and I probably didn't need to do BOTH.

I also put stay tape across both FRONT shoulders, to stabilize. For this area, I used the straight tape. I did not put tape on the back shoulder, which is sewn to this stabilized front.

I use 3/8" seam allowances, which is the width of the tape.

As you can see, the Empire seam pulls UP just a bit as it approaches the center. Bummer! Oh well...next time.

When I finished sewing this top, it was huge, due to ironing and pressing!

So I grabbed my water bottle and sprayed the whole thing until saturated. Then I hung it to dry. When dry it had 'crinkled' right back into shape!

The image here shows the difference between the top with the crinkles in place (left) and in the 'relaxed' state after ironing.

Again, the left is how the topfits with the crinkles "fresh" and the right side is what it looks like if ironed.

The REAL fit is somewhere in between...the crinkles DO relax a bit during wear and give a little more ease, but nothing like when ironed.

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I used PMB's PETAL sleeve for the first time. The outer edge is probably a bit more rippled than it would be in other fabric, due to stretching out the crinkles with the narrow hem, but overall, I think I kinda like this sleeve.

However, when I was wearing it, BOTH my mother and my sister asked if I had made this top...they were not together. Both said it was because they had patterns with this petal sleeve. It made me wonder...is this sleeve rarely found in RTW? Is this a dead giveaway that the garment is 'homemade'? What do you think?

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I have been gradually reducing my shoulder widths, and I am wondering if I can reduce the BACK SHOULDER WIDTH a little more (?). This would narrow the back slightly, but put a bit more into the back of the sleeve, and perhaps make it hang better. Hmmm.

I'll give the pattern details next time!

My Spring Garden

I've been spending some quality time in the garden these last few weeks. It was sorely needed! Well, not by *me*, but by the garden! Lots of things have overgrown their spot.

I live in a suburban area with neighbors all around. My lot is a cove lot, narrow at the front and wide at the back, but the depth of the back yard, from house to back fence, is not huge. I have made walkways throughout the back yard, dry creeks that turn to wet creeks in the rain!

This is my confederate jasmine, on an arbor by the patio. It smells wonderful!









The jasmine blossoms start out white, but slightly yellow as they age.


















Some white (Bridal Veil) astilbe also near the patio.


















Red astilbe and Lily of the Valley grow under an oak tree near the pool deck.

This year, I never got around to cutting back the liriope in this area before the new growth began...oh well.















Black Knight Buddleia (butterfly bush) grows at the west end of the pool deck. I have a love/hate relationship with this plant...I have planted it and dug it up several times! I like the blooms, but am not overly fond of the plant itself.



The arbor in the background is the entrance to the compost pile/storage area. We still need to build a gate there.










I absolutely love Oakleaf Hydrangea! This one is in the front/side yard. We just cut down the dying redbud tree that shades it, though, so I hope it contnues to thrive despite the increase in sun exposure!












Aren't the blossoms cool? Long pannicles of snow white blooms so big they have to droop a bit!










This is the front bed...near the driveway. The purple cane (Moses in a Cradle, Tradescantia) comes back each year, but not always exactly in the same place as before! The Stella D'Oro day lilies are also reliably hardy here in West Tennessee.

BTW, I layed those bricks myself...all by myself! I dug it out and poured a concrete footing, then layed 2 rows of bricks all around the beds in front of the house, using a level to keep things even and smooth (but not necessarily level!).






















I was pleased that my huechera came back this year! I wasn't sure it would survive the winter in a pot, but it did!

In the smaller pot is a real annoying plant...Chameleon plant. It is a royal pain to eradicate!!! But it has a sweet little bloom and lovely leaves...so in a pot, it is welcome. In the flower beds, it is NOT, as it is way too aggressive!
I love the pachysandra in the bed behind this bench.








I dug up my Red Hot Poker to move and divide, and decided to pot it instead of putting it back in the ground. The Million Bells actually survived the winter in that pot, so I added the Red Hot poker to it.

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago, before I began making drastic changes...'Gardening by Subtraction' is what I like to call it!

And just to make this a little bit sewing-related...I DID have to spend a few minutes sewing a hem into some cut-off jeans so I'd have some gardening shorts to wear!