Long Time... No Post

I've been sidetracked and neglecting my blog.

I cut out the fabric for the brown shirt, jacket, and a beige jumper. But when I sat down to actually start sewing, I discovered that I missed a couple pieces for the shirt (and I already disposed of the scraps that were left over) and the jumper pattern is misdrafted so that the top is far smaller than the directions indicate. Grrr. I managed to find a coordinating fabric to cut out the couple missing pieces for the top (fortunately they are hidden pieces such as the undercollar and inside collar band). I've reordered the jumper pattern and I think I have just enough fabric to recut the bodice when the pattern arrives. Between the miscutting of the spiral skirt gores and this bodice mis-sizing, I'll have used almost 7 yards of fabric trying to get this jumper made.

It feels like I can't seem to get anything right in the sewing room lately. I need a diversion for a while. I still keep thinking about that yarn store. LOL. It's probably a good thing I have a computer programming project due this week for school so I won't get much sewing done until after Friday.

I am heading to the Novi Sewing Expo on Thursday for a class to make a custom dress form built around my body which will let me start draping my designs on the form and also let me adjust the fit easier. I'm excited. My current store-bought dummy doesn't have the right proportions so I just use it to hang partially finished projects on to keep them from getting wrinkled (like what some people do with their exercise equipment they don't use). Then back to the Expo on Sunday with a girlfriend to actually shop. I love going to the Expo because it gives me a chance to talk to the actual independent pattern designers personally and see/try on the clothing they've made from their patterns before I buy them. If anyone reading this is planning to go to the Expo, drop me a comment and we can try to meet up at the show.

Back on Target

Okay.... I'm back on target for my wardrobe capsule sewing. Tonight I've finished a brown slinky knit cowl top, and also the purple multicolor v-neck shirt. The v-neck goes with the purple SAFTPockets outfit I made earlier so I finally have a base shirt/pants/jacket combo to start a purple capsule. I thought I had more varieties of purple fabrics in my studio, but either I was mistaken or they are buried in the mountains of fabric so I may have to put the purple capsule on hold for a little while.

I've lined up a brown pair of pants, a brown blouse (with a lot of seam detailing) and a brown jacket (all different fabrics) that will all match the slinky knit cowl top so they will be ready to cut out tomorrow when I get up. So that will be a good basis for a brown capsule. I have a huge variety of brown fabrics so this will last for a while.

Going to that yarn shop was definitely a bad thing. I've spent the last hour online searching for crochet and knitting patterns. I'm really drawn to make this scarf for myself and maybe more for christmas presents. But I had already planned to make polar fleece scarves for relatives and embroider snowflakes on them using the solar active threads so that it looked like a bunch of white snowflakes until they went outside and then the snowflakes would all turn colors. Decisions... decisions. How many scarves does a person need?

Where's My Floor?

Well, I spent last night "cleaning" my sewing studio. The end result is that I don't have a single square inch of floor space any more. All the fabric that had been piled in a heap, blocking the shelving units that were holding even more fabric was picked up, folded, and stacked into piles in the center of the room. It ended up being 4 stacks about 3 feet high each. I put as much as I could into the shelving unit and the rest (about 2-1/2 piles) originally remained stacked. Now they've all fallen over and slid around. The only way to dig myself out is to sew. A LOT. And soon.


I dug myself out of my emotional pity pit after the dress/serger incident. I went out to the local fabric stores looking to find more of the fabric. No luck. Unfortunately, I did find 2 more bags of sewing fabric and a brand new yarn shop that has opened up about a mile away. Oh... that's a REALLY bad thing. I don't need another fiber addiction. So instead of making more space in my sewing room by cleaning, I ended up ADDING more stuff.


Since I couldn't find the fabric to repair the dress, I have a couple options.

1) turn it into a wadder (that means wad up the dress and throw in the trash).

2)Post a scan of the fabric onto www.missingfabrics.com and stick the partially-finished dress in a pile somewhere and hope that someday someone responds with my fabric or

3)Break down and redesign the ruined piece, disrupting the original smooth lines and put up with it not being exactly what I wanted


I went ahead with 3) and added a waistline seam in the front panel so I could recut the front from 2 different scraps of the fabric. Its finished and it looks nice, but I'm not thrilled. Time to focus on a new project and not obsess on this one anymore.

AAAAAAAHHHHHH!

I'm sitting here just stunned. Heartbroken. For those who don't sew, it may seem petty but it is the traumatic destruction of a hope and creation. I had found a fabric whose color was intense and vibrant. A color that glowed. A color that made me glow. A color that excited me to be around. It felt sexy, it flowed. I cut it out to make a dress. I spent days fitting the dress to me. It hung perfectly and made me look several pounds lighter. I was excited to have it almost finished, even started dreaming about the opportunity to wear it.

Thunk! I look and part of the dress had folded over itself and fed into my serger as I neatened the inside seams. The serger knives shredding the front into flapping shards. It can't be hidden. To do any of the 'tricks' of the trade to cover and hide such an accident would destroy the slimming lines of the dress. Ruined. No more fabric to recut the destroyed piece. Dream dashed. Losing the time and effort put forth on the dress is simply annoying. Losing that emotion that went with the dress is crushing. I weep.

RSS Feed

Hey... looks like I DO have an RSS feed. http://labovitz.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Don't see a way to add this as a button to my basic blog front page yet, but it's a start.

Changing locales

I was posting my bloggings to http://www.livejournal.com/~labovitz but I wanted the ability to figure out how to create an RSS feed so I decided to switch over to blogger.com

Feel free to read through the old blog but all my new stuff will be here.

I did finish the purple SAFTPockets outfit and actually tried to get some photos to post. But the camera batteries went dead while trying to use it. Looks like you'll have to wait longer to actually see any of my end results.

The wardrobe capsule concept was sabotaged slightly this weekend. If I want to stay on target, I must not let myself cut out outfits after drinking several glasses of wine. LOL. I was bored, tipsy, and couldn't sleep and really wanted to play in my sewing studio so I picked out several patterns and cut out fabric to prep for sewing. Unfortunately, it was several flashy fabrics that caught my eye so now I have a beautiful blue sundress and a brown slinky knit top to finish instead of more pieces to match the purple outfit.

Definitely plan to clean the sewing studio this weekend. As I got ready for bed the other night, I heard a crash. A big pile of fabric and *stuff* fell over that I had stacked behind the studio door so now I have to climb over a mountain to get into the room. And I'm being encroached by fabric and notions from all sides, leaving just a small 2 foot square in the middle of the room where I can move. Not a single surface is clear, and I have boxes stacked on boxes. What a mess. It gets so stifling when it gets so messy that I actually look forward to the chance to clean and organize because I find things I forget I ever had and gets me planning new projects. If I get the batteries changed, I should take a before and after photo for here.