What I'm loving...

This dress:

Milly Cascade Sheath Dress: Chestnut. Asymmetric V neckline. Sleeveless. Cascading ruffle down front side. Front slit detail at hem. Asymmetric V'd back. Polyester/viscose/wool/elastane. Made in Italy of domestic material.  Original price: $360. (Neiman Marcus, Bloomie's, etc.)  I really like the way it is styled in the second photo - it looks like it would make a great transitional garment for summer/fall & winter/spring.)

I have a piece of fairly drape-y light brown poly/rayon plaid (no lycra/elastane, though) I bought at Fabric Place in Framingham, MA that I'm planning to use.  I'm not sure about the full-length ruffle, though - on the one hand, it creates a slimming vertical line (good) but adds bulk over one side of my already-bulky boobs (not so good).  I'm thinking of just having the ruffle go from my waist to the hemline instead, sort of like the Anthropologie-inspired skirt, but in a sheath dress version. 

I'm going to use my Unique Patterns dress pattern (9023U0) as a starting point, changing the center front from two pieces (with a waistline seam) to one, rotating the bust dart into a princess seamline, putting in a side seam (invisible!) zipper, and, of course, changing the front and back necklines and adding the flounce cascade. I should probably line it, too, so I could wear it over a brown turtleneck top as a jumper.

Easy-peasey, right?  I'm going to work on drafting the pattern tomorrow, cut out a muslin Thursday and sew that up on Friday afternoon.  With any luck, I can get started on cutting out the real fabric early next week.

WAS: Curses! Foiled again! NOW: Well, that resolution didn't last long, did it?

I almost bought fabric tonight.  My swatches from Emma One Sock arrived while we were away last week, and I decided to purchase this floral cotton voile (which had the perfect shades of gray and tobacco to go with two pairs of pants I have almost NOTHING to wear with):

only to find out that it was SOLD OUT.  Arghhhhh!!!  My only hope is that someone bought some, doesn't like it, and returns it.

Edited to add:

Guess what?  I sent an email to Linda at EOS, and it turns out there were two 2.25 roll end pieces left after all!  So I bought it, but I found a bunch of other things I want to get swatches of first, before she ships it. 

(BTW, the colors in the swatch above are not very accurate, at least on my monitor.  The "rosey pink" flowers are a deep pink, close to fuschia, and the whole thing looks much more blue than it is IRL.)

January 1 - Organize!

I want need to get my sewing and craft space(s) organized and inventoried.

The impetus for this (aside from the fact that I'm months overdue for it) is that we are nearly finished remodeling our basement, adding about 500 square feet of comfortable, attractive living space to our 1200 sq. ft. home. Included in the new space is a nook approximately 8' wide and 6' deep, where my IKEA craft table will go. This table consists of an 8' counter atop a 5' VÄRDE freestanding kitchen unit and a couple of table legs, forming a desk of sorts on one end. It's where I have done my polymer clay art in the past, and it will probably continue to serve that purpose, as well as be the place where I hang out with my daughter once we start homeschooling (more or less officially) in the fall.

In addition to the basement workspace, I have a sewing table (it's actually my husband's grandfather's cherry exam table from his Boston medical office) in our master bedroom. DH put up several long shelves on one wall of the room for me to store my sewing projects and supplies, and the smaller bedroom closet is filled to almost overflowing with fabric and notions in Rubbermaid and other containers. He has no problem with my having sewing stuff in the bedroom - what a guy! - as long as it's reasonably well contained. (His actual quote: "Just leave me a clear path from the door so I can get to my side of the bed..."). Problem is, I have more fabric and yarn than I can store in the closet up there, so I'm trying to decide if I should store ALL of it in one location (probably the basement), or split it up between the bedroom and basement.

Besides my fabric and yarn, I have about 100 patterns (I know, because I put them all in my pattern library on PR), and numerous UFOs and thrifted-garments-to-be-recycled-some-day. I think I need to let go of quite a lot of stuff that I'm no longer feeling any love for. (Corollary Resolution #1: No more fabric/yarn/pattern buying in 2010 unless it's something I need to finish a project. Or something really, really cool.)

I would like to keep my stash(es) organized online. I already have most of my yarn stash on Ravelry.com, and I'm thinking about using Google Docs for the fabric. If I'm feeling REALLY inspired, I may complete my wardrobe inventory (as outlined by The Very Small Closet's Jennifer Skinner) on Google Docs as well.

I'd also like my ongoing projects to be more organized as well. I plan to do that by staying on top of my pattern reviews on PR and Ravelry, and utilizing resources such as Style.com and Polyvore.com for lookbooks and ideas. (And, of course, keeping you all updated with my progress right here on my blog.) When choosing sewing projects for myself, I'm going to try to SWAP (Sewing With a Plan) to avoid ending up with "singletons" that don't coordinate with existing items in my wardrobe.

That's the plan, anyway.  We're supposed to be getting a foot or more of snow this weekend, so I should have plenty of time to work on organizing things in the bedroom, and will start in earnest on the basement next weekend.

Sewing goals for 2010

OK, I've been following the annual sewing goals posts on the Pattern Review website, and I've been stealing inspired by many of my fellow sewists' resolutions for 2010 to come up with my own insanely overreaching list:

• Organize my sewing space - and keep it that way!
• Sew every day, even if it's only for a few minutes
• Make muslins more often
• Finish at least one garment per month
• Finish my daughter's Halloween costume by mid-October
• Spend less time READING/BLOGGING about sewing/knitting, and more time sewing/knitting
• Figure out some way to make money sewing, or teaching sewing - and DO IT!
• Sew more clothes for my daughter
• Stop buying mass-produced crap clothing (including thrift store stuff that doesn't fit well); buy local/handmade products whenever possible
• Make myself a great fitting:
• woven blouse
• winter coat
• pair of jeans
• bra
• Work on improving my skills and learn how to:
• insert an invisible zipper
• sew on Slinky knit so it doesn't look like crap
• use some of the tools/notions I haven't used much (or at all)
• make great buttonholes

So - stay tuned in 2010 to see how it goes!

Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This...

...you know, where I finally sat down to at my Viking to sew after having assembled all my mending projects, cut out the Christmas stockings (and their linings and interlinings), and taking the buckles off my daughter's new Columbia snowpants so I could shorten the straps so they would fit before we leave on our ski vacation after Christmas...

...AND PROCEEDED TO BREAK MY MACHINE'S LOW-SHANK SNAP-ON ANKLE!!!!   (For the second time this year. Gaaaaahhh!!!!)

This time I was able to find the part on eBay (I ordered two, because, well, it's only a matter of time, you know...) for only $11.99 including shipping.  With any luck, I'll be sewing by Monday afternoon.

Good thing I didn't sign up to sew costumes for the Children's Pageant at church this year, huh?

First Up for Unique Patterns: Pants

Since I missed the MOT (Month of Tops) sewalong in November, I thought I might see if I could do the Month of Pants (MOP - ?) in December.  My goal:  one pair of pants.  Now, I know that doesn't sound all that difficult, but my month is already pretty full, what with our big annual holiday party next week, then a week of Hannukah, then a few days before Christmas, then a week-long vacation at Sugarloaf from Christmas to New Year's Eve...well, that doesn't leave a whole lot of time for sewing, now, does it?

But since the pants pattern (Simplicity 3962) couldn't be any easier, I thought I would give it a try.  Really, it's just a front and back with a side zipper.  And, IN THEORY, it should fit me perfectly right out of the envelope.  So I'm going to try and get it cut out tomorrow, and sew it up Sunday night.

Wish me luck.

Back in the saddle again

OK, I kind of fell off the blogwagon for a bit, but I'm back in the saddle once again!

I kinda bailed on the B5300...chalk it up to my Myers-Briggs ESTP type.  (You know, all it takes is for something...Hey, look!  New!  Shiny! Ummm...what was that I was saying? Oh yeah, I have the attention span of a flea.).  In the holy crap has it really been over two months since I last posted, I finished the Kit Kittredge hat for my daughter - in time for Halloween, but then she decided she wanted to be a butterfly princess instead.  (Looks like she has her mama's attention span, too!)

I finally made my way to Unique Boutique in Billerica, MA on my way down to my in-laws for the Thanksgiving holiday and got an updated body scan done.  If you're not familiar with Unique Boutique, it's a fairly new nationwide franchise from Unique Patterns.  For about 15 years now, Unique has been providing custom-fit patterns for women based on their own measurements.  They started out with their own pattern line, then partnered with Butterick (I think, I might be wrong), but then that arrangement didn't work out so now they offer a selection of styles from Simplicity and New Look as well as their own pattern line. In order to receive custom-fit patterns, you need to provide them with a complete set of measurements. You can take your own measurements, or get scanned with the Intellifit® Plus Body Scanner at any Unique Boutique store.  The body scanner uses lasers to accurately (within 1/100th of an inch) measure you from head to toe.

I had my original body scan done about four and a half years ago, just one month after my daughter was born.  What was I thinking?  Not only was my body shape changing on an almost-daily basis, I didn't have the time or energy to sew.  My Unique patterns languished in the closet for months, and when I finally got around to taking them out, I realized that I'd have to alter them as much as I would any other off-the-shelf pattern.  So, back into the closet they went.  Until I finally hauled my butt into the Boston area store the day before Thanksgiving to get lasered once again. 

My new custom patterns (New Look 6952, Simplicity 3962 and Unique 9023 arrived today.  I chose those patterns with the idea of using them as slopers (even though the Unique dress pattern specifically states:  "NOTE:  THIS IS NOT A SLOPER" on the dress that, as far as I can tell, is pretty damn close to a sloper).  The New Look blouse is very similar to the B5300 which was giving me fitting fits.  The Simplicity 3962 is a plain vanilla, dropped-waist fitted straight leg pants pattern that I should be able to modify for jeans, wide leg trousers, etc. If all works out as planned, I should have TNT patterns for shirts, pants and skirts/dresses that I can use for seasons to come.

I'm not sure when I'm going to have time to work on my first Unique pattern, but I'm fairly certain that it won't take me another 4 1/2 years to get around to it.  Oh, BTW, did I mention that I started sewing a Silhouette Patterns blouse?  It's really...Ooooh!  Look!  More SHINY stuff!  I'll tell you more about that soon - I promise!