It Is Done

Vogue 8701

And by "IT" I mean 2012 and my latest dress.  Happy New Year,  we shall see what it has in store for us. I must admit that I've been doing a great deal of inner reflection lately*. And doing a lot of it while hand stitching on this dress.  I have a very long process post and a photo shoot of me in it to do, for sure.  However, since I've been so quiet recently I just wanted to show you what I've been working on.

Vogue 8701 View B, with a slight lengthening of the sleeve. I also added belt loops and made a matching belt. Its a silk dupioni I got on sale from Fabric Mart Fabrics for a steal. Its the bestest most obnoxious plaid ever and while it looks shiny in all the photos, its not really in real life. I'm totally wearing it to work.

I actually put a lot of my work in progress up on Instagram, but as I already stated I am planning on giving you more in depth on what I had to do to get it to fit.  Mom once told me that the simplest looking designs are the hardest to make look good.  Mom was very wise.


*A lot of it has to do with work and blogging about my sewing. I work in the I.T. industry and sewing is a completely mystifying hobby to most of my coworkers. Because I managed to teach ONE class before I had to do a lot of damage control for friends I've had multiple people at work ask "So are you going into business for yourself now?".  Trying to explain to them that making the kind of money I do in I.T. would be almost impossible and I'm not exactly in a position to strike out on my own on a hope and a whim was frustrating. My husband pointed out that its a way that men (and I mostly work with men) compliment you, by pointing out that you are good enough at said skill to be marketable.

But anywho, all that to say that I've been trying to find a way continue my education for work and have the skill apply to both blogging and my "day" job.  Can't really go into more detail than that, other than 2013 is going to be a very interesting year. Hopefully a good interesting. Wish me luck!

Why Cleaning Saves Money

So, as I said a little earlier I'm trying to get the house in better shape for the New Year. Its my goal to have things Ship Shape by January 6th. I stayed up late (for me, I work overnights, remember?) and made the trek down to Ikea for storage solutions (and got a reading chair for the bedroom), with the hubby's help.

In the process of "out with the old" I was cleaning out the closet under the stairs.  Its amazing how much junk accumulates there over the years. One of the things I found was an old film SLR that a friend of mine gave during one of her episodes of cleaning too.  Unfortunately, it needs work done and the lenses didn't work on my DSLR. However, I discovered it has a flash attachment that I can use on my DSLR. If you've been following me for a while you know I've been trying to improve my photography. Anyone serious about craft/sewing blogging knows this for a fact. Snug Bug went over that some time ago here.

So, I decided to compare it to the difference. I'm still working on my Sencha out of blue silk. I decided to do a bias binding on the neck instead of a facing. I'm doing a hand slip-stitch to finish off the back.  I took a photo using the standard one-directional flash and the newly re-discovered multi-directional flash.  See the difference, its kinda amazing. Of course, none of this will be very surprising to any of my hobby/professional photographers friends/acquaintances.

You can see where I have the binding pinned to death. That is the closest I've seen to what the blue looks like since I've tried to take photos of it. I'm stoked, really. This just saved me about $70 in equipment, which means I can go spend more on fabric. Right? Or shoes. Shoes are good too.

I was going to take photos of Simon in the Betsy Johnson pajama shirt but the poor thing is sick. He's pretty miserable at the moment. Aside from that, what does everyone else have "planned" for the New Year?

Primary New Year!

(Lounging with Manga the Cat)

The hubby and I rang in the new year with fireworks at a friend's house. And by "rang" I mean my ears are still ringing from the mishap that caused some to go off under the seat where I was sitting (and blew a hole in my friend's pants, but don't worry, she's Ok). I mean, seriously. Alcohol and explosives, what could possibly go wrong? Still, we had a wonderful time! New year's day found me recovering. It was raining and I was feeling lethargic. I did manage to cut out a dress and a shirt, just haven't stitched them together. A friend came over to hang out with our roommate and spent the night. She was kind enough to help Felicity made a clock battery out of potatoes. And then an orange. (My kids do science experiments and art projects for fun because that's how we roll)

So the nerd in me is excited as this year is also a Primary Number. How exciting is that! This means its going to be an extra special year because I say so! I'm just thinking that I embarked on the journey of learning to sew fashion clothing for myself almost two years ago. I have found quite a community of passionate sewists online that have led me to resources and lent me the strength to overcome hurdles. This sounds corny but its helped in other areas of my life as well. Everyone needs a sense of accomplishment.

I want to continue adding new skills to my sewing repertoire. Bound buttonholes are on the list, as well as a bit of tailoring, sewing with sheer fabric, and maybe even more design work. I dunno, we'll see. Oh yeah, and PANTS! I need to learn to make pants.

I have other goals that are not related to sewing, unless you count loosing weight. I'm down 25 pounds since the beginning of 2010 and my goal is another 25. This will put me at pre-baby weight (but not my all time low) and I'll be happy there. Then there's the career goals... Anywho! I shall endeavor to share more of my planning thoughts and day dreams of what, in a perfect world, I would have the time and energy (and money) to sew up for a fabulous wardrobe!

Stay Fabulous!