You must be lost

I knew asking about sewing notions here yesterday was a great idea. I got a lot of fantastic suggestions and thanks to those of you who made them. My sewing experiences will be a lot more pleasant after the holidays. Even if I don't get any of the things on the list, I'll be picking up little random items like that myself periodically in the coming months, I think.

I'm really hoping the rain will slack off in the next few minutes. I'd like to go check the mail (the trim won't likely be here yet, but I'd like to get the mail regardless) and I've got to run to the grocery and get the two dishes we're taking for Thanksgiving started (candied sweet potatoes with blue cheese and spinach casserole, yum!). I'd really rather not do all that in the pouring rain. But if I must, I must.

There's so much around the house I could, err, should be doing right now. But I just don't feel like doing any of it. I managed to work on the adjustments to my wrap shirt a little this morning. It would be nice to get it finished today so I could perhaps wear it tomorrow or at least some time this weekend.

I worked on the wrap skirt design last night and I think I've got my pattern shapes down and my cutting layout figured out. It really helped to have a store bought skirt to work from. Helps to see the finished product and kind of pick it apart, visually that is, not literally. The only thing is I need to keep in mind I'm working with silk velvet, not stretch knit fabric. The bought skirt has an elastic waist which if I tried to replicate with the velvet would bunch up and not be the look I wanted. So, I'm thinking about doing a tailored waistline and putting an invisible zipper in back.

Looks like two of the three things I have listed on ebay are going to sell and the other has a watcher that hopefully will bid before it's over. Dinesh also somehow overcharged me for shipping (not by my calculations, but whatever, not going to argue!) and I've got a $6 credit with him. I noticed this morning that the trim he said he didn't have any more of is relisted with 10 yards. I'll be getting those extra yards I wanted after all! I guess things sometimes work out if you don't worry about them. I better go ahead and buy them before I miss out again though.

Sewing is a LOT more fun without a looming deadline. I used to sew for a specific event or holiday, making unrealistic goals and rarely if ever meeting them. It was a vicious cycle that just made me feel defeated all the time. But lately, I've been working steadily on a mockup for this blouse, all without a deadline, or even a personal goal, for completion. It's hard to fight the urge to say, "I'd like to have this done by the end of the week" or something, but I am for now and it seems to keep me a little more productive on it. This is the only aspect of my life that I know of where I do better without being pressed against a deadline or goal. In everything else, I feel like I work even better when I've got a little pressure from a completion goal.

As I mentioned I'm working on what I was calling the kimono shirt. That's what pyramid collection called their original, and the pattern I picked out to replicate it has a woman holding a bamboo parasol on the front. But the shirt is nothing like a kimono. Really, I think I'd call it a petal wrap shirt if anything. The more I work on it, the more it evolves into an elven style. It's going well. I need to widen the neckband to accommodate the trim I decided to use, take in the back collar seam about 1/2", lengthen the front panels at the center front line. . . again (third time). I swear, I really do need to stop all other projects and get my dress form altered once and for all. Commercial patterns just don't accommodate for torsos as long as mine. And for as many times as I've altered this pattern in all sorts of places, I could have just draped it to begin with.

I had some trouble deciding on sleeves, too. I mocked up a two part sleeve, kind of like a simplified Arwen-type sleeve, and I tried taking the same triangle shaped piece I used for the lower sleeve on that as the entire sleeve. I like them both, but since I have two fabrics to utilize in this version, I decided to go with the two part. I promised myself I'd revisit it with perhaps a burnout velvet or a lightweight fabric like an embroidered chiffon or something for the one part sleeves. About a week ago I dyed some paisley jacquard that I've had for this shirt forever. The color came out beautifully, though it could have been just a tad darker. I used 2oz. of orchid and probably close to 1oz of lavender dyes (fiber reactive dye powder from Dharma Trading). While it was wet, I was concerned about it being too bright. The whole time it was in the dryer, I was fretting that I'd have to buy more dye and do this all over again, but it turned out lovely.

Once I finish this mockup, I might go ahead and mockup a skirt idea I have to go with it. It's a petal wrap skirt, long and full, and will use up another 4 yards of silk velvet out of my stash that wasn't intended for another project. I might actually be able to fit all my fabric in one box soon. Which means I need to buy some more fabric, heh. Once these two projects are done, I'm going to pull out my Blood Red gown again and see what I can salvage. I looked at the red velvet the other day and forgot how much I loved the color. The navy velvet I think will get replaced, and since it's already cut into the shape of the jumper, I'll just have to do an "inspired by" outfit with it. I happened to have a swatch of the syfabrics navy velvet and compared the two and I just can't say I'd be satisfied keeping the stuff I dyed. Kinda sad, but oh well. The color I got is lovely, just not dark enough for the gown. And if I tried to dye it again, I'm afraid my pieces would fray into nothing (or at least parts of them would, like the shoulder area where there's not much to begin with). Bindu has a gorgeous paisley brocade on her website that I might just have to spend part of this month's sewing budget on.

The past couple of days, I've been doing a lot of sketching. I keep having ideas pop into my head for everyday clothes. I've got three pages of sketches, front and back, shirts, coats, skirts, and I have some ideas I haven't started exploring yet for pants. Oddly enough, all of it looks like it came out of an elf's closet. Maybe that's not odd for me.

I just realized how long it's been since I posted and what I posted about last. So to update, I finished Jonah's drapes. They're awesome, nice and dark and full. I also worked on the Chase lace redye, but to no avail. I got it a slightly lighter shade of red. Kind of a mauve now, but still not light enough to dye. Part of the rest of this month's sewing budget will go for more color remover. I tried 1 box in a plastic tub in the sink with the hottest tap water I could get plus 2 liters of boiling water. Nothing. Then I tried two boxes in the smallest load my washing machine will do with the hottest tap water I could get plus 2 liters of boiling water. That's what got me to mauve.