Secret Life of Me

i have between now and spring break to attempt to bust my stash. i predict that i will fail miserably in this effort. i just received the additional silk i need to finish my copycat blouse in the mail today, so tomorrow is off to the dry cleaners for pre-treating and approximately 5 more days of waiting. that means that i need to find something else to sew this weekend. time to stash bust!
the last time i was waiting on fabric to return from the dry cleaners i made a bat-wing top out of purple rayon jersey and despite my admittedly sloppy handiwork with the knit fabric, i receive multitudes of compliments every time i wear it. why is it that the things i throw together with little attention to detail seem to be the things that get the most attention and the things i put together painstakingly never get noticed? anyhow, i have a beautiful gray mohair knit that i picked up in seattle that i am going to turn into another version of the bat-wing. i think i will dub this one the “robin” top. stash bust number one, check.
why the big bust you ask? well, it is looking like Dylan and i will be headed to NYC over spring break and i am saving up to raid the garment district, that’s why!

my soon-to-be sewing label and a little homage to my grandmother, who taught me to sew.

remember this?

i was window shopping at modcloth and found this beauty and decided that i should make it mine, but better. so i whipped up this muslin (yes i know, it doesn’t look right, but that’s because i pinned it haphazardly to the form and didn’t actually make the casing for the waist. i also decided that i wanted shorter sleeves and a wider shoulder, so it isn’t an exact replica.):
and waited anxiously for the real fabric to arrive in the mail. then i waited, all the while growing ever more impatient, while it was at the dry cleaners. and finally…

have you ever seen anything so beautiful? ombred silk in rose fading to black. squee!

here’s the trouble (it wouldn’t be a susan project without trouble), in working out how i wanted to assemble this garment, i decided that i didn’t want either the look or the fuss of creating a bias binding for the neck line. in addition, after seeing the silk in person, it’s very thin and wants for lining. what to use? it wasn’t as simple as using the extra material because of the ombre. it would look ridiculous to have a little black lining peeking out from underneath the rose colored neckline. what it comes down to is that i was able to get a lining piece for the front, but couldn’t fit the back in no matter how i laid it out. so now, i either need to find some rose colored silk (i think habotai would be just right) or i need to buy an additional yard of the original material. thus, more anxious waiting. blerg.

make this:

purple rayon jersey from joanne’s that is surprisingly soft, but will probably pill after surprisingly few washes.

why is it that when i finally have time to sew, my fabric is still at the dry cleaners? blerg.

i have three pieces of beautiful fabric at the dry cleaners. i really wanted to sew this weekend, but they won’t be back from the cleaners until monday. soon, very soon.

i have started on two projects using my new dress form. to be quite honest, i am not sure if i am using it correctly (is there a special technique?). i do, however, know one thing: fitting and draping is so much easier with the dress form. did you know that you don’t have to be a contortionist to get things pinned in place when you have a dress form? i know, it’s revolutionary. here are some pics:
project 1: boxy blazer refashion

you can see the new hemline pinned onto the original and how much of a change it is. i also pinned out an extra inch or so out of the back darts.
project 2: wearable muslin copycat blouse

this one is the muslin for my copycat blouse. i bought a cheap-o synthetic silk that has about the same drape and weight as the real silk i will be using, except that due to its cheapness is sort of a pain to work with. it looks alright though, so if i ever get to dealing with the fraying edges that are leaving bits of fluff all over my sewing room, it may become a wearable piece.

really, i had big plans for sewing over winter break. i made some progress over the first couple days of break, but then there was shirt fail and then we were gone for a week. so, i was planning to return from visiting family and spend the last four days sewing, but after holding out all fall term, i finally got sick. nothing serious, no flu of any kind. just enough that the only brain power i have is for sitting staring mindlessly at the tv, while wallowing in self-pity.
i did take some of my time to start ripping apart a blazer that i haven’t worn in a long time because i have decided it is too boxy. i got a dress form for christmas and this will be my first project. taking the blazer (originally from banana republic) in at the waist, rounding the hem and shortening the length to make it more feminine. it is a great fabric, sort of a taupe sueded cotton with chocolate brown faux suede elbow patches.
and i’m running out of tissues. really it’s comical…the tissue pile.

the end of the last decade saw my graduation from high school and my first adventures in the adult world. the ten years since have taken me to seattle, eugene, tuscon and back to eugene. from bad apartments to bad houses to finally owning a home. 8 years with dylan, 3 years of teaching, 2 years of grad school, 4 years of undergrad, 4 years of marriage, 1 marathon, 2 half marathons, 2 years of learning to play soccer, 2 years of being serious about sewing…
despite all of the terrible things that have happened in the last decade, the last 10 years have been pretty good to me. my hope for the next ten is to continue to make good in the bad.

i have been working for ages on the yellow floral western style shirt. i have really put a lot of effort into this shirt. the bodice took some messing with to get the fit right. i re-worked the sleeves to make them work as elbow-length. i made all of the adjustments necessary to get the pattern to work right…except one. i forgot to adjust the length of the collar and collar stand. things are cut. the shirt is nearly finished. i have no extra fabric. none. zero. until i can come up with a suitable method for altering the collar width (i already have some ideas), this shirt and i are on a break.
in the meantime, i am working on a pattern of my own drafting. sometimes it’s easier to start from scratch than to remember all the pieces of someone else’s work. i saw this adorable top at modcloth.

image from here.
i have been eyeing a beautiful ombred silk at gorgeous fabrics and decided it was time to make it mine. considering that this pattern will only have three pieces and some bias bindings, it should be a pretty easy project. here’s the silk.