I was going to title this "Confessions of an Idiot:," but Claire used this title earlier this week, and I thought it sounded less insulting to me.
I was unable to stand up and sew for many months, so lost any motivation to do much of anything. When Gaylen found that Daisy Lace dress, the inspiration for last week's green lace dress, I decided that I found something I could put my mind to. I made the green lace dress as the first test for this design, then started on a 14 yard long piece of eyelet, cutting out a dress in the same design as the green lace one. But somewhere along the way, I got distracted. I made two summer dresses from the eyelet, without finishing the long sleeved one, and then my dearly beloved suggested that I should find more lace and make more dresses like the green one. Does a husband have to twice tell his wife to spend some money on something she wants? I think not.
Now comes the idiot part. I bought some stretch lace fabrics from one fabric website.
They also had some knits I had to have, along with a yard of linen for a skirt, an orange burnout that's really too orange for me, and a black patterned cotton that will be something, maybe a dress.
There were also some nice chiffons. The knits and chiffons were clearance pieces, so I was "forced" to take all 7 yards of the paisley, for example, and 4 yards of the red with the ribbon design. I hate when that happens.
The total of all of those was around 40 yards. How dumb am I?
But wait. There's more. Gaylen's friend Carolyn swears by another website which has nice fabrics, although their selection isn't as extensive as the first place I went. They do have excellent prices, especially if you're willing to buy clearance at the end of the season. I was. They had these nice stretch velours, which they suggested for warmup suits. Excuse me? Do I look like a warmup suit kind of girl?
The 8 yards of burgundy at the bottom is for a new winter dressing gown. All of the other colors (below the yellow) are 3 yards each. Seems like they'd be just right for princess seamed dresses along about November. The top piece is a blue floral that I loved, and the second one down is a butter colored crepe that was on clearance for only $1 per yard. 4 yards came to my house. I'm thinking that goes under the shears today.
And since I spent over $75, they gave me 10 free yards of fabric. Not a bad selection, either: a brown velour, a grey microsuede, a plaid and a hot pink for skirts, and 3 yards of a navy crepe.
Total from there: about 50 yards. Like I said, I'm an idiot. On the other hand, all of this (90 yards) only cost me $250, and my fabric is now so out of control that I'll be a good girl and not buy any more for a while.
And what does Thor think of this?
He and his lobster are not impressed.
Sunday we finally had a sunny day, so, of course, I wanted new clothes. I had a skirt pattern wit a view I thought I'd like, but hadn't tried, and an orange floral fabric that I bought by mistake. You see, I don't wear orange; it doesn't become my ultra white complexion and reddish hair. Therefore, I thought, a skirt from mistake fabric; if it fails, no harm! So I made the orange skirt, and, inspired by Cidell's post a while back about a cocktail dress with a lapped zipper, I decided to figure out the structure of a lapped zipper application, and put one in for the first time in my life. I liked the appearance, and may very well start using such an application more often. And, yes, I know it's weird that I had to figure out the structure of the zipper opening, but I'm a mechanical engineer; I have to engineer everything in my head. I rarely follow directions, either, although I kn
ow that's supposed to be a male trait, because I won't do anything until I know how it's done.
Anyway, I liked the hang of this skirt, because it was cut on the bias, as opposed to on the grain, but I don't like the center front seam; I'll need to engineer the solution to this problem before I tackle this skirt again.
I also made 
a dress from this pink fabric, or at least the body of it, but it was a sheath style dress, and didn't do well on me with the patterned fabric - I thought I looked like a beached whale. So, with the remaining 4 yards I'm going to make a sundress with a flared skirt and a little bolero type jacket. I may even do that next weekend. I know I had resolved to sew one outfit (or was it garment?) per month this year, but I haven't been inspired this year. Sunshine and our first 60 degree day inspired me.
A girl named Am
anda bought these shoes, then decided she didn't like them. So Amanda gave them to her friend Sally, who also didn't like them, but took them so as not to hurt Amanda's feelings. Sally gave them to her co-worker, my daughter. These shoes languished in my family room for about 3 weeks, because my daughter thought the color was strange. After looking at these poor orphan shoes for a while, I spotted some fabric on ebay which was in the same color family. So I adopted the fabric, and look how nicely it matches the shoes! Now my big dilemma is what to make from this fabric. It's very lightweight, almost sheer. I'm thinking an empire waisted dress with a floaty skirt, and a jacket to match, or maybe a fluffy skirt and jacket. These shoes, what quandaries they have caused. And what fun I'll have deciding what to make to go with them!
I admit it. Maybe I need an intervention, but I don't think it will help. I love colors. I love clothes. I love fabric. I have a tiny office (6x10) which thankfully has a 9 foot ceiling. At one end of my office, I have a built-in desk, with bookcases to the ceiling; it's where I do much of our business work. At the other end, I have three 5-drawer file cabinets (the room narrows up at that end). On top of the cabinets are a few shelves, which are simply stuffed with fabric. I have whites, brights, darks, knits, linens, and everything in between.
Quite a number of years back, hubby & I were watching Mulholland Drive (I think that was the name of it), and I commented that I wanted a dressing gown like the white satin one Kim Basinger was wearing in it. His response, of course, was, "So go buy one!" (What a dear - that's what he says any time I want something). Instead, I designed one. The first was made of chiffon - didn't hold up so well. The second was royal purple stretch velvet. Very heavy, very warm, very elegant - I've worn it for 9 or 10 winters. The third was a nice lightweight cotton. After about 6 spring/summer seasons, it's growing some rather ugly threadbare spots. I went to Joann's Fabric to try to find a nice summer weight fabric a couple of weeks ago, and came out empty handed. So my computer illiterate husband suggested that I search ebay while he peered over my shoulder. The first thing he did was find me a sewing machine for $62, delivered, because mine is currently in for a "tune up". Then I found 10 yards of red burnout velvet ("new winter dressing gown!"), 5 yards of peach lightweight something, and assorted other things which he urged me to buy because they were pretty. Considering that I went to the going out of business sale at our local Hancock Fabric store in May, and bought several chunks of beautiful fabric I didn't need (and are not in the picture above, because they aren't fitting on the shelf), I'm in deep trouble. I need desperately to get sewing this weekend.....but I can't wait for that pretty new peach colored dressing gown.....
