nancyfancypants

Ok, I ditched the Visions of needles..somewhat creative crappynameformynewblog.  It sounded very contrived, and since I TRY not to sound contrived- I decided on a different name for my blog.

nancyfancypants

My dear dear friend Gina gave that nickname to me and it stuck.  Some people call me nancyfancypants, some call me Fancy (my bil has been calling me that since we met 15 years ago), and other call me "Pants".  Oh, and sometimes they get Gina's nickname wrong and call me fancynancypants.  I like them all, it doesn't matter.  Gina got nancyfancypants from the Fancy Nancy books she read to her two adorable little girls (and I mean ADORABLE.)  Actually, Gina is pretty adorable herself- her nickname is "Princess" and not in a bad way either.

Soooo, after searching out some ideas and seeing that everyone else has already thought of all my "witty" little spins on the word "sew", I found out that someone has already thought of it all.  Bummer.  I did see Fancy Pants, but no nancyfancypants.  So there you go- I have a name for my blog.  It's official.

Let the sewing begin...

I suck at this so far...

Why do I go in spurts?  I wish I could stay focused and stay motivated.  I know some of it has to do with me not taking care of myself- my energy level has been inconsistent.  Right now it is super cold and I just can't move when I am cold!
But, I am determined the new year will bring great changes for me- or I will bring great changes to the new year,  Whatever.  I am still thinking about those sewing classes, but it is not as appealing as I haven't worked anything out yet.
I DID do some sewing at least!  Since we were missing half of Christmas stuff (I do hope it is back in the States with the rest of our stuff in storage)- I had to fill in the missing pieces.  I made us Christmas stockings.  They turned out pretty cute I think.  I found a pattern, but only used the general shape and did them my way.  I had some velvet like fabric that I used with some Christmas prints and scraps of satin.  Even the dog got her own stocking.  I also covered two old couch pillows with Christmas fabric- it looked very Holiday-ish in my home in no time!  I also ordered some holiday fabric from my favorite Fabric.com.  Does it count if you just buy the fabric? lol
Of course I didn't take one single picture- and its all packed up already...

I am still working on the name- it sounds too holiday-ish I need a better one.
Geez, maybe if I have a good name then I will be better at getting this going?  Maybe not...

Organizing and Thinking of Teaching?

Ok, so I should finish cleaning up the house as my Hubby is coming home tomorrow.  But- in the middle of putting away my sewing stash I started going through my oodles of patterns and came up with the idea to organize them once and for all!  Getting back into the groove of sewing I decided I needed to do something with my fabric stash as well.  I have tried doing this before- but for some reason it never worked out to my liking.  Finally I had the idea *enter bright lightbulb* to sort the fabric by COLOR.  I know- I am not the first to think of that.  If I had my dream sewing room I would have lots of space to store all my goodies.  As I live in military housing, I don't have many options. So I managed to take 6 totes and squeeze it all down to 4.  That made me feel better to think I don't have THAT much fabric.  And then I thought- I don't have that MUCH fabric.  I do have an order from Fabric.com on the way.  I am so excited!

Four totes- that is all!

So to organize my patterns- which I have failed miserably at as well- I decided to make my own pattern book.  I have been making black and white copies of the fronts and back and will put them in a binder with sheet protectors.  That way I can easily sort and re-sort- and write notes- include fabric samples- whatever!  And then the actual patterns will be sorted by maker and number.

I have to say that moving HAS helped me to be a bit organized as I am still unpacking my supplies.  I can't believe how spread out everything was!  Today I found my thread clipper and sewing gauge- I have not seen them in forever!

I have another reason to create order.  I am thinking of teaching beginning sewing here at my house.  So many of the wives I know always say they wished they knew how to sew when I mention I made something or what have you.  I am no expert- but I have been sewing for almost 3 decades- that accounts for something right?  It seems that sewing has become vogue as of late, but then again I feel that it is in danger of being a dying art form.  A lot of people think it is so much harder than it really is.  Sure- a intricately tailored suit designed by Yves Saint Laurent might be quite the challenge.  But most of us don't wear clothes that are that finely tailored.  I don't plan on only teaching apparel sewing- but I think I will work with what the student wishes to learn.  Hence- my pattern book I am making.

I am excited at the prospect of teaching.  Hubby is even on board- saying I should get another machine.  God bless him- he never complains about my huge stash of patterns, fabric and all the other craft items I have crammed all over the house.  I can't wait for him to get home- not too much longer!

Now where the heck I am going to put these totes?...

Birthday Dress

Yay!  I finished my first birthday dress!  I really need a dressform so I can take a better picture.  I will have a picture taken when I wear it and will post it.  It was a fairly easy dress, just a little time consuming with the pleats.  I couldn't find my marking pens or chalk (we just moved 3 months ago)- so I had to mark the circles with thread.  Of course I found my pens and chalk AFTER I already finished the pleats.  My favorite part about this dress is the sleeves, they are so much fun.  I made the sash as well but I still have to decide whether I will use it or not.  My big lesson learned here is to make sure I use the right kind of interfacing.  The knit fabric is very light- the interfacing was too heavy (didn't realize that in time) and the neckline is too stiff for my liking.  I am hoping that a little washing with some fabric softener will take some of that stiffness out.  Now I just need to find some tights to go with my brown knee high boots.  I am not sure the Japanese tights will fit me so I will have to make an order online.

The pattern I used is Vogue V8411.

It was fairly easy, the only gripe is that the directions for the bodice and facing were not very clear.  Otherwise it was a lot of fun!

I got the idea of making myself a birthday dress from a blog I just found a few weeks ago- The Slapdash Sewist.  She has a tradition of making herself a birthday dress every year.  What an awesome reason to make a dress, I love it!

Happy Birthday Me!

My blog baby

Well I am attempting to get this blog off the ground and out into the blogosphere. I have been trying to come up with a good name- right now I have Visions of Fabric and Needles Dance in My Head- borrowing the line from The Night Before Christmas- "Visions of sugarplums dance in their heads". It is still in Playdough mode so I am still tweaking it. I think maybe "Visions of Pincushions Dance in My Head"? I am sure eventually something will stick. :)

The other thing I have been sorting out is what my focus will be. I love all sorts of crafts- but sewing is main squeeze of them all. I may sneak some "non-sewing" items in such as crochet projects and scrapbooking- but I really want to focus on sewing. I have amassed great quantities of fabric as many of us sewists will do. But you know how it goes with having a family and working and... Like my friend Jaime would tell me- "Life gets in the way." My goal is to pare down my fabric collection without throwing it out or giving it away. I really want to dive in and create. I have been reading other sewer's blogs for a while- and they have really given me some inspiration. I figure that the more I talk about it, or blog about it- the more motivated I will be.

Where do I want to go from there? I don't know? Maybe I will just inspire others to take up the art form of sewing- maybe I will start creating enough that I can actually earn a sort of income. I do know that I want to enjoy myself and better my skills while doing it. Who knows, maybe I will make some friends in the process?