Sunday, November 22, 2009

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?...

Sunday, November 15, 2009

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!

Friday, November 13, 2009

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?