I feel a change a-comin...

I'm graduating.

I've made many a thing since the last time I took pictures not on my cell phone, but I don't honestly know if I will do enough sewing in the near future to justify the current form of this blog... but I have plenty to talk about.

So be warned, my blog is going... non-craft-centric.

Possibly.

We shall see.

Things are a-changing!

Look for a photo post soon.

SLM

A busy week

... But I DO have sewing goals, and I WILL have pictures!

For sure:

-Blue beach coverup for me

-pink beach coverup for Laura

-deep pink dress for "formal" on the beach

Maybe:

-pink dotted Swiss dress: I have seen lots of cute skirt fabrics with a top made with a purchased or similar shirt, and I like the idea of that... I have 2 fabrics I'm considering using, so we'll see!

-brown circle skirt on yoke: I still have to pattern the yoke, but I have some thoughts. So another we'll see. And I have trim and buttons already, so it'll be cute.

-changes to a dress of my Mom's- I wore it for my Senior portraits, and look forward to finishing some pretty cool modernizations that could make it a favorite this summer.

Definately outside of sewing:

I will be babysitting twice and writing a paper and doing the food shopping for a 4-day trip to the beach in SC! It's going to be a great way to spend my last May term break.

I'll also be addressing my graduation announcements- all 40 of them!

As far as SWAP goes, I won't finish.

Works in progress

March was very rewarding, and it meant I started a few new things.

So here, a la Gwen at After the Dress, is a queue!

Things I started:

-McCalls dress: 5801, sleeveless in the awesome border print

-circle wrap skirt

-refashions on the linen dress

-refashions on the silk

Yet to start:

-alterations pile... quite huge

-a church dress

-chop off a skirt

-repair some winter stuff

-chop off a red dress

-white with brown pinstripes shirtwaist

-sloper for bodice with princess seams

-a cute embellished knit top

Again, not a contender for SWAP, but I really like the concept, even if my sewing IS more about filling in the holes right now.

It was a busy month, okay?

But March is over! And my sewing mojo has returned with force.

March saw me make...

-a fairy costume

-Simplicity 2444

-a "bastardized: jacket based on Simplicity 2444

-a vest/shorts costume

The green dress in the middle is a piece in my SWAP, as is the white little coverup jacket! The dress was really a breeze to make, and I enjoyed it. Mightily. So much so, I made it again for a formal. That was a lot of fun too.

More fabric acquisitions happened, and the refashions will be starting up shortly!

Pictures and a kind of explanation of what the concept of the show was can follow, if y'all want to hear about it...

time...

I don't have much. I feel really terrible about neglecting the blog, even though most of my readership probably thinks I am gone forever. I don't know. I'm trying... That's about all I've got because you guys deserve more than excuses.

I've made some exciting progress... Helen, my dressform, got the shoulderpads from 2 of those dresses being reconstructed, and I found out removing pockets won't destroy the linen for the lighter of the two dresses. So there is hope.

Now if there were only light at the end of the schoolwork tunnel...

SWAP pictures: Refashion edition

First, the refashioning dresses...

This is the darlingest vintage eyelet I think I have seen recently, and I say that because it's unusual. It was once white and belonging to my mother, and now you see the skirt of what will be a really great dress... I have pleated the skirt from its full original width down to my waist measurement, and it'll have a side zip and decorative buttons at the top. No matching pattern, not enough fabric.

The first cafe-au-lait brown will be in the running for a dress to wear to my boyfriend's commissioning in May. I like the idea, in theory- we shall see. It's thought to be a silk-linen

blend- all I really know is it drapes really beautifully

and I like it for a 40s-style knockout dress with somewhat military detailing.

I'm really excited about it- It should be a joy to sew with because it's really nice. I know it's dry clean only though, which will be a bit of a bother, but really, I just need to suck it up and find a good dry cleaner. Something with good lines in a good fabric

deserves the attention, and I'm a big girl now. It's one of those things that just need to happen.

The second, lighter cafe-au-lait brown is a linen shirt dress with a button front. It'll be something cute with an empire waist and strappy straps if I think there is enough to do it that way with a little over-jacket. If not, I think it'll be strapless but classy- or a halter cut. Just a good summer linen with an awesome twirling skirt. Because every girl, no matter her age, deserves a skirt that is twirly. And a swing-dancing boyfriend is plenty of incentive if there wasn't already. And another bonus? It has pockets. SCORE!

Those are my 3 refashions, and this lovely (okay, I was using my bed for all of these in less than ideal lighting. Insanely short on space in my itty bitty dorm room...) shot is of all of my current fabrics for SWAP.

A package wins and changes it again... maybe.

I got a package from my mom with 2 more dresses and a few other fabric things... and I am most definitely doing the 5 dresses. Here's what we have now.... and will narrow down. The stars are in for sure. But please. Chime in. You can help me solidify!

Dresses:

vintage/refashion:

*Brown/retro eggplant sleeveless shirtdress: McCall 5801 view A

*dyed eyelet- peekaboo top, pleated skirt refashion

(I think) silk/linen blend refashion into something with a 40s feel- no pleats

natural linen shirtwaist dress refashion

from stash:

herringbone print wiggle dress: possibly Vogue 8280 view D

brown knit dress

champagne silk for Dining-Out- closure with corset back

tops:

chocolate knit tee

embellished plum or coral tee

?

?(purchased vintage or refashion)

bottom:

a pencil skirt in chocolate

embroidered cotton skirt

choice:

purchased trench a la Old Navy... 2 seasons ago?

Checking in

Once upon a time, I posted regularly, and had many things I really wanted to talk about.

Now... I don't know. A blog I regularly read, Mimi's Room, featured a post on "Blogger's Block". Maybe that's it. I hate the idea that I have outgrown this, but I feel like the shape of things might be changing. My life is changing so so much right now I feel it's understandable... But my love of sewing and creating hasn't magically disappeared, and I really do still read many many blogs... But I've lost a bit of steam about working on mine.

Granted, there is a TON of stuff going on in my life right now... I am a senior in college. A member of a sorority. A chair of a university committee. I have a boyfriend. School responsibilities. An internship at my church. Seminary applications. Family. Life outside of the internet.

And more memories to make before my life changes for forever over the course of the next few months. I have rediscovered what it is to live in the moment and be a friend and a part of the world around me, and I'm relishing in that chance to just... be. I think it really could stem back to the sunsets and times I spent in Istanbul, and everything I've experienced since then. Just learning to be IN the moment.

I'm working on a list of goals for the time between now and graduation, and I may make this blog part of them. I'm going to do my best, as always, not to disappear... But I might just have to be okay with some changes. That might mean more posts like this.

Sorry for rambling. If you read this, I appreciate that. Although I suspect my sporadic posts and lack of pictures means not many do.

SWAP and a new twist

Well, I think I am in it for five dresses... if my closet will tolerate the presence of five more dresses.

And if I do it, which I fully intend to, I'm going to make another commitment with this thing. It will be from things I have or that I am given from other people's stashes. My mom has some really awesome clothes from the 80s, when they used way more fabric and longer hemlines in everything. Much of it is still very usable and very very pretty. I have a pile of green eyelet, dyed twice, that was once a beautiful white dress she wore in the summers when I was very small. It means a lot to her that I am using it, and it means a lot to me to have it.

So my swap, Coffee and chocolate, will be retro-inspired. With Stash. I think that's fair. I know it's me.

Oh my goodness! Almost a month! I need a kick in the pants to do this regularly again... I suppose. But it is as much for me as for all of you, I could point out... I suppose I should do a yearly overview, no matter how pathetic it will look.

Garments:

dresses:

Sunset

2 blue knit

Jessica Rabbit Halloween costume

skirts:

eyelet wadder

pants:

Istanbul pants

UFOs:

champagne cocktail dress

brown refashion

retro print dress

green dress refashion

Pathetic until you look at Sunset and factor in costumes, right?

Sickness mans sleepytime, so more tomorrow... I hope!