Plans Gone Awry

I went to put a zipper in the pants I'm working on, but after printing directions for a lapped zipper (which I've never done before) and finding black interfacing to interface the zipper area, I went to measure the width of the zipper and discovered -- no zipper!

I didn't feel like driving to the store, so I cleaned out the cupboards in my sewing room and sorted most of my stash.

This looks quite formidable in real life. This picture makes it look dinky in comparison to some of the stashes you guys have posted! There is fabric for 31 garments there. Thirty-one!

Having it all in one place will help me use it up more, I hope.

This is one last pile of miscellaneous fabric and half-done projects that I need to sort. It's sitting on the floor under my large ironing board/cutting table. These are abandoned home-related sewing projects: a cat bed, couch cover, and table cloth set. All half-done!


Here's the pile of ready-to-wear that I'd like to alter, with a few abandoned muslins thrown in.

I long for my old life in North Carolina. My husband once referred to our lives in North Carolina as "the gold standard of family happiness." I did the most sewing in the least space there. In my bedroom, I had an ironing board and a small table with my serger and sewing machine. I had two large Rubbermaid tubs of sewing stuff in my closet. That was it. I cranked out a lot of garments, made a house full of curtains, and had no mending pile. I used to mend whatever had gathered during a project before I started the next one. I alternated between a garment for me and a house project until I had made curtains for every room in the house. I tried a lot of new things there and improved my sewing skills tremendously. Sigh. I sure was productive then.

So, after that reminder that I was just as busy but more productive in North Carolina, here are my excuses. I'm sewing slowly these days because we've been making great progress on cleaning the house. One teenage boys has inexplicably started helping, so I'm seizing the moment. School starts for me soon, so I've been getting my stuff ready, and I'm taking a class on Web Site Design. I'll be learning about Dreamweaver, HTML, XHTML, and CSS, whatever they are. I bought the books and have been reading to prepare for class. I'm such a good student!

I'll buy that zipper tomorrow.

Went Shopping with Mom!

When my mom came to visit from Phoenix, we went fabric shopping.

My mom's friend lives half of the year in Syracuse and half of the year in Phoenix. Syracuse is a bit of a drive from my house, but we went to visit mom's friend. Mom's friend's sister-in-law owns Cottons, Etc near Syracuse, so they figured that, since I love sewing, we'd go there. I was a little worried because it is predominately a quilt shop, and non-garment-sewers don't often understand why I think a fabric shop full of fabric could have nothing worth buying.

It turned out that the fabric alone was worth the trip. Cottons, Etc has a room they call the "fashion room," and it is full of a variety of garment fabrics. Here's what I got:

The fabric on the left on 2 3/4 yards of a woven cotton/ploy/rayon blend. It's soft and flowing. It's for a non-specific skirt.

The next is 2 3/4 yards of a woven 100% rayon. It is also soft and flowing. It is also for a non-specific skirt.

The one on the right is a thin 100% rayon knit. I bought that with V8151 in mind.

In the second photo, the fabric on the left is 2 1/2 yards of a linen-like 40% rayon, 40% poly, 15% flax blend.

Next to it is 2 1/2 yards of a linen-like 100% rayon purchased to match. Here's where the mystery comes in. After washing all the fabric and setting it aside for a month, I pulled it out and thought, "Hmm. Where did my green go and why is this brown fabric here? Did I buy brown and I'm remembering wrong?" Looking at my notes, I found it listed as green. It's as brown as brown can be. I don't know if this color change happened in the wash or in my mind. Could be either. I'm bad with colors.

I'm not planning to use any of these fabrics too soon. I bought them for my stash, not for any current projects. I'm working on a pair of pants from an alteration of these pants. I have lots of pictures, but little courage to post them. When I'm done with the pants I'll have to see what I end up having the courage to post.