Sewing Plans, Autumn 2014
Haven't started the 100 Things yet, but I've just not been well any weeknight so far. Yikes. Part muscle owch from teh weekend, part mysterious numbing of littlest left toe (which could be from new boots or the weekend back aches), and its also still ragweed season :-P Its making it very difficult to focus at work or home, but I see a doctor about that tonite, yaaaay.
But last night I didn't have to turn on my a/c until bedtime! Even after using the oven to cook bacon for the first time in months. So its that time of year again (as soon as ragweed goes away, ugh).
This year I decided to make some things for the colder weather but not go completely crazy. Except so far it seems crazy, b/c the corduroy I wasn't going to order until October was suddenly on sale the day I got the swatches for it last week, so... argh. I think I'll still count it towards next month's budget, but this is adding to my feelings of financial stupid. Yesterday I got a 4 lb box of fabric, today I got another that's 14 lb, and some of the swatches I got today are *also* suddenly on sale. I feel like fabric.com is stalking me :-P
My trusty (burlap? cheap canvas?) backpack finally fell apart, and I hate using a shoulder bag, so a couple weeks ago I ordered the materials to just make a pleather backpack myself. Pleather, grommets, grommet tool, and I'll strip whatever else I need off old backpacks. If I need lining, I'm sure I have some in-stash. Was hoping to work on that right after Discardia, but I miscalculated the size of that project. This weekend I have to make my dress for NYCC's complete costume, Steampunk Babylon 5 Delenn, b/c its the last free weekend I have before con. I'm making the dress in a simple modern pattern (b/c I'm tricksy) out of stash fabric. Hopefully I have a moment to work on the backpack too.
I already have a skirt made out of velveteen leftover from the Doom Coat project, so I'll just make two more in black and blue corduroy. Same pattern as all my linen skirts. Because I only really liked the weights and colors of those two swatches, I'm using the same fabric to make two mini-DoomCoats. Same pattern, which fits my back really well after the waist adjustment, but the shortest version. Possibly with detachable hood, b/c I luv hoodies now. So I only need 2.5 yards of fabric, not TEN (or rather SEVEN, durn pattern instructions), with linings from the stash.
The new jackets will end up being on regular rotation at work b/c I don't think they'll ever fix the heat :-P Will probably make some fingerless gloves from knit scraps too. Also picked up a new knit cardigan pattern, to use on my last bunch of teal knit, and a long sleeved tshirt for use of one or two different teal remnants.
Also have some old jeans I'd like to recycle into the blazer pattern I'm still trying to figure out, with stash-lining. It was the pattern for the purple corduroy jacket, which has become super frumpy on me, either b/c of poor construction or wear and tear. Initially I made it the largest size in the package, 22, plus a swayback adjustment for my butt. Eventually I came to realize I'm a size 18 top in sewing patterns, so I tried doing that size, with the raised waist but without the swayback, and with a stretch corduroy that didn't really work out. I haven't actually finished that one, it was becoming rather annoying.
Still haven't finished the Nevermore cotton print shirt-dress. The first set of small snaps just fell open too easily, and I have bigger ones but haven't had a moment to switch them in. Oops. But it would be really nice to have for the season. This dress also benefited from raising the waist, yay. And a fabric that wasn't translucent, which is why I never finished the first attempt :-P
Then there's my Halloween costume (although my plans may be changing a bit), I want to make a (gored? paneled?) dress out of various blue linens and be Chronic Illness Cat. There may also be some jewelry made out of spoons ;-) But now the NYC MES game weekend for November is going to be Halloween weekend, so I might just put that aside and work on upgrading my game costumes. Especially for Lost, which would be 10/31 and have the freakiest makeup. I was already planning to bring CIC to Arisia, where I think it will be well received. Its probably not spooky enough for the (snooty) DoV dresscode this year, but that's not really a shock.
If I'm focusing on larp costumes, I have pattern and stash fabric to make a black linen peasant top. Not sure if I have elastic, but will see how far I get. In today's mountain of fabric I got several swatches, one of which is a wonderful pleather that I'd like to turn into a big leather hoodie for Accord. And its on sale until 9/22. Its reorderable if it sells out but ... argh... I didn't want to buy more stuff this month. But the project would cost about $10 less with the discount. Argh, dammit fabricdotcom!
There isn't any sewing planned for Lost, but lots of ordering of makeup, accessories, and a bunch of polymer clay work. At least I already have the clay (I think). And for Marguerite I should probably just finish the taffeta vintage dress I got fed up with before NERE. I'd have to take out at least one skirt panel of skirt and lining, then redo everything, but ... meh. I just really hope Requiem isn't a costume party, b/c I'm tired of buying fabric.
Except that I STILL have the teal Regency coat to get fabric for. And I was going to hold off on that until November b/c its for Arisia, but of the satin swatches I have the one with the best weight is also on sale this week. Still have to go home and mull over the color matching tho. One thing's for sure, if I get the pleather and satin project materials, I will NOT be buying any more fabric until after Arisia. Period. Might lump those onto November's budget, again because teh sales interrupted my schedule. On the other hand, where am I going to put all of this fabric? -__-
In more stash-busting (b/c I really really need to de-stash), I have one of those big celtic 'tapestries' I don't use for anything anymore, but its really just purple printed cotton, so I might use it for another woven cardi like the one I made of light blue linen. There's a ton of leftover linen from all the skirts I made this summer, b/c fabric-store.com only sells whole yards, and I'd like to make them into tank top blouses, from an old familiar pattern. Tho I'm not sure how much good those will be this season. *shrugs*
I inherited some black stretch-lace that I might turn into a crinoline, but I'm not sure if that works with stretch. There's some knit leftovers that will get turned into tshirts. Tho after Discardia I've found my middle-weight tops and tshirts drawer is almost full, so while some of my store bought t's are wearing out, I really don't need to order more fabric for replacements. So I'm not allowed to order more knits :-P
In the swatches I got this and last week, there were also some nice 'herringbone flannel' swatches I really liked, one in teal and one in dark red. I'm very particular about red. Was thinking of making more woven cardis from the flannels (like the sarong and the blue linen) but I don't think I can justify that purchase now. Maybe I'll come back to this idea in January, esp since they're both reorderable fabrics (or so sayeth the website), and the blue is sold out right now. I may set a goal that I have to make a specific number of new items, or make significant 'empty space' in the stash, before
OK... that's a lot of sewing projects. Maybe January isn't long enough, maybe after the last couple of costume bits I should put a moratorium on fabric shopping until my b'day in May. Especially if I want to do weird things like leave the house, or make jewelry for the Etsy shop. Eeep. Maybe I'll just start with all the deadlined stuff, and work my way out.
With luck, I haven't broke my back this week, or am not developed any permanent or degrading kind of nerve illness, so I can keep up with my sewing without destroying my health. Yaaay.
<3 Chrysilla
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, http://chrysilla.dreamwidth.org/
But last night I didn't have to turn on my a/c until bedtime! Even after using the oven to cook bacon for the first time in months. So its that time of year again (as soon as ragweed goes away, ugh).
This year I decided to make some things for the colder weather but not go completely crazy. Except so far it seems crazy, b/c the corduroy I wasn't going to order until October was suddenly on sale the day I got the swatches for it last week, so... argh. I think I'll still count it towards next month's budget, but this is adding to my feelings of financial stupid. Yesterday I got a 4 lb box of fabric, today I got another that's 14 lb, and some of the swatches I got today are *also* suddenly on sale. I feel like fabric.com is stalking me :-P
My trusty (burlap? cheap canvas?) backpack finally fell apart, and I hate using a shoulder bag, so a couple weeks ago I ordered the materials to just make a pleather backpack myself. Pleather, grommets, grommet tool, and I'll strip whatever else I need off old backpacks. If I need lining, I'm sure I have some in-stash. Was hoping to work on that right after Discardia, but I miscalculated the size of that project. This weekend I have to make my dress for NYCC's complete costume, Steampunk Babylon 5 Delenn, b/c its the last free weekend I have before con. I'm making the dress in a simple modern pattern (b/c I'm tricksy) out of stash fabric. Hopefully I have a moment to work on the backpack too.
I already have a skirt made out of velveteen leftover from the Doom Coat project, so I'll just make two more in black and blue corduroy. Same pattern as all my linen skirts. Because I only really liked the weights and colors of those two swatches, I'm using the same fabric to make two mini-DoomCoats. Same pattern, which fits my back really well after the waist adjustment, but the shortest version. Possibly with detachable hood, b/c I luv hoodies now. So I only need 2.5 yards of fabric, not TEN (or rather SEVEN, durn pattern instructions), with linings from the stash.
The new jackets will end up being on regular rotation at work b/c I don't think they'll ever fix the heat :-P Will probably make some fingerless gloves from knit scraps too. Also picked up a new knit cardigan pattern, to use on my last bunch of teal knit, and a long sleeved tshirt for use of one or two different teal remnants.
Also have some old jeans I'd like to recycle into the blazer pattern I'm still trying to figure out, with stash-lining. It was the pattern for the purple corduroy jacket, which has become super frumpy on me, either b/c of poor construction or wear and tear. Initially I made it the largest size in the package, 22, plus a swayback adjustment for my butt. Eventually I came to realize I'm a size 18 top in sewing patterns, so I tried doing that size, with the raised waist but without the swayback, and with a stretch corduroy that didn't really work out. I haven't actually finished that one, it was becoming rather annoying.
Still haven't finished the Nevermore cotton print shirt-dress. The first set of small snaps just fell open too easily, and I have bigger ones but haven't had a moment to switch them in. Oops. But it would be really nice to have for the season. This dress also benefited from raising the waist, yay. And a fabric that wasn't translucent, which is why I never finished the first attempt :-P
Then there's my Halloween costume (although my plans may be changing a bit), I want to make a (gored? paneled?) dress out of various blue linens and be Chronic Illness Cat. There may also be some jewelry made out of spoons ;-) But now the NYC MES game weekend for November is going to be Halloween weekend, so I might just put that aside and work on upgrading my game costumes. Especially for Lost, which would be 10/31 and have the freakiest makeup. I was already planning to bring CIC to Arisia, where I think it will be well received. Its probably not spooky enough for the (snooty) DoV dresscode this year, but that's not really a shock.
If I'm focusing on larp costumes, I have pattern and stash fabric to make a black linen peasant top. Not sure if I have elastic, but will see how far I get. In today's mountain of fabric I got several swatches, one of which is a wonderful pleather that I'd like to turn into a big leather hoodie for Accord. And its on sale until 9/22. Its reorderable if it sells out but ... argh... I didn't want to buy more stuff this month. But the project would cost about $10 less with the discount. Argh, dammit fabricdotcom!
There isn't any sewing planned for Lost, but lots of ordering of makeup, accessories, and a bunch of polymer clay work. At least I already have the clay (I think). And for Marguerite I should probably just finish the taffeta vintage dress I got fed up with before NERE. I'd have to take out at least one skirt panel of skirt and lining, then redo everything, but ... meh. I just really hope Requiem isn't a costume party, b/c I'm tired of buying fabric.
Except that I STILL have the teal Regency coat to get fabric for. And I was going to hold off on that until November b/c its for Arisia, but of the satin swatches I have the one with the best weight is also on sale this week. Still have to go home and mull over the color matching tho. One thing's for sure, if I get the pleather and satin project materials, I will NOT be buying any more fabric until after Arisia. Period. Might lump those onto November's budget, again because teh sales interrupted my schedule. On the other hand, where am I going to put all of this fabric? -__-
In more stash-busting (b/c I really really need to de-stash), I have one of those big celtic 'tapestries' I don't use for anything anymore, but its really just purple printed cotton, so I might use it for another woven cardi like the one I made of light blue linen. There's a ton of leftover linen from all the skirts I made this summer, b/c fabric-store.com only sells whole yards, and I'd like to make them into tank top blouses, from an old familiar pattern. Tho I'm not sure how much good those will be this season. *shrugs*
I inherited some black stretch-lace that I might turn into a crinoline, but I'm not sure if that works with stretch. There's some knit leftovers that will get turned into tshirts. Tho after Discardia I've found my middle-weight tops and tshirts drawer is almost full, so while some of my store bought t's are wearing out, I really don't need to order more fabric for replacements. So I'm not allowed to order more knits :-P
In the swatches I got this and last week, there were also some nice 'herringbone flannel' swatches I really liked, one in teal and one in dark red. I'm very particular about red. Was thinking of making more woven cardis from the flannels (like the sarong and the blue linen) but I don't think I can justify that purchase now. Maybe I'll come back to this idea in January, esp since they're both reorderable fabrics (or so sayeth the website), and the blue is sold out right now. I may set a goal that I have to make a specific number of new items, or make significant 'empty space' in the stash, before
OK... that's a lot of sewing projects. Maybe January isn't long enough, maybe after the last couple of costume bits I should put a moratorium on fabric shopping until my b'day in May. Especially if I want to do weird things like leave the house, or make jewelry for the Etsy shop. Eeep. Maybe I'll just start with all the deadlined stuff, and work my way out.
With luck, I haven't broke my back this week, or am not developed any permanent or degrading kind of nerve illness, so I can keep up with my sewing without destroying my health. Yaaay.
<3 Chrysilla
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, http://chrysilla.dreamwidth.org/