Onwards to the next thing.
I suppose also I have been feeling a bit out of sorts - waiting for summer to be here for real - and some other stuff happening - and thinking I have so many things in my closet that it is quite ridiculous to make anything new. So I marinated in that sour mood for about a week, the other issues happily resolved, and I have snapped out of whatever funk I was in and am ready to charge through a lot of new patterns. New to me, at least. Some are actually a few years old but I have been wanting to make them. (Although see first paragraph and note where that got me :)
New Patterns:
As usual I looked through all the new releases and didn't see anything I wanted/needed on first glance. Oops, not true - Vogue 1448 DKNY (my favorite pattern designer) grabbed me immediately and I have already bought it plus have the required yardage (it takes quite a lot for a knee length dress). But that was the only one....or so I thought. Never fails, I go back a day or two later and look more closely, finding a few more, some not necessarily new but next sale I will most likely buy.
Is it just me or is there just a lot of sameness? Usually I see something in Simplicity that I really like or find useful as a jumping off point for redesign. They have discontinued what I think are some of their best patterns which is too bad.
DKNY challenge:
Now that I said I would make the dress shown above - I was looking through my Vogues and realize I have at least 5 other DKNY pattern that I adored at the time but have not made - so I am going to challenge myself to make at least 3 this summer. One is already done. A sneak peak is visible on...
Instagram:
I dunno. I joined, I uploaded one image. Probably will continue when I have something fun to share.I really like reading blogs. really really really. Everyone please keep blogging. WRITING. I love to read. Images are great but the sentences people write alongside their images - in long form - make me love the online sewing community. So keep writing, fellow stitchers! please.
Also on a different note - Instagram kind of creeps me out. It is so bossy. Upload! Follow! Share! you only upload using your phone, not computer which means other cameras are out unless you upload those images to your photo stream. So...many....rules. plus owned by Facebook and I think FB are the evil empire (business-wise) and also creepy, bossy, annoying. What is it about Facebook that annoys me so much? Mostly the co-mingling and blurring of the intersection of commerce and friendship.
Enough editorializing for today.
Social Sewing:
Saturday I went to our Bay Area Sewists Meetup group which was a pattern exchange. Success: I brought 5 patterns and came away with only 1. Afterwards the group usually descends en masse on StoneMountain and Daughter for shopping. Here is me and Laura (blog Lilacs and Lace) standing between the rayons and silks. I bought two knits but didn't stay to see what she got. She has a very funny post on her blog now about the difference between the pattern envelope drawings and reality. They should use her on the vintage reproductions - she looks better than their models! My top is McCalls 7046 and my green corduroy skirt is Vogue 1170 which is a super cute skirt and now I have a top that matches. Back of the closet for the win!
Print, Pattern, Bright Colors:
So as we were shopping I had some fabrics in my arms and someone from the meeting walked by and said "wow, you really like loud fabrics". Yes I really do like bright colors, prints, vibrant shades. I have a hard time understanding wanting to wear dark colors or black/grey all the time. But that choice of phrase made Laura and I laugh. OK I am guilty as charged. I call them bright, happy, vibrant, lively, but loud can also describe. Would the reverse be to say "hey, you wear really drab fabrics?" It has taken me a long time to get to a point where I understand that everyone has different taste - what one person loves another thinks is horrible - and that means a lot of designers, merchants, departments, styles can all exist and find their niche or customer base. But I still think that everyone has some colors that can look really great on them and most of the time grey/black/beige don't do a lot of favors. ( although I will concede that the right item in black can be fabulous and it does make a good base for a travel wardrobe) Come to think of it, most who make their own clothes seem to explore the color wheel and I think it is my non-sewing friends and colleagues that purchase their wardrobe that default to solids and dark colors. Probably for the very reason that it is easier to mix and match, dress up or down. Thank goodness for sewing.
Fabric Shopping in NY:
Advice needed. Not for me, I wish! My friend and muse Heather who I sew for is going to NY in June and will definitely have some time so she wants to go fabric shopping. In the September 2014 Issue of Threads magazine # 174 there is a great article on fabric shopping in NY so I will give that to her but I would love any recommendations. She is not a sewer so stores where they give you some help would be good. In the article two stores sounded a bit like Britex in SF where we shop frequently (NY Elegant Fabrics and B&J Fabrics) but any feedback before mid-June would be appreciated. One of these years I will get back to New York and hopefully both shop and meet up with my east coast on-line sewing pals. Who I have mostly not met with the exception of Kyle :) so lots to look forward to someday.
anyway - NY fabric shopping recommendations - chime in. On that or any of the other topics that came out of my keyboard tonight.
Happy Sewing, Beth
oh, things are blooming around here, tomatoes are planted, lemons are pollinated and water is being judiciously applied in the garden.
Apple blossoms, just about finished and the little songbirds have started nesting in the tree.
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