We’re approaching the end of January, and I’m approaching the end of my first month of this new planning situation I’ve been working on. I feel really good about it? I’ve gotten a lot done this month, with noticeably less stress and angst than normal. Getting diagnosed with ADHD felt like such a relief because I knew why I struggled so much with maintaining habits, and two years or so in, I feel like I’m maybe finally figuring out how to give myself a routine I can actually stick with? It’s only been a month, but that’s like 3.5 weeks longer than my historical average, so yeah. Anyway! Here are the things I’m working on this week.
I’m getting close to the finish line with altering my skirts for the All People Quilt UFO Challenge. Did I talk about that here before? I talked about it on Instagram. It’s been… a good learning experience, i.e. so much more work than I expected. I assumed I’d be able to just sew in a new narrower seam at the sides, but I ended up having to essentially take apart the entire skirts. I had to take out so much room, and they’re all gored skirts of various design, so it just made sense to split up the amount I was removing between all of the seams. Definitely a better result, but so much tedious seam ripping. Oh and just tonight I realized I’ve somehow managed to lose my zipper foot, so like… guess I’m going to the sewing machine store tomorrow. It’s okay though; I’m still on track to have three skirts that are wearable and honestly far more flattering than they used to be. Once I’ve finished all three, I’ll post photos and write more about the entire process. I learned a lot more than I was expecting, and I’m feeling a lot more confident about alterations.
Sawtooth Block #1 with bonus angry cat content, you’re welcome
I’m also feeling good about the HST-Sawtooth Block Class that I’m developing for Treadle Yard Goods. It’ll be a one day class focused on technique for Half Square Triangles, and I think I feel good about trying it out in the March/April session. I’ve made a couple samples, and I’m hoping to make 2-3 more. I wanted to do all of the samples with the purple/blue HST blocks—I found a whole bag of them in a container while I was cleaning my studio, but the purple fabric is apparently a poly/cotton blend, and I just… I just hate working with polyester fabric. I’ll finish a quilt with those blocks eventually, no reason to let them go to waste, but I just didn’t want to deal with it now. I pulled a yard of Anna Maria Horner floral and some coordinating solids, and I’m going to do a few more blocks with different combinations. Oooh I really hope people want to take this class, because I love making half-square triangles.
I’m sorry about this garbage photo, but I just finished this block an hour ago, and I love it so much.
I’m also going to try to make a dress for my niece from Cotton Wool Linen Kids, theoretically before the end of the month. I don’t necessarily have time, but I really want to do something for #sewJapaneseinJanuary, an IG hashtag thing organized by Blogless Anna. I’ve never sewn anything from a Japanese pattern, so I thought maybe this was the time to try it out. I also am trying to like… participate more? And like… engage with the larger sewing community? I don’t know, I’m such a hermit by nature, I forget sometimes that I can like, talk to other people about sewing and participate in fun group projects like this. #growth, basically. Anyway assuming I find the time, I’ve got this super cute mermaid fabric I bought specifically to make a kid-sized dress, and there’s a super cute dress pattern that I think will work well with it.
And I’m increasingly less optimistic about finding the time, but I’m also hoping to squeeze in a pair of Cashmerette Calder pants before the end of the month, also inspired by an IG hashtag—#sewfancypants2023. I really hesitated on this one; sewing pants is like… super trigger city in my fight for body neutrality (body positivity is a trap). But I don’t know, the Calder pattern is super cute and super simple, and it’s got a high waist which I love, so why not try it out. I don’t actually have enough of any fabric for a ‘real’ pair, but I’ve got a fairly ugly duvet cover from who knows where, so I’ll be able to do a good fit toile. I’ll probably do the whole pocket process and everything, just to practice and make sure everything fits correctly. If everything fits right and I like the pants, I’m going to get some Robert Kaufman Brussels washer linen/rayon, probably in a dark blue?? Or some kind of rich/dark color. I think they’ll look really cute. And then I definitely want to do a few pairs of short pants for spring/summer too. So yes, if I can manage anything, it’ll be a very fancy fit toile, but whatever, I want to make a pair of pants, and I want to participate! So there.
Oh wow okay, now that I’ve typed all of that, it sounds like so much! We’ll see what I can make happen.