Halfway?

I have an old sewing book that used to belong to my grandmother that states that a dress takes seven hours to make. An hour to cut out the fabric, two hours for basting, an hour for sewing, an hour for fitting and sewing and the last hour for finishing and tidying up.

I seriously suspect none of those sewists had my kids or my sore throat.

No matter! Today I'm sewing up the dress. I am focused and determined.

That I'm only halfway through the pattern doesn't count.

Seven days

So, I'm going out to a birthday party next Saturday afternoon and the dress code is tea length dresses and pearls. While I do have a suitable dress already, I thought I'd push myself.

I'm going to make this dress...

...in this fabric...

...by next weekend.

I'm sure it can be done. Time to get cutting!

#2 - Midi Pleated Skirt

My second piece for my 26 pieces project is another pleated skirt, but I swear it's not a cop out. You see, my (great) Auntie Peg died and for my nan's funeral I made an entire dress, so I thought Nan's sister deserved a new skirt at least. Odd logic, but comforting to me.

Finding a suitable fabric was harder. I had four days to make a skirt and my local Spotlight weren't helping. I almost chose a pattern of white roses on black but finally spotted this bolt hiding under a pile and cried triumphant. Run for home, overlock edges and wash. Victory is mine!

I had a plan for this skirt - no winging it this time. I wanted to copy this skirt and set out following the tutorial only to discover a simple fact: pleats going in make me look pregnant, pleats going out don't.

Time to wing it after all. I just repeated the last skirt: make a centre pleat and guess the rest. It seems to work okay for me. I added a lapped zipper this time and enough waistband to overlap with a bar set. The skirt is midi length and I'm planning a slight crinoline underneath to give it a little oomph. I like oomph. I don't think I'll use the blind stitch setting on my machine again for my next hem - it creases up so much. I think I'll just hand stitch next time.

Oh, and I really need to remember that I need 15mm to set a zip, not my usual 6mm seams. I had to add bias binding to add enough seam width.

I told you: I like oomph.

#1 - Koi Skirt

 My first project in my "26 pieces in 52 weeks" was going to have to be easy, to get me off on the right foot. Not too hard, not too basic (no rectangles with elastic for a waistband, thanks). I have a cache of fabric to use up, and I bought this fabulous cotton drill at Spotlight on Mother's Day with the idea of making a nice little box pleated skirt, not too short mind! I'm not against minis for women over 40 but I've never been comfortable in anything higher than just below my knees myself. So I had a look around for some ideas.

I fell for this tutorial, only to realise that the entire skirt is based on you using the exact same fabric as the author. Koi look nothing like chevrons, so I decided to just wing it using my all encompassing mantra: "It can't be that hard, right?" One day it will be, and then I'm doomed.

I measured the length I wanted and added three inches for hems, seam allowances and good measure. Then I cut the fabric in half lengthwise and tried to think what to do. I worked out where the centre was and just started pleating. I basted the pleats and sewed up the sides, adding a centred side zipper. Now, I'm guessing most people don't make box pleats skirts this way, but it worked for me, because once the zip was in I realised that there was about 4 inches of extra room that needed to go.

Pleat readjustment for the win! I just tightened them all up and added one on every side edge. It gives the side a little kick out that I like, and it neatly hides my rubbish zip setting abilities...

Next step was adding a reinforced waistband, attaching it to the front, folding back and stitching in the ditch on the front to keep the inside neatly in place. Now, I cut my waistband WAAAAAYYYYY too short, so some creative hook and eye work was required to keep it closed. Let's not scare people away, right?

I added a 1.75" blind hem, which I stupidly pressed before stitching. Don't do that unless you like steaming hems for about 45 minutes. All done and ready to wear. I had a bigger problem, I thought. What to wear with a purple skirt with cream koi, because my wardrobe is - I thought - pretty limited. A bit of rummaging around found the perfect outfit.

A purple velvet jacket I bought in Mirboo North at a hippy store (no, really) and a gold-ish satin sleeveless top I bought in Dundee to wear with some gorgeous pants that are far FAR too big for me now. Stupid weight loss. Anyway, new outfit sorted I headed out with two lovely companions to see "Rocky Horror Picture Show" which for one week only contained Richard O'Brien as the narrator. THE Richard O'Brien, author of the damn musical and the original - and best - Riff Raff. He delivered. Holy heckmonkeys, did he deliver! After the final bows, when the cast broke into the Time Warp (again) it had a perfect moment with old and new Riff Raff both singing "Like you're under sedaaaaaaaayyyyyyshuuuuuuuunnn!" and that's when I really lost my mind! Fantastic! Oh, and the very last bit of the show involved a snog between Frank'n'Furter (Craig McLachlan, amazing) and the Narrator; the howls of joy were deafening, especially from our section.

Afterwards we headed outside and Joannah managed to run after Richard O'Brien and we got this fantastic shot of the man himself (Joex's the hottie with the leopard print coat). All in all a good christening for the 26 in 52 challenge!

An idea - Part 2

In "Craft for the Soul" Pip Lincoln suggests trying new projects as a challenge, in a format. For example 7 or 52 or 365 projects, so one every day for a week, or one a week or something every day. Now, while I have the obsessive personality that makes me want to drop everything and make stuff 24/7 I have a life.

I have an understanding husband who will still like to be fed (Yes, he can cook for himself but considering his wages pay the rent, I think I should do the cooking. Plus I'm a better cook. Except at scrambled eggs and pancakes.) I have two children with special needs who need waaaaaayyy more attention than I thought would be necessary before I had them. I have a very small business to run. I need to plan my ideas accordingly.

I want clothes, but I can't make a new skirt every day for 7 days, let alone 365 days of clothes! (I see people decluttering online and all I can think is who needs 38 tshirts, really?!) I did consider a piece a week but I have too much rest-of-my-life to manage that. So, instead:

That's right, I'm going to make 26 pieces over the next 52 weeks. I need an entire wardrobe, and I also promised to make Felix a peacoat from his horrible overcoat, among other things.

I have already made my first piece and I'll show it off next post, along with a musical legend.

Metas, abducens

I'll come back to my grand plan next post.

For now, I need to make 5 sets of pajama bottoms for tomorrow morning, as we're starting Dot's toilet training. I figured it will be easier to swap these out than tracksuit pants.

An idea - Part 1

Last week I had sinusitis. If you've never had it, don't. It's horrible and causes me to keep leaning sideways as I can't see properly out of my left eye (last time I managed an infected sinus it was my left side, and it remembers). Felix had to stay home Wednesday and Thursday to take care of the kidlets (and their mother) and it was on Thursday I had an epiphany of sorts.

I was soaking in a bath, hoping the steam would help, reading "Craft for the Soul: how to get the most out of your creative life" by Pip Lincolne. It was brilliant, really brilliant and spoke to me so much about what kind of crafter I really am.

I'm not that creative. I like to call myself "technically proficient" because I'm very good at what I do manage but not many original ideas up in the old skullski. It's held me back from writing about what I do make, because "Look, I'm just making stuff that other people thought up" doesn't sound that interesting to me.

I've wanted to sew more, though. I went to a Kikki K Goals workshop and it changed how I think about everything. I realised there's only three main goals in my life right now:

1. Get into routines and organise the household better for everyone else.
2. Concentrate on getting my business into the next level.
3. Have a wardrobe consisting on mostly clothes made by me.

That's why I'm hemming a skirt at 10:30 at night.