Out with the Old, In with the New!!

Happy New Year! In with the new - My Sewing Mojo has Returned!!!  I am super excited about this, and have spent as much time sewing recently as possible.  When I'm not sewing, I'm thinking about sewing, or planning my wardrobe-to-be.

 I quietly rang in the New Year on my own this year (by my choice) and I loved it.  I spent the day sewing until about 10:30 pm before switching on the TV and picking up my knitting.  After a busy week with family, I couldn't think of a better way to enjoy myself.

On New Year's Day, I finished this:

 The skirt is McCalls 5523, view D.  I made the skirt as is from the envelope and added lining.  I'm discovering I like my jackets and skirts to have lining in them - they just feel better and skim the body better.  The fabric is a gorgeous quality brown wool heavyweight crepe that just flows beautifully and was so amazing to work with.  It feels luscious and expensive.  I *think* I bought this at King Fabrics on Richmond Street in the fabric district in Toronto a few years ago.  I also *think* I have exactly the same fabric in an aubergine/eggplant colour.

I believe the jacket is also a McCalls pattern, but I can't find it on their website, and the pattern is at home.  I'll have to update the post with the particulars when I get home.  I absolutely love the ruffle details at the waist, and on the shoulders.  Business suits can and should be sexy and feminine.

The shirt is a previously made one that I altered a bit at the waist so it just happened to be on the dress form.

I also finished these during the Christmas holidays:

Undulating Rib Socks, out of See Jayne Knit fingering weight wool, purchased during a yarn binge last year.  I used a free Wendy Knits toe up pattern for the base design, adding in the Undulating Rib pattern.  These were supposed to be my Halloween socks for Socktoberfest, but Christmas knitting took priority.

After I finished those, I started these:

Circle Socks, but again modified by using a Wendy Knits Toe Up Socks with a Difference pattern as a base. The yarn is Trekking Maxima, in pretty pinks, yellows, teals and reds.  I've already turned the heel and started working on the pattern, having only started the socks last week!  Yay for holidays.

I worked on this last night:

 The skirt is a pegged style skirt from Vogue 1127, out of a brown and orange herringbone tweed wool.  It was lovely to work with. I have made this skirt before, but can't remember which fabric I made it out of.  A couple of days ago I had made another skirt (from a different pattern) that was a little  a lot too tight at the waist (I blame the yummy holiday foods and lack of exercise over the holidays).  This one had been cut out of the same size.  So, I figured I would make the seams at the waist a little smaller, enlarging the waist size.  The only trouble is I thought I knew what I was doing, and didn't need to try it on as I was sewing...yeah, well...you know that little voice in your head - LISTEN TO IT!! I should have!  When I put it on this morning while dressing for work, the darned thing slipped almost past my hips!  Yikes!  (instant diet plan?  Maybe I should market it.  LOL)  Anyway, it will take some work to get it to fit, I have to rip out the facings, the lining, the skirt waist...Ah, those old adages we learned growing up are true - haste makes waste.

As I said above, my sewing mojo has returned en force! I'm extremely happy about this.  I have a huge amount of fabric that I am looking forward to sewing (can you say SABLE - for the non-sewist - Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy), and some noticeable voids in my closet I need to fill.  I've been playing a bit of a game.  Most of the boxes of fabric I have are unlabeled and stuffed into a storage crawl space under my stairs.  Literally - you open the door to the storage space, and you are faced with a wall of boxes.  Fortunately for me, when I packed all these boxes up, I tried to do it so the fabrics were in a similar colour family.  The game is that I open a box, and plan a mini-wardrobe from those fabrics.  It's kind of like Christmas each time!

At one point, I was embarrassed by my stash.  When I was discussing this with my friend, she stopped dead in her tracks and told me that I was an artist, and the fabrics were my tools.  I had no reason to be embarrassed by the overabundance I had been given over time.  Her comment has stayed with me, and really changed my outlook on what I had previously acquired.

Because I am blessed with a huge fabric, pattern and yarn stash, it probably isn't necessary is absolutely  unnecessary for me to purchase anything new, with the exception of notions to finish projects.  I'm not going to say I can't buy fabric or yarn, because that seems to be a trigger for me to buy anything I possibly can get my hands on.  But, one of my goals is to get a better handle on my finances so I can do more travelling, and I truly can't come up with any reason why more fabric or yarn would be necessary.  At all.  None.  So, I am happy to work my way through what I've got.

I'm also hoping that this will lead to more regular posts here.

Goals for January

SEWING:
1.  Cream Cardigan - Simplicity 2603 (already cut)
2.  Fix orange/brown herringbone skirt
3.  Cut and sew one dress (so many to chose from I'm having a hard time narrowing it down!)
4.  Cut and sew a cream silky shirt or blouse

KNITTING:
1.  Finish Circle Socks
2.  Start Gap-Tastic Cowl #2