Notes from my Sewing Machine

Well it's the first day of a new year and I'm right where I want to be...in front of my sewing machine!   I'm sure to some people that would be strange but not to us right?!  In front of our sewing machines is where we create and make dreams come true, where we beautify not only our bodies but our living spaces and where we turn fabric into things only dreamed of...*sigh*

Yes, I'm getting poetic as I sit in front of my machine...*LOL*  So here are a few more thoughts!

First I would like to thank everyone who commented on the "I'm Grateful!" post!  All of your comments were appreciated especially since I was very hesitant about posting those thoughts.  And to Paula...I do remember you from the PR NYC Shopping Day and it was a pleasure to meet you! :)

Have you seen the new issue of Threads magazine (Jan/Feb 2011)?  I swear they are reading my blog and the blogs of my fellow sewists because two of their recent articles are called, "Slow Sewing" and "Channel Your Creative Energy".  And then there is the article called "Piggyback Pockets" which emphasizes a pocket design that is on one of the jacket patterns I want to use for my 12 Jackets in a Year Challenge.  I guess there's just a synergy in the sewing world right now.  We ALL are striving to be the best sewists that we can...and Threads is doing their part to help us along.

So what's up with the fact that the Big 4 pattern companies can't manage to get their websites to coincide with the delivery of the books & patterns to the stores?  You would think that people wouldn't have to take their cell phones to the stores to take pictures of the new offerings to share?  Or is this the latest marketing technique?  Stir us all up to "want" the new offerings but not make them available to everyone at once?  If that is so, this sucks...seriously!  Don't forget the backlash that this can create...we want to see the new patterns so badly that we are overanxious...and then when we finally view the new collections, we are disappointed because they are NOT as amazing as we thought...so we don't buy anything.  See, backlash ~ You know what I'm saying!  *LOL*

I don't need fabric.  Truly I don't but I wish that fabric.com would get in another great shipment of designer fabric because I'm sewing with the Vera Wang Lavendar collection wool jerseys that I purchased last year or is the year before, now?  Anyway, I've made some amazing garments from those fabrics and would truly love to get some more like them...

Which leads me to the Giorgio Armani's that are presently on Fabric Mart's site that are teasing the mess out of me!  I'm in love but I just can't justify buying some of those pieces...hell's bells I can't justify buying too much more fabric as it is...the fabric closet is bursting at the seams.

Going in another direction...I loved my Christmas presents this year!  Claudine ~ I got the box set of The Tudors!  All four seasons...I am IN heaven!  Gotta figure out how to incorporate some of the lusciousness of those costumes into my wardrobe.  *LOL*  Right how do I make 15th century England work in today's business world!?!  I don't know how now but it does set the creative mind whirling...

I also received three new sewing books.  The Sewing Bible Clothing (The Ultimate resource of Techniques, Ideas and Inspiration) by Wendy Gardiner; Jackets for Real People by Marta Alto, Susan Neall & Patti Palmer (thank you Gigi, that was a late addition to the Christmas list!); and The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques by Lynda Maynard.  I've only browsed through them but I'm sure that you will hear more about them in the future.

Lastly, I am sewing as the title of the post states.  However, I still haven't started work on The Pinstripe Follies Collection.  It's still simmering in the back of my mind.  I know those garments will start showing up here soon...piece by piece.

Okay ~ I'm headed back to my machine.  I'm finishing off the DVF Inspired Dress, as well as, a pair of pants.  I have a wearable musin cut out of a jacket that I want to make a lot of this year...but this will be my first version of it and a BurdaStyle top to cut out...yes, I traced the pieces from the magazine! *LOL* 

I've got a little grouping going on here...so there will definitely be more to share...later!