Somethings Gotta Give...

I'm back hitting the books again after a glorious, month long Winter break! I have three classes this semester and it looks like they're going to be a little tougher. Especially Human Anatomy. I'm already seeing that I'm going to have to let a few things go, or at least "lessen my presence". Unfortunately this blog is probably going to be one of them. If you haven't noticed, I have a little poll in the right hand column to see what kind of tutorials and posts about lingerie sewing you'd like to see. I still plan to honor that, but the posts may come far and few between. Not that I've had any rhyme or reason to my posting to date, but you get my meaning. I figure I'll know more as I get into the semester to see really how difficult my classes will be.

As for the poll, I see most of the votes are going towards bras. My fave! So, what do you want to know? Fitting techniques? How to construct a bra from beginning to end? Fabrics, patterns, and other components? Anything?! I'm excited about putting together posts and tutorials and really want to know what exactly you'd like to see! Let me know what you want to see for the other stuff, too. Kelly asked about a bias-cut slip for the curvier set. CarlaF wants to know about fitting bras. I can do a post on sewing panties. What do YOU want to know?! Post in the comments or email me privately if you'd like. I'm all ears!

Getting Organized...

...and then getting sidetracked! Ahhh...the story of my life! Well, anyhoo, last weekend I decided it was high time I get my shit together and start organizing my fabric and pattern stash. I have a shelf with some (okay, who are we kidding here? I have shelves!) of my fabrics and it always looks a mess. No matter how many times I fold and refold and try to be carefull getting stuff out it all just falls into a damn mess. Awhile back a blog featured a free download to print out your very own fabric wraps. I cannot for the life of me remember where they came from so if you know PLEASE tell me! Ack! That drives me nuts.... So anyway, I got through the messiest shelves. They being the messiest because they contained most of my smaller pieces of fabric from when I was making purses and totes. There was some seriously cute fabric in there that I totally forgot I had! I'm now using those shelves for the awesome pattern boxes my Mom and Dad gave me for Christmas.

Here's where I am so far. And, YES, all of those pattern boxes are FULL!

I have an illness. Leave me alone.

Nice, neat little bundles!

This is next! Eeeek!

Geesh, that is seriously messy! I'm almost too embarrased to post those pics. Egads!

Now on to the reason for my sidetrackedive-ness (yes, that's a word). My li'l guy is growing. He is growing out of his clothes... and his undies! Those size 4 Spongebob's just aren't cuttin' it anymore. Whilst straightening book shelves I came across the undies pattern from That Darn Cat that I bought forever ago and never used. I needed a break from organizing so I thought I'd make up a pair. See what's what. Seriously, this is A Darn Cute Pattern. It's awesome. You can use small bits of fabric and no elastic is involved. The first pair I made promptly went on Little Mister's behind. He loved 'em. In his own words, "I really like my new underwear pants!" When asked if mommy should make him more he exclaimed, "Ooh yeah, you can make me lots!!" Alright, that may sound a bit more dramatic than what really went down but still it's pretty much word for word what he said. Cute! And it made me feel good knowing one of my children still appreciates my sewing capabilities. So seven pairs later.... 

he's all stocked up for now. I'm going to make a few more and that should be good. There are only 5 showing as he's wearing one and the other is in the laundry. You can see on the second pair from the right where I messed up the fly. I used my coverstitch machine to attach the binding, which worked ever-so-awesomely, and I fed the fabric through the wrong way. DOH! He hasn't figured out how to use the fly yet so it's not a big deal. Now I'll need to start in on some for the girl. She walked in while I was finishing up a pair and was like, "Gosh, how many pairs are you making him! Where's mine!" Mehmehmeh, whinewhinewhine... Little brat. So....I'll be working on hers later this week. LOL! Yeah, I'm kinda soft.

In other news, I've decided to go back to school this Fall! Yes, my 34 year old ass is going to be a student again. I'm super excited and totally nervous. Ultimately, I want to go through the Nursing Program our community college offers and it's a really good one from what I understand. Since Conner starts Kindergarten this Fall I'm just going to take the Gen. Ed. classes needed like Human Anatomy and English Comp. to get those out of the way. Then I'll apply to the program next year. The program takes 2 years and then you can call me Nurse Heather!

I'm not planning on getting all wacked out on drugs, tho. ;-D

Crafting Cleanse

I have to sell some stuff. That seems like it might suck but it's really not so bad. Taxes this year are going to eat our lunch so the hubster and I are putting a bunch of our goods up for sale. It kinda sucks. Then again, it's cleansing. I have a pottery wheel and kiln that haven't been touched in FOREVER! I still love to make pottery, don't get me wrong, but whenever I go out into the garage and see that stuff setting there I feel guilty for not loving it properly (for example, USING IT!!!). So out it goes to a new home where it will be loved properly. I have lots of books I'll never use and yarn I'll never knit up, etc. It will feel good to purge all the clutter and make more room for my sewing. It's what I'm most obsessed with and always have been since I was a kid. Hopefully, it will clear a lot of the clutter in my brain as well. I want to do so many things but don't have the time, so I get all overwhelmed and don't do any of it!

I'm also trying to get organized! Ha! I've subscribed to the Fly Lady in hopes she'll get me whipped into shape. I love her ideas so far. It is so very hard to make new routines, though! The first step is "Shining Your Sink" and I can't even get past that yet! LOL! As you all know, I hate cleaning so this is a real challenge for me.

Alright! No more sob story! I'm off to get busy....

Quickie

Just a quickie note to let everyone know we are still alive. I have been sewing. Quite a bit actually! I've made Conner about 4 pairs of pants from the 1/2009 Ottobre issue. They turned out so well and fit perfectly.

I've also been working on a bra for me that actually fits. I made up a Sewy Rebecca and L.O.V.E. it. I just need to make some adjustments to the apex. It has a little East/West action going on since I have to use a pattern that is intended for a woman with a larger ribcage. I discovered that I have a "narrow" ribcage, btw. At least part of me is narrow! LOL!! I tried the Queen Elite again and used the 46H and the cups fit pretty well. I had to take out about 2" from the back band pattern which is a total of 4". Whew! I wore it yesterday and was comfortable all day. I didn't have any wires for that size so it was just a soft cup. I really need wires for shape though. This was a sort of "muslin" though and I think I can cut into my better bra fabrics now. I just need to call Needle Nook and order the wires needed for that size. I also need to stabilize the lower cup which I haven't been doing on any of the bras. I've also been reading Beverly Johnson's book and it has a wealth of information! It's expensive but worth every penny, IMHO.

I'll try to get some pictures up. I've been very lazy in that department and I haven't done a review for Patternreview in forever. I started cleaning up my sewing area yesterday and I seriously need to find a way to organize all my patterns. I found two Simplicity 3503's for cryin' out loud. It's a pretty dress but geez...I don't need two! One idea that I have, which will be rather labor intensive, is to scan them all, print the pictures, and put them all in a 3-ring binder in numerical order. Then organize all the patterns themselves in numerical order and maybe by company too. SO, all I'll have to do is flip through a book to see what I want. Eeeek...that sounds like an awful lot of work.... but it would be totally awesome.