Sewing goals for the week

As I did last Monday, I'd like start the week by outlining my sewing goals.  I accomplished a few of last week's goals but never got to others.

1) My big success was completing Vogue 7739, my metallic copper one-piece dress.  I love it, though it might have benefitted from an underlining in front and back; it's a little light-weight and highly reflective, leaving little to the imagination, which can be dangerous for a shapely girl like Cathy.

The weather has been so darned cold, and when it gets this way I feel like I can't function normally.  I wanted to photograph Cathy in the dress this weekend, but we both would have freezed our asses off, so it got delayed.  The forecast is for slightly milder weather (mid-30s -- balmy, no?) so I'm hoping to get this done in the next day or so.

It's hard for me to begin a new sewing project until I feel like I have fully completed the previous one. And for Vogue 7739, that means a session with Cathy and a Pattern Review posting.  It's also great fun: just the kind of creative challenge I love. 

2) My living room is still in disarray -- this time from the Vogue dress project.  I feel like I'm living in Ann Margret's old dressing room: hats, shoes, earrings, wigs, all over the place.  It's hard to dress for two when one of us is a clothes horse.

3) I used my Brother 1034D serger a bit for my Vogue dress, but still haven't put in the new thread I purchased, so I'm still serging with four different colors.  Must. Re-thread. Serger.

4) I finished "Make Your Own Dress Patterns" by Adele Margolis and loved it.  Her approach is so down-to-earth and de-mystifying; she makes designing your own clothes sound like No Big Deal.  Now I'd like to figure out how I apply it to my work.

One of the vintage Vogue patterns I found at the flea market a few weeks ago is a Size 12 sloper.  I cut it and did a pattern fitting but it was too small -- I'd normally need a 14.  So what I think I'd like to do is experiment with pattern grading as described in Margolis' book, using the sloper and see how I do.  The "shift method" of grading really appeals to me, though I'm open to the "split method" as well, and I have pattern paper and all the necessary measuring tools.  If I can learn to upsize a pattern without too much trouble, that would be fantastic.

5) I still have the Donald Mcunn book, "How to Make Sewing Patterns" to read -- that's next.  I'm excited to see how they're different/similar.  Like prospective projects, sewing books can really pile up, only adding to the physical (and mental) clutter.

6) Now that the Vogue dress is behind me, I'd like to sew some mens clothes for a change, before I forget how.  Michael is really due a shirt (I've really only sewn him one).  On Sunday, when I saw my mother (see pic below), I took her measurements as well.  She said she could really use a robe, which is something I could even enter in the PR lingerie contest, arguably.  I already have a vintage pattern I think would work very well, which I bought specifically with that contest in mind.  There I go, slipping back to womenswear!

I hate feeling like my stash is growing but fabric shopping is one of my favorite activities.  I like to buy fabric and use it, though, if not immediately, then soon.  My stash isn't huge -- maybe I have three yards of five or six different fabrics -- but it irritates me.  I really want to use my python print vinyl for something outrageous but I'm not sure what. 

The weather is getting to me this winter, for some reason.  For the first time ever, I feel like the cold is cramping my style.  Today is February, which means we're nearly at March, which means spring is just around the corner.

I think I can make it till then.