Sucked In

It's funny...two weeks ago I was sewing to give myself something to write about. For the last week, I've spent so much free time sewing that I actually ran out of time and energy to write! After a moderately harassing comment left by one of my dedicated readers (yes Mom, that would be you), I decided it was past time to sit down and share the process.

To catch you up:
My linen pants/capris are finished except for the capri conversion aspect. I know exactly how I want to do it, but my seams are in desperate need of tidying, as they are 100% not ready to be shown to the public when the pant legs are rolled up.
I rescued the pair of gauchos that were the victim of my haphazard scissor skills with some fusible interfacing on the inside and a dab of fray-check on the outside. You can't even tell, unless you happen to see that white square on the inside and get curious.
Both skirts came together in a couple hours (oh how I love a skirt without a waistband!). Both ended up requiring lining. I was prepared for the white skirt since it would be a bit on the see-through side, but the black skirt's seams were surprisingly a little itchy with the fabric being so heavy. Lining is no problem, and I actually think I prefer that to turning down and sewing the top edge. I wore the white skirt (which I accidentally made ankle length rather than mid-calf...it turns out I'm potentially worse about following directions than I ever realized) to the open ballroom dance last night and LOVED it. Daniel did more turns with me than usual - and that is saying something - because he liked the way the skirt twirled. Next weekend we're going to a 1940s style fundraiser for the Air Museum in a neighboring town (some will try to convince you that it is a suburb, but they seem to not realize that Champaign-Urbana does not quite meet the requirements for having suburbs) where there will be several live bands and dancing, so I plan to wear my other skirt there. Unfortunately, these skirts turned out to be a little warmer than I originally suspected, so they might not be making the trip to Belize with me. The white skirt will be accompanying me to Atlanta though, and will be part of my rehearsal and bachelorette party outfit...isn't it lucky?
And not on the schedule - I made myself a little travel documents organizer to bring on the honeymoon. The questionable quality of our internet service has slowed me down considerably at work, but Friday afternoon I had a plan. Since it took ~10 minutes for any page to load, I would click, draw out some plans, click again, keep drawing, etc. So by the time the "weekend" rolled around, I had a "sample" drawn out on paper and pattern pieces drawn and cut out. I wouldn't say there was a coherent plan by the time I went to sleep Friday night with my pieces of fabric cut and stacked (or by the time I started pinning Saturday), but I was excited and ready to hit the ground running on my new experiment. Well, I really wouldn't say there was a coherent plan at any point during the process. There were an expected handful of "should have thought that out better" or "changed my mind" or best, "I just made the same mistake, AGAIN" moments, but before we left for the dance, I had a completed project being squished under some boards to make the fabric stretch and fit the plastic backing a little better, but I'm quite happy with it today. If I make more, there are a handful of things I would do differently (use thinner fabric so the layering isn't so convoluted, mark out where to sew rather than eyeball it, etc), but I'm actually very proud of this trial. It also reinforced the probability that I'm better without a pattern.

So, I've actually finished everything (plus some) a week and a half before my deadline - I bet Mom is dumbfounded. Now I'm just trying to figure out my next project and goal (yes, they're quite necessary). I considered making more of those travel things and seeing if they'll sell. Would you buy one? I'm also toying with the idea of getting some stretch knit fabric to make the pull on, wide leg pants since I have the pattern already. Sounds comfy, right? Perfect for a plane, I'd say...