More Clothing!

What finally got me off my ass and sewing the purple bathrobe I posted the other day?  I'll be driving to Dallas this weekend with friends for a spa day at King Spa & Waterpark. I. CANNOT. WAIT.  I mean, can you imagine a cooler place to hang out?  It's a spa WITH SLIDES.  Seriously, you guys.

So, in addition to the pretty robe, I whipped together a couple of other things for this coming weekend:

Pants To PJs

In my SCA travels, I frequently end up in hotel rooms during and after events - long trips often require a break and a hot shower before the road trip back, and sometimes events are rained (or frozen, or baked) out and a group of us will end up bailing on the camping idea and just hotel it for the event.  And I'm always the dump truck in the ratty old Iron Maiden tshirt and men's boxers, hehe.  So I decided to do something about that for this coming weekend.

This set was made from an old pair of wrap pants I purchased a million years ago and then never wore because they were too short.  I cut the legs off and hemmed the resulting shorts, then made the top out of the pant legs that I had removed, like this: 

(I sewed the rectangular pants legs together at the sides, hemmed the top, and
ran a single drawstring through both front and back at the top, to form straps). 

And Of Course, 

A girl needs a swimsuit at a spa/waterpark (spaterpark?)  While I'm an admitted swimsuit junkie, I currently don't have any that fit me properly AND that I wanted to actually wear.  This weekend is an event:  it requires a new suit, dangit!  Tee-hee.  

After testing out patterns on a couple of old tshirts (and assing them up completely. Three times), I decided to go with an "Infinity Dress" style top to wear with some plain black suit bottoms I already have:  

I used a pattern based on the one in this blog post.  The only changes I made were to shorten the skirt drastically and gather the top edge a bit so it would flare over hips and stomach, omit the waistband entirely, and to shorten the "tube top" section into one that would function AS a waistband and also cover just my bust instead of my entire torso.  The fabric is a slinky, shiny, jersey knit that I've had laying around for years.  The teal-and-purple knotwork design at the bottom is printed directly on the selvage edge of the fabric. 

It's hard to see the upper edge of the back in these pics, since my mannequin, Violet, is wearing a black tshirt at the moment (I really need to make her a proper cover), so I put a red arrow in the second picture so you can see how high the back is.  

I'm doing a great job not sewing for a while, huh?  

FUCK. 

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It Goes "Ding" When There's Stuff!

I wasn't going to sew anything for one month after I got back from SCA Gulf Wars, since I'd been sewing practically nonstop for four months straight; but I did break that rule for this, yesterday:

No kidding, I've had this purple jersey knit fabric sitting in a bag for _over a year_ waiting for me to "just be done with this one project" before I'd start it.  Meanwhile, the knit bathrobe I made for myself in 2008 was literally full of holes (puppy) and falling apart at the seams.  So I made this one to replace it.  The pattern is the same as the Japanese clothing I've made in the past for Sir Takuan's samurai costumes in the SCA, and also the one I used for my short, silk robe/cover-up last year.

SO COMFY WOW.  

I've also been working in the yard - cleaning up, and building new garden beds in the backyard.  This is the year I get back out into the garden, yay!  I'm in the midst of it this weekend; I'll have pics when I'm done.  (More details on my garden blog).  

Don't worry, I'm up to my EYEBALLS in stuff I'm working on in the house, too, and I'll have posts and pics later this week! I also have a spiffy new phone coming in the mail in a couple of days - with a better camera on it!  :D 

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OHAI I forgot.

You know, I was looking over my blog(s) the other day, and realized that I never actually posted finished pics of the new craft room (aka "Room of Requirement")!

Okay, so, you've seen the old version:

Which is now my bedroom:  

And my old bedroom, which in this picture is filled with stuff from the old sewing room, during the room swap.  I haven't been a "hanging out in my room" person since I was a teenager.  Who needs all this room to just sleep?

At first, Sylvan and I thought we'd put our work tables in the center of the room, like this: 

Before she'd even moved in, I realized how very, very much that was NOT going to work.  My sewing machine vibrated both tables so much that she'd never have been able to work like that; and also, since all my sewing stuff was jammed up against the wall behind me, but my cutting table was on the opposite side of the room, I kept having to get up and walk around while I was working.  

So we drew up a new floor plan that worked better for both of us, with each of us with a work table against a wall, storage around, and my cutting table in the center, which is easier for me to get to without having to stand up if I don't need to, and also so that we can BOTH use the cutting table as a large, open work surface if needed: 

(made with Icovia Floor Planner) 

And here is the finished Room of Requirement, and folks, this is about as tidy as it gets.

CAUTION:  WOMEN AT WORK!

It works great.  We both love it, and we're both enjoying spending time in there crafting together.  When she moved in, we put her TV in the living room, and put my [smaller] one in the craft room, so we frequently have a movie on in the background while we work (usually a Disney animated flick; though my go-to when I'm working alone is Pride and Prejudice, in case you're wondering.  When it's just me and just music, I listen to a lot of Chinese flute, for some reason. It's calming).  

Meanwhile, I haven't been doing much around the house at all for the past several months, because I've been going nonstop on the SCA stuff (which is all here at my SCA blog, if you're interested).  And then there was Raven, and some sitting around moping for a while, while I was processing.

Also, looking over this blog recently, I realize that I am utter PANTS and things like: 

• decent photographs of anything
• posting finished pictures and follow-up on previous posts

That's going to change, guys.  I hate looking at this blog and being disgusted with myself.  I had this same issue with my SCA blog back in September, made some serious revisions to my organization and self-management, and it's been working out great - I'm really proud of my SCA work, and my SCA blog.  This one?  Not so much.  It's going to get better.  

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Fück This Shirt

My first foray into customizing clothing with ink and stamps!  

T-shirt:  $3 from my favorite thrift store (Thrift Town, Austin TX) 

Stamps and ink provided by my bff/roommate (StazOn solvent ink, which isn't made for fabric, but it's supposed to be permanent on virtually any surface, so, we'll see). 

Raven

I'm back three days early from my SCA trip.  While my allergies virtually disappear every time I leave central Texas (thank goodness), the humidity in Mississippi kept my asthma topped out so badly that I could barely leave camp by Wednesday morning/Tuesday evening. I also dislocated my right collarbone early in the week.

While I was gone, my elderly dog, Raven, was suddenly hit by all of his health issues (some known, mostly unknown) exploded all at once.  He spent two days in the hospital.  I packed up camp Wednesday night and hit the road Thursday morning, driving straight from Gulf Wars to the emergency vet clinic, where I spent a last couple of hours with him before he went to sleep for the last time.

Between dog issues and health issues, please excuse my absence from this blog for a bit longer, while I spend some time on both emotional and physical healing.

Raven
August 2001 - March 19th, 2015