crafting ADD

well, i had a huge crafting weekend, but still haven't touched the Armstrong. In my defense however, i did finish the sleeve draft last weekend and am now waiting to measure my dressform for easier drafting/fitting issues down the road. Besides, i am happy to report that i am losing some weight, and some of the measurements i have are changing... :)

This weekend my mother came up to help me with some organizational issues. (and honey, trust me, i have issues) My latest goal is a business goal, and therefore trumps all personal goals at present. Turns out I have a large stash of material. Last year i bough another garment rack, and put all my material on hangers so that i have easy access to it, physically and visually. But I'm still not using it as I would like--i still keep buying material for projects instead of utilizing my stash. A few projects ago, i had to get some fabric that i knew didn't exist in my stash for a project. and since my customer was not local, i had to email her my choices--enter the scanner. a great way to get a pic of my fabric and voila! it's stored in my computer. hmmmmmm

If all my material were scanned and labeled, I could peruse my "catalog" (i had previously done something similar with all my commercial patterns) to see if i had the appropriate material, and enough for the job...I could put pics up on my business page and Etsy if i was offering a particular style. I could discuss fabric choices with clients even if I'm not in my studio...my brain began to explode.

So I waited for a visit from my mother to start this project. I'll be honest, I thought it would be a walk in the park--a couple hours of measuring and scanning. WRONG. oh we spent a couple hours--and we're maybe halfway done. I'm really glad she came up to help with this, or i would be further behind at this point.

(I should also mention here that we also took the opportunity to head out to Pomona for the sew/quilt/craft show, where i bought even more material... and also made the keen observation that quilting folk are...well...rude. I got poked and shoved more times at that show than i ever did at CHA--and this show wasn't even half as big)

It's also fun to take this visual trip through memory lane. Some fabrics I bought with a purpose--a shirt for Pete, jammies for Ben, and i was reminded of the level of sewing I used to employ for my own family. Some fo the fabrics were finds from the local Michael Levine loft--the warehouse where they send all their ends and unpopular fabrics that you have to sort through like a trash picker that they sell by the pound. If you are diligent, there are some incredible finds in that loft. I saw the funky challis print i found (brown, green & yellow wildness) that will make the perfect long sundress once i remember what it is to sew for myself! (gasp!) And of course, some of the material were large remnant peices from other projects--primarily my wedding gown. My mother and I, who put that gown together--with some cutting assistance from my BFF--were reminded of the process, the hunt for the right material--the heavy oyster colored satin--and the embroidered lace that we labored over--it was so expensive, but was sooooooooo perfect against the satin. There was a great deal of hemming and hawing that day, but in the end (with the assistance of my grandmother's spirit, according to my mother) the lace was purchased (too much i might add--now i have over a yard leftover!) and the perfect combination was created. Good memories. I'll admit, i was never 100% in love with the dress, but it was a thing of beauty!

So, now i have this pile of material, and a whole other garment rack of material, that i have to scan and label--but this time on my own. *sigh* But i do have another boon this week. My little man starts pre-school this week--just 2.5 hours a day/4 days a week--but that's 10 extra hours for studio time that i didn't have last week.

But trust me, I'm sure i'll figure out some way to avoid getting in there and getting this job done this week. Have i mentioned the root canal on Wednesday? One day gone...

Lessons learned this week:

If it's good for business, do it! *within reason*

Organization is fun, but time consuming

I have way too much fabric

My mother and i made an awesome wedding dress

root canals suck