Distracted by dreams of future projects

No, I haven’t finished the swirly dotted tee.  I have it all constructed, and it is fabulous, but I have to hem the sleeves, bottom and topstitch around the neck and shoulders.  This should take, what 15 minutes?  Ha!

Well, getting that off my chest felt much better.

And so what have I been doing when I could have been sewing? (not that I have had that much time).  I have been playing paper dolls and dreaming of future projects.

I am sure you remember this beautiful fabric I bought at Kashi’s:

Well, I purchased more than I needed for a straight skirt, which is the first thing I envisioned, but not really enough to guarantee that I can make anything else.  I got 2 yards.  I might get a dress out of 2 yards, but it will be very close, and that is not counting on the border print.  (but cutting on the cross grain uses less fabric we hope, right?)

And just as I had relegated this to the back of my mind, thinking I would whip up a skirt soon, but not too soon, Mary Beth over at The Sewing Divas  takes this very same fabric and turns out a really spectacular dress. 

So I look at Mary Beth’s dress and think?  Why must I make a skirt?   My fate is sealed.  My mind begins to wander.

Then, over at Stitcher’s Guild someone starts discussing THE dress and ideas start flowing. 

Progress on practical matters is abandoned and I start playing with ideas.


As stated above, I originally planned on making a simple straight skirt with the embroidery along the hem.  This idea is still a strong contender and it would be a very wearable and versatile contribution to my wardrobe.

But then, after Mary Beth’s got all creative I started thinking about other options.

Since the fall collections, I have been thinking about a simple fitted v-neck jumper using an old Vogue pattern, # 8416.  This would also look pretty with the embroidery on the bottom, along the hem.

Or perhaps with the embroidery along the hem and at the shoulders:

Both of these options are nice, but I really think I like the first one better, the simpler one with the embroidery on the bottom.  Besides, bright shiny golds and yellows are not my best colors and bringing them too close to my face is perhaps not the brightest idea.

In a fit of madness, I had another idea as well, cutting up the embroidery and putting a zipper down the front with the bottom piece of the embroidery running down the center front, mirrored from side to side.  Although my cutting and pasting and manipulation of computer images is not all that good, I think you can get the idea.  It is definitely overdone and far too much, for me at least.  But still, I am glad I played with the idea.  Better to spend time cutting and pasting, making paper dolls on the computer, and then deciding something is a mistake than cutting and sewing and wasting a lovely piece of fabric.

The upshot of all this computer dawdling is that I like the skirt and the simplest dress best.  If I make the skirt I will do it this spring as I still have time to wear it (if I am not distracted by other projects that is).  If I go for the jumper, well that is definitely a fall project.  And I am still not sure I have quite enough fabric.  The last time I made this pattern, I noted that I need 1 3/4 yards.  I have 2 and I am a good bit fluffier now than I was then.  In the end the skirt might win.