Busy...but sewing

The other day, my mom says to me: "If you haven't called in a while, and you haven't updated your blog, I know you're busy with school so I don't worry."  Ah, the wisdom of mothers!  How right she is.  I have been very busy with school.  I'll be honest, being on the job market is definitely an emotional roller-coaster.  But despite all that, I have been sewing, so over the next few days I'll try my best to get the blog up to date.

So, stay tuned for posts about:

• the Burda low-back sheath dress, 1-2010 #125, which I successfully completed in time to wear to a wedding on Thanksgiving weekend
• my Lady Grey coat, which now has sleeves and a collar.  I'm hoping to hem this week and be working on the lining by the weekend
• my second version of McCalls 6163, which I maintain is an awesome wardrobe-builder in disguise
• my next project, a wool blazer.  I'm hoping I can continue to build my tailoring skills on this project, and I've asked for more tailoring books and supplies for Christmas ;-)

On a purely personal note, the Mr. is graduating from college this weekend!  Go baby go!  Returning to college as a "non-traditional" student, and balancing school with a job and adult responsibilities, is an impressive feat.  On Sunday, my man will graduate  Summa Cum Laude with his B.B.A. in Computer Information Systems, and I couldn't be more proud of him :-)

Back and better than ever!

I've taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging this fall, more or less unintentionally.  What have I been up to?  Well, the Mr. and I completed our first marathon in October, which was quite an accomplishment for both of us.

 I'm also working hard to finish my degree, and I'm on the academic job market as we speak.  I won't bore you with the details, but being on the market is an incredibly time consuming and fairly stressful process.  (If you're curious, you can read more about it here.  And if you want to get a sense of who I am in my professional life, you can check out joannelipsonfreed.com.)

Despite all this, I'm glad to say that my sew-jo has returned with a vengeance, and I've got several projects lined up that I'm really excited about.

First of all, I'm working on a version of Burda 1-2010 #125, the low-back sheath dress with the interesting darts.  I've made my first muslin, and need to make a few fitting adjustments, but I'm really pleased with how it's shaping up so far.  The line drawing of this dress looks a little boxy and ho-hum, but in real life the darts are super-flattering.  I'm making it in purple poly satin, to wear to a wedding later this month.

I've also gotten totally inspired by Gertie's Lady Grey Sew-Along, and I'm in the planning stages of my own version of the Colette Patterns Lady Grey coat, which will fill a gaping hole in my current winter wardrobe.  I realize I'm a bit of a late-comer to the sew-along, but I'm totally geeked about the project.  If you haven't checked it out, Gertie's tutorials on how to construct the coat using traditional tailoring techniques are amazing.  All platitudes about the internet age aside, I'm overwhelmed by the generosity of people like Gertie, who share so much time and knowledge with anyone who wants to learn, and with the inclusiveness of the online sewing community in general.  Even if you don't plan to participate in the sew-along, I encourage you to check it out.  Like I said, I'm super excited and inspired about this project, and I'm looking forward to taking my technique to the next level.

I've also got a couple of other projects in the queue, including the trench-coat from the famous September 2010 Burda magazine, and my second version of McCall 6163, which I contend is actually a great pattern if you leave off the collar and silly sleeves, and resist the urge to add tassels to the sash.

I'll write more about these projects soon, but for now I just wanted to say: it's great to be back!

"Up North" Mini-Wardrobe

To celebrate our first anniversary (woot!), the Mr. and I are planning a trip "up North" in August.  If you've never been there, northern Michigan might not sound that appealing, but believe me, its stunningly beautiful at this time of year.

Here's where we'll be staying, a beautiful "contemporary" bed and breakfast in the Traverse City area.  If it's anything like the pictures, we're in for a real treat!

With cool breezes, panoramic vistas, and sunset sails in mind, I can't resist the temptation to put together an "up North" mini-wardrobe for the trip.  I'm not alone in this impulse--Cidell is also at work on a travel wardrobe, although from the sound of it hers will be much more practical than mine.  But even if my wardrobe, as a whole, is a bit whimsical, I'm hoping that the individual pieces--pencil skirts and lightweight tops--will actually be pretty versatile.

Here are the pieces I have planned:

• a "beignet"-inspired skirt in ivory cotton sateen
• a ruffled blouse, Burda 4-2010 #105, in a lightweight magenta silk shirting
• a summer jacket, also in ivory sateen, perhaps Burda 3-2010 #102
• a denim pencil skirt, which I will draft, with fabric from my stash
• a blue paisley Ute blouse (already completed)
• the green, pleat-front dress, Butterick 5455 (already completed)
• possibly, as the coup-de-grace, the Amy Butler weekend bag, in Ikea home dec fabric from my stash

This collection doesn't, strictly speaking, follow the rules for a wardrobe contest--although every top will go with every bottom, not all the pieces match one another, and I'm not at all sure how the jacket will work with any of the tops, since I don't have anything like it in my closet right now.  But I think, on the whole, the wardrobe has a consistent feel to it, even if it's not completely mix-and-matchable.

As of right now, I have two pieces already completed: the paisley Ute (which I'll photograph and post about soon) and the green dress.  I've got the white skirt drafted, muslined, and partially cut out.  And I'm planning to sew up the jean skirt for PR's knockoff contest.  So I'm well on my way!

Long Time No See!

Sorry I've been a bit of an absentee on the blog lately!  I've been sewing a bunch, so now I have a nice backlog of projects to post about, if I can ever get around to taking some pictures.

I'm dying to write up a post and a pattern review for Butterick 5455, which I spent most of my 4th-of-July vacation sewing.  It took me quite a while, but I think I did a careful, high-quality job, and I'm pleased with the results.  And after a few hours of frantic finishing on Sunday, I was able to wear it to a party that night, held at a friend's posh lake-front "cabin."  It was perfect!  I promise I'll have pictures and a full write-up as soon as I can.

In the meantime, you'll have to satisfy yourselves with a brief recap of some of the (mostly) fun things I've been doing these days instead of blogging:

• Planning a trip to northern Michigan for our anniversary in August
• Making strawberry jam
• Finishing a dissertation chapter
• Meeting the cows who make our milk at a small-scale family-owned local dairy
• Submitting an article for review (cross your fingers for me!)
• Running my first ever half-marathon and beating my pace goal
• Watching fireworks on a catamaran on Devil's Lake

Not too shabby!

Offity-Off!

We're off on our vacation today, so no sewing for a couple of days.  I won't have my Friday Frock done by Friday--I never got around to doing the buttonholes.  Oh, well!

But I do have something to show for myself today.  Late last night, when I finally got around to wrapping the wedding gift, I realized I didn't have any ribbon!  The paper I used to wrap it was beautiful, but it needed something more.  So here's what I came up with: I ripped a narrow strip of white poly charmeuse from my stash, and used that as ribbon.  I think it's a neat, rustic-chic look--at least, that's what I'm telling myself.

Have a wonderful week!

Out of the Loop

Sorry, guys, I've been out of the loop for the last couple of days due to an emergent family medical situation.  (Don't worry, we're all fine!)  I should be back to blogging now, but my sewing will probably be neglected for a few more days while I catch up on real-life stuff like buying groceries, doing laundry, and finishing my chapter.

Before I left town, I made some great progress on my WGD, which is looking awesome!  All it needs now is some inside finishing and a hem.

I also want to give a giant shout-out to the ladies at the Southeast Michigan PR group.  I had a blast at the meet-up on Saturday, and got some great advice on my dress.  Hopefully, I'll still be able to make it to this week's meet-up: I've got miles of seriously boring hemming in my future!