Instead, I find myself vegging far more than I should. Maybe I need the downtime, I don't know. The upside is that now I can get caught up on unzipping and organizing a whole lotta embroidery files I've downloaded over the past two years. I've found that when I can do a little bit every time I download, I can keep up - but it's like the coupons sitting on the dining room table - once I get behind because of work and the crazy busy rehearsal/performance schedule my son has, it stacks up and up and up until it looks like the leaning tower of Pisa. Oof. Same goes for my own projects. You could say that my workroom looks like Pisa Squared. Or Cubed. If the tower were made from piles of multi-colored fabric, anyway.
The nice part about getting a bit caught up is that I'm finding a lot of embroidery files I forgot I purchased - and now I can't wait to use in some kind of project. I was literally jumping up and down in my computer chair when I unearthed a few of these last night. The Sewing Assistant, briefly yanked from his evening nap, looked up at me like I'd lost my mind and then promptly fell back asleep.
Party pooper.
While I'm merrily unzipping away, between loads of laundry and dishes, here are a few more photos of what I've been working on this month:
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| Sales sample of a kimono-styled wrap top for a new client. |
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| The front was matched expertly by the patternmaker I mentioned yesterday, along with the two-part sleeves and the neckband. |
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| The back was originally meant to be cut in two pieces, which would have rendered the jacket much better fitting. However, the patternmaker thought using this part of the print would be better shown off by cutting it in one piece. |
And more. This one wasn't exactly my favorite. It looked like something you might see in a Doctor Who episode.
The most unfortunate thing about this jacket is that the client asked me to make up a pair of matching capri pants, and I was trying to match the print from the back of the jacket. Since the patternmaker had cut the kimono top on the cross-grain, and it looked like this one was done the same way, I cut the pants on the same grain. Only I misjudged that pattern on the back - so the print on the pants goes perpendicular to the pattern on the top. Oy. Not a good mistake to make on such expensive fabric. While trying to get more fabric to remake the pants, the client also discovered something very unpleasant - apparently, the company had sold him some runs of fabric that have been discontinued and so now he is scrambling to figure out what he can show potential clients out of the run of garments we've made. Not sure yet how many pieces in his growing collection this will affect - I should know by the end of next week (thus my sudden and unusual break time).
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| A more tailored, unlined jacket. For some reason, the theme to the Twilight Zone is running through my head now. |
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| The patternmaker engineered these awesome turn-back rounded cuffs. I envy her skills, I really do. |
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| Welt pocketses! |
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| A two-piece lapel - honestly, I would NEVER have come up with that idea in a squillion years. A brilliant idea for showcasing some contrasting or artistic fabrics. |
The pattern maker was experiencing some issues she needed to settle in her personal life, so the client asked if I would please cut out the next batch of garments myself. OY. His primary focus on these garments was to showcase, balance, but not EXACTLY MATCH the motifs from each of these prints, to set them off at their best advantage. This was a little scary. This fabric is from Holland, is custom printed (double sided) in a batik style print process. Knowing what a genius the pattern maker was in the way she mastered the prints on the prior garments, intimidated doesn't even BEGIN to cover how I felt.
And this didn't help:
In the middle of my engineering nightmare, along came these cute little orders for the Sweet Tart Lab:
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| Not loving this next fabric selection, for another kimono & capri pant set. |
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| Something seems vaguely familiar about this print..... |
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Oh, yeah.
This is kind of what the inside of my head feels like
during a migraine, if I could visualize it. All this print would need for illustration
is a giant pickaxe slicing through it and it would be complete.
The background reminded me of the old-fashioned pillow ticking I remember from very
uncomfortable, prickly feather pillows from my childhood.
UGH. What a combo of ideas. No wonder I had such an aversion to it.
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| Meh. There was really no interesting way to cut this fabric so that there were motifs highlighted or balanced anywhere in the jacket, which was the client's primary focus on this line. Tricky, tricky, tricky. |
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| Now this one reminded me of those wonderful Hermes scarves that beautiful jet-setters used to wear back in the 60's. |
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| Fantaisies Indiennes signed Loic Dubigeon, mint condition |
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| Not too bad, but still very tricky to try to balance out the larger motifs. Especially since each panel was not symmetrical in any way. |
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| Bird sleeve. |
In the middle of my engineering nightmare, along came these cute little orders for the Sweet Tart Lab:
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| Tweet tweet! |
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| Minky fabric. It cures what ails you. Just sit and pet for as long as it takes to calm down. |
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