Sticking With It

H'lo!

Thought I'd give you a brief wave from my workroom and reassure all of you that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.....not yet, anyway!

(WAVES)

I took a bunch of photos to show you all the projects/jobs that have sort of taken over my life lately - not that that's a bad thing, it just means I haven't had time to write much - but then realized that maybe posting all of it wouldn't do more than just make me feel overwhelmed all over again, LOL!  So, I thought I'd just throw a few of them up here for your consideration (and as an opportunity to see how busy a work-from-home seamstress can actually get....):

Custom digitized applique for a client for Halloween

Patterns I bought at the most recent Vogue/McCall's pattern sale at Joanns,
with an eye for refashioning garments 

Some of said garments, languishing in the Refashioning Pile
(Disclaimer:  this is a very, VERY small random sampling of said Pile -
if I showed you the entire stack, you'd want to commit me.)

Dress slacks that needed to be relined, for a client who had a small
tear that turned into a much larger headache when she accidentally
stepped through the tear into the Space Between.
  I carefully cut out the lining, took the seam ripper to the
seams, smoothed it out, and used it as a pattern to cut out a new lining.
Client was exceptionally happy.  :)

Another one of my Made in China alterations - I simply cannot stand that
they sew on rhinestones/beads with what looks like kite string.  And that
they use stitching to hold pleats upward on one side of the bust, only to have the other
side pleat the opposite way because the cheap tacking was done with one tiny
length of thread, so when one pleat went, they ALL went.  The wrong way.

Same bridesmaid dress, which needs about 2 inches lopped off in the hem.  Sounds easy,
until you realize that they bagged the lining in the dress hem, as if it were
the bottom of a tailored jacket.  Which means I have to take the lower part
of the dress completely apart in order to stitch these two (of three) layers back
together at the proper length.  I also need to take the upper bodice apart just to
shorten the shoulder straps.
I know ordering a special occasion dress online may SEEM like it's going to
save you tons of money & time, but usually these dresses need a ton of alterations and
I can tell you that is going to end up costing you even more in the long run.
The wedding dress this client ordered from the same online company fit her so terribly
I had no choice but to tell her she had to go buy another one.  There was no way to make
it fit her properly.

Pads and pad covers for the cat rescue my son and I volunteer for -
brought these home for sizing, so I could knock some out
(in all my spare time).  

A purse and a dress/jacket set that another client would like for me
to draft patterns from in order to make new outfits with the same fit & comfort,
and to replicate the purse completely (as well as possibly make a few more
purses using this same pattern/style).  

What will eventually be about 24 embroidered purificators for the church.

This will be a custom made dress for a renewal of vows (for a 25th Wedding Anniversary).
That won't be until next March.
I like this client.

More onesies for The Sweet Tart Lab.

And MORE onesies for The Sweet Tart Lab.
Between these two boutique orders, some custom orders, and
some orders from her web site, I'll be cranking out almost
200 items for her this month.  I love working on things for
this client, because they are so cute & cheerful!

A work jacket that needs tailoring, on hold until this client
gets another one from the same company that will need identical tailoring.
Why they think that medical personnel need to wear shapeless,
oversized, boxy garments to look "professional," I have no idea.
We decided to (gently) buck the system.  The tailoring isn't going
to be terribly obvious, but it's going to make a whole lot of difference
to my client in terms of how she looks during the day.  That
translates into how confident (and NOT self-conscious) she will feel,
which is pretty important when you work in the public sector.   

And just in case you didn't think that was enough, here is a partial list of
what I need to tackle in the next week or two.  With client names
blobbed out to protect the innocent.  There was more added to this after
I took the photo, but it's an ever-evolving list.

So there you have it.  Back to work, now!  All except for the Sewing Assistant, who was fired again after dumping what was left in my glass of Dr. Pepper all over about a half dozen of the onesies.  You know, the white ones.