It's been a while...

...I know. It's been hectic, it's been fun... and the time just flew by. The house is now furnished and comfortable. I've settled into my new old job. I've even done some sewing.

One of my goals for this year was to make more dresses. To that end, I've been working on improving my TNT sheath pattern. There was a bit of extra ease in the lower front that resisted all attempts at removal. Several mock-ups later, the pattern is now fixed.

My fabric collection stayed in Germany; it will move with us when we come back stateside in 2011. My wonderful mom-in-law sent me the few pieces I had stashed at their house so I have some basics but no real stash here and I don't want to build a new one. Instead, I subscribed to the Vogue Fabrics By Mail service. I wasn't really sure what to expect but figured $30 was a small price to pay for someone to coordinate fabrics for me. At the beginning of May, my first mailer arrived and I was impressed. Nine color-coordinated collections of very affordably-priced fabrics of very decent quality.

Two collections immediately caught my eye - they would be perfect for a casual summer wardrobe. A few days later, these lovely pieces showed up at my doorstep.



From the top: polyester plisse print and polyester faille print for loose tank tops, poly/rayon/flax textured suiting solid for a simple sheath, rayon/poly "painterly" print for another sheath, white textured cotton/lycra suiting for a sheath (and maybe a jacket or skirt, or both, I wasn't sure so I ordered 5 yards), and a cotton blend novelty tweed that will make a lovely cardigan jacket.

Now, my main fabric collection consists of timeless basics that I buy in 5 or 10 yards lengths and intend to use over time. However, these fabrics are for immediate sewing and, with the exception of the white cotton suiting, came in 2yd pieces, which I thought should be enough to cut a summer top or dress and still leave enough to re-cut in case of emergency. Also, having seen how Carolyn works embellishment, I thought having a half-yard or so left over might come in handy one day.

The cardigan jacket will be a project for later this year when it gets cool enough here to actually wear one. Other than that, my only rule was that the rest of the fabrics would have to be sewn up into garments before I could order more fabrics. That gave me two months to sew. Well, not quite because I had company most of May, but still plenty of time to sew. Otherwise, there would be no new fabric from the next mailer.

So far, I have finished two dresses - the white cotton and the painterly blue/green/white print, and two tank tops from the poly prints. This week I'll make a dress from the blue suiting and then wait contentedly for the next mailer. Pictures coming soon.