Death of a cave, birth of a sewing room.

As some of you may know, I've been more that slightly disgruntled with my sewing space recently. It's my own fault really, offering to share my sewing room with a friend just moving into town while she got settled. Buying new equipment before I really had anywhere to put it. Being spoiled from being able to take over my mother's entire dining room when I lived at home. You know how it goes.

But now...Oh, now it is wonderful! Friend got settled and moved in with a permanent roommate and Jim and I refigured some of our storage space. We dismantled the guest bed in my sewing room into two parts. The boxspring lives on its side behind a desk in our room (which is the catch all storage room, since we're the only ones who ever have to see it) and the mattress lives on its side behind my clothing rack in the sewing room. It is out of the way and takes up minimal space while being readily accessible in case of guests, as well as providing Westport, the king of the castle as he would like to think himself, a wonderful perch so that he can supervise while I iron and work at my table. Heaven knows what I would get myself into if it weren't for his diligent monitoring.

In other news, I've finished the beastly fur coat I had to repair for a new customer. All by hand inside a vintage baby seal coat. Anyone who's worked on old fur knows it is not a pleasant task. It's not like fabric. It doesn't self heal when you make a hole in it. This unfortunate coat is just too old to be worn and is dry rotting and splitting at the seams. I spent almost an hour and a half putting it back together, but as I worned my customer, I won't be holding my breath to see how long it lasts when worn.

Up next, it's time to figure out how in the world to pleat a chiffon bodice without going absolutely mad...not optimistic at the moment.

Upcoming Projects:

Recreating this evening gown from the end of Two Weeks Notice starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. To be made out of black stretch velvet with gold filligre and gored in gold glitter organza for a new customer to wear in an upcoming drag queen pageant.

And for a swing dance friend, who may become my personal photographer, this vintage Anne Adams. The fabric is absolutely darling and both she and I can't wait to see how this dress comes out.

I read through the directions for this vintage pattern (which only has 6 steps) and I understand that it is to look kind of like an apron dress with an underskirt for the back and then the circle skirt from the front wraps around and meets at the center back. What I find a little perplexing is that there seems to be no instruction for attaching the front of the dress to the back except for where it buttons at the shoulders. The front has a tie that crosses in the back and then wraps to the front. The back has instructions for attaching seam tape to each side piece of the back, so am I to understand that you put the back of the dress on and tie those ties at the front waist and then put on the front dress and wrap the tie? We shall see.