Top 5 Explores That Made The List

EDITED

Yesterday was a day of sunshine and clouds – what I got to see of it. I sat most of the day in the hospital or walking around to keep the muscles stretched. The Spousal Unit’s scope went well and he doesn’t need another one for 5 years.

As the year winds down, I love to read what others have said about their year of sewing and of life. I have basically finished sewing for the year as I am purging the sewing room in preparation to clean and paint it. My Year of Exploring was a great one. I learned quite a bit.

1. Sure Fit Designs was the first of several things I explored. I hauled out the shirt kit and made myself three shirts and got a great fit on shirt #3.

2. A Red Vest was the second item on the exploring list. The combination of the pattern and fabric drew me to sew this for myself. The fabric is a faux leather which can be reversed to a faux suede. The lining is a high end fabric and in an animal print. The only thing I will do another time is make the collar half the depth as shown in the pattern.

3. Drawing a pattern on fabric was the third idea I explored. I watched The Great British Sewing Bee and wanted to learn this. I had a lot of fun and ended up making 5 dresses, the first which was too small for the oldest girl and too big for the youngest. The girls who received these dresses have worn them a lot.

4. Faux Suede Dress for a rodeo queen was a huge explore. I had to take this dress down several sizes for the girl to wear. It was a design created almost three years ago and was one I was happy to finish.

The dress turned out much better than expected making the hours of hand sewing the lace and cutting hides for fringe worth while.

5. The Teal Dress with the emotional attachment also made the list. I had made the pattern before but I changed the neckline. The fabric was lovely but I had sewn with it before. It was the overlay that I was emotionally attached to. Expensive and gorgeous and elegant. The combination ended up having a beautiful vintage look to it. Not what I had expected.

In the end, I enjoyed my year of exploring. I am happy to be done with rodeo queen sewing and am pleased it ended on a high note with a lovely client. It is nice to be able to enter and exit the sewing room with no looming deadlines. And, I look forward to sewing in a clean and freshly painted room next year. One that is being heavily purged and should be easy to keep clean.

Until tomorrow…………………………….