Well, hello, folks.  Long… really long time no blog, isn’t it?

fabric haul!

I happened to have the chance to go to a truly amazing estate sale a few weeks ago, and scored some unbelievable stuff from it!  There was a garage literally packed full of fabric and trim, and I’m not exaggerating when I say there was tens of thousands of dollars worth of fabric there, much of it imported, and a good deal still in the packaging with the original price tags!  I walked away with a box full of stuff, and am only glad that I didn’t bring more cash with me, or I probably would have bought as much as I could fit in the car.

First… the silks!  There were so many gorgeous watercolor silks that it was hard to pick just a few that I really wanted.  These pieces are each between 4 – 6 yards, and while I don’t have any definite plans for any of them yet, I imagine they’d make splendid linings (normally I wouldn’t dream of using $40+/yd fabrics as linings, but since I got them for a tenth of that price, why not?)

The black matelasse fabric is my favorite – and I do have some plans for that.  I’ve got about four yards of it.  I’m also really fond of the pink printed cotton.

My picture obviously doesn’t do the color of this fabric justice, but it’s a nice powder pink polished cotton, and there’s almost a full ten yards – it’s fairly thin.  I love the pattern, and I’m not sure what to do with it yet, but I’ll think of something!

This was also a wonderful find – a very thin, gauzy chiffon with a nice geometric embroidered pattern.

Lastly… the trims!  There were boxes full, and it was a struggle to narrow it down to the handful I ended up with.  The fifth from the left with the heavy beading is my favorite.  The gold pleated fan-shaped trim was just too interesting to pass up.  The third and fourth from the left are actually metallic braid, somewhat stiff, definitely very cool.  I’m really excited to design some projects around some of these trims!

Chobits cosplay – a little more progress

The puffs are poofed, ribbon trim is on, and the skirt is looking finished!

Chobits cosplay – skirt progress

Just to prove that I have actually accomplished something since last blogging about this project!  In fact, I’ve gotten more done than I thought, because the skirt is just about finished.

much ado about… prom dresses!

Hello again!  I fear I’ve set another bad milestone – nearly four months without an update! Yikes!  Well, things have been hectic, and as ACen is now a terrifying three weeks away, I’m in full crunch mode to get the convention costumes done.  Unfortunately, I don’t have much more at this point to show than I did when I last blogged… double yikes!

Chobits cosplay – part one

Well, I’m going to be quite busy with work stuff over the next few weeks, and most likely won’t be doing much sewing.  I should pick it up again sometime after February.  In the meantime, though, I did get a bit of a start on my cosplays!

blue satin round gown – pics

At long last!

Well, I’m all moved in to my new place, the new sewing area (the basement) is coming along… well, not nicely, but it’s coming along.  I’ll be doing some sewing this weekend, in fact.  But in the meantime, here are the photos from the wearing of my blue satin round gown, the day after Halloween.

Officially on hiatus…

It kind of goes without saying, but yes, I’ve put sewing on hiatus for a bit.  I’m just too busy with moving and other things to have been doing much sewing, although I have done a small bit lately, it’s nothing to write home about.  I have some pictures from Halloween to post sometime this week – I didn’t have time to make a new costume this year so I re-wore an old one, but we did go to a nice cemetery to take some photos.

In the meantime, here are some pics of the coat I made a few months ago – the weather is finally cold enough to wear it, although I never thought I’d be excited about winter weather, I do love wearing my new coat!

A fall coat from a vintage Burda pattern

Well, winter is coming upon us again – despite the fact that it’s averaging about 90 degrees here still, I can’t help but feel that cold weather is right around the corner.  I really hate the cold, and winter in general, so one thing I tend to do every year is buy myself a new, cute coat, so that there’s something for me to get excited about when winter hits – well, this year, I decided I’d make myself a new coat instead.

Katherine Pierce – more photos

Here are the rest of the pics from my photoshoot at the lighthouse (we took a loooot of photos; these are just my favorite picks.)

Warning – image heavy post!