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Sew Madness

I have some free hours tonight. To help settle my manuscript submission jitters, I’m playing with several sewing projects that need to advance to their next stages. Not finished (cue hysterical laughter); any one of these will take far more than a couple of hours for that.

  1. Refine the patterns and start cutting UV-blocking fabric for a bicycle car rack cover. This is an absolutely necessary top-priority piece. Yakima has not yet figured out that what works for sun-and-heat resistance in northern climes fails quickly and miserably down here in hell Crematoria Muspellheim Phoenix. scarf strips
  2. Check that I have everything ready for a gonzo insane 15″ x 76″ scarf in a loose open weave of these gray-tan linen strips. With large freshwater pearls sewn over the junctures. It would easily be a $200 scarf if I was insane enough to sell it, based on hours and materials. Anyone want a $200 scarf? I’m making it because I will wear until I get bored with it, and it wants to be made. Faded Glory jacket
  3. Blocking the paper pattern for a waterfall bustle to go on the back of this Faded Glory jacket in sage eyelet. The jacket is extremely well made: the seams are bound the way I’d do them from scratch, and it has vaguely Victorian/steampunk lines that will be perfect with black braid and bronze buttons. I just found a sage/khaki hat that will go with it, with some modifications. But the jacket also needs to be a tailcoat, and I’m intrigued by the lines of waterfall bustles and their back-folded ruffles. I lucked out with some sage-printed cotton and some antique bronze sequined black net, which go well with some of my other fabric stores in sage-green tones. Here’s the brown paper pattern…sage bustle pattern
  4. Which leads to the discovery (which I suspected) that even my modest little 18″ bustle is going to take at least 80″ of fabric. Because Ruffles. I think I have it…but it will be close. I keep telling myself that if I can make a 60″ accordion-fold fabric book, a double-faced waterfall bustle is going to be relatively easy.

Now, if I can just juggle things like this for the next 8 weeks, I will be able to ignore my manuscript submission jitters. Yeah, right.