Unpacking the new sewing room

Well, the new sewing room is gradually getting unpacked.

It's a smaller space, but I have the whole family room just outside the sewing room for large cutting projects.

Yes, most of the stuff you see here will end up in the sewing room. I am a very efficient space user!

For example. To transport the material from my cubbies, we put the contents of each cubby into a clear plastic garbage bag. This has made them both easy to transport and identify for unpacking. There's a LOT of fabric in each cubby, as was really obvious when we put them into the bags and they weren't so tightly packed!

Dress Sketch Commissions OPEN!

As you may know, Nathan and I are in a tight spot financially. Due to my fibromyalgia, I'm still unable to deal with the physical demands of sewing. (I hemmed some curtains for Nathan last week and the pinning alone just about killed my fingers.)

However, drawing with markers is not only manageable in spurts (writing is different), it actually calms me down and can reduce my headache at times. So after a lot of thought, I've decided to offer clothing sketches on commission as an attempt to raise some much needed $$$.

Below are the basic perimeters. I'm going to take on just a few to start and see how it goes.

Because this is marker and not digital, once it's drawn, I can't change it. If you want preliminary idea sketches ahead of time, that would be an additional cost ($5 extra for three preliminary sketches, of which you pick one for final design).

I'm only doing clothing designs right now, not animals, scenes, multiple figure poses, etc.

I'm starting off at $20, but we'll see what happens (that may not be enough, based on what I see other artists charging. Right now we're just desperate.)

Send me a line if you are interested in acquiring a piece of existing art you've seen me do in the past.

Want to start Machine Embroidery? Keep an eye on Hancock Fabrics

Hancock Fabrics filed for bankrupcy in February and their liquidation sales began yesterday. That means that currently all of their sewing machines are 20% off. This includes the Brother HE1 ($279.99 today), which I mention because it is identical to the embroidery features of the machine I have.

(I have the SE400 which is also a sewing machine - see comparison here. However getting an embroidery only machine is totally fine because it's a pain to switch back and forth between sewing and embroidery so I recommend having two machines anyhow. )

The Janomi mini is also on sale ($63.99 today)! I have an older version of this machine (mine is teal) and have been tremendously impressed by it's ability for such a small machine. Perfect for travel, small quilting/mending projects, or a child's first sewing machine.

I paid $70 for my Janome mini, and $300 for my Brother SE400. Even keeping in mind that the HE1 lacks the regular sewing features, I would still consider this a very good deal on both machines - but if you want to play roulette, you can wait and see if they end up discounting machines further in a month.

Moving to the Future

I miss sewing so much. So, so much. We're pretty sure I have Fibromyalgia, which means between the pain in my hands and my overall fatigue, sewing is still out of the question. We're working very very hard to find solutions, but for the time being, I still can't work. 

We move NEXT WEEK. My new sewing room will be a bit smaller, but I won't have to share it with quite so much stuff because all of the non-sewing stuff I currently have in the room can be stored elsewhere. Also, the new room only has one window, and it's half the size of the ones here, so that frees up a bunch of wall space.

Lest you feel too sad about my disappearing window light - don't worry! The house has a beautiful 4-season-porch. Eventually our plan is to update the windows so that we can properly heat it during the winter and turn that into my sewing room. (In MN it is just too expensive to keep a room heated if it isn't energy efficient - and I have too many paints and inks and delicate machinery to let it freeze/boil). I'm also hoping we can move the washer and dryer up to this room as well! But this is 5-7 years down the road.

Anyhow, as you can see from the photo, my mother-in-law has already begun packing the room up. The sewing stuff will be some of the last to move over, however I'm going to bring my little travel machine right away. I want to try some hexagon quilting - maybe start with a potholder and see if I can tolerate short spurts. I think a hexagon quilt would be an idea project for 10 minute sewing sessions, yes? All those short seams, and small pieces to rotary cut - no lugging heavy velvet around! Also, I can use my mini iron, which is much easier as well!

Breaking News! Husband remarks on Downton Clothes!

Thought some of you would appreciate this:

Nathan and I have been rewatching Downton Abbey, and Nathan says that this time through he is much more aware of the clothing and appreciates the designs and period changes. He even made a note of which of Mary's dresses was his favorite. (It's a cream fluttery one from season 1, I believe, but we watched it so quickly that I can't remember the episode. I liked it too.)

On the flip side, he is also more aware of the costumes as we watch Season 6. Every time Mary's purple shirt w/tie appeared on the screen last week he made faces. I don't think I've ever seen him more distracted by a weird costuming choice than me! I get that it makes period sense, it just looked very strange for us to see on Mary after five years of more feminine styles.

(We are watching the American airing, please do NOT talk about Season 6 if you have seen the full British schedule airing. I will probably cry if anything gets spoiled ahead of time. Thanks!)

Rays of hope

(Life and health updates here)

I haven't been sewing really at all, but I have done a bit of drawing with my new fashion sketchbook. You can see all of those pictures here: https://www.instagram.com/seamstressconfessions/. Drawing is something that can actually help certain types of headaches I get, so that's why you will sometimes see me drawing when I'm too sick to do anything else. If I am too sick to draw, then you know something is really wrong... and I WAS too sick to draw for several months because my hands hurt so much. They are, on and off, better now than they were in August. So, ray of hope!

Anniversary

Today is my second wedding anniversary! I put a lot more photos on my personal blog, but when my head is doing better I hope to finally write up that post about wedding dresses I keep talking about...