Craft Rage

In our beginning, there was The Hotness. And The Hotness said "Let there be cats." And the cats said "Meow," and life was good.
And time passed, and the wheel of time turned, and The Hotness spoke again, and said "Let there be dog." And the dog said "I like to chew electrical cords," and life was messy, but also very good.

And between the new dog and a new job, I am overwhelmed. I've been sewing a little, and hope to have something to show for it soon, but mostly, I am trying to find time to sleep and clean my extraordinarily messy house.

My new job is for a church-based non-profit that runs affordable housing in a nearby city. I LOVE it. I've worked for non-profit organizations before, but this is something completely different; this place has soul, and is chock-full of unpretentious goodness.

Not the kind of goodness that feels forced and a little grating, but just solid, homely, "Hey, Rachelle, have these shoes on your first day of work!" goodness.

No kidding, my very first day, my office mate was playing Cinderella with a pair of lovely little brown leather kitten heels, trying to find someone whose feet fit them; her sister is a costume designer, and these were bought for a play but never worn. They magically fit my feet, and now I have a part-time job I love, AND some wicked cute shoes!

At any rate, more posts to follow; the ball-skirt is done, as is most of the drop-waisted skirt. I have only to finish the mock-up of the corset, and then I can post pictures of me trying everything on.

For now, this will have to hold you. This is what I found on the living room couch while The Hotness was "watching football".

I have all the pieces cut out for two test dresses, but I just can't seem to get it together. Mentally, I mean.

Several times this weekend, I sat in my sewing room, looking at all the carefully folded stacks of pieces, in two colors of taffeta, and got intimidated.

I don't know why it just happened now. Why NOW? The hard part is over. Granted, I made it up as I went along, but all the seams are measured and double-measured, and will match up fine; all I need to do is sew everything together and try it on, and make adjustments if necessary.

I know that part of it is the fact that I can't keep my needle from railroading my taffeta like crazy. I can't seem to find microtex needles in any of the local sewing stores, although I have one more to check this afternoon.

These are only test dresses, and I really shouldn't spend so much time worrying about a defect that nobody will ever see, but still; if I can't keep THIS taffeta from railroading, what's to say I'm going to be able to keep the fabric of my ACTUAL dress from doing the same? Part of this whole test thing is not only to test the pattern pieces, but also my equipment.

Gah! I'm not really a person who spends a great deal of time being full of angst and worry, so it's really frustrating to look at those two partly-finished garments and be unable to force myself to proceed. I actually sat at my sewing machine for TWO HOURS on Sunday, and didn't sew a stitch. I walked away and made lunch, then returned and sat for ANOTHER hour before I finally picked up a pair of dress pants that needed to be let down, and did that instead.

Sometimes I feel better after a good rant. Hopefully, this was it. Thanks for listening. Or whatever.

Labels: rant, wedding dress