Happy Late New Year!

It's January 13, 2013 and I'm pretty excited about everything that's going on in my life. For this entry: GOALS!

01) I am making a wedding dress for a good friend of mine, inspired by BHLDN's Lita Gown. This is the first time I've ever worked with silk charmeuse and it's really a learning experience. It's difficult, oh so DIFFICULT, but fun. The sweetheart bodice took me three tries. First, silk charmeuse with silk organza (too flimsy) Second, silk charmeuse with cotton twill (the twill shrank lengthwise when I pressed it. THE HORROR) Third time's the charm when I did silk charmeuse with cotton muslin (BINGO). I am almost DONE. This pile of beautiful silk and tulle has to be a dress by the end of this month.

02) I fell in love with a dress on Pinterest. A brief image search on Google informed me that the dress is from the Fall 2011 collection of Paul Smith. What gorgeous embroidery. I want to make it! (Or at least something like it) I'm already drawing up the plans for this dress. Construction will start as soon as I'm done with the wedding dress. (Is it sad that I already have the materials waiting in a project bag?)

03) How CUTE is this dress designed by Gertie of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing? I recently bought the digital pattern and it's currently fourth on my to-do list. I would love to make this in a DEEP DEEP Purple or Black Silk Dupioni. 

04) Finish all my UFO's. I get anxiety attacks just thinking about those unfinished projects languishing in project bags in my sewing nook and my closet. 

05) I know it sounds cliche, but I would really like to use the New Year as an opportunity to better myself or, in this case, my fabric and notion stash. I have too much fabric, I have too many little oohsits and whatsits (zippers, rivets, spikes, hooks and eyes, pins, elastics, thread... you name it), too much yarn, too many patterns... just TOO MUCH. So I promised myself that I will be using up whatever's in my fabric closets and bins, my whatsits pile and my yarn box. I also think this exercise in using up stash will also improve my speed  and skill in making things. Oh, and watch more of this inspirational show:

05) THEN, after my fabric stash and everything else have been reduced to manageable levels, I am now going to implement a new policy of buying ONLY fabric with natural content (silk, wool, cotton, linen) Blends are fine as long as more than half of the fabric content is natural. It's not because I'm a granola eating hippie or some kind of deluded tree-hugger. I just LIKE natural fabrics more. They're easier to work with and they are more expensive, so I think twice before buying. Synthetics are SO cheap and we are so close to China, it's so easy to buy fifteen yards of gold lamé without batting an eyelash in this country.  What the heck am I going to do with fifteen yards of lamé? It seemed like a good idea at the time. (This is ALWAYS my excuse, this is WHY I have piles of yardage scattered and shoved in different places around the house) So yeah, that's absolutely ending now. My Hoarders marathon will help kick my butt into action as well.

06) Sew more historical costumes in the coming months! I'm addicted, but I must take care of all this unfinished business first. For peace of mind, doncha know.