#sewingdares

So, what's happening on twitter...? You can get your very own sewing dare! Basically the idea is that someone else challenges you to sew something you haven't done or are a bit afraid to try. Or think you dislike, but kind of need. It's all about fun and not stress and after reading about this from Gillian's blog, I decided I wanted one. I mean in addition to all the challenges I'm doing and being late with...

So, when I asked for a challenge, Clare from Sew Dixie Lou suggested I make a circle skirt for dancing. And Gillian suggested I sew one of my Sewaholic patterns. So, I decided I'd take them both up for a challenge. I have already bought a fabric that I thought I'd use for the Cambie dress and I have an idea about Thurlow trousers as well, I actually have some fabric that could be used for the shorts version. So, we'll see which one I tackle first. I also have knit fabric I thought I'd use for a Renfrew top.

My knit from Spoonflower

The Cambie dress fabric deserves a few words. I actually "designed" some of my own fabric with Spoonflower. I didn't really read all the instructions and just uploaded the picture and considering that, it turned out pretty amazing. I'm not sure about the fabric quality, I did order a knit fabric at the same time and it seems a bit more high quality than the cotton sateen. Basically I uploaded this Hubble image of the Orion Bar and made it a fabric:

Star Factory at the Center of the Orion Nebula
Credit: NASA, C.R. O'Dell and S.K. Wong (Rice University)

And why is this picture so special? Because this is what I study: The Orion Bar, the bar-like structure which you can see on the bottom left in the picture. Or that and the area towards the stars that can be seen in the middle of the picture. The awesome thing would be to make the dress for my thesis defense, but that will be like in 2 years. So, I think I will make this sooner. It can always be my presentation dress. The black looks a bit greyish, it's not so bad in this, but the black I ordered is worse, because the whole fabric is the same color. But I wanted the matching fabric since I thought I would only make the skirt part of this picture fabric. So, I hope I will get to this soon. I'm pretty excited to make something of this farbic! I also love the equation knit. I need to buy some color coordinating knit, though, for the hem and the cuffs. Well, there are a few choices in that fabric.

For the circle skirt I thought I would use a fabric that I just picked up from the post office yesterday:

Isn't it lovely? I think it'll make a perfect circle skirt for dancing. I kind of was thinking about dancing when buying this fabric, since Aristocats and swing sort of go together (just see Everybody Wants to be a Cat). So, I have a plan for the circle skirt as well.

Other fabrics I got with the Aristocats one was a Hello Kitty kimono crepe, which seems very slippery, but so wonderful and a dinosaur flannel, that I'm planning to use for some pyjama bottoms for the pyjama party this month. 

I mean, who doesn't love dinosaurs? Especially in pyjamas? Well, also in anything else, like in this dress by the Cation designs.

But why I'm not sewing and just planning, you ask? Well, I've been really busy with some actual life (we had Paris Lindy Exchange last weekend) and also with work. And I twisted my ankle, which kind of makes everything a bit hard. I did finish cutting all the pieces for my Réglisse today, but managed to growl in pain couple of times, since cutting fabric on the floor isn't the most ankle friendly position. And now, I don't have a sewing table or a sewing room. I have a studio and I'm lucky to have a table for the sewing machine. But, now it's cut and hopefully I will finally finish it soon. For the Great Gatsby dress, I think that will go on to the back burner for awhile. I actually could use some pyjama pants, so I will try to finish them on time for the pyjama party and I also have the SwimAlong, which I'd love to finish this month. But there will be a flapper dress. Hopefully by the end of the summer :)