Luna's Baublebilities

Success - more or less - on the dress and a major Craft Fail on the purse.

As I suspected, the dress pattern flew together pretty smoothly once I got the pieces cut. A serger would have made it twice as quick but, alas, I have no serger. The trickiest part was hemming up the dress - the skirt part actually loops all the way under the dress to be attached to the lining of the overdress panel. This makes the bottom of the dress very heavy and full. It could possibly be made more full by adding some tulle to fill out the bottom, but the pattern says nothing about that sort of addition.

Because I had to shift the pattern by 90 degrees, I was able to cut the shoulder and neck along the beautiful selvedge edge so that there is a lovely decorative gold and purple band along the sleeves. The sleeve hems need some work and the overdress is screaming for some beautiful beaded & sequined embroidery but none of those things are going to happen before tomorrow.





The purse concept is sound but I encountered some problems.

1.) I was not careful in cutting out the lining shoulder/side piece so it ended up being a few inches too short, which meant that I had to cut down the length of my back and front panels, to, making the purse about 2 inches too shallow, which makes the purse feel a bit too wide. I really wanted to be able to carry a binder and lesson manuals in it for church but those would probably stick out the top now and my planner swims around in there hopelessly. It will be a loose junk nightmare, in spite of the purse organizer I made. No photos - really - you don't want to see them. Go buy one from JPATPURSES instead. She makes great organizers - maybe I should just send her some fabric and some cash and have her make me a purse!

2.) The construction in general is not firm enough. I was running low on interfacing and didn't want to cough up more cash while buying the enormous amount of fabric Molly's dress took. I thought that the velveteen would be sturdy enough without interfacing. It is very sturdy, it just isn't stiff. I think a heavy weight iron on interfacing on the front and bottom panels would have done the trick nicely. The sides are pretty firm because of all the layers of pockets I've got there. A piece of cardboard stuck in the bottom might help.

We'll see because that's the purse I'm stuck with until I get home and can make another attempt someday. I hate to have wasted all that beautiful duponi - maybe I'll even try to extend the bottom a bit.



. . . . .

And she had better like it!

We will be taking Maxx to the temple of Wednesday, staying in Rochester overnight and then dropping MB off at a Youth Conference on our way home. She wants a special dress to wear to Maxx's sealing plus there is a fancy dance at the Youth Conference. We've been contemplating this Folkwear pattern for a long time but I haven't felt prepared to shell out the cash for all the fabric it takes.

This seems like a likely occassion. The overdress section will be made of that beautiful pale blue silk duponi I spoke of earlier and I let MB choose a gorgeous purple and gold sari fabric at Joanne fabric on Thursday. Unfortunately, I am a knuckle head and didn't realize that the fabric's pattern is directional until I got it home. Now I have to shift the patern by 90 degrees and add a seam to make it look right for this pattern. I lack about half a yard of fabric for this trick and have to drive all the way back to Malone before I can start cutting and sewing. I hope I can find the same fabric again - or a likely compliment.

I hope I get time to make a new purse, too. My old one is thrashed and filthy and I've been lying awake thinking about those gorgeous paisley velveteens in the middle of the night.

Ug. I'm shutting down Goblins' Market for a couple of weeks over at Etsy.

Bryan said a few days ago that he is beginning to think of me as the woman who sits at the computer all day, I've not slept a whole night in over a month and a half, I've not gotten any dyeing or sewing or creating or playing with my kids done all summer. I've only walked the dog once. These things are wrong.

I need time to re-balance, re-assess and just generally relax.


. . .

Or was, this morning.

Sometimes I feel like Cassandra, walking about my little kingdom here admonishing everyone that things are out of control and getting dangerous and being completely ineffective at establishing any sort of balance or formulating a plan for damage control. My concerns go unheeded by everyone (including myself) until things go up in flames. In our family's case, going up in flames means that mom has a major hormonal/insomniac meltdown and poor Bryan has to pick up the pieces.

He has gotten quite good at that in the course of 18 years and we've almost erradicated these temporary tragedies completely. They do still sneak up on us and sometimes, they are even good for both of us, in a slash and burn sort of way. But if you have never been an estrogen dominant, insomniac woman who is hard wired and well trained in the art of extreme anxiety, you have no idea how terrifying and painful those little apocalypses are. The fact that I am still alive today is a testament to both Bryan's skill at soothing crazy people and my stubborn determination to stick it out in this life.

This morning's episode was definitely a result of losing lots of sleep over Maxx's asthma issues since late June (and probably some post-traumatic fall out from the ER visit) added to the stress of the housing situation, added to the stress of running a small business, added to the stress of not having enough Studio space or time (I thought I would have Running Water by now!) added to the stress that a Branch President's family is just always under, added to a lack of exercise, added to sadness that one of our favorite familes is moving away, added to the disappointment that summer is about half over and we just really aren't having any fun. Or at least, I'm not. (Big sigh.)

But now the field is burned, the sun is shining, I've got some new endorphins runnning in my blood from my early morning snot and tears treatment and I don't feel so angry and hopeless anymore. Life is just a whole lot bigger than me. I've got to expect to get flattened sometimes.

Here's a poem that I started over 4 years ago. It is loosely addressed to one of the women who trained me so well in the art of extreme anxiety - my maternal grandmother who, in spite of experiencing more misery in her life than I believe I could withstand, kicked back at death for over 13 years in a nursing home. It lacked a title until this morning

Troy is Burning
Virginia Burnett

The woman behind the counter looked at your photograph,
back at me.
"Is this you?" she asked.

Now my hand moves hopelessly against my forehead.
This curve under my palm is the same
as that which once held your smile.
These are connections deeper than blood
in the lines of our hands and the brown of our eyes,
the spaces between our synapses
and the delicate coil of our DNA.

We belong to our daughters
and to their daughters;
generations new and unborn.
I panfully, gracelessly keep this writhing darkness
safely sealed within my veins;
How is it that I may rip this web & mar this pattern,
when you, for so long, labored to keep it whole?







. . . .

I wish I had a serger and time to sew all of the great fabrics that Fabric.com keeps offering up for Deal of the Day.

I really have to refuse to buy anymore until I actually find time to sew.