New Stuff to Check Out

Yesterday was a busy day on the 'net...

The biggest news is the creation of a new sewing forum, SWRefuge. It's really not meant to replace anything, but, as the name suggests, provide an alternative cyber meeting space should anything happen to Ye Olde Sewing World, which has been showing some signs of instability. I apparently joined Sewing World just after the last major crash, so I'm not familiar with the symptoms but I can take it from the ladies who have been posting to SW for many years that it's getting shaky and may crash soon. Apparently, the crash comes and the SW administrators work the site over to get it all fixed, but that can take a while and, for those of us who need our daily SW fix, the SW Refuge site (they are soliciting suggestions for a less derivative name) will be there should the Crash come.

I think it's great that three ladies from SW have put their heads together to do this collectively, and the lady who posts as 'Dragonlady' deserves a big shout-out for using her computer expertise to set it all up. Liana and Kathryn ('fxdoc') also worked on this and are now encouraging everyone to register so that we will have a backup site for sewing discussion. And who knows...this may just become another FVF (Frequently Visited Forum) for all of us; can there be too many places to talk about sewing?

Next up on the New Stuff list: a whole new pattern collection from Hot Patterns called Classix Nouveau. These are some not-so-fashion-dependent garments that will be really popular, I think. There are two or three patterns there that I like, but to be honest I think I've already got patterns in the stash that are pretty similar. But the CN chatter may motivate me to pull them out and give them a go! ;) I've still got a short list of about 7 patterns that I want to get from HP...just haven't done it yet. Gotta get the 'Must be sewn soon!' list cranked through the manufacturing process first.

Finally, I happened to check the Sewing Workshop site yesterday and discovered that there's a new pattern up there, the Ikina Jacket and Pant. The pants don't do much for me...wide legged cropped length just won't help my already height challenged silhouette, but I do like the jacket. There's some good photos of Ikina Jackets in the Sewing Workshop Gallery...have a look.

At the moment, I'm still planning to take the kids to see Grandma and Grandaddy tomorrow, so I may or may not get to post the rest of the week. I haven't checked the weather since last night, though, and it looked like that nasty weather system was moving pretty slow. I don't know if it will be cleared out in time for me to drive up tomorrow or not. At least the sun is shining here at the moment! Yesterday was a mean windy, rainy March day...