Choir Wardrobe 10/23/16

Wow!  An actual Choir post on Sunday...lol

I decided to wear the two Vogue 9057 tops together...in the only way that really works for this set.  The tank top has to be on the bottom, because for whatever reason the neckline is higher on it.

Which is kind ok, as that shade of yellow (colors for November are burnt orange, spicy mustard, and/or warm taupe with brown) is not particularly flattering on me, so covering up most of it probably is a good idea anyway.

I love wearing that brown top; the knit (which had been in the stash for something like 5 years, waiting on a great pattern) is sooo yummy.  I have recently purchased some Telio knits from Fabric.com that are similar in weight and drape, although they strike me as being a bit more shiny (that elasticity shine...know what I mean?)  I used this one for a tank/cardi twinset and loved it so much I bought more and it's just been sitting around.  I finally decided it's time to sew it up...and I needed brown...and I had that great Tilton Vogue pattern...so...the yellow fabric was horrid, but the brown is nice and I'll wear this until that asymmetric top screams 'old lady'.  Which I will be by then, so it will still be good.
The scarf is a remnant of a burnout poly that I picked up at Hancock's, may they RIP.  I really don't like wearing poly scarves, because they feel hot and smell funky, but the colors on this are so perfect that I deal with it in October.

I put the two tops together, like, Friday and looked at them hard.  Wished I had brown jeggings to wear with them.

Wouldn't ya know, I had to make a Wal-mart run yesterday, which I do about once every six weeks, and walking through the store on my way to the dairy section from health and beauty, I walked right by a rack with $13 jeggings.  And the brown was right in front in my size.

Now I've officially moved into the 21st century, fashion-wise.  They have back hip pockets, so I've got someplace to stash phone/keys/leadership badge/kleenex, and belt loops so I could run a belt through to clip my pedometer onto.  It's hysterical...I get about 12,000 steps over three services, just because we move back and forth a bit (the 'choir sway') during the worship sessions.  So despite the hokey useless front faux pockets, the jeggings are rather practical...so long as I'm wearing a long enough top.  And that's all I'm going to say there.

The brown suede boots once belonged to The Princess.  She apparently decided they didn't suit her wardrobe at some point about a year and a half ago and gave them to The Flute Player.  But Flute Player has size 8ish feet, and these boots are a size 7 W.  She put them in a bag for donating...and I noticed them, saw the size, which happens to be mine, and discovered they fit me fairly well.

Into my closet they went.

Is that a hand me up?

I can't review those tops just yet; I suspect the neckline issue is my fault.  I need to check the patterns against each other to verify my hypothesis...and maybe make another tank to test my theory.

Because layers are good in winter anyway...right? LOL.

How'd it get to be Thursday already?

November colors: burnt orange, spicy mustard, warm taupe and brown.

I managed to finish the two Marci Tilton/Vogue 9057 tops I'd cut out but it didn't work out like I had planned...

I had a goldish (it will sort of work for spicy mustard) rayon/poly blend knit in the stash for the next time we had to wear that shade of yellow, and I had a lovely heathery brown knit that I'd been saving to make a funky tunic top for ever so long, so I thought I'd do that set w/ the 3/4 length sleeve hem-slanted-right top from the brown and the tank-top-hem-slanted-left from the gold and wear them layered.

Only....

The gold fabric really doesn't have a lot of stretch in it.  The brown has a wonderful liquidy drapey stretch and looks great but the gold...clings to the brown and looks too small over it.  And somehow, despite the fact that I faced the neckline instead of using a band, the tank neckline is higher than the brown top, which looks weird.

So I'm either wearing them with the yellow on the bottom...or separately.

Sunday I went with separately.  The Jalie 2566 Cardigan I'm wearing over the gold...er, spicy mustard... top is actually the same knit from which the yet-unworn brown top is made.   The photographer did not alert me to the fact that the cardi was kinda shifted around...I need to train my camera operators just a little better, I think.

Dark wash skinny jeans under it all; some orangey jewelry to throw in a bit of one of the other colors and it worked for Sunday.  Even though I actually should never wear that shade of yellow...lol...

That 'no-stashing' pledge...

I've been trying to write this post since the first of August and couldn't seem to get it done.  So Imma gonna just do it now.

Last July, I made a pledge not to add anything to the fabric stash until my birthday this year (July 11...a year later).  I'd had to clean out the spare bedroom I use for cutting, which had somehow accumulated all the fabric purchases for the previous three years, in addition to fabrics I'd pulled from the bins with the intention of sewing them up and then never getting to it.  It was a mess.

I did not make a fabric purchase...at all...from July 1, 2015 to Jan 29, 2016.  During that time, I sewed up 16.5 yards.  I started letting myself purchase fabric on the condition that I sewed it up immediately...and, excluding of a couple of pieces, totaling 7 yards that I bought to replace basic fabrics that I sewed (gotta keep those basics stocked, you know), I purchased...and sewed... 29.5 yards of fabric between 1/1/16 and 7/1/16.

That's 46 yards of sewing all by itself, not counting the 'from stash' sewing that I did.

And I almost made it.  Those 4th of July sales caught me, and I added 15.625 yards in the first two weeks of July...most of which has still not been sewn.   I kinda fudged by saying my last purchase was 7/1/15, so I made it the required year.  Sort of.

And there have been sales since then.  You can look at the sidebar and see that my fabric in is now exceeding the fabric out for the calendar year by about ten yards....which isn't TOO bad, considering I bought fabric in anticipation of costuming needs that did not develop...at least, not yet.

When I was a teen, I happened to see a friend's mom's fabric stash and was astonished that anyone would purchase fabric and then not sew it.  Now, with the demise of Hancock's, not to mention most independent fabric stores, it's hard not to buy fabric that sings when I spy it...because who knows if it will be there when I want to sew it?

Which is a kinda crazy way to think.

It was a great discipline for me to make myself sew what I bought.  I think...I hope...I broke the tendency to purchase without sewing.

I don't know that I'll get all the new purchases sewn by Christmas; I've upped my work hours a bit and embarked on an online Master's degree, so my sewing time has dropped again.

But, before I tackle the new purchases,  I think I'm going to see if I can clean up some UFO's. Time to get those off the sidebar.

And I'm going to try not to order any more fabric until I have sewn up what I can (not tackling costuming until I need it...) from the recent purchases.  Or at least get back to parity...lol...

Catching Up Again...

October is already off to a slammin' start....an all-day-not-at-home last Sunday, and a trip to the ol' stompin' grounds and back in between means I didn't get much blogging...or sewing...done.

But fall is in the air; sort of, anyway.  We have at least turned off the AC.  So fall colors are the designation for October:  burnt orange, spicy mustard and/or warm taupe, with brown for the neutral.

Am I ever glad we have brown for a neutral!  I was not sure what I was going to wear before that word came down...lol.  But last week, I pulled out the RTW brown jeans (which should have been cuffed), and a RTW guipere lace tank, worn over a rayon/lycra Jalie 965 tank and under a wool jersey Pamela's Patterns Draped front Cool Cardigan.  Today, I wore the same cardi over a stretch lace Jalie 2566 T with brown linen Stretch and Sew 704 Quick and Easy Pants.

I have cut out a couple of items to hopefully wear this month...an asymmetric top/tank top from one of the Vogue Tilton patterns...too lazy to look up the number now.  Brown top w / sleeves and a 'spicy mustard' tank top.

I don't know what's up with my sewing fortunes...after finishing the miserable silk/rayon burnout topper, I drew a knit that is just, well, kinda gummy to sew.  It was hard to cut, and the serger just sort of chews on it.  It's pretty ugly on the inside.  Not sure it's going to turn out wearable, owing to the gommed up bands on the neckline and the armholes.  Trying to salvage them by making them facings instead of bands...we'll see if I can pull it off.  It may end up all puckery.  Grumble grumble.... I need a nice cooperative fabric to sew! lol...