The Couture Dress

I signed up for my first craftsy course - The Couture Dress by Susan Khalje. I've been watching the videos the past couple of days and am LOVING them. It's been really good watching her do the whole process and talking me through the different steps and why. It's been fantastic. The most exciting part for me is that after she talked me through cutting and marking pattern pieces, I GET it! I always get scared of this step, but now, if I mark my stitching lines, then cutting isn't scary at all! It was also really helpful to see how she matched up the grain lines and measured the grains to make sure that the pieces are straight. Another process that I'm no longer scared about!

Now to wish for a day with nothing on so that I can get back into my pattern work and modifications for my Cambie dress! Oh, and finish that second Renfrew top too!

In other news, I'm developing a series of posts on a different sewing topic. I've been a passionate embroiderer for the last 15-20 years or so, and am going to cover a few different types of embroidery and some other topics. Is there anything that you'd like me to cover? So far the topics that I plan to talk about are:

• Some amazing textile and embroidery artists
• Different types of embroidery
• Tools of the trade
• Different types of embroidery stitches

Anything else?

I'm not dead...I feel happy!

So it's been a kind of crazy month, and although I've had a few posts in draft form for weeks now, there's a couple of things missing for each before I can post them, so instead you've had radio silence. Sigh. I have actually been making progress though - but there have been mitigating circumstances delaying things...and no - unlike most sewing bloggers these days, it's not because I'm pregnant!

Though I DO have a new little baby in the house:

This little fellow arrived last Friday. He's definitely one of the reasons I got no sewing done this weekend! Other disasters including: all the lights in the house completely breaking, so I had no light to sew with, and insane amounts of paperwork to do for the restaurant.

I've done some sewing in fits and starts, though, with one Renfrew completed, and another halfway there. I've also been working on a muslin of my Cambie - though I haven't done anything with that for a little while, and just need to tweak the darts before I'm good to go with it.

So I'm getting there.

I missed Social Sewing this weekend, though, which was really sad. I was babysitting my cousins and by the time they left and I got my gear together, I'd missed the bus. Then I had the WORST CAB DRIVER EVER, who tried to drive me 5 blocks out of my way before driving the right direction, and got mad when I told him that I refused to pay the $7 of mine that he'd wasted by driving the wrong direction and not listening when I told him to turn around. I ended getting out at a traffic light, refusing to pay and storming off. There were no other cabs around, and I really couldn't face having to call up and potentially getting the same guy again... Not to mention that it was nearly 2.30pm at that stage, so by the time that I got there it would be just about time to come home again! I must admit, that having the little fellow at home might have helped cement this decision, too.

Plan for this week is to spend a good chunk of time with my sewing machine and kitten and to finish the Renfrew and the bodice muslin of my Cambie.

Here we go!