I did it. I finally sewed something and it’s way outside of my usual style.
Not long ago, on this very blog, I declared a hatred of ruffles, and here I am covered in them. There are more ruffled garments planned too. I guess I’ve changed my mind.
I can’t say that this garment has been a huge hit with my partner – “you look like you’re wearing a Victorian nightgown,” . . . “there’s no amount of swishing that’ll make that look good,” and “are you wearing that nightgown outside?” have all been uttered by his usually supportive mouth. Oh well – I’m here for this lewk.
It’s been two months, five days, three hours, and 12 minutes since I’ve sewn anything. Okay, I have no idea exactly how long it’s been, but it’s definitely been over two months, and I’m going insane.
The last logbook page I posted on Instagram. I managed to squeeze a trip home to Michigan in between school ending and moving. More pages past this date exist, they just weren’t documented. I tried my hardest to keep this up during the move, but one missed day turned into a week, and then all of a sudden I was over two months behind. Planning to dive back in soon.
Aside from putting all of my creative practices on hold, the move to Portland has been really good for my soul; I love our new house and neighborhood, I love not working at a K-8 school (working in an office is AMAZING), I love my 11 minute commute to work (18 minutes by bike), and I know I’m going to get a lot of shit for saying this, but I love that it’s not constantly sunny here.
Move in day.
Same room, now livable.
Anyway, I know this space is primarily meant to be about sewing and making, but it’s my blog and there ain’t gunna be any of those things without some house updates first. So why not share what’s happening?
Current sewing space situation. So DARK.
The entire second floor of our house is mine, and I’m so excited to transform it into a bright, beautiful, and functional workspace. As you can see, it’s currently dark and gross, but the bones, the bones are GOOD.
Not drawn to scale.
It’s a pretty big space. I’m planning to have a sewing zone and a computer / other art zone with storage in between. I think once it’s all done, it’s going to be pretty amazing. Now to just find some patience while all the work happens.
The plans:
update the electrical (currently everything is two-prong / un-grounded)
add lighting and two ceiling fans
install duct work and remove ugly wall heaters
drywall over the OSB and paint white
install hardwood flooring
remove carpet on stairs, refinish
paint built-in bookcase white and add countertop
remove weird 70s glass partition and install another bookshelf or pony wall
update closet (paint white and install closet system)
create a ton of storage in knee wall
So far we’ve done the duct work and the closet, and the electrical work is starting this week!
This is the closet before. It was painted a dingy yellow and had stupid clothing rails. The long one was supported in the middle with a piece of cord tied to a screw in the ceiling. Removing them was an irritating challenge. The support system (first pic, right side) had about an inch of wood filler covering all the screw heads meaning I had to dig all 6 of them out to remove the dumb thing. I also discovered that the rails were punched into the drywall for additional support. Drywall patches are amazing!
Ah, what a difference paint makes. Once I had the white box, I spent a small fortune on a closet system for my clothing and a garment rack to store all of my paper patterns.
I’m really pleased with the pattern rack. It was something I told myself I could have once we moved. Prior to this, all of the patterns hung on hooks and it was really hard to find what I needed. Now they’re organized by garment type and it makes me want to get back in to sewing IMMEDIATELY.
