Cleaning.

I cleaned out my sewing stash/corner. I took before and after pics, but I'm too embarrassed to post them -- no one can know I'm creatively messy! -- so you'll just have to imagine the piles of yardage and spools everywhere and pins, pins, pins.

Did you know I've drafted around a dozen patterns since this time last year? Dresses, pants, sleeves, shirts -- all sorts of things. If I hadn't been folding them into marked 9x12 manilla envelopes, I wouldn't have believed it myself.

I threw out that sottana I started. For one thing, I never really liked the fabric. For another, one of the small side gores was upside down because of the way I had to cut it to conserve fabric, so it looked odd. Just grabbed the whole mess and stuffed it into the trash. I didn't even stop to try to think of something else I could do with the fabric -- it had only cost $4 to begin with -- and it felt so good, you guys. Whew! One less half-done project dragging at my brain.

All my spools are on the rack that I got at Joann Fabrics -- all 60 of them. How can I have so many colors and shades, and yet not have anything to match the fabric I'm working on when I go look? Oh well, thread's pretty inexpensive too, for the most part.

I have yards and yards of pretty jacquard ribbon, in all kinds of colors. I love the pretty flowers and patterns, but somehow whenever I think I'll use some of it in a project, I end up deciding it looks fussy and wrong and I throw it back in the drawer. One of these days I'll put some on the cuffs of something, honest!

Imogene, my dress dummy, is wearing a purple coat, a tan hooded capelet, and a green velvet top hat. She has such a sense of style ... and humor.

Anyway, this post goes to show that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. The holiday season is going to be keeping my busy with projects and clients, but I'll do my best to scribble an update here whenever I can. Until next time, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!