All work, no sew

I've been very busy at work and thus have been too worn out to sew very much in the evenings - or even on the weekend! But there has been some sewing progress since my last post. I finished this purse - view A using the citrus print from my skirt and contrasting orange fabric. It was tedious! I'm preparing a review of it for patternreview so I'm not going to go into all of the details here - too much writing! The purse came out quite well, I think. I'll try to finish up the review and get a picture posted soon.

My dress form is still wearing the citrus print skirt because I have nothing to wear with it. Of course I have fabric and patterns to make tops, but I just haven't made any yet. I broke down and ordered an orange top and orange sandals from the Eddie Bauer on-line outlet store so that I can at least wear this outfit while it's still summer. I'll be very orangey!

I did cut out a muslin of a short sleeve top using this New Look pattern. I have plans to make it up in an orange and white striped fabric - tiny stripes, the skirt is quite bold enough, thank you. Having read that the pattern had a lot of ease, I decided to cut a smaller size. Unfortunately there's not enough ease for my hips and waist and I'm not really thrilled with how it fits overall. It fits the dress form better than me, which is not a good sign. I have gained weight. But I knew that. I just didn't want to be confronted with it.

Since Eddie Bauer came to my rescue for at least one top to wear with the citrus skirt, I've decided to take a slight detour from the blouse and work on another Manhattan skirt. I have a black and white floral print that looks rather "toile-ish". It's the same cotton/lycra woven fabric as the citrus print. I bought it at the same store in Mesa. I'm going on a business trip next week to attend a two-day review and I think the black and white skirt would be perfect to wear with a black top and black sandals. I just can't decide whether I want to make the shorter style that I made for the other two skirts, but eliminate the horizontal seams, or make the longer version, which has a vertical seam down the front and a slit in the back instead of the side. Whatever I decide, I need to get moving! Fortunately it's a very easy skirt to make.

Oh yeah. I bought more fabric. My husband bought some shirts from REI that he really liked and he asked me to make some for him. The fabric is the wickaway type and when Wazoodle.com announced a sale on Malden Mills knits, well, you just know I had to check it out. The prices were really good and the fabrics will work well for his shirts or tops for me. 17 yards. Ouch. The good news is that I am restraining from buying more fabric from EOS, despite Linda's recent acquisition of great fabrics - I'm tempted but so far I'm holding firm. I'm wavering a bit on fabric.com. They've offered me a discount since I'm in their group of frequent buyers. They have some silk that I'm considering but I'm going to try to stand firm with them too. I have to remind myself that although the silk would make a lovely dress, so will the purple rayon I bought from Stone Mountain and Daughter and the linen I bought from EOS, and the rayon I bought from fabric.com - and those are just the fabrics off the top of my head. I must resist. I must resist.