What to work on next?

Sooooo many projects and so little time. I have my evenings back now that the Olympics are over. I found it fun to watch but got a little obsessed trying to watch everything. The PVR was heavily used these last few weeks - it was filled with Olympics and the daily Sew Much More episodes. I'm currently whittling away at the sewing shows. My husband hooked up my computer to the output of the satellite receiver so I can watch TV in the sewing/computer room. The real benefit is that while he's engrossed in XBox and hogging the TV, I can still watch things we've saved on the PVR. And I can save them to the hard drive too! The quality is not the best, but it works.

Anyway, back to sewing. Or knitting. I was inspired to start this blog after reading knitter blogs. Alas, sewing is not quite as "in" as knitting is these days and knitter blogs far outweigh sewing blogs. But still, it's a neat way to chronicle one's projects and can be a fun outlet for amateur writing. My interest in knitting was renewed when I read about and saw pictures of the wonderful sweaters these knitting bloggers were creating. I bought sock yarn. I bought frou-frou yarn to make scarves. I thought I would multi-task by spending my TV time knitting as well. Hasn't happened.

However, I am sewing and that's a good thing. But whenever I finish a project I get overwhelmed by what to work on next. Should I work on something for this season or next? Should I try something new or use a pattern I've sewn already? Do I start with a pattern and find the fabric (it better be stash fabric) or pick a fabric and find a pattern? Easy or challenging? Or perhaps I should work on the drapes I've been meaning to make or quilts that I've started and not finished?

I decided last night to work on a short sleeve blouse I started. The muslin didn't quite fit so I decided to look more closely into why it doesn't fit. The muslin fits fine in the upper chest and shoulders but is too small across the bust and waist. If I go up a size, it will be too big in the upper chest. This is a common problem for me. I consulted Fast Fit by Sandra Betzina and found that the breast apex on my pattern is about 1 inch too low and 1 inch toward my arm. The instructions for fixing it call for starting with a garment that fits everywhere except the upper chest, which means that I need to cut the bigger size and alter the pattern for my small upper chest. The alteration calls for adjusting the both the bodice and the sleeve patterns. I'm hoping to work on it tonight.