Once upon a time, there was a jumpsuit sitting on my sewing table. It belonged to my little brother, who asked me to cut and apply a heat transfer vinyl design to the garment. The jumpsuit had been in my possession for nearly two months (he disagrees with that timeline). This was not a commission–my brother is a costumer in his own right, and we often do costume pieces for one another. I just happen to have a craft cutting machine, and this job should have only taken an hour. I fear that this quick, non-project may have been an indicator of what is to come in 2020, so I’m taking steps to get better.
Holidays are hard, y’all, especially when you don’t get time off from the 9-to-5. The days get shorter and my will to create, all alone in the cold studio, late at night very nearly freezes in its tracks. In an effort to feel somewhat accomplished, I finished the little frog reticule from the AD 18th Century Guide to Dressmaking. I’ve already put 1790s Princess Tiana on my list, so I look forward to stumbling across the necessary fabrics sooner rather than later. I also made a cute little organza apron that has no defined purpose. My hand stitching game is on. My photography game is also getting better, as I freed up a couple of hours to get pics of Georgian Storm with a head-wrap. All of my original photos were from the con floor, and the wig needs a big rework. The mini photoshoot on an unseasonably nice day made me extremely happy.
I had a good long talk with myself about doing projects in the eleventh hour, so for NYE, I adjusted the neckline on Blink’s dress, added a modern slip, and called myself ready to party. Other Me would have torn apart the fabric hoard looking for the “perfect” dress materials, stitched it together the day of, making us late for the celebration, then tossed the garment in the mock-up pile after laundering. I’d like to think that I’ve grown in a month.
During the Royal Vintage Boxing Day sale, I snagged a pair of Gatsby T-straps in red and white. I bought them because they’re cute. I have absolutely no where to wear them. There hasn’t been THAT much growth.
I’ve made some changes to my original Orko construction and completed the majority of the sewing. You can check out updates from that build here. The accessories and props are in progress, but this weekend, I moved all of that to the side to work on the aforementioned jumpsuit and a newly rushed commission.
This is a good place to restate that I don’t take commissions. I have a job. This is not it. A couple of times a year, friends may ask favors, but my acceptance is contingent upon my “free” time and their wallets. [Note: My time is not free.] If my stance on commission work changes, you all will be the first to know. [Note: “Commission” does not include items that I nearly begged friends to let me make, then never got around to making. I swear you’re still on my list, T.]
Oh! Progress has been made in the studio move! In order to work on Orko’s foam bits, I cleared the basement table, moved a shelving unit downstairs, and added some additional storage bins to the wall. Upstairs in the sewing area, I now have an obscenely large pile of fabric that needs to be resorted and put away. I moved my boxed commercial patterns out in order to make room for my favorite stash pieces on the built-in shelves. Now I’m struggling to find freestanding storage for the rest of the hoard. For the time being, I’ll pick up new bins to stack along the upstairs wall. Of course, if I had more time to make things, I might not need so much storage space….
In other news, some members of the Masters of the Universe group (#motu2020crew) are participating in a fitness challenge/accountability group. My personal goals are to cut out office snacking, to control my consumption of the free food, and to step up my daily workouts, moving out of the maintenance zone and into some place a little more productive. This version of Orko won’t be swole, but the silhouette might be a little more defined.
With regard to productivity, my weekly D&D session doubles as hand sewing time, much to my DM’s consternation. We play late at night via Roll20, so the stitching keeps me awake. He should be happy about that. The next item on the list is either 18th century mitts or Hawkgirl’s pouch or a medieval hood or a medieval pouch or, or, or….
And for my parting shot, I have yet to pick my Day One and Day Three costumes for The Great Philadelphia Comic Con (GASP). Obviously, I’ll need a mash-up, and there’s a chance that Georgian Princess Allura can be completed in time. I still have the other half of my Imperial Mirror Burham to work on, but motivation to figure out that chest armor is low. I would love to take 16th century Hawkgirl, but the purchase price of the velvet is going to require some soul searching (and possibly some kidney selling). In a sort of plot twist, I’m tempted to go mainstream for a day, but the chances of that really happening are not high. I’m putting Livewire and Artemisia on the standby list. The GPCC team is still making guest announcements, so I have until Orko is completed to decide.
In the startling conclusion of “The Jumpsuit”, I bade my younger brother to visit this weekend and cheer me on to finish his “costume” (we both know he’s going to wear it around the house). He showed, as requested, and walked away with an Iron Heights Penitentiary resident uniform. I now have a table full of commission fabric to transform, and we will all live happily ever after.
Until next time.
Green Linen Shirt 