Happy New Year, everyone! It is with great joy that I share my final project of 2013, completed just in time to wear for the New Year’s Eve soiree chez Wittzler. I was really dubious about finishing this project in December, but with the exception of a belt loop (more on that later), I did it! As the culmination of all my learnings as a seamstress this past year, I decided to tackle the most complicated clothes project I’ve tackled yet–a pair of fitted pants. I hoped to complete them in time to have something special to wear for New Year’s, but when it came to be December 22nd, and I was only just cutting out the material, I wasn’t so certain that I’d finish them in 2013.
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Sewing Sunday: November Edition – Wacom Tablet Case
Last month I got a new gadget that I am extremely excited about. I’m not a huge gadget person, but this one has already paid for itself in terms of increased productivity. What is this amazing new gadget, you ask? It is none other than a Wacom tablet, the savior of illustrators and designers everywhere! Essentially, it’s a drawing surface that allows you to draw directly on your computer screen. It’s pressure sensitive, and you can draw just like you’re drawing in your sketchbook. It effectively cuts out the process of having to scan and illustration into the computer and clean it up for use in design projects. It’s an amazing timesaver, and I can’t believe that I didn’t invest in one sooner in my design career. I’m not really exaggerating when I say that it has changed my life as an illustrator.
Here it is–the new love of my life (sorry, Ben). She’s pretty, right?
Okay, enough raving.
When I bought the Wacom tablet, it didn’t come with any sort of a protective case. I expect that I might want to take it with me on occasion when I’m working remotely, in addition to the fact that it should probably be protected when stored at home, so I decided that I’d make a fabric case for it this month. Plus, I didn’t have a whole lot of extra time this month to sew due to the fact that I had a draft of a big report due just before Thanksgiving, along with obligations related to Greenbuild, the U.S. Green Building Council’s annual conference, for which I was on the host committee here in Philadelphia. (You might remember that I was involved in building the Legacy Project for the conference, which I wrote about a couple months ago on this very blog.) Oh yeah, and somewhere in there, I was working on a cover story about electric cars for a forthcoming issue of Grid Magazine. You get the point–it was a busy month with little time for sewing.
Sewing Sunday: October Edition – Old Coat, New Lining
I have a confession to make. I didn’t technically finish October’s project in October. I say “technically” because I actually finished at about 12:46 a.m. on November 1st. My mom has a long-standing rule that it’s not really “tomorrow” until you go to sleep and wake up again, so I’m still counting this as October’s project. Plus, I actually started it on a Sunday in October, so I figure that counts for something, right?
In my defense (and I’m not entirely sure why I feel the need to defend myself to you, dear reader, but I do), October was an insanely busy month with a last-minute trip to Asheville, NC, thrown in there for good measure. You know, just your normal 1258 mile, 34 hour road trip to buy a harp. Also, some sort of lapse in judgement led me to agree to premiere a new piece for harp, soprano and baritone in the midst of the other craziness. Don’t get me wrong–the piece was lovely, and I love to play new works for harp–but it really could’ve used a few more weeks for practice/rehearsal, and I probably didn’t need the extra stress this month. I think I need to relearn how to say the word, no.