Selfish Sewing Week - The Plan

Today kicks off the start of the Imagine Gnats Selfish Sewing Week!  Now, I know what you're thinking.  You're probably saying to yourself, "But Sarah, you always get excited about this sewing week or that sewing week and then you never get anything sewn!"  Or maybe that's just ME saying it to myself, because I can pretty much guarantee that happens 99.9% of the time around here.

But this time will be different.  This time I have a plan!

See?  An honest to goodness plan.  I even wrote it all out for myself on the handy little printable planner from Rachel at Imagine Gnats.

The only caveat I have to all this planning business is that I don't yet know if I can really sit at the sewing machine.  I've been down for the count since last Monday with horrendous low back/hip pain.  Bad enough that I couldn't actually dress myself and had to rely on the kindness of my five and six year old each morning.  (and all the result of merely bending to tie a garbage bag of all the unheroic and unathletic reasons. BAH)  It is slowly getting better but it's been a long haul this time, possibly the worst I've had in the last ten years.  I got dressed all by myself today including my socks though, which I feel is a huge improvement!! I also didn't want to cry getting in and out of the truck to drive the boys to and from school and I can get in and out of a chair without needing a hoist.

So here we go. As you can see from my plan I've got a busy week scheduled for myself.  First up is a Susie Blouse from Sew Over It.  I love it's sweet simplistic design and could see it working in all sorts of different fabrics.  The fabric I've set aside for it is a feminine little scattered floral on a navy background. I know it's showing black in the photo, but I swear it really is navy.

For Susie

Next up on my schedule is a chambray Straight Stitch Designs Wedgwood Skirt.  I was drawn to both the big pleats and the cute side pockets detail on the pattern.  And although I've been a staunch disapprover of the exposed zip, I've suddenly switched sides and am now smitten with the idea.  Initially I'd ordered a red lace zip for this skirt and I thought red button accents on the pockets, but then I got to thinking that I'd rather have a navy zip and navy buttons, because I'm currently on the hunt for the perfect navy and white polka dot fabric to do another Wedgwood in and I think the red zip and buttons would go so well with that instead of the chambray.  Only problem is I am awaiting a shipment of zips that I bought off of Ebay and they are taking their sweet bloody time in arriving, so I'm not sure I'll be able to actually finish my skirt this week.  Ah, the trials and tribulations.

For Wedgwood

Last on the list is a new Pin Up Girls Shelley bra.  It's my go to pattern and I've got the fit perfected now, so it's a no brainer.  My ivory lace, power net and duoplex as well as findings just arrived from Bra Makers Supply last week ready to be cut out.

For Shelley

Wow. I've got to say that it's all kinds of weird to be talking about my under garments publicly like this.  Sooooo... Anywhooo... moving right along.  Nothing to see here...

Of course throwing a bit of a wrench into my plans was the arrival in today's post of this gorgeous sateen cotton from an eBay purchase a few weeks ago.  I wasn't expecting it until the end of the month and yet here it is already! I'm beyond impressed with both the quality of the fabric and the speed in which it arrived all the way from Bangkok.  (Well damn.  I can't manage to ever even think the word Bangkok without having One Night in Bangkok start playing on continuous loop in my brain. So know that as I'm typing the remainder of this post I'm actually singing along with Murray Head.  Which is ridiculous because I didn't particularly like the song back in '84 when it was released and I don't like it any better now.  It just gets stuck there. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.)

Anyways.

The fabric in question is this:

For Emery???

It's so lovely I wish I'd bought an extra yard of it to make a Sew Over It Betty, but since I didn't (WHY OH WHY????) I think it may become another Emery.  And I may switch up my schedule a bit to include it this week.

What is it with the navy blue kick I'm on this spring?!?  I just realized I've mentioned navy in relation to an astounding four different projects in this post alone.

Anyways, back to the plan.  We shall see how much I can get done on it.  So far in little bits today I've cut out my pattern and a muslin for my Susie.  I've done some basic pattern adjustments, but need to tweak it a bit further I think yet.  I was hoping to sew a few seams this evening, but I think I'll have to pass on it tonight.  Hopefully tomorrow will work out better in terms of actual sewing.

I'll be back sometime in the next week to tell you how Selfish Sewing Week actually goes and if I manage to sew anything at all!  For now though I'm going to say goodnight.  I've taken all my meds for my back now and the pharmacist wasn't kidding when he warned me about the drowsiness from the muscle relaxant.  I'm starting to feel a bit cross-eyed at the moment.  Hasn't put the least bit of a damper on One Night in Bangkok mind you...