Sunday, January 16, 2011

New Years Resolution

So, a little belated, but my intention is to actually blog occasionally. My goal will be to post at least every Sunday. We will see if this actually goes into practice.

On the plus side, I have a new computer that may aid me in this endeavor. I have a lovely Toshiba laptop that was a part Christmas gift from my Dad, and part investment on my part.

To get said computer, for the first time I braved the shopping malls on Black Friday. It was terribly and mentally scarring. Thank goodness for my lovely mother who ferried us around to two computer shops and then back to the first one when I decided they had a better deal.

Now this being said, let me tell you never to buy a computer from Office Max. I ended up buying one there because it was the end of the day and I had found a computer, but their business practices seem to be perfectly abysmal. Lets just say that if they had not had this lap top in stock I would have given up on the whole thing and gone computerless for another couple of months.

In other news, 12 Night Adiantum has come and gone another year. I had a lovely time, but did not get my outfit completed in time. As a consequence, I wore my underdress for a good portion of the event without the overdress. Here is a lovely picture of the 6 (bloody!) hour court. During which I bullied several friends into beating my fingerloop braiding for me.


For a 12th Night dress, my plan was a linen underdress in green silk (the one I am wearing in the picture) with a light salmon overdress in silk (a herringbone twill) lined in linen. Alas, despite staying up late the week before, and much frantic sewing, I failed to complete said dress. At one point I tried putting on the dress (ignoring the lack of buttons and safety pinned hem) and sewing myself into it. At the point where the thread I was using broke, I gave up and decided it will be finished for the next event I go to.

Part of my lack of finishing has to do with now being the Arts and Sciences Minister for our local group, Adiantum. As such I am getting less sewing done than I used to. I fully expected this when I took over the position in June, but I failed to compensate by starting my 12th Night gown early this year. The other stumbling block was my fabric. I couldn't bear to cut it. I may have purchased it for $3 a yard, but I know what fabric like this is worth ($15-$20 a yard probably). And I only had a little over 3 yards. Based on the schematics I drew, this was barely enough for my dress without resorting to piecing. And I was terribly worried that it would fray horribly as soon as I cut into it. Needless to say, I procrastinated.

So here I am at 12th Night, sewing the dress I wanted to wear: