Busy busy busy

See that title? That is why nobody has really heard from me much in the last several weeks.  I'm still alive, but as I have mentioned before, right about now we're in the middle of our final push to finish the movie I've been working on for a year and a half now.

The good news is, I haven't shown up to work in pajamas yet, though when I roll out of bed in the morning the temptation is frequently strong.  I mean, I do have some pretty stylin' PJs, but I can do slightly better for work. 

Things that have changed in my wardrobe: not much.  My birkenstocks are my staple shoes, I've acquired one maxi dress that I really love, and today I am wearing the shortest pair of shorts I have owned in years and I don't think it looks terrible.  Of course, my day has mostly involved hanging around home, and now some sewing, so it's not exactly a rigorous day of getting out and doing things.

As for the curtains I mentioned in my last post?  I gave up after the third time I ordered the fabric, it just didn't come.  Sadness swept over the land, folks.  So I got myself a set of 96" burgundy blackout curtains, and one of them came in the mail today. :/  I am not having the best of luck with curtains- three tries and no luck on the fabric I wanted, and now only half my curtain set is mailed out?  I mean, how do you even do that?  Fortunately, the customer support folks at Overstock.com were very helpful, and will be shipping me the other half of my curtains sometime this week.  Also on its way is a slipcover for my comfy, but rather blah couch.  so, in the next week or so, my living room should look a whole lot better!

I've been sewing a lot lately, which is a good thing.  No new costumes yet, though I need to have one of those done by Friday (ha... ahahaha...), but I did try my hand at making real clothes!  It needs a few fixes, but here's my first attempt:

It's based on the Crepe pattern from Colette, which is my new favourite pattern and sewing site.  They have lots of tutorials, tips, and tricks, as well as a few free patterns.  They've got a set of mini bloomers there I have my eye on making when I can catch a breath, and their pattern shop is just full of so many amazing vintage inspired things, I just want them all. 

Next on the sewing docket: a 1920's flapper style dress.  I'm making it to wear to a party at work next week, and I have all the supplies.  I'm patterning it all myself, which is a first (yikes!).  All I have is a sketch on a post-it, my dress form, and a whole bunch of tailor's marking tools.  I'm working on the muslin tonight. which will probably double as the lining.  So far, I have a skirt, which I am so happy actually fit when I put it on.  Breathe one huge sigh of relief there.  Now I just have to do the top, which shouldn't be too hard.  I say this now, before I've started, of course.  But I do have a fair amount of confidence that I can get a workable muslin done tonight, which means I can get my actual silk cut and potentially even sewn tomorrow.  I did my best to keep it simple, but we'll see how that goes.  At least my accessories are done, and I broke down and got a wig because I realized I have waaay too much hair for a 1920's do.

So that's what I'm up to in the world of clothing lately.  I doubt I'll be back in any sort of regular fashion until sometime in October, after this project has finished, but I'll try to be less absent than I have been.

So, curtains.

Friends, I have a problem.  My problem is that my windows are large and sad and bare.

Now, most people would shell out for some store-bought curtains and be done with it.  I could go to Target and solve all my problems.  But unfortunately, I have the kind of mind that says, "dude, you make your own Star Wars costumes in your free time.  You can certainly make your own curtains."

I've been trying to make this happen for a few weeks now.  I mean, I could go to JoAnn's at any time and buy fabric, but they tend to be a little pricey.  And I do live in Los Angeles, home to an amazingsauce fabric district, but they tend to only be open when I'm at work.  I took a day off to explore when my sister came to visit, but I really can't do that otherwise. So I turned to my fabric website of choice, Fashion Fabrics Club. They have a great selection of discounted fabrics, and when it takes 6 yards to make one window, every discount helps.  The only drawback is that apparently they don't keep very good track of what has sold, and if you order near the end of a bolt and are ordering a lot, well, it's a crap shoot as to whether or not you'll get the fabric you wanted.

Right now I'm on my third attempt to order. I've ordered 9 yards of this lovely fabric:

It's a wine cotton gauze.  Rich colour, but nice and lightweight for the summer.  I'm thinking about getting some ribbon to experiment with trim towards the bottom, too.  Probably in blues and greens- my colour inspiration for the common space is my Alice in Wonderland poster:

As you can tell from the picture, I've got a lot of beige to contend with.  The walls are cream, the carpet is a very drab blue, and I've got a large, squishy couch that is super comfy but boooooring.  There's also a blue futon that will be leaving with my roommate when she gets married in October, as well as a coffee table that is probably too large for the space- also leaving with my roommate.

I clearly have my work cut out for me.  But hey, it'll be fun.  If, you know, my curtain fabric ever exists.  Third time's the charm, right?