Exciting News!

First things first - I sewed!  A dress!  But it is not for me.  It was for my sister, so I didn't really get paid for it, technically, though she awesomely circled the smallest Whole Foods parking lot in the world so I could run in and get the really good fish sauce.  The barter system, it works.  Pictures have been taken, but I'm always lazy about transferring them to my computer.  But someday I'll actually post it to show it off.

Second bit of news - my sewing space has been re-arranged and is (mostly) clean and ready to use!  I'm still sorting some stuff, and I've got overly large piles of upcoming project fabrics, and there are a few boxes that desperately need organizing still, BUT it is mostly functional-ish.  Which means I can get back to work after a month of missing mojo and chaotically unusable sewing space.  It also means I might be able to start playing with my new toy, which I bough many months ago but haven't shared on the blog because I had neither the time, energy, nor inclination to do so.  I took her out of the box for a test run, saw that everything worked, and put her back in the box for temporary-tunred-long-term-ish storage.  But upcoming projects may make use of her, so I will probably be showing off happy pictures soon.

Thirdly - I got a new commission, but it is NOT for a skating dress.  It is for... wait for it... a DIRNDL COSTUME!  That is going to make a trip to be worn at Oktoberfest in Germany!  You guys - I'm sending Burda back to the Motherland.  To paraphrase Stephen Colbert - it's like I've been training my whole life for a race I didn't know was coming.  Except the timeframe is really more like only the past 3-4 years, but whatever.  The good news - Burda has TONS of dirndl patterns.

So...

...many...

...dirndls!

The bad news - I skipped out on the September 2011 issue, which has the best selection of more traditional looking dirndls in recent memory.  In fact, I skipped out on it because of the dirndl pattern.  Sewing karma coming to bite me in the butt much?  I feel like whenever I mock a Burda pattern somehow it ends up being way more awesome than I expected six months down the road.  At this rate I'm going to be living in harem pants, rompers, and sack dresses by the time I'm 30.

I'm going to dress like a space waitress aren't I?

Anyway, back to the problem at hand, namely, that I don't have the awesomeness that is the 2011 dirndl selection (and, yes, I know, I could just download it from the BurdaStyle website, but, ugh, downloaded patterns.  Tracing doesn't bother me a bit - I find it oddly cathartic - but printing and taping all those pages?  Ick.)  Luckily, I am in possession of the 2006 issue, which has some awesome selections.  (And, unlike September 2011, despite the dirndls, September 2006 is one of my favorite Burda issues, ever.)

Not to mention the skirt and apron mash up we got in the recent September 2014 issue:

Of course, none of these seem quite right to me, so I may have to break down and buy some of the envelope patterns...

So, anyway, suffice it to say, I've got dirndls on the brain.  And, since I am a self-proclaimed Burda fan-girl, this was a sewing opportunity I was just too excited to pass up.  Also, being a Burda fan-girl, I am heavily considering waving my self-imposed rule of not posting commissioned projects to the blog.  Especially since this isn't a skating competition dress, which people can be... rather funny... about "revealing to their competitors" before the appropriate time.  Something to ponder while the project takes shape.  In the meantime, I'm going to look at some inspiration...

Anyway, the mojo is finally starting to come back!  Hopefully this means I will be posting soon with finished projects, room organization, or Project Dirndl updates!