Excuses for buying fabrics

I'm rather excited at this point. I've made the decision to join the Artisan's Square 2012 SWAP. It is something that totally fits in with my wardrobe concepts that I've culled into a tolerable and doable idea with the help of Nancy Nix Rice's newsletters.

The 2012 SWAP is to make a wardrobe using TNT patterns that you will use over and over again for wardrobe staples, being sure that you are very conscious of fitting your current body. Right up my alley. The idea is you make 11 garments that work together, four may be repeated garments from the same pattern, or one garment each from two different patterns.

I'll be doing 2 blouses, 2 tee shirts, at least one of them the cowl neck I want to perfect, 1 overshirt, 1 pair of jeans, 2 slacks, 2 jackets, and one other garment that I haven't decided on yet. Two garments can be made before the official start date of December 26, and the finish date is April 30. I may make either a button down shirt, or a vest, or a skirt depending on what happens towards the end. I may not finish if work gets too crazy, but having the plan in play will help immensely with the planning and goal setting.

At this point I need to go through all my fabrics and pick out what's going to get made, but I have been doing a small amount of shopping for fabrics...LOL Have several new pieces here that will get entered into the "pick me" for the SWAP. And I've purchased a few more fabrics keeping in mind my SWAP colors. I should have a very extensive wardrobe with relatively few garments that interact when I finish this up.

I need to go through my boxes of fabrics that haven't been cataloged yet and get them into the binder so I can quickly and easily find what I want. You can also get the muslins made and the SWAP garments cut out and fused before start day, so that's on the schedule along with everything else.

My move is becoming more permanent. One of my clients is still sending me Sonoma County appraisals, but the others are now sending me Solano County appraisals. I didn't realize until it stopped just how much driving I was actually doing. Santa Rosa, although only 55 miles, takes between 1 1/2 and 2 hours. Petaluma is a good 1 hour. I did one in Suisun City last week that took 10 minutes to get there. Much better. By the time this gets settled, I'll have more time for my sewing obsession!

Off to finish my teal green jacket and get started on the first "muslin" of a sweater that will be used frequently around here in the winter!