Hi there, friends!  Please pardon my absence– things have been a bit hairy around here lately between my hectic schedule, family stuff, and the sweltering heat that’s currently roasting NYC like a rotisserie chicken.  So it was nice to get back to some sewing this weekend.  It’s kind of funny, but sewing kind of allows me to change gears and clear my head if I’m in the middle of temporarily icky circumstances. How about for you guys?

But let’s get down to brass tacks here– Gertie Gretchen!  Today was my first intermediate class at The Sewing Studio with her, and I was feeling a bit discouraged going into the class after a frustrating bout of sewing.  I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around all the details of the muslin I was preparing for the class, and I didn’t really have enough time budgeted to complete it easily, so I was up until 1:30 last night working on it, which of course only leads to stupid mistakes.  Sewing at home was particularly unpleasant this weekend– on top of my usual method of working hunched over a rickety card table, because of the heat, myself, Man Friend, and a houseguest of the pug variety were all crammed into our one quasi-air-conditioned room together where the temperature hovered around 90 degrees with the AC on full blast!  So I wasn’t exactly in the best state of mind going into the class, but I did a 180 the minute I stepped into the classroom!  Gretchen is as cool and amazing as you would imagine, and my fellow classmates were just as kind and fun.   Also, the workspace is super nice (REAL air conditioning!  Huge work tables positioned so you don’t have to bend over to cut things out!  Natural light!), and I’m definitely looking forward to class next week!  It was truly enjoyable to work on a project in the company of others, especially someone who’s work I’ve admired from afar in the blogosphere.  We worked out the fitting kinks in my muslin, which didn’t turn out to be too serious, and I’ll cut out all my fashion fabric and interfacing tonight so we can dive right into facings and bound buttonholes next week (eek)!  I’m really feeling reenergized about the project and even more excited about sewing in general.

Also on the Gertie front, I’ve been slowly watching the video tutorials for the bombshell class, and dude– they are, as the kids say, sick!  I feel like I’m really learning a lot.  How about you guys?  Anybody else started watching the videos (or working on the dress)?  I’m really looking forward to seeing finished versions of the dress.

Ooh, I picked out some fabric for the Lonsdale dress this week, but now I’m having second thoughts!  I was in the middle of a feverish trip to the fabric store with a long shopping list and a tiny window of time when I spotted this pretty cotton sateen.  I snapped it up and ran out of the store before I realized that cotton sateen might be too slippery for a dress that ties in the back.  I also had originally pictured the dress in something lighter and floatier (seersucker?) than this, but I just couldn’t seem to find what I was looking for.  What do you think?  I’m on the fence.  I could always hang onto the cotton sateen and make a nice sheath dress from it (ooh, maybe a dressy-looking Passport dress?  Or a silky-smooth version of McCall’s 5995… hmm… ).  I love the color, but I’m just not sure how suitable it is for the Lonsdale dress.  Sigh.

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How’s everything in your worlds?  Everyone else have their fabric picked out for the Lonsdale sewalong?  How are your summers going?  Hope everyone is staying cool out there!