The Light At The End Of The Tunnel...

The musical is finished! Honestly, I'm very happy about it. I'm not even in the show and I've been putting in more hours in the last two weeks than the cast! As with any large group of people, there's bound to be some drama, and in the theater, that drama is so much more intense than it is in real life. I'm not going to get into it, but let's just say that the stress of it all has been driving me insane.

I wasn't able to get a picture of the girls in my costumes, so you'll just have to take my word for it that they looked really good on stage. We ended up having issues with the velcro (I couldn't find sew-on velcro at JoAnn's so I used industrial strength velcro with adhesive on the back. With the quick costume changes, the humidity in the room, and the slight fuzz on the fabric, it just did not want to stay on, so the girls ended up being pinned into their vests every night).

I did do some sewing, but it's not really something for my line. Since I was backstage during the musical, I needed to be dressed in all black. I've been wanting to make a jumpsuit for a while, and I had enough black knit left to do so, so I decided to make one that I could wear backstage.

I really wanted to use Canadian (or Lattice) Smocking, because I love the way it looks when it's finished. I think it looks great, and it definitely gives some shape at the waist. The crotch is about 2 inches too low, which makes me feel very disproportionate, and I wish the smocking pulled in more at the back, but other than that I'm really proud of my first jumpsuit pattern. It's a little difficult getting used to wearing a jumpsuit (when you sit down, the entire garment shifts backwards, which is a bit weird), but I love how easy it is, and the fabric is so comfortable! I got several compliments on it during the show!

In other news, I had a lovely visit from my grandparents and their friend Joan, who has so kindly allowed me to use her serger for the duration of the summer (which is only about three more weeks!). She taught me how to use it, and then I showed them some of the things that I've made before as well as what I've been working on so far for my line. I'm not going to lie; my 6 garments seemed pretty weak. I would have felt better if I had at least one pair of pants made, but I don't. I feel like I'm really far behind.

My grandparents also brought me some fabric which my Great Uncle Clair had gotten for me. One is what seems like an entire bolt of cotton fabric with dark pink roses on a black background. I like this fabric, but I'm still not sure what I'll ever do with so many yards of it... The other fabric is some type of baby pink flannel with what looks like 80s style Louisiana jazz musicians and dancers on it. It's very odd fabric. I'm slightly concerned that this particular fabric reminds Clair of me, but I'm not about to turn fabric away. I can definitely make a pair of pajama pants out of it, if not more. I'll save that for later.

And now for the bad news... Jerry, my sturdy Singer machine has sadly died. I got the call earlier this week from the shop and they said that one of the hooks inside the machine needed to be replaced so that the timing of the machine could be set properly, but the machine is so old that the parts for it aren't made anymore. So, now I'm searching for a machine to replace it.