Now back to ignoring my sewing machine...

So, a new item for the shop every two to three months, huh? Way to go, me!
Siiiiigh...
In May I was hip-deep in custom orders and at the start of June I went back to the theater for the Summer. I had no idea what that would entail, and in the end it took me WAY longer than I had hoped to get this newest dress project done. But tell you something you *don't* know, am I right?
The best laid plans and all of that razzmatazz.
Anyhoo. So, here we go, a new thing! Woo!
This dress was made using a style similar to the combinations/romper that I recently made (if you can call two months ago "recent") but with a tea-length A-line skirt. The top features a little pink cameo brooch that I bought probably close to a year ago and the dress is made from the same lace as the "Charlize" bloomers. I liked the combo of taupe lace and pink so much that I dredged it back up again to kill off this last remnant piece that I had in my stash.
Anyway, it's all very Spring-appropriate even though it took me well in to the Summer to get it done.
I'm just glad I have something done!

The Neverending Project/s

Sometimes a project just sort of bogs down. I usually manage to pick it back up again after a brief pause and power through it, but there have been a few that just sort of... sit around... for a long time. A really long time. Like, years. Seriously. After a couple of years on the shelf I just kind of get annoyed with them and tired of having them in my life. It's often projects that were a lot more expensive and involved than I was hoping.
Take, for example, two projects that I recently finished (for no good reason, I just got an urge to see them done and gone, and I was searching for things to work on that wouldn't require too much thinking).
Example A)
Duchess Grey chemise top in ivory lace and pearls:

This project, according to my receipts, was started two whole years ago. Most of the work was done. I had designed a way to add the pearl chains that would allow for easy cleaning and storage and had them strung and ready to go. The body of the top was done. I just needed to attach the layers at the underarms and then add the straps and bow. I bogged down on this for some reason and it sat it a bag waiting for me, making me feel guilty whenever I ran across it. Especially because the materials involved here were stupidly expensive. I finally got back around to it and finished it up quickly enough that I wonder what the heck took me so long.

Example B)
Black silk dupioni and pheasant feather pillbox hat:

This one sat incomplete for no less than three full years. I wanted to make a pillbox hat for a long time. But, you see, the problem is that millinery supplies are not that easy to come by these days. And I couldn't find anyone (or any references) that could explain the process of hat-making to me. So I had to reinvent the wheel. I designed and built this entire thing from scratch. I got the base and top completely built and covered in the silk dupioni before I bogged down on this one. The lining was half-way attached, as well. All that was left was adding a tiny detail to the lining, stitching it in to the hat, adding loops for bobby pins, attaching the top to the body, and gluing down the feathers. That sounds like a lot of work but it was only a day or two worth of effort, in reality. All the hard stuff was already done.
There are no excuses for how long I let this sit around. I think I just fall out of love with things, and the longer I work on them the less I am interested in them. Also, the more closely involved in them I am the worse and more insurmountable the entire thing seems.

ANYWAY! TA-DA! I finished two things that I thought would never get the heck out of my sewing room! YYAAAAYYYYY ME!