In any case, here’s what I have:

COMPLETED:
-A rose pink wrap dress from Butterick 4790 with corset lacing instead of snaps

-a pink and white polka dot dress with cap sleeves and a peter pan collar from Simplicity 4116

ALMOST COMPLETED
-A shimmery pink baby doll dress from Simplicity 3750 with puff sleeves and a white sash

IN THE PIPELINE
-Black and white polka dot dress with red trim, a la the Pipettes
-Red princess seam jumper

Bad new on my yellow coat. I almost finished it; I even made a buttonhole and sewed on a button, until I realized it was FAR TOO BIG. As in three sizes too big. How did I overshoot by this much? I’m an idiot. But I’m going to remake it.

 I’m also planning on making Valentine’s Day presents for my fiance Patch. He loves the show Ninja Warrior, so I’m making him bright orange flannel pajama pants like his favorite contestant Takeda, who’s known as the Incredible Man with Orange Pants. I’m going to add the Ninja Warrior logo on the hip. I’m also going to get a zipup hoodie and put his Xbox Live name, Rocktimus Prime on the front and on the back put “Autobots, Transform and Rock Out!” I think he’ll like it.

 And strictly for my Etsy shop, I have three new 18″ doll outfits posted, and a polka dot apron coming up soon. Yay!

 Now I just need to catch up…

 I tried to work on projects, really I did. I just didn’t get very far. As in I finished three outstanding projects, and the Great Pattern Upheaval is still in effect. I’m cutting pattern envelopes, taping them to manila folders, and putting the pieces inside, and it’s taking forever. I’m definitely not done.

 I did finish the pink wrap dress, though, so hopefully I can post that up soon. And my charming charming coat is well underway. I was afraid I had made it too small, but actually the back is just a tad roomier than I like, so I’ll have to play with that. I also added pockets.  (I decided I did like them.)

 I’m exhausted. This is not good.

 I am SUCH a procrastinator.

 How do I know?

 I have a box of projects five feet long and three feet deep.

Crazy, yes? Yes. Today, I’m going to try to finish as many of them as possible. But this might come back and bite me in the ass, because I cut out the pieces for a new coat.

 I couldn’t help it! I saw it here and thought it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. It’s adorable. The thing is, I spotted the pattern in the online catalog, and thought “Whew, that thing is ug-lay.” I mean, really, look at it.

It’s not all that great. Really. The short jackets are cute, but the long coat? It’s so blaugh. But I saw gopoundsand’s coat and knew I needed to make it. I’m making it in a soft yellow flannel, with a yellow and white gingham lining that was $1 a yard at Wal*Mart. I wanted four 1″ buttons, but I couldn’t find any that I sufficiently liked, so instead I got six 3/4″ buttons in the shape of little daisies. And I’m definitely making a hood.

 The only thing I might add is pockets. I like pockets. You can never have too many pockets. Will it work? I have no idea. I’m going to try it.

 Needless to say, that’s the kind of thing people notice. I mean, a sewing machine going WHIIIIIIRRRRRRR is a bit attention-getting. Lately, a lot of people have commented that either they’d buy whatever I was making at the time (which is great…) or that they want to learn how to sew. It can be hard, though, to start sewing if you haven’t the faintest idea of what to do and you can’t afford the time or money to take a class or buy a DVD series.

 So now I’m putting together a website designed mostly for college girls, but really for anybody who wants to learn how to sew. Seeing as how it went online only three hours ago, there’s not much on it, but hey, it’s still there.

 material girls

I think it’s pretty snazzy.