What now?

I was busy for a while.  I spent most of my energy for a good part of the last two years helping run someone else's business.  No regrets - I gained a lot of experience and knowledge there - but it meant that while I was creating content for their social media, and garments for shows, and doing other business-y stuff on their behalf, I didn't do much for myself.  Such is the cost of engagement in a project.

Lastwear was worthwhile.  I really did learn and grow there.  I was burnt out by the end, but I'm still sorry to see it go.  I wish my friends there the best in their next endeavors.

That said - I have time to do my own work again.  Including blogging about what goes on in my sewing room.  And I have some ideas about what I want to do next.

Up immediately, I am going to make a second pair of the Laughing Moon California pants.  They went together nicely and I can always use trousers.  I am going to make a new toile, and then I will sew them up in grey Oxford-stripe wool.  Minus the jodhpur mod, and I will very likely modify the pattern to a zipper fly instead of the elaborate vintage button fly the pattern includes.

I've got some Craftsy classes that I bought and would like to complete.  I will offer a review of the classes here when I'm finished with them, but not cover them too deeply - it's not my intent to give spoilers, if you like the results I got, I hope you'd consider enrolling yourself.  In fact, I've gone through a few of the free mini-classes available in the sewing category already and will post about them between other projects.

I bought a new subscription to Threads magazine.  It's bimonthly, and I'd like to try to do a project out of each issue.  I won't get busted up over it if I don't accomplish that.

I've also put together a new sewing notebook - yes, above and beyond this little rag - but talking about it is worth its own post.

It's also my intent to do at least one historical piece before the end of the calendar year. I am still in the research stage, but I can tell you this - it will be late bustle. And I will probably use that delicious purple bouclé that's been hanging out in my stash for the last fifteen years. Also, to accomplish that, I will need to build underpinnings first.
I am not, and have never claimed to be, a corset maker.  But I am indeed going to make at least one.  I ordered the Laughing Moon pattern (and their video, which I will tell you now isn't worth the dollars) since I already owned Linda Sparks' The Basics of Corset Building: A Handbook for Beginners.  I was also already a member of a corset-making group on Facebook.  Since then, I've seen a number of people suggest that the Truly Victorian corset pattern is easier to fit, and there are good enough drafting instructions that I'm sure I can do better than the not that great grade I did of Simplicity 2890 in 2010.  It's my intent to go ahead and use the Silverado  pattern (the LM corset with bust gores) for a mockup - AND I'll try my hand at drafting one.  And then I'll make whichever I like better.  And I'm pretty comfortable with the LM pattern's included drawers and chemise.

This will be followed by an epic cosplay undertaking.  A while ago, my friend Rowan and I came up with a terrible idea - an armored bustle gown.  I would like to make that real.  The timeline for that is long, since I will need to do a ton of R&D to build the dress and armor.  It's my intent to work with thermoplastic for that, which I've never done before.

There will be other, less ambitious projects in the midst of all of that.  And there will be sewing groups and classes and adventures.

So glad I'm not so busy any more....