Taming the beast

It all started with some slight warping on the neckline - the hem tape I'd used worked well, but didn't lay quite as flat as I'd like, so I decided to put in a filler section in the neckline (more or less where a camisole would go, but built in) to hold that sucker in place.    There was this particular white fabric that I wanted to use, so I dove into the stash... and dove and dove and dove and wadded and swam and paddled about a bit and couldn't find it anywhere.  However, I did find that I have just about everything else, and that I needed to do one of my semi-annual closet organizations.

Chaos - now tamed and under my iron thumb.

Whilst reclaiming my territory, I decided to snip hanging bits, and to get rid of the little bitty pieces that always manage to get folded into the larger sections of extra fabric when I finish a project.  I ended up with two large plastic bags full of snippets, which I intend to use to stuff the dummy, and several inches of space in one of my giant blue fabric bins.    

I also came upon any number of UFOs, which I'm thinking I will pop into their own post later in the week - but one truly mystified me.   In every other case, even if the project had slipped my mind, I still remembered it when I saw it, until I came across one all cut out, still pinned to the pattern pieces.   Its a navy blue lining fabric, and the pattern a regular sundress pattern I've used any number of times, and my best bet is I was planning on making a fitted slip --- but I have no idea why I would have chosen this particular combination.    Its a very full skirt, and the dresses it would match don't need anything.     And the fact that I can't even remember laying it out makes me wonder if I have been sleep sewing - nothing else explains it.

This whole endevour also made me realize just how much fabric I really have.  Thus, I am putting myself back on a fabric-fast, and the goals are the remaining 5 items from as of Jan 2011 stash-bust-part two and five more from what I've gotten since then.    Since this is totally arbitrary, I am exempting the fabric I need to finish  in progress projects (i.e. the coat, and the red tulle I still need to pick up) but have also decided to count the red polka-dot dress towards my goal.    (I love having a mature stash of awesomeness, but until I get a larger space, I'm going to need to starve the beast for a while.)

and on the subject of that self-same red polka-dot dress, here we have the hem tape facings.  (I ran out of fabric and couldn't do proper ones.)

I sewed it on, folded it over, and used two rows of zig-zagging to hold it in place.   I ended up not going with the white trim everyone liked, as I realized as cute as it was, it wasn't something I'd be comfortable wearing out and about.  The buttons were more me, and as I will almost invariably pair it  with a while cardigan, it will all work out.   The current problem is the back center seam.    From the pictures, it looks like I need to add a bit more ease, but there is quite a bit already, and IRL there appears to be too much.

To ease or not to ease?