Giveaway Winners and Design Outside the Lines Prep

Wow! This giveaway really drew out some of the lurkers! I intentionally did not advertise this giveaway anywhere, so the prizes would go to legitimate readers. The drawing is closed and the winners names have been drawn!

The winner of the signed copy of Lynda Maynard's The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques: Essential Step-by-Step Techniques for Professional Results.is Sandy in CA.

The winner of Pattern Making (Portfolio Skills)is isaspacey of As I Said....

The winner of the Palmer Pletsch sewing DVD, Sewing . . . Good to Great: It's in the Detailsis Rebecca (from the Bay Area).

Congratulations to each of you! Please contact me at the email address listed in my profile so I can figure out where to mail them.

I was surprised to see how little I have accomplished over the last month, sewing wise. Work continues to feature prominently in life, leaving little energy to sew in the evenings. September is shaping up to be my busiest month of the year, with Design Outside the Lines, and launching DD1 to college. I am very excited about all of the activities, but feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Prepping for Design Outside the Lines

And speaking of DOL...

I have been using my limited free time trying to prep for Design Outside the Lines.

This is *hard*!

I've been analyzing my anxieties and have realized that my biggest fear is that I'm doing it wrong. I've heard the stories of folks who filled their suitcases with patterns and materials that they never touched. I've heard about folks who have shipped boxes and then didn't need them.

Since I am flying out, I have limited space and zero desire (at the moment) to ship anything. Part of me wants to leave patterns behind (I'm not taking a sewing machine) and take a black knit and a black woven or two, maybe some muslin, and then focus on findings and embellishments. Pare it down to the basics.

But I'm not sure I have enough chutzpah for the minimalist approach.

It is suggested that we bring 6 or so images to use as inspiration. I spent hours finding my images and then realized I made two mistakes. One, most of them are too low resolution to print out (which is recommended), and two, I focused exclusively on non-clothing-related images, things like landscapes with amazing colors/shapes, walls/gates/locks, and other textures.

For some reason I have been inexplicably drawn to mushrooms. I have no idea why, and I sure can't envision how a mushroom or two might inform my work, though I just love the textures, shapes, colors. I mean, how can one not love these? (All of these fabulous images are too low res to print as an 8x10. If I knew where to purchase them at higher res, and they didn't cost an arm and a leg, I just might.)

I even ordered a picture book of Georgia O'Keeffe's work as additional inspiration - I have been told that the colors in her paintings really capture the unusual colors in Taos, which is very cool to think about.

See?!? Do you see my dilemma?!

I can envision myself sitting in a workroom in Taos, desperately clutching images of fungus and brightly colored birds and butterflies, and staring at my black fabrics, fun zippers, and bag of denim threads, and desperately thinking, NOW WHAT?!?!? The feeling is not unlike the nightmare where you show up for an exam, naked. This is a special (possibly once in a lifetime) opportunity, and I don't.want.to.mess.it.up. Images of Diane Ericson and Marcy, smiling and shaking their heads, comes to mind, "Oh dear, what was that Shams thinking?"

Now, both Marcy and Diane would say, "Trust the process." That is what you tell a person who is about to jump out of a plane, her mind desperately hoping that her chute will open and that she won't break her legs, or find herself dangling upside down like a giant ornament on a sycamore tree. That doesn't make it easy advice to follow. ;)

On another note. I just received Style Arc's September mailing and they have a couple patterns I am loving. First, a very cool pair of pants that reminds me of the Au Bonheur jeans I made with the knee "gussets", the Cassie Stretch Woven Pant (click the picture to go to their site):

I am "over" most waterfall cardigans, but I am really loving the look of this one, the Nina Cardigan (click the picture to to go their site):

And, finally: Today I am meeting up with Elizabeth of Sewn, who is in town for the long weekend. She, I, and a few others, will be meeting at Stone Mountain and Daughter at 1pm. We may then proceed to Piedmont Fabrics. If you are around, come join us! I will be the one staring at the purse handles and yarn, wondering if I might need these at DOL.