My current crush – Fashionary

Yep, well, things didn’t turn out quite as I had hoped. I haven’t gotten to start my Lady Skater dress yet, and not only that, but I’ve not been able to do anything crafty for a few months now. Hence, no blog post for weeks and weeks! I developed symptoms of a genetic eye condition I’ve just discovered I have. Quite painful, especially at night. I won’t go into details, in case you get a bit squirmy over that kind of stuff, so please do keep reading. The only thing I’ll say is that I had surgery a couple weeks ago, and although we’re hoping that it will have handled the problem, at least for many years to come, I’m still getting used to seeing with my newly made-over eyes. Long distance is clear as a bell, beautiful in fact. But up close, my vision has gone from manageable to completely blurry, and I have to wear these crummy magnifiers I picked up at the chemist until I see the surgeon again on the 19th of this month.

So now that I have the ability to sit at my computer again, albeit for short bursts at a time, I thought I’d share with you some of what I got up to, right before all that started.

First, to preamble, over at Stitch 56, we’ve got a fabulous project going. Our brand new Blog Writers Team is posting about planning their sewing for the upcoming Aussie spring wardrobe. The fabulous Donna from Sew Independent got the party going with a post about using her Fashionary to do her planning. She has some gorgeous sketches, and as I was reading through her post to publish it, I got all inspired. Out came my Fashionary that I haven’t really touched for months, and I grabbed my favourite pencil and eraser, and began sketching like there was no tomorrow!

I decided to create my own Spring wardrobe, well actually, a Springtime Holiday Wardrobe for our upcoming trip to Adelaide and the Barossa Valley with some friends. Above you can see the first page I did. And see those little ticks next to most of the things on this page? They mean that I’ve already sewn that piece. The others are items I plan on making – if my eyes allow me too! I’m a little terrified of sewing on my machine, or hand sewing, if my near vision is still crap. Picturing all kinds of nasty things!

However. Not to dwell on the downside of things. Clearing my head, and moving forward… I reckon that if I have the above pieces all done, I’ll be pretty much set for our 5-day trip. Would you like to know what all the pieces are? OK, here’s the line-up. I’ve copied the image from above here, so you don’t have to do major scrolling up and down!

• Left page // left : Hawthorn Dress (Colette Patterns) in Liberty Tana Lawn Strike (Shaukat) with red linen contrast collar and self belt with red linen buckle – DONE
• Left page // middle : Sorbetto Top (Colette Patterns) in a pretty light blue linen (Tessuti) with appliqued motif in Liberty Tana Lawn Stanley (Shaukat) – DONE
• Left page // middle : Zinnia Skirt (Colette Patterns) in Liberty Tana Lawn Stanley (Shaukat) – DONE
• Left page // right : Judy Top (Tessuti) in light blue linen (Tessuti) – nearly finished
• Left page // right : Moss Skirt (Grainline Studio) in teal linen (Tessuti) with Liberty Tana Lawn Stanley lining (Shaukat) – still to make
• Right page // left : Scout Top (Grainline Studio) in Valori Wells Wish Voile – DONE
• Right page // left : Black pants (RTW from The Ark Clothing Company) – HAVE
• Right page // middle : Sorbetto Top (Colette Patterns) in navy rayon (Fabric.com) – DONE
• Right page // middle : Julie Pants (StyleArc) in navey bengaline (StyleArc) – still to make

So now I’ve got my plan laid out for me, and I know exactly what to work on. Mind you, in the meantime, I’m going to The Craft Sessions in 4 weeks (are you going too?), which I just can’t wait for, and I still need to finish some mid-seasonal items to pack for that! Back to the drawing board, except that I’m not sure I can see clearly enough to draw anything right now. Might have to handle all that with basically a scribbled list on a sheet of scratch paper. I’ll let you know how I go. Fingers crossed!

Now, you might think I stopped there. You know, I mean with only one double spread in my Fashionary. U-uh! I couldn’t stop drawing! I pulled out my iPad, opened Evernote with my list of patterns, and just drew and drew and drew! Take a look at this:

And this…

And there’s more! After another couple of spreads, I decided I had to STOP! I was being a little silly. After all, my hobby is SEWING!!! not drawing, and think of all the sewing time I was missing out while I was busy sketching! Crazy! So I closed the book, and put it away. I do still keep looking at it all though. Can’t help myself. I’m loving all those little figures with their petite little feet, and long elegant arms. And besides, I’m really excited, because for the first time, I’m creating a coordinated way to pick what I sew, and not do it just higgledy piggledy. Very excited! Do you have a Fashionary? How do you use yours? Do you just love it to bits too?