Whirlwind

Things are moving so swiftly that my whole head is awhirl!

I finished weaving the fabric for Autumn Splendor yesterday, and dyed it today.  I’m going to rinse it out in an hour or so, after which it will need a good, solid hard press.  Then I’ll be ready to start cutting and sewing!

Towards this, I’m currently printing out all the pattern pieces.  The pile of paper on the floor below the printer is about fifteen inches high right now, and I’m only about halfway through printing!  I have to babysit the printer for another hour or so, until it’s done.

Then, tomorrow, I will lay out all the pattern pieces.  Some of the panels have minor flaws, so I’ll match them with pattern pieces to minimize flaws in  of the finished garment.  Then I will need to match up the color sequence for all the light-colored panels, matching first at the waist and then checking again at the shoulder.  After I’ve got those placed, then I’ll lay out the dark panels.  It’s going to be a fairly complicated layout, and I want to make sure I’ve thought things through.  So I’m going to lay out and pin all 10 pattern pieces before cutting into anything.  Measure twice, cut once!

Oddly, I’m more nervous about cutting into the panels than I was about cutting into the wedding-dress fabric.  The panels are more time-consuming and fussy to weave than the wedding dress fabric was; each panel takes about 10-12 hours to knit, dye, unravel, weave, and overdye.  And the pattern layout is far trickier: the color sequences need to match as perfectly as possible.  Finally, I don’t have any extra yardage, so I had better get it right the first time!

So the ritual first cut will happen tomorrow, in all likelihood.  I’m totally amped.

Meanwhile, two other things are cranking the excitement level to a fever pitch:

• We are now preapproved for a loan on our putative first house.  Meeting with a realtor tomorrow evening.  I’ve spent part of today looking at house listings, and am getting really excited!
• I’ve started planning for a Handwoven Garment Challenge project.  I already know what I want to do, but I will need to refine and fit several muslins before I can start.  So the design process will need to start soon!

I’m also engaged in some interesting discussions about other venues where I can write (paid) weaving-related content….that’s all I can say about it right now, but it’s sounding like a WONDERFUL opportunity!

This is all so exciting I hope I can get  to sleep!