Friday Favorites, Episode 9

It's funny how what I find each week tends to have an overriding theme. This week, what caught my eye was less project-oriented and more thought-provoking articles.

I did find one nice tutorial from The Sewing Divas, about how to draft a banded surplice neckline. And Crafting A Green World had a great post about sources for recycled beads--which is great, because the last time we got a catalog from Fire Mountain Gems (one of my mom's and my favorite bead sources), I found myself wondering about the environmental impact of their products. Still doesn't help me with stuff like their gorgeous semiprecious gem beads, but it's a start.

The last non-article link (thanks to Mom2Fur) is for DigiScrapDepot.com, which is a nice site because it lets you download embellishments and stuff for free. I haven't really tried digital scrapbooking at all, other than a really simplistic one I've been working on in Photoshop since I got that last summer (a very simple project journal with photos of my finished projects, basic details like pattern used/finishing date/alterations made, and once I print it out, fabric samples). For one thing, I really like having actual paper and textures and such to manipulate. That, and the printer my family has prints pictures very badly, and I have little motivation to make pages that are going to be covered in bad printer lines. (Once I finish the project journal ones, which is going to take awhile because I think I need to scan the printed photos I took before I got my digital camera--I've tried two times to get it to work as a very simple traditional scrapbook, and it just doesn't--I think I'm just going to take it to Kinko's.) But anyway, the whole point of this ramble is I think it has stuff I can use anyway, like if I want to make some very simple digital embellishments to print out and use on my pages (done that before) or print my own transparencies or something.

Anyway, on to the articles. Three of them this week.
1. Assorted Notions had some really good advice for people planning a sewn wardrobe. Several of the bloggers I follow participate in SWAP challenges (stands for Sewing With A Plan--basically a challenge to make a wardrobe of several pieces that are entirely mix-and-match). It's something I'm unsure if I'd ever participate in myself, mainly because I love patterned fabric and don't think I could pull off six or eight pieces that tied to just one, and wouldn't want that many solid colors. Or neutrals. Who knows-- I never thought I'd do something like Wardrobe Refashion either, and now that I've had about four months off, I want to do it again. And I can see how it would come in handy for stuff like, say, if I was going on my dream European vacation and needed a stylish wardrobe that I could mix-and-match and tote around in my luggage. That would certainly incite me to do something like this. But I digress. If I was going to do this wardrobe thing, I would certainly be turning to this post to start.

2. Sew, Mama, Sew! had an interesting article on figuring out your learning style and how that relates to working with sewing patterns. Based on what she said, I think I fall somewhere between being a print-oriented and visual-spatial learner-- don't fit neatly into either category, because I can often pick things up by reading them, and I'm a big note-taker, but I often find pictures to be helpful as well. Especially if it's more technical things. Probably why I was far better at geometry than I was at algebra, because I could draw pictures. (Actually, now that I think about it, falling in-between makes sense. After all, I'm a musician, and reading music is basically reading a pictorial language.)

3. I found some inspiring thoughts on fabric stashes at Rostitchery that's making me want to use up some of this fabric I've been hoarding. I need to do that anyway, but I really like her philosophy on why smaller stashes may be better.

And now I just found out that I don't have to go to the garden center today-- it's pouring down rain and really gross, so they're not expecting to have hardly any customers. Which is kind of nice for me, because I got scheduled to work for eight hours tomorrow since I told them I could work Mother's Day weekend. So I'm going to get some practicing done, and then maybe toy with some scrapbooking stuff. I've been kind of feeling the need to get my hands on some paper again lately. I do have some sewing to do--cut out the apron that I'm going to be making for a friend's wedding gift, as well as some largeish leftover pieces that I need to quilt with the heat-resistant batting to make matching oven mitts. But that's more of a have-to-do project, and if I'm going to have unexpected time off, I want some fun first.