Celery

Well hello there!  I've been back from my trip for a few days, and slowly getting back into my routine and catching up with things that need to be done.  I'm hoping to write a proper post about my SUPER fun time in Toronto with a whole bunch of very lovely ladies, but today I want to talk about something that's weighing on me.  Consider this "True Confessions, Sewist Style."

So you know how you'll be on a diet and everything's going great.  You're controlling your urges and trimming down.  And then all of a sudden, you have a week-long cookie, ice cream and candy binge.  And then you have to spend the next month eating nothing but celery.

Well, whatever the fabric equivalent of celery is, that's what I will be consuming for the foreseeable future.  I now "owe" myself 2 fabric purchases, for which I'll have to create 8 garments from stash.  Ouch!

It all started pretty innocently.  I had one purchase credit available. (I've got a little tally in the right sidebar to keep myself honest.)  I decided that aside from a Robson Trench, which I've already started, the one thing I must have this spring is a floral bomber like all the cool girls.  And to up the coolness ante, I decided it must be silk charmeuse.  So I spent some time browsing all the websites I could think of, trying to find something that fit with the idea in my head.

I didn't find anything bomber-worthy, but I did stumble across this beautiful silk georgette, and I fell hard.

After a few days, I couldn't stop thinking how it would make such a great Nicola dress.  So I decided to table the bomber idea for a while and use my available purchase to buy this.

Of course, the next day, when I went to JoAnn's to pick up the notions for my Robson, my eye fell upon a fabric that was exactly what I had in mind for the bomber!

Even though it's polyester charmeuse instead of silk, the colors and style are exactly what I wanted.   At $6 a yard, it's a lot more economical too, and I won't have to worry so much about messing it up.  So I went ahead and broke my diet.  Not even sorry!

Of course, the following day, I found out that a fabric I'd been wanting from Hawthorne Threads had come back in stock.  This is the Robert Kaufmann small herringbone chambray, and it tends to sell out quickly.  Since I'd missed out on it last time they had it, I figured - in for a penny, in for a pound - and I broke my diet again!  I've been planning a denim or chambray dress for spring, and this is the fabric I wanted to use.  So, still not sorry!

And then there are the Roaming Charges (Andrea - that's a little joke for you!  For the rest of you:  I got totally freaked out by the idea of incurring massive roaming charges in Canada because I forgot I was in a foreign country!)

Incredibly, although Andrea took me around to all the fabric stores in the garment district in Toronto, I only purchased one piece of fabric.   This is a 60" piece of 60" wide silky soft polyester georgette, which I bought to use as a huge scarf - so really it wouldn't even qualify as a fabric purchase, right?  But it doesn't count anyway, because I gave myself a travel allowance of 4 pieces of fabric per trip.  Sadly, I also made that allowance non-transferable, so it doesn't help me out of my sticky situation! 

How cool is that?!

And then there's the very generous and lovely gift Andrea gave me.  Look:

 Gah!  I can't even believe it!  It's the one with the jewels!  So, so beautiful!  Thanks again, Andrea!

So, I'm five pieces of fabric heavier than I was a week ago, but I'm going to try very hard to be good from now on.  For some reason, I always feel compelled to tattle on myself.  No one would have known if I'd kept my mouth shut, and then you guys would all think I'm a great role model.  But that's just not how I roll!