I had a plan…

The operative word here is had…

So I’m heading out of town in exactly 10 days.  The pressure is on.  I am reasonably sure I have enough time to accomplish everything I had set out to do, and prep everything I needed to prep by the deadline, which is actually well before the 10 days, since everything for the workshops must get shipped out at least a week in advance.  Travel time to the pacific northwest.  From NJ.

Plus I wanted to finish the run of scarves so I could take a couple with me.

Four down and one more to go!

Scarves

So if I am able to get everything I need to for the workshops ready to go, and shipped out, and all the stupid computer work I have to do as well, that will give me a week to do something fun.

Everything is printed and bound…

Handouts

Everything is cut and packaged… (I actually hired someone to help)

CutProduct

So I’m in good shape right?

See there is this exhibit I want to enter.  The deadline is May 1st.  But I’m leaving on the 24th.  So my deadline is much earlier since whatever I want to enter, I actually haven’t made yet.  And so it has to be made and then photographed and then images culled and uploaded, you get the idea…

The exhibit has different categories, of course clothing is one of them.  Since this is an annual exhibit I already sent them for the exhibit last year all the cool stuff I did from two years ago, took a couple of awards, and last year was so god awful busy that I didn’t make any new work I would want to exhibit.  But I have yardage.  I have some pretty cool yardage.  And yardage is also a category.  It isn’t my preference to enter yardage, obviously I like to make garments and to me yardage is just a vehicle.  Not an end product.

But I had a plan.

I have this tartan I wove last December, which I’ve showed in the blog already.

ChoicesTartan

And I have these absolutely gorgeous three caviar leather lambskins, in a plum brown.  The photos from my cell phone can’t nearly do it justice.  I thought they would be splendid together.

ChoicesLeatherChoicesTartanLeather

I searched through patterns and came up with this idea of creating a trench with leather side panels, welts, collar and underarms.  I did a quick layout and I think it can work.  I had it all planned out.  I even found a yard of gorgeous raw silk that would give me bias and pocket linings, since I hadn’t planned to line the coat.  I cut the pattern out and am ready to test in muslin.

ChoicesCoatPatternChoicesSilk

Then my sister came to visit last night.  This sister lives a couple hours away from me, and last visited me for Thanksgiving.  She happened to be in the area for a gardening event.  She is big into gardening and floral design, but knows nothing about weaving, or fibers, can’t knit and doesn’t want to, and knows just enough to run up a hem on the sewing machine.

So I brought her into the studio to show her the current crop of yardage, ending with my pièce de résistance, the tartan and the leather.

First I showed her the yardage that just came off the loom.  This is the handdyed raw silk twill with the bamboo weft.  I have about 5 yards.

ChoicesTwill

Then I showed her the handdyed ikat warp I pulled off the loom a month or two ago.  She loved that one.

ChoicesIkat

Then I showed her the tartan.  She sort of shrugged and said, “Eh, it’s OK”.  I was crushed.

ChoicesTartan

Then I showed her the leather.

ChoicesLeather

She picked up the leather and put it with the ikat and said, “No, it needs to go with that one.”

ChoicesIkatLeather

Damn.  She was right.

I was crushed…

And the raw silk fabric, that was pretty obvious it had to go with the raw silk twill with the bamboo weft.

ChoicesTwilSilk

And so, I had a plan, and my lovely opinionated sister shot it down and she was absolutely right, though now I have no plan as to what I can do with this yardage before I leave on the 24th.

I rooted through my stash a bit more and found a little under a yard of gorgeous camel, the perfect color for the tartan.  Not sure if there is enough to still do the trench.  But I found this gorgeous fabric on the shelf I could possibly use as a lining.

ChoicesTartanCamelChoicesLiningChoicesTartanCamelLining

The problem is here that I need more time to mull all this over.  I can just enter the yardage and either it will get in or it won’t.  It isn’t what I had hoped, but I love all three pieces and I love the course correction and now have to let everything age just a bit more…

It will all be good in the end.  You just can’t rush genius…

Stay tuned…

 

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leilani bennett
leilani bennett
April 10, 2016 9:24 pm

Am I correct in assuming that you meanr to say, “Your just can’t rush genius.”? It’s been my personal experience that when I’m rushed into making a decision in the workroom and I haven’t allowed the little grey cells to properly percolate, I’m never as pleased with the finished product as I should have been.

Charlene St. John
Charlene St. John
April 11, 2016 9:33 am

Percolate away. It often takes me days or even weeks to consider all the options and come up with the best decision. Rushing only works out well if you are one lucky soul. 😉

Nancy
Nancy
April 11, 2016 4:34 pm

Just enter the yardage and go with whatever happens – in or out. That will give you ‘brain time’ to design the right garment with the wonderful combination your sis came up with. Just got back from our CNCH (Conference of Northern California Weavers) and had a design class that was great and one on linen — great, too! Happy Day!

Elizabeth E
Elizabeth E
April 11, 2016 10:01 pm

Thew combinations are SO fetching! Part of the percolate for me is to enjoy what I’m starting with. Savor. Let the memories flow into visions that erupt unexpectedly. Very wonderful stuff, as usual!

linda VH
linda VH
April 11, 2016 10:07 pm

Sisters! Ya gotta love ’em! Even when they’re right!

Susan
Susan
April 12, 2016 4:40 pm

Sisters! That was quite the reckoning….nice job with all the different options. Now for 5 extra hours a day!! stay safe on your trip.

Jenny
Jenny
April 13, 2016 11:22 am

The leather looks great with all three….but don’t over push the situation. Go with the yardage entry for now and let the rest come later.

Angi
Angi
April 22, 2016 7:21 pm

And You, my Dear, are the embodiment of genius. Their timeline just didn’t mesh with your life, this time. On Sheepthrills, we had a mantra that I will share with you, Head Up, Shoulders Back, Tits To The Wind! (HUSBTTTW)

Safe travels and much fun!

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