Another Dreary Day

I feel like I should stop reading HTML manuals and start doing a Google search for information on building Arks.  The rain poured steadily all day, what was a beautiful spring green is now looking a bit waterlogged.  And it is a cold, bone chilling rain.  I was really glad when I woke up this morning that I work from home.  Going to work means a pit stop in the kitchen, unload the dishwasher, reload all the dirty dishes that appeared in the sink after midnight (don’t ask, I have a 19 year old), making breakfast and tea, putting on garden clogs to wade to the front of the driveway to get the morning paper, removing two layers of protective bags from two different papers (we have his and hers papers), and thinking as I am throwing the plastic bags away, that I should be weaving some kind of throw rug or tote bag with them.  Then I wander upstairs, throw in a load of laundry, dress in real clothes instead of pajamas (sometimes I skip this step) and wander into the studio, power up the computer, look around, and decide what adventure needs my attention most.

Today it was hard to get motivated.  Monday morning blues?  Not so into a project that I lose sleep at night on what direction to go next?  The interminable weather? Hmmmm….

I largely puttered, trying to quell the overactive brain I have, which hasn’t traveled since the beginning of March, trying to keep motivated, working alone all day long, especially with a couple of cancellations, and lack of teaching opportunities.  It didn’t help that my favorite columnist, Anna Quindlen, just wrote her last “Last Word” Essay for Newsweek, stepping aside for newer younger talent.  I’m feeling that way myself.  I’m struggling with the idea that I’ve peaked in the area I’ve been working in for a long time, teaching what I know, and that there isn’t the demand for what I do like there once was.  As an artist it is important to constantly reinvent oneself, but I’m not sure what the next step is.  At almost 54 years old (birthday in a couple weeks), starting all over again doesn’t sound appetizing,  plus I have two kids to put through college, I don’t have a masters degree, only a lowly bachelor’s, and I don’t have teaching certs, nor do I want to start teaching in a school system at this point in my life.  I like what I do, and to find a steady paying job will prevent me from being able to travel to teach, anyway, you can see what a cranky cluttered mood my brain was in for most of the day.

So I sat down to finish sewing the dress.  Should have been a simple job, n’est ce pas?  I only needed to seam finish the side fronts and the front panel, put the dress together, and then cut the lining.  🙂

Sadly, I forgot I was working with handwoven fabric.  Silly me.  The first thing I teach in any garment class is the major fact that handwoven fabric, without a reinforcing backing, will grow from here to Trenton.  Even though the fabric is quite stable, it is a quirk of handwoven fabric, that it will continue to expand until it is a couple sizes too large.  So I almost always back my fabrics, but in this case, because I was making a summer dress, that step wasn’t desirable.  So I used the same pattern as the muslin which was made from a non yielding brocade, which fit me like a glove.  So why was I surprised when I sewed up the same pattern from the handwoven fabric that I could slip it on without even undoing the zipper and it hung like a sack?  🙁

So, I took a break, spent more time with my nose glued into my HTML manual, and then surfed the web for awhile, looking at websites for Regional Weaving Associations, Guilds, other artists, and looking over the HTML codes for each of the pages.

Later on in the afternoon, I decided to bite the bullet, and undo all the main seams, remove the zipper, and take in the dress more than 3 inches.  I’m much happier with the result, but I could probably take it in even more, I’m not sure how much the fabric will continue to grow, and it still has to fit the lining which I can’t take in, since it won’t yield the way the handwoven does.  It is a drop lining, so it is only attached around the neck and armhole edges.

A quick look at the radar shows more steady rain through tomorrow, partly sunny by Wednesday.  My guild meets Wednesday night, so that should bring some cheer into the gray days.  Thursday and Friday I have a workshop to attend, so that should be a great diversion as well!

I did manage to do an outline for my Website Success Seminar, which I am debuting at the Michigan Conference in August.  Having an outline means I can now begin the tedious process of filling in all the content, but at least I have begun……