But I will tell you that I have spent a lot of time this summer pruning and organizing "my" sewing room and it has been no easy task, let me tell you! That sort of explains why I'm not sewing, but not entirely. The entire explanation (besides the lack of a satellite receiver in the sewing room making it hard to sew because I like background noise that is not the radio) consists of two-part frustration.
Part 1: If I can find fabric I like, I can't find patterns I like. If I can find patterns I like, I can't find fabric I like.
Part 2: I've gained enough weight in the last few years that very few of my already-cut patterns fit me. This is a problem because I try to cut a pattern out as soon as I get it home so it's ready to go should I find fabric for it. This is also a problem because I've been the same size in patterns since I was 21 or so, which is over a decade of same-sizeness. I am serious here. Someone I know keeps trying to tell me "but you have a woman's body now" when I've had this "woman's body" since puberty ended round about age 23. (I was a late bloomer.) So, you see, I'm annoyed with myself for gaining JUST ENOUGH weight to make sewing the patterns I've already cut very tricky, because I hate making alterations on myself. I'm also annoyed because it seems like whenever I start to settle into a good exercise routine (seeing as how I'm no longer working 9-hour days on my feet in retail), I hurt myself or get sick and can't exercise for a couple of weeks, which totally messes me up. It's not a LOT of weight, but it's enough that I look at patterns and get mad because I don't want to do the alterations it would take to get them to fit, nor do I want to buy them in the next size up (and many of them are out of print), nor do I want to make them in the size I should be and have them hang unwearably in my closet.
So you see my dilemma. I know it's only a number, but honestly. I've spent lots of money on patterns that are suddenly the wrong size and I hate every single extra pound. Hate it. My goal is to keep exercising steadily and, by Christmas, fit into the lace and (perfectly matched) plaid skirts I haven't been able to wear for two or three years. My orange taffeta dress will no longer be slightly too tight, and I'll be able to wear my blue plaid wool Eddie Bauer skirt without it cutting into my waist.
That is my goal. I have the feeling that once I can drop that weight, sewing won't be such an annoying chore.
