Handbags and No-Vice April

I was visiting Jemima Bean's Blog yesterday and she was discussing No-Soda April. Well, soda is not my vice. Chocolate of any kind and Frito-Lay brand crunchy cheese doodles are a huge weakness for me. So instead of giving up soda, I've decided to do my own thing and give up my two favorite junk food things for the rest of the month. Calling it my own, No-Vice April. Seriously, I'll probably lose at least 4 lbs in doing so, so that tells you how much I love that stuff. I'm going to look into some healthier snack food for the weekend. My DH raved about some baked, spicy chick peas they used to have at the Italian Feasts in NYC when he was a kid so I'm going to try to make some of those as an alternative. Tried once and it was okay, but experimentation will make for some better ones I'm sure. If I could lose my taste for crunchy cheese doodles over the next several weeks, that would surely be a good thing.

Today I worked on the lining for several handbags. I think I can get them all done by tomorrow except for embellishing. Anything artistic like embellishing takes me several days to get those creative juices flowing in my brain. During the artistic brain wave stage, I can work on my muslin bag for the contest. There is no way I'm going to cut into my leather skin until the muslin bag is done and "proofed", but I'm SO looking forward to having a red leather bag in a style that I can't find in any stores.

Also, thanks everyone for the outfit comments. When I saw several people mentioning the black pants, it was an "oh-no" moment LOL :) . You see, these RTW pants look fine from the front. But my rear view has the signature RTW style of a baggy, saggy butt. However, here's the solution. Just don't take of my wool, black pea coat when I'm at church! Yep, that'll do it. Until I can work with that HP Jenious Jeans pattern that will be arriving any day now. It sure would be nice to say adios to a poor rear view.

The Scissors are Smokin' !

My jacket is all cut out! Lining included :) . I'm going to transfer some markings tonight but am SO excited that I can actually start sewing it very soon.

No progress on the handbag today, but I searched for a flower/foliage book that Kenneth King recommended for embellishing my handbag. Also, I need to get some thread that matches the Dior roses. When I get the chance, I'm planning on doing a rolled edge with decorative threads on each side of the straps. "Planning" is the operative word. That might change--lots of embellishing/sewing thoughts going through my head right now.

And, of course, no progress on the waist inset on my dress.

Soft Handbag Construction

One of the things I love about Patternreview.com are the wonderful classes offered by excellent instructors. My current class, Soft Handbag Construction, is no exception! Kenneth King is another great instructor with very clear, concise, and easy to understand lessons. I'm about 3/4's done with the soft handbag I'm making in his class and can't wait to use it. It's more of an evening bag design, I think, for lightweight use, but really cute and well constructed.

Right now I'm thinking of embellishments as I finish up the bag part. The lining is already prepared for insertion. Might have to get out those decorative threads to do some serging tomorrow for embellishment purposes.

The only drawback to taking classes is my time away from current projects. I have yet to embellish the waist inset on my dress and get going on my jacket. I'm going to take the rigid handbag construction class as well, so that pretty much covers the month of January. So when I get the time, all things will finally get done.