Back in the Saddle

Today was a GREAT day! I got back into the sewing room for the 1st time since mid-November. At that time, I was making progress on my new purse pattern, but I literally have not touched it since, and when I picked it up today, I hardly knew where to start. It was like picking up somebody else's project, in somebody else's sewing room and trying to make sense of it. A little discouraging, & kinda scary actually.

So after I spread all the pattern pieces out on my new table, and scratched my head for an hour or so, I decided to just dig out some of the fabrics I bought on my Black Friday Road trip to Mary Jo's in Gastonia... fabrics that were bought with this very design in mind.

And, there's something about fabric isn't there. I love the feel of it. I love wallowing in it, stacking it into little folded bundles, draping it in various combinations on my design board. I even like the smell of it (or most of it). For some reason, whenever I find myself at a creative roadblock (like today), it usually helps to just get into some fabric for a while.

And here it is. I remember buying this fabric. I bought it in particular for this new purse. I remember how I liked the thought of the beautiful pottery pieces across the front of the bag and planned on using the various striped sections to feature particular design elements.

So here is where I'll start tomorrow. And even though it doesn't really feel like "home" yet, I'm excited about working on this new bag in this new studio which I love. I just can't wait to show it to you!