Hello! I have been a bit radio silent here, haven’t I? We ran away to San Francisco. We never wanted to come back. Cool breezes, fog, rain. Novel! We came home fully relaxed, only to spend the next week packing boxes. Argh, moving. It was exciting at first–a bigger house to live in while we do some major upgrades to our teensy but beloved old craftsman home. Then a week of I-can’t-find-my-freaking *insert essential daily item* craziness. We only moved a few blocks away but still totally discombobulating.

While Austin’s weather is still hovering in the 100s, this week finally brought in some cooler days that don’t feel like they are hijacking our sanity. I’m not sure if it ever plans on raining here again. I’m counting five months without a drop.

I’ve been chipping away at my multi-pattern project when I’ve had space or time to sew. At last I’ve arrived at the stage where all my garments are ready to be assembled at the machine!

If you’re just arriving here, I’ve been working on eight patterns at once as an organizational strategy. I wanted to try a bit of an assembly-line style of garment-making. Most of these patterns are summer clothes and I’d hoped to be done just a wee bit sooner but obviously in our current state of weather, they’ll still get some wear.

Along the way I was heartened by Robin’s guest entry at Gertie’s blog. She wrote that organizing the same stages of tasks together builds motor skills. Things I did like adding seam allowances to every pattern at the same time, cutting a ton of fabric for four days, and fusing all the fabric at the same time definitely resulted in more muscle memory and speed, and less second-guessing of what I was doing. I know these patterns so well I think I could sew them backwards in my head.

I was quite proud of myself when I was able to bundle each cut project with all its requisite notions. One of the things that tends to get me backed up in projects is that I forget I need buttons or run out of thread and then have to wait for the mail or trudge to Joann’s.

Of course, since my process of preparing all these garments was taking so long and I am desperate for a summer wardrobe refresher, I shoved everything aside to sew up an instant gratification dress. You can see the dress on the floor in the above photo… I’m just waiting for (didn’t I just say this backs me up?) the right size elastic to finish it. Here’s another sneak peak: