Hours 1-9, 10,000 hours project

So in the last 2 weeks I've finished 9 hours of the 10,000 hour project.  First I planned out some of my summer sewing, most of which you'll see here.  I'm still trying to figure out a better organizational tool for up comming projects, I'll keep you posted on that.  The planning was only a half hour though, then I worked on a robe, it is Butterick 5152, super retro and wonderful.  Took me 7 and a half hours to complete from cutting out to the hem. It's full length short sleeved with rick rack trim, I love rick rack.


Pattern: Butterick 5152
My Description: Full length retro robe with belt
Difficulty: Low to Moderate
Things I learned:  I need to get better at sewn in trims, had a bit of trouble with the rick rack.  Also, I need to mark the front and back sections better, I sewed the 2 fronts together and had to do a bit of ripping out.
Is this something I'll wear: Yes, every morning in summer.
Would I make this pattern again: Yes, I'm thinking I'll make the long sleeved version for the fall/winter out of something warmer, it's the perfect pattern for sipping coffee.

The next thing I made was a super simple skirt, took me only 1 and a half hours from cutting out to hem.  I think this is going to be a go to pattern, elasticized waist and a great length for work or the weekends.  I also want to make the shirt that goes along with it, but I'm having some issues with the length of the bust, so I'm going to make up some muslins.  I'm also thinking that I'm going to need to make a dress form here sooner or later.  But with the whole wanting to lose weight thing, it's hard to put that much time into a dress form.  I'll think about it.




Pattern: Simplicity 2614 a Threads pattern
My Description: Simple skirt and bias cut shirt pattern

Difficulty: Skirt: Extremely Easy
Things I learned: While elastic waists aren't super retro, or professional, they are super comfy, but I do want to get something to make feeding the elastic through easier.
Is this something I'll wear: Yes, super comfy.
Would I make this pattern again: Yes, basically right now I want to make it in every color.

10,000 Hours

Sorry I’ve been away for so long, I’ve been way overwhelmed with work.  I’m not enjoying my job at all, I mean I used to get frustrated at the way people in my line of work do things, but it was nothing compared with the way stuff is being run with our new owners.  I’ve been trying my darndest to leave work at work, but it’s hard when you have a job where you’re on call 24 hours a day.  In conjunction with the downward trend of my feelings toward my job, I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, I mean I know I don’t want to be an office manager/property manager for the rest of my life, but what is it I want to do.  I’ve been trying to figure out what makes me the happiest and what is it I feel most relaxed doing.  And the answer came to me while making a wedding dress for a friend of mine, I love sewing.  Not just sewing, but creating clothing. 

In addition to all this reflection I’ve been trying to figure out how to make myself better at my craft.  Enter Ms. Violet of the venerable Lime & Violet podcast, she’s been talking about her 10,000 hour project, so I went to her blog to find out more about it and the basic premise is that anyone who is considered an expert in their field has spent at least 10,000 hours practicing whatever their craft is.  She’s made a resolution to spend 10,000 hours in pursuit of perfecting (as much as that is possible) her graphic design and perfume making.  This got me to thinking.  Wouldn’t this be the perfect way to figure out if this is indeed what I would like to do with my life? I know I’ve tried other things with a “do this everyday” theme and they haven’t worked out, but I think that if the end goal is to be self sustained in business and not have to work a full time office job that I can work on my craft for 10,000 hours.  I realized that it doesn’t have to be sitting at my sewing machine for 10,000 hours, it would include learning new skills, designing, sketching, sewing muslins and wearable garments.  I’m looking at taking some classes this fall at Santa Ana College in design and fabrication, I might go to OCC though instead.  I’ve looked at design as a viable career before, right after Steve and I move in together in fact, but school was just too expensive.  I’ve since figured out that by taking the classes at a community college instead of a private design school, not only can I afford it, but I can still work full time and support the fam and just take classes at night.  I’m going to start my own personal 10,000 hour project on June 1, 2010.  You may not hear about it here on the blog all that often, but you’ll see the fruits of my labor and I promise to update when I get to big milestones in my journey.  I look forward to sharing this with you and as I’ve been typing this I am starting to feel an excitement about my life that I haven’t felt since Steve and I decided to get married.  There are a few other projects in the works that I’ll let you in on as soon as they get underway, all I can say is that they are exciting.

Here's the wedding dress I made, I'll post some more pics when I get some of her in it: