* Karen opens door.  It creaks, and a bit of dust swirls around her feet.  Karen peeks in. *

I haven't been here in a while.  2020 has been an interesting year for everyone.  When the USA went under stay-at-home orders to try to stem the spread of Coronavirus, I spent a few months at home, sewing and relaxing and getting a much needed vacation.  I blogged a bit, then, since I had new projects to share.  But then I got a new job, and though I've been sewing, I haven't been blogging about it.  There are two reasons for that. 

My silence can be partly explained by my increasing sewing skill.  There was a time when I could make a whole blog post about a hem, but now I barely take pictures, and I find the write-up boring.  When I was a beginner, I found plenty to interest me in talking about the basics.  Now I'm more intermediate, I do the basics without thinking, and so I need to rethink how I approach my project diaries.  For instance, I've really enjoyed sewing new shirts for my brother and sister, but not blogging about them.  I've really enjoyed blogging about the Basque project because it's new territory, and I've got a lot to learn and a lot to say. 

Another reason for my silence here is that there's so much going on in my world, my mind, and my heart that I can't focus to write.  I feel like I'm swept away in deep water, and I need to keep my nose above the swells.  Later, when the waters shallow out, I can perhaps write about the parts of the experience that make sense to me.  (Or maybe, as my sister reminds me when I'm months overdue in replying to her letters, I need to just write something and let go of the need to encapsulate my whole life experience in one place!  The word "essay" means "attempt" or "trial", not "success" or "perfection", after all!)

Anyway, here I am again, to update the Victorian Basque project.  To recap: I have a cool antique bodice, circa 1880's; I copied the pattern by drafting and by draping.  Assembly being complicated, I broke it down into six steps:

1. cut out fabric pieces
2. make trim
3. make sleeves
4. sew bodice together
5. finish bodice Seam Allowances and add boning
6. attach sleeves to bodice

I blogged last time about the first three steps.  This post will detail steps four through six. 

A little while ago, I thought I should revamp my tags to be a bit more useful.  So that's been an ongoing project.  Here's what I've done. 

The tag Historical was too broad because it encompassed history lessons and tidbits, historical costumes, and historical inspired modern clothes.  Plus, everything from the dawn of time to yesterday is technically historical.  So I went through everything with that tag and replaced it with one of the following, more specific, tags:

• Antique - This tag is more about material culture and artifacts (like the 1909 Home Needlework Magazine) than is is about my sewing projects.  After all, if I make a historical costume, that is not an antique.  An antique is an item at least 100 years old.  There are some things from the 1920's that aren't quite 100 years old, but they are almost there, and they fit better in the Antique category than anywhere else, so I put them there. 
  
• History - Posts with research, history lessons, and tidbits, like the Colbertism & Needlelace essay. 
  
• Vintage - This tag covers true vintage clothes and vintage-inspired sewing projects.  I'm defining "Vintage" as from the 1920's through the 1960's. 
  
• Retro - For patterns from the more recent past, i.e. the 1970's, 80's and possibly 90's.  (I grew up in the nineties, so it doesn't feel "retro" to me, but who knows what kind tadpoles frequent this blog?)  Since I buy a lot of sewing patterns from thrift stores, I have a bunch of "retro" stuff without seeking it out. 
  
• 1910's - Because I have enough projects from that time to make a tag!  It's annoying that that time period doesn't have a good label... "The Teens" is not century-specific, "Titanic Era" too narrow, and "Edwardian" too broad. 
  
• Regency - Same rationale as the 1910's tag: I have a few about that time period, and it's something people might search for, so I tagged it. 
  
• Modern Elizabethan - All posts related to my Modern Elizabethan Project. 
  

The Project Diary tag was originally meant to distinguish between posts where I simply showed a finished product (not a diary!) and posts where I did a step-by-step walk-through of making it (diary!).  I no longer care about that distinction, and I doubt my readers ever did.  So I went through all those posts and filed them according to era or one of the following:

• Self-Made Pattern - for patterns I made myself, either by draping, reverse engineering, or drafting.
  
• Other Sewing - for miscellaneous sewing, modern clothes, and tutorials on technique. 
  

Added the following:

• Dyeing - for my silk scarf stuff
  
• Embroidery - because it's not the same as plain hand-sewing
  
• Terminology - for those posts where I talk about etymology, the differences between terms, labels, or other nomenclature. 
  

Previously, my stash was organized by color.  But as I have recently been digging in there for projects, I realize that color doesn't cut it.  So now I have re-organized. 

Finally, there are two overflow bins: one for fur (faux and real), and the other for upholstery stuff that I like using for historical looks.  It was good to sort the stuff: I have fabric I'd forgotten, and I am excited to work through it in my quarantine downtime. 

This blog has been quiet lately, as I have not had much time for either sewing or writing in a while.  Plus, winter always gets me down, and I find it hard to get excited about things when all I want to do is sleep.  But, today my life took a detour: my job is closing its doors for the next few weeks to help curtail Coronavirus spread, which means the next few weeks are a vast vista of unscheduled time for me!  Wow. 

I am determined not to let this time go to waste.  I have unfinished sewing projects, blogging ideas, a garden I'm putting in, letters unwritten, et cetera.  Oh, and while I'm unemployed, I need to find new income sources.  So here's my tentative schedule for all the time that's opening in front of me:

MORNING: Gardening, while it's still cool and quiet outside.  Use that time to talk a little to God. Try to listen more than I speak. 
MORNING: Important phone calls, because if I don't make them, I'll procrastinate them.
NOON: Lunch
AFTERNOON: Sewing/art -- no computer
EVENING: computer stuff: blogging, research, et cetera

I do not promise regular posting, but you will certainly see an uptick in posts while I am "sheltering in place"! 

Patterns are expensive... around $20, sometimes, for the Big Four ones.  I understand why they cost a lot: a ton of work goes into making a decent sewing pattern!  But I am glad of that work and want to support the people who do it. 

I also like to scrounge through the second- or third-hand patterns at a thrift store and find cool patterns to try!  I find patterns I might not spend $20 on (because I would save that amount for a truly unique or special pattern), but patterns that nonetheless are fun to sew and often become favorites.  My thrift store experience is broad: I grew up with the Salvation Army thrift store and local church and charity shops, and as an adult, I now frequent Goodwill thrift stores, which are plentiful in my area.  So if you want to buy second-hand patterns, here are a few tips.

I have long felt that--for me, at least--clothing is a kind of armor.  Of course, it can also be a diary, a poem, an invitation, or a window... but some days, it's the armor I need. 

Recently, I encountered the word "gorget", realized I didn't know how the pronounce it*, and looked it up.  A gorget is a piece of medieval armor that covers the neck.  That lead me to do a Google image search, which led me to this interesting bit of machine embroidery.  So much to love: the concept of a purely decorative fabric gorget, the way it's a variation on the idea of a tie, the tesselated bird pattern...

Now, obviously, a wee little gorget like that wouldn't protect anyone's neck in battle, even if it were made of metal, but gorgets have evolved with modern warfare into badges of authority rather than actual armor:

This is more of an idea-post than a project-post... but wouldn't it be cool to make a similar embroidered gorget, to wear with collared shirts?  It's a neat idea!