Sewing and Sick

I'm feeling a little under the weather lately- honestly, between my conjunctivitis, broken (I think) toe, and now I feel a cold coming on, I'm pretty much a hot mess. My toe is feeling much better, thank you. It's still hideous-looking with a weird dark purple bruise. My eyes are better, but after the conjunctivitis passed, I experienced major irritation from wearing my contact lenses. The doctor told me to not wear them for another THREE WEEKS! And I don't know where this cold came from, but it's pretty mild so far. I'm hoping to rest and drink lots of water and maybe it will pass quickly without totally ruining my week.

I have a lot going on this week, but I am hoping to spend at least a day sewing some new dresses for myself. I made a fabulous new "work" dress on Friday. It's made with a wool/poly blend in a purple, grey and black plaid and I love it! It's very basic (like most of my dresses), but it's also very comfortable and I think it will be a perfect "bridal professional" look. I bought fabric for two more dresses- a grey light-weight suiting fabric and a bright red gabardine. I hope to spend some time today and tomorrow working on making dresses out of them. I was really inspired by all the dresses I posted from Modcloth the other day, but I'm making all three of these for the price of about one of those. I bought all the fabric and notions for about $80. After shipping, just one dress from Modcloth would be about that price. In fact, most are a LOT more expensive than that. I'm going to stick with the same silhouette that works so well for me, but vary the details and necklines and maybe some of the hemlines. I hope to finish them all by Wednesday, since that's when I start working on costumes for the ballet company. I don't want any personal sewing work hanging over my head when I start that contract.

I managed to finish the valances I was sewing for my mom yesterday- I mentioned those a few days ago. We selected some really nice fabrics and I managed to put the finishing touches on them yesterday afternoon. I'll take a photo of the finished look once they are actually hanging in the room. Until then, you'll have to be happy just seeing the fabrics together:

My mom was thrilled to find this toile pattern since her last name is Gallo and that translates to "rooster." She thought it was not only a pretty toile, but also quite fitting. Since her house is decorated in a traditional New England colonial way, I thought the check with the rooster was a nice combination. At first glance, someone looking at the valances wouldn't necessarily see the roosters, they will likely just notice it's a toile fabric. Looking into the room, it might appear to be very formal if all you saw was toile. I like how the checkered fabric helps to bring it down to a more casual level. And of course, upon closer inspection, the roosters add a touch of whimsy. What do you think? The final look will have dashes of light green- a button detail and the tab that slides over the curtain rod. I like the overall look and like I said, I'll eventually post a picture of the completed look. But for now, I'm headed back to the sewing machine to work on some more dresses for my new job!

Happy Sunday!