random thoughts – Day 2,126 (Sunday) – blue sky and baggage

"Pack for everything."

It was less cold than recent days and it was refreshing. Comfortable, even. The floor at the hall where we dance was recently cleaned up and shined and looks really nice, but the aroma of whatever it was treated with lingered in the air. We practiced for the February performance and talked about what dances to work on for the spring. It was productive. Afterwards, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and during a conversation in the parking lot before leaving, a bald eagle flew overhead.

Back at home, the lawns in the neighborhood have lost much of their snow thanks to the recent rain and very welcome temperatures above 32 degrees. The Weather Channel app provided the outlook for this week: “Some rain, some sunshine in the week to come. Pack for everything and you’ll be set.” That has been my philosophy for most of my life, so cool.

The afternoon was spent working on the dance costume. The pattern piece placements were finalized and cut out and construction markings and center lines were made with thread in a contrasting color. Preparing the neckline is the first step in construction and I’m going off-pattern and modifying it, so the work paused briefly, partly due to planning and partly due to cowardice. I am 100% sure I have a decent stock of lightweight interfacing to stabilize the neckline, which required a rummage through the sewing desk. It wasn’t where I thought it was, so the search radius was expanded and it became a full-blown treasure hunt side quest.

Before finally locating the tub labeled “sewing,” some camera and darkroom gear was consolidated and several tubs were peeked into before finding the correct one. This is how multiple tasks move along, but nothing is ever completed. It could be a genetic curse, mental defect, or lifestyle issue. 

Project underway.

The sewing tub was found, including my beloved Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Sewing and another sewing book I forgot I had, but not the specialty fabric I was certain it contained. There was a quick romp down memory lane as I fondled fabrics bought for projects that were never even started. I don’t even remember Hancock Fabrics, but there are enough items from there that I must have loved the place. Or, it was the closest fabric store to wherever I was living.

I would generally spend so much time and energy in a fabric store choosing a pattern, the perfect fabric, and the thread, zipper, and other notions needed that, hours later when returned home, I would be too tired or it would be too late to start the project. There is a bag in the sewing tub with a pattern for a businessy pencil skirt in two lengths and some pretty brown fabric, thread, and a zipper that would have been killer for my old job at the marketing agency in Tennessee. I could make the skirt now, but there would be no point. I stopped wearing skirts and dresses to work when the bare legs trend showed no signs of going away. Back in Massachusetts and on the job hunt that ran from 2013-2016, someone advised me to not wear panty hose on job interviews because it would make me look too old / old school.

There is no fashion style I hate more (or for so long) than the bare legs all year long thing. There are many reasons for my hatred, including being cold in winter, freezing in A/C all summer, and having scars on pale legs that never tan below mid-knee due to some freakish pigmentation punishment. So, yeah, it’s mostly pants and capris for me, please. And the occasional really long skirt.

The thing I thought I had was never found in the form I swore I had it, but I found something else that will work. Assembly can begin tomorrow.