I hesitate before putting my foot on the floor when the room is dark. I check the backseat of the car before getting in when I'm driving alone. I avoid places that are crowded, with exits that may be hard to find in an emergency. I also avoid places with clowns ... ugh, I HATE clowns.
But the one fear that tops them all, is the fear of being seen. If I am never seen then I am never vulnerable. I am in control. I can't be judged or ridiculed because I am invisible and I have all the power.
Now the creative geniuses behind Project Run and Play and Project Sewn have asked me to do the exact opposite of what I have spent my entire life trying to achieve. Not only do they want me to give up my powers of invisibility and post a picture of myself online. Then they want me to put it in a competition to be judged!
To be fair to them all they really said was "Today we will open the linky party for all you [our wonderful sew-alongers!] so you can begin linking up your outfits as of right now." But what I heard was. " Come on you wimp. Why haven't you posted the pictures yet. They've been finished for days." And then the mom from Carry started chanting "There all gonna laugh at you"
Okay, I just made that last part up, but you get the point. This was really scary for me. Still, I was grateful for the push to help me face my fears. This post helped as well. I strongly recommend you read it if you think there is something holding you back, in your blog or in life. Warning: It is not a family friendly blog... unless your family swears a lot. Then I guess it's okay.
I chose the twill animal print fabric because it looked fierce to me, and fierce is what I needed. This was my first time ordering from Vouge Fabrics and I was quite impressed. Many of the fabrics have very reasonable pricing, but the true charm was in the shipping. 3 Days! That's it. After waiting 3 weeks for my fabric the last time I tried new a fabric site I almost jumped for joy when it arrived.
I used a tutorial that you can find here to make a basic skirt block, and then adjusted it from there. It is an amazing tutorial that can be customized in just about any way you can imagine.
This skirt has four darts in the back along with an exposed black zipper, and another two darts in the front. I used a wide waistband just in case I decide that I want to add belt loops one day.
I think next time I am going to make a skirt that is a little bit longer and taper the ends for a vintage look.
The top was thrown together with some crushed velvet that I had left over from making my daughters school concert skirt (Post coming this week). The goal was to keep it simple so as not to take attention away from the animal print. I basically cut two rectangles with arm and neck holes and then sewed them together and hemmed.
Did any one else feel afraid the first time they posted a picture of themselves on their blog? Tell me what helps make you brave.
