The Batshit Wishlist

Well, this is unexpectedly delightful. Now that I live with people, I can mention when I'm leaving town before it happens, which means I get to share the batshit sewing wishlist I created for my upcoming trip to Ireland.

I'm stoked.

Like. I almost cannot breathe when I think about it because that's how stoked I am. Stoked like a steam locomotive chugging up the Rockies at top speed. This metaphor is getting away from me.

{stoked}

I was indeed considering a knapsack twice as wide as it was tall.

I have a number of bags in my life (honestly, I have too many bags in my life), but I'm not a huge fan of any of them for travel. The backpack is a school bag, meant to carry books and laptops and extra pencils, not so much socks and underwear. The duffel bag is perfect for road trips, but unwieldy in airports and on planes. And all the others are smaller than I think I'm quite capable of packing ten days of clothes into.

Obviously I need a travel bag. Equally obviously, I need to make it, because stash busting (we're just going to gloss over the bit where I buy two yards of canvas for the upper portion) and also, it sounds like a fun challenge. And I can make it exactly the size I want, with the number and configuration of pockets I want (proper pockets is kind of a theme for me).

Just gotta figure out minor details, like how to set a dual zipper and how to construct a bag. And how to attach sturdy straps, both shoulder and waist—in case of hiking.

I've been thinking about making a second 'everyday' skirt for like three months now.

This one is completely unnecessary, but it'd also be a nice addition to my wardrobe, just to have options for skirts with proper pockets in them! And I've been trying to think of a way to use the silly corduroy I bought a yard of on sale—it doesn't really match any of the fabrics I have, and corduroy isn't known for wearing well over time.

So I'm going to line the integral wrap belt for this skirt! Patch pockets were an option, but I tend to like in-seam pockets better, and having doodled and looked at some inspiration images, I think the wrap belt will be a nice detail. If I'm clever, I could even make it reversible.

I already have dreams for this tunic.

This might be my favorite hopeful project. I've been hoarding seven yards of navy blue wool gauze for at least a year, and I'm finally going to cut into it (though I'm not likely to use all of it). The plan is to line the bodice and upper sleeves with some blue linen, also from the stash. Mysteriously, I ordered a total of ten yards of this particular blue, in four- and six-yard sections, so I think I can stand using about a yard on lining.

I'm pulling some inspiration from 12th-century bliauts (shocking, I am aware), and some from 1840s dresses, and a little bit from anarkali suits—to create a garment that is distinctly none of those things.

The sleeves will actually be cut full and straight, and the upper arms smocked to control the volume, with the lower edge gathered into a cuff with a placket, so if I feel like it I can roll my sleeves out of the way. I'm planning to either do the smocking with contrast thread, or to accent it afterward; either way, I'll use the same color for embroidery around the hem.

I'm also going to make the skirt from two layers of the gauze, gathered together at the waist, but separate at the hem, for added fullness and better opacity without the weight a full linen lining would give.

This is the easy one.

This blouse has been planned for, oh, five years. No big deal. I've changed the pattern I want to use several times, though, and finally landed on Mélilot from Deer & Doe...with a few modifications, because I just can't help myself sometimes. I'm skipping the breast pockets; they're a charming detail, but I really never put things in such pockets, and that makes them more trouble than they're worth to me. I'd also like to add a bit more volume to the sleeves, and will probably skip the hidden button band. Laziness, yes, but I also like the look of visible buttons.

Further modifications have happened to this design in the 24 hours since I took this photo.

And then there's this sheer blouse, from some lovely cotton/silk voile with a subtle diagonal stripe woven in. I'm leaning toward the v-neck version, but have moved the pleats to the shoulders, releasing above the bust, and probably some light gathering at the waist. I'm still debating pleats to pull in the sleeve volume on the upper arms, or shaping the sleeve pattern itself—definitely another one with gathering to narrow cuffs and a placket for sleeve-rolling purposes. This one is also meant to have loop closures instead of buttonholes, and a bit of a keyhole neckline.

And then I spent the better part of a day fiddling with ideas for another sheer fabric, this one with vertical stripes of woven openwork between stripes of plain weave. I want to use those stripes to advantage somehow, but clearly, I've no idea what direction 'advantage' is in this case. This one is the most likely to get booted off the list.

Not pictured: the blanket I already made, primarily for plane-napping purposes, and the new pair of my Favoritest Boots Ever, which are still the only boots that've ever really fit my feet. Also a few (like five, which is...more like a handful, but you get the gist) camis to go under the flock of sheer blouses. It's fiiiiiiine. Totally doable. I don't have dozens of other things happening at the same time. help.

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