Welcome Home

My dear friends,

I write to you on a gloomy Fall morning. I'm still wearing my pajamas and there is oatmeal bubbling on the stove. Boy, how I've missed you! Two weeks ago I took a hiatus to spend the weekend with my folks in Minnesota. And once I returned to Columbus, deadlines and due dates seemed to whisk me away. It's been nonstop ever since, so it feels good to take a breath and sit down for a moment.

How have you been? Are you adjusting to this Fall landscape and slowing down? It feels as though colder months inherently tell us to slow down our movements, to take stock, to bundle up, and embrace the warmth. How are you adjusting? 
Collection Progress:
I've been very hard on myself lately. This is to say that the learning curve of doing things for the first time in a long time (i.e. fitting clothes for other people, patterning after 2 years away, natural dyeing, and the self-discipline of finding constant motivation) is catching up with me.

Things that seem simple take me a long time, and I am constantly feeling behind. Our first critique is only a few weeks away, and I feel miles away from the finish line.

But I am working on being gentle. Reminding myself that the first time cannot be perfect, and trying desperately to find enjoyment in creating. Zach tells me to focus on my workflow and to keep my head down.

* WORKFLOW * The organizational flow of the tasks ahead. Finding a rhythm to your workflow helps to minimize the thinking power you put into what comes next, or where to place your attention. This could look like writing a task list the night before, setting up your coffee for the morning, being realistic about what is achievable in a day, etc.

WORKS IN PROCESS:

* Patterning my first look, and test fitting the prototype with my model Bayli tonight! Fingers crossed for limited changes. Below you can see a work in progress picture.

* Testing different natural dyes to find the perfect hue of chartreuse and terracotta. So far, I'm finding the secret to be somewhere in black walnuts, onion skins, madder root, indigo, and turmeric. Below you can see some of these swatches.

* Clicking away on my tailored jacket. I am LOVING my tailoring class. I just finished up sewing my pocket and buttonhole details, (shown below) and I am now moving on to hand stitching my hair canvas to my jacket front. Hair canvas is woven interfacing (made from goat hair) used in jackets and coats to give them the structure needed. It also helps give the beautiful rolls and shaping seen in tailored pieces. This is all achieved through hand stitching. It's slow and sometimes tedious, but I am really enjoying the learning process. ​

In other News:
*  I worked my tail off to complete a scholarship project a couple of weeks ago, and while it's not *perfect* I am really proud of myself for the progress. Someday soon, I will share it with you all, but as it is still in review, it can't be shared publicly. I will share it as soon as I can!

* Here is a project I made for my digital pattern design class. It is inspired by a Matisse painting that my parents have in their living room. I painted the motifs by hand and then brought them into Photoshop to complete the repeat. Pattern design is definitely not my strong suit, but I've been finding a lot of creative freedom and fun in just trying different methods out and experimenting.

* Last weekend Zach took me on a date to the Circleville Pumpkin show! It's a county fair of sorts, and there were pumpkins galore. ​

​I'M CURRENTLY:

SIMULTANEOUSLY CATCHING UP: on past assignments and past episodes of the Great British Baking Show
MAKING TIME to: See my friends
KNITTING: This pattern
LISTENING to: Mixtape (a new Radiolab podcast)
LOOKING FORWARD TO: Yoga classes at Replenish. They start up again in a few weeks!
GRATEFUL: for my neighbors
ENJOYING: sewing at home in my pajamas on my trusty sewing machine
PRIORITIZING: Sleeping 8+ hours whenever I possibly can

I'll be peeping my nose into your inbox again soon, but until then, much love from me to you.

Your Nosy Neighbor,
Nat