9.03.2014

pip : no. 1

oonaballoona PIP no. 1

oonaballoona PIP no. 1

oonaballoona PIP no. 1

 1. Vogue + Simplicity Embroidered Tea Length Dress   2. Draped Scalloped 50's Style Dress 
3. Vintage McCalls 5490

I have decided that I don't believe in UFOs. (Spaceships are another story.) The instant I label something Unfinished Object, there it stays. Thought equals matter, or reality, or something scientific like that. I don't even like WIPs! YEAH. This isn't Work, this is Play! (It is work. But it's not Work. Hush. YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.) In a Kalkatroonaan world, everything is a project in progress, or rather, process. I am a giant Super Computer Of Fun processing programs made of fabric and thread. YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. 

Good thing I've sussed out my stance on these important matters, as I have at least three PIPs going on at any given time. That's a lot of opportunity for a UFO sighting. Some are much older than others: #1 was begun last month during my spray can Anna, #2 is two months old, started just before a draped maxi dress, and #3 was conceived this past Labor Day, right after finishing my thigh high slit wax print Charlotte. Multiple projects help with my attention span, or lack thereof. No, I lie! I think I have a pretty good attention span... just a low threshold for boredom. I can dive into a fabric for five hours straight and be blindingly happy until the last fifteen minutes, when I want to set apocalyptic fire to it. It is at that crucial moment that I either gingerly set the PIP aside and pounce on another delicacy, or keep hammering on the suddenly vilified material until I seriously F it up.  

And THEN it's Work. and THEN it's a UFO. For reals.

I thought I might pop in here every once in a while with a peek of 3 PIPs. Will they all get finished? Pip pip, let's see! How about you? One at a time sewist, or MUST SEW ALL THE THINGS?

61 comments:

  1. Oooh, teasy pictures of your PIPs, I wanna see them already! They look absolutely marvelous. I try to keep it at one project at a time when it comes to sewing for yours truly but the reality is that I always have multiple things to finish(usually it's just those pesky little finishing touches as hemming, buttons, ish like that). I guess I know that I shouldn't start something before I finish what I'm currently doing but I have zero self control and I get too tempted to jump to the next shiny new project too easily.

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  2. I'm a one project kind of girl only - I don't fool around with other projects at the same time. Oh no!
    Only if I have a major fail do I abandon-but even then I might go back to the start, learn from the mistake and start over. Any fabric left from the fail goes into the scraps bin, which gets used again,

    I'm keen to see you finish number 2. Looks wonderful already, I really want to see that!

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    1. i refuse to abandon #2!! i have a recycle fail bin as well :)

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  3. MUST SEW ALL THE THINGS. I have curtains, pillow slips, squirrel dress, mod dress, and navy dress all in the works. They will all get done.......eventually. Muahahaha!

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    1. I'm intrigued by this squirrel dress you speak of! Does it have a fluffy tail? Sounds fab

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    2. No, it is squirrel fabric, and it makes me squeal with happiness every time I look at it but the muslin isn't quite right yet. Must be perfect this squirrel dress of mine. :)

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    3. Wait for it....... I plan on buying ACORN EARRINGS to go with it......genius, genius, GENIUS! I say!!!!

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  4. i totally had that fifteen minutes of rage this weekend! on a project that was going brilliantly! fortunately i did not have a waistband pre-cut so i put it aside. :-)

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  5. You wrote that down so well, about attention span vs. boredom!
    I am so there with you on that one... So yes, Must Sew All The Things - on the verge that it does not become work, no, not that, but it can get stressful to know that there are PIP's lying around and yet, there's another New Thing That Wishes To Be Sewn rearing its beautiful little head....
    So it's a brave you, to publicly show your PIPs and add peer pressure (or blog pressure?) into the mix ;-)

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  6. Lordie woman! Only three? ;-) I have many, many, many. Some is quilts so not sure if they count. Some are cut out, some partly sewn up. I have one day a week where I am not working and sometimes there just isn't time on that day to do anything but rest. Meh. :)

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    1. oh, more like 10-12, but i think my eyes would cross if i actually documented the actual amount of pips...

      you can always sew in your sleep. sometimes i sew a whole dress in my dreams and am shocked to find it's not real.

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  7. I like the idea of PIP's much better than UFOs. Lord knows I've got my fair share of them.

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  8. I've got 3 pips at the moment too- a pattern test, they keyhole version of Gertie's bow blouse from her first book and a pair of palazzo trousers. The last two are only cut out- I find cutting tedious so I tend to cut several projects at once so then I came just motor on with the sewing for a good few weeks (depending what's cut out). I do also have two dresses in planning stage. But once I get to the fucked off stage I can't put it aside and work on something else, I have to step away entirely for a few days sometimes, depending on how much I'm sulking that I got something wrong.

    Interesting to see your pip's and look forward to more.

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  9. Must sew all the things!
    Currently visiting grandparents with two handsewing projects in my backpack. And that's only two.

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  10. Currently, I'm a multitasking warrior woman. I have 3 PIP's (2 are 2 parters) and 2 PIP's on (extended) vacation or POV... I like these new terms!!! I like the sneaky peeks too, very inspiring!

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  11. One project at a time is best for me and I rarely have UFOs. But I am so bad about quilts! I need to finish what I start :(

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  12. Usually I'm a one project at a time kinda gal, if I get too many things in the works I get stressed, and that's no fun. Your PIPs look lovely so far!

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  13. i'm almost always a one project at a time girl... partially cuz i don't wanna re-thread my machines any more than i have to! but really, if i have more than one going nothing gets finished.

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  14. Girl, I commend you for being able to toggle between projects with such ease. Me? Non! I usually hover around two and it's usually a garment of some sort of a pair of intimates. Each one gives me a break from one another and time to think about what I just sewed and what the next construction step is.

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  15. All the things. All. of. them. Plus some extras. The PIPs situation around here is out of control, and there might even be some extraterrestrials lurking.

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    1. Word. All the pretty things! And their friends. Must. finish.something!!

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  16. All I know is that the 50s scalloped dress needs to be finished ~ NEEDS!

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  17. I've had a muslin of a pair of pants in my sewing room for the past 1 1/2! Every once in a while I pick it up, sigh, and put it back down. I have to really be in the mood to tackle pants. Having said that, I like to work on one project at a time so that I don't feel backlogged (never mind the pants).

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  18. I just encountered several while unpacking and stuffed them to the back of the closet where they belong.

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    1. Haha that's what I do... once they've sat still for a certain amount of time, they are condemned to be hidden forever!

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    2. hahahaha----those monsters in the closet! i'm a bit nervous to find what half finished fall duds i have when i break out the cold weather stuff...

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  19. I'm firmly in the one-at-a-time camp; only because I would loose what's left of my rapidly shrinking brain if I tried to tackle two things at once. I can't even get my mending done. There is no way I'd complete anything if I had more than one project going!! :O

    xox,
    bonita of Lavender & Twill

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  20. Just a few more categories from my sewing room: PhDs (Projects Half Done) PFAs (projects forgotten about) PIGS (Projects in a Grocery Sack)

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    1. "Projects in a grocery sack" made me laugh out loud!

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    2. i likes ALL of these. PhDs especially, we can all be overeducated sewists!

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  21. I don't like to have PIPs (it offends my OCD) but if i force myself to finish them after I've lost the creative flameage (because when it comes to projects I have the attention span of a fruit fly), they end up in a disastrous mess of uneven hems, half-assedness and sad times. I'd rather have a PIP than a wadder any day! ^__^

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  22. must sew allllll the things at once! or cut out the things and leave them in random piles until they get moved to the machine. i'm so pleased to adopt the term PIP :)

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  23. I REALLY dislike cutting things out, so when I've got something started I tend to finish it before having to cut something else out. I get why people cut multiple garments out in one sitting, I just can't stand to do it.

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    1. ooh cutting out multiples has recently become a favorite past time! tho i think it does fan the PIP flames...

      funny, i hate the last few steps of a project (hemming, etc)-- that point where you can see the finish line. that's almost always where i set it aside and let it chill for a week!

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  24. OMG we could be sisters on both the boredom and the deeply engrossed to utterly frustrated process. I too must have multiple projects. Boredom - yeah, I fear it. RAWR. I over pack 10 million projects for fear of being bored on a trip. Hi, I'm Gwen and I'm a nomad - I lug the world with me.

    And that deeply engrossed time until you want to light the damn thing on fire? That's what I've discovered is the "walk away" or "put it in a drawer for a year" time. My mom's the same way with her art. There are SO many things we make, don't know what the hell to do with it or hit a period of utter halt where... I HATE this THING! occurs. When we put it in a drawer or walk a way doing something entirely different, we dissipate the energy and frustration. The project just doesn't want to be completed now. It's not time. It's not ready. Some things we've come back to a year or so later and it's like MAGIC. It is now suddenly ready and perfect for XYZ new project. Some still remain blah or UFO status in which case they get tossed out. But there are LOTS of things we've discovered that need a shelf life. The world and us are not yet ready for them. So they force us to get frustrated and walk away or destroy them. As a kid, I was the one who threw my shit project across the room I was so pissed at it, then walked over and stomped on it and yelled at it. No one was hurt, save the fabric a little wrinkled. But I felt better. I actually didn't sew for a long time because I got that frustrated and would rather have more fun. This is why I do not do any beadwork... :) I leave that to my mom.

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    1. "No one was hurt, save the fabric a little wrinkled."

      HAHAHAHHAAAAAAAAA.

      i'm a big fan of walking away from a project if it's not working. i mean, i'll fight like hell to make it work, but if it really won't play, sometimes a year away will make it a winner. (or a sanity saving binner.)

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  25. I have reprogrammed myself! I'm only working on one and 1/2 at the time. I used to have three or four going on if I am sewing for the weekend wear too but I stopped that as well as sewing. So now that I am sewing again it is one project and the next one prepped(fabric washed and iron, pattern attached) but I will not cut it out until the other one is finished. That the only way I can do. :)

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  26. I want to see all of these PIP"S, which all look fabulous. I have one PIP in the garment world, with fabric stacked up high for 15 more garments (at least). Now quilting I have many PIP, but tend to start several but dedicate myself to finishing one. Have fun sewing.

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  27. MUST SEW ALL THE THINGS!!! I have a SCANDALOUS pile of UFOs. I can't even.

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  28. I like PIP instead of UFO! It's funny because as a sewer, I'm monogamous. As a knitter however, PIPs are a waaaaayyyyyy different story.

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  29. Mostly one at a time but occasionally I will get bored or frustrated with a project and put it aside and start something else. I have a coat project that has been unfinished and untouched for 3 or 4 years.

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  30. I went through a scary pile of UFOs/PIPs/piled up papers last week and have it down to one bag now. I realized that most of those unfinished things come from me panic sewing for a last-minute (self-imposed) deadline (like, say, cutting out a swimsuit the night before a vacation instead of packing), then when I can't meet the deadline, I'm irritated and leave it in a pile. Apparently I've done this multiple times- I'm embarrassed to admit that I found SIX different swimsuit pieces in varying states of unfinished-ness! Yiiiiiiiiiikes...

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  31. I have two unfinished projects. The are so painful to look at. Both of them suffer from fitting challenges that I hope I will learn how to correct. It's so difficult to overcome when you're trying to make that fitting adjustment and you just can't get it right. I usually have a 4 muslin limit! I'm at that limit with both of them. ha!

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    1. whoah. a 4 muslin limit?! that's not a limit, that's, i don't know, an infinite?

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  32. I go back and forth between a project hoarder and one project at a time. It really depends on how much space, time and not-at-work hours I have. Ohh, and how tolerant my roomie is being with my mess. :-P

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  33. I used to be so good about sticking to one project from start to finish, but that's before I accumulated the fabric stash I now have! Plus, with so many bloggers making cute garments, I get "shiny sparkly" syndrome and flit from one thing to the next that catches my eye. I'm getting better though...hah!

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  34. I am usually a one-project-at-a-time sewer — mostly to prevent utter messy chaos in my sewing area, which is in our foyer — the first thing you see when you enter our apartment. So if it's too insanely messy I get in a bad mood as soon as I come home. I need more doors in this place...

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  35. I just wrote a post about wips but I like the idea of pips so much better!! Well, I guess I have a few wips AND a few pips going on when you define them like that. I really love the embroidery work you've started on that floral! I can't wait to see that one finished :)

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    1. wips are fine, as long as your brain likes em! i'm excited about the floral, but as i get better at the stitching i keep ripping out my old work...

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  36. I'd like to think I'm a one project at a timer, but each one seems to take what feels like forever to complete. It's usually all fine until those last 15 minutes like you said! Then I just want to be done with it all. And in random news... did you know that pips are also the small metal pins used on Star Trek uniforms? I hadn't heard of the word before this week and now I've seen it twice! Madness.

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    1. ahhh! i bet i did somewhere in the back of my head, now i like pip EVEN MORE!

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  37. These are so pretty. I can't wait to see the finished.

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i thankya truly for taking the time to comment, i love a good conversation-- and hope you know my thanks are always implied, if not always written!