taking care of number one

This month's challenge over at Gypsy Road is "taking care of number one"- making something for yourself! As the month rolls to a close, I ended up making myself a few things!

When the challenge was first posted I thought it would be the perfect motivation to get that pattern drafted for a dress for myself and my growing to be ginormous belly. I did end up making the dress, but something about it just isn't thrilling me. I whipped it up- literally, i went down and dirty with the stitching of this one- of course, that's almost always the case when i make stuff for myself, can't bear to spend the extra time to put out quality like I do with the stuff i sell, go figure! I've worn it knocking around the house, but probably won't wear it anywhere else. Here's a peek at the dress in my SPW for this week over on flickr....

I did however make two things that I'm really diggin' for myself! The first is an insulated Nalgene water bottle sling. I was thinking along the lines of items to sell at festivals, and decided I would keep the prototype for myself. I love it! It's made out of hemp and I added insulating batting (found this at Joann Fabrics) to help keep the beverage the temp I wanted it to be (cold in the summer, either hot or keep it from freezing in the winter). I've already used it a handful of times this month, turns out it's PERFECT for my hikes! No more awkwardly holding my bottle of water, just toss it in this sling! I decided it would be absolutely perfect if I added a keychain ring somewhere so I could attach my keys too for the days I'm without pockets.

The second thing I'm loving is this pair of soy/organic cotton micro terry wide legged pants I made myself last night. Yesterday afternoon I wasn't feeling like sewing, so I decided to keep with my goal of productivity, to dye up some fabric. I busted out the soy/organic terry/lycra micro terry I bought the end of December- this stuff is great! super buttery soft and the perfect weight/drape for some super comfy pants! And I've added a new color to my favorite dye colors- this one is Dharma's Palomino Gold, but I call it Golden Wheat :) My plans for these pants were a two in one- finish up the pattern for the eco line I want to start on my etsy shop (started!) and make myself a pair of comfy pants for my prenatal yoga class (started!). To my delight they worked out perfectly for both!

I'm really excited to finally get some ideas out into the works..... I've been planning the eco line for etsy since the end of summer- and just now getting the first two pieces into my shop. I had other plans for it, but I realized I wasn't getting anywhere with them so I should just go for it and make modifications as I go. Hopefully sometime this coming month I can take the pictures I want to take for this line and get a few more pieces added to the collection- pieces that I already have the patterns drafted for and samples made but can't model them myself b/c they're tops and look kind of funny with my protruding stomach. My hopes for this line is to reach a somewhat steady income for when the baby arrives and I'll be out of work from the day job for atleast a few months. We'll see how that goes but for right now I'm feeling good that I got part of that goal started.