Remember Water Cooler Chats?

My subconscious obviously knew my somber-hued mood wouldn't last forever, and with a great amount of foresight, chose this FANTABULOUS TECHNICOLOR PALM TREE BIG CAT IN THE JUNGLE PRINT. I have been LIVING in this longline sweatshirt slash turtleneck since I whipped it up a couple weeks back. And I do mean whipped it up, in an absolute frenzy of sewing, brought on by two fully filmed, fully BOTCHED, attempts at a coffee video tutorial. The sound engineer, she was *not* on her A-game. In fact, I'm in the middle of editing our third attempt at bringing Rob's black gold to the masses, so I'm just here for a hot second.

Side hustles notwithstanding, have you noticed that working from home means you're ALWAYS AT THE OFFICE? And the boss can't tell you're on lunch, or your pipes are frozen, or your kids are starting a dumpster fire (I'd be the kid in that situation). 

Hey. Let's take a quick coffee break together: we're out back in the employee parking lot, jackets on, but I'm just stomping around in this here sweatshirt thingamajig. Extremely caffeinated. Assuring everyone that I am totally warm enough, encased in the softest organic fleece ever...

George asks me where I got it, to which I reply I MADE IT (George is new to the office, I love new hires, they haven't been bombarded by my coffee break sewing yammering yet). His eyes widen, maybe from the newly acquired information, maybe from the volume at which I have given him the newly acquired information.

I tell him all about how I DIDN'T NEED NO STINKING RIBBING!!!!! I used the fashion fabric to attach bands at the hem, and at the cuffs! (Blinking, he wonders what "ribbing" is.)

 

And then Delilah from accounting says, LIKE SHE ALWAYS DOES, When are you making me one? And I laugh and laugh, and as usual she doesn't get that my laughter does not mean what she thinks it means, and yeah, eventually I'm going to have to tell her my rates so she can get offended and avoid me at conference room birthdays, it's inevitable.  

But y'all, I assure, when a few of the folks from HR say they wish they could sew...Y'all! You can totally make something like this, you really can (I've said this maybe a thousand times, much like Delilah, I'm hard-headed). I didn't even use a pattern for this! For real! I've got a video on it. 

Some eyes roll a little bit...they know allllllll about my YouTube channel that I mess around with on the weekends. A few of them watch the videos and laugh, a few of them never watch the videos, and laugh. The few of us that count sewing as a superpower give each other a knowing look, and make a mental note to gab WAY more about what handmade goodness we're wearing today, when we go out for margaritas later. 

So, my homebound office mates, there's ten minutes of warp speed, music video sewing up on the channel, if you want to see me make this from stitch to finish. It's copied from an old, worn-out RTW cropped sweatshirt. No instruction...purely for inspiration!

And, laughs.

Okay, break's over. I'm off to record a voiceover audition, upload a self-tape, edit an article, and get on that coffee video. I hope you're safe and warm, wherever you are, and taking a break when you need one.

I immediately turned my honorarium into fabric when I collaborated with The Fabric Godmother for my last post. I've got three decidedly neon animal prints to play with--well, two, now that I've sewn up every bit of this bad boy, which sadly is out of stock, or I'd buy it all. Might have a scrap or two for a headband. MAYBE A MINI TURBAN!!!