SABLE? Try SAALE!!!

If SABLE is Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy SAALE means, of course, Stash Accumulation Affecting Life Expectancy.

I got my first stash-related injury over the weekend. I needed to add more shelves to my stash shelving unit. It's one of these modular Ikea systems (Stolmen; I recommend it for its flexibility), and to make room for more shelves (which I had already purchased) I needed to move the existing shelves around. Rather than do the smart thing and take everything apart, I figured I could just shimmy the shelves up and down while still fully loaded. Um, no. It was incredibly difficult and frustrating because as soon as I'd shimmy one side up and go for the other, the first one would fall down.

Then I was trying to loosen some screws using two allen wrenches. One of the wrenches came out of the hole in one of the screws and I'd obviously been exerting a lot of force on it because this sudden change caused me to fly forward, slamming my forehead directly into the corner of a shelf. It hurt so much that I sat there for a minute trying to decide if I wanted to cry. I have an incredibly high pain tolerance and haven't cried over a physical injury since I was a child, including when I had surgery in a delicate place and was sent home without painkillers and (because of various circumstances) I was five hours post-op by the time I finally got some. That's how much it hurt. I had a huge goose egg on my forehead, which has luckily subsided, plus two marks that look like giant zits, which have not, underlaid by a very faint sheen of chartreuse.

I still didn't learn my lesson from this. The next shelf I actually took all the fabric off it, but I still didn't want to take it apart. I couldn't budge the height, no matter how much I loosened the connectors. So I decided to exert some force on it. I got my shoulders up under it and pushed up as hard as I could. I managed to break the shelf.

After this, I grudgingly admitted that I had to take the darn thing apart, plus I had to go to Ikea for another shelf. Oy.

Let this be a warning to those for whom there is still stashing hope!

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And speaking of stashing, there is no hope for me. When I went to Goodwill several weeks ago for my striped sweater, my eye was caught by an adorable bright blue houndstooth suit, which turned out to be from United Colors of Benneton and had been very well cared for and was my size. Or so I thought. The jacket fits great, but the size 38 skirt fits approximately half of my right thigh. I'm a BWOF size 38 (as near as I can tell) on the bottom, so I don't know what kind of crazy sizing those Italians use. I figured I would try to save the skirt with tuxedo stripes down the sides, giving me an extra five inches or so, but wanted enough fabric to make a whole 'nother skirt if that failed.

On the day I bought my serger I metroed out to Pentagon City with my old lady cart to get the serger, went to Trader Joe's for groceries, and then headed over to Exquisite Fabrics to try to match the fabric. Exquisite is having an inventory reduction sale--50% off most fabric--in preparation for its move to The Shops at Georgetown in January (I've updated my DC Fabric Resources post to reflect this); this brings their prices from stratospheric into about what I would expect to pay for fabric of that quality in the NYC garment district. And, behold! I found the absolutely *perfect* shade of blue wool to go with the suit.



Burying the lead here, I'm going on a last minute work trip to Paris--leaving Saturday!--and I'm using the same wardrobe concept I used for Germany. For that trip I had one suit and four dresses that matched the jacket. I wore the traditional suit on the day on which I had the most formal responsibilities and dresses with the suit jacket the other days. Paris is only two days so I'll wear the jacket with a skirt of the blue wool from Simplicity 5914 one day, and a dress the other (one of the same dresses that went with me to Germany, one of many many many items I have not yet photographed, a Vogue assymetric hem mock wrap knit dress that is so old it's not even on the website under out of print patterns anymore).




I *love* Simplicity 5914; this will be my third version of it. I made it in the boucle at left for my black and pink wardrobe to Italy five years ago as well as the pink version with the ruffle back I showed a couple weeks ago. I also have one in a black rayon with tiny subtle metallic pinstripes that's a perfect basic. I have the blue wool cut out, including lining--I just have to find time to make it before Saturday.





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So I think the above wool was an excusable purchase. The suit was an amazing $11 and I really do need more professional clothes. My G Street $2.97 table purchases of Saturday are not excusable.



I love the colors and print of the jersey on the left. It made me think of my Vogue 2787 vintage S-curve dress, but the print is really large. I haven't decided on a project for that.

The plaid jersey is a nice heavy weight for a dress. No pattern chosen yet, though I'm hoping to wrangle the April issue of Knip Mode from Cidell long enough to trace out the top that Melissa keeps making me jealous with. Not sure if it will be suitable for plaid, though. Suggestions? I never have enough knit dress patterns.

And the blue is because I love lace and I love all shades of aqua. And I have no plans for it either.

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I am not supposed to be purchasing fabric for which I have no plans. I've been good--since being gifted with The Carol Collection this is the first fabric I've bought. I need to continue to do well. However, pretty much as soon as I get back from Paris I'm heading to Philly with Cidell to meet up with Karen et al. I need to make sure jet lag doesn't sap my will power!