Etsy and Pattern Textbook

I opened my Etsy shop.  I actually started an etsy account quite a while back planning to make quilts and other items but never got around to it.  It probably wasn't that good an idea to try to do this when Darth baby was a newborn and the bear cub was just starting school.  Now is a better time.  So far I only have two of the reversible bags that I made as teacher appreciation gifts up.  I chose these bags because I have gotten so many comments on them when people see them.  When delivering one to the nerdlet's speech therapist I actually had multiple teachers ask to buy the bag off of me before the teacher came to get the nerdlet for her session.  I figured that was probably a sign.  Also, I've been using my dragon one to cart library and other books around and I know that it probably is sturdy enough to regularly cart around 30 pounds.  I plan on adding Star Wars and Star Trek bags up before the end of the week.

The other thing I've been doing is reading through my new drafting textbook, Building Patterns The Architecture of Woman's Clothing, which I got through Apparel Arts.  Shams of Communing with Fabric posted recently about having wanted this book for a while and discovering that it was being reprinted.  I read through her post and very quickly ordered my own copy.  Her post is here.

The first chapter is pretty basic and just outlines what you need to start.  The second chapter is on skirts.  It starts with proper measurements and then goes into detail on how to take those measurements and turn them into first a basic blocker and then go from that to various designs of skirt.  I went ahead and tried as best I could to take my measurements as listed.  Then after you have your measurements, it has you add ease and calculate the skirt pattern measurements.  I'm a little skeptical that this is going to work for me as it is assuming that as you gain weight that you do so rather evenly across the front and back with only slightly more in front and that you mostly get wider instead of deeper, neither of which I think is as true for me as the average person.  I plan on following the instructions as read and then adjusting from there.  I'm actually really excited to follow through with this.  For quite some time, I sort of feel that even with trying new things, they aren't really new enough for me to feel like my sewing is moving drastically forward.  I'm hoping that this will give me the jump in knowledge and ability that I'm looking for.  I have flipped through the entire book and I do feel like it's a good investment and will add to what I do, even if I don't glean as much from it as I'm hoping.

Anyone planning on watching this season of Project Runway starting this Thursday?