Fiber Monday - Overly ambitious plans

Over the weekend I decided I wanted to spin something pretty, so I dug through my fiber stash and pulled out a couple of merino/silk dyed braids that I got a while back. I didn't really have a plan for them, so was a bit unsure what kind of yarn I wanted to spin. This particular fiber seemed to want to spin on the fine side, so I decided to do that. I could always make it a bit thicker by playing. 

As I was spinning, I realized that the color of the braid was reminding me of some yarn I picked up at a thrift store several years ago. There was a lot of it, and I thought it might make a decent warp for... something. It was fairly thin and had a soft drape to it. 

This is where the rather outlandish idea began. What if I used the thrift store yarn for the warp and kept my new project as singles and used them for weft. They were about the sand diameter as I was spinning, so it could make a lovely twill fabric. 

I have a lot of the yarn and I have eight ounces of the fiber (which will make a lot of singles). I could feasibly end up with five or six yards of fabric at least. Which brings me to the next evolution of my outrageous idea. What if I used the fabric to make a dress for myself for B.'s wedding? It would save me from having to shop for one. 

So to make this work, I would need to have the fabric woven by the beginning of summer. I want to see what it looks and feels like before trying to figure out a pattern. Then I would need to spend some time really getting the pattern fit perfected before sewing into the hand woven fabric. 

Spinning the yarn is easy. Actually weaving the cloth is also fairly easy, just a bit time consuming. Sewing the dress once I have the pattern sorted is also pretty simple. The biggest hurdle to my mind is getting a pattern to fit well. It's the part of sewing I like the least and the biggest reason I don't do more sewing for myself. It's just so much easier to fit another person. 

So that's my plan, but I have given myself permission to jump ship at any point. The P. Family mom is all set to go dress shopping with me if it comes to that. 

Here are what the various components look like at the moment.

This singles on the spinning wheel.

Here is what the unspun fiber looks like. It's various shades of green and blue.

That picture above is just four ounces. Here is the other four ounce braid. 

This is the thrift store yarn. The yarn on the left is a little more green than in the photo, and both of them have a lot of metallic thread running through them.