Up Sew Late

Last night, I left work early (early for tax season, anyway) and went to the HBLL for a showing of Union Pacific. The movie got out just before 10pm, and I went straight home, like I should.
I had a sewing project I really wanted to finish, so I went directly to the sewing room. (After the usual stuff, like hanging up my coat, putting my purse away, taking a bathroom break, etc.) I started an episode of "Secret Life..." on the Roku, and fiddled with a knitting project for a bit before telling myself that I could knit anywhere, but I could only sew, on the sewing machine, right where I was. I put the knitting away, and turned to the machine to work on my deep-red faux-suede jacket (V9923) (the matching skirt (M2129) is already finished).

I kept working at it, plugging away, putting the facing on (nearly the entire outer edge is faced), grading the seam allowance, clipping the curves, trimming the corners, and finally understitching that whole entire facing.

This took me a couple episodes.

(I think I know why so many of us make skirts - compared to a shirt, jacket, or pants, they take almost no work at all. Even a basic t-shirt has 4 pieces: front, back, 2 sleeves. But a skirt can be made with just two, total: front and back.)

I almost stopped there, but the current episode wasn't over, so I kept going.

(There's supposed to be top-stitching all the way around the jacket, but I'm undecided on this look, so I leave it for now.)

I put the gathering stitches on the sleeve cap (for easing, really, but the stitching is the same), stitched up the sleeve seams, serged those, folded up the hem, and tried them on.

Should have put them on before serging. These sleeves are meant to be a slim fit, in a moderate stretch knit, which my faux-suede barely manages, and I knew that.

I re-stitch the seam, letting them out as much as possible, which isn't much, due to the fact that I already serged them and trimmed the excess in the process. It's enough, thank heaven, so I hem the sleeves, and prepare to put them into the bodice (bodice portions were sewn together earlier in the week, hence my beginning with the facings last night).
This takes a while, because I want the easing on the sleeve cap to be even, and end up smooth, no puckers. I have a trick for this, but it still requires a little attention. I take my time, slipping the jacket on after each sleeve, just to be sure it's looking right. It looks great, so I serge the armscye on both.
Since I hemmed the sleeves before putting them in, the only thing left is top-stitching on the jacket.

I keep watching "Secret Life..." episodes this whole time, because I need that sort of distraction while I sew.

I decide that yes, I like the top-stitched look for this, so I start on that. It says to do one at 3/8" and another at 1/2", but I decide to do 5/8" and 3/8" instead. This takes just about forever, going around the entire outer edge of the jacket. (I should measure that, so you get the idea.)

Finally, after about 6 episodes, I'm done. But the current episode isn't, and I'm not feeling sleepy yet, so I get out the pieces for the Seed Packet shirt, and proceed to cut out the cuffs, plackets, and the interfacing for the cuffs. I mark the buttonholes and iron on the interfacing just as the episode ends, which I take as a sign that it's time for bed.

I clean up and turn everything off. As I walk through the kitchen on my way to bed, I glance at the digital clock on the stove, glowing green in the darkness. And I stop dead still.

It's 4:44 AM.