The Project At Hand

My sophomore year in college I somewhat randomly ended up working for my school's drama department in the costume shop. I'm not really sure what made me apply in the first place. The first time I walked in there on some errand, something about the place just made me feel at peace. Perhaps it was the spindle of postcards decorated with costume pictures dangling above the work table, or maybe it was the small yet formidable army of mannequins huddled in the corner. At any rate, I immediately decided I wanted to apply for a job there even though I had virtually no sewing experience (since middle school Home Ec. doesn't count) and for some bizarre reason they hired me.
It turns out that I love to sew, drape, draft, what have you. I love it so much, in fact, that I would certainly not be opposed to working professionally as a dressmaker or draper or even *gasp* a designer. However, I've been informed that had I wanted to sew for a living, I should have attended FIT...and since I haven't (and because my parents have spent a hefty sum on higher education for the past four years) I must search for an office-type career that has little if anything to do with sewing. On the plus side, an office job would hopefully come with a salary that would enable me to purchase fabrics (and perhaps even a mannequin!) so that I might, in my spare time, sew to my heart's content. This way at least I get to execute my own designs.
Anyway, I'm setting a goal here. I intend to design and build a thousand (1-0-0-0) dresses. There's no deadline, since some dresses will naturally take longer than others...and who knows what I'll come up with. (For all I know, we could end up with a slew of wedding gowns with enormous trains.) And I will use this blog to detail the processes that go into this endeavor from start to finish.
And by the end of this effort, I will have more dresses than I'll know what to do with...

My workspace: Uhm, for the most part we're going to be cutting on the carpet and trying to clear off space on a very crowded desk for the machine...for now, at least.

The machine: A 2009 Janome DC 3050 named Johnny. As in Weir.

No mannequin, no serger, limited access to fabric, very limited funding. This ought to be an experience.