summer sewing daydreams

Well, here we are...about 2 1/2 weeks before my due date. Sadly, I've reached the point where it's just too physically difficult for me to start any new sewing projects, other than the hand-stitching I've been doing on a second quiet book. (Thanks for all the kind words on the last one, by the way! It was fun.) Between my back refusing to let me sit comfortably anywhere for longer than 5 minutes, and my belly getting in the way of both the sewing machine table and my ability to get the leverage needed to work the foot pedal, I've just had to accept that I'm just going to have to wait and see what sort of time I can carve out to delve back into this with a newborn. I have managed to finish a couple of things this month, which I'll show soon. But I'm coping in the meantime by playing around with pairing patterns and fabrics in my stash to figure out some potential projects that will be forgiving of the changes in my figure that will still be happening/easy to adapt to my new lifestyle of mostly stay-at-home mom. I do plan on picking up the music/sewing lessons I teach again, hopefully around mid-to-late August. So teaching-friendly clothes are ok, and I don't have to do all yoga pants. I don't even own a pattern for yoga pants, anyway. So there's good incentive to not even go there!

(Honestly, I've managed to stay within the recommended range for pregnancy weight gain, even though it sounds like Hobbit is going to be a bigger baby than I'd expected--not a 9-10 pounder, thank God, but still bigger than either of us or our siblings. I guess all that nausea has been good for something after all! So I'm hoping that means that maybe all of those Thurlow pants will fit again this fall, since I didn't have to give them up until almost the second trimester. That would help sooo much.)

Anyway, here's some of the potential ideas I've been bouncing around:

1. Megan Nielsen Darling Ranges dress. This one is at the top of the list, honestly. I've had this pattern/fabric combo bagged up with notions for about 2 years now, with the intention of sewing it for the summer-to-fall transition. But other projects kept getting in the way. I still really like this rayon challis print, though, and I'd like to see it become something. The bonus is that there's so many colors to pick from in the print that it'll be easy to adapt to fall layering with boots and leggings. Plus, it'll go great with the next cardigan I plan to make for myself, whenever I finish the quiet book and can get back to knitting instead of hand-stitching! The gathered/tie back waist should make it forgiving for whatever's going on with my waistline, and the button front means it'll be great for nursing.  I am thinking that maybe I should wearable-muslin this first, since I do have some bedsheets in the muslin bin with a similar drape to this fabric, and my bust measurement is already a whopping 5" bigger than it used to be! (Good thing I hadn't traced this one out yet, right?)

2. Sewaholic Rae skirt. I bought this one kind of on a whim during one of her past sales, since it looked like it would be a more flattering fast skirt to sew than some of the older patterns that I had. I've never made it, but elastic waists are sounding pretty good right now, since they'll be a little more adjustable as I lose some of these pounds I've put on. Also, I could use some bottomwear, since I have basically zero shorts that will fit me this summer, other than a couple of elastic-waisted pairs I picked up at the thrift store recently that I'm just hoping will fit--not like I could try them on to see. I'm also not sure how many of my skirts I'll be able to squeeze into, or how quickly. That's what I get for generally preferring the fitted waist aesthetic, right? I probably won't do quite this many, but here's a couple of things I found in the stash that might work. (If I combine the black linen-looking stuff and the camel linen, at least-- I don't really have enough of either to make anything, since they're both leftover pieces, but have been thinking for awhile that they might pair nicely.)

3. Seamwork Adelaide dress. I was really excited to see this one in the current issue, because it looks like it'll be a really forgiving make as far as sizing goes, though still a little more flattering because of the belt. And, again, it's a really nursing-friendly option. I do have a pattern subscription at the moment, so the pattern is safely downloaded and awaiting printing. I'm thinking maybe this twill for it--it was given to me for free and I have quite a bit of it, so it's not a huge loss if the pattern doesn't work for me. My one debate is whether to hunt down those snaps, or to just use buttons, since I do have a lot of buttons. Particularly, I have these sparkly red ones that I got to make a Beignet skirt that never happened--I later ended up deciding that a red skirt isn't really something I'd use much, and swapped the fabric--and I think that and maybe some red topstitching could provide some much-needed interest to this otherwise rather boring fabric. Thoughts?

4. Grainline Archer blouse. I've had this pattern, and this Japanese linen fabric that I specifically bought for it, for about a year and a half now. And since this is a looser shirt by nature, I probably won't have to size it up quite as much as I would other patterns. Which will make it more forgiving for (hopeful) weight loss, too! The pattern is printed, but I do need to assemble it.



5. Colette Mabel skirt. Another pattern I own/have printed, but haven't tried yet. It's not like I haven't gotten plenty of practice sewing knits lately, but I do have a couple of interlock jerseys from Joann's that are a little on the thick side for tops (I know, because I've used them for a couple of tops), so this could be a good candidate for fast, easy bottomwear. This color is the only one I have that's large enough by itself, but I do have some brown as well that might work if I pair it with something else. Or just buy a little more fabric. I bet Joann's still has it.

6. A nursing top or two. I think I could make one pretty quickly from Simplicity 1469, since I've already used that one and I have some knits that would work well together for a sleeveless version. (I just might want to reduce the width of the back a little, since I won't have to make it quite so maternity.) I've been advised by a couple of helpful sewcialists that the smaller nursing openings will probably work better than I thought, so thank you for that tip! Another option is to play around with altering one of my more basic knit top patterns. I'm thinking maybe the Deer & Doe Plantain to start, since I won't have to worry about the waist sizing, given that it fit me as it was until probably month 6! Also, Heather was kind enough to pull out some of her old nursing tops awhile back and Instagram a few pictures for me so I could get some ideas, and the Plantain looked like a very good candidate for some similar hacking. (Thanks, Heather!)

Other possibilities already in my stash for maybe a little more down the road, when I have a better idea of sizing...Some, but not all, pictured here: a nursing-hacked Renfrew, the Granville blouse, the Yaletown blouse, the Maria Denmark Edith dress/blouse, the Espresso leggings (because I've decided I like leggings for layering under skirts, and definitely not because I've decided I like leggings as pants!), this random Simplicity shirtdress that I forgot I had, Butterick 5084 looks like it would be fairly easy to hack for nursing based on tutorials I've seen, and I could possibly adapt Butterick 5206 to be a real wrap top instead of a faux wrap top. I've been wanting to revisit that pattern for awhile anyway, and I think one of my Paris fabrics could be perfect for it!

I'm trying to look at this as more of a list of ideas, and not an actual project list. After all, I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to sew anything, especially if I can only grab 10-15 minutes here and there. It's hard to predict, without knowing how well this baby will nap and things like that. I know I'm prone to overly ambitious lists of what I think I can get done in any given season, and I don't want to put myself in a position where I'm frustrated about how little I'm finishing when I'm already going to be sleep-deprived and trying to learn a whole new skill set to enable tiny human survival. At the same time, Future Zombie Me will probably benefit from having a more narrowed-down list of possibilities for when I do have some time here and there to work on something. It's going to be hard for me to not have a concrete list of plans, but hopefully I'll be able to adapt and go with the flow a little more for now.

Have you ever had a season where you knew sewing time was going to be a rare commodity, or you were going to have some serious measurement changes? How did you deal?

So who wants to swap some stuff?

Andrea, Gail, and Morgan-- the masterminds behind the Stash Diet-- have come up with another fun stashbusting idea. In the interest of decluttering, they're hosting a Spring Cleaning Swap Meet! I'm also in a mood to spring clean and declutter some. My husband and I spent several hours last night cleaning about half of our house--ok, he cleaned about half the house, all I did was the kitchen and the living room windows. That kitchen took forever! Though in my defense, it was a really deep clean. And we still have more cleaning to do today.  Anyway. So I dug through my stash and found a whole stack of patterns that I'm ok with parting with. Honestly, these are just the never-been-used ones, so I'm going to have to go through again and figure out which patterns I've tried that just aren't for me.

I'll ship these pretty much anywhere, though if it's outside of North America, I wouldn't mind if you're willing to chip in on shipping costs. I'm also going to keep it simple this time and say first come, first served. So here's what's up for grabs. (The two with the glasses are pictures that I didn't realize duplicated in the collage until after it was already on Flickr, and I'm too lazy to redo it.) And since I probably won't be able to get these out right away, let's say I'll leave this open till April 1.

1. Simplicity #2700, sizes 14-22. They're pretty similar to the Thurlows, and I know that one works for me.
2. J. Stern Designs #37 Women's Jeans, sizes 12W-24W. Generously given to me by the designer when I took her class on Pattern Review twice, because I was having so much trouble with fitting, along with the Misses size. I'm keeping that one for myself, but would love to see this one go to someone who can use it.   TAKEN by Linda.
3. Vogue #8781, sizes 8-16. Just too corporate for my lifestyle.
4. New Look #6977, sizes 6-16. For knits. I kind of feel like I'm too old for this one for some reason. TAKEN by Paskiaq.
5. Simplicity #4220, sizes 8-16. I bought this mainly for the top, but I have other similar things. TAKEN by Dottie.
6. Simplicity #2369, sizes 8-16. For knits. Also bought for the top, which I'm no longer feeling.
7. Simplicity #2344, sizes 10-18. I liked the jacket, but I have tons of jacket patterns that interest me more for now. The top is a knit, the rest are woven.
8. McCall's #5105, sizes X-Small-Medium. I have TNT top patterns that pretty much cover these silhouettes.
9. Simplicity #1915, sizes 6-14. I thought the waist casing would be enough fitting for my taste, but the Wardrobe Architect project has changed my mind.
10. Simplicity #1910, sizes 6-14. Bought as a possibility for the skirt of my wedding dress, but I didn't use it.
11. Butterick #5212, sizes 8-14. A bit more low-cut than I'm comfortable with.
12. Simplicity #3559, sizes 6-14. So cute, and totally wrong for me. I've learned the hard way that sheath dresses don't work on me at all.  TAKEN via Flickr by Frau Sma.
13. Simplicity #7090, sizes 12-18. Not feeling it anymore, but a teenager learning to sew might love it. TAKEN by Becky
14. Vogue #8099, one size. I don't even know how I got this pattern--probably something my mom was destashing herself.
15. Simplicity #4543, sizes 8-14. I've also learned the hard way that skirts with wide yokes don't work on me at all, either. TAKEN by Becky
16. Simplicity #2416, sizes 10-18. I was looking for a good maxi-skirt pattern, I still think the seaming is interesting, but I'm highly unlikely to make it now that I have the Gabriola skirt.

I have one other thing I can offer up, too, though due to bulk, I'll have to limit this one to the US.

Some time ago, when I first started knitting, I snagged a couple of sweaters at the thrift store and unraveled them as part of an experiment to see how much, if any, wool I can handle. You can see the original sweaters here. The offwhite one got trashed, the grey is currently being knit into my Roheline cardigan, and this is the greenish one. I was going to attempt to do something with it, but it seems that even tiny percentages of wool and myself don't get along, because my hands were still feeling prickly from handling this long enough to take a photo for Twitter, about an hour later. So here's the details:

• Yes, I washed this sweater before I frogged it.
• If I estimated right, based on the measurements on my swift and wpi, there's approximately 1475 yards in a sport-weight. Though the plys seem to want to loosen up quite a bit, so it might be better off doubled for actually knitting. 
• Divided into 12 skeins of various sizes, based on how the sweater was unraveling.
• Original sweater gauge is 4x4” square = 20 stitches, 28 rows in stockinette. 
• Fiber content is 74% polyester, 11% mohair, 7% acrylic and 8% wool.

It's a pretty color scheme of olive, pale yellow, blue and a darker green and brown all twisted together, and I really wish that my skin could handle it. If no one wants it, I'll just toss it or donate it back to the thrift store-- no harm done, since I only paid $3.50 for all of this yarn.
 

The Gabriola Skirt!

Can I just say how hard it's been to keep this a secret? I've had this skirt done since December, but waited to post it till now, because I was one of the lucky ladies selected to test Tasia's latest Sewaholic pattern! It just came out today, so go check it out!

This is the Gabriola skirt. I was super-excited when I got the email calling for testers when I read that she was designing a maxi skirt, and even more excited when I got selected! I love a good maxi.

Aside from one incident where I accidentally cut one of the yoke pieces the wrong way, this came together really nicely. I love the interest that the diagonal yoke seaming adds to the hip area, and it's so swishy!

Of course I had to do the contrast version. The hardest part for me was choosing the fabric. This uses a lot of fabric, so I didn't have anything in the stash that came remotely close to having enough yardage. (Or so I thought--after I finished this and was cleaning out the sewing room at the end of the year, I found something like 6 yards of a lightweight teal satin! Oh well. I guess I'll just have to make another one!)



I told my mom about this opportunity, and when I showed her the design lines, she suggested that a leather-looking yoke would be really cool. I completely agreed, and I kind of had my heart set on that idea. Since I was short on time, I had to go to Joann's, and figured I could just go for one of their silky prints along with something leathery. And it figures, this was the one time where they really didn't have a big selection of silky prints! I guess I went right between clearing out the fall/winter stuff and getting the spring stuff in. I did manage to find a suedecloth that looked very much like leather, which is even still hand-washable! And for the rest of the skirt, the best option ended up being this print.

Guess I sort of did Jungle January after all! Just in December. I'm really not that big into animal prints, but this one was subtle enough that it worked for me. Plus the color scheme is right up my alley--browns, olive greens and orange? Totally in my palette. Most of the challenges I had in putting this skirt together came from trying to mix the two fabrics, so there's a few wrinkles in the yoke that wouldn't have been there otherwise. But aside from needing to take a wedge out of the back seam, this one fit me pretty much right out of the envelope.

The most challenging thing for me right now is figuring out what tops to wear with it! After all, I don't often tuck a top into a skirt. I tried it for the initial photos I sent back to Tasia, so she could see the waistband and yoke clearly. In the interest of, um, science? here's one of those photos...this was the best shirt option I had, and it was not working. At. All. (It probably doesn't help that the waistband gaps away from me a little bit, which is completely the fault of the fabric. It's not really that stiff, but it's stiff enough compared to the print that it didn't really mold to my waist well.) So since I've been playing around with the Wardrobe Architect challenge anyway, I decided to throw a few different top options on and see what silhouettes would work. The first one was the green top in the above photo, which didn't really have a good cut for this skirt. But I did find a few other options, complete with photobombing dogs...






For one look, I embraced my geeky side and threw on my Firefly t-shirt. You can only see part of the yoke in this, but it's a very fitted t-shirt, which makes it work pretty well! If I really wanted to go all the way with this look, I'd probably swap out the flats for my brown sneakers or something.
















A more summery option would be to embrace the flowiness and throw on a looser top. This one (my "French Vanilla" top) has waist fitting, so it worked a lot better than many other tops would have.


















I wanted to come up with a more wintery look, too, so I threw it on with a more fitted white top and my orange cardigan. I guess the key to the tucked in look for me is to have a layer that isn't! I feel very teachery in this. Which I guess isn't a bad thing for days that I'm teaching, right?












And just for fun, here's an outtake from the photoshoot: proof that those other pictures really were as good as it got!
I really enjoyed getting to be a part of the testing process for this! So go check out Tasia's versions--and I'm sure there will be lots of lovely things popping up soon from the other testers! I definitely plan on making this again at some point! (Along with maybe a few other tops to go with...though I guess I had more than I thought!)

The circle is complete

First off, regarding Me-Made-May '13: I've decided to sit this one out this time, due to a trifecta of cons: The only new me-made things added to my wardrobe since last year are two dresses, a tank top, and a pair of jeans (and, you know, a wedding dress that took up 9 months of my life) so I'd basically be wearing exactly the same things as last year. I can't wear me-mades for the retail job that tends to suck up 6 days a week this time of year, and have been getting out too late and too rushed to have time to take photos when I change to teach my music lessons. (Or, on Saturdays, to go lie on the couch and watch tv when I'm dead tired from 10-hour shifts on my feet.) And since it's the last month before the wedding, adding daily photos to the mix is probably not an additional stress factor that I should put on myself. Honestly, I'd rather focus what free time I can squeeze in on actually sewing! So hopefully I can jump in again next year, after I've had some time to make fresh new items and make things more interesting for all involved.
So, today's story: yesterday after work, and before and after some teaching, I decided to cut some things out so I can actually start sewing new things again! So I cut out the lining and interfacing for my fiance's wedding tie, and pinned the pattern on the main fabric. (I did not cut that, because my videographer brother wants to get some footage of tie-making too, so I figured that would be the part he'd want to do.) I cut out a tank top from a piece of solid colored knit that had been in my stash for awhile. Unless I can figure out the embellishment I'm seeing in my head, I'm afraid this one will be rather boring. But I can probably sew it together in an evening, 2 at most, and after The One Dress, that's what I need.

The third and final thing I wanted to cut out was from a piece of this white crinkle gauzy stuff that I think is probably cotton. I'm not 100% sure, because it falls into the category of "fabric I got for free because people who don't know sewing and were decluttering gave it to my mom to make quilts". After seeing Steph's crinkle woven linen version of the Pavlova top, I'd thought to try out something like that, so I can use it as a lightweight jacket/sun protection layer for my honeymoon. (We're going to Jamaica. I'm of Irish/Scottish/English/German decent and a quasi-natural redhead. That's right, I can burn in 15 minutes!) So I laid the fabric out...and discovered that I was really short on fabric. Like, the entire wrap tie short. Guess I should have seen it coming, since my fabric was only about 45" wide, but of course I didn't check that now!

So, I tweeted about my conundrum, since I'd already had my laptop out so I could watch the first two episodes of The Great British Sewing Bee while I worked, and went back to the drawing board. I didn't think to check my Burda magazines, honestly, but I already had my box with shirt patterns down, so I rummaged through to see what I could find.

Candidate #1: New Look 6922, which I bought several years ago but haven't actually used yet. I thought the short-sleeved cardigan was potentially cute, so I started pulling the pieces out to see what I could do. And I realized that the shawl collar on such sheer fabric was going to look terrible, and it looked like I didn't have quite enough fabric to really do that, either. So I put it back and kept looking. (Incidentally, I think I will have to revisit this, because I still think that short-sleeved cardigan looks very potentially cute!)









So I put that away, and pulled out New Look 6405. Which I did make once, years ago, but that particular top is no longer in my wardrobe because both the body and the long sleeves were too short for my comfort. (I still think the style is cute, though, so this one may also need revisiting. Maybe using my Renfrew as a fit check of sorts.) My thought was that I could take that crossover piece on the red shirt, double it, and then draft a wrap tie to make something similar to the Pavlova. I even went so far as to draw out the piece, though I realized partway through it that the crinkles would be running the opposite direction on the ties than on the front and back of the shirt. It was the only way it would fit.

Somewhere close to the end of this, I got a tweet back from Steph herself, suggesting that I just leave the ties off and draft it as a drapey-front cardi. (This is high on the list of why I'm becoming a total indie pattern snob--the ability to communicate directly with the designer!) So I put away the third pattern and went back to my original pattern. And it looked like I had just enough fabric for it to work! I did end up retracing the pieces, and made a few changes--I lengthened the front side seam to match up with the "muffin cover" on the back, added some length to the front diagonal bit, and traced the sleeve out to be the length of the short-sleeved size 45 rather than the size 35 that I was otherwise tracing. (I would have gone with the longer sleeve, but the fabric wasn't wide enough.) I'm not sure how this will work out once it's all together, but hopefully it'll look cute, and if nothing else, it will be long enough in the front that I might be able to do a midriff tie or something if the mood strikes me. Because if you can't get away with that on a tropical island, where can you?

Now I just need to find some time to sew, which will be tough since I have a date with the friend who's doing my hair for the wedding tomorrow evening to do a dry run, an open-to-close shift at work on Saturday (boo), and church and a music rehearsal on Sunday. And absolutely no idea what the majority of my work schedule is after that, since it will only come out tomorrow at the earliest. Wish me luck!

Giveaway winner!

First of all, thanks to everyone who entered my Sew Grateful giveaway! This was far and away the best response I've had to a giveaway so far, which is rather encouraging for my little blog. :-)

So without any further ado...


Helena! Who said...
Such a hard decision, so many of Tasia's designs are lovely. I would go with Thurlow, it would nice to try out a pant drafted for a small waist to large hip ratio.

That's exactly the reason I'm excited to try the Thurlow as soon as I get a chance to! Congrats, Helena, and I'll be contacting you for your address information so I can get your new pattern on the way to you!

a mildly belated (or perhaps very early) giveaway!

2/12/13 update: This giveaway is now CLOSED. I'll draw and announce the winner later this week.

It's Sew Grateful week! I didn't join in the fun last year, but since I'm having to sit out of all the sewalongs and such right now, I'm excited that this is something in the sewing community that I can be a part of!


It's also my birthday later this month, so I wanted to do a giveaway sometime this month anyway. So let's just do this for both, shall we?

Since I've been spending sooooo much time with the Cambie dress over the last several months, that was the first thing that popped into my head. So for this giveaway, it's going to be your choice of pattern from Sewaholic Patterns!

So you could make your very own Cambie....maybe a little less time-consuming than mine!













Or maybe you want to conquer your fear of knits? Everyone raves about the Renfrew, and for good reason. I love mine, and can't wait to make another several!












Maybe you're like me and am desperately in need of pants and shorts. I haven't tried these myself yet, but I'm super-excited to make the Thurlow Trousers, and I've seen a lot of great reviews of this pattern around the sewing blogs, too.











Or maybe you're just learning to sew and you want something simple. In that case, maybe you want her latest pattern, the Hollyburn Skirt! It's based off her Lonsdale Dress, which I made a modified version of last summer, so I know it's a great pattern!

And of course this isn't all of them--she has patterns for jackets, skirts and other dresses up on her site, too, so be sure to check it out!

I'm going to leave this open a little longer than probably most of the Sew Grateful giveaways, since I'm a little late posting it up to begin with. Not quite all the way to my birthday, since that's at the end of the month, but the deadline will be 12 noon, Eastern Standard Time, on February 12. To enter, just leave a comment saying which pattern you'd get. I'll have Tasia ship the pattern directly to you, so this one's open to anywhere!

(One quick edit to say--sorry that the comments aren't showing up right away, I had to turn comment moderation back on due to a massive spambot attack on my last post that Blogger didn't catch! But I am moderating these as quickly as I can, promise!)

And while you're at it, check out the Swap My Stash that Kat and Anne are hosting! I've already had 3 of my pieces claimed, so I'm excited about that. It's a great way to get some less-loved things out of your stash and get some new pretty things in return! I'm focusing more on fabric, since I already did a pretty serious pattern purge within the last year or so, but there's also patterns and some notions up for grabs. You can see everything on the Pinterest board-- just make sure to check the comments because some things up there have been claimed already.

The Ultimate Frosting Project--here we go!

That's right, I'm finally starting on my wedding dress! At least, the muslin for it. Ok, so all I've actually done so far is trace out the bodice pattern. Allison suggested that it might help my mental state to break the project down into more manageable chunks, so I'm focusing just on the bodice for now.

My ultimate  plan is actually to muslin it twice--the first time strictly for fit, and the second time to go with the rest of the dress/test out the boning and my idea for the lace in the back. I picked up some cheaper, much-less-cool lace and some polyester nude organza at Joann's awhile back to play with that. The slightly more practical reason for starting with just the bodice is that this way, I can start right away with making sure the seamlines of the skirt will line up with the seamlines and darts of the bodice, once I know the bodice will work. Less tracing that way, and less chance of my running out of paper...in retrospect, I probably should have ordered some along with the waxed tracing paper that I finally managed to acquire, thanks to A Fashionable Stitch! Oh well.... I still need to get some silk thread, and they have a pretty good price on that at Nancy's Notions, so maybe I'll pick up a new roll of paper there while I'm at it.

As a reminder, I'm using the Sewaholic Cambie pattern for the bodice, down through the waistband. (Which, incidentally, I've decided to leave white and incorporate color with a sash. For one thing, it'll make the back more interesting to look at, and for another thing, that way I won't get held up by waiting to see what we end up doing for bridesmaid dresses. More on that later in the post.) I knew from working on the Lonsdale dress that an FBA was going to be necessary. Since I'm also planning on making some changes to the back of the pattern, I figured my best bet would be to trace the pattern and go from there. I already did the FBA adjustment (took this picture beforehand) and it's....interesting looking. But if initial test of pinning the dart together and holding the pattern up to myself is any indication, this might actually work to give it the extra shaping that I need. And hey, bizarre-looking pattern pieces did the trick for my jeans, right? I did take some pictures throughout the process, so if this ends up working, I just might do a tutorial on an FBA for the Cambie.

According to my couture gown studies, the next step I need to do is to add the stitching lines to the pattern. Maybe I can squeeze that in this morning--I'm going to meet my sis-in-law and another friend for brunch, I need to pick up some paint (for my future sewing room!) and then I'm going down to Doug's to help him paint the kitchen, since we'd already decided to do that first, while waiting for a furniture delivery.

So about those bridesmaid dresses....apparently trying to find actually-wearable-again bridesmaid dress ideas that aren't your typical overpriced dresses made of cheap polyester taffeta is harder than I'd thought. My original thought, which the girls were interested in, was to do those infinity-style wrap dresses. But after narrowing it down to a couple of Etsy shops that seemed to have a good selection of greens and decent pricing, I discovered that one shop was basically shutting down for the fall/winter and not accepting any more orders, and the swatches that I got from the second were basically swimsuit fabric. Since I can't in good conscience make my girls wear shiny spandex (although my best friend/maid of honor and I had a few good laughs about it), it's time to go to plan B. So the current thought is to have them all get whatever black dress they want and add some green accessories. Which may mean sewing a few more sashes for me, as long as they don't pick empire-waist type stuff (not so flattering with a sash), or it may mean jewelry. We'll see what their thoughts are.

I'm kind of torn about jewelry, actually. Part of me wants to make the jewelry for all four of us, but part of me wonders if that's biting off more than I can chew. I do have some earrings that I can use for myself (recently splurged at a friend's party, since the sale running meant I could get these for half off!) but I wonder if I should go with green jewelry to help tie that in a little better. But I guess I shouldn't worry about that quite yet, huh?

The Penultimate MMM Picture Post: Days 22-26

Day 22:

Blouse: The Pendrell Blouse
Pants:  Apt. 9
Belt: Modcloth
Jewelry: Repeat from day 6
Shoes: Softspots
Thoughts on this outfit: I honestly haven't worn my Pendrell much. And after today, I decided that this particular one isn't a keeper. I haven't worn it very often, since I generally don't do the blouse-tucked-into-skirt look, and the combination of basically sleeveless and polyester fabric means that there's only a particular temperature/humidity range that this would be comfortable in. So as a result, this was basically the second time I wore it. And I discovered that the armholes are too small, and the blouse cuts into my armpits rather painfully after a few hours as a result. I changed into a t-shirt as soon as I got home from teaching. (And then changed into a different, looser t-shirt 5 minutes later because the t-shirt was too fitted and were only hurting more.) This isn't usually a problem for me, because my arms are pretty skinny in proportion to the rest of me, so I'm blaming my attempt at making an FBA rather than Tasia's pattern-drafting skills. But between this and the total fail that I had with this pattern back in January, I'm wondering if I should give this pattern one more shot, with a proper test-fitting muslin and everything, or just admit defeat and lay it to rest? Thoughts?
Day 23

Dress: The "Green and Grey" dress
Necklace & Earrings: Me-made out of some shell spikes and labradorite beads that I got at a craft fair years ago
Bag: Mom-made!
Shoes: same as yesterday
Thoughts on this outfit: I love this dress. Despite the poly fabric, it's really comfortable to throw on and go. (In this case, for a last-minute date with my boyfriend to get some ice cream at Coldstone before doing some teaching and jeans-muslin sewing.) I really would like to make this pattern again, perhaps a longer-sleeved version for the fall. And I actually do have a couple of potential knits in my stash that might work. So if I can actually find time to start getting some projects done, you may see this pattern revisited later this year....
Day 24:
Top: Thrifted, the brand is called "Dialogue"
Skirt: I think this one pre-dates the blog, because I can't find it on my sidebar. It's basically just a big piece of subtly ombre-dyed, embroidered cotton that I sewed into a tube and put an elastic waistband on. Super-easy!
Jewelry: The "Water" set from the Elements series
Sandals: the silver gladiator J.Renees
Thoughts: It's suddenly gotten hot and humid around here--I guess typical mid-Atlantic summer decided to show up just in time for Memorial Day weekend! So this was a really comfortable outfit to wear. And I do love me a good maxi-skirt for bumming around the house on a hot day--to me, it's way more comfortable than shorts!


Day 25:
Dress: H&M via the thrift store
Underdress: The "super easy slipdress" reconstruction
Choker: a multi-strand beaded one that I made years ago, back in college or something.
Earrings: Repeat from day 11
Shoes: Those same Naturalizers that I've worn for half the month
Thoughts on this outfit: A bit of a cheat, since really all you can see of the me-made sewing is the pre-made tank top that I used as the top for this. At least in the picture. That underdress sure came in handy for actual wearing purposes, because the front of the wrap dress did NOT want to stay closed as I was walking around! But this was, again, a really comfortable outfit for wearing while walking around outside, and the sleeves made it a little more comfortable for the air conditioning inside Applebees and the movie theater. (The boyfriend and I went to see The Avengers tonight. Technically my pick, not his, since he doesn't generally care for comic book action movies and I do enjoy those. But we both loved it!)

Day 26: No pictures today. I had an open-to-close, nearly 11-hour shift at work for a Memorial Day weekend sale, and by the time I got home and got a shower, it was about 7pm. So between having wet hair and the brainpower of a highly functional zombie, I decided to make it simpler for myself and skip the photos. They would NOT have looked good. For those couple of hours that I was up after work, I wore this tank top that I'd rebeaded a couple of summers ago. And I did wear some shorts to bed that I'd cut down from purchased pj pants. So I'm counting that.

An award and a giveaway

Nid de Tissus recently gave me this lovely award-- thanks, Donna! And there's some fun questions to go along with it, so here goes...

Favorite Color: It's generally a toss-up between blue and green--I love both! I've found myself going for teal in my fabric choices quite a lot over the last few years, too. It's a good compromise between the two!

Favorite Animal: I grew up with both cats and dogs, and am quite fond of both. I also like horses--they're beautiful creatures.

Favorite Number: 7, I guess. I'm not much into math.

Favorite Non-Alcoholic Drink: Tea! Finally, a decisive answer.

Facebook or Twitter: Facebook. I have a Twitter, but rarely bother to use it.

My Passion: Music, obviously. And sewing is quite up there!

Getting or Giving Presents: Both. I do enjoy making and giving things to my family and friends, but I do have to admit that getting stuff is pretty fun too!

Favorite Pattern: New Look 6407, aka my go-to blouse pattern that I keep altering into other things. It's just so versatile!

Favorite Day of the Week: Saturday!

Favorite Flower: Sunflowers!

Favorite celebrity role model: To be perfectly honest, I don't really have one. I tend to just watch the movies and shows/listen to the music I like, and then ignore the actors' and musicians' personal lives.


Since I'm supposed to pass this on, I picked a few bloggers whose posts I always enjoy and whom I didn't mention in the last award. (It's up to you whether you want to participate or not!)

1. The Girl With The Star-Spangled Heart-- Though I'm not really into the vintage sewing scene myself, I always enjoy seeing the outfits, classic movie inspirations, and as of late, her ongoing series on the fashions in Downton Abbey and attempts to bring some of the Crowley sisters' style into her current wardrobe.

2. Sewn By Alviana-- She's just now getting back into the blogging scene after a (well-deserved and totally understandable) break to have her first daughter. But I've long enjoyed reading her upbeat posts! And since she's from Malaysia, she'll also sometimes give these neat glimpses into the more traditional outfits from there.

3. fanbloomingtastic-- One of the newest additions to my quasi-daily reading list, which I found via this year's round of Sew Weekly contributors. It's interesting to read about the life of a U.K. transplant on this side of the pond. And there's frequent Doctor Who references, which of course makes me like her.

4. 21 Wale-- She uses a lot of cool patterns from companies I'm not really that familiar with, particularly in the realm of magazines. And she also makes these amazing kids' clothes--I'm also impressed that her kids appear to be such willing models!

5. Kelly's Korner-- Her clothes always look so cleanly and professionally finished, and I like that she's been sharing (and actually making things inspired by) some of her favorite Pinterest finds as of late.

Really, there's so many fantastic blogs out there, that it's hard to pick!

And I did promise a small giveaway last time, so here we go!

I was recently cleaning out/organizing my pattern stash. And while I did get rid of a few things that I knew I'd never use again, I found these five that have never been used at all. It seems a shame to throw out uncut patterns, so I'd like to pass them along to someone who might be able to have some fun with them. So here's the list, with links to larger pics when I can:

1. Burda Young Fashion 8174, in sizes 34-44 European (also listed as 8-18 for the Americans)
2. Simplicity 5505, in sizes 6-12
3. McCall's 5137, in size 14-20. I know this style hasn't been seen around for the last couple of years, but it could have potential in alterations, maybe?
4. McCall's 4873, in sizes 12-18. (This is me finally accepting that empire waist patterns tend to look terrible on me, at least without massive amounts of alterations and a more fitted waist..)
5. McCall's 5050, in sizes extra-small to medium. (No numbers listed, sorry!)

I realize that not all of these patterns are going to appeal to any one person, so I'm willing to split them up. So if you'd like, leave a comment letting me know which pattern(s) you're potentially interested in, and if you don't have a blog I can find you at, an email address would be helpful too. I'll give you until April 2. (No spam-bots, please... I've already gotten 6 or 7 anonymous spammy comments this week, and it's only Monday! I might have to go back to word verification, or block the legitimate anonymous commenters again...sigh.)

Edit: And this is why I shouldn't write posts at midnight...I should probably clarify a couple of things about the giveaway. To keep it simple, I'm going to do it first-come, first-serve. Any patterns that are not claimed by April 2 will be Freecycled locally. Thanks!