Work Dress Vogue 8489

This dress had some potential but I made it into a disaster.

First I cut a size 8 since I'd been sewing 14 or 16 and taking out huge amounts of fabric.  Clearly I went a little far the other way.  The waste band and neck bands are interfaced with a rigid interfacing and therefore have none of the stretch you would expect- which is why there is a center back zipper in the garment.

However being of superior brain and knowledge I had read the pattern reviews and some commented that they took out the center back zipper, so I did that too- tragic error.   Inexplicably, I added a strip down the center back hoping for some stretchiness to get the thing over my head.

        I was going to finish off the odd neck chunk with an added facing and hope it didn't look weird.  Although I can get it on, I have to wriggle and smash the girls to get into it.  Once it's on it's snug but not in a bad way.  The whole thing could be very nice but the neckline is low so you would need a cami underneath and then my fabric choice and the length kind of give it a funeral or sunday school attitude.  Or, lack there of.
       So I abandoned the project in favor of something else.  I might go back and unpick the pieces and make new bands w/out interfacing but at this point I'm piling up fabric from my trip to New York and patterns from the last pattern sale, so I'm on to the next thing.
      I went to the famous Mood Fabrics in New York and spent half a day sifting through all the fabrics.  I ended up with some beautiful pieces that I hope to work on soon.
      The best thing I got in New York was at Paron Fabrics.  First of fall they were hilarious.  I went there to buy the latest Burda Magazine and the guy behind the counter told me that it would be $50.00.  I said "That's quite a bit more than I pay in Oregon." and they were off talking about the UofO Ducks and I told them I was a Beaver and then the heckling began.  I found a beautiful herringbone 25% Cashmere 75% Wool for $45.00 a yard.  I decided to go for it- I think the bolt said Diane VonFurstenburg on it.  The woman that cut my fabric gave it to me for $35.00 a yard and gave me the rest of the fabric on the bolt.  So I got almost 3 yards for the price of much less.  It's really nice fabric however might be light for a coat.  I'm working on if i can line it and layer it with Thinsulate or something.

Hope everyone had a good Turkey Day.  I ate my weight in cheese..... didn't get a good dose of stuffing, think i'll make some for myself to have with the leftovers I brought home.

Little Black Dress- Guy Laroche V2899

I've been completely absorbed in my new job.  So much so that I cannot sleep at night and I'm exhausted when I get home.   But, I've just completed week three and am calming down and settling in.  I made it to the gym a few times and even the company gym (BONUS!!!).  Getting into a routine is so helpful.

After my last day of my old job I went nuts at the fabric store locally and bought fabric for dresses that I can wear to work.  I wanted to step it up for my new job. With 5 people reporting to me the ripped jeans and sloppy sweaters with UGGs just doesn't instill confidence in leadership.

But before I made work dresses I needed to bang out a dress for my brother-in-law's wedding.  I purchased this pattern at the last pattern sale and then wasn't sure it wouldn't be too over the top for a wedding.  Then Erica B's pattern review popped up and it was settled.  I can do this- no prob!

I purchased black matte jersey from the Mill End Store.  I looked through the matte jersey and the only non weird color is black.  I remembered a time in 90's when matte jersey was very prevalent but had forgotten the huge benefit- you can ball it up and throw it in the corner, then pick it up, put it on and it's like you just bought it- Perfect.

This pattern is beautifully drafted and not very challenging to sew.  Erica's pattern review is perfectly correct (and thorough)- it's easy but not fast.  There are many parts that need to be hand basted or finished and there's a bunch of gathering and it all takes a lot of time. But really for such a stunning dress it went together well.  My pattern review is here.

There is one thing about matte jersey and that is that the front and back look the same.  So, if you get the pieces turned around you might get in trouble.  I did this one time while sewing the little side gathered panels.  I attached the gathered part to the wrong side of one of the panels and so I ended up with two left sides.  So I had to take out the basting but it wasn't a tragic error or difficult to redo.  There are a lot of pieces and the whole thing is self lined and the cool thing about the matte jersey double layer stretchiness is that it acts like a total body girdle. yay- who doesn't love that?

I love the lines of the dress and the longer length.  There is something kind of demure but sexy about a slim skirt that goes over the knees.  Kinda keeping the imagination alive I guess.

Here's me in the dress at the reception with my two handsome escorts: Henry 4, Gray 6.

I did feel a bit like I needed to pull the whole thing down all night.  You can see it's riding up under my arms.  I think it's a tad snug and so slipped up.  My undergarments for a backless bra situation need to be revised as they contributed to the situation.  I have a too big merry-widow thing that is long and has a foamy layer that didn't do me favors in the stomach.  Made it look like I might be concealing a baby bulge.  I'd happily flaunt a baby bulge but, alas, do not have one.  Note to self- buy new undergarment situation.

Gumdrops for birthdays

I finally have time to blog about the gumdrop pillows.  More on the reason I've been absent later.....

Here's the unwrapping of the pillows.  Because of their size, I wrapped them in queen size bed sheets.

ONE for Lu Lu............

and ONE for Cece................

And they look great in their rooms

ta da!  So cute.  Now their little brother might need one that has baseballs and basketballs.

In other news, I got a new job!!!!!!!!  The interview process was really long and my nerves are/were fried.   But further to that, my assistant resigned while I was interviewing so I was doing her job and my job while waiting to hear about my new job.  Needless to say, I'm very tired.  Finally, my last day at the old company was Friday and I have two weeks of vacation till I start the new one.  Hurray!!  While I'm off I'm making some work outfits and visiting a friend in NYC!  Yep, that means, fabric shopping!

If all of the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrop(s)

pillows....oh what a world it would be........

Yep, making the Amy Butler Gumdrop pillows.  24" madness.  First let me say these are totally easy to make and adorable.  But, holy cow they take a ton of poly fill.  Right now, the whole back of my bug is full of bags of poly fill.  And the reason is, that I don't really have room for it to be loose in my apartment.   AND, I had to make one and wait to make the other till I'm done with my sister's dress.

So during my adventure to Hollyhill, I chose these fabrics:

Eight fabrics for Lulu's Room match her pillow sham and comforter

4 fabrics for Cece's Room that has a surfer girl theme.

Two birthday girls, one month.  In classic me way, I left the inside pattern pieces at home and just took the outside specficications with me. They outline what to buy if you are doing 2 alternating fabrics or 1 fabric, but again I'm me and decided to do 8 fabrics and 4 fabrics and it would have been great to have the pieces to know how much of each fabric to buy.   Luckily there were only two one way prints, and for both of those I just pieced them together.   Otherwise I would have had about 100$ bucks worth of fabric and lots left over-which could make a cute baby quilt of some kind later on.

Lulu's is the 8 piece jobbie.  The fabrics were all 5 on one shelf and I just scooped them all up and said cut'em baby.  Then I had to find 3 more that coordinated.  I think it turned out well.  Here's how it came together so you can see how easy it is:

Inside view of four sections

Here is the first section of four sew together.

Outside view of the four sections

8 sections sewn into two sections of four.

This is so easy to sew if you just sew the seam allowance each time.  Now you sew half of the two main sections together across the top from side to side.   Then apply the top piece by top stitching it to the outside of the pillow.   Notice that for some reason the edges of the octogon don't all line up with the sections- darn.  Not sure why that didn't happen.  But no matter, it's still super cute and really doesn't bother me.

Not completely stuffed but almost.

The other is not cut yet, so I'm not sure what my issues will be but they are florals so hopefully they are not one way- of course I didn't  check.  der.  1 down, 1 to go.....stay tuned.

Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe & Mercantile, New Addiction

I always wondered if making quilts would be as fun as garments and after making the cutie pie little baby blanket, my thoughts are that yes it would.  No fit issues or wearibility problems makes for a successful project w/out issues, right?

Well, I picked up a copy of the Better Homes and Gardens quilters special magazine (or some such mag) after buying the little quilted projects book just for kicks.  They had a whole section showing cool quilt shops all over the country.  Low and behold the most beautiful one, is right down the road from me in West Linn, OR:  Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe & Mercantile, 1914 Willamette Falls Drive, 97068.

So, on my last half day Friday last week, I took myself down there, fighting the Oregon State Fair traffic on I5 all the way but it was totally worth it.  Here's a link to their blog and a shop "tour" with pictures.  I think it really shows the amazing selection and displays of fabrics and quilts. I pasted in a few images so you can see.  You would have to be totally blind to have trouble coordinating fabrics for a project in here.  See....

And yet, as I wandered through with the inspiration for my project I wasn't finding the bright childlike colors with whimsical prints that I needed.  My hopes were dashed.  Even the website shows Amy Butler prints so there should be some to choose from right?  Finally, I asked someone.  Low and behold there is a whole other "store" down the hall in the same building that is ALL BRIGHT AND WHIMSICAL fabrics, including the Amy Butler prints.  Hurray!!!

I spent two hours in there pulling fabrics for my project.  What a delight.  I'm not making a quilt, but I think I might need to take a little class and get myself going on my first one very soon.  In addition they have little kits for smaller projects and cute decorations for things like Christmas (which is coming sooner than later) and other little gems.  And the best part dear readers that don't live in Oregon.......they have a website and  you can shop on line!!!!!!!!!!!!  Fabulous.  Here's the link.....
Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe & Mercantile online.   So see, you can shop here with out moving here, because as I've stated, we are full.  Cheerio!

Vogue 8645: Failure of Figure Not Pattern

I like to see the things that don't work out that other people sew, it makes me feel like I'm not lame when my stuff doesn't turn out.  I think the projects that are the most successful have thoughtful fabric choices, creative well edited trims and carefully planned out patterns and construction.

But the one thing that trumps all that is when the style is not flattering on you.  Sometimes I look at the pattern envelope and think- "oh that's darling!"  Never mind that it is drawn on an elongated stylized fashion figure that doesn't exist in nature (sort of like Barbie).  And certainly it's not what my figure looks like.   Thus, we come to my very first project back in the saddle.  The one I've been hiding in a drawer and thinking about cutting apart for muslin usage. I didn't even press it for the photos. 

I made the garment out of a beautiful yarn dyed cotton lawn from The Mill End Store. I chose the pattern size based on my measurements: 16 (ACK!  All that working out and weight loss to go from a rtw 12 to a 6, shattered.) Not knowing or remembering that there is 75 miles of ease in all their patterns, and not having discovered the helpful Pattern Review website that could have helped me make a better choice in size, I proceeded with the 16.


I added a white batiste lining to this garment as the fabric was pretty sheer. I also carefully chevroned all the seams of the skirt and bodice, meticulously matching the stripes.   I even turned down a few dates with the then BF to finish my project and I was so excited to put it on and then when I did, it made me look like a puffy mess.  Perhaps gobs of fabric gathered at my waist and over my bosoms could be the problem.  I know for a fact I look terrible in things that gather over the chest- duh!  

Can you say perfect matching?  Gosh I'm good.  Maybe not on the sash- don't look at that.

Was this why I put the sewing machine away?  Well, besides that my friends all wanted me to peg their jeans for them (for free at a moment's notice on Friday night) in college, or was it that total disappointment that I chose the wrong style?   I used to struggle with the whole "how will the style look on me if I can't try it on till it's done?" problem.   But, don't I know myself by now?  Sheesh.

The garment looks exactly like what was on the envelope, and would have probably looked "darling" on me had it been the right size.  It was easy to construct and the instructions were great to follow.  I would recommend this to anyone, but would say make sure you know what your true size is.  Pattern review can be found here when I get to writing it.

I'll admit I have not been sewing lately but I started a new project for some cute kids birthdays.  More on that later.  I'm also drafting a dress for my sister for her birthday- based on a child's dress, should be interesting.  I flocked (by myself) to the JoAnne's Vogue pattern sale this weekend to pick up a few items to sew for fall.  And really, I think the def. of a few is three and I bought more than three + all the poly fill in the place. 

I need to start getting some things sewn for fall as it has hit just lst Tuesday in the form of a rainy day and instantly leaves are changing colors.  Guess the flip flops are finished.  My assistant says it's not cool to wear them with my down shell (that's what I wore to the office on Tuesday).  She's wrong, I'm sure of it.

Things that Make me Happy- Hiking in the Gorge

You might get sick of me saying it, but I live in a beautiful place and am lucky to have the fitness and health to enjoy it.  Case in point: Angel's Rest in Bridal Veil, Oregon and the beautiful Columbia Gorge
This is a beautiful and slightly challenging 4.5 mile hike up to the pinnacle of a rock out crop that affords visitors and spectacular view of the gorge, the river and the mountains beyond (OK, we could see the tippy top of Adams in Washington).

View from almost the top looking west over the Columbia River

We left around 2pm and after getting lost by taking the wrong exit (thanks to XBF and his new Droid) I think we hit the trail about 3pm.  It took about an hour at an easy pace to get to the top where we hung out for awhile eating our trail mix and enjoying the view.  Good thing about hiking in the late afternoon, which I almost never do, is that you get that nice dusky light coming across the horizon that makes for a special effect on the water and the hills. 

Taken by random other hikers.   Thank you!!

Some people break up with each other and then never speak again.  XBF and I seem to have come to a place where we can hang out together and enjoy our same activities, which is great because ski season is coming!!!!  After a nice day enjoying the great outdoors we discussed resuming our training to hike Mt. St Helens this fall.  Next week Indian Point, 2800 feet elevation gain, 7.8 miles.  The week after will be Dog Mountain, 3000 feet elevation gain and I can't remember how many miles.

Again, if you've never been here there are many wonderful places to enjoy.  Just don't move here.  We're full and we don't want more people.  Keep Portland WEIRD!!!

Oliver + S = Adorable Baby Gift

If some people call themselves "Selfish Seamstress," I surely should be called the "Crabby, Sassy, Bitchy, Sarcastic Seamstress."  Not all at once of course but at different times I'm each of these.  Overall, I think sassy says it all most of the time.   But one fine day I inadvertently lashed out at an acquaintance about why I don't attend baby showers (a reason I should just share with my inner-self during our constant dialogues about what's wrong with us and how we will fix it someday when we have time or more insurance for therapy).

Thumper

Olympia/Clairee

Often times, I should really just follow the advice of Thumper,"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."  However, in practice, I end up following the Olympia Dukakis/Clariee in Steel Magnolia's motto "If you can't say anything nice, come sit by me." 


The truth of the matter is that I love babies.  I love my nieces and nephews too and would shower them with gifts every moment and adopt them to live with me if their darn parents weren't so attached to them.  But they are older now and babies smell so damn nice and say goo goo and are overall just lovely, especially if you can hand them back to their parents when they cry or get stinky.

Anyway, although I don't like attending baby showers, I like making stuff for and buying gifts for babies and baby showers.  And that's what I really should have said to the mother-to-be (third time) who was very insistent that I should be ecstatic about attending her shower.  Instead I assured her that as a single woman, who has not been married, and has no children, who is about to turn 40 and who has attended over 1 million showers of all manner, that I have happily attended my lifetime fill of showers and would kindly decline attendance.   But, I made a gift because although I'm a sassy, bitchy, brat, I am generous.

So I embarked on the journey to make the Oliver + S Bedtime Story Pj set and by doing so completely ripped off (and or got inspired by)Amber who made such an adorable set with matching blanket.

And here's my finished set.  Fabric is Kitties wearing kimono's, trimmed with bright yellow.  I thought that was fun and cute considering it was a kimono style! Pattern Review click link.

Try not to be distracted by the tiny stain on my carpet.  Can you see the ginormous mistake I made?

Then, inspired by this Pairie girl's incredible quilt made from this beautiful book,

 I purchased the book  thinking surely someday I could make something as beautiful as that.  And the book itself is just so lovely.  I went with a 1 hour project to wet my feet, a bound baby blanket using the kitties with kimonos as the binding.

I've never made a quilt but my mother always wanted to quilt. She even bought a huge frame, and I'm sad to say never used it.  I'm even sadder to tell you that we got rid of it because it was ginormous.  I wish upon wish I had kept it even though fitting it into a tiny dorm room might not have been practical. 

So in my true, don't read the directions cause you think you know everything fashion, I prepped the binding the night before by pressing it into what would be like store bought double fold binding.  Then of course I read the directions the next morning that you don't press it if you are doing the hand stitched version.  DARNIT!  But, have no fear, there is a machine version, which is all I had time for anyway, using a folded/pressed version, so I zipped it together and it turned out pretty cute. I will say the directions weren't the greatest, but it turns out they are if you are doing it at the same time vs. reading it before hand.  And since I was wanting someone to better illustrate how to do the corners, I'll attempt to show it here:

Sew along one side till you get to the end.  Back stick and or tie off your ends, trim.

Then to miter the corner, the book says: "Fold binding strip straight down, with the two halves of the tape encasing the quilt edge."  I'll add that the corner becomes like a present, and naturally forms a triangle on both sides.  Pictures, are better..

Both sides will look the same. 

I have no idea if this is helpful to anyone.  I didn't quite get it when I read the book and looked at the pictures, but I actually instantly understood once the fabric was in my hands.  If you think this is daunting, think again.  It's really easy and what a cute finished product.

Folded blanket corners

Gift presentation. Blanket folded around pj set, tied with extra binding.  Card sewn with contrast thread and scrap of fabric.

And in the end, I packed the gift off to the hostess, collected her children, and while women sat together swapping gifts, eating artichoke dip and doing whatever else was planned at the baby shower, I enjoyed the latest installment of Toy Story with three of the cutest kids I know.   Getting to be Auntie Shannon is one of my greatest joys.

Tropical Print Dress, BWOF 6/2010 dress #123

Tropical disaster dress......

You'd think a dress that has two pieces would be easy for any sewer to execute with no problem.  That is where you are wrong (or I was wrong).  If you have any degree of smug confidence that is where you begin to disregard the instructions and trouble ensues......

Maybe it's the translation of instructions from German to English or maybe it's because I had two glasses of Chardonnay while attempting this dress, but each step I had to redo or fix.   Actually, I didn't have any wine while making this dress.  Only good 'ol Crystal Light, but it has so far been fraught with peril. Ah, the drama.....
So the dress comes in 38-46.  I cut a 40. The dress comes in two iterations- one with pockets and lace trim and one w/out pockets and lace trim.  So I traced the pieces and anyone who has traced off these pages knows it's a trick of the eye to find the right lines and follow them. But, the weird thing was that at the bottom hem of the front piece, instead of a solid line, there are just arrows coming down the side seam.  I had no idea what this meant so I just connected them across and made that the hem line.   Well it turns out that this length garners me a pattern piece that is about 4" too short to match up with the side seam. 

So I had to piece in a panel to extend the length to meet the other piece.  Because of the print, you can't even detect it in photos or in person.  Even that, didn't help my micro mini length that is exacerbated when belted.  And I didn't find it out till later. 

Anyway, you follow the first step and it says to "neaten seams" which I read as trim seams.  Then I connected connect the front to the back  at the back yoke area and reread the first step "neaten seams" which meant that I cut off the BLEEPing seams that were supposed to be the casing for the elastic. UGH!

So, I fixed that by making a makeshift casing out of bias tape.  That didn't work great and the casing kept slipping out of the stitching which makes it weird to gather the elastic.  I ended up having to pull out the elastic twice and put it in again for that reason.

After rushing to finish this so I could take it on my OSU weekend visit to Corvallis, it finished up ok, without further issues.  Looks pretty cute, but I'm not wild about it.  It's kinda boring and doesn't really do anything for me.  I really dig this fabric but, think it deserves a less sackish dress.

                                        KKG pledge sisters, class of '90 L-R: Traci, Sheila, me, Kim
Here we are on the steps of the OSU MU- that was closed, darnit.  As you can see I'm hunching, perhaps due to the french fries I ate for lunch (as an entire meal- as if I were still in college) or maybe to attempt to make my mini look less micro.

                                                         KKG pledge sisters, class of '90 L-R:Sheila, me, Kim, Melissa
 I don't have pics of me in it from the back but in hindsight it was 95 degrees, and this was quite comfortable.  I usually need something covering my shoulders and chest for sun shade reasons and the fabric was breathable and didn't stick to me. My thighs did stick to the booth in the restaurant but that's gonna happen.

Here's the back view on the form.  The moral of my story is not to be so smug that I know everything and read the directions more carefully, don't watch re-runs of Criminal Minds while sewing, and cut the attitude lady.

Wow, I think I just opened a can of whoop ass on myself. Where did that come from?
 
Post script- What a fine looking group of ladies.  AND, I never realized how much shorter I was than all my friends.  Note to self, meet shorter friends so I look taller or wear heals.

Things that make me happy....

People spend so much time talking about what they don't like, I love to tell anyone who will listen, what makes me happy.  It's little things. 

Running on the waterfront in Portland makes me happy.  I've started running this year and I'm REALLY slow, but that doesn't matter.  It matters that you get out there an do it. And it makes me feel great.

I go running on the waterfront along Tom McCall Waterfront park

and do the big 2.5 mil loop across the Steel Bridge,

 along the Vera Katz promenade on the east side,

under the Burnside bridge, under the Morrison bridge and up and over the Hawthorne Bridge back to

the Tom side.

Along the way I pass tons of runners training for the marathon, groups jogging with friends, peeps struggling to keep going like me.   I also pass masses of bikers either training or commuting, tourists out for a morning stroll with some great coffee and homeless people gathering their bedding from a nights sleep in the out of doors.

And all the while I get a fabulous view of the lovely city that I grew up in and came back to.  I'm thankful for my health, that I can attempt to run, that my lungs and legs work, and that the city put in such a nice place to enjoy the out of doors.

If you've never been here, it's as wonderful as they say.  Uh, but don't come here to stay, we're full.
Keep Portland Weird!