Finished and Fixin' To Leave

So I finished the dress. I used Simplicity #4072. It was decent, but I need to do some tweaking meaning that this version will be more of a muslin (meaning that you try out the pattern and need to make some adustments so this piece turns out to be unwearable in public). It's a little bigger than I wanted, especially through the shoulders (for once!), but though there's enough space for the bustline, it's poorly fitted and causes gaps in the neckline making any unsuspecting passerby privy to my preferred bra style. I've found fixes for most of the picky issues: (1) size down one or two times because this pattern runs big and has a lot of ease to boot, (2) apply an FBA (full bust adjustment) to smaller size to make room where I need it (bustline) not where I don't (shoulder, back width, etc.), (3) adjust neckline to prevent gapping, and (4) consider losing the interfacing for the neckline unless my fabric is really flimsy (I used a structured cotton for my contrast this time and it did NOT need the interfacing). Again I say unto you, THE INTERNET IS A BLESSED, BLESSED PLACE.

I'm a little disappointed because the fabrics ROCKED (especially the dark brown bodice/skirt one. Pretty! Still, I'll wear it around the house where flashing people my bra is not diparaged but is, in fact, somewhat encouraged.

And now I have to go pack because for my birthday weekend, we're going to Joshua and Mair's! Ciao, bellos!

Kimono-style tie, crappy-style photography. Weeee!

Three More Sleeps Till Birthday

So the dress is coming along alright. I ended up finished some edges by hand to make the construction nicer and more fray-resistant, so I've been hand-sewing up a storm. I really need a thimble. I always thought of them as superfluous, but after ramming a needle butt (which is almost as sharp as the needle itself) repeatedly against my finger, I'm thinking I should have one.

Oh, and my birthday is in two days. WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOO.

I was talking with Jefe today about birthdays on the phone. It's funny how people treat them. My mother always points out that in Argentina when you go to the doctor's office, you have to state three things in front of the entire lobby: your name, your maiden name (medical files are listed by maiden name since that's your genetic history), and your age. When she first found this out, she was shocked and slightly dismayed. Later, she began to realize that telling an entire room full of strangers your age could be liberating, especially coming from a North American background.

Maybe it's because Latin American countries haven't had high life expectancies as long as the North American countries. Maybe it's the Catholic roots, always more comfortable with tricky subjects like impending death. For whatever reason, they embrace life and though they've been influenced by the youth-obsessed American culture, they still value age and seem less afraid of it.

Contrast that with most of my friends who are FREAKED out by birthdays, and THEY'RE IN THEIR TWENTIES. I mean, if you can't be happy about them now, what will you do when you turn 30? 56? 68? I'm not looking forward to my body rebelling against me, or my mind giving out on important details, but let's get real. I will be 24 years of age on Sunday, and those unpleasant thoughts are far in the future (unless I become disabled in some way, but that's not really age-related so don't bring it up in comments and think you're SO clever for having refuted me with your spectucular, though ultimately fruitless counter-example. This is that vaunted youth everyone's after. Personally, I think it's somewhat overrated, and I look forward to further life experience and the greater self-determination that seems to come with age. Ah, but getting to those goodies means living to them, and I'm back where I started, sitting at my desk, totally geeked that I'm another year older and (I hope) wiser.

This is probably all a direct result of having spent most of time around adults. Surprisingly all their talk of "aging = enemy" didn't stick, though. Hurray for selective hearing, and for my sake, HURRAY FOR BIRTHDAYS.

All my twenty-something friends, you may commence (or continue) to hate me for my perky outlook on this topic.

Um, not good.

I might not be posting today because I might be sewing a dress and it might be giving me problems. As in, stupid neckline won't go in smoothly even though, frankly, there's no way this neckline design EVER goes in smoothly KNOW WHAT I'M SAYIN' (just nod), and I might be staying up late to fix it and regret it all in the morning.

MIGHT.

Workaholic Weekend

This weekend was hellaciously productive. Hubster and I (not given to things like "tidying" or "scrubbing" under normal circumstances cleaned the house compulsively on Friday night and Saturday nights. I shopped for home and garment fabrics along with the largest collection of crazy do-it-yourselfers I've ever waited in line for fabric-cutting with (somewhere, my English teacher's eyes have spontaneously begun bleeding). Then I made a skirt, painted the newly-finished section of our laundry room which should soon be sporting the beautiful pine shelves Hubster partially constructed all weekend. In between those activities, I had time to go shopping with Betty for 4 hours and take an hour-long walk with Hubster in some local trails.

I am tired.

But I have some pictures to show for it:


This picture was certainly NOT taken in an H&M store where I was vigorously informed by an employee that I was NOT allowed to take pictures. Why would I have occasion to flout that, even if this blouse is an 80's throwback desperately in need of burning because FOR THE LOVE OF ZEUS, LEAVE THE AWFUL, SHEER, SHINY, UNSHAPELY, SWISS-DOT BLOUSES OUT OF THIS GREAT COUNTRY? (Let's observe a moment of silence for my English teacher, who is undoubtedly on her deathbed at this point.)

Now, some nature, because after that, we all need soothing:


Soothalicious vines and rocky formations.


Nature reclaims all things. Even large, wheely bits of industry.


See the water rush by and give no thought to sartorial atrocities.

And now for something completely different: the second installment of Erica's Budgetary Crimes and Misdemeanors. After the failure of The Shoes recently, Betty and I took an lovely, though admittedly ill-advised trip through Anthropologie during our marathon in Georgetown, and lo, I caved again:


This is not a direct replacement of the statement shoe I was going for last time (duh), but it's definitely a statement piece. It's so rare that I find a long sweater that makes me look as though I possess a waistline. What makes the sweater is its unique closure element. The day I learn to knit, I'm making eight of them. Seriously awesome. Also, expensive. I will be splitting this expense over a couple of months because OUCH. Yeah, I'll save you the trouble of looking it up. See? In my defense they had only a couple left and none in the alternate color, making it doubtful that they'd make it to the sale rack. So I have a new favorite sweater, and I won't be buying many this year, but I'm perfectly happy because, even if the colors look wonky with my bad lighting, this is cool:


That's the skirt, too. Please don't ask me where the fabric came from. I might let slip that I pulled a Sound of Music with some curtain fab . . . oh, poo.

I, Seamstress

So I have mentioned, once or twice, that I can sew. That is, I've mentioned that I can sew curtains which, as any of you who have attempted garment sewing know, is QUITE ANOTHER MATTER INDEED. Curtain sewing rarely makes you BFF with your seam ripper, for one thing. But really, I am a garment sewer of intermediate skills.

It's funny to think of myself as "a seamstress." I suppose it's an antiquated term, but until recently, it's felt like a flat-out antiquated occupation for a twenty-something American woman. Most of my generation can, under the duress of poverty prohibiting tailors, HEM A PAIR OF PANTS. I've known some friends (HF and Laura spring to mind) who've outfitted entire casts with period costumes, but they are the exception, not the rule. And why not, right? It costs $5 for a clearance T-shirt at Old Navy and I can spot a new dress on a sale rack at Ann Taylor LOFT for $40 a several times a year. It seems a weeee bit nuts to go out and buy a pattern, yards of fabric, a zipper, some bias tape, lining fabric, and you know, the big expensive sewing machine just to make a freakin' dress. Ah, but that's where I miscalculated my rebellious generation.

Behold, I have found so many sewing tutorial sites and crafty blogs that I am awash in inspiration. If you're not the type to be interested by sewing websites, then by all means skip the rest of this entry, but if you've been wondering where you can find some sweet helps/hints, read on, all 2 of you. I might just be doing this for the record of links anyway. MIGHT.

1. PatternReview.com rocks. I mean OFF THE HOOK. I haven't yet registered in order to access the archives, but let me tell you, even the free content is worth it. The idea started with a central place for people to make comments on different patterns they bought - Did they work? How was the fit? Did it run big/small? Were the instructions clear? Any recommended changes for fit or ease of construction? Like I said, it's a treasure trove. I found out about some great dress patterns, and I fully intend to make a Duro Olowu knockoff, but the site helped me pick between two competing pattern companys' interpretations of the style. ROCK!

2. This woman's blog is, frankly, just plain adorable. She seems to sew a lot, and though she's British, she still ends up using a lot of similar patterns. She also seems to know a thing or two about fit and has a similar frame to me, though she's taller, so I think her advice is pretty appropriate for me. Great ideas, too.

3. This woman has an excellent, well-spelled name (one guess as to what it is >;) and a lovely blog. She knows her fashion, and she uses sewing to achieve good fit for the latest styles. She's also a crochet/knitter type, and the more I read from those folks the more my fingers start to itch for some sweater-y goodness. Anyway, worth a look, if only to see what she's stitching up. Her finished garments look fabu.

4. I'm actually not sure how I found this sight in my surfing, but I'm so glad because it's my renewed my interest in non-home-decor sewing. It's called Wardrobe Refashion '06, and it's a group blog of people who've taken a 2-, 4-, or 6-month pledge to buy no new clothing but instead to make or preferably remake their clothes and accessories as much as possible. Some are doing it for the thriftiness, some from environmental motivations, and others just to start or keep sewing. Anyway, they have some great ideas about ways to find fabric or remake clothing that's too big, too small, out-of-date, or just plain boring to us now. I've found several amazing seamstresses through that site, and though I'm not pledging, this is one sorority I might want to join.

Okay, and that's enough for now. I'm already itching to make clothes for which I have no equipment whatsoever. As KD would so succinctly put it, "Let's not get excessive."