the dust that pancho bit down south

Hey everyone! Long time no... post? Can you believe that summer is winding down? The mornings and evenings have cooled off slightly around here which has my brain thinking about Fall - even if the weather is, by all accounts, still sweltering! 

I felt like I've been in a bit of a weird place with my making this summer.  Blame it on a lack of sewjo, or what have you, but I've been feeling pretty uninspired. What's worse, is that I wasn't even enjoying wearing my handmade clothes either! Between the heat, and some gritty tasks for me to tackle at work, my uniform became the same old pair of cut off jeans shorts and my grungiest of tees and tanks.  Not only did the people around me notice my lack of usual polish (and by "people" I mean Nick and my boss, because let's be real, that's about the extent of my social circle!) but after a while it started to do a number on my head! I was questioning my identity - was this sun-bleached-frayed-hem-sports-bra-Sallie the new me? While I certainly fit in with my lazy island surroundings, the thought depressed me. So I resolved to try to kick myself out of my rut in the only way I knew how: by making something so darn pretty I couldn't resist wearing it!

This dress came about sort of slowly. I bought 2 yards of this delicious Liberty of London silk-cotton voile using my Mood allowance a few months ago with no plan for it.  I had never touched Liberty of London fabrics before and I feel like it's the stuff of legends among the sewing community, so my interest was certainly piqued when Mood started carrying a selection.  This particular print really stood out to me.  It reminded me vaguely of a certain period of Disney animation - like the Sleeping Beauty era - where everything is highly stylized and you kind of suspect all the animators were experimenting with hallucinogens... I believe I described it in my Mood Sewing Network post as a "fantasy garden on acid" which I still feel is an apt description!



Well my 2 yards sat while I pondered what to do with them - I thought maybe pajamas, but it's so pretty I wanted the world to see it.  Meanwhile I was trolling some of my less traveled haunts on the internet looking for a pattern or a look that would get me excited about sewing again and I came across this dress on Burdastyle.  I don't know why I always forget about Burdastyle - maybe it's because they release such a deluge of patterns, many of which are just variations of the same rectangle, that it's easy to forget that there are some honest to goodness gems in amongst that deluge! I consider this dress (07/2015 #110) to be among those gems. The only problem was this pattern called for 5 freaking yards of fabric!! So I waited until my next Mood allowance rolled around and picked up the remaining 3 yards.  I have to be honest, this is definitely a project that would not have happened if it wasn't for my partnership with the Mood Sewing Network! No way in hell could I have afforded 5 yards of Liberty on my own dollar! So thank you Mood!



Working with the Liberty silk-cotton voile was at times both heavenly and oh-my-god-gouge-my-eyes-out-with-seam-rippers awful! If you've never crossed paths with these fabrics, let me try to describe it for you. In weight, this is somewhere between a cotton voile and the finest silk habotai. It is silky smooth and fairly sheer with a lovely drape that I would describe more as "floaty" than the fluidity of, say, a silk charmeuse. Basically it was the kind of fabric that if you bat your eyelashes at too hard it might flutter away! It does have the "stickiness" of cotton, so it didn't slip all over the place, but it could get kind of limp and wimpy when you wanted to get a crisp press.  I found that to get any kind of structure, like throughout the bodice, I had to utilize a liberal amount of interfacing, which I did. It also frayed pretty terribly with handling, so serging the raw edges was a necessity.



But oh my goodness if it doesn't make an exquisite finished garment! For eating up 5 yards of fabric this dress is remarkably light weight and easy to wear.  I self-lined the bodice for opacity and left the sleeves and skirt as a single layer.  This means that I have to wear a half-slip with the dress, but I'm okay with that.



There are so many details about this pattern that I absolutely adore: The slightly raised, cut-on collar, the deep, curved v-neck ending in the sweet button placket, the little fabric button loops, the yoked waist, the raglan sleeves, and oh my god that skirt! I had actually debated switching out the skirt for another pattern because I was worried it would be "too much" but I'm so glad I didn't! Yes it ate up yards of fabric with all that gathering, but the effect is a little bit Stevie Nicks, a little bit 70's folk singer, a little bit Little House on the Prairie, and a whole lotta stuff I love.  Let me put it to you this way, after finishing this dress I put it on to get the good ol' nod of approval from Nick and then proceeded to spend an inordinate amount of time swaying around the living room listening to Emmylou Harris sing "Pancho and Lefty".



Working with the pattern was the usual head-scratcher that most Burda patterns are.  I've learned not to trust the Burda sizing, but since the patterns don't come with seam allowances it was very easy to measure the waist and bust (the only measurements I needed for this pattern) and I ended up cutting a size smaller than my measurements on the size chart.  The instructions were... an adventure... In retrospect, there wasn't anything in particular that tripped me up, but I'm grateful that I have a few years of sewing under my belt to help decipher the cryptic descriptions. Par for the course with Burdastyle, really.  But again - the result is utterly lovely so I'm willing to forgive any moments of confusion I might have had! In fact, this pattern is most definitely going into my "to make again" pile.  The pattern came with pieces for a long poet sleeve - you guys! Can't you just picture the ultimate fall boho dress?!? Perhaps not in Liberty... but in a more affordable fabric I might even be tempted to make it maxi length...

You guys. I love this dress. It was just what I needed to fall in love with my sewing room again. Give me a good romantic design and delicious fabric with a complex floral print and I'm happy as a pig in shit!! 

Now excuse me while I go sway around my kitchen barefoot...

xx

scorched

Hey everyone! I am currently sitting, staring at my computer at 9:30 pm on a Saturday night (because my social life is off the hook). I think I've written these first couple of sentences a dozen of times, only to delete each one. I told myself that I wasn't allowed to write about the weather, or the fact that February seems to have gone by very very  fast, and as a result I'm finding myself with absolutely nothing to say. It's at times like this that I wonder if we're given a finite quantity of creativity in our lives, and if I've squandered all mine on dramatic readings of Us Weekly performed for my cat...

To be fair, those readings have been some of my finest work, but don't expect Mister Muscles to back me up on that because he's a tough critic!

Well, since it seems like the insides of my brain currently consists of one, long, obnoxious, fart sound, I'm gonna take the liberty of skipping the niceties and jumping right into the sewing talk. Trust me, it's better for everyone this way. Besides, I have a lot to say about this silly, flowy, voluminous dress!

This was my February make for the Mood Sewing Network (you can read that post here, which is probably way more informative than this post is going to be).  I had initially planned on making a spring jacket, which is much needed in my wardrobe, however our crazy 'winter' turned unexpectedly balmy for a week or two there and I just couldn't muster the enthusiasm to sew outer wear.  So instead I made what is essentially my ideal spring dress. Of course, it has since returned to being cold and drizzly, and now I'm really wishing I had that jacket - so back to the front of the queue it goes!

This dress was made using this White and Gray Striped Linen-Blended Woven from Mood online.  I'm not totally sure why this fabric caught my eye, as it certainly isn't the sort of rambunctious print I usually gravitate towards when I'm buying fabric with my Mood allowance. But I do know that when I saw it I thought of light and airy spring dresses with a sort of folksy, bohemian, Ladies of the Canyon kind of vibe.  The kind of thing you wear with minimal sandals and lots of jewelry (bonus points if you're lucky enough to own some genuine turquoise...) and long, flowing locks. The finished look might veer more towards 'a man's sleep shirt from the 19th century' or faintly Laura Ingles Wilder, but I'm actually pretty cool with that too! 

I'm going to reveal something incredibly nerdy about myself right about now - when I was a kid (and probably a little older than would have been considered 'cool'... like, oh, say 15) I was in love with American Girl dolls. My favorite doll was/is Kirsten (R.I.P. Kirsten, as you are no longer available) who was the 'pioneer doll.'  I mean, pioneers are pretty badass! I even had matching dresses so I could dress up like my doll and pretend that I, too, was a pioneer girl. Well. I would be lying if I said that this dress doesn't make me feel a bit like my 8 year old self, playing dress-ups with my Kirsten doll. And after doing that google image search I'm realizing just how much it resembles Kirsten's nightgown (which I also had in my size). Sigh. I mean, aren't we all just trying to satisfy our inner 8 year old? 

Another fun fact - my nieces are just getting to the age where they are getting into American Girl dolls, and I swear, this past Christmas I was almost as excited as they were to receive their first doll! I literally had to stop myself from being like, "here, let me show you how to brush their hair..."

But I was trying to write about sewing here (see above, re: brain = fart sound). So I saw this fabric, I decided I wanted to make a folksy, springy dress, and I chose a pattern, like you do.  This is Burda 10/2010 #122, the same pattern I used to make my green dress. I love that green dress so hard that it only made sense to add another version to my closet.  However there were a few changes I wanted to make. For clarity sake, I'm gonna go with the list format:

•  Lengthen the entire dress by about 3 inches. The curved hem makes for some scandalous thigh moments on my green dress, so this length is much more modest.
• Narrow the shoulders by 1/2 inch (using this method). My green dress actually fits very comfortably through my shoulders, but optically I feel like it makes my shoulders look wide(er). Since this is such a roomy dress I felt like I could get away with narrowing the shoulder so the shoulder seam sits in a bit more, which I find visually more flattering on me.
• Used a different method to sew the front placket because when I followed the instructions from Burda on my first version of this dress I felt like the placket got really gross. I don't remember now exactly what I did, I just kind of made it up as I went along. I'm sure if you were to have watched me sewing the placket it would have been like watching a chimp perform brain surgery. No offense to any primate surgeons out there - but it was definitely touch and go there for awhile! But we got there in the end. I'm actually really pleased with my placket on this version.
• I used the same wide, gathered sleeve pattern that I made for my first version, but this time I added 1/2 inch to the overall length, and changed the sleeve to an exaggerated bishops sleeve, so it's a little bit longer in length at the back of the arm than it is at the front.
• I omitted a lot of the topstitching and interfacing on this version because I wanted a very soft, rumply look.
• And finally, I left off the pockets. I'm generally a fan of pockets in dresses when they fit into the overall design of the dress, but I often think in-seam pockets seem like an afterthought, and they always flap around uncomfortably when you wear the dress. So out they go!

Perhaps the change I'm most pleased with is the sleeve adjustment I made.  The bishop sleeve really does fall in a very lovely way around the arm, which I think is really key for making this kind of poet sleeve work.  And it's just really fun to wear! I'm actually already imagining other patterns I can slip some bishop sleeves onto, and next time they're going to be even more exaggerated! Puffy sleeves for all!

Perhaps after all this rambling you're wondering why I would title this post 'scorched' (or maybe you've just caught on that my post titles are only tenuously related to what I'm talking about and you've just learned to ignore them, in which case, who can blame you?) Well! That has to do with a little lesson I learned about my new iron. Oh, I never told you I got a new iron? Well I did! For Christmas I got a Sapporo gravity feed iron and it makes me feel legit. I also love knowing that I will never have to buy another iron - or at least not for many many years (fingers crossed anyway, appliances are always susceptible to giving up the ghost, but from what I can tell, these things are lifetime companions). Although it hasn't been all sunshine and roses with my new iron. There's definitely been an... adjustment period (we're still getting to know one another). This thing is just way more serious than any other sewing appliance I own! Take, for instance, the sewing of this dress. While working I decided I needed a cup of tea, which of course turned into a snack, and then I sat down to check my email, and read some blogs... Anyway! An indeterminate amount of time later I returned to my sewing room only to find that in my negligence I had flung my work-in-progress across my ironing board, leaving the corner of the dress to rest against the iron! Now, as I've said, this iron ain't your mama's Rowenta! This sucker gets hot. And the whole base gets hot, not just the underside. Also, there's no auto shut-off like there was on my old conventional iron, which means the entire time I was lolly-gagging about, my dress (which I had just painstakingly manhandled a beautiful front placket for with all the precision of a chimp surgeon) was being scorched. I've never had an iron burn anything I was working on before! While I did want to cry when I saw the ugly, brown scorch mark on the front of my new dress, in retrospect I actually feel really lucky that I didn't start a fire! 

So! I would like to offer myself up as lesson to the sewing community! Do as I say, not as I Do! Learn from my mistakes, dear ones! Take care with your works in progress, and beware hot, powerful, irons!

And this picture is for Nick, who really liked the scale of me in amongst all these palmettos and tropical greenery. 

Until next time friends!

xx

greenness, gathers, and gratitude

So I'd like to start this post off with a little announcement, one that I've been struggling to keep in for the past few weeks, but I've been given the green light so I figure it's time to shout it from the rooftops!

A couple weeks ago I received an email from BurdaStyle informing me that I was voted as one of their Top 50 Best Bloggers for Sewing Enthusiasts!! I was so floored by this news, I can't even tell you! As so many of you know, sewing and blogging can feel like a lonely pursuit if it wasn't for the amazing community I've been able to connect with by doing both.  Every single person who takes the time to comment, email, stop by, lurk, or end up here by accident makes my day brighter and makes me so happy.  I love to share what I love to do, and you guys make that pursuit worthwhile.  So thank you to whoever nominated me for BurdaStyle's 50 Best Bloggers, and thank you to all of you who took the time to vote for me! I feel so incredibly grateful to have so many wonderful ladies (and gents) by my side, encouraging me and letting me be a part of this lovely community. Thank you guys! I love you!

Burda hasn't gotten around to posting the full list of all the 50 bloggers, but I can't wait for them to! I love discovering new blogs, and this list is sure to recommend some awesome new-to-me blogs! I promise to share as soon as I get wind...

Now that I got that off my chest... let's talk shop! One of the things I love about all the sewing blogs out there is that they present a never ending stream of inspiration. Sure, this can sometimes be overwhelming (I never seem to have enough time or resources to make allll the dresses!) but it can also light a little spark that makes you want to try a style you never considered before, or dredge up some forgotten love for a particular detail.

This particular getup was inspired by some of my favorite lady sewing bloggers. Last spring, Morgan from Crab & Bee wrote a few posts about her love for yokes and gathers as a design feature, and proceeded to make a few, utterly lovely, garments that featured said yokes and gathers - such as this one, this one, and especially this one (that last one... sigh... be still my heart!) Those makes got lodged somewhere in my brain, and ever since then I've been on the lookout for a good "yoke 'n gather" look for myself (sadly, that Built By Wendy pattern is out of print... *sobs*).  Then Mary from Idle Fancy went ahead and added fuel to this slowly building fire when she made two, back-to-back, swingy, artist-smock-esque tops, here and here. And then I remembered that I went through a brief period on Pinterest where I couldn't stop pinning looks with full, romantic, 19th century poet sleeves, like this one, and this one. And in a thunderclap of yokegatherbohemianbigsleeve mania I decided I needed to have all the things on One. Dress. Because I'll practice self-restraint when I'm dead, dammit!

The result of said mania is the dress you see before you! This might be another one of those makes that just isn't everyone's cup of tea. There's a lot of poofiness going on here, and a general shapelessness that some might consider 'unflattering'.  As I was making it I was getting some pretty distinct "nightie" vibes from it, followed by "choir robes"... Hopefully this amazing fabric (more on that in a bit) helps steer it from "housecoat" and more into the romantic-bohemian-artist territory that I was going for. The pattern is Burda 10/2010 #122 which I selected as one of the five free patterns I was awarded by BurdaStyle (seriously hard to choose five patterns, by the by!) I changed the sleeves to be 3/4 length and added serious width at the hem by slashing and spreading the pattern piece to create the full sleeved, slightly 1800's, look I was going for.

If all of this is looking a little too Little House on the Prairie for you, don't worry, because this dress also delivers some serious leg!

(Complete aside: Is Little House on the Prairie still a relative cultural reference? Did I just age myself by bringing that up?? Not that I really care because I loved that show! It made me feel lots of feelings!)

Those side slits are verging on indecent! However, I decided to go with it as a counterpoint to all the poof that was happening up top. I zeroed in on this pattern because I loved the squared off yoke (with the prerequisite gathers, of course) on the front, and the little placket and mandarin collar.  However, like most Burda patterns, the instructions are a bit scant. I love Burda because they have such a huge, insanely affordable, offering and they really cater to trends. I don't sew with their patterns nearly often enough, but any time I'm looking for a hard-to-find style in a sewing pattern, I always start with Burda. However, you definitely do not get the generous hand holding and lovely illustrations and thorough instructions that we've all been spoiled by with indie pattern companies. This wasn't a huge issue, since I've got a nice bit of sewing under my belt at this point, but in the future I think I'll trust my gut more and follow my own sewing instincts rather than trying to decode the included instructions.  It took me sewing the front placket according to their instructions to figure this out though...

Egads!!! Are your eyes bleeding?? What? You want to get in closer??



The HORROR! 

Ah well. You win some, you lose some. I'll know for next time!

I treated myself to this fabric from Emma One Sock (sadly, all gone) specifically for this dress.  It's a light weight silk that seems to fall somewhere between a crepe de chine and a habotai, and it's completely lovely.  Ya'll might remember how I was going on about green not being my favorite color when I made this skirt.  Well, that skirt must have started something, because I'm all of a sudden finding myself drawn to all sorts of amphibian shades! Primarily this lovely grassy shade.  But really, it was the print that sold me on this fabric. I just can't get enough of painterly prints, and there is something about this one that I just find especially lovely (it's slightly 'leopard-y').  It definitely wanted to be made into a voluminous, billowy, bohemian look! It was lovely to cut, lovely to sew, lovely to handle, and lovely to wear. The only sad thing is that I've used it all up! 

I wish I had had enough fabric to make bias tape to face the curved hem (and keep a bit more length) like Rochelle and Lauren, but I was literally down to teensy scraps (definitely filing this tip away for the future though! So simple and so genius - especially when you don't want to sacrifice length).  So I had to make do with a simple 1/4" narrow hem.  Oddly enough, sewing these sort of hems on lightweight silks like this one is (dare I say it?) one of my strengths when it comes to sewing. Isn't that funny? I hate bias binding (different than bias facing), but I don't mind narrow curved hems.

Ah yes, and pockets! I'm not entirely sure what I plan on putting in these pockets, but it's fun to have a place to hide my hands amongst all those rippling folds. 

Well my best beloveds, there you have it! My take on yokes and gathers and artist smocks and poet sleeves and maybe more than a dash of Little House on the Prairie. I had another length of fabric earmarked for this exact same pattern as well, but I think I might give Tessuti's newest pattern, the Alice Dress / Top a go. Or should I save that one for spring... what do you think?

And as a final note, can I just say how hard it was to shoot this green dress in front of my usual photo backdrop of 'some stranger's garden'? Talk about dueling greens! It's hard to compete with nature!

Have a great end to your week everyone! 

xx

*Disclaimer: This pattern was given to me for free by BurdaStyle, but I selected it because I loved it, and wanted to make it, and I'm very happy I did. All thoughts and opinions on the pattern are my own and not influenced by the lovely people at BurdaStyle.

summery separates

Hi everyone! Wow, I can't believe it's April already... time is really flying by! I had a very busy March - both at work and in the sewing sphere, and, perhaps most importantly, I had a birthday! I am now the ripe old age of 29! 

This month's make for the  Mood Sewing Network was a bit of a challenge. Literally. We were given the task to choose a designer and make a completely unique look inspired by their 2014 spring runway collection. I was pretty psyched about the concept - and also a little nervous! It felt a bit like being back in school and having to problem solve my way through an assignment. How do you make a look that hearkens to a designer, yet doesn't directly copy them, and also maintains a sense of your own individual style? Tricky stuff indeed, my friends. However, choosing a designer was a total no-brainer for me. Rachel Comey is probably the only designer who I continue to keep tabs on, no matter what, and I've had a long standing girl-crush on her for, literally, years. I love her collections, I love her shoes, I loved her patterns for Vogue (hint hint... could we get more of those please??) Like this one... and this one...

Comey's spring collection was really all over the place. Above are a few of my favorite looks from it (you can view the whole collection here). Crazy, tattered denim culottes? Check! Lace getups that are both seductive and frumpy? Check! Velvet slip dresses reminiscent of the 90's? Check! Psychedelic swirly printed sweatshirts? Check, check, and more check!! Really, it was hard to come away with a cohesive statement from this collection, but that's also what made it so great to work with - it allowed for a lot of freedom of interpretation.

In the end I decided to create a look that was maybe a bit more feminine than what Comey was showing, but I think it would still fit into her collection with ease.  I tried to focus in on a few key elements from a few different looks - the fabric of a piece here, the midriff baring there, skirt lengths, layering and accessories...

I used this white cotton brocade from Mood Fabrics online store to create this crop-top and pencil skirt.  As soon as this fabric arrived I knew I had made a good choice. It was almost identical to this textured, white fabric that appeared in Comey's collection:

This cotton is more ivory than white and has an almost slub-like texture to it, and a very pretty, subtle sheen.  It's 100% cotton, but has a generous amount of width-wise give, which made it perfect for this sort of curve-hugging silhouette.  It was super easy to work with, as cottons often are, but it did fray something awful, so I was very careful not to handle the cut pieces more than necessary and definitely made sure to enclose all my raw edges.  I fully lined both the skirt and the top with white cotton batiste, which I love as a lining for warm weather clothing.  It gave a nice sturdiness to both of these pieces, while also adding much needed opacity.

Please excuse that attention-whore of a bra strap... always trying to steal the show...

I used the top portion of By Hand London's Georgia dress for the crop-top, simply adding a back button placket so I could get it on and off. This was a really great way to test the fit of this pattern, without committing to the whole dress. I simply lopped the pattern off at the waist notch, then added an additional inch for a hem.  I did have to make a few adjustments to the bust cups - mainly taking out some of the volume from the bust apex. Now that I've got the fit figured out (mostly at least... I could still tweak away...) you can bet that I'm dreaming up other versions of this dress! 

The skirt is Burda 117 which I liked because it has the perfect mix of high-waisted, long-hemmed, body-hugging silhouette, and includes a back vent (an absolute must for this type of skirt). Of course I still had to take it in some sort of ridiculous amount through the side seams to get the kind of fit I wanted, but all in all that's an easy adjustment to make.

You can see the texture of the fabric a bit better in these close ups

 

One thing that is definitely for certain - Sonja and I have totally been drinking from the same crop-top + pencil skirt kool-aid this spring! If that's not a sign that this trend has arrived, than I don't know what is!  You heard it here first folks - crop-tops and pencil skirts are so. right. now. If I'm being completely honest, I kind of can't believe I not only decided to make a crop-top, but then photographed  myself wearing it and posted it on the internet!! I can honestly say that I have never worn a crop-top before in my life! Not being blessed with abs of steel (more like abs of marshmallow) I always thought it was a look that I couldn't pull off, but I think the proportions of these pieces really help make this outfit more flattering.

Also (true confessions) I actually had the best of intentions of making another Tessuti Tokyo jacket in denim to go along with this outfit. I was even planning on distressing the hems and pockets, like my girl Rachel Comey. However my plans were utterly foiled when I was struck ill mid-month with... well I'm not quite sure, but I've been calling it consumption which pleases the Victorian Gothic in me, and also the plague, which suits the Medieval Mystic in me. In fact, I can still be found hacking out my lungs most nights! So, alas, the denim Tokyo jacket got put off and instead I donned my beloved shibori dyed Tokyo jacket, since I thought Rachel (yeah, we're on a first name basis... in my head) would approve. 

Also, how do you like my new clogs?? I'm in looooovvveeeeee!!!!!

Happy spring everyone!

xx

feathers in caps

THIS CALLS FOR CAPSLOCK!!

well i'll be. well i'll just be! (what does that even mean? i don't know but my grandma always says it... hi grandma!) you guys i am just all of a tizzle and fizzle and flub a dub dub dub...!! i was the featured member project on burdastyle!! this feels like a momentous occasion - who brought the champagne?!?

in addition to this major award (hehe) i've also got a couple shout outs and blog awards recently.

leah of a vintage thread and amy from cloth habit both gave me some liebster love. thanks guys!!

and liza jane of liza jane sews gave me a sunshine award!

the sunshine award comes with some questions!! oooh fun! i sure do love questions! here we go...

favorite color: pink! yes! unashamedly! next question... (i'm totally going to ace this test...)

favorite animal: octopus. or octopi... octopussy??

favorite number: erm. free? (shit! i'm bombing it...)

favorite non-alcoholic drink: ... ?? water. is it just me or do these questions kind of suck?

facebook or twitter: neither!

my passion: sunny days

getting or giving presents: lets be serious... getting!

favorite pattern: i thought this one was funny because everyone who answered it gave a sewing pattern related answer. so i'm going to say zig-zag just to be a contrarian!

favorite day of the week: snooze fest. i'm not even going to bother answering this... instead i'm going to tell you about this one time when i was driving with my husband and there was this bucket in the middle of the road and i saw it from blocks away and started screaming and swerved the car this way and that to avoid it - however when i finally i got to it i drove right over it in a panic. despite the fact that there were no other obstacles on the street and i was going like 20 mph - in the end i made a bee-line right for the damn bucket. do i sound like a terrifying driver?? i am...

favorite flower: peonies

phew! thank god thats over with!! i felt like i was on the worst first date of my life...

so i'm supposed to pass this little bit of blog love on to some other blogs! rather than making a list for each award i'm just going to give both the liebster and the sunshine to these blogs - because they deserve it!!

country girl couture

nibbles and bytes

mokosha

closet case files

inder loves folk art

stacie thinks she can

anyway, thanks for all the love internet universe!! you guys are just the bestest bunch of cyber friends a girl could ever ask for!

xx

and now...

time for some gratuitous construction shots!

views of the single welt pockets, (invisible) draw stitched collars with pick stitching along the edge, and fell stitched neckline.

so. much. fell stitching! plus little thread bars to hold the back pleat in the lining in place.

i would be a liar if i said this jacket is perfect. its not. not even close. but that doesn't stop me from being pleased as punch with the final outcome! it has plenty of little kinks to it - places where i may have been a bit overzealous with the steam, areas where i fudged my way through the finer details of tailoring, or got so caught up in the details i wasn't seeing their effect on the garment as a whole. does this ever happen to you?

i tell you this now, because it is with some trepidation that i show you these rather intimate images of my jacket, an object that few of you will ever examine in real life. i feel as if i'm laying it bare. exposing all my wonky little stitches - my fumbling with the fabric.

and i remind myself that it's all a process of learning - something i hate! why can't i skip over the learning part and just be an expert already?!? but it doesn't work like that, does it?

i had to laugh a bit when i was reading claire's instructions on how to attach the sleeve lining to the coat lining by hand. She says that because of the excess fullness - the lining should be smooth, but it won't be as neat as a machine stitched lining. She calls this "a true sign of a hand-made garment".

it reminds me of what my husband says when i'm freaking out over some detail thats just not quite right. He says, "honey, thats how you know its handmade"...

xx