high visibility

Hello from glorious Galveston!! This is truly my favorite time of year here on the Gulf Coast. Surviving our summers is like an extreme endurance sport, but once you're into October the humidity breaks, the breeze has a cool edge to it, and days are clear, bright and comfortably warm. I really do miss the defined seasons of the northeast, but there is a silver lining to every region, and I feel like these blissfully perfect Autumns are ours. 

So... this dress. Where to begin with this dress? I'll be honest, I think I've written this post about 3 times and every time I keep erasing it.  This dress drags up a lot of conflicting feelings about my body for me.  And every time I sit down to write about it I find myself enumerating all the things I don't like about my figure, and it's just insane. No one wants to read that! Least of all me! So I will just say this -- wearing this dress puts me way outside of my comfort zone, but also kind of makes me feel like a badass.  It's a silhouette that I think I'd normally tell myself was "unflattering" on me and that I should avoid, but I liked it. So I made it. I made it in an arrestingly bright colored fabric that makes it impossible not to be noticed. And I wear it. On perfectly ordinary days. When I was feeling a bit bloated I wore the dress. I ate lunch in the dress. I slumped over at my desk in the dress. I wore normal undergarments and breathed like a human being. And it was fine. I even got compliments on the dress from random strangers.

I don't like being told what I can do and what I can't do, what I can wear, and what I can't wear. It's why I've never lasted very long at any job that required a uniform or had a dress code. And I especially don't like it when I'm the one telling myself I can't do or wear something.  Oh yeah, Self? Watch me.

This dress may not be the most flattering on me in the ways that women are told we should look in order to be desirable - curvy (but only in certain areas), narrow (but only in certain areas), toned (but only in certain areas).  But you know what? I think my shoulders and arms look awesome in this dress. I love this color on me.  I love the opposing style elements of the mock turtleneck and the cut-away sleeves and the gored skirt.  I love that I love this dress and I'm wearing it despite my insecurities. And that's all there is to say about that!

Well, obviously that's not all there is to say about it! This is a sewing blog and I should probably talk about the sewing! This dress came about because of a couple inspiring makes I'd seen by two of my favorite sewing bloggers: Erica Bunker and Noble & Daughter.  Erica made a dress out of this bright orange ponte from Mood Fabrics and the color and cut of it just really caught my eye.  Never mind that Erica looked positively fierce in it (but doesn't she always?) It was one of those makes that looked so good it deluded me into thinking I could look just as good if I copied her! Haha! So I did! Kind of. I bought the same fabric, and I was tempted to use the same pattern, the most outstanding feature of which was the mock turtleneck and cut-away sleeve.

But then I remembered this Beatrix Skater Dress from Named Patterns, which had a similar sleeve/neckline action as Erica's dress, but with the addition of the fun, swishy gored skirt.  I've never made a Named pattern before, but I know they are well loved among the blogosphere.  However, I couldn't recall if I had seen many versions of the Beatrix dress out in the wild. So I googled it.  True to my suspicions, not many came up in the google image search, but one definitely caught my eye - the lovely Charlie's.  I'm so glad I searched for this dress, because I seem to have missed this post when she first wrote it, but it's such a wonderful post! Not only does Charlie look amazing in her dress, but her musings on "age-appropriate" dressing really hit home with me, as I was trying to sort out my own concerns with "figure-flattery" dressing.  

The actual construction of this dress was a breeze, as knit garments often are. Especially with such a well-behaved ponte.  The instructions weren't too hand-holdy, but they were clear and concise, which was all that's needed, really. The only place where I deviated from the instructions was with the armholes, which instructs you to use bias binding to finish, but I simply turned and stitched using my sewing machine's triple stitch stretch setting.  There were a few places where some of my knowledge and experience with sewing garments made me think "but shouldn't we be doing this..." like with understitching the collar facing, or adding elastic to the waist seam. Neither of these were mentioned in the instructions, and despite my instincts I decided to follow the instructions as written to see how the dress turned out without these construction techniques.  Turns out, the dress is fine, but I still stand by my gut sewing instinct that understitching the collar would help it look a bit sharper, and that elastic in the waist seam would prevent the weight of the skirt from dragging down the bodice. However I hate the way elastic in waist seams feels, and understitching knits can be a chore. So, do it whichever way you want. The dress will still turn out wearable either way.

So, as is so often the case with making things, this dress was really the love child of two other women's fabulous creations, smooshed together in my brain to make something that feels unique to me.  Thank you to Erica and Charlie, and all you wonderful makers out there for continuously inspiring me!

And if you've ever saw a design and inwardly sighed because you loved it so much, and felt instantly transported into a daydream where you were swanning about in said design, only to have the breaks slammed on your little fantasy by a nasty voice saying "but you could never pull off that look. That style is not for you." Then I implore you to give not two, not one, but zero fucks about that voice and wear what makes you happy, not what you think you should.

Happy Halloween, all you Queens.

xo

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.

a self-stitcher goes shopping

So here's a story for you...

Yesterday I decided I needed to venture off the island to buy myself some lining fabric for the dress I'm making out of my hand-painted fabric. I wasn't really feeling up to making the long trek allll the way to civilization (Houston, in my book - and where the only mildly decent fabric stores are) so I settled for the JoAnne's conveniently situated at the halfway point. 

First of all, JoAnne's was in total, full-out, Halloween cray-cray mode and I was slightly terrified, but I soldiered on because I'm brave like that. Turns out that the majority of their fabric, including their skeptical selection of lining fabrics, was on a 50% off sale! Awesome! So I pawed through the polyesters, setting my "natural fiber" bigotry aside for the time being. I mean, a sale is a sale. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I'm pretty incapable of impulse buying these days - especially on mystery fabric - and so I pretty easily talked myself down from purchasing anything other than what I came there for: white rayon lining fabric - the bemberg variety.

Well they were out. Completely. They had orange and black, but... you know. 

So I'm feeling a bit deflated because this means I'm going to have make the long haul up to Houston anyway. But, alas, I wasn't going to do it this day. However, there I was, in the midst of this huge shopping complex, and I decided to do something that used to cheer me up in my pre-sewing days - I decided to go clothes shopping. 

Now this wasn't a total coincidence - word on the street had it that the Houston area is finally home to an H&M, and it just so happens to be at my halfway point - right across the street from my JoAnne's. Once upon a time I used to love me some H&M. It fit my graduate school budget and it catered to literally every look and occasion. Trendy? Check. Office appropriate? Check. Hipster? Check. Bohemian? Check, check, check....

I have grown up some since those college days (thank god) and so have my tastes in clothing - helped along mainly by the fact that I've sewn every major new garment that's been added to my wardrobe since 2010.  I'm far more pickier about fit, fabric and quality than I used to be. And I'm a fair bit more educated on the, shall we call them "dangers" of fast and cheap consumption, especially within the clothing industry. But despite all this, a morbid curiosity drew me in. And I'm glad I went, because otherwise I would have never known that Kelly Clarkson was still making music (where have I been?!?)

Truthfully, I knew from the outset that I was not going to buy anything (see above, re: impulse buying).  But I figured this might be a fun opportunity to try on some trends I've been thinking about and see if they would actually work on me.  The looks I wanted to try? Oversized sweaters, leather leggings, wild prints.

So without further ado, here are some of the outfits I put together on this pretend shopping spree:

Glitter sweater and faux leather pants.

I first became aware of my desire for faux leather leggings while trolling one of my favorite style blogs, sea of ghosts.  The inspiration to pair them with an oversized sweater perhaps came from Pinterest? Not really sure. Anyway - these H&M faux leather leggings were not very stretchy. I grabbed them in a size 6 and a size 8, not really sure what my size is in that store and mainly eyeballing the waist. The size 6 fit the best, but oddly. Tight in the waist, baggy in the crotch. I'm not sure why I was surprised by how... squeaky these were... but there you go. Squeaky pants. The sweater was acrylic and cozy, but I probably wouldn't actually pair these two in real life (I think I can come up with a better top for leather leggings, don't you?)

Cable knit sweater and crazy print, cropped trousers.

I was very drawn to this whole display of stuff in this wild, floral digital print. There was a ton of it. Apparently Lucky magazine put this stuff as its "top pick" because there were signs all over the place! So these trousers are a size 2, to give you an idea of the crazy sizing. They only had a size 2 left, and I decided to give it a go. They fit, but they are what a friend of mine once fondly termed "yeast infection pants" - meaning the crotch seam was where no crotch seam had a right to be! So I'd probably size up in the pants and size down in the sweater (there's oversize, and then there's sloppy...)

Crazy print dress

This dress was the most ill-fitting of the bunch. It was made from a stretchier fabric than the pants.  It was rather loose in the upper chest, and real tight over my belly and butt. The waist line also kept wanting to hike up. And it was short! Like, whoa! When I first spotted this dress I thought that if it fit it might actually make a fun work dress, but it would need at least 6 inches!

Another crazy print dress.

This was the last dress I tried on. This was a thinner fabric than all the rest, pretty silky to the touch at first, but even for the short time I had it on it became kind of scratchy.  It's a simple A-line shift dress, but I liked the way the pattern was placed. There was even a bit of tricky seaming that happened at the shoulder to keep the illusion going - an unexpectedly thoughtful detail.

All in all, I have to admit that the quality wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be! Of course there is no telling how any of these things would hold up with repeated wearing and washing.  In the end, I came away from this little pretend shopping spree with some ideas for fall/winter sewing, and feeling like my style mojo might have just got a kick in the pants. This isn't to say that I intend on copying these looks, but sometimes you need to step out of your daily routine to get the old wheels a-turnin' !

Does anyone else go pretend shopping when they need a bit of inspiration? I'd love to hear about it!

xx

internet friends are the best friends

Back in the beginning of August I received a big, squishy envelope in the mail, all the way from New York City.  Upon opening it I found a generous amount of yardage of this awesome printed fabric.  Those of you with eagle eyes and mad blog stalking skillllzz may remember this fabric from another blogger's make. I had a serious crush on this fabric when Sonja posted her adorable Scout tee back in July. And being the amazing person she is, Sonja sent me some. Just like that!

Friends, if you want to know the way to my heart - like the deep down recesses of my heart, the places that once you get in you're not getting back out - just send me fabric. I loved Sonja before for her humor and her down-to-earth approach to sewing and knitting and her fabulous makes, but now this love is for real.  Sonja, you complete me.

When I was a little girl I used to take old sheets and beach towels and blankets - pretty much any large swath of fabric and drape it around my body and pretend I was a queen, or a model, or more often than not, a witch. Those big fabric rectangles were, like, a million times better than any actual dress-ups I owned (I mean, they dragged around on the floor after me and I could throw them over my shoulder... ) I don't think that impulse has ever left me because as soon as I unwrapped Sonja's present I immediately wrapped myself in the fabric and started swanning about the house. Actually that's pretty much what I do anytime I get new fabric, but I was particularly in love with the print on this one. The wheels in my head started turning as I began to contemplate what to make it into. What design would best show off the print, but also compliment it in style? Do I break up the print or choose a garment that will let the print run unbroken? And then there was the age old question - what do I really want to wear?

I may have thought about this too much. But eventually I decided I wanted something where the print could be both broken and unbroken.  At the same time this Electric Feathers Infinite Rope Dress kept playing around in my brain and I decided to try to recreate something similar with my fabric.  

For such a simple dress (really, this dress has two major seams) it actually took me a little bit to figure out.  In the end, my dress ended up with a much fuller hem than the inspiration dress, but I'm okay with that.  I reached a point though where I began to question this fabric for this design.  This really caused me to stall in sewing it up. After all, I didn't want to waste my awesome fabric!  I realized I had completely paralyzed myself - I was too nervous to cut into my fabric, but I couldn't move on to another project! So - as I usually do in times like these - I asked my husband, who told me to just go for it and he thought that I'd like the dress I had originally planned. Part of me still feels like maybe this would be better in a drapey-er silk, but I have to agree with Nick, I do really love the dress, and even more I love seeing my vision come to fruition.

I did make the ties long enough that they can be wrapped entirely around the waist.  I like having the option of wearing it both ways, however, knowing me I'll probably wear it loose and full more than I'll wear it all reigned in (even though I really do love the way it folds and cascades when belted.) And yes, I'm fully aware that if I ever get the hankering to make babies I'll already have a nice start on a maternity wardrobe! What can I say?! I like-a the volume...

The fabric is a light weight cotton and I lined it in a white silky rayon to help with the see-through factor and also to add some swishy-ness.  I always feel that with super simple designs like this my impulse is to rush through them, so I really tried to break that habit and take the time to focus on little construction elements where I could, like interfacing the neck opening and understitching and making an itsy-bitsy narrow hem. I used Jen's  (Grainline) tutorial for the hem because this post was still fresh in my mind. It turned out beautifully, but I think that may have had more to do with my nice, stable cotton than it does with my sewing skills! Despite my attempt to attend to the details, I still can find things I'd like to change (isn't that always the case?) I wish I could have found a way to make the ties more substantial. I love the inspiration dress's thick ropey ties - but my commitment just wasn't there!

I conceived this dress (yes, all my handmade garments are my babies) while suffering through some seriously hot and humid (like 110F plus...) days. Fortunately we had a "cold snap" right before I took these pictures. 88 degrees never felt so cool!! Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week and those of you that are beginning to experience a change of season - enjoy it! And if you get a hankering for summer you can come visit me - it'll still be hanging around these parts until... oh... November? I have an air mattress...

xx

leona

next week my maternal grandma, leona (or lee lee, as my grandfather - last picture - used to call her) turns 90. an achievement indeed.

familial traits are funny things. i certainly look like a strange mixture of my mom and dad, but most of my family agrees that the person i really resemble is my grandma.  i'm pretty sure i'm the only one that inherited her nose (although i come by some pretty strong nose genes from all sides of my family! we're nosey people, i guess!) and we both have the ability to give a look that can stop a child from misbehaving halfway across a restaurant! in other words, no one is left in doubt of our displeasure! after my last set of pictures on this blog my mom even commented that i pose like my grandma! i'd like to think i've inherited her legs, which last time i checked are still just as svelte of ankle as they are in these pictures.

i remember the first time i came upon these photos of her and my grandfather when i was teen. i was pretty obsessed with classic movies from the 30's, 40's and 50's.  katherine hepburn was my idol. when i saw these pictures of my grandma - most of them taken to send to my grandfather while he was away in the navy during world war two - i thought she looked like she had just stepped out of one of those movies! i still think she looks like a movie star.

my grandma was also quite the skilled seamstress, making many of her own clothes (like lots of women during that time) and even some of my mom and aunt's clothing. my sister had borrowed her old kenmore sewing machine a couple years ago to sew curtains for her apartment and after using it a few times had pronounced it broken.  this past christmas we pulled that old machine out to see what was what and it turns out it had just been threaded wrong! my grandma, at 89 years old, after not touching a sewing machine for decades, showed us all up by deftly threading her machine and setting it right without missing a beat!

but whether she was sewing her clothes or buying them from a store, my grandma always had, and still has, a great  eye for fashion and quality - a trait that, unlike her sewing skills, she did  pass down to the women in her family.

i'll be gone all next week visiting my family and getting ready for my grandma's surprise birthday party (don't worry - i didn't spoil the surprise! she still shakes her head wonderingly anytime anyone mentions "the internet" and she probably thinks a "blog" is a minor, but unfortunate skin disease) so the blog will be quiet(er) than usual.  when i get back i get to enjoy the thrill of packing up and moving apartments - a task i'll be happy not to do again for quite some time! so needless to say things may be a bit dead around here. but i'll try to get everything back up and running as soon as i can! plus i'll have a whole new sewing room (all to myself!) at our new apartment so i'll be excited to break it in.

hope you all have a good couple of weeks (can you believe its almost august?!?!)

xx

when do you buy?

                                                                           
                                                                           Source: shopanaise.com via Sallie on Pinterest

i think this is a question for both sewists and non-sewists alike, but it becomes particularly more complicated and convoluted for those of us who have an interest in creating a handmade wardrobe.

lately i've been bit by the shopping bug. perhaps its a reaction to us buying a new car and adding a monthly payment into our budget that has me (ashamedly) whining "but but but... thats less money to spend on me".  or maybe its just that my sewing machines have been a bit quiet the last week or so, but i've been finding myself wandering onto ready-to-wear clothing sites and eyeing up the wares a bit greedily while a sneaky little voice in my head is whispering "buy it". some of these things are affordable and i could easily slip them into this months paycheck without hurting, others are so outrageously outside of my "fun" budget that i can't believe i'm even entertaining the thought! (p.s. all of these images fall into the latter category)

                                                                 Source: shop.emersonfry.com via Sallie on Pinterest

generally i enter into a ridiculous song and dance where i weigh my desire vs. need vs. can i make it? vs. do i want to make it? vs. will it make me happy? vs. will i secretly feel guilty? vs. will my husband disapprove? vs. do i need it? do i need it? huh? huh huh huh????!!!

you get the picture. it gets exhausting. usually this mental two-step is enough to tucker me out and dissuade me from buying anything and the crisis is averted and my credit card stays safely tucked in my wallet. but sometimes... its just not that easy.


                                                                   

                                                                        Source: theclothes.blogspot.com via Sallie on Pinterest

i do try to stick to some sort of priority scale when i buy things - it goes a little something like this (sewing related stuff excluded, of course, because that takes priority over everything!!):

1. beauty products - my number one weakness. whether its some diy ingredients to make an oatmeal and aloe mask or a miracle cream that i'm certain will turn me into a glowing botticelli venus, or a new lippy from the drugstore, this is the first thing that i'll break down on and buy.

                                                              Source: funkis.com via Sallie on Pinterest

2.  shoes - because i haven't yet (yet!) figured out how to make shoes, i usually find purchasing them pretty justified. plus i just love shoes. but i do already own a crapload of them, so that gives me some pause.

3.  jewelry and accessories - see above. at this point i'd be hard pressed to get into jewelry making. same thing goes for things like belts and scarves. i know i could make them, but i'd just rather buy them. also, i don't wear a ton of accessories on a day to day basis so i'm usually pretty cool recycling what i have over and over (and over) again.

                                                                            Source: neimanmarcus.com via Sallie on Pinterest

4.  sweaters - i've knocked around the idea of learning how to knit just to avoid this one, but i get dissuaded every time i imagine all the scarves and boring rectangles i'll have to knit first before i'm competent enough to tackle something like a cardigan. plus, its so slow!! and thats coming from someone who likes to work slow!

                                                                  Source: images.anthropologie.com via Sallie on Pinterest

5.  swimwear and underwear - i have a hard time with this one. because i really know that i can make them. but my desire to make them is pretty low. my desire to buy them is pretty low too, which is why i'm still romping around in an old bikini that no longer fits and every time i get hit by a wave i lose my drawers. and i won't even tell you about the state of my underwear. just know that its amazing my husband is still attracted to me - despite the fact that he's threatened to go through my underwear and burn things...

and there you have it! way low on that list are things like dresses and blouses and t-shirts and jeans, because i feel pretty competent at making all those things - but every now and then i see something, like a beautiful dress with knife pleats all over, or a ridiculous design that i can't find a pattern to replicate, and is beyond my drafting skills, and, oh! the song and dance starts again...

so i'm wondering - when do you take the plunge and buy something? am i the only one that does a mental mambo every time i come across a cute pair of shorts? do you have any weaknesses when it comes to rtw clothes? 

please share...

all images are just some things that have made my breath catch in my throat recently. if i could own them all i would...

xx

feeling zen-like

not one of my most inspired haiku's (pfft!! as if i have haiku standards!!) but still... hiya haiku! nice to see ya!

that title is a lie. but ya know, whaddyagonnado? sometimes you just need to tell yourself those little white lies. "feeling globular" just doesn't inspire normal human functioning, does it? but "feeling zen-like" well! now we're talking... see! talking! human function! where was i??

i'm back! i've managed to make it through my stressful april and i'm now seeing the light on the other side which is may! please be good to me may! please oh please oh please!! it was actually a bit of a challenge to stay away from the computer. in the little bouts of free time i've had over the last 2 or 3 weeks i've had to remind myself to limit my computer time. turn the thing off. step away from the mouse. its for your own good. this didn't always work since i was also determined to stay up to date on my blog readers (i don't know what it is, but an overflowing reader makes me more stressed out than an overflowing email inbox!)

but this self-imposed blog break doesn't mean that i haven't been thinking about sewing or blogging. au contraire!! part of the break was to help me organize my thoughts and get some action plans made up for the upcoming months. chief among these was preparing for me-made-may and the colette spring/summer palette challenge.

so where am i with all of this? hmmm. well when i say "organize" i mean "form coherent thoughts" so... don't get your hopes up...

lets start with me-made-may shall we?

my "mmm" oath reads a little sumpin like this:

i, sallie of sallieoh.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of me-made-may '12. i endeavor to wear one self-made article of clothing, and to mix and match said articles of clothing to the best of my ability, each day for the duration of may 2012.

so here's the tizzy - i have a pretty good self-made wardrobe built up at this point. its not great, but it does get a lot of wear. i plan on building onto this wardrobe (particularly my summer wardrobe) throughout the month. so that should be fun. but what i really want to get out of this challenge is a chance to remix my current wardrobe. i think by setting the boundary of having to wear a self-made article of clothing every stinking day i might be forced to get a wee bit creative. also, this is a chance for me to show off some of the things i've made before i started this blog - which are all generally poorly sewn but for some reason i love them. so that should be fun! stay tuned!

now! the colette spring/summer palette challenge! i approached this a bit different than i did for the fall one. in the fall i picked some images that were inspiring me and then tried to fit my fabric/garment choices around that. this time i tried to pay attention to what fabrics i was being drawn to and edit them to find a coherent theme, curating patterns to go along with them in the process. and this is what i came up with:

what can i say? i'm feeling blue! maybe its my yearning for some beach time - or something else, but i'm really craving cooling hues.  also, as a sort of continuation of my mini spring wardrobe, i'm also really trying to incorporate more prints into my wardrobe along with some classic solids. prints are the spice of a wardrobe's life, in my humblest of opinion, and so far my closet is like the cafeteria at a retirement home...bland.

i'll check back in soon with a more complete rundown of my plans and patterns and such and such! also, i have a newly finished garment to show off that i'm trying to get photographed either today or tomorrow - aaaaand  the me-made-may madness starts this tuesday!! ya'll are gonna get so sick of me...

till then,

xx

lets make this official

okay. i've been meaning to do this for awhile but i've had trouble getting my butt in gear. i found it pretty helpful to make a plan when i started sewing for fall - even though, in the end, i didn't really stick to that plan too well (ahem.) but regardless of my fickleness and the fact that i grossly overestimated my sewing productivity (ahem!) i still think its helpful to make a plan, make it public, and try and stick by it as much as possible. having a plan helps me buy fabric and budget my time. and this time i majorly scaled back what i want to sew so i don't overwhelm myself and feel like a failure because i didn't reach my goals (who me?!).

so here you have it - my official "to sew" list for spring 2012:

i'm pretty proud to say that i've already made some good headway on this one. i decided to draft the pattern myself because i couldn't find one exactly like what i had in mind. fast forward 5 muslins and countless sleeve drafts later and i now have something i'm pretty happy with! i think i'm ready to cut into my leather (might even take that fun little task on tonight) and do some practice sewing on some leather scraps just to get a feel for it. i also wrote myself out some sewing instructions. does anyone else do this? i find it supremely helpful when i decide to "wing" a garment - writing it out makes my brain think through the construction and i'm able to catch mistakes before i make them! (most of the time).

march is my birthday month! woohoo! this year i'll actually be attending the wedding of some dear, beautiful people my birthday weekend so i wanted something that i could wear to the wedding, and also something a little special as a present to myself! we have a few weddings coming up, so i'm hoping this dress will be my "go-to" spring/summer special occasion dress. it'll be nice to give my bombshell dress a break, which was my fall/winter special occasion "go-to". i bought this rachel comey for vogue pattern back in the fall and i was waiting to make it until i found the perfect fabric. i always envisioned it in a floral print, but none really tickled my fancy - that is until i came across this silk print on tessuti and had to wipe the drool off my keyboard! it'll be a bit loud, but i think the dress can handle it. one of my goals this spring is to incorporate more prints so... here we go!

p.s. did ya'll see this lady's version of this dress? she said she had a hard time with it, but hot damn! girl looks good...

another rachel comey pattern! i wasn't lying when i said i practically bought them all! these patterns have been languishing in my drawer for too long (a whole 6 months!?!? told you i'm not much of a hoarder...) and they're far too pretty to just look at. i think for this pattern, and the dress pattern above, a muslin will be key. they seem like the sort of garments that could turn ugly real fast if they don't fit you just so. i plan to make this one out of another pretty tessuti silk print. the print is abstract and washy and the colors are just soo summery! it'll be a pretty sheer top, but that doesn't really bother me (give me a nude bra and i'm good to go - modesty was never my forte!)

and thats it!! is that too stingy of a sewing list?? lets just say these are my priorities. i've also been knocking a couple other ideas around in the back of my mind as well...

we'll call these the icing on the cake! i've wanted a white silk blouse for... about ever! haha! i've waffled back and forth between "buy it/make it" so many times i've lost count. so here it is - it officially made a "to make" list! a think a bright punchy pink chiffon midi skirt would be the most wonderful garment to sail into summer with! plus, i plan on making a simple gathered drindl skirt which will be my project for when i've burnt myself out on all this pattern drafting. and the pale pink jeans? what can i say... i've got an itch to jump on the colored-jeans-trend-bandwagon! unfortunately i seem to be obnoxiously picky about the color and can't seem to find a fabric that satisfies me so i'm thinking maybe i have to dye some white denim? blech. that doesn't sound fun. lets just say this one is a bit low on the priorities!!

well, my lovelies, there you have it! written in stone! in playdough stone. in extremely malleable stone... i feel like i can handle this list. although to be honest, i plan on doing the bulk of this sewing this month...gah! march 8th?!?! better get to it!

xx