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happy birthday to me

i live in a tree

my na-ame is sallie

happy birthday to me!

yeah ok. my birthday was actually yesterday. i was too busy doing birthday stuff to blog. sometimes its gotta take a back seat, ya know? and here is my birthday dress!! don't you just wanna eat that floral print from tessuti?? i do. uh oh. sallie. don't eat the dress...

and look at that!! a smile! it must be a birthday miracle...

i wore this dress to a lovely wedding this past weekend for some truly lovely people. i don't know when it happened - but give me a pretty dress, a pretty wedding, pretty people, and a pretty good helping of champagne and i turn into one big old sentimental fool!

the wedding was really wonderful. it was out near kyle, tx. if that means anything to you then you're golden. i'm pretty geographically challenged even in the best scenarios so i kept stopping in the middle of admiring the beautiful landscape and saying "wait! just where the hell are we??!?" it didn't help that i couldn't get a straight answer out of anyone either. at first i was told i was somewhere in between houston and austin. then austin and san antonio. then i was basically outside of austin.

so that place - somewhere near-ish austin. in the region of texas... it was damn beautiful! we spent the weekend camping and then spruced ourselves up for the wedding and danced the night away! sunday was my birthday which was spent driving back to galveston and taking a looong loooonnngggg nap!

i had wanted to take these pictures out where we were camping (wherever that was...) because it was just so freaking idyllic what with the wildflowers and the bluebells and herds of caribbean goats... no really. i actually had a rather unnerving incident with a ram where he stared me down pretty intensely - on my birthday!!! (did i mention my birthday was yesterday??) this is important because i'm an aries - the ram!!! do you think he recognized me as one of his own??!?

oh yeah, but i didn't because, you know, i got caught up with celebrating. so you just get regular old galveston pictures.

oh yeah - so this dress! rachel comey for vogue patterns (v1209) made up in a tessuti silk.

well! i'm very glad a made a muslin. i did all the things i said i was going to do in my muslin post: i cut a bigger size, i let the bias hang, i added 2 inches of length and la-dee-da-dee-dee... all was going fine and dandy. until i got to the lining. lordy.

i mean really anytime i try and sew on a deadline i'm basically asking for some 2am drama rama. and thats what i got. i don't know what the deal was with this pattern. its cute as a button - don't get me wrong - but its a funky funky pattern. i'm usually one to own up to my own mistakes, but i really don't think this was my fault! i cut the lining the same size i cut my dress, and the dress without the lining fit great. so after installing the lining i go to try it on and... so tight!! like. child size tight. like it would not budge below my armpits.

i'm still not sure what the deal was - i didn't do anything wrong!! anyway i had a sad little breakdown in the wee hours of the morning where i weighed what seemed like my only two choices. either cut the lining out of the dress entirely (my fashion fabric is totally opaque - so it didn't really need a lining) or unpick the seams and see what that does. i decided to go for the latter. so i unpicked all my pretty french seams and re-sewed them at 1/4 inch. the lining fits - and comfortably - but the silk fabric is now a bit delicate. i think at some point the lining will need to be replaced - but i'm going to wait till i bust a seam to do that...

oh! and perhaps you're wondering how that zipper inserted into the bias seams worked out?

what zipper?!?!? muahahahhahahaha!!! that invisible zipper is invisible ya'll!!! okay well maybe not entirely invisible - but its very neat and there's no funny buckling of fabric. sunni's tutorial did me right. oh so right.

i wore my dress with my leather jacket when the night got a little bit chilly. they look good together. almost like they were made for each other (wink!)

and because i can... here's a lovey-dovey photobooth set for you from the wedding. whoever started doing photobooths at weddings was a genius.

well i'm off to stretch out the birthday goodness for a few more hours/days/weeks!!

xx

a bit of randomness

when we were planning our wedding i thought i was being very clever by cutting up my fabric scraps to turn into a bunting. "self," i said, "you are so smart to make use of your unwanted fabric this way!"

that is until after the wedding, when i was left with a bag of, albeit much smaller, but nonetheless, scraps. theres a little sappy sallie in there somewhere that just can't bear to throw them all out, even more so after their participation in our very special day. thats when * i * began to think of quilting with them.

please. the thought of quilting is about as appealing to me as doing my taxes. guh. but that stupid little sappy sallie has me convinced that this will be something i'll cherish forever and want to give my grandchildren.

my original idea for a design involved some complicated circular starburst thing that would radiate out and... i know i know i'll just stop there! so you can see why i haven't even attempted this yet? that is until i stumbled upon this today:

Source: 2.bp.blogspot.com via Sallie on Pinterest

it was, like, the greatest "a ha!" moment i've had in a long time. half my work is already done! i know the whole bunting thing is a fad that will probably be gone before i can say "wedding season", but this little quilt design makes it look somewhat timeless. something i won't mind seeing on our bed, or thrown over the back of a couch, or even folded neatly on a shelf...

for years to come.

xx

*editors update: after reading this, my husband loudly cleared his throat and said "you thought of making a quilt?" yeah, yeah, yeah. it wasn't my idea at all - totally his. you win, husband, you win.