Caterpillar Gave Me Mushrooms and This Doesn't Look Like Kansas

You know, I've totally had this photo shoot idea stuck in my head for months now. Desperately needed time/place/help to actually get it done.  First off, I think this dress was initially inspired by Ralph Lauren's Spring 2011 collection. Then it turns out gingham is the surprising IT trend of the season. So for once I'm a bit ahead of the curve. Huh, who knew?  I think pink wigs should be all the rage, too.  A girl can dream, right?  I think this photo shoot officially puts me in the "Mom, you're weird" category.

I gotta say, I love this dress to pieces. Even more than my black floral and lace version.  I like it with the pink bow, but I also made a red belt and I have some lovely red shoes that also work with it very well.

Hmmm, I wonder where I am?

For the record, my coworkers all think I'm batty too. So, whatever.

Such lovely flowers!

Showing off the ruffles and the hand picked zipper. 

TWIRL~

Ok, time for me to go to bed. I think I'm officially done with this dress pattern and now that my cover stitch machine is working I'm gonna go nuts for knits. Later ya'll!

And Then I Met The Doctor

I had, and still have really, plans to do a stylized photo shoot of the second dress from Vogue 8470 but we've been way too busy with work, home, and my daughter's upcoming birthday.  Part of that was spending most of the day Saturday running around at the Renaissance Festival.  I was practically asleep on my feet but it was worth it, cause you know what? I got awesome photos.  And I got to meet The Doctor.

Yes, that's right. The Doctor.  I have proof.

Me and The Doctor.

And he liked my dress! I win.  

The other thing that tickled me pink was Simon deciding to wear his Assassin's Creed costume.  I hadn't really thought about it but the game is set in a similar time period as the Festival.  And right inside the gate others in costume recognized what he was dressed up as and played along.  It was great to see him not feel like the odd one out, for once.  And I got some much better photos of his costume. 

You shall pay for your insolence!

So the best part about Simon wearing his costume was all the compliments and a couple of "Where do I buy that???".  I was not there for one of them and the other mom in our party said "I'm pretty sure his Mom made it".  Talk about making me feel appreciated. :)  Oh, and we met a gargoyle, but at first we mistook it for a weeping angel.  First thing Simon said was "Don't Blink!" 

A gargoyle protects

Saying goodbye.

The day was also spent with friends. Amanda, Ida and her husband Mark, and Ida's youngest daughter, Faitha, whom my kids love to pieces.  Usually I get lots of photos of Felicity being as photogenic as she is, but this time I just caught two. One of her literally jumping into Faitha's arms, and then when she got to open her presents when we stopped back by Amanda's on the way home (her roommate is also a long time friend). 

But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.  Friend pictures!

Felicity tackle-hugs her friend!

While resting in the shade there was some dancers performing on the lawn area.  I got some neat photos.

More dancers. 

Oh yeah, the obligatory birthday present photo. Do not be fooled by Teh Cuteness. She has tools and is not afraid to use them.

Felicity is excited about her tools!

We don't believe gifts have to be gender appropriate. And yes, that is the dress from her Red Riding hood costume.  This is my sewing blog, after all!

I think that's all for now.  I do leave you with a few of my attempts at macro photography and hope you have a wonderful rest of your Sunday!

A Slice of Life

Hi everyone.  It seems there's quite a bit going on in Katza Land these days.  Some of it good, some of it not so good. And some sewing, but that I'm saving for last, so if you aren't in the mood for personal updates skip to the bottom half.

 The not so good first?  Well,  our main car is currently in the shop getting an engine overhaul that hit us in the wallet pretty hard.  And one of my best friends had a miscarriage, and what really sucked is I was at work with no backup and couldn't drop everything and be there physically. She was barely eight weeks, so small blessings, I guess.  And its mother's day, which means I'm feeling sad.

But Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms that read my blog!

His shirt says "geek".  He's proud of it, too.

Good news! Well, I was able to go to my son's presentation for his advanced class. They had teams of three build and program a robot. They did really well! Felicity was quite envious so used Simon's physics kit to build one at home.   Then they had their blue belt tests this weekend.  I managed to make it to the test and get photos, though I was running on sheer willpower having been up for almost 22 hours by that point. PHEW.

goofy faces!

Don't mess with my daughter. 

"So bored with these splits" says my son.

Sewing!! I finally got around to it the last night of my weekend.  I spent the other nights cleaning and doing food prep.  Our CSA is keeping me in vegetables, that's for sure!  I'm making another Vogue 8470, but its a sleeveless maxi version.  Nine yards of ruffle to the bottom of a circle skirt! That's a lot of pinning and fussing, let me tell you. The dress itself is from a very light weight flannel in a blue/white gingham. Its deliciously soft and airy, but the loose weave makes it 'grow' so to speak.  What started out as matching patterns often ended up going wonky on me.  Below is photo evidence of the dodgy pattern matching.  I did try, I swear.

Oh yeah, and a hand picked zipper.

I decided the easiest way to get the zipper in was by hand.  I never thought I'd say this, but the sewing details by hand are calming.

Armholes

There was suppose to be a bias facing for this, but I decided to just fold and iron the seam allowance and do a tiny top-stitch.

More zipper and dubious pattern matching

And now for the ones that DID come out just right. The center front!  Everyone stares at that spot anyway.

Center!

And the right side seam. Hello gorgeous!

That's it for  now. All I have to do is sew the ruffle on the bottom and I'll be done!  But first, a long work week. Leh Sigh.

Seven Yards of Ruffle

Gingham Ruffle

When all is said and done, the two dresses I've worked on back to back will have used up fifteen yards of fabric and seven yards of lace.  I really haven't gotten too much done other than  cut out the fashion fabric.  The pattern matching required was holding me up. I _think_ I've got it right.   I've gotten the darts sewn, the lining bust and midriff together, and of course,  I'm using the zigzag-over-dental-floss method to gather the bottom ruffle.  

Oh yeah, and Friday was my first farm share pick up of the year.  No, the brussell sprouts were not part of it, but I though I'd share the ONLY way that I'll eat them.  Cut into quarters, lay in a single layer on a pan with a light coating of olive or grape seed oil and kosher salt to taste.  Roast in the oven at 375F until crispy around the edges. 

Eat, Enjoy

That's all for now.  I have to work tonight. *sighs*

P.S.  The fact that Gertie's New Book is being released on the anniversary of my mother's death put a damper on my enthusiasm. *sighs*

Happy Earth Day Dress

Well, I had it ready in time to go out to the Big Shanty Festival to see my son's choir sing, but then it turns out it was cancelled due to "too many student schedule conflicts".  So I was all like ok, well, we'll go see the parade and then head down to the Dogwood festival.

smile, or something

And then it rained us out.  Leh Sigh.  So, instead, my kids stayed at the Grand's place and went to the aquatic center to go swimming instead. Indoor pool on a rainy day with Grandma (mother-in-law, my Dad now lives on the downstairs floor apartment, hence "The Grands" place).  And I went to bed, then went out for "breakfast" with my husband in my newly finished dress.  I got lots of stares, and the greeter said my dress was pretty.  That's always a plus.

Somewhat blurry back detail, but YAY pattern placement!

 My favorite part is the lace hem treatment.  I bought this lace three years ago at the Sewing Expo from a company from Amsterdam. Cotton Lace, check them out as they are nice people.  This is a rayon, i think? I bought the last of what they had there in the hopes of making a Gothic like Steampunk costume. Then I discovered I had a serious personality conflict with a few people on the Atlanta "scene". They've since moved on, as I was not an isolated incident, but my enthusiasm had been lost by then.

Pretty lace detail

 The lace is sewn on with tiny zigzag stitches using my Mom's Viking machine. Her machine plays much nicer with these things than mine does.  Mine still works best with knits combined with the serger, so that's cool. Oh, and I got to use my new duckbill scissors from this year's Sewing Expo purchase. What a difference it makes.

Right, moving along,  when we got back I set up the tripod and had my husband snap the photos. I always feel like he's somewhat annoyed when I ask him to do this, so I usually end up taking less photos.So the one twirly shot I was making goofy face. Oh well.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE!!

All in all, I think this is probably my most favorite thing so far.  I definitely need a waist-stay and some shoulder strap holders.  I'll put those in while watching reruns of Dr Who or something.  Oh, yeah, bonus portrait shot!

What did you make this weekend?

Polyester Princesses

Sorry, princess is in other castle.  (No, not my dress. This is Chinese  Cheap )

The awesome news: My first Spring Dress is almost done. I just have to add the scallop lace to the hem and the sleeves.  I was hoping to have it done in time for dinner with my husband's boss Saturday night (eight of us total. four adults, four kids).  I decided I wanted sleep instead and that turned out to be a good idea.  My daughter insisted on wearing her Easter dress and stole the whole show.  Except all the prom goers.  I swear there was an entire bus load of teenage girls in polyester ballgowns.  In fact, I saw a girl in THIS EXACT DRESS.  Now all the "Disney Princess" dresses I was seeing all over Pinterest finally make sense.  There was entire gaggle of them standing outside our table's window smoking cigarettes they are probably too young to buy.  Smoking Disney Princesses. Awesome.

And the thing the thing I just couldn't get over was how cheap  the dresses looked. I mean, yes, they were all shiny and  fluffy but the material and the embellishments screamed Chinese Sweat Shop Cheap. One girl kept pulling her strapless front up repeatedly.  I'm probably going to make my daughter's prom dress if she doesn't herself.   Not only that, she's gonna be a self rescuing princess.  She's gonna be a black belt before she's 10, ya know?

Needs sleeves and scallop lace. 

 Anyway.  Lets talk about MY dress for a moment. First off, this is like MY FAVORITE THING EVER that I've made. Its probably going to be up there with my black skirt and two silk camis on the amount of wear it will get.  I'll probably even wear it to work at least once a month.  Its very fitted, that's for certain.

Invisible zipper!

And this was my first ever invisible zipper on anything WITH LINING.  And check out the pattern placement.  Awesome right?  Also, its a full enough skirt I can wear a petticoat with it.  I just might.  In any case it will be done in time for this Saturday's Festival Going.  I have a cute pair of maryjane flats with a rose print.  I figure lace trimmed black socks and I'll be set for walking around all day!

Then its on to cutting out the gingham for the Maxi Sleeveless Version.

Taxed Out

I finished my taxes a whole five days early. GO ME.  Now I'm waiting till tomorrow to put it in snail mail so they don't cash the check before my next payday.  I like to live on the edge.

So. Sewing. Um... I got most of my first dress cut out after my second run.  Here's a visual of some of the changes I've made.

Front bodice

 Instead of doing the weird fifth piece that was suppose to be the "modesty panel" I raised the neckline and added a front seam.  I plan on reinforcing it with some silk organza bias strips. Twill tape would be too heavy, I think.

back bodice

I also raised the back bodice and did a rounded shoulder adjustment. That seemed to help a lot with the "want to slide off the shoulder" problem.  I also had to lengthen the dart some.  Its not apparent on both photos but I added width to the front and back shoulder seam.

At the same time I bought the large tracing paper, which you can see under my pattern pieces up above, I bought some interfacing from  https://www.fashionsewingsupply.com/ .  I'm never buying cheap interfacing again. EVER.  It seems pricey at first but its also 60+ inches wide, so one yard goes a long way.  

Its suppose to be black, but it came out dark plum.

I'm trying not to buy new fabric for the next couple months but I might have to break down and get some more white batiste.  The eight yards that I bought over a year ago is almost gone.  In my frugality I went so far as to dye enough for the lining of the dress. I'm a bit short though, so the lining will be just enough for modesty, really.

Um, that's all for now I think. Not really exciting.  I feel the need to share the pattern/fabric buying rampage I went on during all the sales last year. That should take up a few posts. Lots of pretties!  How are you surviving tax day?

Same Print, Different Colorway

Vogue 8470

Its going to be my "Easter" dress.  I say it parenthetically because it won't be done in time for Easter. That and I don't go to church. My kids go with their Grandma,  but well... the rest of it is  personal and I'll keep it to myself. It doesn't stop me from wanting pretty spring dresses, though.

Bodice pieces

I've had this particular dress in my head for some time now. I think it was on my Spring Palette challenge for 2011 and been on my "to do" list since 2010. There were a few reasons I was reticent in making up, the biggest being fitting issues. Why the people at Vogue decided to label this as "easy", I can't even begin to guess.  All but the halter variations have a "lined under bodice" with the most convoluted instructions I've seen to date.  The more I tried to figure them out, the more confused I got.  Once I threw out (or aside) the under bodice piece (That would be #5) the entire thing became much MUCH less complicated.

So first thing's first, I had to figure out how to modify the bodice pattern for my bust size.  The waist should be fitted snugly UNDER the bust (ending result should be WOAH MAMMA!).  I cut my normal size 18  (for commercial patterns) and pattern ease is +3 inches.  This means I need to add 4.5 inches total for the bust, about three for the waist. I decided to go with the more couture method of marking my seam lines and then tracing onto grid interfacing (the cheap stuff from JoAnn's), to make my initial pattern modifications before doing my first muslin.

Marking seam lines

While I do like "Fit for Real People" it does have some limitations. I recently bought Fitting and Pattern Alteration after ordering Susan Khalje's online class as it was on her "recommended reading" list.  So between those two references and Miss Snug Bug's FBA tutorials, I had a plan of attack.

Fitting and Pattern Alteration

And I just realized I failed to take photos of the modifications I made after tracing the pattern. GAH!  I'll take more and post them later. I added width and length to piece #1. I widened the shoulder seams by 3/4 inch on both front and back bodice because I felt the need for more coverage. They were going to be WAY too thin otherwise for my frame.   Then, of course, the aforementioned width to the midriff band pieces.

Then I got to pinning and tracing the modified pieces onto muslin.  Have I mentioned I also purchased the 26x39 inch tracing paper from Richard The Thread? I have no idea how I ever lived my life without that stuff. HOLY COW does it make life easier!

thread tracing queue

Another little tidbit of interest; you know all those bobbins with just enough on them for maybe two or three seams before you run out? They are PERFECT for thread tracing a muslin. I used up about four of them in the process and now I have four empty bobbins ready to be filled for other projects. Hooray for frugality!

Front muslin view

So, first muslin isn't too bad. I made markings of where I want my front bodice seams to fall which should put the midriff front right at my waistline.  I'm also bringing the two pieces together in the front so the neckline won't be so plunging.  A good friend mentioned I could always wear a cami underneath for more work-appropriate modesty, which I thought not a bad idea.

back muslin view 

So, on the back I still need to do a rounded shoulder adjustment and I'm going to add darts to the back midriff to take care of my sway back/narrower waist issue.  What might not be obvious here is the bodice dart has also been deepened due to widening the shoulders.  I think I might re-draw the V-back to be not quite so deep.

All that work is going to have to happen later though. I've got my four, 12 hour days ahead of me.   Oh, and in case you were wondering, the black and pink is what I'm using for this dress. Same print as my daughter's fabric, different colorway.

Print in two colorways

Wow, long post!  I hope you made it this far with me!  I have much more to come on this one.  So, what's got you excited for Spring Sewing?