Spoonflower Fabrics; Something for Everyone

  I was poking around Spoonflower trying to find fabric that my husband might actually like. Something kinda dressy that I could make for him.  He likes dragons. Ok, so I found this:

He kinda liked it, thought it wasn't bad.  But then he came across this:

FOR THE HORDE!

Oh yeah, that's way more his style.  There was a time he practically lived World of Warcraft.  So I've bookmarked it.  Then I went looking for something I could make a tablecloth and napkins out of.  I was pleased to find there was an entire range of Cthulhu fabrics.

Please to be making a sanity check.

Even Christmas Cthulhu!

Christmas decorations my husband won't complain about!

Something on my "to do" list for a while has been to make curtains for the kids' rooms. For sure they have very unique personalities.  Simon was all about this galaxy print.

Hubble!

I asked Felicity and she was like "No, I want horses!"  So I did a search on "horses" and this came up. I said 'Skeleton Horses?!' and she goes "YEAH! That's what I want!".

Horsies.

I think there's something wrong with this family.

Inspired by Pinterest - A How Not To

So I decided to take a stroll through Pinterest on my lunch break.  Apparently the Met Gala is all the rage under the fashion section but my brain came to a screeching halt at this Wonderful Couture Garment from Versace on January Jones.

Photo Source Here

For the life of me it looked so bloody familiar I couldn't stand it.  Then it came to me:

The Venture Brothers! (photo credit)

I can't be the only one that sees the similarities, right? RIGHT?  This is perfectly normal, isn't it?

Like A Boss

Bernina 1300DC

So I'm on a mailing list that tells me all the different estate sales and auctions going on in the Metro Atlanta area.  Lately I've been ignoring them, but for whatever reason I opened this one up and decided to poke around.  Low and behold one of them said "lots of sewing stuff" including a "really nice sewing machine".  So I looked through the photos and for the life of me didn't see a sewing machine. But they did have this serger.  Then it dawned on me that whomever was running the estate sale had absolutely no idea what they were selling.  So I spied the model number from the photo, did some research, and discovered its a really nice serger that retails at $1400-$1700 AND HAS A COVERSTITCH!!

Oh hell yeah.  Now, we're cash poor cause we just paid bills but I had a bit of 'mad money' left in my personal savings.  I decided to check it out since it was super close to me, too.  I don't know what I was expecting them to have it priced at, but when I saw they had it for $99 that baby was out the door with me in a heartbeat. That's less than half what I was willing to pay for it.  Now, it has some parts missing, like the blade cover and the standard serger foot, but those are only going to cost me another $50 or so.  And I did try to get the cover stitch to work and was having a great deal of difficulty.  I figure if i need service and the parts I'm STILL coming out more than a thousand dollars ahead! HELL YEAH!  Eat my deal finding dust, suckas!

Still, this thing is going to take some learnin'. Its a  bloody complicated machine, yo.

And I was doing so well!

So, I had put myself on a voluntary fabric (and shoe) moratorium, telling myself that I NEEDED to use up much more of my stash before purchasing more fabric. And I was, until I realized that I didn't have any basic black in bottom weight fabric, which I need for my Business Wardrobe (more on that later). So, utilitarian purchase. But THEN... THEN... This happened:

Liberty of London

That's right. Liberty of London Tana Lawn with HELLO KITTY. OMG SQUEE!  I love it. I have at least four different things I can pair it with and at first glance it looks way more mature. I can totally see myself rocking this in a blouse at work with a smirk on my face. So I just dug into my "mad money" for two yards. Plenty for a blouse.

So where do you get this fabric? Well, its on pre-order at Fabric.com.  So run over and put your order in now cause who knows if it will be in stock after the pre-sale.

Don't say I never did you any favors.

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*

How To Win "Cool Mom" Points

The Cake is not a lie.

If you are confused, click here.

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?