Experiments with denim--opinions please!

Michelle and I were emailing the other day (before the desert claimed her) about fall fashion, she brought up a blurb from Robert Geller that she had run across in a NY Times article about the very same topic:

"ROBERT GELLER, designer I’m excited to get back to layering. One of my favorite things about cooler weather is that you can build up an outfit piece by piece and put together something really interesting — such as finishing up a look with a nice big scarf. I’m also looking forward to seeing denim used in a non-typical way this fall as well as a return to beautifully constructed coats that are well made and designed to last a long time."

In Michelle's brain, this triggered a thought process which culminated in the utterance, "denim obi!" Oddly enough, the same idea had been bouncing about this illiterati's brain (why don't I read the Times more often?), though I hadn't yet busted out the sewing machine. Thus, out came the denim scraps and now I have a four-panel strip of denim which is about eight feet long and five to six inches wide. 

Enter another problem: How do I pull this off without looking like a girl wearing a pair of pants around her waist?

I will obviously do something to treat the edges of the denim, but will it be a simple once-over hem, or should I use some accent color bias tape? My machine (and needle) can only handle a once-over (that just means that I would fold the denim over once and sew it down--the raw edge of the fabric would still show on the "inside" of the belt, instead of having nice-non-fraying folded fabric--I don't know the technical term for that kind of hem unless "lazy" is technical) hem because the denim would be too thick for it to handle three layers of denim. My machine could handle my ample supply of bias tape, but do I have over 16 feet of bias tape?

I meant in one color, and you know that. *folds arms
So, thoughts? This could be a total bust, but I'm willing to try!

Clear Lake...

was awesome, just in case you were wondering.

the view from my tent

magazines!

weird creek in downtown Kelseyville, all 'osed down

the most perfect dog's first camping trip

and Olive tried very hard to behave

I ate a shocking number of s'mores, Chris made lots of fires, Melissa's cast was pretty clean, Scott didn't drink nearly his share of Coors Light, Jenn had a hotel in her pop-up tent, Michelle made salami/cheese crackers, Olive kept vigilant guard against the raccoons (her brethren), and Timber got tangled. Repeatedly. 

Everyone took a bath once we stopped camping. Victory!

Problem with the Ponies

Last night we went to the harness races in celebration of Scott's birthday; I can assuredly say that Michelle and I, like Aunt Sharon, have a problem with the ponies. Aside from the fact that there was no parking fee at Cal Expo, no entry fee, $1 beer, and $1 hot dogs, it was more wonderful than I could have imagined! All members of my family got the "crazy eyes" as we placed ill-advised bets.

The race near the finish!

 The choicest part was when we found out that we (Jenn, Michelle, and I) could ride in the motorized starting gate, aka the wing car that starts the race. It was so wonderful because you're in this 1970something Cadillac with eight horses thundering behind you pulling little carts holding grown men. Not only that, but they've installed this odd cockpit type of thing in the car so you are sitting, looking backwards at all of the horse noses! I was incapable of speaking throughout this part, instead opting to desperately clutch both Jenn's and Michelle's shoulders while Michelle filled the role of announcer.

Clinging to the fence, rooting for our horses!

There weren't any big wins (or losses) amongst us until the last race of the evening; I placed a $2 bet on "Only in Lodi" to place (1st, 2nd, or 3rd), which yielded $28. Whoa! Hot dog! Not only that, but I thought I lost my  original ticket for that bet so I had Chris and Scott buy me another while I took a joyride in the wing car. I found my other ticket (the original bet) this morning, so guess what has two thumbs and is going to spend some more time with the ponies?

This girl!

Pattern Weights, the solution

What is something I have in abundance at my house that makes an excellent impromptu pattern weight?

Yep. Wine bottles. I actually remembered this at the beginning of July (the 1st, to be specific), but I didn't want to drop any hints about what I was making for Michelle's birthday.

Bloomers!

Also, some of you might remember the stories of how Jenn and Michelle used to make me cry by putting my clothes on the dog.

Revenge is sweet.

It is storming like nobody's business!

I tremble with the anticipation of the power going out at any moment! Lightning is dominating the sky like a fifth grader in four-square! I avoid leaning on metal while outside!

St Louis! the City Museum

So I'm in St. Louis visiting Clara and Brendan and we are having solid good times! We monkeyed around at the City Museum for several hours today and exercised long-latent muscles while climbing around. I didn't get any pictures of our outdoor feats of strength because the camera was in the checked bag for most of our time there, but here are some us-centric pictures from the dark hallows of the whale room.

There are ten or so floors to the City Museum and we only devoted time to about three of them; it will have to wait until next year when we're out for the wedding, which will be in the same building. whee! Most of today's time was split between the architecture section, the secret tunnels and slides (I was not sliding well today, too sticky), and the outdoor MonstoCity. MonstroCity is a crazy metal wonderland that stretches about five or more stories high and involves (sturdy) mesh tunnels, not unlike monolithic slinkys but without the movement, from each section to the next. Clara, Brendan, and I each scrambled through a wire tube, approximately four feet in diameter (sometimes a bit smaller) and 60 feet off the ground, to reach the inexplicably secure hollowed out airplane (looked just like the crashed on in "Romancing the Stone"!) 30 feet away. These numbers are all estimates since I couldn't find any hard numbers, but if anything, I'm under-exaggerating. Wonderful!

If we're back in that area on Thursday morning when we go to the arch, I'll try to get some external shots of the place, but you should definitely go there when you're in St. Louis.

Thoughts on the Sencha

I spent roughly an hour last night looking at the Colette Patterns Flickr page for Sencha inspiration. By and large, I was not thrilled with a number of the products, but I think I figured it out. People were using very busy fabric, which obscures the pretty design features of the pattern, namely the tucks. Here is a picture from the Colette website (via polkadotoverload)

Now imagine 80 billion flowers and garish colors jammed on that. Yeah. Hrm. Well, at least the people who made them were happy with their results; I will attempt a different route.
Unfortunately, that means I'll have to actually acquire some monochromatic fabric--this will be much more difficult (and slow!) than any of us imagined.
Here's another thought, you all can weigh in if you like...what about this top in a translucent gauze? As in, wear-a-camisole-under-it translucent? I might give that a shot in the future.