September Blues

September passed with a whisper. The entire month was lost to me, a transition month that failed to take me from summer to fall. September (and summer?) are gone now, and I don't feel that I have much to show for it aside from a lot of work-related stress. Though I feel like I fell back on my destashing project, I did manage some sewing in there: I made a long-overdue tote bag for Jenn, finished Merril's bloomers from the KDVS fundraiser, tackled a thrift store project, and thoroughly muffed up a Burda-style shirt (still trying to figure that one out). Since you saw a slew of bloomers earlier this year, and Jenn's tote was a duplicate of the gift exchange tote (though her version is lined and has pockets inside!), I'll show you two other projects I have pictures of, one of them a long time coming. And they're both blue!

Of course I could teach you macrame!

I got this dress at the thrift store for a dollar. It had some unsightly stains hip-level and the length was...questionable. It had a post-prairie missionary feel to me, but check out that border print! It definitely called for the skirt to be removed, shortened, and reattached.

Success!

Back in June, I complained heartily about making Michelle's maid-of-honor dress for Clara's wedding because the netting was such a nightmare. I sewed until my fingers bled--not exaggerating, I had to wear gloves and bandaids to keep from staining my powdery blue tormentor. But it turned out really well! (and I should hope so after the muslins and fittings and general anxiety) Here are some shots from a different wedding earlier tonight...

What is Michelle's exclamation lately? You know, it is shouted at parties, texted...hrm.

This was my second round using horsehair braid on the hem. It is still wiley and less-than-cooperative, but the effect is lovely and I *think* my technique is getting better. (it gives the bottom of the skirt that rolling body)

I was reminded tonight that the original inspiration for this dress was a lacey Erdem number, which tells me that I need to look at more fashion magazines/websites so I can strive to replicate (and re-interpret) notable things. I need to constantly remind myself of that.

Extreme close-up!

And that Burda style shirt...shis. What happened there? Well, first of all there were some ill-placed buttonholes, and the fabric might be less than ideal for the pattern (left over blue fabric from this dress)...you know what, I'm going to try to fix it. I'll let you know in a month or so if that worked out. Technically, it was my September clothing item to fulfill my resolution, but it needs more work if I'm going to ever wear it without a self-loathing grimace. Like I said, I'll get back to you on that.

Happy October!

Black, Red, and Tan Party Dress!

This party dress has been two years in the making! Not two active years, but two years filled with longing looks (you know, the sort that you gave that sandwich earlier today) and exaggerated sighs. "Oh imagined dress...when will we be together?" The answer the fabric always provided was, "Shut up and start sewing already!" I took this abuse from a (beautiful and charming) piece of fabric for TWO YEARS. I had put the fabric on a pedestal and I suffered mightily.

I'm just stoked to be here!

What makes this fabric (from Preet, natch) so awesome and worthy of two years of reverence would be that festive, vibrant border of not just flowers, but also scallops! Because this seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a hemmed skirt and a mess of appliqué completed without me lifting a finger, I was holding off on using the fabric, not wanting to spoil it with my normal mishmash of mis-sizing, wobbly seams, and hard cider.

So, flashback a month to mid-June. I'd been working my fingers past that first somewhat-unnecessary layer of skin to complete Michelle's dress (a future post, I promise!) in time for Clara and Brendan's wedding. It was the day before Chris and I flew out to St. Louis and I had no idea what to wear for the wedding. I bargained with myself. "You did such a good job on Michelle's dress, you DESERVE to go by something new!" I fully intended to hit up Sugar Shack with a purpose after work on Thursday evening. Then I ended up working until 7 and the store closed before I got my shop on. Sugar Shack waits for no man.

I wandered about the house, a puddle of despair seeping from one room to the next, wailing, "What am I going to wear!?" Chris, crazed man that he is, suggested, "Why don't you make something?" Because we both know that I am so skilled at whipping out perfectly-sized dresses in short amounts of time. In fact, as soon as the words escaped Chris's mouth, he looked like he had struck an infant: "what have I done?" However, I was just despondent enough to go for it!

I flipped through a mess of Burda Styles trying to find something that would work for the wedding and dug up dress pattern 108 from the March Issue. It was conveniently included in a wedding spread, in case anyone was having trouble figuring where you would wear a bubble skirt. Weddings and proms, folks!

They're bubble skirts...for a party!

Though I'm a closet fan of bubble skirts, this dress would have no such party at the knees; it would have a gathered poufy skirt starting somewhere near where most people have a waist. It would make the most of those pretty flowers and delicate scallops! Then stuff happened. 

First off, they didn't have my size listed--the highest size they did have for this dress came within centimeters of my measurements, so I figured it would work out well enough. I traced the pattern from the magazine and cut out the skirt, then sewed up the side seams to form a large rectangle with an open top and bottom. I then readied the fabric (not much left at that point) to cut out the the bodice pieces. I cut them. Then I remembered that Burda Style does factor seam allowances into their patterns. I can't type what I said. 

Hair in motion, dress in motion!

I didn't have enough fabric to cut out new bodice pieces, so I had to force the cut pieces to work in spite of their torso-hatin' ways. That is why the lines of the dress bodice don't look a whole lot like the lines on the pattern sketch above--the V in the back is much deeper and wider, the neckline more boatnecky. Also, the fabric was a heck of a lot more sheer than I ever knew...it needed to be lined and I didn't have anything that would fit that bill. In most lighting, you can see the polka-dot fabric showing through the bodice. However, all of these oddball flaws are quite dear to me and add to its eccentric charm.

Never giving this belt back to Michelle. Never!

Sadly, I don't think this dress is long for this world. I damaged the fabric by ironing it with a too-high heat setting, so there are fractious sections on the brink of deterioration. That was a lesson I would have really preferred to not learn the hard way.

These pictures were taken in front of the Governor's Mansion on 14th and H. Sadly, it is on the list of state parks to be closed by 2012. Fortunately, it is still open for the summer! Someone should go with me! Anyone interested? Or we can go look at our feet in front of the mansion, your call.

Very important shoe discussion

Time to break the silence

If you were wondering, I DID finish Michelle's dress in time for Clara and Brendan's wedding. Those of you who were at the wedding know that, since Michelle was clothed. What is somewhat more impressive is that I also made a dress for myself the night before I flew out. One night=one dress, but since when? Mine was black with red and tan flowers, and there were some...difficulties involved, but both of the dresses turned out really well.
Now, how do I say this...I didn't get pictures of either dress. Yeah, I totally dropped the ball on that one. Not only that, but all of the facebookers also dropped the ball as well, so I can't find a good picture of Michelle's dress anywhere online. Now I need to handwash both her dress and my dress so we can have a proper photoshoot. This photo is the best I can scavenge from online; it was taken around 2:30am at Caleco's.

See that sleeve? That sleeve is the root of one thousand curses!

Anyhow, let me bring you into my brain for this one. The mental picture I have of this blue dress is Michelle standing in front of the assembled wedding guests, a couple of steps behind Mikey. The hair has some more lift at that time in the night (can you imagine?) and the lighting was not so...brackish and neon. It is a very pretty picture, it is a shame that I don't sketch. Or use my camera.

'50s Party Dress! Sort of

You might remember that at the beginning of June, I was yapping about making a dress to wear to Claire's wedding. Well, her wedding party was on the 19th and I didn't go naked. Behold!

The somewhat '50s party dress, based on another version of Simplicity 2588. I'm pretty happy with the dress all around, there are a lot of "bests" and "betters" tied in with it. For example, the bumps on the back zipper are much closer to non-existent, the zipper is well-installed, I actually used a method to hem the skirt (ganked from Gertie's blog), and I minimized my "winging it" with...some of the more critical parts. Now, if only I could find a belt that really matches it.

See, the bump in the back is way smaller, I think the dress is just a skidge too long for my torso and I need to slash out some of that length. Also, the top of the dress doesn't gap as much as the grey workdress I made. Yes, the bump is still there, but these are the little victories.

Here is something else I'm proud of. I tried on the pieces of the dress when I was stitching up the bodice to see if it was going to fit. It seemed like the dress would not be able to contain my midsection so I ripped out the back darts and made them much shallower and completed the dress from there. The dress was complete and I try it on and...something's not right. The damn thing is approximately one size too large in the midsection. Curses! But! Instead of just leaving it as-was and never wearing it again, I ripped the dress apart and re-installed the darts in their full capacity and--huzzah!--a dress that fits! Go me! I didn't wallow in my mistakes! (Chris might report otherwise, but that is another story.)
So yes, this dress is complete and in time for Make It, Wear It challenge. Whee!

Thank you's--the last wedding craft?

I have all this time now that the wedding is over. I started making thank you's based on this Design Sponge article, encouraged by the fact that Pulp Papery still has a bunch of Artoz materials (envelopes, cards, cardstock, etc) on sale. Also, I used my paltry quantity of Delta frequent flier miles to subscribe to "W" so I could have some striking pictures to use for collages and projects like this.

Here are some of the ads that we used on Friday night.

I found a "frost" blue card stock that, when folded, fit near-perfectly into cheery yellow envelopes which were also on sale. I think this is going much more smoothly than the invitation scene did, but that might be because it is the only project I'm working on right now.

Here are some of the end results.

I bought extra materials when I was at Pulp Papery, entertaining the idea of making note cards for Christmas gifts. You might be one of the lucky ones! We'll see if that pans out.

Chris and I have to make at least 15 more cards, but then we have to move on into the world of actually writing the thank you's. I've got mixed feelings about the enormity of that task.

Post-wedding

We are now officially in the "post-wedding" era. I have time to look around me nervously and wonder what I should be doing.
Today, I introduced Chris and my husband (to my dad, I just wanted to see how it sounded), unsubscribed seven wedding blogs (!) from my google reader account, and signed in to my vscacciatore email account for the first time as a married woman.
Officially weirded out.
I also switched out the toaster, but that didn't seem quite as monumental as the other actions.
Wedding updates will come soon! I hear some people have awesome pictures out there.

Michelle finally gave in

and m'lady bought herself some bronze shoes.

There they are! Can you see them? They're in the garden...

I also wanted to show what the completed organza flowers look like as referenced in the Fire+Synthetics post, which is why I totally covered Michelle's shoes. Not because I don't like them, just because I'm multi-tasking.
I need to make more organza flowers if you want to come hang out with a fire hazard of a girl. Please?

Barn update and pictures

So, I went to the ranch this weekend and got to check out the barn. It has been leveled and they are in the process of hardening the floor. I was of the opinion that they tease the floor until it has "had enough" and distances itself from its (the floor's) emotions, but apparently that takes too long. Instead, they will be wetting it down with the water truck several times over the coming weeks until it takes on the appearance and texture of packed mud. Or something close.

It was exciting to see the floor completely level! For those who didn't see it before, there were plenty of dips, valleys, and rodent holes waiting to capture your heels, but this? Beautiful! Level!

They also graded the area around the front entrance to the barn to make for smooth walking. I bet you I can still fall there.

You can see a smidge of the barn to the left in this picture, and doesn't the vineyard look nice? I hope Dad leaves Backy out there for the wedding, too.

And Pumpkin says "Hi".

Notes, updates

You know how people always say you lose weight before the wedding? You know, because you're so stressed? Well, I said it before and I'll say it again, those falsehood spreaders are up to no good, I've gained close to ten pounds leading up to this happy event. Woof. Hope the dress still fits!
As for the puppies, they have new names after a weekend of nomenclatural experimentation. Mason became Walter became Boy and ended up Dingo. Maddy became Perry became Girl became Olive. Those names are keepers, Dingo and Olive! I keep hoping that Dad will get too attached to them before he is able to successfully give them away.
Two days 'til the dress fitting.

One month!

Today marks one month until the wedding!
It is pretty hard to believe it is only one month away.
I will celebrate by eating found food at work.

The end of quilling

Well, I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I made the sought after number for quilled flowers (one hundred) so I no longer have to twist paper around a mutilated bobby pin.
It is kind of sad though. I've been working on these off and on for a few months, more off than on, and quilling was easily the safest of the crafts I've been working on--no hot glue gun, fire or needles. I still have a good amount of quilling paper left in yellows, green, blue, purples, maroon, cream, and peach, so if you want to make yourself a small, labor intensive pretty flower, pop on over!
If you are curious, I was introduced to quilling by viewing Yulia Brodskaya's work. It really puts mine to shame, though maybe after the wedding I can just dork around with my extra paper and create something really amazing!
Thanks to Becca and Vanessa for all your quilling help, along with the Cacciatores who occasionally twirled some paper in my name.

Fire+Synthetics=Somewhat Hazardous

So, I got my craft on last night with the first forray into organza flowery business. Preet came over and helped a bit (thanks Preet!) and there were minimal injuries from this craft project. This picture should tell you why there were any injuries at all.
Yep, there is fire involved. And synthetic materials. Synthetic materials that sometime catch more flame than I, or anyone for that matter, am comfortable holding in my mitt. Consequently, I have missing skin on my forehead and burns on my hands and fingers from fiery organza that got a little out of control as I tried to extinguish it by shaking it, sending melted purple schrapnel all over the living room and myself. But I think they're pretty!

I'll post more pictures when I have more of them complete. Right now taking a picture of five organza flowers seems...silly? I'm going to make a bed of them before this is done!

*This idea was originally sent to me by Becca, though I'm not really following the Reese Dixon directions to the letter--or at all, other than I'm using organza, beads, and an open flame. Perhaps the next set of flowers will be more...less...um...they'll be something totally different!

to change or not to change?

So, I've got this horrible dilemma that would have been entirely irrelevant 50 years ago or less. Today Chris and I go to the county clerk's office and obtain our marriage license, which is all fine and dandy. I'm ecstatic to get this bit of paperwork out of the way. But! I'm completely up in the air about whether I should take his name or not. My degree is under my maiden name (only a B.A., but still!), all my work contacts know me by my current name, and I don't think my potential new name looks as good signed, nor is it fun to sign. A hyphenated last name would result in 18 1/2 characters (I count the hyphen as a half) which is more than I care to carry.
It would be a very difficult habit to break, signing my old name. And I'd have to get new checks. And deal with the wretched women in HR to get all of my information updated. *shudder*
Any thoughts?