Bias is amazing!

I got the bridesmaid/prom/hottie dress last week in the mail. My sister has given her approval and I have a bridesmaid's dress, yay! Muchas gracias to my sister to finding the dress on eBay.

So here's the back story: I had gone to visit my friend out of town with the express purpose of finding and buying a bridesmaid's dress. The color scheme is chocolate brown and burnt orange. I went for the brown, figuring that it would be so much easier to find a dress in that color. I was so wrong! Yo, it's Spring Time! Brown is so not spring! My friend went to the Southpoint Mall, the local super-mall. Containing such wonderful stores as Ann Taylor Loft, and Banana Republic. Beautiful stuff there, but nothing BROWN. Then we hit all of the department stores...Macy's, Belks, Nordstroms...there were some gorgeous dresses but nothing BROWN. We did find an interesting orange dress reminiscent of tang...and I nixed it for that same reason. I just wasn't feeling it. My friend suggested JC Penny as our last resort before calling it a day (we had spent barely an hour shopping...which is unusual for us!). We did find two very good possibilities and here's where it gets cool/geeky. My friend took a picture of me in the dresses with her camera phone and emailed them to my sister. Isn't that so cool?? So right there in the store, my sister could give her yay or nay She lives on the other side of the country, so this fabulous use of technology saved time and money. She said, well, they're okay, which I said, no, you really have to like the dress and my friend put them back on the rack. So cool.

Later that day, I checked my email and my sister had sent me links to several eBay listings for beautiful brown prom/bridesmaid's dresses. I liked the first one, bid on it, and ended up winning it 3 hours later. So here's a picture of the dress:

Isn't it beautiful?
(I have not idea why or how this link got here. Really. I guess google just decided that everyone needs to see a 200% zoom-in on my backside. Uber sexy.)

There's like, an extra foot of fabric pooled at the bottom. I was irritated about that until my friend pointed out to me, and I quote, "Newsflash: You're short." I conceded the point and I forgave her for being tall. Because I'm generous like that.







Now on to part deux of my entry tonight. I worked some more on the polyester spring top today. It's now to the point where you can tell it's a shirt and I'm pretty impressed by the print on the fabric...it's going to be a pretty shirt. I've learned that I need to use moisture to really press the seams flat... the poly just springs right back to life with a dry iron. I'm just plain happy that the seams will press flat at all. Polyester is notorious for being resistant to holding a crease...and nothing screams homemade like un-pressed seams. Yuck.

I had taken out some length through the torso and in the sleeves...right now I'm thinking that might have been premature. A quickie hold-it-up-to-myself "fitting" reveals that it might be at the right length already..which means that I'll have to get creative with hemming. I'll really try it on when I've finished attaching the facings and sewn the side seams. Then I'll see if it's too short...I hope not!

Dreaming in polyester

Okay, so I finished the muslin for the bias cut dress. That's hanging in the closet for whenever I get the urge to finish it. On to the things I wanted to do: tops for spring!! I cut the fabric for this butterick top while I was home sick with the allergy flare-up from hell (started about 2 weeks ago, I'm feeling much better today, but I'm also a temporary alto. I'm very squeaky...if you can imagine a husky squeak.). I would post a picture of the fabric but I'm in bed and the camera/fabric are in a different room. God bless laptops. And laziness.

Which brings me to an interesting point. I didn't give a darn about the dress when I was making it. Maybe because it is a muslin and I'm not a fan of making muslins. It's a waste of time (not really, as any sewing book will tell you...you get to iron out all of the bugs in the fit/pattern, etc). It's a waste of fabric (again, not really, as any long term sew-ist has at least a couple of cuts of fabric that were, ahem, not a good idea). I also didn't care about the dress because I my latest sewing fixation is on spring-y shirts. Let me just tell you...I was so not in love with that muslin project that I actually did house-cleaning rather than finish it. Housecleaning. Like doing the dishes or even worse, going through my "important paper stack" and shredding all the old stuff. I filled a whole garbage bag by the time I was done. And I'm talking a 30-gallon garbage bag. Like I said, I wasn't in the mood for the dress. In my five-ish years of sewing, I haven't made one dress. Possibly because I have fitting issues and I know that I need to spend time firguring those out. I think that's the entire reasion. Also because...well, i just don't wear dresses. Which is Sad, because I have like, 30 patterns for dresses. Well, maybe less than that...but more than enough. It's like of like my craze for fitted jackets (#1 in the Holy Grail of fitting in any sewing list). I have like, 15 patterns for jackets. How many have I made? 2. One of which had to be retired because it didn't actually fit. Argh. I do in fact, wear fitted jackets. They are more versatile than dresses. If I owned more jackets, I would wear them everyday. But, I have a jacket that I wear at work, it's machine washable and goes with everything, so because it's just plain easy, that's what I wear everyday. Getting back to the point of this paragrah...it's interesting how a project can really change my sewing mojo. The level of excitement about this top is...well, way more than the dress mojo. I couldn't wait to get home from work today so that I could work on my top some more. That should be in italics, because italics would fully convey my desire to sew this top. Really. Despite the fact the the fabric is a sheer polyester and I hate sewing with that stuff. (The fabric came from my mom. I don't turn down free fabric. Especially when it comes as a Christmas present from my mother. Sewing is one of the very few things we both love. I try to encourage that as much as possible.) Why do sheers suck in my book? Well, the seams show through on the fashion side. So you have to do special seam treatments and those take extra time. Time that I'm not willing to spend (see my treatise on making muslins, above). You also have to line the garment or live in NYC or LA where a transparent garment is acceptable. So's going without underwear, see Britney Spears...or not... I don't like lining garmets, for a lot of reasons, but mostly because it takes time and I'm not that good at linings. One could argue that I just need more practice... My solution...my collection of 101 camisoles. Despite these reasons and MUCH MORE, I still love this top. I hope it loves me back.

Did I work on it at all when I got home? Nope. Entirely because I have a stitch in my side from coughing so much over the past week (please God, give me the necessary inspiration to invent a cough medicine that works.). So I came home and lay down on the couch. Then it was time to go to choir practice ( I didn't sing, it's a short but wholly unrelated story). Then I came home and lay down some more and now it's time to go to sleep. And in my dreams I will fantasize about my new Spring shirt.

Muslin completed!

I've finished the muslin for the Kwik Sew Bias cut dress...or close enough to completion that I can figure out what needs to be fixed. I need to make my standard sway back adjustment...above the waist like I always do. I also need to take out some length above the bust...maybe an inch total. The front of the armholes also cut into my skin when I reach forward...that may be fixed when I take out that length above the bust. If it's still a problem (or worse), I'll have to widen the front armscye by about 1/4-1/2". I used a cotton fabric (actually, another old sheet) for the lining...this dress needs a real lining fabric...i.e. something that is thin and slippery. The cotton adds a bit too much body to the dress and it kind of catches on the fashion fabric.

But the above are all really very minor things. The fit on this dress is quite good..and because of the bias, it is easy to get it on and off. A real plus for me!

Must have more shirts!

Okay, so here's a clue to my inner type-A self. I pick out all of my outfits for the week so that a) I do all of my ironing at once, and b) I don't spend 5 minutes every morning looking in my closet and thinking "crap, what am I going to wear today?" So this past Sunday, I was going through the clothes and I was tired of all of it. I'm ready for spring. I'm ready for some new spring tops. I am ready for some new spring pants. And skirts. More shirts please!

So that's going to be the next project, some new shirts. What will it be? I have a couple of as yet untried patterns but I'm also looking for RTC inspiration. The janet Button-up is adorable...the wide neckline will look great and the little pouf sleeves will be fabulous. I may not keep the sleeves..I'm always cold at work and pouf-y 3/4 sleeves just don't sound right. Check out the Cordata tee...wow! and if you zoom in on it, it looks like a bunch of little hearts! I'm in love. I could probably re-interpret that fairly easily using fabric yo-yos. I may have hit upon something here! The Tamatebako blouse is stunning but seeing as I can't figure out how they did that gathering-thing, it will probably remain in idea-land. The neckline treatment on the Cynosure blouse is interesting...possibly too much of a good thing...like a ruffle on steroids. I would probably do a narrow ruffle..definitely a narrow ruffle. Out of some gauzy cotton...ooooh. Which I happen to have... The rest... I can live without. I cannot do the blousy, gathered, peasant blouse thing. It would make my bust microscopic. And I would look like a ten year old.

Let's see what Banana Republic has to offer...nothing that I'm interested in. On to the Gap...ack, nothing there either.

So, what are you blogging..?

I'm still working on cutting out the muslin for a bias cut kwik sew dress. Very boring for posting right now..especially since I haven't done any work on it since Friday morning (more on that later).

I'm currently fluffing out my links for other blogs and as I was going through the links, I saw a picture on Liana's Fashioned blog that I love, love, lurve. Go to the March 11, 2008 entry and scroll down to the 2nd and 3rd photos. Yeah, those two. Isn't that the COOLEST twinset ever? It ain't your grandma's twinset. Imagine, a pin-tucked twinset from a sheer. It's awesome. Totally sexy. I want one. Go ahead and check out the rest of the pictures. I have never heard of this Chado Ralph Rucci dude (dudette?) but he's now my favorite designer. I wanna design like him when I grow up...or until next spring anyway!

There's another sewing/fashion blog that I check in with regularly...A Dress A Day! And the blogger (Sorry, I don't know her name), posts "a dress...mostly everyday." She loves all things retro and I love that she loves all things retro. She make me want to love all things retro, except I remember that I am not into vintage or retro patterns. Most of them don't come in my size and I really dislike re-sizing patterns. Right up there with washing the dishes. So in her most recent post, Linktastic Friday No. 4, there's a link to paper wedding gowns. Not as tacky as you think, but you have to wonder (or at least I do), about the increased risk for a "wardrobe malfunction." Looking through the pictures of the wedding gowns, many of them are even pretty, but you have to like modern style dresses.

So I went out of town over the weekend to visit some friends and go bridesmaid's dress shopping (which was purchased but not at a store; when the dress arrives I shall post a picture and provide the fabulous story). As I was packing last Friday, I really, really wanted to bring the fabric for the KS dress. I had only two more pieces to cut out you see and well, I wanted to take advantage of any down time. Now, I believe cutting out is the hardest thing to do on the road, because it's so tool intensive. I need scissors, pins, pincushion, ruler (preferably the yard stick as I was cutting one layer at a time AND on the bias), marking pen, and marking chalk. Oh, and the fabric and patterns needed. Most of the items are small and will easily fit into a bag. But...I didn't wanna bring all of that with me. Mostly out of sheer laziness...just more schtuff I have to pack. So what was my crazy solution (because, oh yes, I WAS going to finish cutting out the muslin for this dress!)? My friend's mom also sews and I was just going to borrow her stuff. Perfect. I even had a 5 h "layover" at her mom's house. Except I got so busy chatting with her mom and playing with the grandbaby that...I didn't do it. (Insert irony here.)

A detour from sewing..

I started a thread over on PatternReview.com regarding spendthrift or tightwad tips. I did it because I'm currently reading the compendium of the Tightwad Gazette. It had such a variety of interesting tips that I wanted to share them with my fellow PR-ers (that is so not a word, but it works!) and start an online conversation about everyone's money-saving tips. Everyone has shared such great tips, that I wanted to compile a list on my blog. i'll try to give credit where it is due, but sometimes I'll spell usernames wrong or miss them altogether. So I apologize in advance. I can't post everything on the blog, so here's a link to the thread.

Here goes:

From Leora: Mary Hunt's www.debtproofliving.com blog and forum.

From yorkshire lass:
I will have a huge cooking day and freeze the results. Stews, pies, lasagne that sort of thing. Stews and similar go into old margerine tubs (they stack nicely in the freezer and hold enough for one person). This way I have the oven on for about four hours but will get enough food from that session for twelve to sixteen meals, depending on what I make. Pies get cut up into single size servings and cling filmed, Lasagnes go in single size silver foil trays, soup in plastic bags stood inside something square then taken out and stacked up when they are solid enough to stand up. I have been known to cook and mash several pounds of potatoes at once and freeze them in single servings.

From Phyllis: I always water down liquid dish detergent and shampoos by almost 50% - and they work just as well. My note: My parents did this when we were little and it drove us kids nuts. But, it's a great idea..one that I will revisit! (Mom and dad were right,eh?)

From EWP601: Pay your bills on time. (I am TERRIBLE about paying bills on time. I have 99% of my bills on an automatic payment system (for free!) from my bank. That has got to be the single best money saver for me.)

From EveS: I've learned the rotation of my store's sales and shop accordingly. I try to buy enough of whatever is on sale to get me thru to the next sale. (This is something that I have to adopt, my food bills are ridiculous.)

From JoanN5A:
1) I hate this one -- Buying at most about one bottle of wine a month. As I said, I hate this one. (Sigh. I'm a big wine fan too, tho not a wino :). Fortunately for my wallet, I don't live anywhere near a wine store, unless you count the wine section at the Food Lion.)
2) Trying to avoid reading blogs and posts (including on PR) about what people are splashing large quantities of money around on. ( I found it so "enabling" that I had a hard time resisting the tempation. I finally had to quit reading those threads. Maybe someday I'll have the self-restraint to enjoy reading those threads without feeling tempted. It can happen...)

From MichelleT: I also have one grocery store on the way to and from work that marks down it meats from the day before every morning. If I have time I stop in to see what is marked down and something we would eat. Two days ago I got meat for 5-6 meals with a total of $36.00 off the regular price. (What a neat idea. I'll have to steel myself to wake up at 5am one of these days to see if this will work at my local grocery store...)

From tourist: I also make a point of saving money and electricity by vacuuming as infrequently as possible. (I got such a kick out of this. I do the exact same thing!)

I'm sure that there will be many more excellent tips posted, but these are the things that caught my eye.

In search of...a bridesmaid's dress

My sister is getting married this fall and I will be her maid of honor. She wants me to wear something deep brown or burnt orange. I'm going for the brown because it will be easier to find the dress. I went dress shopping online last night and found a couple at J. Crew that will fit...I'm just pending an opinion from Teresa before I buy it. I wasn't entirely happy with either of the choices from J. Crew so I thought, well, as long as the dress is simple enough, I can make the darn thing. I even have a kwik sew dress pattern that will be very nice in a light, flowy silk and being that it's a kwik sew pattern, will be easy enough to sew up. So even though I'm likely going to buy the dress, I went ahead and cut out the pattern today anyway. It's a dress pattern that I've been meaning to get to for ages (I've owned the pattern for at least a year...maybe two...or three?). I also have plenty of fabric for a muslin...a fitted sheet that I don't use anymore. I kept it because it's a beautiful ruby color, with tone-on-tone stripes...and I thought, "that would make a pretty skirt..." I'm nutty. So anyway, if the muslin doesn't work out, I'm not out any money.

It actually turned out to be a good thing that I used the sheet for a muslin...because the dress is cut on the bias, I needed a LOT of fabric. about 1 yard more than I usually buy for projects. Once the muslin is done I will probably put the pattern away....I am overflowing in fabric right now (no pieces long enough for this project, unfortunately) and I will have to make room to store the as-yet-unpurchased-fabric for this project.