Stick a Pin in It

Pincushion of awesomeness making
the boring blue tomato bow to its
supremacy and no, I don't put pins
in the turtles!  

I recently received the most awesome pincushion EVER.  I love this pincushion.  What a thoughtful gift!

It has a wood base which I have never actually seen before but it rocks.  It is one of my favorite color combos….brown & blue and best of all it has sea turtles!!

A friend who knows me well brought this back for me from her recent trip to Hawaii.  She knows how much I sew and how my favorite experience in Hawaii was swimming with the sea turtles.  Don’t worry, I did not get too close but swimming out over the reef and being about 5 feet from turtles was AMAZING.

See.... it has sprinkles so it must be
a baked good.  

Now, as I sew I am reminded of that awesome experience.  Plus, I no longer need be embarrassed about my pincushion.  Up until I received the pincushion of awesomeness, I was using this sad little pincushion I received for volunteering at a sewing convention.  It worked but it has squished out of shape.  I have no idea what the stuffing is cause it is soft but needles go in and never come out.  Some day I must perform surgery and retrieve the lost needles.  At least it has personality; I think it is supposed to be a donut.  Or maybe it is a sad cupcake.  Well it is some sort of baked good.

Yawn....who doesn't have one of these?

My other pincushion that I keep on my bedside table because I do like to sew in bed is the utilitarian and ubiquitous tomato and strawberry.  Boring.  Everyone has one.  My mother had a red one; am I being a rebel because I chose blue? But more importantly who ever came up with the tomato/strawberry combination?  Why did this become the form pincushions took?  I know the answer is out there and maybe next time I don’t feel like working I will search for it.

Building a Plan

First the Pattern

What pattern have I made that I could turn into a cocktail dress?  Running through the memory banks, the pattern that stood out was Butterick 7820 since if you look at the pattern art, it seems like it is supposed to be a late 30’s cocktail dress.  My make was a cotton poly day dress but why not?

Second, the fabric.

It is times like this when I love working downtown.  Off I ran to the fabric district to check my favorite silk store.  After fondling the fabric assessing my options, I decided basic black silk charmeuse was the way to go and $39 later I had my silk and was off to buy thread.

Can you tell this is black?  At first is was just
a black square.  Black is so difficult to
photograph

What Would You Do?

For months I knew I had a big 100^th Birthday party to go to for the BF’s grandfather.  Almost once a week since April I asked what should I wear to the party?  Is there any guideline?  What are the other women in the family wearing?  What is your sister wearing?  You get the idea.  The answer was always, I don’t know.  So I would request that we find out!!  You know the saying there is no dumb question.  Well, the BF disagreed and kept telling me one of the following bits of nonsense:

1. It doesn’t matter what you wear, you will look nice

2. I am sure everyone will dress casually

I still worried.  I don’t trust men when it comes to what is appropriate wear for an event. I have just been burned too many times. I need to interject here that this was a big event.  Rooms reserved for a banguet; engraved invitations sent out in other words, this was not a gathering in a back yard it was going to be a big deal as a 100^th birthday should be. So I continued to ask….hound…..the BF on this topic.

How I felt

Finally….10 days before the event I got emails of pictures of the dresses some were wearing.  Not one was casual ….not go to church type dresses: both of which I have scads of…..nope they were cocktail dress.  CRUD  I do not have a cocktail dress.

Of course my BF said just whip something up.  Yeah right …have you met me?  I am a slow sewer…I don’t just whip things up.  So off I went to Macys to find a cocktail dress.  Yeah right.  For a couple of 100$ I could get a crappy dress that did not fit.  Talk about woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, I was seriously one hanger shy of a meltdown when the light bulb went off…… I guess the BF was right, I could make something to wear.  The mind started working.  If I used a pattern I have already sewn, I could run to the garment district and pick up 3 yards of silk charmeuse for only $40 and I should be able to sew something that actually fits in a fabric I liked.  BUT and this is a big but….time was against me.

Summer Essential

Remember this make from…whoa nelly….years ago??  



I never wore it…until this summer when it has become a weekend staple.  This little Hawaiian dress gets pulled out almost every weekend because even with long sleeves it is cooler than wearing a t-shirt.  The only issue is that I was a few pounds heavier when I made this so it is tooooo big through the neckline area.  I would like to make another one with a better fitting neckline but this dress really does call for only certain patterns and I have yet to find one.

Catching UP

I am back.  It is finally cool enough, well today is cool enough, to sit in my sweat box of a computer room.  So here I type.  August and September are usually the hottest months out here and this year has not disappointed.  But really, what about the rest of June and July….where did I disappear to?

I was sewing.  I sewed yards and yards of silk charmeuse in July.  All with deadlines.  Don’t worry, pretty pictures will follow.  My draping class was wonderful but ever so time consuming.  I find that I am just not great at measuring or walking patterns.  What took everyone a couple of minutes, had my little brain puzzling over for long periods of time.  Seriously, you could see the  wheels turning and the smoke pouring from my ears.

What happened to the summer skirt?  Did it get finished I hear you ask…wait is there anyone out there even wondering what happened to the skirt.  Fear not, I am going to tell you anyways. 

Skirt is finished.  At first it was too small.  I measured the pattern…what was the problem?  However thank goodness it was a modern pattern with those HUGE 5/8^th seam allowances so I let out the seams, then I took them back in and by the 4^th go around I had a skirt that fit. 

The colors are great; this little beauty goes with so many t-shirts in my closet.  I used a baby hem.  Down side is I used a tricot lining which I really do not like at all – I find it sticks to me which is just not a plus when it is 100 degrees in and out of the house.