sewist does not equal crafter

sweet marguerite, how i love her smile. we met through the sew weekly, where her infectious grin never failed to light up the screen. though i'm pretty abysmal at sew alongs, her "sew tiny" grabbed me. something christmasy! something portable! something tiny!

 

cue the reminder that I AM NO GOOD AT CRAFTS.

 

seriously i suck at them. this is a constant source of shock to me. i suppose i think craftiness should come as an instant bonus prize to sewiness. they should go hand in hand, like gin and vermouth. but the two disciplines are not happily married in kalkatroona. i envisioned hand embroidered gift tags that would transform into ornaments aftre the prize was unwrapped.... how very green of me! instead i got something that is so obviously handmade it's likely the recipients will think i've been hiding offspiring from them. small offspring who are very bored and have been playing with my stash.

 

but! i did accomplish the "portable" part. sewing one (ONE) tag ornament up occupied me for the entire holiday flight. i won't tell you how long the flight was because it's embarrasing. i WILL tell you that there was no alcohol, which is also embarrasing.

 

gorgeous tiny works are beginning to pop up over marguerite's--behold this sneak peek and this bunny brooch...this fantastic fox stole isn't tiny but I LOVES IT SO MUCH...you still have time to join in! come on, it'll keep me going on these damn fugly tag-aments!

 

the sew weekly reunion: LATE AS USUAL

OH HAI!  guess who has a new photographer??  ruggy haz mad skillz, yo!  all it took was a delayed DIY bathroom renovation surprise to guilt him into this job, and now he is FOREVER chained to my canonG12! MUUUUUUUAAAAHAHHAhahahahahhHaHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

if you read between those lines, you'll understand why i'm late to the sew weekly reunion.  but it's totally par for the course with my track record there.  actually, this dress, the ever popular and completely awesome anna of by hand london, was completed over two weeks ago, in plenty of time. that was a sew weekly record for me. however, the distant due date found me slacking on pictures, and holy hell am i glad i did.  who woulda thunk ruggy would snap away in ten minutes flat what it takes me forty five minutes to hopefully accomplish. okayokay we're done,  i yammered after five minutes of clicking, hoping to avoid any stress.  wait babe, lemme try from back here.  the light is playing in a really cool way.

??!!!!!!  OKAY!

the facts:

fabric: a polyester from joanns from, egads, THE SUEDE SAYS COLLECTION.  wrong side of fabric was used for the front.  it's like playing a record backwards to reveal the voice of a demon, only the other way around.  suede scares me.

pattern: the bombalicious anna from by hand london

year: right now, baby, as tootie heath would say...

notions: invisible zipper, poly thread, universal sz 12 needle

time to complete: for cutting, sewing, and handsewing, under three hours.  even with french seams! unfortunately, i tinkered like hell with the pattern, part of which included raising the waist WAAAAAAY too much, that part took about four hours.  i blame it on my dallas hotel room and lack of ruggy.

first worn: august 2013, in the heart of texas, to model for tinkerbell in our dressing room.

wear again: now that i see ruggy's pictures, hell yes!

total cost: the pattern was a birthday prize, so just the fabric & notions, about $24.  joann's polyester is EXPENSIVE, yo.  suede says he needs a coupon.

for this reunion challenge, we were required to use pantone's fall colors.  i'm like, kind of colorblind, but i think these fit.  maybe they fit better on the right side of the fabric.

i'm so glad the fab four got the big band together again.   for those of you who don't know about the sew weekly, it was a online group of sewists who were challenged to sew one garment a week for an entire year.  each week was a new challenge.  i joined up in march of 2011, with this green pieced ponte knit dress.  later that year i met mena, and signed on to do oona does it! as a weekly feature, which very nearly had me throwing my iron right out the window every sunday. you can see those archives here, if you are so inclined.  

it is absolutely balls out crazy to make one garment a week.  i won't lie, a lot of those ended up wadders.  but the fab four, along with mistress mena, continually churned out amazing, envy inducing creations that always inspired.  anyone who played along with the sew weekly was certainly a little stressed, and definitely a better sewist by the end of it.  and a better friend.  to wit: the colossal new york meetup.  

  

although i shot myself in the foot overthinking pattern adjustments, i did need a couple of darts in the back bodice to solve some gaping.  i've noticed several ladies have made that adjustment...anyone have a method to share?  i just added 3 inch long, 1 inch wide darts, the center line following the center line of the pattern's waist dart.

speaking of foot.  BEANGIRL.  WHEREVER YOU ARE.  MARK MY SHOES.  MARK MY SHOES WELL. 

happy labor day, and happy reunion, y'all!  thank you debi, adey, veronica and sarah for throwing this beautiful bash!  my photographer is placing dinner on the table, but do holler if you're playing, i'd love to peep over a digestif...

edit: hey guess what i did.  I FORGOT TO NAME IT!  so not sew weekly of me!  i'm thinking of going with "the psychedelic suede dress"... suggestions?

another one bites the dust

an oona does it!, a mad men character... le double entendre.  wow, have the ladies over at the sew weekly ever been rocking this challenge.  to boot, mena's brought the fab four back with phasers. set. to. stun.  

this dress, like the character it was inspired by, had issues.  you might recognize the fabric from my levine haul with the C&C Factory (clio and chutzpah. lady leah, have you used your half of this yardage yet?).  i love this fabric.  it is most definitely some sort of poly, but the weight is so nice and hefty and i kinda dig the plasticky feel.

i know.

i thought you might like to see how it evolved, one sunny poolside sewing weekend:

first i threw the fabric at the dress form, placing the center fold on the center line of the body, then started pleating.

sipping my chardonnay, i decided i could eyeball the waist and sliced across.  WAY.  too high.  in all senses of the word.  but i didn't know it at the time.

then i began the skirt in the same manner, and matched the pleats with the bodice.

draped some back pieces-- just the right half of the back, then used those pieces to cut out the left half so they would be even.

the dress, as i thought it would be.  eventually it became much more wiggly, with a 2 inch wide waistband to accommodate for the supremely high waistline.  i'm not so much into the empire waist, though my scissors say different.  

(yeah, the cut was a bit sauced, but even though i cut it higher than the marked waistline, THAT mark isn't even right.  i had just spent four hours trying to get my old "uniquely you" to fit me AGAIN, and i thought i had it close. mais, non cigar.  can i just say how much i lovehate this foam form?  i've been draping like crazy since we dragged it out of storage, so there's the love, but i hate that, at the time this was so generously gifted to me, i didn't know enough about sewing to ask for a different form.  not that i'm an expert now; i am certain there's a trained professional out there looking at these process photos in abject horror, but man.  this thing is junky.  the price tag is absolutely unjustifiable.  wobbly tinker toy stand, breasts the size of mount vesuvius, and of course there are the ever protruding shoulders.  there's a reason they make 'em collapsible.  i fondled a PGM form down in the garment district the other day, and oh.  i want.  the tag is heftier, but with good reason.  and with enough saving, possible in daydreams.  and they make custom forms!  ahem.  parenthetical rant over.)

so!  there you have it, behind the scenes.  interesting at all?  have i shattered your illusions of my amount of draping knowledge?  if the drunken process is too much to bear, you can see more of the finished product (and find out what mad men character inspired the faux tie) in my post over at the sew weekly. 

happy friday y'all!

do it to it

finally got my oh-is-that-my-booty? in gear and finished the first oona does it! of 2012.

i'm hoping my booty will distract you from the fact i sewed it in 2011.

read about it here...

late to the party, but i bring booze

are you sick of resolutions and wrap ups yet?  i'm sorry.  my past sickness trumps your present sickness.

click "read more" to see 2011's collage of 67 garments (or after the jump, as the kids say...)

hubba husband

i made ruggy a shirt.

this is not the shirt.

but we were all dolled up for a night out on the town with parental kalkatroonans and i had to get a picture.  (and i did make my shirt.)  it was a wonderful boozy jazzy night, surrounded by the lights of the city and the billy hart quartet (the man has a syncopated metronome implanted in his brain, and dizzy's needs to get on this tip.  ethan iverson explains it much better.  MORE OF THIS PLEASE DIZZY'S.)  would that i had grabbed a shot of the four of us: kalkatroona dad donned a green plaid shirt with yellow accents, a gray sportscoat, and a silver and black tie. in case you're wondering where i get my pattern matching skillz from.

luckily the shot passes muster with ruggy, because there's no way i'm going through the negroni photos again for an extra oona does it! wrap up here.  no, this is just to let you know there's some man candy going on over at my column on the sew weekly.... ruggy takes center stage.   

so far...

permit me to be wistful for a moment, won't you?  i haz my suitably tranquil and reflective gaze on.

i've been enjoying debi's stroll down memory lane so much, i thought i'd look back on my oona does it! feature over at le sew weekly.  here is all the shite i've made so far.  i'm sorry, shite is not wistful enough.  creations.  

out of 21 creations, 10 have been worn in public,  6 are waiting for the right opportunity/season,  3 are on probation, and 5 have been scrapped completely (that holey black job in the fourth row being high on the THIS BLOWS SET FIRE TO THIS NOW list.  there, i've gone and lost my tranquility again.  damn black.)  

that math doesn't add up.  could be the irish coffee.

if you don't know about this feature (and you might not, i usually just post a shout out that it's up), i make something based on a challenge throw down by peeps in the blogoshpere.  some of them have included snakeskin, peacock feathers, carny rides, and 6 foot long zippers. after almost six months of ODI, i have to say my favorite part of this venture is getting a challenge from a blogger, whether it's one i know, always wanted to meet, or brand new to. while i'm hacking away on a piece i'll think about their style, their sense of humor, the town they live in, their favorite drink... it's like i'm sewing with an invisible friend.  

that sounds sad.  not in a boo hoo way, more in a "bless your heart" way.  more in a "high school loser" way.  a category i was firmly ensconced in: very VERY busy but with little to no social life.  don't get me wrong, i loved it.  i rocked the shit out of high school.  but it's nice to grow up and have friends, tangible and virtual both.  

so, on debi's thanksgiving week of sew grateful, i'd like to say thank you to to mena for thinking it up, and thank you to everyone who's challenged me so far. thanks, invisible friends.  i look forward to sewing with you today.

ny meetup

we began the day as any good day should begin, with carafes of sangria and festive flowers to frolick with.  el centro played host to lunch, and they were fabulous (picture by our man jonathan, standing on top of table). from bottom left corner to bottom right, we have:  vicki, daughter fish, cindy, mena, moi, debi, meg, lisette, and nettie.  it was a school day, so many rsvps sadly did get tied up at work... don't worry, we drank extra sangria for you!

the extremely confusing sew weekly theme (MY BAD) lead to floral frocks and technicolor hues.  oh so much pattern.  i was in heaven.  i wanted to put these gals in my bag.  the details on the neckline of cindy's dress!  miss fish's silk poppies!  mena's... erm... staples!

que beautiful, no?  like they have their own inner miniature sun.

we snagged marina on the tail end of lunch, and per lisette's idea, we had a pattern swap, with the impromptu locale of worldwide plaza's cement park.  marina was a BIG contributor.  puu joined in and brought a hefty bag of envelopes as well (her red cigarette pants were also an object of desire)...

(photo by debi-- her absolutely musical giggle lit up the day.  girl, did you snag any?  vintage goddess, i don't even KNOW!)  i ran into an old friend and completely missed the swap... fitting, as i forgot and brought nothing to the party.  yet i still managed to walk away with these beauties.  BRAT.

(the notions are from SIL threads, another stop along the way.  i was challenged several times for ODIs and was therefore forced to shop.  some of the challenges are malicious.  i'm not naming any names mena.) 

bags bulging with pattern goodness, we then headed to paron fabrics, my favorite, where peter joined up.  i decided i should abstain from fabric purchases as i'd have my hands full co-hosting... and then bought 12 yards of fabric at the very first stop.

check out marina and nettie.  put them together: effortless chic.  

speaking of chic, at our second stop, chic fabrics, the sangria caught up.  miss fish had to jet in order to Sew For Other Peeps (the horror).  i discovered nettie and i have the same affinity for swearing (brilliant!).  marina raised her eyebrows at several questionable fabrics.  it quickly became clear we needed caffeine.  my first clue was finding mena laying on the bolts of fabric in the back.  i believe cindy saw her flailing, then spied the hidden alley of fabrics behind her, and made a beeline over her exhausted body.  was that you, cindy?   was i still drunk? 

so, after a tete a tete with peter on the best place to go, we headed to dean and deluca's.

at this point, i had had enough of peter, and i told him so.  i believe he's reaching for a sharp implement. (photo by marina.  i should have taken peter down a dark alley where there would be no evidence.)

coffee refreshed, and mysteriously sans peter, we took to the streets again...  THESE DRESSES.  the straps on meg's dress are exactly what i wanted, and failed to produce, on my own dress.  and do you mark debi and lisette in two of my all time favorite creations? do you know how hard it was to keep my jealous hands away?  i think they did it on purpose to tempt me.  pink and purple.  and peacock.  yes please.  (photo by vicki, also in pink print... pillowcases.   a perfect pendrell. preposterous.  peruse the next pic.)

we came close to making good on meg's bag's promise when the proprietress at 21 century fabrics decided to waffle on previously quoted prices.  we won.  as meg would say:  OMG.  we are TOTALLY not j/k.  (picture by debi.  i had no idea this joint had a balcony.)

after 4 more stops (map here) and 5 hours of shopping, several ladies went home happy... we saw lisette off at port authority with a bag bigger than she.  thank god, somebody had to beat me and my self imposed and very much broken No Frigging Fabric rule.

we ended the night at room service, where the waitress was hell bent on wasting as much prosecco as possible. elisabeth and sandy joined up, and we did our best to get them drunk.  did we succeed? i don't know, elisabeth looks properly toasty in her self stitched goodness (doesn't it go so well with debi's?), but sandy's eyeing meg's fizzy drink. (pictures by marina.  there was another half to this table, including le photographer, cindy & mena, but did this co-host pull her camera out?  no.  i was too busy holding my drink. )

[edit:  you gals will be interested to know, the bill was NOT short.  my drunk ass dropped 25 bucks out of the loot and, after fisticuffs with meg over who would chip in more (she won, she has like two feet on me), sandy noticed the missing dough on the floor.  i had to convince meg i wasn't trying to pull a fast one when i gave her back the extra chip in.  of course sewing peeps don't short.  we do math all the time.] 

we parted ways on ninth avenue, the co-hosts headed to a top secret mission, and new found friends headed to more drinks.  

the saddest thing in life is not pear shaped hips.  it is ending a meetup with these fantastic peeps and heading into a work filled weekend.  but, after the plaster fiasco of saturday morning, i did manage to snag a little extra sunday morning pre-bus coffee time with the awesome sewing scientist...

note my heroin-chic undereyes.  credit goes to plaster covered floors, baby shower and bridal party duties.  credit for the pose goes to tanit-isis, vicki decided it should be in your honor.  would that you were here...

would that alla y'all were here... next time!!!

before. after.

i finally added armholes.  better than "before".   however,  my "after" hair is a hot mess.

i was inspired to figure out and finish this stripey number for this week's oona does it!, and i can officially say i'll be posting my first ever tutorial in the next couple of weeks.... you can wear it about 8,000 different ways.  no, i'm not kidding.  i show you 8 in this week's column!

say cheese, for realz.

bag of cheap baubles from the jewelry district.  they put them in a plastic bag to be sure you're not making off with more than you paid for.  i need them, you see, for accessorizing.  i also like to act shady and make them keep an eye on me while i shop.

this week's oona does it! is up.  i wore the purple-y accessory.  and i do have a bit of story to tell you that's not in the column.

sis-in-law and i were at mood, me in my challenge dress, she ready to photograph me after our garment district spree.  for this challenge, i went with a pattern instead of a self-drafted dress, you know, to change it up a bit.

(oona and sis stand in the woolens section, carefully weighing the pros and cons of a beautiful mohair with the charming and chatty todd, when a second clerk comes a running.)

clerk deux:  TODD.  wrap it up, we're closing.

(it is 11:30 am.  the ladies blink.)

oona:  oh, we had no idea you close this early on saturdays--

(second clerk sighs: a resigned sound.)

clerk deux:  nooo, we don't.  we're taping.

oona:  oh.

yeah, project runway called and said they were on the way, CLOSE THE JOINT.  apparently this happens all the time, and at a moment's notice (news to me; i shop at paron & chic).  sis snagged the mohair and we waited in line.  they nearly wouldn't even let us do that (though they were supremely nice and apologetic).  as we waited, i inwardly lamented the fact that the ONE TIME i had decided to wear something NOT self drafted, tim gunn and crew were about to storm the castle.  what would i say when they saw me?  most assuredly they would fall to their knees in adoration, ready themselves to declare me the winner of the current season, and ask with baited breath if i was wearing my own design.  i was screwed.

as credit card was handed over, a second call was received.  they were not coming.   crisis averted.  i wondered about all the customers mood had just ejected for nothing.  

i guess that's why they say thank-you-mood.

hair of the dog

the bender continues over at the sew weekly, my home on mondays.  i'm totally stoked with how this challenge came out.

(er uh um uh, yes, i know today is wednesday, 'twas a loaded birthday week.... sorry mena!  but i'm all set up now to mix you a mojito!  mais, not with the teeny bottle of porfidio.  no, that is a special bottle ruggy has been saving for  Ten.  Years.  the alcohol has actually begun to evaporate.  i sense a rainy day coming.)

sew weekly sunday: got a black magic woman

on my sewing list:

one (1) maxi dress, wedding guest style, for a best friend who is shortly packing up and leaving town

one (1) jungle gym "roof" with ten (10) grommets measuring six by five (6x5!!!) feet for another friend's child

one (1) invisibility cloak to throw on when peeps ask me to sew for them

i was really excited about the current sew weekly challenge: finding inspiration in album art.  album art, like music videos, used to be the BOMB, y'all.  i would sort through my parents' collection in a mixture of fear and amazement.  (ahem, that is, when i reached the age of understanding and appreciation.  apparently, before that, brother beast and i used the two-record set of "the white album" as carpet ice skates.  in our defense, the album cover was white.  just white.)

it's a mystery to me why i would want to put this on my blog.  this cover scared the bejesus out of me.  it's reminiscent of blue meanies... ehhhh, those things REALLY scare me.  i just googled them to jog my memory.  i'm not putting them up on le blog.  no, my brotha, you must go google your own.

ah, that's better.  a little phoebe snow.  she is a warm summer night with a gin and tonic.  i loved this one because of her freckles and curls.

but my favorite was santana's abraxas.  you'll excuse the naked women and the strategically placed dove.

i loved the blue tattoos on the red angel, and her fantastic wings-- i mean, she's riding a STRIPED CONGA DRUM (although daughter fish tells me it is a congo. i am sure she is correct).  all that pattern and print and cloth kept me fascinated every time.  telling?

weirdly, my stash full of prints didn't have anything near enough wild for this.  i had to find and then wrestle this yardage away from a small woman.  

in the garment district, stores will often have a large cardboard box filled with remnants at awesome prices. usually, several customers elbow each other over one stuffed box.  my favorite remnant store has two such boxes, which is handy.  on this particular occasion, Small Woman pawed through one.  i could see treasures at her fingertips, but i decided to take the other box.  how civilized.   

but the minute i began to sift, she dumped her finds and walked over to my box.  she didn't dig through it, nooo, she just waited for me to find something good and then grabbed it.  and forcefully pulled.  while inching ever closer to me.  in disbelief, i asserted my rights:  excuse me, but you're way too close right now. silence, and continued pawing.

i stepped forcefully into her side and shoved my hands into fabric, coming up victorious with 6 yards of silk chiffon.  her greedy mitts were on it immediately.  i got loud.  HONEY?  THAT'S MINE.  the small woman cared little.  can i see, can i see.  not a question so much as a statement.  you can SEE...  knowing she did not infer my meaning to be:  but you cannot HAVE,  i kept a firm grip on my prize as she pored over it.  i gave her three seconds to "see", then pulled it out of her hands and walked away.  surely there were more treasures in the box, but i didn't want my prize ripped in half.  when the proprietress paused in checking me out to help another customer, Small Woman actually picked it up AGAIN and began to walk away with it. at this point i just rolled my eyes and watched as the owner wrestled it away, in a weird emotionless silent dance.

that's abraxas in silk chiffon, yo!

i was going to make a simple summer halter dress, but when i draped it over my shoulder it told me it was too hard won to be an everyday something.  it wanted to be an evening gown.  for like, a gala.  i hope that it will be.

i just need to get on that invisibility cloak.

sew weekly sunday: room for improvement

in an effort to jump back on the sew weekly challenge wagon, i decided to kill two peacocks with one stone and use the UFO challenge as a muslin for my next "oona does it!" challenge.

this did not work.  details mañana.

BUT.  i did get really careful and work really hard on a big time honest to god muslin (mrs cisco is proud.  she's also kind of pissed that y'all are calling her mrs crisco, which i love).  i had a UFO in the form of a maxi skirt laying in my closet for a year.  there was so much material in it, i couldn't see getting rid of it, but i made an extremely poor choice with some very beautiful leather that had been laser cut to look like crochet...

that beautiful piece of remnant was about a foot long and five inches wide before i hacked it to pieces, thinking it would be so cool; who puts leather embellishment on a maxi skirt?! i am the BOMB! mama balloona sure did raise one free spirited child!!! 

and then it ended up looking like regular crochet.  a doilie, to be exact.  on a maxi skirt.  alls i needed was the wagon and the campfire.  having successfully ruined a coveted piece of leather, into the closet it went.

so.  UFOs.  i gotz em.  and in this one, i had the yardage for a small town. glutton for punishment that i am, i chose another burdastyle mag online pattern. actually, it lounged in my shopping cart for days, but when i saw the exquisite alison dahl's liberty version, that sealed the deal.  

but!  lo and behold! their petite sizing rocks.  way happier am i buying le petite pattern from burdastyle. i still took an inch off for my short waist, but the proportions suit my diminutive stature... and no swayback adjustment!

however, today i noticed gaping all over the front and back top panels.  must've been the merlot. it's getting darts tomorrow, so i guess it's still a UFO.  

my scheming needs work.  and i must have a red belt as well. for the independence celebrating and all, dontcha know.

fabric: cotton print, ($1 yd)

pattern: burdastyle dress with a-line skirt ($5.40.  peeps. can we get a little creative naming?)

notions: invisible zip ($1)

time to complete: 4 hours

first worn: today

wear again: tomorrow, avec something red.

total cost: $9.40

quoth ruggy: is that a steelers dress?

this week, mena tried to kill me.  i'm not lying, see for yourself.

(but before you go, please dig the clockwork orange vibe my curl is pulling.)

SWS : SOS

HELP ME!  ALL OF MY FRIENDS ARE CRAZY!  THEY ARE THE DIRECT CAUSE OF ME FLAKING ON ANOTHER SEW WEEKLY CHALLENGE!

no really it's totally their fault.  it has nothing to do with me.  i'm thinking of getting me some new friends.  and when you meet an extremely cool blogger-sewist-writer-chica in person, who just happens to live a subway ride away, lemme tell ya.  old crazy standbys, WATCH OUT.

several weeks ago, i had the enabling, sugary sweet pleasure of meeting daughter fish.  do you know her?  she's all kinds of awesome.  she sews incredibly, mixes a mean cocktail, speaks french, and will throw down a macaroon and tromp through the garment district in the rain with the most discerning eye.  (macaroon and garment district being the enabling sugary sweet part, pleasure part being daughter fish.  enabling being the mulah dropped on fabric.)

we bought all kinds... and with her gentle help i didn't stray too far into the realm of polyester.  there was one fabulous print that i really wanted.  it was stretchy, a yard weighed about two pounds, and when i yelped, oooo, this is so cool!  daughter fish calmly replied yes, that's interesting.  i knew the proper response was to walk away. not that she dissuaded me.  she just knew where the good stuff was.  i actually bought silk... and cotton... and this solid colored fantastic jersey goodness:

oh hello i made a pattern magic dress!  when i finally cracked that hard won book open, i was amazed at the fabric origami!  the twists!  the turns!

the MATH.

stopped me dead in my tracks, it did.  i decided i would not do the math.  i would just draw the shape i thought it should look like, and cut, math be damned as it most certainly should be.  and here's where daughter fish's magical powers must've worked some mojo on this fabric, because it WORKED.  yes, i was off at the center by a big old triangle of peep show happening, but i just added a center panel et voila!

i gathered the sleeves at the shoulder seam like i likes to do.  now, don't get me wrong, i must repeat, this is not my SW refashion challenge.  i made this weeks ago.  wore it to a fancy dinner which ended on a four wheeler.

all fancy dinners should end on a four wheeler.  and they should always be enjoyed in the company of friends.

got some i could borrow?