taking care of business

always better with cupcake and coffee.  so, our pal beth is nowhere to be found, time for a redo of nikki's book giveaway! i actually started down a rabbithole of clicking on everyone's names to see who might reeeeeaaaalllly want it.  that was dumb.  a lotta people want it.  random number generator, take it away...

lucky number thirteen, liza jane, who said  i love that draped tee dress pattern. i also peeped at her purse patterns. i've always wanted to make a frame purse.  holler at me mama and let's get you making purses!  

i've been on a book kick lately-- read about you sew, girl! here, and patternmaking here.  and have a cupcake while you're at it.

tilly, tanit isis, and tomes: a trio of treats

continuing on the train to Catch Up Town.... next stop, miette.

when the delightful tilly asked if i'd help test out her latest adorable pattern, i wrote her a long winded email explaining the amount of plate-age i had going on, and why i sadly couldn't test, and by the end of the email i had totally talked myself into testing.  the center front seam was stuck in my brain.  to be honest, i don't care for center front seams, but, they are AWESOMESAUCE for playing with prints!

you lika my rasta vibe?  courtesy of none other than the goddess tanit isis.  what?!  you cry!  she has such wild prints in her stash?  yep.  until we scream-met in corner of a canadian airport whilst ruggy had a coronary in the security line.  during those precious minutes, she handed this baby over, practically giddy to have it out of her possession.  i was brattily empty handed, and happy to accept.  which reminds me, i gots some payback to do. AND WE ALL KNOW WHAT PAYBACK IS.

a golden opportunity for chevron stripes was stuck in my craw, but life got in the way of the search.  then i remembered miss isis' gift.  though the colors called out to me on a daily basis, it had sat in my stash for well over a year.  upon inspection, this crazy print had even more neurological issues going on than first impressions would show.  the border print of black ran through thrice, the third wheel running about three quarters of the way through.  this made it impossible to get any large pieces out of it on the fold, as the center line always ended up with different patterns on each side.  but i realized i could make this print work with the miette's center front seam.  i spent a good hour laying out the pieces over and over, trying to eke out a maxi skirt.  in the end i had to go with the intended knee length (which, really, probably best, as i was meant to be testeroona, not hackeroona.)

i managed to find a recurring pattern in the print (those stripes were hellacious) and was able to eke out mirror images.  unfortunately i wasn't able to get a careful placement on side seams no matter how i tried, i'm telling ya, someone was having a good toke when they made this yardage.  but hopefully the psychedelic colors distract from that.

ties.  i am forever shaking my head at patterns and extending ties to drastic lengths, but i'm happy to report this tilly tie was already long enough for my standards!  the front pockets would have disguised the print placement, and as i'd spent many minutes of my life on that, i sacrificed a place for my phone.  i love me some pockets, but if you're using the center front seam for print placement, i'd suggest abandoning pockets.  you could always add side seam jobs!

aaaaand i'm happy to report, there will be no sighting of mount crackatoa in this wrap skirt.  i'd love to find some yardage wide enough to extend this to maxi length.  maybe something will pop up on my hunt for tanit's payback...

speaking of payback, let's talk payOFF!!  for my girl nikki's brilliant giveaway of her delicious book, you sew, girl! we had 57 contenders (duplicate entries were deleted & shout outs not counted).  magic random number generator, take it away...

congratulations beth!  shoot me an email at oonaballoona of the gmail sort, and we'll get the book ball rolling.  UPDATE: haven't heard from our pal beth (hope you're okay!) so a new winner will be picked from the 57 entries later today, 6/30...if fate wasn't on your side and you'd like a copy, you can grab yours at the book depository or on amazon, you won't regret it.  big thanks again to nikki!

this pattern was provided to me free-of-charge in exchange for my free-of-charge testing.