Giveaway! Green Hues + Fabrics A to Z [CLOSED]

I’m still trying to recover from the onslaught of excess at the American Girl store yesterday. It was the birthday girl’s sole wish to be able to fully experience the American Girl world, complete with a lunch (with her newly acquired doll – a gift from both sets of grandparents), so my mom and I took her and her best friend to the massive store for the day. I may talk about it some more later, but I need to go cut out some coupons or something to alleviate the guilt I’m feeling from such extravagance.

While I frugalize my life, I wanted to pop in with a giveaway. Purging and budgeting go hand in hand, right?

I have for you some cheerful fabric in a verdant/yellowish hue. They’re both quilting cotton with so many options beyond quilting, if you so choose. The bold floral on the bottom is Farmers Market by Sandi Henderson, and the more petite flower motif is basicgrey/origins for Moda. Each piece is about a yard and a half.

I’m also including a wonderfully useful reference book on fabrics: Fabrics A to Z: The Essential Guide to Choosing and Using Fabric for Sewing. This is a beautiful and handy book, and it’s basically brand new. I already have other reference books, so this one turned out to be extraneous.

So. To enter the giveaway, please answer one of the two questions (or both, if you want!):

1. What’s the best birthday gift you’ve ever received?
2. Do you have a unique quirk that few people know about?

My best birthday gift, hands down, is my sewing machine from 2009. Big surprise, I bet. As for my quirks, I have so many, but the one that comes immediately to mind is that I won’t wear sunglasses. I’ve never been able to — the dark color throws my perception off, and I feel very self-conscious wearing them. A very odd quirk for someone from Los Angeles, I might add. Also, I love to read magazines backwards. I start from the very back and work my way to the table of contents. Maybe it’s because I grew up reading Japanese comic books…anyway, what about you?

The giveaway will be open until next Thursday, August 8th at 5pm. I will announce the winner the next day. And as always, international entries are more than welcome! Good luck!

 

Seven

Seven?
Wasn’t it yesterday that I watched your gigantic eyes widen in fear and excitement at the start of kindergarten?
Or just last week that you learned how to walk without me holding your hands, without me hunched over as you toddled so precariously?
Surely, it can’t be eighty-four months since you became a real, breathing, human in my arms?

Seven.
You seem at once so fragile and brazen. I see glimpses of the teenager you will become, but you still smell faintly of that powdery sweet babyhood.
You have a whole intricate world you’ve created with your friends; there are more secrets (though easily spilled) and a self-consciousness. Sometimes it reminds me of how I felt when you would cry and cry as a newborn, devoid of words.
At the same time, our conversations are so nuanced and honest and full of complex ideas. You are so loving and witty and have me in stitches daily with your well-turned, unexpected phrases.
You are still a champion snuggler.
I read you books every day, just as I have since the moment you were born. But now you take the book from me after I’ve finished a chapter and read the rest of the pages yourself.

Seven!
No longer a baby, yet nowhere near an adult.
A sketched blueprint, an in-betweener, one foot planted in a magical realm and the other in reality, shrewdly observing both.

A gift in every way. That’s what you are.

Happy birthday, my seven-year-old.

Monday Outfit: Birthday Dress

K and I had a little conversation this weekend:

Me: What kind of birthday dress do you want, honey?

K: White.

Me: Okay, what else?

K: Balloons. Yeah, balloons all over, with a hot air balloon right on the chest, and with big letters that spell out “Happy Birthday”. Make sure to use lots of colors, Mommy.

Friends, I couldn’t do it. My inner minimalist took over, and I struggled to bring myself to stencil her design onto this decidedly bridal-looking, but beautifully simple dress.

My mom added to the bridal effect by creating two flower pins, and guess what? K is in love with the whole ensemble. She preferred the smaller flower over the big one on the dress, but the larger flower pin became an excellent prop.

This is a self-drafted dress made out of a linen blend, and I inserted my second invisible zipper in two weeks, making me feel like a zipper ninja. I also fully-lined it, and it is most certainly a party dress. Just in time for her special day tomorrow.

This came out exactly how I envisioned it, and the fit is pretty perfect. In fact, so perfect that I doubt she’ll be able to wear this dress next week since she’s growing like crazy right now.

I still may add the balloons and lettering, now that I’ve got the dress photographed in its pristine whiteness. Then again, it feels like sacrilege somehow. Maybe she’ll be satisfied with this photo below? (I digitally painted the design onto the image)

 

Happy Friday + Guest Post for Compagnie M

Happy Friday, friends! Today, I’m guest posting over at Compagnie M, so hop on over to see the details of this here creation which was inspired by the illustration on the left. The illustration is by Caitlin McGauley, who is insanely talented and one of my all-time favorite illustrators/designers. She painted the Emerson Fry leopard coat, which happens to also be a drool-worthy and favorite clothing designer of mine (though I have yet to own anything from their line), so you can imagine how much I love this. I contacted Caitlin last week to get permission to use her illo, and I was thrilled when she returned my email right away with the sweetest message, assenting to the usage. This creative community is amazing. Check out her portfolio for some serious eye candy, and her blog is always inspiring.

Some more outtakes of the photo shoot (notice the Flanae/Sanamingo pose in action above) – I made the tunic she’s wearing way back in November of last year and the black leggings are part of the few remaining store-bought items in K’s wardrobe:

********************************************************************************
Have a fantastic weekend, everyone! See you on Monday!

Birthdays are frequent
One down, another to go
Seven*! How time flies 

*K’s birthday is next week…my mind is reeling. How is it possible that seven years have passed?

My First Washi: a wearable muslin?

I did it. I’ve finally become the trillionth person to make a Washi Dress. And friends, I got the buffalo checks to match perfectly on the sidesYou know how hard that is for me, and I feel like I need to celebrate.

But wait, not too fast. I may have reigned victorious with print-matching for this dress, but I don’t think the fit is spot on. Let me preface all this with the fact that Rae‘s directions are awesome. So clear, so helpful, so easy. The pattern pieces are ingeniously designed (love the pockets!) and really, the sewing went without a hitch.

A few things are going on here, I believe. Just as I couldn’t get the shirring to work well on K’s dress that I posted on Monday, the Washi suffered the same loosey-goosey shirring in the back. So that’s issue number one.

Issue number two: even with a more snug back, the dress would still feel too big on me. I measured and re-measured myself (so unpleasant), and cut out a medium. I’m thinking that this plaid linen fabric stretched out as I ironed it and maybe I just need to toss it in the wash to shrink it up a bit. I constantly have neckline gaping issues and you can see that it’s a little wavy on one side. I might have added to the problem by making the scoop deeper and eliminating the cut-out…

And issue number three: the darts seem off. I need to re-draft the darts, mayhaps? It looks more pucker-y in the photo than it is in real-life (I hope).

Here I am, checking to make sure I’m not expecting a second baby. And hey, my hem is looking rather rippled. Sigh. This is such a lovely linen…I feel like I’m not doing it justice.

It’s not a thick fabric, but I think for this dress, it’s adding bulk. I got the washed linen from here and it looks like they’re all out of the grey colorway. Also, because the fabric is pretty sheer, I fully lined it with white batiste, adding even more bulk.

So. In terms of sewing, it was a breeze, but I think I’m going to have to consider this a sort of wearable muslin. The Washi is back in the queue to be made again in something with a lot more drape. I can see why this is such a popular pattern, and now that I’m feeling cocky about pattern-matching, I’m sure to conquer the Washi fit for next time — famous last words, no doubt.

I leave you with my photography assistant, creatively using the camera remote to get some action shots of herself: