Not Sewing for Me: Happy Halloween!

2013-owl-costume1I am so proud of this one, friends. I had to sacrifice my me-sewing time to make it, but it’s been well-worth the effort. I was very inspired by all the suggestions I received from you all and pondered how to make this costume for a long time (I especially loved the Burda one here, thank you Kristi!).

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I borrowed some ideas from the linked costume, but I didn’t use the pattern and this is all self-drafted. I tossed caution and my pragmatism to the wind and decided to make exactly what K wanted: a grey/brown owl with wings.

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I used linen, of course (and some linen-blends). But first, I started by sewing a longish jersey knit tee in brown, and then cut out dozens and dozens of linen feathers in grey, khaki brown, cream and dark chocolate brown….

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I sewed rows and rows and rows of overlapping feathers, and then did the same thing for the wings. The wing base is made out of fleece to give her some extra warmth for trick-or-treating. I really got into sewing these rows – very meditative!

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The mask is all felt. I had K close her eyes with the felt piece over her face, while I made “x”s for the eye hole positions. This involved a lot of wriggling and “OW! Mommy!” utterances. I see now that the elastic holding the mask in place got twisted…better fix that.

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The wing construction had me scratching my head for awhile. I decided to make actual wing shapes and then sewed them onto a ring of grey fold-over-elastic that slips over K’s head. In the beginning, I had the bodice feathers covering the elastic (at least in the front), but this costume had her dancing up a storm, so you can see it clearly in some of the images.

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To ensure that the wings would stay in the correct position, I also sewed some FOE on the inside of the wing so she could put her wrists through them or hold onto them for maximum flapping.

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It’s an owl costume with no other purpose than to be an owl costume. And I love it. So does K. We are now officially ready — bring it, Halloween!

2013-owl-costume7{I will return to regular programming of posting a me-made outfit next Thursday.}

Baby Shoes – Part 2: Fail, Fail again

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Few things are as powerfully “awww”-inducing as baby shoes. When I made a pair for my good friend’s new baby boy a little while ago, she loved them and I immediately embarked on making girl versions. It’s been baby-baby-baby around here and I thought I would be able to whip up a few dozen in a jiffy as potential gifts.

baby-shoes-girls2That was my first mistake. Whenever I think I can do something quickly, it always takes about a billion times longer. By the time I finished these two pairs, I never wanted to see another set of baby shoes ever again.

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My second mistake was to focus on trying to sew multiples when I really needed just one pair, and as a result, I kept making mistakes because I knew that I should be working on other things (Halloween is in less than 24 hours!).

The grey polka dot ones aren’t too bad and I didn’t make too many mistakes, though it took so much longer than the first pair I made. I used the scraps from K’s flannel pants, and I just can’t get enough of this fabric. But this aqua pair from the same fabric as the top I made for K here — now these were a doozy. The left shoe came together semi-decently, except the flannel tore all over the place. I was also trying to modify the pattern from the same book as before, and I have a feeling that pattern-making is not in the cards for me. So back to the aqua shoes: the right one refused to cooperate.

baby-shoes-girls3Attempt number one: the elastic lace got pulled, and even though I liked the diagonal look, it didn’t match the left shoe.

baby-shoes-girls4Attempt number two: this time I sewed the elastic on the wrong way. See how the scalloped part is facing down? Should be the other way.

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Attempt number three: I somehow managed to cut a slit into the main shoe fabric, which you can’t see here, but this made me actually put my head in my hands in a pose of utter defeat. Unwilling to accept failure, I went ahead and patched the slit and finished them up, and despite being slightly uneven, they’re still pretty cute. I’m afraid I can’t give either of these to friends as the craftsmanship is just not up to par. At least the suede bottoms of the aqua shoes gave me no issues whatsoever…it’s important to look on the bright side.

baby-shoes-girls7So I will keep these on my sewing table as a reminder to take my time and not to shoulder unnecessary tasks. Lessons learned.

p.s. I had re-purposed the tea box as a gift box for the first pair of shoes. I have several of these boxes. The packaging is fab, is it not?

Style

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If you’ve been around here for some time, you know that I like to hang out in coffee shops, whiling away the hours contemplating first world problems in my journal. That luxury is less frequent these days, but a few weeks ago, I was indulging in my latte + croissant respite and overheard a conversation that perked my ears right up.

Two women were sitting at the table next to me, intently discussing style. More specifically, one of the women had hired the other one to become her personal wardrobe stylist. I had no idea that people outside of Hollywood and New York City did that. The stylist had her work cut out for her; her client defined her quintessential style as a mix of Kim Kardashian and Kate Middleton. A fascinating challenge, if I’ve ever heard one.

This, of course, led me to think about my own style. I show a very particular affinity for linen and dark or neutral hues here on the blog, but when I look at my closet and dresser drawers, there’s actually a surprising riot of colors and an abundance of textures. I don’t wear them nearly as much as the “boring” clothes, but they’re still part of my so-called style. I then thought about my super-sized tee days, and of countless fashion ‘don’t’ moments of yore (for my middle school graduation, I forced my mom to make me a shiny, all-white ensemble with a blazer, silk tank and long skirt. I looked like an underage bride getting ready for her civil court ceremony). I was actually quite impressed with the woman who confidently declared her Kim-Kate style, because inevitably the questions of “who am I?” and “who do I want others to see?” pop up. The woman is more than a caricature of a reality star and royalty, I’m sure, but she knows that she wants to be sexy and refined. I don’t know if I could pinpoint my style icons that clearly.

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I’m reading this very entertaining book right now. It’s actually a teen novel entitled Deadly Desperados, about a young boy on the run from a band of desperados in 19th century gold/silver rush era. Written from the boy’s perspective, it’s quirky and clever and there’s a part where he starts to disguise himself in various costumes to hide from his pursuers. He observes how different he feels depending on his outfits, and even starts affecting a British accent at one point. For me, regular, every day clothes have that impact too. I feel more polished and together in darker colors; energetic and athletic in my workout gear (despite being neither of those things); girly and pretty and vintage-y in lace-trimmed tops. Clothes have a lot of power.

I wonder what it would feel like to have a personal stylist? I’m not sure that I would like it – I can think of other ways to spend cash, though I wouldn’t be opposed to a free consultation. It’s kind of like getting your colors done, no? It could be fun, frivolous and interesting, but needs to be taken with a grain of salt. What about you, would you ever consider hiring a wardrobe stylist? Do you already know your own definitive style? I’m still trying to figure mine out…

 

Monday Outfit: A Chic Witch

2013-halloween-witch1Good morning! What a weekend. K seems to have recovered nicely and it’s been a bonanza of parties: a school Halloween-fest, an extra special birthday celebration with her best friend, a grown-up dinner party at a delicious Moroccan restaurant that I joined at the last minute (I could have done without the belly dancer writhing in my face and the water accidentally poured down my lap, but it was fun nonetheless). I also worked on updating this here blog, and though a few nit-picky aspects are still not working quite right, things are looking up. The spam issue has been resolved and I feel as though I’ve gained years of my time back. I also changed the look of the blog a little – nothing dramatic, but it’s even cleaner and simpler! I like.

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Yes, I know that I was supposed to be making an owl costume, but I had forgotten to take into account the Halloween-fest at school on Saturday, so I had to whip up this quick little witch number the day of. There were approximately five hundred other witches at the party, and K’s costume was by far the most subdued…but I like to consider it chic.

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Though I loosely based the dress on the knit hoodie dress I made a little while ago, this one is pretty much entirely self-drafted. The fabric is your basic jersey knit (though a touch slinkier than 100% cotton jersey, maybe?), and I’ve had it in my stash for years. She was very specific about the dress being plain black with jewels somewhere, so I found a few onyx beads and hand-stitched them on lightning fast:

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I seem to have a resistance about making Halloween costumes even though it’s what spurred my sewing obsession. I think it’s because they’re often one-time only outfits, and I find that a bit wasteful. It’s one of the big reasons I made the dress so simple – it can be worn over and over again, long past Hallow’s Eve. Having said that, K is still expecting an owl costume for this Thursday, so I will have to wrack my brains to make it multi-purpose.

 

2013-halloween-witch6For warmth’s sake and to add a little more sparkle, I also sewed up this sweater knit cardigan. This stuff is tricky to work with and sheds like crazy. Fluffy black and silver tufts were all over my sewing space, and I remembered why it was so unpleasant to make this bolero out of the same fabric many moon ago. The cardi pattern is from this book, and I left out the buttons since that seemed to be asking for trouble.

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K is besotted with the ensemble. And for a last-minute costume, I’m pretty happy with it too. And whoa, we stepped outside of our house! K requested an outdoor photoshoot, so we walked ten feet to our backyard.

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Did you have a good KCW week if you participated? I floundered quite a bit, but I’m pleased with the few items I was able to sew. Low expectations are the key to happiness, it seems…

Oh, and Niki, who won my fabric giveaway sent me a link to her post that shows what she did with the fabrics. So fun! I love seeing what people make with my giveaway fabrics!

Happy Friday + Randomness

Happy Friday! Actually, we’ve been having a not so happy end of the week. K suddenly fell ill again and at school yesterday, she threw up. I’m feeling like my parenting license (if I had one) should be revoked for sending her to school in the first place. She seems better now, but I’m now on high alert because she seemed fine before the incident. The guilt of “I should have known better!” Sad face. Like the illo above.

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And friends, I’m drowning in spam. I spend so much time deleting the offending comments. The one that gets me all the time is the one that starts, “You’re so cool!” Because I get so excited when I see that spam, I’m obviously way uncool.

Anyway, this means that I have to do some technical mumbo jumbo involving back-ups, updates, plug-in installation, etc. so I need to give you forewarning that things may look off-kilter here for a few days. We all know how untechnical I am, so I’ll count myself lucky if I get it sorted it out in a few days.

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Here’s hoping that your week has been wonderful and that your weekend is equally so! If all goes well, I shall see you Monday…

Oh spammer, spammer,
why dost thou overwhelm me?
Thou shalt be banished!