UFO Sighting

Just when I was on a roll with Milly's Muslin, I got sick. The kind of sick that makes even thinking about sewing a formal Vogue pattern into a migraine. I was never going to get the dress done in time for my cousin's wedding- if I was even well enough to attend. And then, in a strange turn of events, I discovered that the wedding was postponed until the middle of October. Cool.

Yes. Cool. As in "Autumn". I was already pushing my better fashion sense by wearing a garishly yellow and fuschia, sleeveless, obscenely low-cut, chiffon dress to a mid-September wedding. I could not bring myself to even attempt it for mid-October. So I'm in the market for something fresh for the (now) October wedding. (All suggestions welcome). That means Milly's Muslin is put off till after that, and hopefully I'll have the finished Milly's Dress (silk painted and all) by Thanksgiving. That leaves the Christmas Dress for December, and Ladybird will take me through the new year. Phew. Somewhere in all this, I still want to sew some everyday stuff for myself - I've got a BWOF pattern from Karen and some silk jersey that is whispering to me from my "to do" pile.
And of course, there is all my crochet!

This is stocking attempt number one, following the instructions exactlyish.
This is the second (and third, fourth, fifth.... I started ripping back and adjusting as I went). I reduced the even rounds on the length of the foot after the toebox to give more shaping. If you try these for yourself, I suggest trying the stocking on your foot often during crocheting. It's coming along nicely, I can't wait to have the pair done! I am more than a little bummed at the color, though.
It's way too camouflage for my taste. I wanted a nice solid fawn color, but for some strange reason yarn manufacturers think we all love variegated colors. It's nice once in a while, but I prefer solid options. It was hard to find a sock-weight yarn with elastic, which is surprising because I am surrounded by 5 different craft stores. I finally found this Paton's stretch cotton blend, and it was only offered in variegated yarn. oi. I think I need to get past my Internet shopping avoidance. I've never gotten yarn, thread, or fabric over the internet. I need to feel and see and smell something that is going to be against my skin. But the selection available in bigbox stores these days is disappointing, and I'm starting to hate running from place to place.


Did anybody do International Wear a Dress Day? I did :)

A Tale of Two Dresses

I finally had a flash about Milly's Cup today. The problem had been slim pickins as far as fabric selection - I needed 12 yards total !! I wanted a nice muslin - why bother sewing it if not to wear it? But, do the math and you'll understand why I was looking for a super red tag. In a sudden grasp of the obvious I realized I could get away with doing the dress tea length for the muslin, thus eliminating about 5 yards of fabric. Another "oh!" when I realized I could also wear this muslin to my cousin's wedding, which a little birdie tells me is right around the corner (HLF you'd better call me!).

I packed up the little man and headed back to BigName, and... (imagine Handel's Halleluiah Chorus in background here) not only were they friendly today, but I found some fabric! It's not quite what I intend to use on the final version (silk chiffon and double georgette) but it's kind of exotic in a sherberty way. The print is poly chiffon and the lining poly habutai. Funny thing is that the lining is the exact color of edupraz's version of this dress! I didn't realize it until I came home and looked up the review :) weird- this dress wants to be a Buddhist. It also evidently wants to be tea length. So here's the start of Milly's Muslin:

And here's the dressform- I've still to work up a base...

I have discussed it with my sweetie-pie-husband-who-will-be-doing-all-the-work, and we are going to make another dressform. This one ended up being too big in the proportions around the waist, and the bust fell on it. I'll keep this one around because it will get use, but I'm going to try the next duct tape form with the wiring inside and see if it keeps f0rm better. As it is, this one is actually hanging from the ceiling overhead and just steadied on a disassembled music stand with pvc.

With all the duct tape, the people at Home Depot are going to start to wonder about me and my husband :)

Chapter Two: Milly's Cup

What do you get when you cross this:

with this:

???

Eventually we will know, but for now I hope it looks a little like this:

I was visited by my angelically beautiful cousin, Milly, last week and found inspiration inside my local coffee shop. I had been drooling over my unopened Vogue 1030 for over a month now, stalking my street like Mr. Burns devising sinister plots to takeover the world- just trying to come up with something tasty for it. Milly was taken in by a chocolate-banana drink and I, being faithful to my tea at home, browsed around. And then this mug just jumped off the shelf and started banging itself on my head... The blue lining on the inside, the airy eggshell chiffon caressing it, its lengths on fire with watery color- I swear I stood in the middle of the coffee shop frozen with my eyes like saucers as I thought of this pattern, people thought there was a medical emergency.

I ran home and did the best sketch I could with my kid's watercolors and paper and then researched silk painting in earnest. I'm now in the works with ordering silk painting beginner kits to brush up on techniques and looking to get the cheapest/nicest/cheapest muslin fabric I can get.

And my darling son (22 mos.) will be starting daycare 3 mornings a week so I will have 11.5 hours every week of beautiful, glorious, fantabulously uninterrupted sewing time. I should have titled this "sleeping beauty" because I know I must be dreaming! You guys might actually get a blog to read!