Vogue Patterns - Winter/Holiday 2011

Have you seen the new patterns yet? I'm a little disappointed, but there were a few that I really loved.

I adore this dress. I could never wear something this low-cut without a tank underneath, but the ruffles in the back are just...amazing. I want those ruffles swaying behind me!

 I'm always attracted to dresses with simple lines, and I'm a sucker for patterns with options. :)

I'm definitely in need of more blouses. Not animal-print-type blouses, but I do love the bow. :)

Finally, this pattern for jeans. I have yet to try my hand at pants, and I'm frankly a little afraid of them, but I might just try anyway. The skinny pants remind me of the Colette version, the Clover, that just came out this season. I might go for those instead. :)

Do you have any favorites? Any not-so-favorites? I thought I'd be in love with the vintage reprints, but I just can't love the sleeves on V8768.

The Pink Controversy

I joined The Sew Weekly yesterday. I will probably pick and choose what projects I do, so don't expect me to suddenly start posting projects every week. I sew more slowly than that! :)

This week, The Sew Weekly asks, "Okay, so do you love or hate the color pink for your own wardrobe?" I was going to post a comment on the thread, but then I realized that I had more to say on the subject of pink than would fit in a reasonable comment.

When I was younger, I hated pink, partly because my sister loved it so much and partly because I was a non-conformist/activist who thought that pink had too many gender stereotypes linked to it for me to even consider putting it on my body.

As I've gotten older, I've started wondering why a color gets such a bad rap when it's not even ugly. Every other color is liked or disliked based on aesthetics, but pink is surrounded by gender and political controversy. Baby girls are wrapped up in pink blankets, and little girls are dressed in pink. But baby boys are wrapped up in blue blankets, and little boys are dressed in blue. So why no backlash against blue? Why do grown men feel like it's acceptable to continue to wear blue (even baby blue!) frequently while adult women very often shun pink like just wearing the color will lower their intelligence, make them into mindless frilly housewives (these are distinctly different from modern, capable homemakers, by the way), or even turn them into five-year-old children who should only been seen and not heard? Why has society chosen to despise the very color it chose to represent girls and women?

I don't have any answers here, just thinking out loud. But I will say that getting older has definitely changed my perspective on things. I no longer hate pink. I kind of love it, and I look pretty good in some shades of it. My skin tone requires bluish and muted tones of pink, so no hot pink or peachy-pink, but dusty shades of maroon and rose and many others are colors that I've been incoroporating into my closet in the last couple of years. I even chose it as one of the colors for my Fall Palette. So yes, Sew Weekly, I definitely love the color pink for my wardrobe. :)

Our Perfect Wedding with DIY Details

Yay! I'm married! That's what I wrote in chalk on my parents' back deck during the reception. The day could not possibly have been more perfect. The weather was overcast during the ceremony, but the sun came out later, and it was beautiful for the rest of the day.

There were so many little handmade details I want to share, which my mom and sister and I worked on for so long. I made the favors, which were chocolates gathered up in muslin circles and tied with green and gray ribbons. You can see the table number between them as well (printed on cardstock and glued to cut and bent bits of hanger with another piece of paper to cover the back).

My sister and my mom made the centerpieces, which were these lovely coffee filter flowers. All of the other tables had theirs in green wine bottles (took forever to peel the labels off some of those!), but as you can see, ours are super tall and graced a lovely glass vase. You can't see the necklace I'm wearing very well, but my mom made that too. I'll have to get a closer picture of it. It's especially special (hehe) because at the end of the chain that dangles down my back, there's a tiny leaf with a diamond in it that was removed from my engagement-and-now-wedding ring when it was re-sized.

And just for fun, my dad brought out the sidewalk chalk, and one of my friends drew this adorable picture of me and A with our dogs (who sadly are not well-behaved enough to have been at the wedding).

My camera remains at my parents' house until I can get out there on Thursday, at which time we will return to our regular programming. Which isn't actually all that regular. Ah, well. Either way, I'll get you all a photo of the sheet dress and possibly of the navy circle skirt I'm working on. :)

Autumn Palette Mood Board

This is my mood board for the Colette Fall Palette Challenge.

That photo in the center is my original inspiration, and I wanted to add a pop of brighter color. I bought a navy cotton for the circle skirt, and I found the perfect shade of pink fabric. It doesn't have much drape and there's less than a yard of it, so it'll have to be a small, structured something-or-other. Possibly a bolero? I bought the Colette Ginger for another skirt, and after seeing the pink one in my inspiration board, I'm dreaming about finding a pink wool fabric for it.

Some people have already finished their first pieces for the challenge, so I feel like I'm already behind, but I'm going to have to put this on hold for another two weeks. You see, I'm getting married in 10 days (aahhhh!!!!), and I'm going to be a little busy. :) I'll be sewing like crazy after that to complete some of these.

Projects:
navy cotton circle skirt
pink bolero (or bustier?)
white blouse
red dress
bonus: pink pencil skirt
bonus: navy pencil skirt

Sheet Dress - Completed!

I've finally finished my sheet dress! It's New Look 6557. Not kidding, it's taken me since the end of May. It started out as version B, but then I tore out every seam I had stitched except the skirt side seams, fitted a new bodice piece from version E (to the top of which I added a 1/2" for extra modesty), and stitched it all back together again.

I'm beyond happy with the way this dress turned out. It's the perfect sundress: lightweight but not sheer, a gorgeous shade of blue, and it fits better than almost any other item of clothing I've ever worn. It inspires me to sew more. There are a few things I'd change about the dress. It's slightly too snug in the bodice (I took off too much when I took it in at the back seam...I should have left in an extra 1/2"), I'd change the neckline slightly so I could drop it lower but raise up the middle for a more subtle dip, and I'd add a little fabric in the arm holes so my bra doesn't show on the sides. The back doesn't match up perfectly at the zipper, but I'm not going to quibble about 2mm.

I wore the dress to a Labor Day party on Saturday, and I don't think I've ever gotten so many compliments on an article of clothing. I didn't get any photos of it on, but I will as soon as I can.

P.S. The whole time I was making this dress, I kept singing "Devil with the blue dress, blue dress, blue dress, devil with the blue dress on..." I think I'm going to start calling it the devil's blue dress. :)