In My Blog Reader: A Beautiful Mess

Just a short note tonight. I spent most of my evening watching Pan Am and tracing the Ginger pattern, and I really need to start getting to bed at a reasonable hour so I can walk my dogs in the morning.

However, for your viewing pleasure, I'm linking you to one of the blogs in my reader. I have a terrible memory for pretty much everything, so please don't ask me how or when I found Elsie. I'm so glad I did, though. She writes a beautiful blog called A Beautiful Mess, where she writes tutorials, posts photos of her beautiful outfits, posts recipes (I haven't tried any yet, but the photos are gorgeous!), and writes about owning a vintage shop, among other things. Her style and enthusiasm are inspiring, and it's refreshing to read what she has to say.

Also, the colors in her outfit today are just gorgeous. Red and pink (in my fall palette!), with mustard yellow. So much pop and joy in one outfit!

Pan Am Love and Inspiration

I've been watching Pan Am, and can I tell you how much I love the show? I know that some people are saying that it's like Mad Men, but without the oomph, but I think it's better. I've only watched one season of Mad Men, and I liked it, but there's not a single character I identify with or even like. I don't really feel a need to watch any more seasons of it. On Pan Am, I don't have trouble finding a protagonist I would like in real life, and that makes me want to watch every episode.

Also, the clothes are super cute. :)

I love both of these dresses. The neckline on the blue one is gorgeous, but I think it would be more flattering on me if it were slightly wider or lower. I love the black and red dress too.

I love Christina Ricci's character, and I also love this dress. Shorten it a bit, and I'd want to wear it every day. :)

Okay, so maybe I want everything in her wardrobe, including this green cardigan over that gorgeous green and...navy? black? floral dress. The little satin ribbon at the waist is perfect too.

What do you think of the show? Love it? Hate it? Think it's a Mad Men wannabe, or exactly what you wished Mad Men was?

A Trip to JoAnn

Today, I went to JoAnn to buy thread and a zipper for my Colette Ginger. Here's a photo of the pink mystery fabric with gray pinstripes and the gray lining from my stash that I'm going to use for it. I took a photo of that tonight:

While I was there, I also bought a yard and 7" (all that was left) of this gorgeous navy-on-white fabric. I saw it, and I couldn't resist. I have no idea what I'll make with it, but I'm in love. Maybe a skirt, if I can find a pattern that only needs 1 1/3 yards. In my haste to get it home, I forgot to take note of what it is, but I think it's a cotton broadcloth (I could be entirely wrong...I'm not good at identifying types of fabric yet!). If you've seen it and can recall, let me know!

Embroidered Wedding Album, Take #1

Note to self: blogging while traveling (even for work) is not actually possible. Always schedule blog posts ahead of time.

I'm getting a lot from Blogtoberfest, but after all the fun blogs I've found through it, the most valuable thing I think I’m getting from Blogtoberfest is inspiration for blog posts and a better understanding of what I need to do to post regularly.

Today, I’m just sharing the big project I’ve been working on. I’m embroidering the cloth that will be the bookcloth covering the photo album I’m making for our wedding photos. I’m dong it in gray-work—our colors were gray, green, and white, so black-work or red-work doesn’t really make sense. J It will look a lot like the save-the-date that I sent out before the wedding, sort of a page of doodles about our relationship. I obviously still have a lot of work, but I’m loving the way it’s turning out so far.

I’m excited to get home and start sewing and blogging on a regular basis again! Back to our regularly scheduled program this weekend. I hope you all have had a wonderful week!

Pinterest Parade #2

I'm looking for fall inspiration, because every day, I'm either too cold or too warm. Need to start layering better!

Love the cuffed jacket sleeves, sheer-ish tights, boots, and scarf. Cute, but not too wintery.

I love this skirt and 3/4-length sweater, and the tights are great too. Not so sure about the hat... :)

I want this coat. A lot.

More layering, and cuffed sleeves on a jacket again. These girls are smart. I need to get myself a jacket!

Blogtoberfest Goals Update

I did not post yesterday, and I'm not going to apologize for it, Blogtoberfest, because I was in Illinois, spending the weekend with A and I hadn't prepared a post in advance. When your spouse is long-distance, you simply don't spend time blogging when you're together. :)

I'm going to be out of town Wednesay through Friday, but that will be for work, so I'll have no problem posting. :) What that does mean, though, is that I won't have much time for sewing. Just tonight (after cooking dinner...a girl needs to eat!) and tomorrow night.

We are 10 days into October, and I thought I'd do an update on where I am with my October goals.

1. Complete my Circle Skirt Sew-along skirt. Completed and blogged about here. Casey also wrote a blog with the other sewists who participated in the Circle Skirt Sew-along, and they were so inspiring! I still think I'm going to add the pleat for a little extra something, but I'm really happy with the way it fits. It could also stand to be slightly shorter, but to be honest, I just can't imagine picking out the miles of hemming and re-doing it. I'll wear it all the time anyway, and I'll just cut down the next one. :)

2. Sew a red wool dress. I have the wool and lining and the vintage pattern I'm going to use, but I need to pre-wash the fabric. If it says "dry-clean only," can I hand-wash it anyway?

3. Put up photos of the sheet dress. This is done too, and blogged here. Love it!

4. Sew the Colette Ginger in the pink mystery fabric with gray pinstripes from my stash. This is going to be my next project. Hopefully, I'll be able to start it tonight (after dinner).

5. Bind at least one book every week. I haven't even touched my book binding table, and we're 10 days in. I'll probably scramble to bind four books at the end of the month!

6. Write a blog entry every day of the month. Umm...well, this goal is now to write a blog entry every day except October 9. :)

Circle Skirt - Completed!

Yay! My circle skirt (and first piece for the Colette Fall Palette Challenge) is finished!

Because of the wedding (and planning, and honeymoon), I started the skirt pretty late in the sew-along, and the only reason I was able to finish in time for the party was that the timeline got pushed back a bit. Some things are just meant to be. :)

One of those things was apparently not in-seam pockets. I stitched the side-seams together, realized I'd forgotten to insert pockets, picked the seams apart, and then proceeded to stich them together again the next day (without pockets). At that point, I just decided that this skirt was not destined to have pockets.

I used some more fabric from my sheet dress to make bias tape (my first time!) to finish the seams, and I'm so excited about how it turned out. So pretty.

I forgot to finish the raw edges of the patch before I stitched on the waistband, so I ended up pulling a few threads attaching the waistband close to the zipper and finishing it, then re-attaching those inches of waistband. :) Silly mistake, but it's all right now.

I didn't have the time to add the pleated strip at the bottom, but I'll be doing that early next week. Hopefully more pictures to follow, and another project soon!