a weekend on the grill

this was a pretty productive weekend! i ended up spending pretty much the rest of friday and a good chunk of saturday morning setting up and playing with my new sewing machine.

basically, i am in love. it is just SO AWESOME! it sews through everything! i'm not a huge fan of the walking foot it came with, but i need to go pick up some other attachments anyways so i'll worry about that then. after tyler got up saturday, we made out way to the farmer's market for basil fest and snagged up some goodies (bison meat, fresh veggies and fresh goat cheese) took them home and got busy!

this tasted as good as it looked. particularly the little portobellos! 

we also picked our first batch of figs from our tree, 

they taste better than they look...

ate a few, and then i made a really good vanilla meringue with fresh fig slices in it! it was goooooooooood...

sunday we traded some of these for cupcakes from our 75 year old neighbor!

and then on sunday tyler and i went to a birthday party for our friend josh and had some wonderful drinks and eats. i (of course) made a new dress to go to the party in-- behold: the jazz bear dress!

i think this is for kid jammies, so it is REALLY soft!

i love the fabric so much, just look at that print! bears, squirrels and raccoons! 

i used a pattern i hadn't used before, butterick 2906.... and lemme just say that had the most inaccurate measurements EVER! it should have fit me perfectly, but i ended up taking at LEAST 4" off the bodice!

 i guess it's always a good thing when you're smaller than you thought, but i was trying to finish this in about 2 hours and could really have done without the extra drafting! in the end, all was good and i got to wear the most girly shoes in the world-- and they matched perfectly!

a few new additions to the house this week

yesterday was a big day at our house! first, MY NEW SEWING MACHINE IS HERE!!!!!!

huuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......

and then, tyler's momma dropped off her dog and parakeet for us to watch while she's on vacation with her mother, and to keep her company, my little puppy audrey finally got to move in too! 

that's bella the shih tzu in the back... no point in showing her face. 

its totally covered in fur right now!and that's my little one in the front

so far all has gone well. i got the machine set up and running this morning, the dogs are getting along fine, and splinter has taken up residence in bella's bed. looks like a good weekend for everyone!

i forgot these...

i actually forgot to post these for a long time...

these are two dresses i made to wear to funerals (bummer) and have not posted yet..... so here they are! the first is from spadea N-1245 ( i wanna say this is 1963 but i'm not totally sure)

looking at it like this, the front and back totally look the same.

another pattern i got for free! wooooooo!

i made the entire dress in this black lace, which my sister picked up a bolt of for me from a huge yard sale at a big local theater

she loves me....

 it's really light weight and soft, which is good for our weather. i've already worn this a couple times! the second dress is from simplicity 1536 from 1956.
 

 

this dress is a little too heavy to wear in the summer... it'll be a fall dress for sure!

the pattern is from my favorite vintage shop in town. they always have great patterns and clothes and furniture for super cheap! i think this was probably 50 cents or a dollar... and now that im writing about it, i realize i haven't been there in ages and perhaps i'll have to add that to my todo list for the weeked!

any occasion to make a new dress....

today i am going on a big business shopping trip with my new boss to buy a new sewing machine, fabrics and other dog bed things.... so i thought i needed a good new dress! some of the places we are headed to aren't the most well air conditioned places, and also this is south texas so i whipped up something cool and cute!

taa daaaaaa!!!

this is simplicity 6982 from 1975. generally, im not the biggest fan of the seventies, but a cute pattern is a cute pattern! 

i went ahead and left the sleeves off.... it might keep me a little cooler that way!

the fabric is really nice. i had about 4 yards of it and its very very comfy! the pattern called for a curved edge on the skirt, but i didnt want to mess up the border print so i just cut it straight and used my ruffle foot to bring it in... plus now it looks killer with a little crinoline! the pattern is really great. i wish my camera captured it better than it did, but what can ya do?!

i also dont think the colors are done much justice here

in addition to this, i also finished up a shirt i made for that handsome piece of man i call tyler. he loves him a pearl snap, and i love him, so i made this:

 

showing off before work... and shakin' that sweet caboose!

this is from a stretch and sew pattern, 1762. the men all look super doofusey on the envelope, luckily that wasn't transferred to tyler in the process. the collar was HUGE on this, so i ended up having to take it off when i was done, cut about 2 inches off, and then sew it back on. ridiculous. 

view c looks like my dad in the 70's

i did finally get to use these awesome snaps i've had in my stash for a while. i had 2 packages, both from 1950. i think that i got these at a flea market, but i cant really remember anymore.

these only came in packs a 4. how stupid.

this was the first shirt i made for tyler. i had started another a while back but i lost one of the sleeves before i could attach it. he came home from work yesterday with 3 packs of pearl snaps he bought online, so it looks like i'll be venturing into mens shirts a little more often from now on!