beach weekend!

this weekend i joined tylers family for a lovely weekend beach trip! it was so nice :) the weather was perfect and the water, perfecto! we even had the opportunity to meet a bunch of parrots!

thats tyler in the back with the orange bird on his head and me in the front in the 2-piece. normally i dont think i look so uncomfortable in photos, but he totally gave me the bird named peepee. seriously dude? .... its just asking for trouble.

and BONUS: i didnt get burnt like last year when we went! this is a BIG accomplishment for me. i might be the whitest white girl out there, so the sun rays hunt me down and get me every time. last year, i ended up all red and blistered like this:

shits nasty, yall

we also passed up a shopping center that was clearly designed with me in mind:

thats right- fabric, donuts and booze!

so i also happened to have on the best beach outfit of all time while i was there! it is the one i have on in the bird photo

sorry for the awkwardness, i cant find my tripod so i have to take photos like a 15 year old on myspace.

the skirt is from butterick 9633 and the top is from view c on stretch & sew 1362.

i made the whole thing from one full sized fitted bed sheet. i was hoping there would be enough for some cute little bloomers but the stripes wouldnt fall together right. i really like the top, and will definetly be making another one in a more 'water-friendly' material.
so i had this amazing get up and then i also got a package in the mail just before we left. it was the shoes ive been waiting for all week long! the *perfect* shoes for this outfit- behold!

a.maz.ing.
i love these shoes so much! they are comfy, cute and have a wedge! i got theme here if anyone interested... which you should be! this also was the first time ive gotten to wear 2 shoes in a month! i got my foot x-rayed the other day (not broken, possibly a torn muscle or ligament) and they gave me a new air cast i can fit either in or over my shoes. thank goodness, i was getting really tired of hobbling around in one shoe all the time!

and speaking of, let me show you my skirt i made for that dr appointment!

hazaah! its TIME 2000!

i dont know what is the deal with this fabric, but i love it! it used to be a set of curtains (little ones) but i really needed something lazer-y to go with x-rays... right? its from simplicity 8126.

i decided against the pleat in the front, partly because it wasnt right for this fabric, partly because i didnt have enough of the fabric. it can out awesome though and tyler, who loves him some sci-fi, really like it a lot.
win.


*update-ish*
i found a photo sort of, of my awesome beach getup!

foreign territory

holy crap y'all. i haven't made a post in a LONG ass time! geeze.
well, a lot has happened. . .
ive mostly been working on a boatload of clothes for my friend, which has been a most difficult task. she is spending the summer in europe studying and what-not and wanted she slick stylish clothing, so i obliged! she went through my mondo-vintage pattern stash and picked out a few gems and i've basically been sewing that for the past month or two.
she is a *very* busty gal... like, we are talkin' 10+ inch difference between her waist and bust... i probably have like, 3 inches tops. this is like, total. foreign. territory.

(like, come on. homegirl's got some knockers)

lots and lots of drafting and muslins have been cut. and recut. and recut. but at this moment i am taking a break from sewing one of the very last pieces!
as per my style, i am rushing at the last moments to get this finished in time for her departure, but for once i can honestly say this has not all been due to my procrastination!
earlier this month tyler and i were in a big car accident. we totaled his car and i probably broke my foot.

(im getting that bad boy x-rayed this week)

so that was about a week and a half where i couldn't push my foot down on the machine pedal. then my f'ing bobbin case broke so i had to wait a week for that to come in the mail. then some bizarro wiring underneath our house like, deteriated or something and made our power all crazy and surgey and we were sure we were about to burn down but instead we just didn't have power for a week which is probably worse because this is south-fucking-texas and it is currently 4,000 degrees outside. and then i *had* to go to the beach because 2 very fantastic friends of mine moved and it was their going away thing. so.... you see, it wasn't ALL my fault! also all that shit went down one thing after the other.
f. that. b.
anywho... im happy to say that as (extremely) stressful as this has been, it was a fantastic learning experience sewing wise. im used to adjusting patterns to fit myself, but this was like taking a 30" bust and turning it into a 47" bust. not so easy my friends. now i feel like a friggin' champ!

green- because thats what color my world is right now

so this is the first spring in a loooong time that didn't show up in the middle of a drought. i. love. all of it! when i sit in the sewing room with the windows open all i can smell are the flowers! they are everywhere! earlier i was taking some photos for some etsy stuff and this is the background i got: just on the other side of the yard is this:
and just in the other room is the most perfect part about spring time- baby animals!
let it out, "awwwww...." we have 4 beautiful shih tzu puppies! they are still super cute, none of those inevitable google eyes or under bites yet! tyler's momma is getting this one for her birthday!
this also is perfect yard sale weather- its like, my time to shine! a lot of people seem to be clearing out their sewing patterns lately, which is good news for my unnecessary need to purchase them... not so good for my wallet since i still haven't found a job...
i am making some clothes for a friend who is going to the UN later this year, but i am so far getting paid in sewing patterns and gift cards which is totally fine with me. if i don't get a gift card to a store i'll probably never buy shoes...

well, unless they are like, ten dollars...

procrastinate much?

yes, its true. i am the biggest procrastinator possibly of all time. deal with it.
so since i've been at home enjoying the unemployed life, i've been working on quite a few sewing projects! so, here it is, about a month's worth of sewing!

i made this out of some yard-sale fabric for a wine tasting tyler and i went to:

spadea s-391

this one used to be a bed sheet, but i needed a fancy croquet dress:

simplicity 4982

actually i made this a while back from one big-ass sheet but never photographed it:

the super-sized pockets are the best part!

i can't find the pattern number! ugh!

some more yard sale fabric:

advance 8524

my pretty purple blouse from yard-sale fabric:

simplicity 6276
and my first britches! sailor ones from an old tablecloth! ahoy:

simplicity 3688 (i drafted my own sailor flap)

and this really quick little blouse from a pillowcase:

simplicity 4438

not too shabby, eh? there is one more dress but it's in the laundry... and i am currently working on one more for myself which may or may not be the worst dress ever, and i am making a super business wardrobe for a friend of mine who will be working with the U.N. next year... photos to come!

...eventually.

ye ol' boot boot

i got laid off on friday. sucks ass. so to make the most of my time i started cleaning out/ organizing the tornado alley that is my sewing space. so far the spare bedroom has been unearthed from mounds upon mounds of fabric and etsy clothing, i found a big box of old sewing goodies, my buttons are almost all sorted out by color:

and i finally set up this sexy beast of a sewing machine:

its pretty much safe to say, i am in love with this sewing machine! tyler's mom gave it to me a few months ago. i haven't set it up yet because i thought it would take a lot of time to get all of the kinks figured out- which it did, but i think one quick trip to the sewing store can have this running perfect!
i already used it on a skirt and a dress i have been working on, but the bobbin case is broken in one spot and cracked in another- i think it keeps catching the thread. Also the light bulb is out... but that isn't too big of a deal.

hoarding for beginners

my family and i have this deep deep love for hoarding shows. i think its because we are assholes. i know that they are because they keep sassing me and accusing me of becoming a hoarder because i have an absurd amount of stuff. lots and lots of stuff. i think its cool because most of my crap is for making other crap, which means its more like supplies than crap and so i win. ha!
i do have to say, i do have a stupid amount of sewing patterns. not only that, but they are EVERYWHERE!

patterns on the computer tower

pattern pieces in my mail

mystery pieces in my bookshelf

and in our guest bedroom there are 22 big ass boxes of patterns-
plus and box of unsorted patterns
plus a stack of current project patterns
plus there are 2 more big boxes in our sewing room

shit! thats a lot of things to make! there is even a couple of pattern pieces in my wallet. those confuse me, i dont even know how they got in there. strange.

on a lighter side of my hoarding, look what tyler's grandmother got me for christmas:

very cute indeed. well done meme!

unfinished projects

there are more than just these. but you dont need to know that. for all you know im a liar and these were all finished this morning! they weren't, but whatever... BEHOLD! LINENS!

dress 1 used to be a pillow case. it is both cute and spring-y... but i havent finished the hem on bottom because hems are stupid and are my least favorite part of making a dress. that and zippers, but only because i suck at zippers. if i was better, i probably would like it more. but hems, pfffft, those a just boring. this baby is all held together with bows!

dress 2 i DID finish! woo wooooo! i made it for a friend of mine, plus i even had enough to make another dress for her little girl of the same fabric. it used to be a twin size sheet. and, plus plus, it has a zipper! an alright zipper!

dress 3 is doomed to roam the earth for the rest of its pathetic life unfinished like a zombie dress because all of the fabric got thrown away before i was able to finish cutting out the peices for the interfacing. and it has a zipper. and it doesnt even fit me because i have small boobs! grrr.... im just so bitter. its made out of a sheet but i cant find another one anywhere, or a awesome fabric to finish it with.

sounds to me like im full of excuses.
meh.

making things that dont fit. crap.

so, sitting at home (not really, but being off work) for 4 days is amazing. i ate an assload of food for thanksgiving, and then did that again friday, saturday and sunday. hit some amazing garage sales, helped one of my most favorite people in the universe move, ate some huge chalupas, and i mean, these were like the mount everest and mount kilamanjaro of chalupas... and then on my last day off decided to make some clothes. success! i made some really cute stuff this weekend- like, daaaaamn, thats cute, cute.

but... problemo. my big ol' turkey gut doesn't fit them! well, my turkey gut doesn't fit into one thing. the other two things i made are actually too big. perhaps ill wear them to conceal said turkey gut until it goes away... except for one is a skirt and the other is a dress.... so i could wear that skirt and it'll stay up, but that dress looks like a big ol' burlap sack on me...especially in the chest and no matter how much i eat, i never seem to get turkey boob to match my turkey gut, which does fit the dress quite nicely.

why cant i bloat in proportion to the rest of my body? probably because i would look pregnant. ew. but then again that would be kinda cool because i could eat a whole bunch and then go shopping and get the really good preggo-parking spots! then when my belly wears off i can use all that extra space that was once food filled for shoplifting. but ill only steal more food and then give it to food banks or something and then ill be like the robinhood of sanantonioxly, and ill get a big giant rooster to walk around with me wearing clothes and singing roger miller songs.

ok but back to those clothes. one of these thangs is a little dress i made from a late 1950's pattern, except i made it out of a vintage pillow case and now it looks very very mod. unless you take your fashion tips from my dad. then it looks 'like one of them go-go outfits or somethin.'
i like that one more.
also, i made a little skirt from some old curtain fabric. i think its really cute... or, as our friends down south would say, muchos cuteos.
and then thirdly i made this pretty little ditty from a new pattern. no way in hell is my turkeyness squeezing into this.
looks like you win this round etsy. well played sir, well played...