i enjoy being a girl

because i get to make and wear stuff like this:

and i totally have the perfect hat to go with it!

i have a wedding to attend this weekend so of course i had to make a new outfit! plus its tyler's family... and i believe they have all come to expect this sort of thing by now.
... as well they should.
i am in love with this dress though, totally serious. its made from simplicity 4637 from 1954.

AND this was a free pattern!

i started it last night about 7 and just finished the ol' girl up! yeehaw! i think i am allowed to be at maximum sass in this dress because thats what i was getting putting it together.
first, i didnt have all of the pattern pieces
second, i ran out of the thread i was using at the sleeves with exactly ONE FRIGGIN INCH LEFT.

its true, i measured!

then my iron, which i use on EVERYTHING when im sewing was getting all poopy-doody so i had to stop today and clean it up

'the fuck did this even come from???

and THEN i didnt have any more of the bias tape i was using for the trim so i went to that hoarders house because its a hell of a lot closer than any fabric stores and its the one color she DIDNT buy in bias tape so i came home all cranky- but not too much because i grabbed some patterns while i was there- and found the size/color i needed like, 3 feet from the sewing machine!

OHMYGODDDHGKNSKFHSODRSOELDFJSODSJDFZSLUJSDF!!!!

i was upset.

but then i finshed it up and twirled around and now i feel good because its so darn pretty!

just look at all those pleats!

everything i like about girlyness in one dress! pleats, petticoats, flowers, bows, matching hats! i might even have to get out some gloves!

i have enough fabric left over to make audrey a pretty bow or dress or shirt or something too!
not that she needs any help being fucking ADORABLE or anything. shes completely got that down.

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!

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.

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!

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...