Halloween Ideas and Inspiration!

Guys, what are we doing for Halloween? I cannot decide on a costume and it seems like the stores don't have much out in terms of decorating. I went into a store to browse their Halloween wares and the aisle was jam packed... with people shopping for candy. Sigh.

I did buy 10 small bouquets of black flowers, taped them together and made a wreath. In the first 24 hours, the tape kept bursting open so I got a little lazier each time sticking it back together. But it has stayed together since.

 I really wanted to add black feathers to it, but in the 1560727 stores I went into, I could NOT find black feathers. To make up for the lack of feathers, I tried to highlight the snakes and spiders in it. Of course, all that happened was that many of the details got lost in all of the blackness. Oh, well. I still love it.

I also hung black cobwebs (with spiders), skeletons, and other fun pumpkins and death-inspired things. (But I forgot to take pictures of it all this morning, of course.)

The boyfriend wants to add orange lights, but guess what color the stores don't have??

We started buying decorations and talking costumes last month, but we haven't figured out what to do/be.  I obviously want to make my own costume. I probably won't make his because that's a lot of work - though I see nothing wrong with him picking up a $30 suit at Goodwill that I can tailor.

Part of the problem is that I don't want something that's only a costume. I want something that looks nice and elegant and I can wear other times during the year. So that narrows it down a bit.

Obviously I have flapper dresses that I could buy fun accessories for, but the boyfriend nixed that idea since I apparently dress up too much like a flapper during the year anyway. I could also easily be someone from the 50s or 60s or Mad Men or Pushing Daisies, but that seems like cheating since I wear those dresses every day.

So what does that leave? Here are some of my thoughts:

1940s Overalls, Trousers, Playsuit via Wearing History

I really love this pattern. As much as making pants scares me a little, I really love the high waisted trousers and even the overalls. Obviously the thinking here is Rosie the Riveter - and I could easily wear the pants in real life.

Via istock

I really love the idea of Alice in Wonderland. I'm not sure why since I'm not a fan of the movie or book, but the look has always intrigued me. The picture above is my favorite. She's a little scuffed up and tired and just wants her tea (though that looks a little like Listerine). Anyway, I think the boyfriend would look great as the Mad Hatter, but he's insisting on being the Caterpillar if we proceed and there's no graceful way to dress up as a Caterpillar...

Via Simple Simon

I have wanted to do this costume for the last few years and thought this was finally the year, but apparently this costume has been done . And apparently the birds get very heavy and drag on the clothes. Hmph.

Via FanPop

I really love Wednesday and Morticia. I was thinking the boyfriend and I could go as Morticia and Gomez, which he originally loved, but then he remembered he had a beard so it won't work. (What?!) So I guess I could still be Wednesday and walk around terribly depressed and somewhat homicidal.

Via

Via

Via

Via

And then I keep seeing all these cool make-up tutorials and pictures popping up on pinterest. Some of them look ridiculously complex, but I think I could pull off some of them and then my costume won't matter as much. I could easily make a little black dress for them and also every day life and maybe even wear it to the Little Black Dress party in NYC (though I'm secretly hoping for the English Tea Party myself).

What's everyone else dressing up as? Are you making your own costume? Any bearded characters out there I can suggest to the boyfriend? Currently, he's stuck on the idea of Grizzly Adams.

Finished: Marnie Dress from The Hour

If you recall, I said I was working on one of Bel's dresses from The Hour for the Copycat Challenge, and I still am! Draping and not using any sort of a pattern is fun and creative, but it's also much slower. Since I ultimately want to make all the dresses from The Hour and I just happened to find this gorgeous cotton fabric from my fabric shop AND I've been waiting for the perfect fabric to use for Bluegingerdoll's Billie Jean dress, I decided to go ahead and make a Marnie dress!

Marnie, as you may recall, is my new favorite housewife from the television show The Hour played the lovely Oona Chaplin.

Look I even did the pearls! Couldn't figure out the hair roll though...

This dress has been on my list for awhile, but it looks like lace or at least embroidery and I figured it would be awhile until I got to it, but then I found this gorgeous cotton print - yes, cotton! - at my local fabric store that resembled the embroidered lace. Perfect for me to start right away.

It's a heavyweight cotton, and I was afraid it would be too heavy, but I find that it works perfectly as a dress.

I used the Billie Jean pattern for this dress, and it sewed up so quickly and easily.

I cut a size 4 for the top and a size 8 for the bottom. I fall in between sizes so I should have cut a size 10 because there's no ease and while I working the dress up, I discovered that the back didn't meet. Oops.

Instead of adding a panel or additional fabric, I decided that I would just put the zipper in and hope for the best. There was a bit of stretch in the right direction so I figured if all else failed, I could just take a picture on the dress form and call it a day.

But somehow, when I zipped it up most of the way and then wiggled myself into, it fit! It's a little tight - okay, it's very tight - but I can sit and move and it's somehow still comfortable so I'm happy.

I did make another adjustment. The dress is meant to be off the shoulder and as I hate strapless bras and feeling like something is falling off my shoulder, I had to do something about that. I adjusted the front per Abby's instructions to pinch out certain areas and then I added several inches to make it go over my shoulder. I'm pretty pleased with the result!

Oh, and one more! Everyone complains that you can't move in wiggle dresses, but you can. You just need more ventilation. I added an additional 5 inches to this vent because I'm a fast walker and I have got to move quickly! (Or else I start hyperventilating for real.)

See the zipper? I'm calling it a design feature.

Oh so the fact that it's too tight also means something else: you can see the zipper. Usually that sort of thing makes me crazy, but I really like the look, and I'm thinking about exchanging my not-so-invisible zipper for a metal visible one that might really add a bit more to the look.

Additionally, you must forgive the hair. I put it in a sock bun and decided it didn't need bobby pins because I was only going to be out for five minutes, but the wind had different ideas. Oh well, I've never been known for my impeccable hair anyway.

This is officially my second wiggle dress and I think they're so fun to make! It's so interesting how at the right angles, you looking stunning and gorgeous but then you turn and you're like, "WOW, is that all my ass?"

But it is, and it's lovely and everyone has body parts sticking out in wiggle dresses. How can you not? I suppose it's like that with all clothing, but wiggle dresses are just better at showing it. ;-)

Stay tuned for my Bel dress! I should have it up this weekend.

Finished: 1940s Style Mae Blouse

You guys, I finally made something! It's been almost a month since I've posted a finished sewing project. I've been working hard and I have a lot of sewing and knitting projects going on, but also real life and my job has stepped in and I've been so busy.

(Also, I keep noticing in articles that saying you're "busy" is now being called a humble brag - it's not. Saying I'm at home knitting with my Netflix at night is my way of bragging. Who brags about working all the time?!)

Anyway, exciting news: I made a blouse! It's my first ever blouse, and I'm pretty proud. When I saw the 1940s style Mae blouse released from BlueGingerDoll, I knew right away I had to have it. Me being me, I thought to myself, "Well, scallops are too hard so I'll just make it a v-neck. And buttons... Nope. Wonder if I can make that a zipper?"

Of course, then it's not the Mae blouse, it's just a general, somewhat boring shirt, so when Abby decided to do a sew-along, I decided to leap in and figure out scallops and buttons. And they worked! Mostly.

So there's no ease in this, and as I fall in between sizes, I cut an 8-10-12.

I used a quilting cotton with a vintage print for the fabric, which I'm not particularly fond of. It's fairly stiff, which I obviously expected, but I'm wondering how this blouse would look with something with a bit more drape and give to it.

Also the print, which I picked because it's vintage, makes it a bit too vintage. The boyfriend summed it up fairly succinctly: "Oh, are you making another outfit for when we move to the farm?"

Of course, when I finished, he changed his mind: "Wow, I love it. Your boobs look great."

Sigh.

The fabric choice isn't bad, it's just not my usual style. (I bought because it looked vintage, not because I loved it. Terrible mistake.)

On to my new skills: Scallops! So when I first started sewing, I tried making a scallop-waisted skirt and failed miserably. However, this time I followed Abby's tutorial for perfect scallops and they came out perfectly! I couldn't be happier with my sewing.

Actually, I followed all of her sewing tips and tricks so this blouse is probably the most well-made thing I've ever sewn. Definitely check out her sew along.

Not perfect, but not bad for a first try.

Also, buttonholes are surprisingly easy. I was worried about measuring and getting the length right, but the machine does everything for you. Very simple. Attaching the buttons is slightly harder because if you're even 1mm off, the fabric pulls. It's an easy fix, but mildly annoying.

So I did encounter a strange problem while sewing the Mae blouse. When I put the finished blouse on and pulled the front of the shirt down/shoulder seams to the center, the front looked gorgeous but the back buttons puckered. When I pulled the back down/shoulder seams back, the back laid flat but the front neckline puckered.

Figuring it would be easier to fix the front rather than the back and the buttons, and figuring that the problem was too much fabric in the front, I ripped out the shoulder seams and took out an inch or so of excess fabric front the front of the blouse.

Of course, that meant that the neckline was moved up and I lost part of my scallops. It was very, very sad.

Minimal puckering, sans a few scallops.

Of course that also makes the blouse look a bit more matronly. The top still puckers, but it's not as bad as it was before.

Does anyone know what caused that? User error? Something I need to change with the buttons? Do I need to make some sort of adjustment before I cut out the fabric? Was it just that my buttons were off and I needed to move them and I ruined my scallops for no reason??

I still love the top and I'm considering this a work in progress! Or at least, a learning process for my next Mae blouse.

LinkConnector Validation

Crafting Group Tackles Terrariums!

Have I ever mentioned how I was not a girly-girl growing up? I hated the color pink, couldn't understand the point of crafting, and mostly just wanted to play war with the other kids. Sewing and knitting seemed like terribly ancient things, and after all, if I wanted something, why wouldn't I just buy it? (Or, you know, have my mother buy it?)

Don't be fooled by the dress.

Now I prefer staying home and figuring out how to make things myself. And crafting can be directly traced back a few years ago to Rachel, who always dragged me out to Brooklyn to create. She was an art student and does artistic things at work so my attempts were quite pitiful in comparison but it was tons of fun. She's also the one who got me into sewing! But then she had a baby and moved far, far away. (sob)

So my crafting has been slacking, but then both Ashley and Naomi separately told me they wanted to start groups in the NYC area for crafting and I knew I had found my crafting fix! This past weekend, Ashley hosted a terrarium making party at her apartment. Naomi was there and brought 2 non-blogging friends (who seem lovely despite the lack of blog), Amanda also came, as did Hillary, Ashley's non-blogging roommate.

Did anyone take any pictures? Of course not. And for those unaware, my boyfriend has been out of town for the past 6 weeks on assignment so my pictures are not well lit, well framed, nor will you be able to make out details. But at least you can see what I did kind of?!

Anyway, Ashley purchased all the supplies. She has a lovely backyard with a table, chairs, and a trellis with grapes growing on it that shielded us lovelies from the sun where we hung out and ate cake and made terrariums.

Side note: She also purchased organic soil and warned us there were bugs in it, and then mentioned that her mother got ringworm once from organic soil. Everyone else just seemed to accept this and move on, but I was horrified. I also had an awful nightmare that night where I was laying a bed of organic soil and bugs were slowing eating my legs off. Turns out I just had 3 mosquito bites.

So.

Last year's terrariums.

I made 2 terrariums last year, with mixed success as one died. But the other is still alive! After I made those two and posted about it, I bought a 3rd container and decided to document everything so I could put up a photo tutorial... but then the plant died so there was no photo tutorial.

The bf kept wondering when I was going to toss my dead plant, and I kept assuring him that I would re-do it very, very soon, but yeah, that didn't happen. So he arranged all my dinosaurs to "worship" the fallen plant. They fell over too. It's a very sad terrarium.

The arrow points to the dead plant... that I still have. Sigh.

But now I have happy terrariums!

From Purl Soho

When I was at Purl Soho with Naomi recently, I saw this needlepoint canvas (above) that screamed death and destruction. It appeared that the cardinal was taking over the world, that the world was burning, and that someone was fleeing while burning and screaming in pain. I asked Naomi what she saw and she said something to the effect that it look like a nice spring or summer day.

Clearly my mind works differently. (And we were both wrong, me way more so, as it's entitled Cardinal on the Corn - I thought the corn was burning embers.)

Anyway, I decided to go with my original death and destruction idea and put the overturned pot in my terrarium, along with fat, happy cardinals.  I'm not sure what happened to the humans, but the cardinals have taken over. Also I thought it would be fun to hide the cardinals, as they're sneaky and evil, but that means you barely see them. Look closely!

In my second terrarium, I went with a much happier scene. I have a lovely pink cactus, some kind of succulent (that my cat LOVES to uproot) and some adorable ladybugs.

Yes, that's a coffee pot.

I'm very pleased with my terrariums, and mostly I'm so happy group crafting is back in my life. Somehow I'm supposed to wait a month for the next one. Hopefully it involves Halloween things!!

Sew Weekly Reunion: Self-Drafted Fall Dress

I'm a pretty tidy person. Not tidy as in I like to clean, but tidy as in if I'm wearing a white pants suit, I will totally order spaghetti, eat it all, and not get a single splash of tomato sauce on me.

So when I wore this dress out to get photograhed today for the first time and got a rather large grease spot on it, I was naturally upset. However, that's just how it seems to go with this dress. It does not want to be made.

I swear, the fabric just wants to hang out with me while I touch it all day rather than become something super comfortable for me to wear. The fabric is amazingly soft jersey and I probably could carry it around all day and be happy.

But I digress. I've been working on this dress off and on for over a year. I blogged about how awful it was behaving last February, but when I saw the colors involved in the Sew Weekly Reunion, I knew I had no choice but to figure that mess out.

 And I did! Kind of.

So originally I drafted a simple dress but somehow everything was misaligned when I put it together. That should have been an easy fix, but I'm using jersey and I used a reinforced stitch which meant that I had to rip each individual stitch to get it out (aka hours of work) AND I had to be super careful because I didn't want to rip the jersey.

I actually sat and very patiently ripped out the stitches because I was afraid I wouldn't have enough fabric and then, right at the end, I ripped a huge hole in my bodice.

So I rummaged through my Suitcase of Scraps, luckily managed to find large enough pieces, and redrafted the bodice. I also cut some gray jersey for more interest.

Franklin is in charge of the Suitcase of Scraps.

Originally I gathered the bodice underneath the bust, but my sewing machine and the fabric talked and decided that no matter how many times I sewed it, they did not like the gathers there. I ripped it out and re-sewed the bodice 3 times before giving up on the gathers.

I also may have talked to my father at that point in time and he hinted that I might be getting a serger for my birthday so I decided I would just wait to re-sew and/or change anything about the dress until after my potential new serger arrives.

Of course, I still needed to gather the top before I could wear it out. The sewing machine failed me again so I gathered the top by hand. I rather like the look actually. (And ahem, I should probably have pressed this dress before the photoshoot. Ah, details.)

I was originally thinking of adding a gray panel to the bottom. I'm not sure if I was just feeling lazy or what but I decided I there was enough gray and it was fine as is.

So yeah, the dress didn't turn out exactly how I thought it would in my head, but I am so happy with how it anyway. I love the colors, and I might add sleeves when it gets cooler out.

I'm also ridiculously pleased with myself for drafting all of this. Last year when I drafted it and it came out terribly I felt so demoralized and I haven't drafted anything since. But I'm feeling much more confident, probably because my sewing skills have improved so much over the last year.

I also bought a 1920s draping and 1930s drafting book for myself and I can't wait to learn more and improve this dress and all future self-drafted patterns!

Sew Weekly Reunion Info:

The Facts

Fabric: jersey

Notions:  n/a

Pantone Challenge colors: Turbulence and Vivacious

Pattern: (post a picture of the pattern): self-drafted

Year: 2013

Time to complete: 2 afternoons

First worn: today!

Wear again? yes, definitely

Total Cost: $10-20