Design

One of the online retailers I've stalked a lot recently, but haven't actually ordered from, is having a design competition.  They're called Collectif and you can find them on Facebook or their website, or in brick and mortar stores if you live in the UK.

To enter the contest you need to submit three outfits.  I've designed all of my items now, and I'm teaming up with a friend of mine who's going to draw them out properly.  One of the biggest things I did while designing, and we did while I was going over my (horribly drawn) concept drawings, was to try and make sure it was a cohesive collection.  On one hand, we don't want everything made from the same fabric, or even all in one colour.  But, I want the pieces to mix and match.  So, I found myself constantly asking can I wear Top #1 with Skirt #3?

It was a little bit of the same process as designing a capsule wardrobe.  You don't want everything to be super matchy-matchy, but you have to be able to make multiple outfits with each piece.

So, if anyone else wants to enter, the information is on their Facebook page.

And, I'm pretty sure if I win, I'll be spending my 200 pounds on this.  It looks fairly warm, and adorable.  A little over the top in some ways, but look how cute it is!  And that hood!

The Gretel Coat

A New Skill

I'm not entirely sure I can pull of a snood.  But, I am entirely sure that I'm going to try!

They don't seem particularly hard to come by, but they're certainly not available locally.  Rather than buying one, I've decided that I'm going to try to make one.  I've discovered this pattern, and luckily enough, this  YouTube tutorial made for exactly this pattern.

I think that I should mention that I have no idea how to crochet.  Rather, I have some idea, I've seen it before, but I've never crocheted before.  So, hopefully with the guidance of the great YouTubes and my amazingly crafty StepMother, I'll be able to figure it out!

I'm hoping to go get myself a crochet hook and some yarn this week, and I'll give it a try.  And, of course, I'll keep you all in the loop!

Entertaining

Sorry for the unplanned absence.  My mother and younger sister came up for a surprise visit.  They stayed at the hotel, not at my place, but they came home from work with me and didn't leave until about time to go to bed, so I couldn't carve out time to get a couple blog posts up...

What are your views on entertaining?  For me, there are a select few who I'm happy to just have come visit, without any sort of plans and we'll just figure it out as we go.  But usually, I like to have things ready..  A clean house, something planned for dinner (if they're staying, or over near a meal time), drinks in the house to offer them and some idea on how to entertain my guests.

I've come to the conclusion that this might be an old fashioned view of entertaining... My grandmother has a cook book, it was a wedding present.  I forget what year it was published, but its from an age where entertaining is always much closer to my preference.  There is a large section in the back about planning dinner parties.  From menu to seating plans.  That's right, it expects seating plans to be the norm for small dinner parties.  And a lot went into it too!  Unfortunately, I don't remember most of it...

It really seems to show how much has changed though.  Not that long ago, seating plans were the norm, now, we're inviting people over without deciding what to make for dinner...

Do you think we're changing for the better, or loosing something wonderful?  Or is it just different?

More Than Just Clothes

I firmly believe that looking like a Bombshell is more than the clothes and what accessories you pair them with.  The biggest part, to me, is the personal confidence and how you feel about yourself and your body.

Two years ago, I went to the gym every day. I watched what I ate even though I was still on a residence meal plan.  I lost 20lbs and I felt amazing.  I logged my weight every day in a graph, and I loved seeing the trend line sink down.  Once a month I did Benchmarks, pushing myself hard to see how many sit ups or push ups I could do before I gave out and it was amazing seeing how much stronger I was getting.

Then, I had a housing crisis that I'm not going to get into.  Needless to say, I couldn't get to the gym every day.  Now, two years later, I'm slowly gaining back the weight I fought so hard to loose, and I'm just as weak as I was when I started going to the gym.

But the worst part is the way I feel.  I feel a little angry with myself, but mostly I'm just embarrassed.  I'm embarrassed by the way I look, about the number on the scale and the way my stomach jiggles.  And I'm scared.  I know that if I don't get this under control I'll be right back up where I was when I started going to the gym.  That is something I can't handle.

This is not how I want to feel.  And this is not how I want to look.

Back at Christmas I'd realized I was having a lot of 'fat days'.  I'd decided enough was enough and since I'd recently come into a hand-me-down Wii, I put WiiFit on my list.  Instead I got a gift card for Walmart.  It took me a couple months to finally get the game.  I few days later I'd tried to set it up and run into issue after issue until I gave up.  Last night I decided enough was enough and I set it up.

Now, in my tiny living room, I am going to play WiiFit every day.  I've gotten my scale out, and I've started tracking my weight again.  Right now, those numbers hurt.  But this morning was a tiny bit better than yesterday.  Just a daily fluctuation, but it was still a nice way to ease the pain.

I can't wait to start seeing that downward trend line again.

I have about 50lbs to loose until I'm at the goal weight I set three years ago when I started going to the gym.  That is my end goal still.  But my first goal is a little simpler.  By the end of the month, I want to loose something.  I don't care how much, I just want to weigh in at less than I did yesterday.

Your thoughts on Seam Finishes?

I must admit that I never used to finish my seams.  At all.  If it was an especially fray-friendly fabric I would pink the seam allowances, but usually at the end so I would have awkward gaps as I got close to intersecting seams.

With Kasia, and the (supposedly) quick-y project I'm working on right now, I've been finishing seams.  With Kasia, I used bias tape to make bound seam allowances.  I'll admit though, that I did some of them at the end, so I need to finish the bias tape by hand, which I haven't done yet.

The dress I'm working on now will be a combination of bias binding and french seams.

I haven't give it much though before.  But, I've traditionally only sewn semi-formal wear and almost universally under an absurd deadline (like, I need to wear the dress the next evening...).  In cases like that, I simply don't have time to finish the seams like I should.  But now that I'm sewing for long term wear, I think that it's worth the extra time to make the garment look that much better, and last longer.

Do you finish your seams?  What method do you use, and how do you decide?

A Tailor's Ham

I've begun putting more care into the construction of my sewing, now that I'm sewing clothing that I'm hoping to wear on a day to day basis.  I finished the seams in my Kasia Skirt.  I'm actually pressing seams, not all of them yet, but as directed.  Before, I'd just finger press the spots that needed it to continue sewing.  So, I'm not the star pupil yet, but I am working on it.  And one thing I've discovered, is that its easier to do things properly with the proper tools.

Enter the Tailor's Ham.

It looks a little like a hat, before it's stuffed

I found this pattern at Tilly and the Buttons.  Its quick to print off and super easy to put together.  I will admit, I did have to take all the darts out and redo them because my points were off though.  After I fixed that, it was just a quick fill with shavings, stolen from Lindy Bunny, and we're off to the races.

I used leftover fabric from Kasia.  I'm really happy with it, it's working well.  My only problem is I don't know how to get all the dust off from when I was filling it...

Little Lindy Bunny

Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing

I have a secret.  I bought Gertie’s New Book for Better Sewing a couple weeks ago. 

 

I've been pouring over the pages, and it’s all pretty wonderful.  I was going to wait until I’d finished one of the projects to share my thoughts, but, I’m impatient and I can’t wait to share.

Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing is pretty well known around the internet.  It's one of the blogs that I've gone back and read the entire archive of because its so full of useful information.  And her book is exactly the same.  You can see the sample pages she posted in a Flickr pool here.  

The main reason I wanted the book is for the patterns.  I'll admit, I usually find sewing manuals slightly disappointing.  That being said, I've found the technique section really useful.  Its been mentioned around the internet that she doesn't simplify this section.  I tend to agree.  There are some advanced techniques, especially I'd say, in the Tailoring section.  However, the instructions are still easy to follow.  I think this is the only sewing manual I've actually read cover to cover to date.

I'm pretty excited about the patterns.  The first one up is the Portrait Blouse. But I have to say, I think I'll be making almost all of them, either as printed or with a couple variations.  It has been mentioned that there are a few flaws in the patterns.  And some things visibly off in the outfit shots.  One I've heard is that the darts in the sheath dress don't line up.  While it does look a little off in the image, I'm going to hold off on my judgement on such things until I've tried the patterns in question.  At the moment, it could just be how the dress is sitting.  

P.S. I apologize for the late post.  We lost power for a while last night in a thunderstorm and I had some issues getting my internet back up and running...