Dresses! Dresses! Dresses!

I was unable to resist (not that I wanted to resist) the temptation of joining in Faye's 2011 Summer Dress Challenge.  The fun starts tomorrow and is scheduled to be completed on June 15th.  Hoping to have a few new dresses by mid-June.  Here are the frocks on my sewing agenda --- though my plans are always subject to change :D.  Who knows, I may race through making these and add another dress or two to the queue!

First up, McCall's 9574:

I'll be using this summery rayon blend knit for this dress.  I'm working on a "muslin" of the bodice today, which I've cut out of an old knit nightgown that was destined for the rag bin.

Also in the running is this Butterick 5315 shirtdress, though I may opt for the plain short sleeves instead of the puffed version.......

 

.......stitched up in this nice summery cotton broadcloth I picked up for 50% off at JoAnn's last week --- garnished, of course, with prominent red topstitching (and a red belt :D).  Love the retro vibe of this pattern and fabric combo.

I'm also loving this Simplicity 2638 maxi, but will shorten it to knee length.  I'm pretty short and busty and the maxi dress isn't a particularly flattering look for me, but I do love the style of this dress.

I had thought this small scale bandana print rayon/linen blend would work nicely for the above pattern --- perhaps with some skinny black piping to define the waist inset.  But now I'm wondering if I should use something that's more "drapey" and just rummaged around in my fabric closet and found a deep red rayon with white dots that may work better.   Opinions anyone?

Fabric  #1

Fabric  #2

Not too sure about the tiny, super short puffed sleeves of Vogue 8469 --- my upper arms are not an area that merits any focus --- so I may change up the sleeves or omit them altogether and wear this with a fine gauge cotton cardigan.

This modern print cotton voile is my most likely choice for this dress.

Semi Lazy Sunday

I wake every morning with my head full of optimistic notions about what I will accomplish that day and I invariably fall short of my good intentions --- however, I like to imagine that's a fairly universal experience.  Please tell me that is true :D!  So while I didn't really end up doing exactly what was on the agenda, I did have a slightly productive day.

Today's accomplishments included some glazing --- which is something that I never seem to catch up on.  I absolutely adore working with wet clay, but always find glazing to be an uber tedious task.  However, I'd never want to have someone else do it for me as I am a ultra nitpicky glazer LOL!  Too bad that I still have many, many, many more trays of itty-bits to glaze!

Unfortunately, I didn't get around to doing any sewing today.  I did prewash fabrics for several skirts that are in the queue though --- does that count as sewing related at least :D?  And took a nice long walk with the hubs.  But mostly I curled up in my favorite chair knitting on a new pair of slippers.  I'll share that project soon, really loving the pattern!

Among the day's distractions was a sweet little goldfinch warbler crashing into the window and knocking itself senseless --- poor little fella!  Excuse the so-so photos, it's really hard to hold a bird in one hand and take photos with the other.  But he's so cute, I had to share in spite of the crummy pics.  Awwww, look at that little scwinched up right eye :(.

It took him about 20 minutes to feel better so I had an extended opportunity to study him up close (hmmm... some ceramic goldfinches warblers coming up, you think?) and carefully check out his coloration.  His feathers were brilliant chartreuse with gray'ish olive edges. 

 

Feeling better, but still quite content to just sit in my hand.

Perking up and almost ready to fly away!  Hope he's ok.

 Hope your weekend felt as relaxing as Mister O's :D!

First Post Plunge!

I'm overdue to confront my lingering bloggy trepidation and plunge in with a first post!  Really looking forward to chronicling my good times with clay, fabric and yarn.

As evidenced by the trio of buttons to the right, I'm a sucker for a sewalong and am currently signed up for three.  The RTW tailoring sewalong is well underway --- I've finally caught up with all the fittings, pattern alterations and cutting out and will begin sewing later today.  The Crescent Skirt sewalong begins on Monday and promises to be loads of fun --- I plan to make at least two skirts for myself and one for my niece.  The Bottoms Up Challenge is all about sewing garments for the lower half of one's body --- I have a swirly, multi-gored skirt on the agenda as well as a couple pairs of shorts and/or skorts. 

First things first though and topping that list was making a new cover for my ironing board to replace it's threadbare 20 year-old predecessor.   The sleeve board was in dire need of the same treatment, so I made new covers for it as well.  Pretty sad and raggedy aren't they?

I really did like the grid pattern printed on my old cover, it was nice when I needed a straight line reference when pressing, but I couldn't locate any similar/appropriate fabric so opted for the silvery ironing board fabric for this project.  I do like this choice because of the slickness of the fabric finish --- easy peasy to wipe clean if needed, however the color is quite meh.  While I do like the idea of a pretty patterned fabric for a cover, I tend to find that sort of thing very visually distracting in my workspace.  Ahhhhhh.....love the nice smooth snug fit of the new cover, it almost makes ironing fun!