The Sound of Music coat (Sew Serendipity Classic Tailored Coat)

Greetings again, pelicans. I’m back. Did you all enter the giveaway? If not, stop reading and go do so! The entries so far have been highly entertaining – keep ‘em coming! And if you’ve never commented before, welcome! If you’ve never visited  before, double welcome!

So let’s get down to business… I had included a coat in my original plan for the Spring Palette Challenge. I wanted something nice and lightweight – good for fall and spring, and long enough to wear with a  dress without looking like I got dressed in the dark. I found some lovely wool on sale for 50% off at Hancock. The Hancocks ‘round these parts have a pretty wide selection of wool and this stuff was a nice mottled grey, lightweight and nicely impervious to basset hound fur. Mr. Bug dubbed it the Sound of Music coat the first time I modeled it for him.

Ruffletastic or frilly trainwreck? Muslin of the Anna Sui shirt (Vogue 2850)

Greeting tree dwelling octopuses! Tonight’s post is brought to you by an old Ikea curtain; torn down and forgotten when newer, thicker curtains came to live with us. Granted new life when I decided to take Vogue 2850 out for a test drive. The muslin has been hanging in my sewing room for weeks as I’m not really sure what I think of the style. I have to say, though, that after snapping some pictures I’m warming to it… it’s just so…frilly…

Spring showers and flowers…a mini-wardrobe.

Greetings St. Bernards. Please say you’re St. Bernards; helpful canines with restorative brews in little barrels around your necks. There is a plague upon the snug bug residence. A springtime plague that is mimicking the symptoms of an old-fashioned cold. And as a further punishment, Mr. Bug and I went to Sonic for a super-easy dinner and I was so excited for the chocolate shake that was sure to soothe my sore throat, but they were OUT OF WHIPPED CREAM. A disappointment, although the shake did feel good on my throat.

Tonight’s post is actually a re-post of some of my recent projects. I realized a few days before the end of March that I had completed almost enough items to enter the Mini-Wardrobe contest on Pattern Review– that was the goad to get me to finish the Lotus Blossom Skirt. The rules of the contest were to make four garments during the month of March, mix with one item already in the closet and take pictures of at least six different outfits. Since I’d been working on the Colette Spring Palette challenge, I even had stuff that coordinated!

[Me playing with the super-zoom on my camera. Also things I wore in the Mini-Wardrobe pictures. And my green vintage purse that’s close to seeing its final days.]

The Lotus Blossom skirt. Finished.

Evening frogs and fellow green friends. I’m back with more finished projects to report on. Tonight’s report is on my Lotus Blossom skirt. A tricky skirt – it looks like just a basic straight skirt, but fits amazingly well and has a whole bunch of other tricks up its sleeve. Or rather, hem. So get ready for lots of naked knee-viewing…

The wheatgrass blouse. With topstitching. Another Simplicity 2601.

Welcome back flood repellant manatees. It’s about two degrees above zero here in the frozen land of Minneapolis. Spring is not likely to ever show up. And yet, I’ve been soldiering on with my spring palette challenge items. I took another stab at Simplicity 2601, my so-far favorite shirt pattern. I even used the exact same sleeve and collar options as my red gingham version. I’m that un-creative. I love the finished version, though!

An experiment… lotus blossom welt pockets.

Morning assorted sewey sewertons. Today, lacking anything better to blog about, I’m all about process. No finished projects, just documentation of a sewing experiment. I’ve been a busy bee, working on Mr. Bug’s coat as well as a raincoat, but these projects all take time rabbits, and that leaves me with nothing to blog about! So I’ll show you my first attempt of drafting and assembling a set-in welt pocket with funky, curved welts. They look like lotus blossoms to me… here’s my first practice pocket –sorry for the odd angle (the point of the pocket should point down!) and bad light!

What’s my style? Rambling and plotting my next projects…

Evening bumblebees. I have no new finished items to show off today. Normally I skip these days on the blog – I’m more of a show and tell girl than a waxing philosophical girl. At least, as far as the blog is concerned… but I’ve been mulling over a thought all day which led me to to a google search chock full of big hair, 80’s fashion and a slight identity crisis. And here’s what got me started.

My upcycled, hot glue, anthropolgie-esque, rose garden cardi…

I lied. There was no hot glue involved with the making of this cardigan! This is the next piece of my Spring Palette Challenge – the upcycled cardigan. I’m very particular about my sweaters – I like them on the shorter side, perfect for wearing over dresses! As anyone who shops for RTW clothing knows, most cardigans my size are giant tents of sweaters and I’m not sure if I’ve ever even seen an XXL cashmere cardigan that fits me! I took a trip to Savers and stocked up on man-sweaters that were either cashmere or cashmere and silk blends. My first attempt, while cute, ended up being a little too snug (no photos, alas), but I’m pretty pleased with my second attempt which is based on my worn-in-every-reveal-photo-shoot cardigans that I got last spring from New York and Co. These sweaters are perfect – crew neck cardigans with a nice fit and some flowers on the yoke which makes ‘em interesting. I have one in mustard, green and white. And they’re wearing out… So without further ado… here’s the after shot, taken in the classic Facebook profile photo pose!

McCalls 5094–the February Dress. A little roses and lace.

Yay! It’s done! The February dress. After the never-ending string of muslins, I just did one final tweak (shaving another inch or so from the bottom of the center of the front bodice piece) and went ahead with the real-life dress. Behold!

A little bit of everything…Colette spring palette challenge, Kwik Sew 3003, broken magnets, new snips and tanks with a cherry on top.

Hello Friday! At least, recent Friday… While I did get another muslin made of Simplicity 2601, I wasn’t happy with the results – somehow removing two inches of ease from what SEEMED like five inches too much yielded a snug midriff band. And while I may claim to be as snug as a bug in a rug, I prefer that my clothing allows me to do things like, oh, you know… sit. So instead of another post chock-full of unflattering photos of me dressed in my wedding table linen, I will provide odds and ends of photos and updates… starting with…

The Colette spring palette challenge. I decided to join in and spent time playing with photoshop today. I wasn’t going to do it, since I already am sewing so much, but I thought it’d be good for me to do something that will (hopefully) force me to sew things that work well together.

I actually started with a real inspiration board this time – you know, instead of having a pile of patterns I wanted to sew and forcing them into a ‘collection’, I thought about what vibe I’d like for spring and went and found some pics on the googles. I’ve always loved that Rossetti (second one in from the left on the top - for some reason I always think it is called beatrix potter, but that can’t be right…) so I started with that and filled in with more redheads and ridiculous Vogue spreads that had to have been art directed by that wild-haired Grace-forgot-her-last name that stole the show in the Vogue documentary. I was on something of a readhead binge this morning. In ANY case, my actual challenge items are the five on the right (I’m sure you can click to see larger.) Two blouses, one upcycled sweater (i.e. I’m plotting on finding something at a thrift shop and doing something to it to make it all me) and two skirts. The four projects on the left aren’t really challenge projects – there’s the February and March dresses of Year of the Dress. I’ll find fabric in my palette for those. There’s a raincoat that I’m making as a sample/class prep for the shop, and then there’s my super-wish-list project – I light wool coat in an easter egg color. I have to admit to being a bit obsessed with the book Sew Serendipity – this is the ‘classic jacket’ from that book.

OK. I looked it up – the painting is called Beata Beatrix. Also, feel free to make fun of my child-like sketches I did IN photoshop – I mostly traced over other pictures, I was just being anal and weird. As usual!

Oh – and the name, Persephone. The painting all the way to the left – the lady in blue – is called Persephone. I thought it must be fate when I reflected back on my 20’s filled years of reading books on mythology and the dark arts (ha ha, Harry Potter) and remembered that Persephone often represents spring. How apropos!