Sunday, August 26, 2012

Post #3 about NewLook 6968, still in progress....

Hey hey!
This is my third weekend working on this dress, New Look 6968.  Not that I spent a lot of time on it this weekend, but progress has been made.
It now has facings in the neckline, and one bound armhole!

New Look 6968 still in progress, now with one bound armhole and neck facings
I used bias tape to bind one armhole so far. It's Wrights trim in plum, matches SOOO closely. New Look 6968 still in progress, now with one bound armhole and neck facings
Still loving the collar...
New Look 6968 still in progress, now with one bound armhole and neck facings
And now it has a kickpleat too. I used the narrow hem foot to make that, er, narrow hem.
New Look 6968 still in progress, now with a kick pleat!

So, what's left to do on the dress?  The other armhole, serging the inside, fixing an alignment problem with the bodice, tacking the facings, making the hem....

In other news, another female flower opened, yay!  This is the vine that is growing into the red verbena.
8/26/12:  female flower G opened!

I have updated my pumpkin album this weekend for some great updates, lol.

Here are the Princeton Farmer's Market flowers for this week:
Princeton farmer's market flowers this week

And here's a gardenia in my front yard:
gardenia and protective soap 8/25/12
I use Irish Spring (in the bag, on a stick) to keep the deer away from my outdoor salad bar.

Oh, and I got an Android pay-as-you-go phone this weekend. Finally stepped up to the technology from 2 years ago or whatnot. And now I can read my own blog and see your comments on my phone, hurrah!
my blog on my new phone
Be well!!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

New Look 6968: the horse is alive, though still in progress

Ah, I had one of those classic struggles with this dress, New Look 6968, view C.

Started it a month ago, ran into an unusual problem for me with New Look: the chest was too big!  It was like it was for a C cup .

Lost all desire to work on the dress.

So now, one month later, I picked it up again.

Used my dress form to turn the under bust darts into princess seams (and recut side panels so they wouldn't have side darts anymore).

Then it was too tight.  I played with those princess seams a lot.  I felt like I was beating a dead horse.  Should I give it up to the wadders?  I played with those princess seams even more, and then I let out the side seams.
And then I added the collar (but not the facings yet).
And now it looks like this.  Turns out the horse is alive!

New Look 6968 day 2 in progress
Waaay better.
New Look 6968 day 2 in progress
Here on Becky:
New Look 6968 day 2 in progress
New Look 6968 day 2 in progress

MUCH better.

So much better that I may be inspired to work on it after work during the week, ha ha ha!  (that generally never happens).

I can't tell you how relieved I am!  It's a little Parisian, a little 60's Mad Men, a little Cub Scouts den mother, a little flight attendant.  I'm liking the direction it is heading!

Look at the goodness in my garden!
Pumpkin A 9 days after conception, photographed on 8/18/12

I have a whole flickr album devoted to my mini-pumpkins (they are actually gourds called Jack Be Little). I have even labeled my gourds like the fake botanist I am!

Princeton Farmers Market flowers for this week, bright zinnias (the green ones are my favorite!)
Farmers Market Flowers

Be well!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Male Pattern Boldness Day & Clever Girl Visit recap (mega post)

I don't know what was more shocking, the fact that I didn't buy any fabric or that I ran for my life at Male Pattern Boldness Day 2012.  (Peter Lappin's account of his day is here).

Let's go in chronological order, shall we?

I was really lucky to see Antoinette again this weekend.  Ms Clever Girl herself flew up from Austin to Baltimore then took Amtrak when her flight was canceled. I was SO happy to see her again--she is so fun to hang out with!  As her b-day is later this month, I got her a vegan cake from Whole Foods.

vegan birthday cake.  Happy Birthday Antoinette!
The next morning we took the bus to NYC.
 waiting for the bus, 2012 edition

Here she is in her green scallop shorts she recently sewed. Aren't they super cute???

We strolled down Fashion Ave with our luggage and checked into our hotel, then made our way over to the FIT Museum to meet up with Mr. Male Pattern Boldness himself. Peter is a prompt man in the way that tri-state living demands. I think we got there at 11:02 and the event had already begun!
Mr. Male Pattern Boldness Himself!
Peter and his amazing toile jeans.
He's a real person!

Peter leads the group in introductions and takes roll

We went around the circle and introduced ourselves while Peter took roll.
Introducing ourselves
Here's Antoinette, Mike from Sydney, Australia, and Cindy from Brooklyn.
Antoinette in her green scallop shorts, Mike from Sydney Australia and Cindy from Brooklyn

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pix in the museum itself. Peter instructed us not to touch anything and not to try anything on.  (He is as humorous in person as he is on his blog!)

The exhibit was small and the room was dark, but the fashion was thought provoking and interesting. When someone leaned over an invisible barrier in front of the clothing, an alarm sounded to keep us in check. The alarm was going off every few minutes!

Antoinette and I met Nicole, who was fun to chat with (and later gave us her MetroCard with money remaining on it--thank you Nicole!), and we headed over to the student Barbie exhibit across the street, where flash photography was allowed.
Barbie exhibit at FIT

By then it was, I don't know, 11:40 or so? So the three of us headed over early to the Brown Cup, our designated lunch space, and got a jump on the crowd.

While we were waiting, Peter's partner Michael came in and I said, "It's Michael!"   When the rest of the group joined us, most recognized him by his shirt which Peter had sewn for him.

Here's the scene at the Brown Cup.  This is one of the two rows of tables the group occupied.
at the Brown Cup

As with sewing blogging royalty, I clammed up when I had an opportunity to ask him anything I wanted, and yet I froze and asked him a softball question. I similarly clammed up when I was next to Renee from Miss Celie's Pants at PR weekend Philly 2010 while waiting for fabric remnants to be measured. The opportunity of a lifetime, wasted. However, I really enjoyed the conversation around me, especially Mike from Australia, who could have his own reality show as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, one thing I am not shy about is asking for pix so here we are outside the Brown Cup:
me, Peter, Antoinette
Then we headed off to conquer the fabric that awaited us:
on the way to fabric shop
The group split into two: high-end starting at Mood and low-end starting, er, elsewhere.
making logistical plans
At this point Antoinette and I broke off from the groups.
First we went to Pacific Trimming and I bought more elastic and some trims, and also the funky red buckles.
Goodies from Pacific Trimming
I love Pacific Trimming so much I could live there, although the lack of store air conditioning is a problem. This time I found the snaps and button section, which I was oblivious to in my prior trips, but didn't buy any of those. 

Next we headed to SIL Thread where I wanted to stock up on invisible zips, both 8" and 22" size, and a regular metal zip for that Jalie half zip fleece.  Guess how many zips are in this picture!
Goodies from SIL thread
They also had these pieces of yellow and orange tailor's crayon.
tailor's chalk in orange and yellow at Pacific Trimming
Here is one row of boxes of invisible zips, the 22" size I think...I mean, if you can't find the perfect match....though I did have trouble finding the white and black zips, which were in a section all of their own...
rows of 22" invisible zippers at SIL thread

Next we went to Mood. I had a "family reunion" with my fabric (credit for that joke goes to whoever came up with that caption when Bonnie was wearing a top made from fabric on the bolt at The Common Thread in Austin during PR Day Austin 2011).  I wrote several posts as I made this dress, the last of which is here.

Family reunion for my fabric at Mood Fabrics
Here's Antoinette waiting in line.  Mood was pretty crowded.
waiting in line at Mood Fabrics


At this point I wanted to go to the chocolate bar to have some iced chocolate and also some ice water.  I was getting kind of tired and sleepy.   Mood is near 37th and 7th, but we went out the back way through 38th.  So we were at the intersection of 38th and 7th and waiting for the light to change.  Antoinette says "what is going on there" and I look up 7th toward 39th (where the big button and needle statue is) and there is a crowd of cops walking/jogging down the street, towards us.   I don't think I've seen that many cops in person ever. It was like they were a line across 7th ave coming down the street.   There was a car backing down the street and a guy in a white shirt and jeans facing the cops, jogging/running backward, away from the cops, right behind the car. I'm trying to figure out what is going on.   Why is the car backing up?  Why is that guy running backwards behind the car? Then Antoinette says "he's got a gun" and I said something like "what?" and she repeats "he's got a gun" and I said, "let's get out of here" and run back down 38th.   I stop when we get to this part on 38th where there's an alcove and we look back at the intersection and see the line of cops going by.  She says what do you want to do?  I said, it looks like they're past us now we could go to the chocolate shop and then that's when we hear the gunshots--as it turns out the man was killed closer to 37th but at that point I didn't know really where the cops were.   So we run down the street to Pacific Trimming again and waited for a bit (where she joked, "you had to choose the hottest store to take refuge in?"), and then we decide to go to the choc cafe in an indirect route... it's across from Bryant Park.  So at this point I was very much awake! (Then later we see the pictures online and the cell phone video back in the hotel room, and read some news stories, and it turned out the man had a knife. There is a news story here which also has video--you can hear the shots fired.  )

After resting at the choc cafe we went to a Japanese bookstore named Kinokuniya that has a lot of neat sewing books and ultra-cute Japanese merch, and saw some of the bloggers there. There were signs about not taking pix of the books, so I don't have pix of the store, but I did buy this book:
The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques
Oh, and I bought some cute stickers too which I didn't take a picture of.

Then the last stop of the day was Bryant Park to meet up with the group for a recap and to say our goodbyes.
at Bryant Park, recapping the day
Thank you to Peter for arranging the day so nicely!!  It was a real pleasure to finally get to meet you--thank you for being a great host and a great blogger!!!

I did not buy any fabric, perhaps because I bought 47 yards during PR weekend NYC 2012 and I have only sewn 2 yards of it.......

Antoinette and I continued on to our 6pm dinner reservation at Cafeteria restaurant in Chelsea.

My dinner:
dinner at Cafeteria
That mac and cheese is fantastic!
Antoinette's dinner:
dinner at Cafeteria

On Sunday, reenergized and refreshed, we went to the "Foods of NY Tours" Greenwich Village tour.

Here is Antoinette (in a dress she recently made) with Amy, who graciously arranged for the tix for us, and Antoinette shared one with me--thank you!
Amy and Antoinette before the Foods of NY Tours of Greenwich Village
And here we are, y'all recognize my skirt, right?
me and Antoinette
Here is Bert, our tour guide, who was incredibly knowledgeable about food and the area. The guy is a real hoot
our tour guide Bert at Joe's Pizza
Pizza from Joe's pizza:
our tour guide Bert at Joe's Pizza
Amy's Bread and olive oil from O and Co (along with a huge amt of knowledge about olive oil!)
At O and Co. Olive Oil
Cavolfiore Palma at Palma--yum!
Cavolfiore Palma at Palma--yum!
Pizza at Pizza Roma:
Pizza at Pizza Roma
Pizza at Pizza Roma
A sampling at Centro Vinotecha
Centro Vinoteca
A yummy chocolate chip oatmeal cookie from Milk and Cookies:at Milk and Cookies
We also had cheese and olives at another place and a cannoli at our last stop. In between stops we learned about the history, architecture, and high cost of housing in the Village.  We were on the lookout for celebrity sightings but alas, no famous people.

After our 3 hour tour ended, with our bellies full, Antoinette and I made our way to Purl Soho.
cute remnants at Purl Soho
There I bought sashiko needles and thread, a felting needle and also a book:
Goodies from Purl Soho
Then we hit up several clothing stores in succession, including the Number 6 store, Uniqlo, and Zara.
We found the storefront for Built By Wendy, but only the sign remained:
Built By Wendy--store is gone but sign is there!
We walked past Emmett McCarthy's store, PR alum from season, er, 2 maybe?
Emmet McCarthy's store (Project Runway Season, er....)
And stopped at Christian Siriano's store
Christian Scirano's store
One of his fierce gowns was on display
Christian Scirano's store
Then we took the subway over to Doughnut Plant so I could pick up some more blackout doughnuts to munch on during the week.
blackout doughnut from Doughnut Plant
Then we parted ways and I came back home on the bus.
I have today and tmw off to recover from all the excitement. Buddy is staying with me.
Buddy 8/13/12
I think he's enjoying his "summer camp in the suburbs" as there are plenty of squirrels, birds and even cicadas to keep him entertained (when he's looking outside.  He's an indoor-only cat....)
Buddy 8/13/12
Check out my pumpkin's amazing progress!  There are more female blooms budding up!!
Pumpkin progress 8/13
Pumpkin progress 8/13
Pumpkin progress 8/13
And last but not least, lisianthus from the Princeton Farmer's Market (they're not roses, they just look like it)
lisianthus
Congrats if you made it to the end of this posting!
Be well and be safe!!!