Assignment Bombshell

Phew, it's been so very busy at work for the past month. It is a blessing to have had such a wonderful (busy for a change) month but it is nice to see Fall on the horizon. The college students are back in town, the local kids are back in school, summer is coming to an end and our new routines are falling into place. Finally, I can put my own agenda out in front now and it's a healthy load believe me; I am definitely feeling up to the challenge! Let's not forget the boatload of fabrics and projects I have lined up already. Before I get to those though, there's been a little detour: uh, the bustier class!


I enrolled in an online course a few weeks back, taught by one of our fellow bloggers, Gretchen "Gertie" Hirsch. Her course was a lot of fun, fulfilling, taught well and aptly called "The Perfect Fit Bombshell Dress".This is funny for me because I am so NOT the bombshell gal but really more like a Lois Lane. Does anyone remember Lois?

As it turns out, my whim has actually turned out to be just the pre-requisite I needed for what was to come. I received a call last week from a co-worker asking me if I could make two specialty dresses for her. And, they are (she is) Bombshell-ish to say the least! I'm instantly thinking to myself the timing here is pretty incredible and this could be either a blessing or a curse. I have decided right here and now that this experience is going to be a blessing and the force is going to be with me every step of the way.


One of the dresses will be made in Gator colors (she's a Gator) and the other in Seminole colors (her boyfriend is a Seminole). In this neck of the woods, these two are bitter rivals and I am just going to say a little prayer right now that both of these dresses turn out equally beautiful. There will be boning, a muslin, a few fittings, lining, interlining, bra cups (maybe), a side zipper and a flouncy neckline. Yikes, I am up to the challenge, I say, I am up to the challenge. I will have the final pictures in a couple of weeks.  Here's an image of the pattern. I hope the fabric choices will be sensible, this part is beyond my control. And may the best team win, they both have new coaches this year!

Colette and My Little Canadian Bluebird

So, I mentioned the slate blue and ivory hounds tooth wool, didn't I? Well, the pattern I will use for this project is the Lady Grey (pictured below) by Colette Patterns. I'd never heard of Colette until recently but happy to have found them. Their service has been excellent and they take care and pride in their products. It shows in case you've never ordered from them. I'm undecided on the lining right now but will post as soon as I'm sure. Any suggestions? The wool will be warm enough so need something light but durable and pretty at the same time.

On a special note, my little bluebird pincushion from Canada arrived today. It's a he and he will certainly bless my sewing room and will sit to symbolize a re-birth of sorts! This little cutie came from BlueDaisies on Etsy.



Ready, set, wash, dry and sew!

Set aside the eight yards of wool and eight yards of silk I mentioned earlier, I washed, pre-shrunk and dried approximately thirty five yards of fabric today. Yep, the small boatload of on sale goodies I bought online recently. Buying fabric online can be a bit tricky but we'll save that for another post. Didn't mention it earlier but also found some fantastic shirting plaids (Calvin Klein) and plan to bone up on my plaid matching skills with it. Some of the plaid I got is so (sheer), light weight and drapey, it will make a nice rockabilly retro dress if lined right. I found some nice medium weight plaid twill shirting that will sew up well for grown boy child. I will make into either one, two or all of these vintage inspired dresses out of some retro looking cotton, for my mom who will turn eighty soon. She has a sense of fashion and gets a kick out of scoring designer names at the thrift stores but nothing like these have shown up. The black dress below is a Marian Martin.

Photo Credit here

                                                     


Photo Credit here



Photo Credit here

                                                      
Tomorrow will be a good day to dust off the sewing machines, I use a Seiko industrial straight stitcher and a Juki serger and roll between the two to accomplish my projects. Will have to locate the pressing tools and find a good place to set up the ironing board. And of course my (rather large) work bench has been a catch-all for over three years at least. I don't know what happened, I just lost those sewing years somewhere along the way. Mid life just snuck up on me, I hadn't planned on missing grown boy so much, sorry just rambling now. This blog will be a good thing, I hope to make several coats to donate this winter. The only thing about wool is that it requires dry-cleaning and some people can be allergic to it.

Fabric sale - uh oh!

I've recently discovered a few sewing blogs that have inspired me to dust off the old machines and have at a little sewing fest. I found some fantastic clearance sales online over the 4th of July week and snatched up a small boatload of fabrics and a few patterns as well. I will try my hand at making a couple of summery vintage retro type dresses, the ones that have the fitted bodice and full skirts. I found a mod looking loose weave wool (real wool) that I will make a cape with and line with a colorful, soft rayon challis. I also want to make a fanny length trench coat with some really nice coat weight ivory pin wale corduroy that I think I will line with a pale slate blue with dots light weight cotton. Then there's a turquoise black gray silk print, don't know what it will become but just too sweet and on sale to pass up :)


I really don't know what I was thinking when I ordered the wool. My gosh, it's been pushing 100 degrees daily with 90-100% humidity here in my neck of the southeast woods but I've never sewn with it and wanted to try it. I also bought a substantial light blue wool herringbone plaid that will be worked into a cape or coat of some sort. Like I said, it was a super sale!! If all goes well, I will have at least a cape and a coat (the wool ones) that I can be proud to gift away or donate to the annual GMA (Burlington) coat drive later this year.  So there, I've put it out there, this is a to do list that should keep me busy for a few months at least. I will post some pics of the fabrics and patterns when I have that part coordinated. I have come across an awesome tutorial on matching plaids at this blog, this made sense to me! 


So, wish me luck? Hopefully, I won't burn up the A/C by running it at 50 degrees to deal with the warmth of  the wool... I'm  sweating just thinking about it :)

My Lil Stinker

Ellie is 15 months old now and I really do need to update her picture BUT she just will not be still for more than three seconds and trying to chase her into submission is just exhausting! She is so full of vim and vip, just ask the ladies who clip her little toenails! Yes it really takes two to do this, no kidding! Toughest little ten pounder I've ever seen! Phew! Sometimes when she's really wound, I kid with her and tell her I might just have to sell her to the circus. She can go from the floor to the back of the couch in one effortless straight up leap.

* photo credit: The McCarty Farm, Micanopy, FL 

This is Ellie's father, BlueBoy. Both her mom and dad are full blooded Rat Terriers and live at The McCarty Farm in Micanopy FL. This picture makes him look bigger than he really he is, I think he topped out at eight pounds, full grown, Ellie has surpassed him by two pounds so far.

This is Ellie's mother, her name is Raven. She comes from the McCarty Farm too and weighs in at all of eight pounds.

* photo credit:The McCarty Farm, Micanopy, FL

What is a LunaLoo?

Raised on Suess and duck, duck goose, one might ask what is a LunaLoo? "Wish I knew" said LunaLoo as she pondered where her dreams might take her. Coming out from behind her old dreary desk,  she looked to the sky one night. The moon was amazingly full and bright and a star struck LunaLoo took glorious flight. From that night on she'd plan to break free, she'd blog her way through the maze some might call a mild case of mid life misery.