Goodies!

I got a present in the mail! The wrapping was so gorgeous that it felt like a real occasion to open it up. Marita at Paradise for Me had a giveaway on Patrones 274, the party dress edition, a while back and I was the winner! It has lots of great cocktail wear and some fun little dresses. My top pick is this great blouse. It's similar to fabulous BWOF 01-2008-108 which everyone, their dog, and I have made but the yoke extends all the way to the sleeves. The instructions tell you to pre-pleat your own fabric for the yoke, which is a clever idea.

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I took time away from work to go to Fashion Sewing Club at G Street Fabrics on Saturday. I didn't think I was going to get any fabric because I wasn't wowed by anything, but then I saw the jersey, which is just my color. It's very thin--almost but not quite that tissue weight that was such a craze in RTW two summers ago for layering pieces (layering in summer?). I am thinking another Giambattista Valli tee, fully self lined as with the first. I think the weight will be perfect for that project. The navy polka dots is a really fine cotton. There was only one yard and I suspect it was a bolt end thrown onto the $2.97/yd table, as I've bought shorter lengths of fabric from the $2.97 table before and later seen the same fabric on a bolt for a much higher price. It will be some sort of blouse.

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On Saturday I also went to Joann, coupons in hand, and finally replaced my cutting board. I bought this board way back when I got my first sewing machine of my own, which makes it approximately 12 years old! The backside has silver paint from making the wings for my Ever After costume (of which I don't appear to have any digital pictures but it was awesome) and red dye from making my flame costume. There is a bad mushy spot from when my ceiling leaked and the fold creases are beginning to split and it's hard to cut over them. So it was time to replace it.

For a milli-second I thought about making a grain board like Birgitte's fabulous board, but then I thought, "Are you kidding me?" I don't want to lose my cred as the Slapdash Sewist, aside from which I live in a third floor walkup and the idea of wrangling a giant sheet of plywood up the stairs by myself (let us not forget that I am single and live alone) was enough to put me off, setting aside the issues of getting the employees at Home Depot to cut me a perfect rectangle (LOL LOL LOL ROFLMAO) as I don't have a table saw in my third floor walkup condo and then making the thing. To reinforce it, I actually had a dream about a grain board, and in my dream it broke into three pieces after all the work I went through to make it so I took that as the final sign. Inferior foldup cardboard it is.

A fond farewell to the old board, on which I have cut countless hundreds of projects!

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My prize for winning second place in the recycling contest for my sweater hat is a free pattern from Pattern Review. I cannot decide what to get! The only thing I've come up with is Burda 7890, for the top that is from a BWOF magazine that precedes my subscription (Karen and Cabinbaby have made it, among others). But that seems kind of boring to choose for a prize.

Any suggestions on what you all would like to see me make? I always catch Simplicity on sale at Joann, though their Butterick sales are few and far between and I don't catch McCall or Vogue sales too often so I'd be open to a BMV (especially V) but it would be smarter to choose something I can never get on sale. I thought of just getting the Vogue Tracy Reese dress, but honestly for as much as I love Tracy Reese I just don't think it's that special. Nobody has made it yet; I may change my mind when I see it made up.

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I have to decide what to pack for Miami! I leave on Monday. The big issue is shoes; once I decide what color shoes to bring everything else will fall into place.

I am going to try to finish my sewing back story over the weekend and set it up to post while I'm gone, but I'm not making any promises!