a maternity dress for the baby shower!

eric's mom and sister threw us a baby shower the 1st weekend of march.  the affair was amazing: delicious homemade food, adorable woodland-themed decorations, great company.  they put a lot of work into planning the event: alice wrote beautiful poems for the invitations and melissa had them printed with the cutest animals!  EEEEE!  it seemed only appropriate that I make a dress for the event (particularly since i'm a shrimp and store-bought petite xs maternity clothes are EXTREMELY hard to find)!!!

I've never made or owned a wrap dress before, so I knew that a wrap dress, appropriate for baby bumps, was the route to go.  however, since baby bumps create the need for a lot of extra fabric in the front, I needed to find a sewing pattern that either was meant for maternity or had a maternity hack.  (I was hoping for one with a hack so I could reuse the pattern later after the baby was born.). "sew over it," a british indy pattern company had just a wrap dress pattern with a pregos hack, called the "ultimate wrap dress".  a pdf pattern no less, for those of us who prefer instant gratification hehehehe!  for fabric, I used this stretchy spandexy fabric I bought 10 years ago at "g street fabrics," my favorite fabric store from my dc days.  I describe this as "diane von furstenburg on acid" hahahahaha.  it has an amazing drape to it and is so smooth to the touch!

it is certainly bold, to say the least.  the navy diamond pattern was actually the border of the fabric, so I used it (uncut) on both sleeves and to line the neckline.  shirley always teases me for having the brightest clothing, and this dress certainly did not disappoint!

the pattern was hilarious: most folks on the web who have sewn this dress noted that it was very very short, reaching only mid-thigh.  at 5' tall, I figured, "awesome, no need to shorten this dress!" (my usual needed pattern adjustment) for the hack, the pattern had you add 5 inches to the center front, to make room for the baby bump.  so 5 inches I added.  when it came time to try on the dress, eric was frightened.  "uh honey, that looks really big and frumpy on you..."  he was right, the dress came to below my knee caps, NEVER a good spot for a dress to end on me.  sure enough, I ended up taking up the bottom hem by 5 inches, meaning I hacked off the pattern hack AND had to continue taking the 5 inches out of the sides and back of the dress.  this ultimate wrap dress ultimately had to be shortened as well!

here's eric and i reading all the suggestion cards from our guests.  cute pic, isn't it?!?!?  look how well this dress fit me at the shoulders!!!  EEEEE!!!!

I made a belt for the empire waist with the border fabric, which you can't see in the pic above but kinda can in the pic below.  jimmy drove all the way from pittsburgh to ct to celebrate with us!

once all the baby-making is done, I'm going to shorten the front panel once more to make it normal so I can continue to wear the dress.  it's just too cute and wild to not wear again!

the fuzz-feed:   eric caught him napping in the sun!!  so innocent-looking, but don't be fooled!

here he is guarding the parsley plant that eric's dad protected from his evil bunny clutches, hahahahah!

I recently made cauliflower potato soup that was divine!  making it for din tonight too!

I've been making us a batch of muffins every week for snacks at the factory.  here's apple walnut:

and finally, some cinnamon chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  so good, didn't last long!

a tale of 2 cowl neck tops

i swear this is the last of my tale of 2 items, for now.  hehe.  for the holidays (for jodie) and for adrea's 35th bday, i made both fabulous ladies my favorite top, ever.  twinkle sews' "take manhattan" top.  i learned from when i made this top for myself with lamba pockets that lamba was far too heavy of a leather, so i consulted the local leather expert, eric hehehe, and he suggested i use real lamb for the pockets instead, as lamb is far lighter than lamba.  now a small disclosure: while eric loves helping me design for my sewing projects, this does happen to be his least favorite top, ever.  he hates cowl necks.  hahahahaha, too bad i have 2 versions of it myself.

for the 1st one for jodie, eric chose an eggplant lamb, as this lady loves her purple.  she probably sports purple every day, somewhere in her outfits!  for the main body of the fabric, i used a very thin navy and white striped fabric.  jodie lives in northern montana, is fiancee to our dear friend mike (!!!!), and life is more casual up there, so a more casual rendition this is.  i topstitched the leather in bright purple thread for a little contrast.

the pocket also has a double line of stitching down the center to separate it into 2 pockets.  topstitching on leather, with no guide lines is NOT EASY.  i did my best, using all the tricks up my leather expert's sleeve.

along the edges, i also topstitched in this purple thread.  it actually looks navy from afar, but jodie and i know it's really purple!

the cowl doesn't drape as nice as i had hoped (duh helen! shirting fabric doesn't really drape!), but i thought jodie looked super cute in it when she wore it out to dinner last weekend when visiting!

the 2nd top was for my oldest friend ever, adrea, the goose.  gal lives in boston.  she has a super hoppin' social life, with fancy dinner dates out in the city with her hubs, cocktails, the works.  i decided to make her a black version.  eric always chuckles at my regular errors in stitching, BECAUSE I ALWAYS DO MAKE AT LEAST 1 ERROR, GRRRRRR, and for adrea, I somehow stitched the cowl into a mobius strip.  this isn't the first time i've stitched a mobius strip.  sigh.

adrea's has a brown lamb pocket.   (eric has such great leather taste!!)  i wanted a little bit of contrast, hence why i didn't go with a black pocket like in mine.  i used the same black fabric as in my black version, but lucky girl, her pocket doesn't sag like mine hehehehe.

i love making this pattern.  the style is so modern and fun.  one day i'll branch out!

a tale of 2 pj pants

i'm becoming a fan of double sewing.  by the time i figure out how to stitch one of the items, i might as well stitch a second right after.  lots of times I'm remaking items that have lived long fruitful lives, so why not make a double.  recently i found myself really lacking in flannel pj pants.  REALLY lacking.  my blue striped ones from 5 years ago got shredded in the washer at an airbnb we stayed in right when we moved to montana, and my green explorer monkey pants are so worn around the waistband and knee that there are holes everywhere.  time for new ones.  

the first ones i made, shirley has dubbed the italian cookie pants.  she's kinda right, they are colored just like italian cookies.  here i am, stoked that i have new flannel pants.  moo is photobombing, so cute!  my little baby bump is starting to show, hehe

I installed a bow in the front so i can find the front vs. the back easier.  eric really wanted me to remake more monkey pants, as he claims the green jungle exploring monkey pants he so associates with me.  so, i found a tropical swinging monkey in my fabric stash to use!  (i probably bought this flannel 8 yrs ago at joann's!)

since I had some extra, I made the baby some flannel pj pants too!!!  baby clothes are so tiny and cute!!!  omg omg omg!  (ok, I realize these are more like toddler pants, i think... still not sure how to size children's clothing)

 I mean check out how adorable these are!

eric and I have been exploring bozeman every weekend, tackling a new trail each time, snowshoeing.  i absolutely love it.  here is a great shot of him taking a shot of grotto falls, up in hyalite canyon.  so so so so so stunning.  i feel so fortunate to live out here surrounded by this easy access to natural beauty!

here's a huge meadow, also in hyalite canyon, surrounded by peaks on both sides.  eric is so weeeeeeeee!

and i had to end with a picture of the moo, spread out on the couch, as if he was king of the living room.  he does rule the animal kingdom in our house.  the cats quiver when he approaches, ahahahah!