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!

a tale of 2 fleeces

if you find me quirky, you'd better believe that my quirkiness derived from mom and dad's quirkiness.  they don't have a problem matching, so i figured i'd make them matching red fleeces for christmas (actually, truth is these were last year's christmas gift...  i'm at the stage of announcing gifts for my 1st year of holiday gifts, then executing them for the 2nd year's gifts... terrible child i am).  eric and i also don't have a problem matching, hahahhahahah, we both have very similar green hoodies.

from 1 red fleece blanket, i made these 2 jackets: mom's has a grey sports zipper and dad's has a white one (his is actually double-sided... not that these jackets are double-sided... a waste of a zipper, i know).  things were zipping right along until i sewed dad's left sleeve onto mom's jacket by accident, HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!  oopsies.  look how long and roomy it looks below, on mom's jacket.

otherwise, nothing else was new or interesting with this project, as this makes the 3rd of dad's fleece jackets and mom's 2nd.

dad got his elastic sleeves (i wish he'd prefer non-elastic ones as elastics are so PESKY)

mom doesn't care, so of course, she gets no elastic on her sleeves, hahahhaa.  hey, i do what i can to get these gifts out faster!  after this project, i learned that all my skipped stitches are caused by using a ballpoint needle vs a stretch needle.  (omg they drive me CRAZY!!!  i'm a perfectionist so i will go over skipped stitches over and over again until a regular stitch gets laid down.) now here's the annoying thing: ballpoint needles are sold as knit/stretchy fabric needles.  fleece is a type of knit.  so why the heck are there also stretch needles!??!?!?  apparently stretch needles are for very stretchy knits, which apparently include fleece.  i've hated sewing fleece for years.  now, no more skipped stitches!!!  YIPPEE!  i learned this from reading someone's sewing blog.  who knows, maybe i just taught you a thing or 2 hehe.

here's a pear pandowdy i made recently.  it was good, in theory, but a bit sweet.  pandowdy is essentially a top crust pie whose top crust gets sunk in to get soaked in all the yummy juices.  i used an apple pandowdy recipe and didn't realize that ripe pears are sweeter than ripe apples.  

hitched!

i was never a romantic.  never really wanted a wedding (although i was down for marriage), certainly nothing big and fancy.  then, i met eric, the biggest romantic of all.  we decided we'd get married in montana, at the foot of the bridger mountains, with wildflowers as our centerpieces.  small affair, VERY small affair.  i would make my dress (and my mom's!).  eric's mom coordinated all the floral arrangements.  there were stunning!  we all know i love bright colors (i wanted a bright wedding dress, but apparently everyone thought that was a bad idea...) . here's the arrangement at our table:

for my dress, i had a theory cream silk strapless dress i bought years ago at a sample sale and never wore.  the neckline, although straight across, would gape open (i lack volume up top), and i hated the idea of having to wear a strapless dress to my wedding, only having to hike up my dress every 10 mins.  no thanks.  so, i pinched together the center of the dress under the sweep across the bust and stitched it narrower, and made myself 2 straps (one with floral applique, one plain) and a floral belt.  me, getting ready with mom and eric's mom helping:

i found the most beautiful 3d floral appliques on etsy:

so pretty:

i bought 8 small panels, then clipped all the flower clusters apart so that i could make my own arrangement!

for mom's dress, i used simplicity 8293, view b, which had a lined bodice and sheer sleeves.  mom is super modest, as i've noted many times, so she wanted a high neckline.  omg the sleeves were SO narrow.  i drafted my own butterfly sleeve pattern and made my own sleeves so that mom would be able to move her arms around, hehe. 

her fabric was a lace i found on etsy, now THE most expensive fabric i've ever bought, but so pretty.  i loved the dress on her (close up pic earlier, in the pic of us getting ready).  she, on the other hand, found it a bit short (hey, why not show off her cute little knees a little??).   this is a pic of the 'rents and me walking to the ceremony, held on the grounds of a scottish highland cattle ranch.  they plowed the field just to our liking:

we had a mixed ceremony.  there was a pre-ceremony for really close family, held next to the ranch.  the pre-ceremony was at this really cute b+b, along a brook, super lush and beautiful.  this is probably my favorite pic of eric and i: i love the green, the flowers, and the brook in the background.  i wish both our faces were focused, not just mine.  had to have some red in my ensemble: my shoes!

we held a tea ceremony where we both honored our ancestors and parents.  the grounds of this ranch were stunning.  view of ross peak in the background.  the chuppah was made with white birch poles that eric and our friend matt sourced from the woods by the house, hehe.  the fabric was primarily made of gauze that eric's mom selected, appliques from mom's own wedding dress (!!!), and the corners were made of the linen from the curtains for our house!  all were tied to the poles with leather from the factory of course!

i love this photo:

detail shot of the back of my dress.  here's a little secret: the straps and belt were made with remnants from a silk bedsheet i once had that got really worn and ripped in some spots.  i've used it to line several of my garments now.  it was the perfect color match to the dress, hehehehhehee!

for party favors: our diemaker for the factory gifted us a debossing die as a wedding gift.  adrea, my oldest friend from nerd camp ehheheheh, designed the logo (i sent her photos of the wedding site and the mountain peak in the back, and she drew it!!  note the 2 little bunnies at the very bottom, eeee!!!)  we then cut and debossed coasters as party favors.  red, gold, and brown leather!

neither eric nor i like cake.  we served pies for dessert instead.  the bakery made a small topper for us to cut.  the pies weren't that tasty, unfortunately.  more beautiful than what i can make, but i prefer the taste of mine!

and now we're off to building a life for ourselves out in montana!  we love it here.

we've now got a baby on the way!  due end of april/early may!  i've been working on some baby clothes; post on that, next!

we moved!

hihi!  still alive, don't worry!  life's been crazy busy the past couple months!  the last make i created was with leather from the factory!

you might recognize the pattern (i've made this 4 times now.  still an all-time fav.)  the kangaroo pocket was made with lamba, this lamb-like leather.  (i kept calling it lambda, you know, like the greek letter in lots of math problems?  eric would bust out in laughter every time i said that, hehe.)

i never wore it out yet, so this is the only pic i could find of it (when i snapped a pic for shirley hehe):

then eric and i moved the leather factory and our home and all the furballs to bozeman, mt!!  turns out the lil fuzz (we actually call him the moofuzz now) loves moving.  so many fun new perches

and new hiding spots!

so much fun that at the end of each day of packing, moo would pass out on the floor, not quite making his blanket hehe.

for us humans, the move included many hitches (unfortunately not literal ones, as his car broke down hauling the trailer shortly after leaving his folks' house, so we had to switch to a big uhaul truck, hehe).  here's all our stuff, shoved in the trailer and his car when leaving brooklyn.  still can't believe it all fit.

the lil moo fuzz sat in my lap on the drive first to westchester.

westchester proved to be great fun, as he found even more hiding nooks in eric's childhood bedroom...

he wasn't so lucky when we switched to the truck, as he could only fit behind eric's driver seat, hehe.  backseat driver, that wabbit!

the drive was very long.  we passed many states i'd never been to!

the truck cabin had eric driving, me in the middle, and mario (our employee who made the move with us!!) in the passenger seat.  cramped quarters, yo.

we drove through several tornado watches, 50+ mph gusts, snow storms.  the hotel pitstops were hilarious.  we def snuck in all 3 animals on a bellhop cart once...

our one sightseeing stop was the badlands in south dakota.  stunning geology!

finalllllllly after 3 days of many hours of driving, we made it!  this greeted us:

the scenery is stunning here.  mountains everywhere.  it's literally my view on my drive to and from work each day.  the first order of business once we found a house to rent?  a garden!  here's a view of the back of my car, the day we went to the nursery to pick up starters:

montana soil is very very dry and not conducive to growing.  we tilled the backyard TWICE.  we figured we'd work with starters this year, mixed with some seeds, and then switch to mostly seeds next year.  About 1/3 of the back yard is our veggie garden.  i calculated 1750 sq ft of growing space!  putting up the fence was a total nightmare (montana soil is HARD!), but we did it!

we're now enjoying the fruits of our hard labor!  rainbow chard and mixed lettuce:

the chard got cooked into stuffed shells!  (omg easily my new fav meal, well after eggplant parm and meatballs of course)

here's a sink full of huge spinach, which eric turned into spanikopita!

eric turned his green thumb on house plants.  he made me a planter with 3 varieties of succulents for my sewing room!  (yes, we live in a house now AND I HAVE MY OWN SEWING ROOM!!!  AHHHHHHHH!!!!!)

the first thing i've sewn in my awesome sewing room was with this splurge of linen from ellen degeneres' line at joann's.  man was it pricy!!  pricier than any clothing fabric i've bought, but then i had a big coupon, wheeeee.

i made curtains for our house!  (here's eric practicing singing for our wedding with his buddy mike)

i also made ties so they could be tied back to capitalize on sun when we wanted it.

food-wise, the last new meal eric cooked back in brooklyn was authentic hot and sour soup!  OMG soooo good.  

i made mint chocolate chip cookies (i'd never seen mint chips before!).  they were so addictive.  

in montana, the first thing i baked was peach pie!  i've been working on my baking presentation...

not bad, right?  made some brownies with natural cane sugar, next.  i think natural cane sugar makes things bake fluffier/more cake-like.  i'm not sure why, but i followed the recipe exactly as i always do and this was just full!  so delicious, yo.

then i made a berry pie from blackberries, blueberries, and cherries.  even better looking, no?

had never put cherries in a pie, but i think i'm a fan!  at least when i make it... hehe.

next post: wedding dresses!