We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them

I can't take credit for the title, that is actually from Steve Jobs.  I really can't imagine him saying it, but I thought it was funny. :P

So, why am I talking about buttons??  Well, it's because my darling husband sat down tonight and helped me make my first ever button for the blog!  and by "helped me" I mean he did it and I sat there and said, "I want pink on it"  "We need more colors"  :P  I did do a little bit in photoshop, though.

Anyways!! I have the buttons for the sewalong.  Go ahead and copy and paste 'em to your blog or you can print it out and hang it on your fridge :P whatever works for you.

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Also, I officially started a flickr group so that all of the images are in one spot.  Anyways, I just want a casual sew along, no strict deadlines or anything.  But, if you follow the posts while I post them or follow them a year after the fact, I would love to see anything you made (hence the flickr group).

I am pretty excited, can you tell?  Not going to lie, I think I may be more excited to make another shirtwaist dress...I may have a problem :P

I got an award!

Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised that people read my blog.  I started this blog *almost* a year ago and I wasn't even sure if I would get one follower.  I am now up to 15 followers!  While this isn't a gigantic number, it's 15 more than I originally thought!

One of my favorite blogs, One Crafty Minx, nominated me for the Liebster award, which is an award for blogs with less than 200 followers.  I am so honored that she gave the award and I have been telling my husband and daughter that I got an award :P

So, first things first, I have to tell you 11 facts about myself.

1. I am painfully shy in real life.
2. However, once I get to know you, you wont be able to shut me up!  My poor mother-in-law found this out one night a couple years ago!
3. I ramble.  This is my third time writing this post!  The first one turned into a crazy essay and I've been trying to get the word count down ;)
4. I have an irrational rational fear of birds, well actually most flying things.  I have been known to scream and to let my then three year old sit 30 yards away from me because she was eating a donut and the birds were flocking to her.  I kept my eye on her, but I stayed far away.
5. I have an addiction to crime shows!  Law and order, dateline, deadly women (I'm watching that now!!), pretty much every show on ID.
6. I don't have television.  My husband and I had it at one point, but we decided it was just a time suck...so now we use youtube as our time suck!
7. I am wiccan.  I don't know if this will offend anyone, but yeah, I'm wiccan. 
8. I am a recovering anorexic.  I don't know if this should be on here, but it is a fact about me and I am unapologetic about it.  In high school I got down to 86 pounds (I've been 5'3" since 5th grade) and I was anorexic for 6 years before I started recovering from it.  When I started gaining weight, everyone at school thought I was pregnant.  I occasionally have relapses and I just recently got out from a 3-4 week relapse.  It's something I will just have to live with.
9. My favorite color is rainbow.  :D  I love bright colors!  However, I guess it's getting apparent that I really like blue and purple.  I think I only made blue and purple things for the blog this last year!
10. I'm a photographer.  There aren't many examples of my work on this blog,  I don't know why.  I deal mainly with self portraits in my fine art.  I should put more of my work on here....
11. One of my favorite movies is Crybaby!  It was a horrible movie, but I love it!  I think it's a musical that makes fun of musicals.  I just love it!  However, every time I watch it, I realize that I would probably be a square and not a drape :(  I actually named my first sewing machine Pepper because of a quote from crybaby "Now, Pepper's pregnant, but she can fight like a man".  Turns out my sewing machine was crap and now I have a Janome that I named Peppermint Patty.

Okay, so now I answer the questions posed by A Crafty Minx:

1. What has made you smile today?  My daughter made me a play-doh marshmallow with pink dots all over it.  She said, "It's a marshmallow with chicken pox!  Do you want to eat it??"  Ummmm, no, not now.
2. What song makes you turn the radio off?  I have a pandora account, so I don't really have too many songs that I turn off, however, if Chris Brown comes on I click thumbs down.  I like his music, but I have a thing about men who beat up women...I just can't let it go (and I don't even care about the lives of famous people!!)
3. What is your irrational fear?  I don't think I have any.  My husband thinks my fear of birds is pretty irrational though.  I don't think so.  I mean, have you seen the beady eyes, sharp beak, and claws??
4. What destination is top on your holiday list?  I would LOVE to take my husband and daughter to New York.  I went in high school and I got to watch Wicked (before Wicked was so crazy).  I got to see Kristen Chenoweth on stage, in person, before she was so well known!  And not to mention, I got to meet and CONVERSE with Richard Dreyfus!  Yes, for a split second, Richard fucking Dreyfus knew I existed.  Sorry, I was raised on Jaws.
5. If you could do anything as a career, what would it be?  Easy, I would be a PAID photographer :P
6. What is your favorite item in your house?  I have a BEAUTIFUL sideboard that I bought at Salvation Army for 70% off!  It had just been marked down and then the 70% off made it $7!  It was my first piece of furniture that I have ever purchased.
7. What is my exercise of choice?  I love riding my bike (I named her Doris, after Doris Day).  
8. What are you most likely to be doing when you're not blogging?  People, I have a husband and a four year old.  If I'm not blogging or sewing, I am cleaning!  Ugh.
9. What is the last film you saw in the Cinema?  Ummmm, Wreck it Ralph.  Without the munchkin, the last film I saw was Looper.  Have I redeemed myself??
10. What is your favorite weather?  Rain!  I just love watching it rain, I love going for puddle walks and I love to shot (camera) in the rain.
11. Do you have a specialty in the kitchen?  I am known for my baking and for cooking vegetarian/vegan.  My parents get nervous when I cook at their house.  I don't cook vegetarian for them...last time I was down, I roasted a freakin' pork loin.  My brother-in-law asks me if I give him "real food".

Now I get to ask my nominees questions.

1. What is your favorite movie?
2. What is your favorite fabric to work with?
3. What is your least favorite fabric to work with?
4. What is your happiest childhood moment?
5. Who was your first love?
6. If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?
7. What is your favorite board game (or video game)?
8. What is your favorite thing you have ever made (clothing or not)?
9. How do you keep organized?
10. What is your favorite time of day?
11. What is your favorite book? (would expect any other question from the Bookworm Sewist??)

Ok, my nominees are:

1. Nothy Lane from Aft Agley is one of my favorite bloggers!  Not to mention I won the pattern pyramid from her :P
2. Pretty Grievances-everytime I read her blog, all I think of is Molly Ringwald and leopard print!  Right now she's doing an awesome feature "Jungle January".
3. Purls and Pleats-everything she makes just looks so nice and always pushes me to up my constuction standards.
4. Crafting a Rainbow-You may know her from all of the sewing dares she's passing around!  
5. Falling through your clothes-I love her writing style!  Everything is always such fun to read.
6. Young, Broke, and Fabulous-need I say more?   I love her style and envy the swing dancing she does!
7. Making it Well- I found this blog through the SewColette sew along.  I pretty much love everything she makes (especially her knitting!)
8. Not your average average-she's growing out her pixie right now, but man seeing her dresses with her pixie, makes me really want to get a pixie cut :P
9. School of Moxie- I am not sure if she has under 200 followers, but I love her (new-to-me) blog!  Plus, she wiccan and reads tarot cards...how could I not??
10. I heart fabric- I love all of her makes, but I especially love her versions of the Colette Macaroon pattern!

Man, that was interesting exercise.  I was really surprised how many of my favorite blogs have under 200 followers.

Thank you Crafty Minx for nominating me!  I'm sorry it took forever to put up here, but I have been working on it for a while (I promise!!)

Gertie's Shirtwaist Dress and an Announcement!

Soooo, I made another shirtwaist dress from Gertie's book!  Have I mentioned how much I love this dress??  I could seriously live in these!  This dress is impeccably drafted and is so freakin comfortable and at the same time adorable, I think everyone needs one!

I made this dress in a different cotton lawn.  This lawn, I had been eyeing from Denver fabrics for a looooong time, but I never bought it.  A couple months ago, I decided that I was just going to buy it and get it over with.  Shortly after I got my copy of Gertie's book and it was a match made in heaven :P  I must say that I am a *little* disappointed in this fabric.  It is slightly see through and isn't as soft as my green dress.  I bought both pieces of fabric from Denver fabrics (FYI).

Here is the shot of the back with the shirring.  Have I mentioned that I love this dress yet??  I wore it out to dinner last night and it was super comfortable.  The one thing I changed about this dress is the shoulders.  I took 1/2" out of the top of the shoulder.  I think this dress is slightly more flattering than the green one, however I love both. 

Ohhh the glorious shirring!  Have I mentioned that I love this dress? :P  Okay, enough of that.  My shirring lines look a little wonky here, but they are actually super straight-it's just how the dress is on the hanger.  This shirring is amazing and I loveses it.  I want to add shirring to every dress I own.  

Okay, as much as I love the shirring, I HAD to show you my buttons.  I had some teal buttons that I was going to use for the dress originally, but they were a little too contrasting.  So, I wanted to make fabric covered buttons and then I remembered a vintage dress I saw at a local vintage dress shop.  There were two layers of fabric on the buttons, one of white satin and another of white lace (it was a wedding dress).  I fell in love with the idea and vowed to use it as soon as possible!  Flash forward a year (isn't that how it always happens), I was putting all of my new fabric from L.A. away and realized that I had a ton of teal lace and it would be a perfect time to use this technique.  I'm not going to lie, it was MUCH harder to do two layers of fabric on the buttons than just one, but I think it was worth it.  IT adds a little texture and a little color, but from far away, it just looks like teal buttons. I would definitely use this technique again.

So, for the big announcement??  I am officially announcing the sew along for this dress!  I am so excited!    My wonderful hubby is going to make us a button and everything (more to come on that), and I have the whole thing kind of planned out.  I even saved my first muslin to show you guys (aren't I nice?).  The sew along officially starts on February 4th!  I figured that would be enough time for people to gather supplies, but I will be posting fabric recommendations and a supply list before then.

So, are you going to be joining me in making yet another shirtwaist dress??

Fabric Porn!!

As a warning, there are 23 pictures in this blog post! I wanted to thank all the well wishes and birthday wishes on my last post! I had a pretty good birthday, by the time my bday rolled around, 80% of my symptoms were gone, I still felt like shit, though. I felt like I was dying and I may or may not have given my last requests/words to my husband. I even apologized to my mom for being a "little asshole" when I was a teen. Oh yeah, I didn't mention that, I had food poisoning/stomach flu at my parents house. So, a four days before the horribleness set in, my husband and I drove to my parent's house (my daughter was already there), and then my mom, husband, daughter, and I drove to LA to celebrate my birthday. On a side note, I told my daughter that we were going to Downtown Disney and if she wanted a princess dress, she would have to save up her own money. She ended up saving $130!! That is a crazy amount for a four year old!! I'm so proud! She bought two and my mom bought her another two. *le sigh* $250 worth of princess tulle. ANYWAYS! I wanted to go to the Loft for my birthday and I brought $200 to spend in the garment district and just like last time, I couldn't spend all of it! So, I wanted to post my spoils here. Look away now for fear of fabric envy! So, I'll show the "expensive fabric".  These two I got at Michael Levine.

This is a really nice, lightweight shirting for my sweetie.  I wanted to make him a colette Negroni as a thank you for driving to LA.  Now I want to make him a Negroni to say, "thank you for putting up with me when I am sick and whiney.  I got 2.5 yards at $6 a yard

I immediately thought Hazel for this one...but I already have a plaid hazel...we'll see.  This was 3 yards at $5 a yard.

We also went to a smaller fabric shop and I picked these two for $3.99 a yard.

I just fell in love with the emerald-y green in this gingham!  I'm thinking maybe something from Gertie's book for this summer. 4 yards

Obviously I love plaids, but this is the last one!!  I got 3 yards of this one.

Ok!  Now for the stuff from the loft.  I ended up getting everything for about $1 a yard :D

cotton/rayon blend 60" 4 yards

cotton/rayon knit 60" 3 yards

cotton/rayon blend (feels like a voile, maybe a maxi skirt/dress?) 55" 3 yards

polyester-but this is a nice poly and the fabric is so pretty!  There are two wide columns of this print running vertically through the fabric. 60" 4.25 yards

I LOVE this abstract floral print!!  It's acrylic and not the best quality, but I think it should be okay if I make it into a sleeveless blouse... acrylic 54" 2.33 yards

Nylon 60" 1 yard

I actually got this for a reason.  My daughter starts kindergarten in the fall and she has already chosen her first day of school dress she wants me to make her:

Man, my kid has sophisticated taste for a four year old.  I wont make it all white, and I'm going to change the skirt part and make it more kid-like.

Rayon 55" 3.5 yards 

Rayon 60" 5 yards

Can't you see this made up with Chantilly??

acrylic 60" 3.3 yards

53" 1.5 yards

My daughter actually picked this out for herself.  If there was more yardage I would steal it for myself.  Wait....do I have the same tastes as a four year old??  Hmmmmm, I did get a lot of floral....

66" 3 yards

Ok, I don't know what this is.  It is a stretchy, heavy, very stable knit.  The burn test says that it's an "olefin" which is used for athletic clothes.  Hmmmmm....but I loved the print.  Maybe a knit pencil skirt and CRAZY yoga pants :P

Polyester 50" 2yards

This is another good quality poly.

ITY knit 60" 4.25 yards

Ok, it's hard to see in this picture, but the flowers on this are ginormous!!  Seriously, they are about the size of my face...actually most of them are bigger.  Maxi dress??

Nylon 55" 3 yards

Mmmmm, this lace is soft and silky, I can't wait to use it.  I *may* make it into a wrap dress.  We'll see.

Poly sweater knit 54" 3/4 yard

This isn't actually mine!  My husband found it and decided to make it into a sweater for our daughter.  That will probably have to wait until next fall, though.

cotton/rayon blend (feels like a lawn) 54" 4 2/3 yard

*squee* I am a sucker for novelty prints, but I don't like wearing quilting cottons.  So, they're hard to find for me.  I actually squeed aloud when I saw this (That just doesn't sound right).  I don't know if you guys know this, but when I was in middle school/high school I had a horse named Brown Sugar (I didn't even name her that...the Rolling Stones follow me everywhere).  Anyways, I see a summer dress made out of this and I am going to wear it to some fairs this summer :)

Close up of the awesome horsies:

The horsies are my second favorite, but this is my favorite fabric I got!

Stretch cotton sateen 54" 2.3 yards

On our way to L.A. my sweetie asked me what I was hoping to find.  I said I was hoping to find a "vintagey hawaiian print" at Islands Fabrics.  We ended up not getting to Islands, but I found this at the Loft.  This was the EXACT fabric I was looking for!! Well, except for the stretch, but that's fine.

Anyways!  This was what I did to celebrate my birthday.  I also got a crazy awesome owl mug from Pier One!  I should post what my Sweetie got me for Christmas...it's awesome :D  But, I will save that for another day.

Happy birthday to me!!

Yay! Today is my birthday! I love birthdays! I had a plan to announce the gertie's shirtwaist dress sewalong today, but alas, I am in bed with either food poisoning or the stomach flu. I have a few updates planned and a blogging award that I need to put up. I am feeling much better today, so hopefully those posts will happen very soon. Anyways! Happy new year and of course, happy birthday to me :D