Or that moment when I looked at my daughter's chore chart and channeled my inner George Takei...
::facepalm::
Or that moment when I looked at my daughter's chore chart and channeled my inner George Takei...
Poly/Spandex Nation
There's a time and place for Polyester and Spandex. But not MOST of the time. During my latest foray into the fabric forest at the local Fabric Mega Mart, I was astounded to see that roughly 90% of the apparel fabrics contained Polyester. And not even "nice" Polyester. At prices that were shocking considering the quality of fabric on the racks. Even with a 40% off (or more!) coupon I still wouldn't WEAR it. It's itchy & scratchy and not in a Simpsons-esque manner.
Frankly, I'm not surprised since my latest trip to a Mall produced much the same results in the department stores. The fabrics were better than 70s Polyester Double-Knit, but not by much. I swear I saw a PDK jacket in the window of a store that is known for being "fashion forward".
Now I might be missing something, but since when is going back 35 years to a time we all wished we could forget fashion-wise "fashion *forward*"?
Burda, I'm talking to you.
Let's all party like it's 1969. At least they matched the plaid so I didn't have to gouge my eyes out.
Now back to my rant on Polyester. If you subtract the fleece & flannel from what's on the shelves, you're left with knit. Knits galore. Ponte knit = scratchy, Swimsuit knit = can't go outside in that even in our Year Round Summer in Florida, Jersey knit = great for tshirts and an occasional dress, but a royal PITN (pain in the neck) to sew. And various and sundry other knits that I wouldn't be caught dead in. Ribknits are for undershirts or cuffs/collars on tshirts/sweatshirts.
I found exactly ONE bolt of fabric that had a lovely feel to it. I wanted to wrap myself in it and rub it all over me. It was a Poly/Rayon/Spandex blend. For $20/yard. It was a coat-weight fabric which would look amazing as a suit jacket or overcoat.
What I want to know is WHAT HAPPENED TO VISCOSE???? The woven kind? It's SOFT and it drapes beautifully. Rayon was such a popular fabric in the 30s/40s. Why has it dropped out of fashion? It's not near as much of a pain to care for as cotton or linen. Sure it wrinkles a bit if you leave it in the dryer for a while after it's done drying, but is that a reason to avoid it?
Have we gone so far into the Valley of the Shadow of Spandex that we can't wear wovens any more? Or is it just that where I am there's not that great of a selection of fashion fabric?
I'm insanely jealous of those lucky folks who have access to places like Mood. To be able to lose myself in their bolts of fabrics of so much variety. How much does a round trip ticket to NYC cost these days? I know you CAN order online from lots of places, but I have to SEE it and TOUCH it to be able to decide whether or not it works for me.
Frankly, I'm not surprised since my latest trip to a Mall produced much the same results in the department stores. The fabrics were better than 70s Polyester Double-Knit, but not by much. I swear I saw a PDK jacket in the window of a store that is known for being "fashion forward".
Now I might be missing something, but since when is going back 35 years to a time we all wished we could forget fashion-wise "fashion *forward*"?
Burda, I'm talking to you.
 |
| Burda Collection 2012/2013 |
Now back to my rant on Polyester. If you subtract the fleece & flannel from what's on the shelves, you're left with knit. Knits galore. Ponte knit = scratchy, Swimsuit knit = can't go outside in that even in our Year Round Summer in Florida, Jersey knit = great for tshirts and an occasional dress, but a royal PITN (pain in the neck) to sew. And various and sundry other knits that I wouldn't be caught dead in. Ribknits are for undershirts or cuffs/collars on tshirts/sweatshirts.
I found exactly ONE bolt of fabric that had a lovely feel to it. I wanted to wrap myself in it and rub it all over me. It was a Poly/Rayon/Spandex blend. For $20/yard. It was a coat-weight fabric which would look amazing as a suit jacket or overcoat.
What I want to know is WHAT HAPPENED TO VISCOSE???? The woven kind? It's SOFT and it drapes beautifully. Rayon was such a popular fabric in the 30s/40s. Why has it dropped out of fashion? It's not near as much of a pain to care for as cotton or linen. Sure it wrinkles a bit if you leave it in the dryer for a while after it's done drying, but is that a reason to avoid it?
Have we gone so far into the Valley of the Shadow of Spandex that we can't wear wovens any more? Or is it just that where I am there's not that great of a selection of fashion fabric?
I'm insanely jealous of those lucky folks who have access to places like Mood. To be able to lose myself in their bolts of fabrics of so much variety. How much does a round trip ticket to NYC cost these days? I know you CAN order online from lots of places, but I have to SEE it and TOUCH it to be able to decide whether or not it works for me.
Here she is... Miss America...
Or rather, our middle child as a National American Miss Jr. Preteen State Finalist.
While she didn't make the Top 15 in her division, she did have a ton of fun and is determined to come back next year and really bring it. This was her very first "big" competition and she learned a lot. We'll be receiving her scores sometime between September & October so we'll have some guidance for how to improve.
Next week, she and I will be heading off to Royal Galaxy Pageant's National/International combined event while her siblings are at camp. This was truly serendipitous because she won her entry paid to Royal Galaxy via a contest on The Pageant Planet. I had been worried about how we'd spend the week since her brother and sister had all day camp. As it turns out, I shouldn't have worried at all.
Her dress & shoes are courtesy of The Aventura Bridal. The dress was designed especially for her by the owner of the shop and it's a great honor to have The Aventura Bridal as a sponsor.
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| Pretty Princess & Proud Papa |
Next week, she and I will be heading off to Royal Galaxy Pageant's National/International combined event while her siblings are at camp. This was truly serendipitous because she won her entry paid to Royal Galaxy via a contest on The Pageant Planet. I had been worried about how we'd spend the week since her brother and sister had all day camp. As it turns out, I shouldn't have worried at all.
Her dress & shoes are courtesy of The Aventura Bridal. The dress was designed especially for her by the owner of the shop and it's a great honor to have The Aventura Bridal as a sponsor.
Playing the catch-up game
Since I've neglected my own blogs for almost a year, the side effect was that I neglected to keep up with the blogs I was following as well. The Blogger/Google Reader app for my Android phone quite frankly sucked. It was SO much of a pain that I eventually threw in the towel and said "When I get some spare time..."
And we ALL know how that goes. Some things that happened in the last 12 months:
I was diagnosed with ADD. Which means better living through Big Pharma for me to be able to cope with life. That's fine, though, because I've never been MORE productive and MORE focused in my life. So YAY DRUGS!
My oldest daughter was diagnosed with ADD. Actually, SHE was diagnosed first and then I got my diagnosis. But this is my blog, so I come first. MUAHAHAHAHAH See "Better living through Big Pharma" for her too. Her issues are different than mine so she gets more/different meds than me. All I can say is that they WORK and she's actually acting like a normal 10 year old. Most of the time.
My oldest daughter was diagnosed with "pituitary dwarfism", that is, lack of growth hormone. So she gets injections every night for her condition. She's getting so TALL now.
My younger daughter started participating in pageants. She's done really well all things considered. She's won quite a few titles and this weekend we're off to our state's National American Miss finals. She's wearing a suit I made from a vintage pattern for her interview suit. She'll also be representing our state at the Royal Galaxy National/International Pageant at the end of this month, thanks to the help and votes of my family and online community.
Incidentally, her formal wear and theme wear both took first place at a local competition. Her sister got best theme wear too.
My oldest daughter had her tonsils out a couple of weeks ago. She's finally back to normal.
My oldest daughter ALSO got her feet issue sorted out. She suffered from Siever's which is basically an issue with the Achilles Tendon pulling on the heel plate and causing inflammation. Poor kid suffered for two years from painful feet. Couldn't do stairs, run, jump or otherwise be highly active like every OTHER 7-9 year old. Thanks to the fabulous Ortho at Nemour's, she got physical therapy and shoe inserts which actually FIXED her issues. Now my klutzy wonder, oft called "Grace", has better balance and is able to run, jump and play. Apparently her ankles rolled so far in that it was causing balance issues. She's only able to wear sneakers most days (we have one pair for outside and one "nice" pair for church) but she's happy with that. It makes MY life easier when I tell her to find her shoes and put them on.
My son recently brought the plague to our house and everyone but ME(for once!) got sick. My better half missed two days of work, we all missed the 4th of July frolic downtown and poor Oldest Daughter was less than a week post-op and coughing up a lung. Thankfully she recovered just fine. We think it was a flu virus. How I did not get sick is beyond me. Maybe it was all those kids' gummy echinacea & vitamin C supplements.
Everyone passed the school year and matriculated to the next grade. So in about 4 weeks, I'm going to have a 1st, 3rd & 5th grader. This is Oldest Daughter's last year of elementary school. Next year I'm shipping her off to my mother-in-law... JUST KIDDING! I don't have much use for the typical "middle school" thing. I missed out on all the drama that was middle school because I was homeschooled from 4th-9th grades. I'm glad. To this day I'm just SO not into the drama of who did what to whom and how it's like so totally whatever and stuff. Funny thing is, Oldest Daughter is just like me. She says she doesn't get along that well with the girls in her class because "all they do is sit around and talk about boys and gossip". She'd rather be playing Beyblades with the guys or building Gundam models. Frankly, so would I.
I thought I was TOTALLY DONE with sewing for a while. I closed my Etsy shop for the summer because the orders were actually coming too close together and I couldn't keep up AND take care of my family. I know, I know, what a terrible problem to have...
Now that I'm done with pageant clothes, including embellishing the store-boughten ones, I've got to focus on UNIFORMS. I have a love/hate relationship with uniforms.
I LOVE that they make it so easy to decide what to wear each day. It cuts down on morning drama when we're already running behind to make it before the tardy bell rings.
I HATE that they have to have Polo shirts. Those things are terrible. They trap stains like Ursula trapped those "poor unfortunate souls" in The Little Mermaid. What's wrong with woven cotton shirts? Yes, they need to be ironed, but SO DO THE POLO SHIRTS. Because if you don't they look like [potty word].
I HATE the quality of mass-market uniforms. Especially JC Penney's. Yes, I'm calling you out Penney's. And because this isn't Etsy, I CAN. Those skirts didn't even last the year before they looked like [potty word]. In contrast, The Children's Place uniforms last long past the time my kids grow out of them. But they are pricy. And they HAVE TO BE IRONED. Even though they say "Wrinkle Free" don't you believe it for a minute. If it's cotton it has to be ironed. I'm seriously thinking about sending their uniforms OUT. Target makes some decent twill pants that are pretty OK. But still.
I HATE the fact that Younger Daughter is SO SMALL that she wears a size 4/5 in the waist but a 7 in length of pants. She's 8 and built with a very tiny bone structure. You'd *think* she was super-fragile, but she can kick both her sister AND brother's collective butts. She's pretty much ALL muscle. So for her, I usually end up putting her in shorts or skirts or making her jumpers.
So uniforms. Earlier this year I was stalking Etsy's vintage patterns and came across two identical patterns in sizes 8 & 14. Neither of them exactly fit my girls, but it's something to work from. Oldest Daughter wears a 10-ish in vintage sizes. Younger Daughter wears a 4. Her interview suit was a size 6 that I took no less than 4" out of the jacket and 3"+ out of the skirt. She's SO small that my child size dress form at it's smallest setting is TOO BIG. Ugh.
Anyhoo, I'm going to make the shorts and skirt for my girls for their school sartorial splendor. The Boy is on his own. He's already got plenty of pants and shorts from last year that still fit.
Sew ya later!
#backtoschool #schooluniforms
And we ALL know how that goes. Some things that happened in the last 12 months:
I was diagnosed with ADD. Which means better living through Big Pharma for me to be able to cope with life. That's fine, though, because I've never been MORE productive and MORE focused in my life. So YAY DRUGS!
My oldest daughter was diagnosed with ADD. Actually, SHE was diagnosed first and then I got my diagnosis. But this is my blog, so I come first. MUAHAHAHAHAH See "Better living through Big Pharma" for her too. Her issues are different than mine so she gets more/different meds than me. All I can say is that they WORK and she's actually acting like a normal 10 year old. Most of the time.
My oldest daughter was diagnosed with "pituitary dwarfism", that is, lack of growth hormone. So she gets injections every night for her condition. She's getting so TALL now.
My younger daughter started participating in pageants. She's done really well all things considered. She's won quite a few titles and this weekend we're off to our state's National American Miss finals. She's wearing a suit I made from a vintage pattern for her interview suit. She'll also be representing our state at the Royal Galaxy National/International Pageant at the end of this month, thanks to the help and votes of my family and online community.
 |
| Interview Suit, not quite finished here |
 |
| She designed this herself |
 |
| I designed this. The tree lights up as do the wings. |
 |
| Beware of big presents... |
My oldest daughter had her tonsils out a couple of weeks ago. She's finally back to normal.
 |
| Sayonara Tonsils! |
My oldest daughter ALSO got her feet issue sorted out. She suffered from Siever's which is basically an issue with the Achilles Tendon pulling on the heel plate and causing inflammation. Poor kid suffered for two years from painful feet. Couldn't do stairs, run, jump or otherwise be highly active like every OTHER 7-9 year old. Thanks to the fabulous Ortho at Nemour's, she got physical therapy and shoe inserts which actually FIXED her issues. Now my klutzy wonder, oft called "Grace", has better balance and is able to run, jump and play. Apparently her ankles rolled so far in that it was causing balance issues. She's only able to wear sneakers most days (we have one pair for outside and one "nice" pair for church) but she's happy with that. It makes MY life easier when I tell her to find her shoes and put them on.
My son recently brought the plague to our house and everyone but ME(for once!) got sick. My better half missed two days of work, we all missed the 4th of July frolic downtown and poor Oldest Daughter was less than a week post-op and coughing up a lung. Thankfully she recovered just fine. We think it was a flu virus. How I did not get sick is beyond me. Maybe it was all those kids' gummy echinacea & vitamin C supplements.
Everyone passed the school year and matriculated to the next grade. So in about 4 weeks, I'm going to have a 1st, 3rd & 5th grader. This is Oldest Daughter's last year of elementary school. Next year I'm shipping her off to my mother-in-law... JUST KIDDING! I don't have much use for the typical "middle school" thing. I missed out on all the drama that was middle school because I was homeschooled from 4th-9th grades. I'm glad. To this day I'm just SO not into the drama of who did what to whom and how it's like so totally whatever and stuff. Funny thing is, Oldest Daughter is just like me. She says she doesn't get along that well with the girls in her class because "all they do is sit around and talk about boys and gossip". She'd rather be playing Beyblades with the guys or building Gundam models. Frankly, so would I.
 |
| Gaza C Gundam Model |
I thought I was TOTALLY DONE with sewing for a while. I closed my Etsy shop for the summer because the orders were actually coming too close together and I couldn't keep up AND take care of my family. I know, I know, what a terrible problem to have...
Now that I'm done with pageant clothes, including embellishing the store-boughten ones, I've got to focus on UNIFORMS. I have a love/hate relationship with uniforms.
I LOVE that they make it so easy to decide what to wear each day. It cuts down on morning drama when we're already running behind to make it before the tardy bell rings.
I HATE that they have to have Polo shirts. Those things are terrible. They trap stains like Ursula trapped those "poor unfortunate souls" in The Little Mermaid. What's wrong with woven cotton shirts? Yes, they need to be ironed, but SO DO THE POLO SHIRTS. Because if you don't they look like [potty word].
I HATE the quality of mass-market uniforms. Especially JC Penney's. Yes, I'm calling you out Penney's. And because this isn't Etsy, I CAN. Those skirts didn't even last the year before they looked like [potty word]. In contrast, The Children's Place uniforms last long past the time my kids grow out of them. But they are pricy. And they HAVE TO BE IRONED. Even though they say "Wrinkle Free" don't you believe it for a minute. If it's cotton it has to be ironed. I'm seriously thinking about sending their uniforms OUT. Target makes some decent twill pants that are pretty OK. But still.
I HATE the fact that Younger Daughter is SO SMALL that she wears a size 4/5 in the waist but a 7 in length of pants. She's 8 and built with a very tiny bone structure. You'd *think* she was super-fragile, but she can kick both her sister AND brother's collective butts. She's pretty much ALL muscle. So for her, I usually end up putting her in shorts or skirts or making her jumpers.
So uniforms. Earlier this year I was stalking Etsy's vintage patterns and came across two identical patterns in sizes 8 & 14. Neither of them exactly fit my girls, but it's something to work from. Oldest Daughter wears a 10-ish in vintage sizes. Younger Daughter wears a 4. Her interview suit was a size 6 that I took no less than 4" out of the jacket and 3"+ out of the skirt. She's SO small that my child size dress form at it's smallest setting is TOO BIG. Ugh.
 |
| The Pattern (Source) |
Sew ya later!
#backtoschool #schooluniforms
Summertime
It's funny how a word will always have a connection to a certain song, place or memory. For me, "Summertime" means song Old Skool DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.
Back in '91, I was a sophomore in college and lived for summer vacation. 21 years later... I've got three kids who wish summer would never end and I'm counting the days until school is back in session. That's exactly one month from now as school starts on August 13th.
I know that the next month is going to go by so fast that I'll wonder where the time went and how my kids grew up so fast and all that other stuff that goes along with it. But at least I got a jump on the school supplies. Yes, we have all the supplies on the list except uniforms. Those will wait until just before school starts because, well, there's still a month of summer left and have you seen how fast kids grow in the summer?
#target #schoolsuppliesrock
Facebook, what have you done to me?
Dear Readers,
The reason I haven't blogged lately is that Facebook has consumed my online time.
The various 'Villes, social quizzes and ANGRY BIRDS have become a time-suck. I ignored my favorite bloggers. I'm sorry.
Speaking of Angry Birds, I can't exactly blame Facebook entirely. No. I got a smartphone just about a year ago, too. And it, too has consumed my time. I ignored my favorite bloggers some more. But for good reason: the app for that sucked. Still does actually. I've yet to have a decent Blogger Reader for my Android device. And you'd think what with Google being the Big Brother behind Blogger, YouTube and practically everything else on the web.
But that's no excuse for abandoning my blog and you, all twelve followers. I know what a good excuse is! It's starting up a non-profit org that runs beauty pageants to help benefit abused children. No really. Seriously. I did that. Between September of last year and March of this year, my life was consumed with pageant prep. Well, that and major back problems. My back is better now.
If you're interested in my pageant program, please feel free to click here. I'm in the process of redesigning and moving the website to another host, so bear with me.
I promise I'll do better about blogging. I've done a bit of sewing and crafting and stuff, so I'd like to share it with you.
Sew ya later!
#slacker
The reason I haven't blogged lately is that Facebook has consumed my online time.
The various 'Villes, social quizzes and ANGRY BIRDS have become a time-suck. I ignored my favorite bloggers. I'm sorry.
Speaking of Angry Birds, I can't exactly blame Facebook entirely. No. I got a smartphone just about a year ago, too. And it, too has consumed my time. I ignored my favorite bloggers some more. But for good reason: the app for that sucked. Still does actually. I've yet to have a decent Blogger Reader for my Android device. And you'd think what with Google being the Big Brother behind Blogger, YouTube and practically everything else on the web.
But that's no excuse for abandoning my blog and you, all twelve followers. I know what a good excuse is! It's starting up a non-profit org that runs beauty pageants to help benefit abused children. No really. Seriously. I did that. Between September of last year and March of this year, my life was consumed with pageant prep. Well, that and major back problems. My back is better now.
If you're interested in my pageant program, please feel free to click here. I'm in the process of redesigning and moving the website to another host, so bear with me.
I promise I'll do better about blogging. I've done a bit of sewing and crafting and stuff, so I'd like to share it with you.
Sew ya later!
#slacker
Sewing Patterns Without Pity
Or, where I wonder WHO is doing the art direction & styling for McCall's pattern books.
First up, Baby Daddy. This picture had me so flabbergasted I had to take pictures. Thus was born the inspiration for this post. See what I did there?
In our first game of "What's Wrong With This Picture", we have the OBVIOUSLY pregnant man. Either that or he's had one too many beers. Then there's the Rebel Without A Cause leather jacket coupled with Maverick's sunglasses from Top Gun. But the real gem is the COWBOY-themed diaper bag. Because every hipster-dad I know rocks that cowboy quilter's fabric style. Uh huh.
Moving on, we have McCall's 6027:
While there's nothing inherently "wrong" with the picture, her shoes are ALL WRONG for that dress. Royal Blue suede shoes would've been more fashion forward than peach strappy sandals with her foot hanging far enough off the back to wonder HOW she manages to stand at all. This is a case of taking that "shoes have to match the hemline of the dress" just a wee bit too far. It's joined by it's friend McCall's 6278:
Now this one is DEAD wrong as far as styling. I'd go so far as to slap the person who chose the fabrics for this abomination. If anything the loud/busy fabric should have been the contrast with the darker fabric in the middle. However they didn't ask me. The strappy sandals (what IS it with strappy sandals?) lack the proper proportion & color to complement this one. The proper footwear would have been some sort of black shoe to complete the look. As it stands here, the dress feels unfinished at the hemline because there's nothing to anchor it.
Speaking of anchors... McCall's 6346 has given me the WTH? reaction every time I've seen it. If it were possible to make her look more like an oompah loompah, I don't know WHAT they could've done.
First off, the hem line is WAY low on the longer dress. It's out of proportion with her height and the shoes aren't helping. Switch the shoes! Put the taller shoes on the long dress and the flats with the short dress!
McCall's 6342 just makes me say Oh MYYYYY!
George Takei & Quattron technology couldn't save this. It's just all kinds of wrong.
McCall's: The 70s called. They want their shoes, floppy hat & high-waisted with charmeuse blouse with neck tie back.
And it's a "Fashion Star" pattern no less. I'm almost 40 and I KNOW my mom had an outfit or three like this when I was growing up. The 70s were great when it was, you know, the actual 70s.
But wait! There's more! Just like those Ginsu knives we all remember, so McCall's & Fashion Star are going to give us MORE 70s Redux Greatness.
You'd think they'd have a bigger budget for shoes & accessories though. At least the model was different...
Which brings us to McCall's 6612.
Let's spot all the things WRONG with this one, shall we?
1. "Easy" and "Knits" do NOT go together. I've been sewing for going on 30 years now. Knits aren't straightforward like a woven. They have special notions, presser feet and techniquest to keep them from rolling, bunching and otherwise being a nuisance.
2. Skin tight hoochie showing dress and "Plus Size" do not go together. As a member of the "Plus Size" crowd, I wouldn't be caught dead in a dress cut up to my lady business and have it be spandex. I've got a little more dignity.
Way to go McCall's for making a dress in a plus size that would most likely never be made AND worn by a truly plus size woman. But thanks for thinking of us! At least there's McCall's 6127.
If we can't pull off the t-shirt masquerading as a dress, we can always layer on flowy, voluminous pieces that totally hit in all the right spots to de-emphasize our plus sizedness.
What's that McCall's? We should be grateful? Or what? You'll give us a muu muu pattern? Oh wait...
I kid you not. This ... uhhhh ... is in the current (Fall 2012) pattern catalog. My great-grandmother wore dresses like this in the 60s. They were called "housedresses" or "muu-muus" back then. Nothing says "svelte" like a tent hanging from your shoulders that just gets wider as it goes below your lovely lady lumps.
Speaking of the 60s, did you see Nurse Nancy McCall's 5895? You didn't? Well here it is!
I haven't seen a nurse in a dress since I was kid. Or when I was hospitalized in Jakarta two summers ago. Again with the tent-with-a-neckhole style. I'm guessing THIS one is maternity scrubs. It has to be.
If you've stuck with me this far, THANKS! Now let's look at the Bumblebee dress and the scrubs dress. They look awfully alike. Maybe THAT is why I get asked all the freaking time "when are you due?" I'm not pregnant, I'm FAT.
Another thing I've NEVER seen in all my sojourns in medical establishments is a "fashion foward" scrubs top. But they do exist. Thus seweth McCall's 6473.
I've also never seen a medical professional armed with a bottle of hand sanitizer as if it were some sort of weapon. And I've seen a LOT of medical professionals over the last few years. I've logged so many hours in so many medical facilities that I've started asking them for "frequent flyer" cards.
Lest you think I'm full of pattern catalog hate, let me leave you with two really good examples:
I can't post individual pictures because the entire catalog is really, really well done. The children were photographed in settings where one would expect to see them. Even the studio shots had some real thought put into them with props and so on. Made me want to buy them all. The models inside looked like actual models who actually modeled for a living as models. Maybe that's why the patterns are all $11.99 and never go on sale for $1.99 or $.99 like McCall's, Simplicity or Butterick.
Speaking of Butterick, I want to point out that this offering in plus size was actually something a real human being might wear and look GOOD in.
It is the right proportion and fit, is modeled by an actual plus size model and is styled quite nicely. Shoes that look good and model position that isn't unnatural and forced-looking. Butterick uses a lot more pattern illustrations than McCall's. Maybe the reason why the photos look so much better is because they are interested in quality of photo, not quantity.
Sew ya later!
#patternswithoutpity
First up, Baby Daddy. This picture had me so flabbergasted I had to take pictures. Thus was born the inspiration for this post. See what I did there?
Moving on, we have McCall's 6027:
Speaking of anchors... McCall's 6346 has given me the WTH? reaction every time I've seen it. If it were possible to make her look more like an oompah loompah, I don't know WHAT they could've done.
McCall's 6342 just makes me say Oh MYYYYY!
McCall's: The 70s called. They want their shoes, floppy hat & high-waisted with charmeuse blouse with neck tie back.
But wait! There's more! Just like those Ginsu knives we all remember, so McCall's & Fashion Star are going to give us MORE 70s Redux Greatness.
Which brings us to McCall's 6612.
1. "Easy" and "Knits" do NOT go together. I've been sewing for going on 30 years now. Knits aren't straightforward like a woven. They have special notions, presser feet and techniquest to keep them from rolling, bunching and otherwise being a nuisance.
2. Skin tight hoochie showing dress and "Plus Size" do not go together. As a member of the "Plus Size" crowd, I wouldn't be caught dead in a dress cut up to my lady business and have it be spandex. I've got a little more dignity.
Way to go McCall's for making a dress in a plus size that would most likely never be made AND worn by a truly plus size woman. But thanks for thinking of us! At least there's McCall's 6127.
What's that McCall's? We should be grateful? Or what? You'll give us a muu muu pattern? Oh wait...
Speaking of the 60s, did you see Nurse Nancy McCall's 5895? You didn't? Well here it is!
If you've stuck with me this far, THANKS! Now let's look at the Bumblebee dress and the scrubs dress. They look awfully alike. Maybe THAT is why I get asked all the freaking time "when are you due?" I'm not pregnant, I'm FAT.
Another thing I've NEVER seen in all my sojourns in medical establishments is a "fashion foward" scrubs top. But they do exist. Thus seweth McCall's 6473.
Lest you think I'm full of pattern catalog hate, let me leave you with two really good examples:
Speaking of Butterick, I want to point out that this offering in plus size was actually something a real human being might wear and look GOOD in.
Sew ya later!
#patternswithoutpity
Some housekeeping...
Stay tuned...
I'm going to be taking a little break until school starts August 15th. I know I haven't been as visible lately and that's largely due to the fact that I'm still recovering from the issues with my back. Most likely I'm going to be having a procedure done soon to help alleviate the worst of the pain, and the recovery time for that can be a couple of weeks. It has to be done during summer vacation so that I can deal with the whole back to school thing.
That said, I've realized that one thing that really helps my back pain is a corselet/corset. There's something about having my back strapped in that keeps the muscles from spasming and irritating my low back joints. So I'm in the process of researching either making(?!?) or buying a corset. If you're interested, please check out SewCurvy. I found them via Gertie's blog and I'm very excited. The prospect of Not Being In Pain is a very heady thing.
Have a wonderful reast of your summer and May The Force Be With You!
Sorry about that last bit... My kids have just put on a Star Wars movie and I typed it automatically. :-D
That said, I've realized that one thing that really helps my back pain is a corselet/corset. There's something about having my back strapped in that keeps the muscles from spasming and irritating my low back joints. So I'm in the process of researching either making(?!?) or buying a corset. If you're interested, please check out SewCurvy. I found them via Gertie's blog and I'm very excited. The prospect of Not Being In Pain is a very heady thing.
Have a wonderful reast of your summer and May The Force Be With You!
Sorry about that last bit... My kids have just put on a Star Wars movie and I typed it automatically. :-D
Crafturday Saturday, Mirror Ball Trophy Edition!
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| Offical DWTS Mirror Ball Trophy |
You don't get a trophy, but you do get a tutorial in how to make your own!
First you need a trophy and a mirror ball. You could buy them online and pay a fortune, or head to your local Party City (or equivalent) and hit up the "awards" aisle for the trophy and the "party decor" aisle for the mirror ball. For today's project, we're using a "jumbo" trophy and a 4" mirror ball. And PLENTY of hot glue.
To make the mirror ball sit in the trophy, you're going to need to saw off the rounded parts at the top of the trophy. Grab a hacksaw and get to gettin'. It won't take long and if you're careful, you'll have a great result. The plastic is cheap, so it saws through pretty quickly.
The bottoms of my trophies were hollow, so I filled them with poly pellets used for stuffing animals and closed them off with a piece of cardboard and some hot glue and then glued some 3mm thick "foamie" sheets to the bottom to have it be a non-slip more finished looking trophy. I used a a paper cup to hold the trophy in an inverted position to make my life easier and to keep the mother-lovin' pellets from going EVERYWHERE. Do NOT omit this part if you want to keep your sanity.
Once you finish off the bottom of the trophy, flip it over and press it down a bit to make sure the warm glue gets really stuck in and the trophy is level. At this point you're ALMOST done, so pat yourself on the back and get out your disco ball. Resist the temptation to hang it up and rock out in your craft area. You can get your OWN disco ball later. They're much better for groovin' if you get the LARGE one and not the baby sized one anyways. Ahem. Not that I know anything about that. Not at all. Ahem.
Okay, now here's the part that's tricky. You want to get the hot glue inside the trophy but NOT on the outside. It's a PAIN to get off if it blurps out. So make one line of glue about 1/2 cm from the lip of the trophy, test the ball in the trophy being sure to put the dangly part INSIDE the trophy. Apply another layer of glue nearer the edge of the trophy but staying inside. THEN eyeball the mirror ball and apply glue to the ball itself in a dot pattern around the ball. Smush it down on the trophy GENTLY and it should stick nicely with all the warm glue bonding to itself.
For bonus points, use Photoshop to create a nifty label for the trophy. This part took way longer than putting together two mirror ball trophies including shopping for supplies! Extra bonus points if your last name starts with "S". Like so:
I used a Xyron label maker to turn my plain paper printout into a permanent label. W00T! for using all sorts of crafting supplies in one project.
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