Wow, I won!

I was just catching up on today's blog posts while half-watching MasterChef with James and Cal, and I was shocked to see the following on Gertie's blog:

The Giveaway Winner Is . . . Misty!

That's right, apparently I am the proud winner of a vintage 60s pattern from The Blue Gardenia, some raspberry red linen-blend fabric, a fantastic MAC lipstick, and a vintage sewing book (see here). I had to follow the link to the Google profile to be sure it was me!

I'm super excited to win! The pattern is rated easy and with the empire waist should be really flattering for my not-so-curvy figure. And the fabric should be perfect for the hot weather I was just complaining about. Looks like I'll be all set for my first vintage sewing experience. I can't wait!

Thanks again Gertie and Denise! You are both awesome, and Gertie, you're one of the reasons I decided to start sewing. You make it look so easy, and your dresses are always gorgeous!

And hello to all of you who are visiting here from Gertie's blog! It's fun to see all the traffic my blog has been getting since Gertie's post. Welcome!

FO: The Vintage 3-Hour Sweater

I needed a quickly-finished knitting project to work on, so I decided to try the popular vintage pattern for a 3-hour sweater. It took me closer to 8 hours than 3, but even that is pretty quick for a knitted sweater. I knit most of it while I was in Copenhagen, but finished it after I got back home. The sleeves are just a little bit too tight, and I'd like if it was just a tiny bit longer, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I wore a nude cami underneath it today. It's rather loosely knit, and since I wore it to work, I wanted to make sure I was covered up. I'd like to make another version in white, and I'll probably make it slightly longer with smaller cap sleeves (and I'd make sure they weren't quite so tight around my arms next time).

I used just under two skeins of Cascade Sierra cotton yarn and followed the modifications found here. Rav project page is here.

No new sewing projects right now. I've been working on that baby blanket in my spare time. I'm over halfway and hoping to finish it by this weekend if at all possible so I can mail it off to the proud new mama and papa.

It's been hot lately. I've felt like this most days over the past few weeks. If only eating ice cream for dinner was a valid option. Guess I need to get used to summer in the South.

Re-finished FO: Aqua Circle Skirt

This isn't actually a new project. This is my first sewing project from about a year ago, actually. I was annoyed that I couldn't find any knee-length full skirts (they were all very short and/or very tight), and asked myself "how hard can it be to make one?" Turns out the answer is "not very hard at all" if you can cut two circles out of a piece of fabric. So I hand-sewed a circle skirt and put in an elastic waist band (sexy, I know!). I pulled it out of my closet over the weekend, ripped out my terrible hand-stitched hem, and re-hemmed it with my machine.

I really like the color, but unfortunately, I don't have many tops that match so I haven't worn it much over the past year. With such a full skirt, I need a tighter-fitting top (otherwise I look like I'm 5 and playing dress up in my mommy's clothes). And I need more tops in basic colors, especially neutrals. But I did find last night while I was digging through my clothes that this darker peacock blue shirt (from Charlotte Russe) looks nice with the lighter aqua of the skirt (a rayon-linen blend from JoAnn's).

James was making me laugh while taking pictures. I had to remind him to get one with my new shoes:
I found these at Kohl's for $20 over the weekend. I bought 4 pairs of shoes for about $85, and I think I can stop looking for shoes for a while now. I found that I was wearing the same pair of sandals to work every single day and realized I needed a few more that I could wear with my expanding handmade wardrobe and the ridiculous heat and humidity here. I thought these were cute and surprisingly comfy. James wasn't so sure, but I figured if I liked them and they were only $20 I might as well get them. Here's a better pic from the Kohl's website (the SO Dima Wedge, only a few sizes left):
I have a few more recently finished projects to show over the next few days, but I've mainly been knitting up a storm, trying to finish a baby blanket for one of my good college friends who is due any day now. The blanket will probably be late, but hopefully not too late! And now, back to my knitting...

Refashion: Colette Crepe Dress --> Wrap Skirt

Remember this dress? It has hung in my closet ever since I finished it. I've never worn it because the bodice was uncomfortable and just didn't seem to hang properly. I loved the skirt and the pockets, but I was never convinced that the overall style was all the flattering.

I was inspired by this post from Tasia at Sewaholic.net to take matters into my own hands, keeping the things I loved about this dress and getting rid of the drawbacks that were keeping me from wearing it. I removed the skirt from the bodice, turned under the waistline to finish the edge, and added some ties to the ends to turn it into this wrap skirt:

I refashioned this a couple of weeks ago, and I've worn it twice already (actually remembered to get pictures of it today after work, although not outside because it's yucky and I'm already covered in mosquito bites).

So why did it take me 4 months to come up with this idea?

Well, at first I thought I was being too picky and that I should just get over myself and enjoy my new dress. I tried it on again recently and I just couldn't stand the bodice. I knew it would drive me nuts all day long if I did wear it. I'd constantly be tugging at it and worrying over it.

Then I was annoyed with myself for having spent so much time on it and still not being happy with how it turned out. I was slightly embarrassed too, which is just plain silly, but I am a perfectionist by nature and I'm never happy when the final outcome is just ok. Other people said "oh, that's so cute!" but I knew it wasn't quite right.

Finally, I did get over myself and I'm much happier with the final result! I may eventually abandon the ties and put in two buttonholes and buttons to keep it wrapped properly, but this was a really quick refashion as it is now and it works fine.

FO: New Look 6429

I cut this out and sewed half of it before leaving for Copenhagen. I was finally home long enough to finish this over the weekend, and I wore it to work today. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, even though this was my first real foray into the wacky world of knits (I still haven't finished that other "first knit sewing" project I started -- the style isn't particularly flattering and the jersey has a tendency to roll that it really obnoxious, so it's hibernating).

The pattern was New Look 6429. I picked up the pattern a few months ago after seeing all the great reviews for it, and I'm glad I did because Simplicity is now listing the pattern as being out of print! I made view D, the sleeveless version.

The fabric is a stretch ITY jersey knit from Fabric.com that I grabbed during a sale in March. I bought 2.5 yards at $2.99/yard on sale, and checked out with a 15% off coupon and free shipping for a grand total of $6.87 with tax.

All in all, this pattern wasn't too difficult to sew, even with the knit fabric. The hardest thing was getting my machine to sew over somewhat thick patches (turned over edges on top of seams, for example) but it seems to have turned out fine. I don't have a serger, so all the sewing was done with a zigzag stitch (maybe with a wider zigzag than was actually necessary, now that I look at it) and I graded all seams down and used the overcast foot on my machine to finish the seams. I cut a size 8 and shortened the bottom by 2.75". I left off the facings because I didn't want to deal with them and have seen several other people do this with knits. For the neckline, I stabilized the inside with some pink stretch lace by turning it over once and attaching the lace, then turning it over again and topstitching. I also turned up the bottom hem twice and topstitched. I stabilized the shoulders with some hot pink bias tape because I was worried that they would stretch out from the weight of the fabric. In retrospect, I should have used white because you can kind of see the pink through the white parts of the fabric, but I like the contrast of the pink with the zebra-esque print of the fabric.

I wore this to work today and was quite happy with the swingy-ness of the skirt. It was a nice and cool option for our "non-typical" mid-90s June weather. Ever since I moved here, everyone's been telling me the weather is not typical. If that's true, then I honestly don't know what to expect from Atlanta weather and I've lived here for the past 10 months!

More travels

After Copenhagen, I spent a few days at Caltech for a science team meeting. There is a series of ponds near the reflecting pool on campus, and a whole herd of turtles live in the ponds. They would follow the sunshine around to the different rocks in the ponds throughout the day.

I also spent a few days in Baltimore for a workshop after my trip to Caltech. No fun pictures from that trip, alas, but I'm finally home and staying put for a while, and it sure feels good!

More Copenhagen

It's been two weeks since I got back to the US from my trip to Denmark, but I've been so busy I haven't had time to go through my pictures and post the ones I took during the second half of my visit until today.


I managed to weasel my way into a sightseeing cruise that was planned for a small conference going on at the Center at the same time as my visit. Well, by "weasel" I mean I said "yes" when asked if I would like to go too. :P Here I am enjoying myself immensely in the sunshine after a hard day of work.

Behind the boats and buildings in this shot, you can see the steeple of "my" church in the background.

And here's the Little Mermaid from a different vantage point than my earlier photos.

The picturesque Copenhagen Opera House.

I love these classic fishing boats with the wooden cabins!

And this yacht, the Vive La Vie, was just too ostentatious to pass up. That bronze statue to the left is apparently a replica of the David. Both in front of a converted warehouse in the Copenhagen harbor. What a strange mishmash!

You can see the shadow of my friend, Marianne, in this pic. Copenhagen is so colorful, and the architecture is eye candy, especially for us poor Americans.

I think the dreamy background of this pic is kind of fun. Yes, it seems sunny and I'm wearing my trench coat, but the weather was so fickle during my trip that I had to be prepared for rain, wind, lightning, and hail (!) in addition to sunshine, so the trench coat was probably one of my best investments this spring because it proved to be very useful on this trip.

Marianne and I visited Tivoli after work one evening. I didn't remember the video function on my camera until later, otherwise I would have grabbed some videos of the pantomime. I wasn't quite sure what was going on -- either a mail-order wife business, a matchmaker, or a man blatantly selling women to prospective customers. I decided to giggle at the players rather than spend too much time trying to figure out the plot and being offended. The costumes were fun and some of the actors/dancers were really fun to watch because they were so exaggerated in their emotions and movements.

The flowers were blooming and the bright colors of the rides made it a pleasure just to walk around and look at everything.

There was even a bit of wildlife at Tivoli. I didn't even notice that I'd caught a chipmunk in this shot with the peacock until today!

Even the restaurants were photogenic.

We made sure to visit in the evening so we could enjoy the lights. I spent a bit of time trying to figure out the best setting on my camera (it's still fairly new), but managed to get some good shots.

Where else but an amusement park can you go from the Middle East to China by walking a few hundred feet?

I really enjoyed my trip to Copenhagen. I got some useful work done and was able to spend some time catching up with some dear friends and collaborators, while exploring a beautiful city with a fascinating history. I'm already making plans to go back!