In sluggish sewer news..

So I have to admit I have been a sluggish sewer as of late. In one month all I have really cranked out are a few easy summer dresses. This is my latest little ditty. Basically it is one seam and a hem. I like it though! LOL

I have always shied away from the Pre-shirred fabric but this seemed so easy I couldn't pass it up -- plus it was on sale 60% off...

I have just gone through my patterns and I SWEAR I am going to make something "real" coming up. LOL

So remember my sewing buddy, Tanya?? Well there is a reason I haven't written about our sewing excursions.. she is having a baby! Yay! She is due in a few weeks and she looks great. On top of that she has made something for baby. Remember she is a beginner sewer and she has done an amazing job with a little sleep sack. It is still a mystery whether she is having a baby boy or girl. Congrats.

Happy Friday!!

To say I am glad it is Friday would be the understatement of the week! Scout's honor I will do some cutting out and sewing this weekend! You all have made me feel bad for not having my sewing mojo on fire.

Hopefully you will have a kick butt weekend as well! Are any of you working on anything fab?

New Vogue Patterns are in!

So Adrienne hipped me to the fact the new Vogue patterns are in. They have quite a few good picks up this season.. Here are some that caught my eye. For a look at the entire collection check out Vogue's page!


I love this dress because of its clean lines and chic style. This is perfect for someone who doesn't have great hip definition.


I really like the dress on the right. Picture it in a bold color with a high ponytail and stilettos!



Eww, eww, eww the black and white version of this jacket is so cute! This is perfect for fall.


I like this dress but I don't know if it will be on my list..


Once again a great jacket for fall/ winter.


*see comment above. LOL

The dress and the flare skirt are gorgeous in this pattern!


Something about this I like. Especially the dress on the right in a solid fabric.


Well you know I couldn't leave you without discussing the foolishness. That hat.. that hat.. I have no words for that hat. Usually I follow this up with "Someone out in sewing blog land will make this and make me eat my words." THIS TIME I DOUBT IT!

Pattern Review M5425

I had a wonderful 4th of July!! How was yours? I knocked out a sundress this weekend and I am very pleased. This is M5425.. There really isn't much to say -- this was SO easy!! If you are looking for a beginner pattern to get your feet wet in the world of sewing -- this is your pattern.

I am now getting ready to plan out some work jackets. Wish me luck because I feel like my sewing mojo is picking up.

Summertime and the living is eeeeeasy...

Good morning ladies! Well as I wrote earlier, my sewing mojo has been a bit low lately. I have decided to ease myself back to my love of the roar of the machine by playing with some easy summer dresses.

This is the fabric I bought at Hancocks this spring.. I am making the pattern below (since it was such a hit and it is an EASY make)... I am making the shoulder straps out of pink grosgrain ribbon for added fun. I can knock this out tonight!

So I ask you all this... How has your sewing mojo been lately?

The Michelle Obama Dress

By now many of you have heard the hype behind the dress Michelle Obama wore on the view. It is a Donna Ricco Banded Waist Sleeveless Dress in black and white. Stores are sold out of this dress -- that's how popular it has become! The funny thing is the dress isn't some obscure or new design that no one has seen before. It is classically Michelle Obama -- chic, simple, clean lines and well tailored.

It makes me giggle just a little bit because it is a dress most of us could make with our eyes closed!

If you would like to buy the dress on back order.. Nordstrom has it for just under $100.

If you would like to knock this out yourself check out..

New Look 6457

McCall's 5094

Simplicity 2886

Simplicity 4531

New Look 6726

My 2 cents on some new patterns..

Okay I am just going to assume that some of the Big 4 pattern companies are working understaffed. I get so excited when Adrienne sends me an email saying new patterns are out -- and then all hope is lost when I see the selection. It isn't helping my lack of sewing mojo lately. Okay so here is my take on the good, the bad, and the what where they thinking?

First up I have to say that McCall's for me had more hits than misses!



Isn't this a neat and fashion forward little ditty. There are so many possibilities with this pattern.


*I call a time out on the further production any shirt patter like this.. I can count about 5-7 of them. The featured shirt should have been the aqua colored one at the upper left. Is is new and very pretty for fall.


I love this swing jacket for fall/winter! It is similar to some of the others already out but the bands at the sleeves make it fresh.


I heart this jacket because it sings to my inner Gordon Gartrell! The quirkiness of the lapels are great -- although I would modify mine to make that left collar lower (the shorter one).


Oh I think is SO cute. I am not feeling their busy plaid example but the red and black examples are very chic!


Simplicity -- if I see that purple dress pattern ONE MORE TIME!


Simplicity I think I am tired of this one too (although I am still on tap to make one. LOL) McCall's did it already -- let's switch it up people!


For the sake of sounding like a broken record -- can the Project Runway series actually look like something that would be on an actual runway?? Sometimes it feels like their back to school line. Which would be great -- if I were 12.


I really hope someone proves me wrong -- but this is one ugly blouse. At least in the black and white version here. She is ready to attend the 1980s church banquet.


Now this could be really cute in a black and white version. Sort of a play on a tuxedo shirt and high waist skirt in the version to the far left. I have my eye on this one!

Okay that is it. I am done being overly critical now... :)

Did you miss me?

Who do I think I am?? ...leaving for a 7 day cruise and then not having the energy to update my blog when I return?? Heeeeellllloooooo ladies!

I sure did miss you all but I had a blast being "boo-ed up" with my Mr. Right! So what I did was compile some of my favorite pictures of the more than a hundred we took.

This is my *sexy* dress! This is for one of the formal nights.

This little girl in Honduras was selling these beautiful tapestries that she, her mother and brother hand make. I thought I was the bomb with a sewing machine... obviously these folks are wonderfully talented.. They ran for about $100 to $500.

Have you heard of Hell, Grand Cayman. I hadn't but I couldn't resist taking this photo because I know my mom is going to be like "Why did you even get out of the van?!"

The photo says it all! This was in Belize.

This was the other formal night.. Mr Right has the cutest dimples!



I LOVE food art.. but this scared me! I mean really scared me.



This was at the turtle farm in Grand Cayman. I am usually not one to touch animals but I couldn't resist.



This is how I spent most of the trip. I was exhausted. Between waking up at 2:30am every morning and trying to battle sea sickness I was out like a light!



My FAVORITE part of the trip hands down was the towel animals!! OMG our room attendant kept laughing at my excitement. He kept grabbing props from about the room to put on the animal. It was the best!



and last... I felt like a diva the whole trip and this photo shows it best!!

So some of you are like, "Where is the Rihanna dress?" It is on the dress form needing to be hemmed. I put WAY too much on my plate to finish it in time. I will say this.. It looks GREAT!!! I am going with the short length -- while I still got it! The minute I wear it out I will post pictures! I promise!

I'm baaaaaack!!!

Hello dolls!! I am finally back from our 7 day anniversary cruise! When I get a second to breath tomorrow I will post pictures!! I also have the fate of the Rihanna dress to tell you all about!! I missed you guys -- heck I missed email and cell phone service!! I have a million blogs to catch up on!!!

TTYL

Why is sewing always down to the last minute?

*Trust me it fits just as snug as Rihanna's!!

I can recall many nights my mother working late into the night on an Easter, Christmas, Prom etc. dress.. It is no wonder that I am departing for a cruise in the morning and I am going to be working like a mad woman on my Rihanna dress!

There isn't *too* much to do. LOL

*Put in the self lining
*Put in the boning (which I have never done before)
*Shorten and hem

Which brings me to my next question.. Do you all think I should shorten the dress to Rihanna's length or keep it more a cocktail length? I think it would look cute either way. Remember this is for a cruise -- so I want it to be fabulous!

Sex and the Seamstress...

Okay talk about a weekend o' fun!! I will take you in the order of events!

Friday: Fell asleep watching TV -- it was the best part of my weekend....

Saturday morning: I got up did some cleaning and got to sewing!! Have you ever seen a dress that made you giggle with glee? Okay I saw this baaaaaaad deep silver dress that Rihanna wore to an event that I had to have..

Low and behold while at Joann I found silver linen fabric that was a dead ringer!! Next I found V8184 for the pattern -- and it was on!!!

Of course the dress is in its infancy but I really think it is going to turn out VERY well! Mr. Right is excited about this dress too. I wonder why? LOL I promise it doesn't look like tin foil!!

Saturday night: Mr. Right and I attended a wonderful gala thrown by the 100 Black Men of Greater Knoxville. It was fab-u-lous!

Can my smile be any wider? Seriously I think I may have been a Cheshire cat in my former life.. or a jackal. LOL

Sex and the City!!

Some girlfriends got together for a little big city fun!! A group of about 25 of us went to see Sex and the City!! Woo-hoo! I loved the movie for what it was -- a great chick flick to make you laugh and cry!

On the way in to the theater I ran into local TV critic Terry Morrow!

Talk about a GREAT weekend!!!

They call me mellow yellow... Simplicity 3747

Don't you just love yellow? I do. So I finished this little ditty last week and got the chance to wear it last night to an event that I emceed. It is Simplicity 3747. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like the cut and final look of this dress.

Now, with that said, I think I either missed a step or I need to make a change due to personal taste. Here is where my more accomplished sewers jump in with their 2 cents. Right at the bust where the top meets with the bulk of the dress (sorry for not using technical terms - lol) the facing is visible. I think I should have trimmed it close to the seam to smooth that out. What do you think?

Other than that my dress is fabulous!

Memorial Day Musings...

Good morning gorgeous ones! (I am passing on my positive vibes and new attitude of balance to all of you! LOL) I had a WONDERFUL weekend with Mr. Right in Atlanta.

My line sisters -- Dawn the fab host (can you believe how tight her body is after 3 kids with her hubby!?), Me and Tracita the smart and lovely legal eagle from DC.

One of my sorority sisters (linesister or LS for those that get it) and her hubby have this fabulous family style BBQ every year during the Memorial Day weekend.

The lovely ladies of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.


The debonair men of Kappa Alpha Psi (Mr. Right is the cute on in the khaki shirt, white shorts and dark sandals)

It is so much fun to meet up with old college friends and sorority sisters each year.

This year I noticed that most of the women had on bold colors or a 70's chic outfit. It was such a fashionable affair. After LOTS of food everyone retired to the basement for games -- that lasted well into the wee hours.

Funny moment -- so I am sitting there with Mr. Right drinking a little sweet ice tea, when this woman practically hands me this newborn! She was like I will be right back, you don't mind? LOL I said, "Sure, no problem." (translated: no thank you) There was this moment of panic because this baby was tiny and I had NO idea who the woman was -- although she was very nice. Thank goodness she came back and got him. LOL

Me and the dropped off baby

So while in Atlanta I FINALLY made it to Gail K Fabrics. OH MY GOODNESS! Can you say fabric overload. My body was about to go into shock due to the number of BEAUTIFUL fabrics this store has. I had to really contain myself. I am working on only getting fabric that I am in NEED of -- you know, something I actually know what I am going to sew. LOL I walked away with three pretty pieces.

These two are my silky finds.. the animal print will be for a sexy dress -- oh yeah! The chocolate and blue stripe will be for a shell for suit.

The African fabric is for a skirt or dress I would like to make. I hope I get it down before the trend is out.. if not Black History Month events here I come! LOL Just jokes..

These three pieces I got from Hancock fabrics. The busy one to the left will be for a dress.. the red and white a strapless dress and the blue and brown batik will be for a gathered skirt.

Hope you have a great Monday!

Life in overload...

HAVE I DISAPPEARED?...
Hello beautiful ones! I have not dropped off the face off the earth, or at least not yet. Today is the last day of sweeps (ratings period) and this sister is more than excited to bid it adieu!


HOW OFTEN AND HOW LONG DO YOU DEVOTE TO SEWING?..
Many of you who read my blog know the time that many of us sewers put into sewing. It can consume you at times because it is such a great creative outlet. Sometimes I come home and literally eat (maybe) and jump on my machine. Well at some point a girl has to get some structure in her life. Plus, Mr. Right is getting too good at Playstation 3 -- meaning I am giving him too much free time. LOL
So I have decided to start putting myself on more of a schedule -- because I will rationalize with myself why folding clothes can wait until tomorrow but this hem is urgent!


LIMBER LOVELY...
I am trying some new things as well. Yoga/ Pilates/ Meditation. That's right, I am the last person to jump on this bandwagon. With my job being stressful at times and just heck being a productive member of society (non-profits, sorority, hubby, etc.) I need to do a better job of focusing on me. It should be interesting being that yesterday I almost fell on my face on one of the yoga positions. I should have tried this at 21 not 30.


SEW DOWN THE STASH.. As for sewing.. I am working on a little something for work right now.. My goal is to bring my stash down.



I am almost done with the jacket.. next are the pants. Nothing earth shattering but a great wardrobe builder.

Tell next time.. tata..

Cute couple alert... oh and some sewing...

Hey everybody! I have been up to my neck in news and writing so I have been a slacker with posting this week. My bad. LOL I am back!

So, Mr. Right and I had the best day trip ever this past weekend. We went to Hot Springs, NC to soak in the outdoor mineral jacuzzis. Talk about FUN!! My skin felt so soft and supple! This month I swear I am 25! Following that I got a massage that was TDF! We then set out for a drive through the Pisgah National Forest to make our way to Cherokee to give a little money away to the casino. Here we are (pictured) in the forest feeling like Mr. and Mrs. Ebony Knoxville (as a girlfriend has dubbed us! LOL)

On to the sewing...

This is what I am working on this week. It is Vogue 4235.. I like it but I don't. I think I need to give it a good press and then when I tack on the straps and hem the bottom I think I will really love it. This is the first time that I have dealt with the bust area that is shaped like this. I feel like "the girls" don't sit in there right. I tried putting in the inserts but that just made it look like a size Double B mess. The final jury will be out when I finish it up tonight and take a photo. What do you all think? I do heart the fabric selection though!

Go Mom, go Mom...

Happy Friday!

It's Friday and I am two steps away from River Dancing out of this office! LOL You ever have one of those weeks when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel -- all you have to do is hold on to see GLORIOUS Friday? LOL I have had one of those weeks!

Hopefully I will get to knock out Vogue 4235. In fact Mimi over at Domestic Haven has to great reviews of the dress..

Dress 1
Dress 2

So my question for you all -- How many times to do you sew a pattern? Also, do you sew one pattern twice uninterrupted. (In other words, do you cut out that pattern twice in one sitting?)

I leave you with two of my favorite spring dresses of the day... from the streets to the red carpet.




For more inspiration, check out YMIB's Dresses We Love!

African Inspiration

So there is no doubt you have heard about the inspiration of safari and tribal design for this spring. I am really loving this because I love ethnic design of all kind.

So I was reading Make Fetch Happen (not that I understand the blog title -- but she has some really good posts -- *I have been reminded that "Fetch" is the catch phrase from the movie Mean Girls! It means fabulous or cute, duh. LOL I totally forgot about that.*) and the blogger (Brigette) was talking about designer Kevan Hall. His Spring 2008 collection Africa: A Safari is amazing. Check out some of my favorites and take a look at the collection for yourself!

Many of these looks can be pulled from the Big 4 pattern companies.
What do you all think? Can everyone pull off the safari/ tribal influence?

McCall 5425

So I finished up McCall 5425 and Mr. Right says to me "Oh that must be your out of town dress?" That's his way of saying I look sexy! LOL

I found this dress was easy to make and can be varied quite a bit to give several looks from casual to night out on the town.

I bought the fabric from JoAnn's. It is a silky print that I fell in love with. The sizing on the pattern was pretty true to size. I normally cut out a 12 but I did a 10 this time because I wanted it to fit a little slimmer in the body.

The dress looks like the pattern picture but a little more dressy and fabulous. LOL

I found the instructions VERY easy to follow and recommend this dress for any beginner.

Since I used a silky poly fabric I wanted the straps to have more form and structure instead of being all limp across my shoulders. I went ahead and put a little interfacing on the strap and I really like the way it came out. I also cut out the shorter version basically merging the two views together.

I would definitely sew this again.. It makes for a great "run to the mall with dressy flats" outfit.

New Patterns.. my take...

Happy Friday everyone!! I hope you all had a great week. I have been REALLY busy this week so maybe this weekend I can get a little sewing in! Yay!

So in the last few days new patterns came out.. here is my take.


I am really liking this one - view C & D. I don't think I am ready for the mustard colored frock. It is quite voluminous.


This is just cute and simple. This would really sing with a pair of flat sandals in a metallic color.


Hmmm.. This one is cute, but I am confused as to why the Big 4 keep reproducing patterns that are already out. I know I have seen this a million times already. Okay maybe not a million but it is already out there.


Love it, love it, love it. What a great professional wardrobe builder. The only thing that is not to my liking is the fact that it buttons from the back. I get up at 2:30 so I would hate to wake up my hubby to button me up in the middle of the night. Even worse, I would hate to have to contort my arms to button it up!


Okay the tent dress must really be popular now.. that's all I've got to say about it.


Oh I see the potential fabulousness of this!! This is very retro chic!


I'd love view A with a little ribbon belt. How cute is that?


View A (blue shirt) is pretty hot. The only thing I don't like are patterns with illustrations instead of real models. Every illustration on every envelope always looks SO cute -- but you can't tell how it *really* looks. Thank goodness for blogs and Pattern Review.


Aww this is just adorable.


This has great potential. The short sleeve version would be great for running errands like going to the mall, etc..


I LOVE that white dress! The version with the sleeve is extra cute as well.


Doesn't this look like something Dita Von Teese would wear??


This is very clean and cute. Very simple.


Finally, would you all be my friend if I made some historical footwear? I mean it's not like I attend historical era fairs or am an actresses. The pair smack in the middle with the lace ups -- oh yeah!! LOL