Planning ahead...Sorta

Winter is finally starting to let up! Well, it is today anyway. It's finally sunny and above freezing, but we're expecting a snow storm tomorrow so, well, yeah. With all the grey skies we've been living with this winter, it's no wonder this super sunny fabric came home with me the other day when I stopped into the local Fabricland for some school supplies...

I wasn't supposed to buy anything other than interfacing... This just jumped into my arms! I swear!

This fabric is super bright and sunny, which is kind of the opposite of how I normally dress, but the brightness of it just makes me so happy! Also, I love that it's basically a print that is meant for children. I can be 10 again, right?

Of course, I'm struggling with what to make with this, as it's a whole lot of yellow. And yellow tends to look pretty crap on me. I do know it wants to be a cute summer dress, but which dress? At first I thought I'd go with my go-to dress, McCalls M6646, but I think I'd have to do something to it to make it less yellow.

I suppose I could add some black detailing to it...

So I'm turning to you, dear readers, for your suggestions as what to do with this lovely stuff. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

I won't be sewing this up for the next couple weeks, as I'm still eyeballs deep in homework, but as soon as I'm done with all the school stuff, I'm diving head first into my stash to sew my summer wardrobe. I need to make a shit-ton of skirts and dresses before May 19, as my dear friend Haizle of 365 Days of Sweat, Yarn, and Laughter and I are having a NO PANTS SUMMER! The rules are simple. No pants all summer long. This means I need way more skirts and dresses in my closet than I currently have.

Anyone else want to join in on the No Pants Summer fun?

How do you stay warm?

I love the winter, so you will rarely hear me complaining about the cold (summer and the heat, on the other hand...), but this winter has been particularly bad for many, many people. Personally, I've been loving it, even when it's been -35C/-31F. This is the first winter in years that we've had real snow in Toronto. The kind of snow that used to fall when I was a kid! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

Anyway, I stumbled across this video by Bill Cunningham on winter fashion:

and it reaffirmed my belief that just because it's cold, doesn't mean you can't look good. So I thought I'd share how I keep warm with y'all.

Personally, I have 3 wool winter coats, 2 of which are black (in different lengths), and one that is red/navy plaid. In this instance, I am wearing the longer of the two black coats with what I lovingly call my blanket scarf.

The blanket scarf is a gigantic infinity scarf that I knit for myself. It seems boring enough in the above picture, But then I wrap it around my neck twice to get this:

When I wear it like this, it's the warmest thing ever! But seriously, I can't turn my head or see my feet. It's crazy bulky. And, not gonna lie, I can't wear it while I'm driving (single or doubled) as it's just too big and gets in the way. But let's be real. I rarely drive, and it keeps me warm as fuck on my daily commute.

How else do I keep warm? With my awesome mittens of course! I've finished knitting my How Cold Is It? mittens by Drunk Girl Designs, and I'm totally in love with them. AND they kind of match my hair ;)

Seriously in love with these mittens!

So....What is your "winter look"?

xoxoxo

Red, Polka Dots, and Panels

So, this dress was supposed to be finished back in September to wear for Mr. Social's birthday. And, yeah, that didn't happen. But I did get to wear it today!

I've made McCall's M6741 again, this time without pockets, or adding a collar of my own. I kinda love this pattern, and expect I'll end up making it a few more times, as it's a super simple dress that can work in any fabric and for any occasion. The cut is flattering for a number of body types, and the skirt has a perfect amount of flare.

The one thing I will do the next time I make this dress is make it a wee bit longer. I made it the length of View A without the bottom panel, and it's.....really short. I'm a short person and didn't expect it would be that short, but hey, live and learn. It's not so short that I can't wear it, but just short enough that I will never be able to bend over in public while wearing it :P

Until soon! xoxoxo

AH-AMAZING!

Have you seen the Norwegian Curling Team's uniform? LOVE!

Drafting

So, I realize that my last post was just fabric porn, and that despite my best efforts to reduce my stash it keeps growing. I swear I have no time to do any selfish sewing right now! School has been keeping me crazy busy.

Exhibit A

This is a "muslin" of a blouse I drafted in drafting class. So far this semester, we've had to draft and sew up a muslin of 3 blouses. 3 blouses, 3 weeks. Plus homework for all my other classes. Clearly no time for me sewing.

I use the term muslin fairly loosely in the above paragraph. We are pretty fortunate to have a prof who told us to use fabric scarps we have laying around rather than going out and buying muslin because we're all students and we're broke. And since I have a shit ton of fabric kicking around, this helps me to destash at least a little bit...

Now that muslin sewing is on hiatus for a couple weeks, maybe I can squeeze in some personal sewing in my few minutes of spare time....well, as soon as I finish these anyway:

Since we have our first real winter in years and I've apparently lost all my mittens, I am knitting myself a pair of How Cold Is It? mittens by Drunk Girl Designs. They sum up my feelings on the sub-zero temps we've been having quite nicely.

Nothing much else to report, I'm afraid, so for now I'll just leave you with a pic of my new hair.

Until soon :)