And... She's Alive, Folks!

Oh, what's that? Summer and half of Autumn have packed up and already come and gone since I last posted?? But I... I...

That's my belly folks, not my rockin' booty.

I was busy. Busy slackin'. Busy being delightfully pregnant. Persistently tired and having an excuse to slow down a bit.

Henna for the belly!

Quite frankly, I never got that major nesting urge that other women talk about. Which, of course, I had been relying on getting to finish all of the cleaning and sewing that I had hoped to do. But I didn't get the urge, so I didn't get them done.

Instead, I did manage to bring this little delight into the world:

Lolo!

Blogosphere, meet my LoloFe. She entered this world on the 8th of September via C-Section, but not without putting up a solid effort to be born feet-first into the world. :)

Buddy's Henna tatt for LoloFe. <3

And now, almost 6 weeks later, I seem to feel more like myself again. Less like a walking baby-buggy or a post-op zombie.  And the blog has started calling me again. The pictures are sadly going to be phone quality, which means you'll just have to deal with the less glorious resolution. But they're here, right? That's what matters, right? RIGHT?

The sewing, admittedly, is a little quieter with the calls right now. Though that may be because Lo is quite keen on being attached to her Mama AALLL DAY. Which, I don't generally mind. More napping and cuddling time for me. :) But it also means I'm up at 12:30 only because I didn't get dinner at dinner time.  Because I was feeding some beautiful little monkey-girl.

Sock Monkey, Klint, courtesy of Sock Monkey Drawer

But--Hello, again! I've missed you!

Memorial Day Weekend Dress

Okay, so the "name" of this dress is not entirely accurate. I didn't wear this dress Memorial Day Weekend, and I didn't even finish this dress Memorial Day Weekend. However, I got the fabric I used for this dress last year during Memorial Day weekend and completed the majority of its construction this Memorial Day weekend.

My birthday spoils from last year

So there you go.

General details about it's construction:

Source: Vintage Sewing Wiki

Pattern: Simplicity 7011, circa 1975, purchased on Etsy

Fabric: Synthetic border print, which I then hacked apart and reconstructed to make use of the different prints on it. I could have probably just used two different fabrics all together.

Changes made: The pattern is really simple: four pieces to cut for the dress, and then little tabs and facing to cut. I ended up cutting the dress pieces into different sections to help me place the border prints at the places I wanted. I also added a strange little pleat to the front pieces to add extra belly fabric. It wasn't the prettiest alteration, but the gathers/elastic end up hiding it well enough. Not to mention the print. I skipped the tabs, because they felt a little like overkill with this print.

I used flat-felled seams with the border print transplants.
If you look right under the beads, you'll see where I had added the extra pleat, too.

I also added the border print portion to the hem as a separate piece. It cut down on the need to hand-sew, and tied up the dress pretty well. In retrospect, I'm not sure it mattered too greatly either way. It's a little longer than I had planned, but it's a little neater on the bottom, overall. (Just ignore my horrid finishing stitches and poor matchup of seams. Leave it to Buddy to take detail pics of the parts I'm least happy with.)

Overall Impression: The fabric is very light and totally appropriate for a summery dress, so I am happy to have finally put it to good use. The construction of the dress is interesting--shaping relies mainly on the use of elastic at the shoulders and bodice. I would totally make this dress again, a little shorter and with some simpler print just because I think it would have such a vastly different effect. And if you take out all the frankensteining I did with the fabric, the construction would be even simpler. I would even venture to say I'd finish the sleeves with bias binding because it would work well for seam finishes and a nice detail on the outside. I just need to buy LOTS of bias binding for that.

Excuse the wrinkles (skin and dress) from the long drive in the car.

This dress fits the vintage, alterations, and dress categories for the Sew, Baby! challenge, too, I think. :D

And as full acknowledgement, I really am working on some sewing here and there. And I still need to post on Me-Made-May conclusions. Sorry! You'll see more soon, I hope! Third trimester starts Sunday, so I am now realizing how little I've accomplished and how much I have to do to prepare for major life change!

Baby Shower Aftermath

As stated in one of my last posts (however briefly), life has been quite hectic in recent weeks. This seems to be a seasonal thing, as May is just wacky-packed full of family things. Which means a couple of things: I drop off the face of the blogging planet for a bit, and I get sick. :P

However, somewhere in the past two weeks, the baby shower I was talking up and preparing for with the use of Moon Munkie's goodies, finally came to pass. It was a pretty nice shower, I don't mind saying. Big, and full of people who adore my adorable sister-in-law.

Here's a visual review of some of the goodies that my family and I were able to pull together. My sister was in charge of the desserts, and my mom, cousins, and younger sister all helped me get all of my designated decoration projects done. I admittedly chose projects that would have better served a smaller shower (we made 80 favors and 80 pins, though I don't know that we needed to). Silly me. Fortunately, crafty hands run in the family and they all saved me from falling into a crafty wormhole of despair.

Shower cake courtesy of the family's favorite local bakery

Tulle instead of streamers.
I made a point NOT to make these tissue pompoms, but I did hang them with Moon Munkie yarn. 

Mini fruit tarts

The new and improved ivy banner, with little Moon Munkie flower accents

The favor envelopes

The envelope contents: seeds, quote, planting instructions

Family favorite: individual "Krispy Krespy" (Pistachio pudding, cream cheesy sweet stuff, whipped cream, and graham cracker crust. Not in that order.)

Sweetpea blossom pins from satin, tulle, and felt

Hanging flowers

Second hanging plant, used as prizes for the shower games

Individual pretzel salads

The dessert table; my brother, his wife, and they're pre-packaged bundle of joy. ;)

Ooops! Almost forgot to include my present for the wee 'un. Probably because I didn't take a decent picture of it, so tried to brush over it.

I made a quilt for my niece using my friend Eleanor Grosch's fabric that I mentioned ages ago:

I had thought I had gotten some better quality shots when my husband snuck a few in, but he deleted them because they weren't as good as I had thought. And with the rush to get the shower stuff and quilt done, I was just glad I could give it to her. :)

Me-Made-May '12, weeks 1 & 2

I had hoped to be all fancy and make a nice little photoshopped summary of my wears for Me-Made-May before posting them on here. But my brain doesn't seem to want to cooperate on this. Or I'm just plain lazy.

So, I post them in little pictures for folks to see in a row. Many of these pieces you've seen posted on here before. There are a couple of refashions (leg warmers and arm warmers from socks, t-shirt yoga pants, a hemmed dress) that I have not posted on, but they are not difficult projects with any interesting stories to accompany them.

Week 1:

Week 2: 

I know I should provide better explanations for each of these pieces, but wrestling with these little thumbnails has taken the wind outta my sales.

Week 3 is far less interesting. I'll post on that in a couple of weeks, to tie up the month with weeks 4 and 4.5. I'm hoping to get a couple new pieces made before then, because I've already hit the repeat stage since some of my other projects are just not bump-friendly. It's fun wearing all of my clothes I've made, but I do enjoy some variety.