A Premature Announcement

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might notice I have a teensy problem with follow through. I start out with the best of intentions but the reality is I have sewing ADD. Projects catch my attention, I plan them out, and then once it's fully formed and I own enough to get started, my addled brain moves on like a regal tang that has realized that the tops of jellyfish are bouncy.

So I'm a little reluctant to go blathering here and yet I'm entirely too excited about this project to keep my mouth shut. I suppose my hope is that putting it out there to the universe, or at least the blogging world will keep my attention from straying.

You see, I discovered Marfy patterns a few years ago. They are an entirely too lovely line of patterns all the way from Italy. The lines are elegant, gorgeous, the styling unlike anything you'll find here in the states, and entirely devoid of seam allowances or even directions. That's right. These patterns have no directions. They are a puzzle to anyone but the most experienced of sewists. That's seamstress grade knowledge right there and I am completely lacking in such things.

I bought one right then because I'm a sucker. Despite it being a rather easy little A line skirt, it's been sitting in my stash ever since. Probably because it is an A line skirt. I mean how boring when you think about it. But I don't want to think about it. I want to think about all of the gorgeous patterns offered on the Marfy site and I want to dream about the day I will be brave experienced enough to give one of these bad boys a try.

Marfy 2751

Marfy 2410

Marfy 2268

And will you look at that, I just happened to stumble upon A Challenging Sew, a blog that's in the process of doing a Marfy sewalong. And not just any sewalong but a Marfy sewalong featuring three very free, very beautiful, perfectly coordinating patterns with all of the proper handholding one might need to throw together a perfectly coordinating Marfy suit.

See for yourself!

Le.Sigh.

I can do this, right? 

You'll make me do this, yes?

Oh goodie!

I mean, do you die?

I die. I truly, truly die.

So when to start? Everyone knows if you don't set a start date, you have no hope. Or maybe procrastinators know this. Of course a date doesn't mean you will accomplish anything but it does up your chances. Or so I've heard. That's a lot of sentences that start with O, isn't it?

YES, I'M STALLING.

Okay. I can do this. 

I, The Hot Mess, more or less, (hopefully less in this case) do so solemnly swear to embark on the wondrous journey that will be the Marfy Free Pattern Challenge. I will muslin up, use my stash, and sew one carefully crafted three piece suit with Italian flair sometime in the near future to start September 1st if not sooner. I will not allow myself to be discouraged by the fact that this arbitrarily chosen start date is also the anniversary of the beginning of WWII. Bad juju is not real. The gloriousness of Marfy Patterns is. Other people have done it as evidenced by this blog. And so can I.

I CAN DO IT!

I'm in so much trouble.

I've been sewing . . .

But not blogging. For that I apologize. Here's a little penance. 

So cute! Apparently Isaac and Rosa were apart of an ad campaign encouraging one to donate towards the education of newly freed slave children. I think I have a pattern for little miss's dress. Maybe next year.

I'd like to promise you I'll be blogging more often but December is a terrible time to tell such lies. I have a ton of sewing to do before the 25th and of course, as per usual, I am procrastinating unbelievably and blogging instead.

Since we're here, let's talk about Christmas . . . or maybe I shouldn't jinx myself. I'm feeling ambitious. This year's Christmas sewing involves smocking, brocade, chevron darts, embroidered ribbon, and linen. Yeah, I don't know how the linen will work out either but the color worked and so did the face of the fabric so it's happening. Cross your fingers for me.

Kids Clothing Week

I have an excellent track record with challenges.

Fine, Mr. Sloth. You're right. I do not. But I'm going to try to fix that and I'm starting with Kids Clothing Week. So many great sewists participate and do an excellent job I might add, wresting stirrings of jealously from my cold, envious, black little heart. It just so happens that I have a few kid projects I need to get my little fingers to so a week dedicated to just that purpose is timely.

So what's the plan, Stan?

via Sunday's Child

First up, a good friend of mine recently had a sweet little baby boy and I volunteered to make his christening outfit. Why? Because christening outfits are gorgeous and I never made one for pudding. The little bubble I'm making comes from the May/June 1996 issue of the now defunct Creative Needle and will be made from a cotton/linen blend I bought at Joann's.

Smocked baby owls by Michie Mooney

Next I'll be making at least one version of #134 by Michie, one in brown corduroy with an embroidered pumpkin for Halloween and another in brown sateen with acorns for fall. Remember this post when I said patterns like this are quite versatile? Skip on over to this link to see more. The sateen version will look something like this precious little sailboat romper and the pumpkin one ought to resemble the smocked wagons vs though I'm not sure if I'll have time to turn out something smocked or if I have a pumpkin smocking graph. Guess I'll be figuring that out this weekend.

2+2 Blouse pattern by
Oliver and S

And of course, I can't attempt a Kids' Clothing Week without planning something for pinky, now can I? She's been really into jeans for church lately meaning she doesn't want to wear the two dresses I recently made for her. I only made them because she desperately needed church clothes. So now, she desperately needs church clothes. I think that means it's time to finally make the Oliver and S 2+2 blouse I've had in my stash for three years. Again, I'll need to spend this weekend going through the stash but I believe I have something aqua and something red I can donate to this cause.

Wish me luck!

Are you a KWCer? If so, what's on the books?

I love finding new things

As I was bouncing along the interwebs, looking for something to do, up popped Heather B showing off her son's snazzy dragon jams. After reading her glowing report on the pattern maker, I thought I'd swing by and wouldn't you know it, I fell in love.

You see, I've been trying to decide if I should sew a swimsuit, Burda's Alison pattern to be specific. I added it to my library when I first discovered BurdaStyle but the very idea of sewing a knit was intimidating at the time, much less swimsuit fabric so it joined the massive stash where a hot mess's grand plans fizzle away into nothing. It was briefly awakened by the discovery of an absolutely perfect white on red polka dot swimsuit fabric from Michael Levine Inc but faded again when I found I'd have to buy a full yard of the stuff and let the rest languish. I mean what are the odds that I'll find another use for swimsuit fabric?

By now you're probably wondering what this had to do with dragon jams and for that, I wholeheartedly apologize. I'm pretty sure I'm high on albuterol at this point so you'll have to bear with me. What was my point again?

Yes! Discoveries. Heather B's blog lead me to my new best friend, the Peekaboo Pattern Store because what else should one do with swimsuit fabric besides make another swimsuit, yes?

So here's the plan. I'm going to make my throwback retro suit from the blue and use the white on red for the bust. I'll be needing you keep your fingers crossed that between a structured bra insert and some modification of that back strap I'll be able to keep the sisters in check. Meanwhile, Pinky's suit will be made from the white on blue with navy ruffles to make it entirely too cute. 

Do you think she's too old for ruffles on her butt? Yeah, I really don't care. She's getting them.

Also on my mind from Peekaboo, these baby patterns.

I can't decide which one I like more. The Lazy Days Romper pattern could resolve that issue of never having anything to sew for baby boys that is cute enough to rival what I can find at a store for about the same overall cost. But at just 2/3rds of a yard, maybe less, I could definitely whip up a few cute ones for the bood (rhymes with food.) There are a ton of cute little boy knits out there just calling my name. Like these from The Fabric Fairy.

Fabric Fairy also has some really adorable boardshort fabric that would look really cute in the Pier 49 pants, wouldn't you agree?

This will all have to wait until closer to summer though as we there is waaaaaaaayyy too much crap on my dining room table, too much stuff recently arrived from exotic locals for me to even think about adding to the mess. You can stop laughing now, I really will try. Besides, I'd hit my max for a while. Let's turn out some stuff first. How about that?

Okay, fine. I do want to know. Are nine year olds too old for butt ruffles? Will you feel sorry for my child? Don't bother making the argument that other children will point and laugh, pinky doesn't care. She already takes crap for her Avengers lunchbox. The kids at school say it's a boy lunchbox and therefore, must be one of pete's hand me downs.

Have I mentioned that kids are stupid?

Yes, indeed.

So yay or nay on the butt ruffles?

Payback is a you know what.

You want it?  You can't have it because I just bought it.
But DiscountSewingSupply has more.
Go look!

I have this friend we shall call A. A decided quite a few months ago that she wanted to learn more about garment sewing. Like the good little stashaholic I am, I showed her all the things. We fill out our facebook messages with ages and ages of sewing discussions. She is hooked.

Yesterday, she came across a tutorial on jelly roll race quilting and now it's over. Now I must make one of these beauties.

A quilt made from precut strips of fabric with very little thought involved that promises to turn out an entire quilt top in an hour?? Yeah. It's done. I'm hit. Sign me up. This is totally what I get for showing A Fabricmart and Fabric.com, isn't it?

Have any of you made one of these before? Would you like to make one along with me?

Are you taking bets on whether or not I'll finish it? Pete's baby quilt is still floating around here somewhere in desperate need of binding. Yes, I said pete's quilt, not pudding's. That's twelve years. Maybe I'll finish in time for pudding to take it with him to college.

In all seriousness, I really want to make this happen, even if I have to take it to the quilt shop and pay them to finish it for me. The top won't be any trouble at all and it will be a welcome distraction from wrestling with my stays, seeing as I adore distractions.

You know you wanna make one too.

What colors would you use?

Because I don't have enough to do

The Crossover Blazer

by Burda Style

Check out Banyan Tree's version.

I can see it in a navy blue wool with an ivory lining, gold buttons and maybe even epaulets. Let's just hope it won't give me a dogged determination to pursue ex-convicts who are merely trying to make something good of themselves.

Squuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeee!

Something rather amazing happened to me a few weeks ago and I never got to share as I was knee deep in a blogging schlump from which I am slowly recovering.

I WON SOMETHING!!!

The amazingly talented Leimomi Oakes, aka The Dreamstress hosted a giveaway featuring one's choice of four gorgeous vintage patterns, a length of fabric, and a variety of notions and trims to jazz the whole thing up with. The only thing one had to do was share what you might do with such a thing. I picked the Simplicity pattern and put forth the idea of making a jacket out of some white linen I have laying around. Well now that my prize has arrived, I am in a quandry. The jacket is sweet and that's all lovely but you know, those beautiful, beautiful trims need to be showcased with that fabric. They are a perfect, happy little family.

So what to do, what to do?

I think a sundress is in order, don't you? A little red gingham bias along the straps, piping on pockets, possibly on the seams.

Can I have a grown up version of this dress?

Littlegoodall at etsy

Or perhaps something like this.

From HelaQ and still available!

And how fabulous would all that piping look on these seams?

sold on ebay

It's still chilly and blah here so no sundresses for a while. But I broiled my behind off on St Patty's so sundress weather will be here pretty soon. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. (And before you say it, yes I should check my stash, but what's the fun in that?)

Oh yes! I forgot all about the chocolate! Mostly because I'm stingy with my chocolate and I don't want nunya peeping in my windows trying to steal it. If you promise not to pass out and die at the sight of the hot mess currently living on my head, I'll show you some pictures.

All the way from New Zealand,

chocolate,

 with macadamia nuts!

Yum!

Tea at the Davenport Part Pinky

Don't ever ask pinky what kind of dress she wants. The answer will always be something Barbie threw up after a night of drinking tequila rose and pepto bismol after throwing a frat party at the dream house. Then you'll have to deal with the hemming, the hawing, the exasperated sighs as you try to take her down from the pink bubblegum nightmare cliff.

No, the best approach is to give her a starting point and say, do you want a dress like this. It helps if your starting point is somewhere close to where you'd like to be. Lucky for me, pinky's little heart lit up like the ghetto firecrackers my neighbors were setting off at three in the morning last night. (Yes, last night and no, I don't live in some alien world where New Year's eve came a day late.)

And the winner is . . . that sweet, adorable little yellow dress on the left with the lavender sash.

Beautiful, am I right? It's precious and feminine and frilly without the need to call the paramedics to wake you from a diabetic coma. I happen to be sitting on the perfect yellow shirting. Well, I wish I was sitting on it, then I could provide you with a picture. Instead, it's upstairs or in a box or something. The point it I have it. I also have the perfect pattern. 

I bought both this version and the ladies' counterpart from Sense and Sensibility patterns a few years ago and never did anything with them. I'd like to think they were waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect moment being right now. So yay for kind of free!

Now these patterns are geared towards an earlier impression, 1805ish vs 1820 when the Davenport House was completed but the changes are slight and will be detailed in a later post. 

The dress itself will be rather easy. Not much fitting involved, four buttons on the back, some sleeves and a pretty hem. But one can't dress regency without the proper underpinnings, even when one is a slight nine year old with long legs. So in addition to the dress itself, I'll need to make the child a chemise, at least one petticoat, and a pair of stays. Yes, stays. Tiny baby corsets. But before you report me to CPS, you should know that we're talking about a garment that's little more than a glorified sports bra, the perfect thing for a hot mess in training who has been begging for a bra since she sprouted stage 2 boobies. (Talk to her American Girls All About Me body book for introducing her to the boob stages of life.)

See? Nothing to be scared of there. Those channels you see are not the hard boning you think of when you hear the word corset. It's cording, aka yarn. She'll even thank me for it, trust. Btw, if you think those are cute, you can read all about them and peruse the website of the really talented woman who made them by clicking here.

After we finish the underthings and the dress, we'll do up the accessories. Pinky is dying for a bonnet. I think we've settled on a purple velveteen bonnet that won't look at all like something Prince was wearing while grinding on Apollonia circa 1987, I swear.

So that's it.

What do you think? Please tell me it won't end up looking like everything that was awesomely bad came down and took up residence on my poor baby's head.

Everyone else is doing it

I really don't want to recap 2012. Suffice to say the year was full of highs and lows. Both my sister in law and I gave birth to gorgeous babies (if I do say so myself.) But we suffered two unexpected losses, that of my uncle, followed a few months later by the loss of my husband's father. Everything in between seems rather sedate by comparison I think.

The sewing/crafting front saw its own share of highs and lows. I blew threw a bunch of projects around Mayish or so but succumbed to a frightening loss of mojo and turned out nothing of great importance for the rest of the year. The living room is littered with false starts and so so completes. So we're just going to call that a wash and move on.

On the domestic front, I actually feel I did pretty good. I've still not managed any semblance of organization, nor have I made great strides in the housekeeping sector. But I did institute some traditions that are officially part of our routine. Friday Movie Night has continued merrily along, Sunday dinner is nothing short of a success, and Saturday breakfast, peteybird's brain child, has been a fantastic way to compensate for Mr Man's 60 hour work week.

But enough about 2012. Let's talk the new year. I'm thinking five challenges and ten goals. I could probably come up with some fancy reasoning but let's just make it simple. I want to do better. That's really all there is to it. I made some strides last year. I won't bore you with the details. But there's always room for more. Just don't expect some kind of weight loss/exercise plan. I'm not even. We'll save that for 20dead.

So, let's start with the challenges and tomorrow, I'll share the goals. How's that?

Challenge #1: Daily Blogging

This is one is rather easy as I already mentioned it before. I will be blogging daily. I have promised Bear Allen and Bear Allen will shove me down a flight of stairs and lock me in a dog crate if I don't comply. At least this is what her husband says is the consequence of disappointing captain reading pants. I'm really not sure but I'm not in the mood to test her. Okay, really, I'm just not in the mood to throw down on pregnant ladies and I'm entirely too forgetful to remember to save my beatdowns for post partum.

Challenge #2: Knit/Crochet for an hour a day

Can I just share with you how much I adore sitting down at the end of the day, tucking my legs and my dog underneath a blanket on the couch and just chilling out with something soft on my needles? Oh yes, I do. It's very calming, reflective, and just a great way to clear your mind and settle for sleep. This will also help me carve out some time for all the knit projects that often fall by the wayside when I get a glimpse of a yummy fabric or lustworthy pattern.

Yeah, yeah, you wanna know about that advent scarf, don't you? Well here's a song for you.

Challenge #3: The Dreamstress's Historical Sew Fortnightly 

Did you notice my new bloggie button on the right hand side of the page? Well, there you go. Here's a link where you can read more about the challenge in general but I think you'll agree an announcement like that requires its own post. You should also be aware that I received my winnings the day after Christmas and will be blogging about that soon too.

Challenge #4: Sew simple each week

Look, I'm swimming in stash, okay? It really and truly is out of hand. I started and stopped an awful lot last year and have very few things to show for it. I also need more versatile, more grown up, more coordinated clothes in my wardrobe so yes, I'm going to work on it. We're not talking complicated outfits. Just something simple and easy either for myself or for the spawnlets. I think a cute knit tee in a blue, white, and silver stripe will be just the thing to get me started. But I won't lie. I think this one will be my most challenging one to stick with. I'm sure Bear Allen will be happy to add this to her list of things to pester a hot mess about.

Challenge #5: Budget, budget, budget

This one is also a humdinger. I won't be blogging much about it, however as I'm just not feeling the idea of sharing my entire financial picture with the whole wide internet. Suffice to say, we make enough to live on and live decently I might add *if* we pay attention to how we spend it. I'd like to get on the front end of our finances instead of feeling like I'm always falling behind or missing something.

But there are benefits to thee ol' humble blog. For one, I'll be resurrecting the weekly menu segment I was doing earlier this year. The budget is pretty much the same, $125/week for groceries. The menu will usually consist of Sunday dinner, Saturday breakfast, two crockpot meals for those extra curricular days, and Friday's junk food make over.

So there it is and it feels so very brave and yet completely possible, even, dare I say it? Likely.

But if you know me . . . . well, wish me luck anyway, okay?

A new endeavor

I've decided to try something new and likely mundane and boring but before we get to that, let's discuss the 4th. Did you enjoy yours? Aside from some majorly sore legs thanks to the city's dumbass idea to stop bus service before the end of the fireworks, the kiddie means and I had a faboo time. Unforch for mr man, he was forced to work. Boo.

So what exactly did we do? We had a picnic dinner of course. The grilled chicken skewers with balsamic glaze recipe I tried from my last All You magazine was underwhelming. It didn't suck but I could have used my standard marinade of teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger with more satisfying results. But that's okay because, dude, can we take a moment to discuss broccoli slaw??

My MIL introduced me to this awesomeness over Easter week and let me tell you, this chick is HOOKED! Yes, yes, some people are offended by the mere presence of mayo but we call those people fun suckers. Just take a cup of mayo (shaddup), a couple tbsp of sugar, and a couple more tbsp of vinegar, mix it up, and then toss it with a bag of shredded broccoli, carrots, a big handful of craisins, and a couple strips of crumbled bacon. I tell you, this stuff is like crack. CRACK I TELL YOU!!!! If you don't have a husband who balks at the idea of "nuts in his mouth" because he's forever twelve, you can feel free to add a sprinkling of slivered almonds or sunflower seeds.

After dinner, we power walked it down to River Street for the fireworks. In hindsight, it would have been a better idea to pick out our spot on the waterfront and eat down there while waiting for dark. But a good time was had by all, except for the fifteen minutes between when pudding's hunger pains started up and we were able to find a place to sit down.

So what's this new, rather boring pursuit I will be adding to my blogging repertoire?

Well, it seems the world believes that broke folks cannot eat decent food on a budget. Apparently, we are regulated to Micky D's on the regular and thus, it's up to someone, anyone to swoop in and save us from Hamburger Helper Hell. First off, I like hamburger helper so all you haters can hush it. Actually, that's beside the point. The point is that with the exception of urban areas and/or people without access to any sort of transportation, broke folks can eat decently. What I will concede, however is that is does take some foresight, time, and energy to do so. And so I've decided to add meal planning to my blogging.

I am a housewife after all.

Not only will I be sharing recipes and menus, I'll be posting about my grocery budget, sharing my successes and failures. My goal is to feed us for about $150 a week, probably $200 when you add in non-food grocery items like dishwashing detergent and paper towels. So stay tuned for more details.

Until then, wanna see more holiday pics? I know my mommy does. Please ignore the fact that I look like a knocked up Jessica Simpson at the county fair if you please. I had a choice between cute but sweltering and freedom loving schlump and I chose the later.

Look at Pudding, trying to sit up like a big boy!

Let freedom ring indeed.

A little brotherly love

What's more American than red, white, and blue shortcake?
Marvel superheros, that's what.

Live long and prosper, America

Things I will do this week

1) Finish reading Doctor Zhivago.

I watched the updated miniseries a few weeks ago starring Keira Knightley. I love everything she does and I had an extended Russian obsession when I was in high school, including attempting to learn Russian. Then there are the Edwardian era costuming and all the eastern style embroidery.

And yes, I know this isn't Keira but look at the embroidery on that peasant top.
::sigh::

So clearly this book and I were meant to be. Just you wait until the new Anna Karinina update comes out. You will all hate me. You're welcome in advance.


2) Not shank pinky's dance teacher.

I could bore you with the long story of how I nearly hurt that woman hard but suffice to say, she is not my favorite person and we are heading into the home stretch towards recital. If she cuts her eyes at me one more time, I might do something to permanently alter her ability to do so in the future. Apparently, asking her what I need to do with this kid's hair isn't worthy of her time unless I'm also paying for expensive private lessons and/or am willing to shell out ridiculous amounts of money to put an ad in the recital program. I guess I just don't like my kid enough. And what I dislike even more is being ignored and then yelled at when someone fails to provide the information I've spent weeks asking for.

Pray for this woman's eyeballs.

3) Weed the garden and plant the limas and more bush beans.

This one should be easy peasy and I bought a nifty new gardening hat for a whole three dollars at walmart. It looks delightfully stupid.

4) Finish the smocking on pudding's Easter outfit.

I'm not sure why I'm calling it the Easter outfit anymore. We all know what month it is. I don't know what it is about Easter but this is the second year in a row I've failed to produce awesome outfits for this particular holiday even after all that planning, ordering and even cutting. If I don't get this damned thing done soon, it won't fit the kid at all.

5) Start my pretty lace shawl.

Someone think good thought for my doofy behind because I really think I must have accidentally got into the good stuff if I'm actually laboring under the delusion that I'll be able to finish this thing. Hell, at least the yarn is pretty. I'll share all the details tomorrow, for swears.

So that's my list. Feel free to yell at me if you think I won't meet my goals. Just make sure the dance studio lady hasn't pissed me off or you might not get the results you're looking for.

Unless you're willing to provide an alibi, of course.