Husband's Clothes

I had thought I had run out of clothes that I wanted to alter into something else.  That is, until I switched over and started looking through Scott's side of the closet instead.  There I found two cardigans that I have never, ever seen him wear, so I claimed them for my own!  After asking for permission first, of course.

The first one actually fit me pretty well to begin with, although in the picture below, I'm trying to pretend it is gigantic.

However, I was feeling maybe a little bit too much like I was wearing Danny Zuko's Rydell High letterman's sweater at the end of Grease, so I changed it up a tiny bit so that wouldn't be so.  All I did was take it in about an inch and a half all around, and cut off and hemmed the sleeves so they would be 3/4ish instead.

Ta-da!

This other one started out slightly more gigantic, as evidenced here:

And then while I was cruising around Modcloth, I found this cardigan:

Yippee!  I'm getting my very own by just stealing and upcycling Scott's, except in a color that I like better and without buttons that look like donuts!

Took it in about 2 and a half inches on both sides and in the sleeves, and got a better fitting cardigan.

Done and done.

Fun fact:  Boys' clothes button on the other side. I feel like I'm a 4-year-old learning to dress myself when I'm trying to button these up!

How to properly celebrate Thankschristmasgiving

(My family all came out to NY this year to visit Scott and I, so we combined holidays - that is, Thanksgiving and Christmas were celebrated simultaneously.  Get it?)

HARRY POTTER 7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A trip to MoMA.

Gangsters who can harmonize.

Getting to 73rd and Central Park West at 6:50 AM for the parade.  That starts at 9.

Your brother-in-law working really hard to save the curb for you.

Kanye West on a float.

A flying doughboy.

Believing in Santa.

Family feasting.

Self-timered group pics.

Matching tie-up cardigan/smoking jackets.

Freshly made pickles.

And waiting for pizza.

Thanksgiving Eve: A Pie Chart

Pumpkin pie, I'm going to be alllll up in your business tomorrow.

via someecards.com

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

Scott Sews, Too

Not too long ago, a friend of Scott's had an emergency appendectomy (that's doctorspeak for "got his appendix taken out" - I just learned that big word from Scott!).  The day he got to come home from the hospital, Scott decided that he wanted to make him a nice little "welcome home" gift.

His idea?  A pillow.  HA!

He asked if I would sew it for him.  I answered, "You could sew it."  (Seriously, folks.  Pillows are so simple!)

And so we worked on a little sewing project together!

Here's the final product, right before delivery:

Scott sewed this fabulous decorative border.  Makes it look real homey, doesn't it?

I sewed the four edges together.  Scott stuffed it.

And then we added the final, special touch.

No, your eyes did not fool you.  That is, indeed, a fabric interpretation of an appendix hanging off the side there.  An appendix that has burst, no less!

And yes, the gesture was appreciated.  And laughed at accordingly.

Sewing Space + Pretty Scraps of Fabric

Since I'm working on a big, long, complicated project right now (the remaining inspiration from my Copycatting post) and I don't currently have any new threads to show you (sadness!), I thought I would show you where I do all my sewing instead!

When we moved into this apartment over a year ago (on August 14, 2009, to be exact), we had never seen the place, never seen pictures, never seen a floorplan, NOTHING.  So imagine my surprise and delight to find that we not only had an extra room, it contained this nook that is perfectly shaped for sewing!

I don't have the tomato pincushion you normally associate with home seamstresses.  Instead, I have this heart-shaped one that I've had for 15+ years now.

It came as part of this huge sewing basket my granny made me when I was young that contained all kinds of notions, scissors, embroidery thread, had lots of pockets for all your little tools, and was pink and white checked with a big ol' heart on the top!  

And here's the real star:  my Brother sewing machine.  I bought this about a year ago, and it's digitized.  It has tons of fancy stitches that I've never even used, but it's been very, very good to me and I definitely love it!

Above my sewing machine is this makeshift bulletin board (read: fabric-covered cardboard).  I like to pin little things on it from time to time, like that bow - a relic from the Backless Summer Dress that I transformed slightly a few weekends ago.

You'll also notice a little bit of sewing artwork pinned up.  A long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away...anybody?), Kendra spotted this template for sewing notions display art on design*sponge and sent it over to me.  It's meant for ribbons, but I just cut little swatches of fabric from all my projects instead.  And I've finally filled it all up!

And of course, because I love a good visual, here's all the garments that coordinate with the swatches according to their positions on the board!

Lastly, I want to take a moment here and say HELLO to all my new followers who followed me over from Sam's blog last week!  She wrote the sweetest post about the clothes that I sew, and I am insanely flattered that all of you thought my clothes were cute enough that you wanted to come over here and follow me and see more of what I make!  Seriously.  Thank you!

Run Rachel Run

This girl: 

If you've never ridden a tandem bike, drop everything and do it this weekend

is going to be doing this:

for 13.1 miles on Sunday.

And she's going to rock at it.

R, wish I could be there, but I hope you can hear me singing "Don't Stop Believing" and starting the slow clap from 1,350 miles away, because I'm going to be doing both.

Good luck!  You've got this!  Earn that sticker!

Harry Potter 7 is Upon Us

But instead of leaving you with the trailer, which everyone has seen one hundred thousand million times...how about the cast talking with American accents instead?  Almost as good!

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Thank you, MTV.

NKOTBSB. This is REAL.

This morning at 10:01 AM, my co-worker Brittany and I became the overly ecstatic purchasers of tickets to this incredible event:

nkotbsb.com

Now, if you know me, you know which group I'm paying my money to see.  Here's a hint:  it's the group that includes the only person who is smiling in the picture above.  Because he's going to be SO HAPPY TO SEE ME!

Inspiration #2: Something Fancy

Building off this pick from my inspiration post last Friday...

from modcloth.com

I made this:

I used a Frankenstein of patterns for this one:  Burdastyle's Anda pattern for the top, Simplicity 2440 for the bodice (which is the same pattern we used for Kendra's wedding dress!), and the skirt part from my 1-hour dress.  It's aliiiiiive!

AND this is the same fabric that I used for another little black dress you might remember...

I went all black for a little more classic look (and then I dressed myself up with some red lipstick and a big bun for the occasion!  The ocassion being...taking pictures in front of our closet).

(Guys, taking pictures of yourself is awkward and feels weird.  I'm still not over it.  The only thing that is more awkward was the time I asked Scott to take the pictures for me.  That was way too embarrassing!  So instead I just self-timer them all in our room with the door shut, and sometimes it takes me a reeeeally long time to get pictures I feel even halfway comfortable posting on the internet!)

This was the first time I have ever even attempted to work with lace, and it turns out, it wasn't so hard at all!  I was a little bit terrified I would rip it at some point and then have to start all over, but I tried to be gentle with it the whole time, and didn't have any problems!  In fact, I just sewed it like I would a normal fabric.

Keyhole.

Lovely lace!

And I'm kind of digging it with my tiny red belt!  I feel French :)

And lastly, here's some scary pictures:

I feel like I'm channeling Taylor Momsen a little bit.  Except for about a pound less make-up, zero cleavage, and a way better attitude.  Oh, and also, I like my parents.

And lucky me, Scott already invited me to a fancy occasion I can wear this to!  It's just not until December.  Boo.  Until then I might just wear it around the house.

Out our window.

I (heart) New York.

Inspiration #1: A Loose Interpretation

On Friday I left you with some inspiration pictures of some things I had been wanting to make lately.  Well, I got down to business over the weekend, using this as my first muse:

Really all I took from it was the color blocking and the loose fit.  I ended up using a different color scheme and the good ol' batwing top (of the bats and elephants top, you may recall), and came up with this bad boy (can women's clothes be referred to as males?):
 

I learned this pose from America's Next Top Model.  Check out my smize.

Let the sun shine in!

Now, this top is actually fairly easy to make, but it took me much longer than it should have.  Why?  Because I made own stripes.  Ha!  You can't beat me, solid-colored doubleknit!  I will sew long strips of you together for hours at a time and force you to become stripes if I feel like it!

Hours of cutting and sewing strips = purple and maroon seams

Spot the now-ancient electronic equipment in the background.  Hint:  it's a VCR.

And because I was told by multiple people that my bat face was actually quite accurate, here it is for you again:

Fear the bat.