Spring! Summer!

Oh my, it has been far too long since I have posted anything here. I have some rather exciting news, however, as I have been working on the opening of my very own Etsy shop. More to come about that later this week...but for now, I'd rather talk about dresses :)

It's so great to watch a city bloom in color during the spring. Although it isn't entirely evident here in Boulder, CO, I am anticipating what is to come...daydreaming of pretty cotton dresses and tight-less legs. I have an assortment of prints in my sewing stash, and a large majority of florals. I am always attracted to these wonderfully assorted vintage floral sheets, and I somehow always convince myself that I don't have any like this one. Sheesh.

Sometime last winter, I purchased this fabric from sosovintage with the excitement of making a copycat Betty Draper dress. 

I loved the dress for so many reasons- besides the bold Impressionistic print,  the dress has this nice cutout in the back, followed by a fantastically long tie. 

Another dress that I have been anticipating on the machine is another reproduction, seen and sold on Etsy-

I love shift dresses for the summer, but a yellow shift with daisy applique is especially sweet.

I also bought some sea foam colored fabric to make my early mentioned Audrey dress. So many dresses and so little time, it seems!

Stylish Blogger Awards!

I am quite new to the blogging world, and I'm so honored that the ever so sweet Molly would think of me for this award. :) Her blog is so sweet and full of inspiration. As required, I will happily provide seven facts about myself:

1. I have four brothers. Not one sister. To say the least, this provided me with a very interesting childhood. I grew up wanting to be "one of the boys"...and for it, I was always thoroughly reminded that I was actually different. Which was a little bit confusing then. Somehow, though, I always loved dresses and playing with Barbie.

2. I love a good piñata smashing. I ordered two for my wedding, a bride and groom, before I realized that it might be a little inappropriate to actually destroy them. I kinda forgot that. The bride and groom were not harmed...but I couldn't say the same for the poor burro... 

 3. I have Mexican/German/Swedish/Dutch ancestry. I wish that I knew more.

4. Ernest Hemingway is one my favorite authors. The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea are some of my favorite novels. His memoirs, A Movable Feast, made me love him even more. (Not to mention, an acute desire to drink wine in France and watch the bulls run in Spain).

5. I often dream of opportunities to travel. Last fall, I flew across the Atlantic for the first time to visit friends that live in Germany. We saw many castles. 

6. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I started college to study art and ended up with a license to do hair. My heart has always been somewhere in the arts, but I don't know that I'll ever find rest in one field.

7. I crave cheese all day. I don't know that it is particularly healthy, but I could eat an entire block of cheddar cheese if you gave it to me. 

I would like to award this Stylish Blogger Award to the following amazing and inspiring bloggers who follow my blog. Thanks for following me and my creative attempts! What are seven facts about yourself? 

Quality Time

Midwest Vintage Co.

and Katie-Louise Ford

Audrey and Paris When it Sizzles

 Audrey Hepburn's classy style is one my favorite. Always sweet, feminine, and effortlessly chic, her style is something that I  am constantly pulling inspiration from. Although Paris When It Sizzles is not my particular favorite (as far as Audrey movies go), but there is one yummy sherbet-hued sheath that I have been thinking about recreating. It has a simple "wiggle" shape, with a tie waist belt and a super sweet neckline. I wish that I had a picture to show it- the front collar transitions into a softly draped cowl in the back.

I've never sewn anything with a drape, so I'm a little bit intimidated. I found this pattern on Etsy that is interesting because it is basically the reverse of Audrey's dress, minus the buttons.

I'm not entirely sold on the color for me, but I am looking at a color closer to coral/pink. Any advice and/or suggestions for drafting this pattern are welcome!

Ode to The Chocolate Chip Cookie

I love love love chocolate chip cookies. There is something so comforting about a deliciously gooey chocolate chip cookie. Completely satisfying. Up until a couple of weeks ago, my most reliable source for a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies came directly from the back of a bag chocolate chips. The recipe is pretty standard- cream the sugars and butter, add your eggs and vanilla, then combine with the dry ingredients and drop in the chocolate.  This was my method- I had no idea that this infamous comfort cookie could be made any other way. The chocolate chip cookie, in fact, turns out to be a little more than I thought. 


In 2008, The New York Times published an article entitled "Perfection? Hint: It's Warm and Has a Secret." I don't know why I never heard this before, but you should always chill your dough in the refrigerator before baking. The difference? According to opinion in the article, chilling the dough allows "the dough and other ingredients to fully soak up the liquid...in order to get a drier and firmer dough, which bakes to a better consistency." I had never heard this. It most definitely did not mention this on the bag that I had so faithfully taken to. Apparently the Queen of Cookies, Ruth Wakefield, wrote in her cookbook “At Toll House, we chill this dough overnight,"  but Nestle somehow left this portion off the back of their chocolate baking bars since 1939. Shame! 


In my opinion, Alton Brown's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe is, hands down, the best recipe around.  In summation, his recipe differs by the melting the butter, using bread flour,  and an egg and egg yolk. A bit of crunch around the edges and soft in the middle. The true test? They are still delicious after they've cooled. Trust me. I recognized this this cookie with a three-part hand-stitched tribute. It's serious. 

Ingredients 

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

"The Chuck Dress"

What a week! I am only finally starting to feel relief from a terrible cold I've had all week. So glad, too, so that I can share my dress! 

Overall, I'm really pleased with how it came out. It was rather easy to put together, although there were a couple of fitting snags in the beginning. I used two pattern pieces to help me map it all out. The top half of the dress was roughly taken from this pattern, from Burdastyle. 

The pattern was originally for a basic high-waisted slim skirt that included variations, including the dress that I used. Halfway through drafting it out, I realized that this pattern piece was not at all what I needed.  In fact, the only detail that remained the same was the overlap in the front. 

The skirt portion of the dress was taken from this vintage 60s pattern. 

I made the sleeveless variation of this dress last summer, and I loved the way the skirt turned out. It is basically gathered from the front and back of the hip, with "soft pleats" that  match the front and back darts. 

A matching fabric-covered belt always makes me happy. I could always trade it out for a solid colored belt if I wanted to accentuate the waist a little bit more, but I love this retro look. Nearly every vintage dress pattern that I have has the instructions to make a fabric covered belt. At one time, apparently, "belt and buckle kits" were sold beside every other sewing notion. I haven't had any luck in finding one locally, but they are pretty easy to find online. I found mine on Ebay. I was so excited to make the eyelets, too, and I bought a special plier to poke the holes and smash them. (Do you sense how much fun I had?) :)

I did a center lapped zipper, and I hand-picked it rather than sewing it on with the machine. You can't see so well how this effect looks (sorry!), but here is a great article on it- http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/5135/a-hand-picked-zipper-is-worth-the-effort

While I was sitting around, lousy sick and sniffly, I made a daisy hair clip. I wanted to hold a daisy like the one that Chuck holds in the photo...but I thought that it might be a tad cheesy. I'm so glad that I sided with the daisies in my hair...

 

Now if I could get that matching yellow coat!

Inspiration: Pushing Daisies

If you never saw the show Pushing Daisies when it originally aired in 2007, I am right there with you. I just discovered it. Good thing for me, though, cause Netflix streams the full series via instant play. There is so much to love about this show- it paints a  colorful and exaggerated world  full of equally colorful and cartoon-like characters; amongst mystery, an uncanny romance and really amazing pies. Just watch it.  Despite all this, Pushing Daisies also has some of the prettiest vintage-inspired frocks worn by actress Anna Friel's character, Chuck. Full skirts and fitted bodices...arranged in bright florals and dreamy shades of peach, classic red, dreamy blue and, most often, yellow. Wonderful yellow. I have a weird gravitation toward all things yellow.

There are so many to drool over, really. This little number has been dancing in my head for quite some time.

I couldn't get an individual photo at full length, but you can get an idea by the top picture.  I found this vintage sheet fabric from Midwest Vintage Co.

Sheets are my favorite way to get fabric. Not only does it get you a lot more fabric for the yardage, but most of the time, sheeting is made of wonderfully soft cotton. I was looking for something with a little more yellow in the background, but I though this print was so nice. There are still a couple of fitting issues that I'm working out, but I'm hoping to have it finished by the end the weekend. I'll post pictures of the finished dress and construction details soon!

A natural notion

Stitching is a rather new craft for me. I was inspired from the likes of Jenny Hart maybe a year and a half ago, and I decided to give it a try. Recently, I've found that it is the perfect combination between two of my crafting pastimes- sewing and drawing. Since a kid, I found solace in sitting at a table and composing my graphic ideas on paper. Like most young kids, I was an avid colorer. Yes, Crayola was a good friend. I once even submitted my work to a Beauty and the Beast coloring contest, torn directly from the daily newspaper. The prized earnings, if selected, was two tickets to see "Beauty and the Beast On Ice" at a nearby ice arena. It was a big deal. BIG DEAL. And I won. No big deal. 

Sewing was something that my taught me as a kid, too. I remember outings to multiple fabric stores, and the opportunity to find beautiful fabric and pattern combos was so special. Mom made me Easter and Christmas dresses, complete with puffy sleeves and lacy details. Yup, that was the eighties. My first solo sewing project, though, was most likely a pillow. Does everyone learn this as their first project? I suppose that you can't go wrong with two squares sewn together, inside out.  The time spent sitting at the machine, hand stitching and handling fabric has always been the most fun for me. I like the idea that you can take something 2D, and purposely direct it to become something 3D. Clothing is especially magical in that sense. Like sculpture for the body, right? I love it. 

Okay, so case in point- stitching seems to combine these two things perfectly. I get the satisfaction of imagining and drafting my own graphic then using the skills that I have acquired from sewing. More work to come!