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For Sale: Non Sewing Impulse Buy

31 Oct

While in China, I made a total impulse buy. My cell phone was due for an upgrade and I fell in love with this cute compact style one. I thought it would work here in the US since my US cell phone worked in China. Wrong. It doesn’t. It’s on a different frequency. I’m listing the phone here on Evil Bay in case you might be interested.

It’s a GSM 900 frequency, you can check this list and see if it works in your country first. It appears to work everywhere else EXCEPT North America. Grrrrr. Please save yourself the effort of asking me why I would buy a phone in another country without knowing if it would here. I’ve asked myself that a dozen times already. I even thought about making it my travel phone.  But, that’s just silly. I’m more sad I won’t be able to use it. I’m totally a gadget person and this one was supercute. I held on to it for a while trying to see if there was a way to change the frequency. No such luck.

Today’s sewing project:

Cut out fabric and lining for a new coat dress. I have Tuesday off for Election Day and plan on sewing for a solid 12 hours :)

 

Holiday Weekend

11 Oct

This weekend helped with my sadness over my lack of sewing. Arielle is in the US visiting family from Haiti and I’ve had her in Baltimore the last 48 hours.  Marji is busy sailing the world and is in the Baltimore / Annapolis area and had a few of us over on her boat. Robin (who I don’t see enough of considering we are both in Baltimore) and BeeBee were on board. And, to my great surprise, there was Susan Khalje.

I may have sounded a bit stalkerish in that I was quoting her from PR Weekend LA two years ago. It’s hard not to gush.

So, while I didn’t actually get any sewing done, I spent pretty much my entire afternoon, on a boat, on gorgeous fall day, drinking wine and talking about sewing with friends. Seriosuly, good times.

I had grand plans with Arielle this weekend. We were going to work on slopers. We were going to see a textile exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art. We were going to go fabric shopping at A Fabric Place. But, what we did is get breakfast at Blue Moon (a two hour wait I might add for thier Capt. Crunch French Toast) and hit Joann Fabrics.

Time really does fly when you’re having fun. I have to admit, I kept making her call me Renee-Cidell. It’s SO MUCH MORE elegant with her French accent. Be warned all readers who speak the French. Should we meet, please be prepared to keep saying my name :)

Setting Myself Up for Failure?

24 Aug

I’ve been sewing like a bandit the last week because I’m a little behind in my China sewing. I lost a solid 1.5 weekends of sewing because the Vegan and I stopped seeing each other and I was actively engaged in perfecting my ability to eat popsicles in bed while in the fetal position. Of course, this took place in between wondering if I was ever going to sustain a long-term relationship and marathon watching of Being Erica. Happily, Trena came up to visit snap me out of it . We made pizza, drank some wine and now I’m generally back to my regularly scheduled life. Luckily, I tend to wallow for about a week and bounce back with vim, vigor and acute sarcasm. At anyrate, early in the planning process I planned to buy a blazer but never found one I liked. Now that my dress is done, I want to try to squeeze in one jacket. It’ll be cold on the plane, over air conditioned in my week of meetings and in the convention center at the trade fair. Plus, a jacket will extend my wardrobe from touring to business.

I’ve been obsessed and I mean OBSESSED with this trench style blazer from the April 2008 Burda for two years now. Oh, who am I kidding. I love trench and nautical. Period. I have the fabric on hand. A lovely linen cotton blend on clearance from Michael’s fabric a year or two ago. I just don’t know if I have the time. The Tracy Reese dress was finished last night  (photos to post on Friday or so) and this pattern traced out.

So, here’s the sewing plan:

  • Tonight, alter the pattern (unpetite, FBA, swayback adjustment) and get my fabric cut 
  • Wednesday night I want to interface and make the pockets and sleeve pleat thingies.
  • Thursday through Sunday. Sew in fits and spurts.

Ambitious, yes. And, I won’t beat myself up if it just doesn’t happen. I fly out in one week. Crazy, right?

On another note, does anyone know the answer to this? If I load my netbook up with rented iTunes movies, will I be able to play them in China? Netflix didn’t work in Canada, but I assume that is because streaming was needed. It seems to me that iTunes will be physcially on my computer and it shouldn’t matter. Anyone know?

Sigh. I should probably look into a Kindle soon. But, I’d rather just rent one for two weeks.

Baltimore Fashion Week and Milani Winner

22 Aug

The winner of the Milani nail polish is: Kira! Congratulations! Thanks everyone for participating! I should tell you, Essie also has a sewing themed line this fall. You can see the colors here. I hear Milani now has the polish on their website. I was only every able to find it at CVS.

Saturday night I went to see one of the four days of show for Baltimore Fashion Week.

The show was fun (no flash photography allowed). But, I really loved these two guys who were in the front row. They altered their own outfits. You couldn’t tell them nothin’! When I asked for a photo they eagerly posed for me.


The Creamsicle dress is my summer go to dress and was perfect for Fashion Week. Since making the Creamsicle dress in April, I’ve hemmed it by  a good three inches. Why? I was out a few months ago with friends in DC. We were dancing and having a grand old time. Then, I had this weird realization. I looked around the room and realized I must have had the longest skirt on in the entire club.  Now, you can actually see my *knees*. Scandalous, no?

Oh! And if you love pop culture, fashion and are in the Baltimore area, might I suggest you follow my friend John John on Twitter? He’s the (new) fashion, pop and food critic at the Baltimore Sun newspaper ! They lost their fashion writer Tanika last year and have just picked John John up. I’ve been begging him to get on Twitter for ever and he finally did last month. He’s @popcouturejjw4 and will have his fashion blog up and running in September.

That’s him being all fashiony.

Back in the Saddle

30 Jul

This week, I sent off my visa application for China. I was peeved it cost $130 for Americans until I saw that the US charges about the same. 

 Anywho, it was going to cost me over $300 because for two solid days I couldn’t find my US passport. That $300 figure was between the rush, renewal and company charges. I was so relieved when I found my passport, I figured I was *saving* money. Therefor, I could use the money I *saved* and buy a new camera (which I was going to get before I left for China).   

 

Optio I-10

  At first, I wanted the Pentax Optio. Why? Because it looked like an old school camera. That’s it. But, the reviews for it were weak.So, I decided to spend a little extra and upgrade to a DSLR.  After Kathi’s recommendation (because it came in colors!!) I went with the Pentax K-X. It was highly ranked by a consumer magazine and I saw excellent reviews on line. It comes in a GAMILLION colors (well, eight in the US and a gamillion in Japan).    

 

  Not that I think SLRs take inherently better photos. I once had a friend comment that a mutual friend takes gorgeous pictures, “Because with a camera like that how can she not.” Which is like saying just because someone has a high-end sewing machine they are going to make beautiful clothes.  But, I think for photographing indoors and brown skin, they provide me a wider range of settings. Plus, I got a remote control too so it’ll be much faster to take photos of my in garments. 

 

I’ve had a film SLR for years. I really only stopped using it last year when film became so much more expensive to process. So, I’m thrilled and hopefully can get back to posting for reals.    

Why Shopping Frustrates Me, Reason #134

22 Jul

Because I have been looking for a pale pink filing/ dairy crate for a month and have turned up bupkiss. Have been to Joanns, Stables, Wal Mart, Target, Container Store and PB Kids. Grrr.

I rode my bike to work today. It’s taken me well over a month to work my nerve up.  It was a harrowing 3.5 miles on Baltimore city streets but rewarding. Oh, and I was totally winded and plan to take the bus home because getting to work is downhill and I know my limitations. But, the entire time, the aesthetic was thrown off by this lime green milk crate.

Pale pink. I saw them EVERYWHERE last year. This year, according to the Wal Mart manager, all the new stuff is in brights. Bright lime, hot pink and orange. I couldn’t even find black or white when I went to my three different Wal Marts.

Sigh. See how difficult my life is? LOL. Seriously though, this is why I like to sew. I can make exactly what I want when I want it.

Vindication

4 Jun

Well, today, he apologized. Profusely. Probably because I gave him the cold shoulder the last week. And, he offered to financially compensate me for the pitched magazines. I hate to say it, but just being able to explain that the reason I was so furious was because I was totally blown away by his total and complete lack of consideration felt really, really good. Like, totally good.

So, I have to still fix my dress.  I pretty much had to take most of it apart to fix other issues. All of them related to marking. Sigh. But, in the meantime I am dreaming of this: The HP1019 Riviera Dietrich Pants & Vest.

Holy Moly. I *knew* it was cute before. But, in my hands it is fabulous!  This came in last week and I am teeming with excitement! I feel I must be Baltimore’s answer to Carrie Bradshaw. Ok, I won’t put my planned projects aside this weekend. But, seriously, how CUTE is this pattern?

I’ve already gotten a cream rayon from Guss Woolens….

So, I’m kind of a sarcastic Type-A personality. I hope no one was put off by yesterday’s story. It was totally cute of  the Vegan to want to match and I appreciated that he thought about me. I’m just a control freak! And, as far as matching being in or out of style— obviously we all go with what we like :) I still wear jeans with applique roses!

Voting in the Formalwear Contest Begins!

3 Jun

There are awesome entires in the PatternReview.com formalwear contest. My constructed-in-a-weekend dress is child’s play compared to some of the garments entered. Please check out the great entries.

So, I had offered to go with the Vegan to get a tux. But, he started laughing and said something about women always wanting to be in control. Yes, it’s true. I did not trust him and wanted to be there went he got a tuxedo. So, in the face of truth I sucked my teeth and said I didn’t want to go *anyway*. He text messaged me from the store and told me he got a blue tie and vest to go with my dress. Panic. I realize it’s a nice thought to match. But, really. We stopped matching in the 90s. I didn’t want to look like it was my quinceñera. I started text messaging my friends and all said ‘NO’ to the matchy matchy look. But, I’m trying not to be bossy and it *is* the thought that counts. So what if we looked like we were going to prom.  I said nothing about the ‘Ocean Blue’ vest and tie he told me he got.  Now, in retrospect, not that bad. Who doesn’t look smashing in a tuxedo?

People Are Awesome

29 May

This morning I finally pulled myself together to go to the UPS store and ship your awesome care packages to Haiti. I was overcome when I saw how all the fabulous things you sent  filled my trunk (the seats are down). That’s my roomie waving.

The guy at the UPS store and I totally had a moment too. He’s British and I pulled up in my MINI Cooper, Nigel. Sixty-eight pounds worth of fabric, patterns and notions. Seriously, you guys are terrific!

So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all so very very much for your extreme and limitless generosity to Arielle. People have been pretty foul lately in our community. It’s good to know that the silent majority are the good people.

Another reason I say ‘People Are Awesome’ is because Karen in Ft. Worth sent me the May Burda. This one was very sad for me to lose because I made the cover dress. She attached a note that made me cry a little. So, Karen, THANK YOU. And again I say, ‘People are Awesome’.

One more post on the draft a long and then I’m going into the sewing room!

Up Next: Burda’s Poet Blouse

19 May

Happiness is finding you traced off Burda 01-2008-122 two years ago! Jaeng wore a printed cotton version of this blouse at PR Weekend Philly and I decided that it was getting moved up in the queue.

I cut it out last night.  I’ve been trying to move away from ‘in process’ blog posts. Because,  when I don’t actually get to it or finish it, I’ll be the only one who knows. But, I feel that it’s cut, and there are loads of excellent renditions on PR, that it *should* all work out for me, eh?

I’m also prepping for Memorial Day Weekend at the end of May. I can’t decide if I should have lots of things traced, cut and ready to sew. Or just know what I’m going to make and sew as it comes. I’m leaning to the traced, cut and ready to sew.

Now, some marketing *genius*…. the newest iPad commercial.  In the first ten seconds they show Fabric in a studio / fabric swatches and a girl on a pastel colored Vespa. It’s like they wrote the commercial *just* for me.

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