Dress decisions and some good food

Arghhh! Sorry for the terrible iPhone pics - does anybody know how to make your computer suck in pictures with the new Microsoft update? Had to email them to myself - bleh. Anyway, we had a Mardi Gras family function with friends last weekend in New Orleans, and I opted for an oldie but goodie, the Simplicity 5093, which has been the easiest dress so far to make. I was never crazy about the back, but saw some other dresses at the party with straight straps like mine.

I have always loved the front, though, and there are no worries about a necklace. Drew's girlfriend, who is 19 and sews, even came up and complimented me on the dress and choice of fabric - it's a hit with the millennials!

We had time before the party for some lunch at Kingfish in the Quarter - you have to go eat there! Look at all this food - we just ordered a few appetizers, and the nachos come with fried pork skins instead of tortilla chips. When they pour the hot cheese over it, it crackles - neat!

And here's a closeup of the charcuterie plate with their housemade sausage - yum!

This is an attempt at the prettiest dress in the joint, but you'll have to use your imagination. It appeared to be a dark blue floral chiffon or something, and had a bare midriff, although the front may have been all one piece.

Here we are all together - Drew was studying at school - good boy!

And the next day we had brunch at Arnaud's - this is my dessert called Strawberries Arnaud, with a spoon made of dough.

So I was inspired by the good food all weekend, and went to Publix for some help with dinner. The very nice Apron's lady set me up with Sauteed Ravioli with Chicken Sausage - excellent! It has mushrooms, asparagus, Gorgonzola cheese, wine, dill butter, etc., and is all cooked in one pan.

Sooooo, I'm tired of recycling my 4 Mardi Gras dresses, which I've done for the past several years, and I can't wear the Simplicity to Endymion in February since the same people will be there, so I'm thinking of something new. Initially I was just going to make another Simplicity in a different color stretch velour, but now I'm thinking of using the Alabama Chanin pattern with a stretch velvet, but cutting the front short and tapering to a long back....whatcha think? These were the only choices at Joann's:

so I've ordered a couple of swatches from Mood and Fabric.com. I may still do that neck treatment from the Simplicity, since the AC dress is plain other than the beading, but I guess the neck will be covered with Mardi Gras beads anyway, so maybe plain is just fine. And it looks like the December 17 weekend may work for the 4th annual Gulf Coast Girls' Sewing and Knitting Weekend, I just have one more schedule to check. Everybody still free? I'll probably send out an email tomorrow if schedules work.

Now off to run - I've got that Spartan race next weekend, you know!

Not a Peplum Girl!

So I cut the peplum off, evened it up, and resewed it with the seam on the side, but something's just not right. I can't put my finger on it, so I asked Lucas for his opinion. He said, "You look like you're trying to be a ballerina, it's too short, and it makes you look fat...no offense." (Honest and fashion-forward, that one!)


I have to agree, it's just not working. Maybe a stiffer fabric with more formal pants would look good, but this does NOT.


And this is even worse, what with the seam being higher in front like I'm 12 weeks pregnant! Now the question is how to salvage it, since I've bound the sleeves already, just not the neck. First I thought leave the back peplum but make the front come straight down, but I don't even like the back. So replace it with a normal bottom, but embellish it somehow? Coordinating but mildly contrasting fabric? Any thoughts would be appreciated!


So in other weekend news, I made a lot of progress on my "split-neck sweater" from Ravelry, but then discovered this about the V-neck border - do you see it?


I skipped 4 purl stitches on the right, so I'm ripping that back and redoing it - bleh! It should be nice once I get going, though, since it's a seamless, in-the-round, sweater that will go quickly.

And I did take a private lesson at Mobile Yarn to learn how to do 2 socks at once on circulars, but little progress has been made, and I need another lesson!

Now I heard Robbie is close to finishing her AC dress she airbrushed with me last year, so I can't wait to see that - can I share it here, Robbie, when you get it finished? What have you other ladies been working on? And I'm still looking at December for a possible GCGS&KW - possibly the 17th- any big conflicts with that weekend? Pam, any chance you're in Pensacola that weekend??!!

Peplum Questions

SOOOO....I've been wanting to make an Alabama Chanin top with peplum for a long time and have never found the right peplum pattern and fabric combination. AC does ruffles around tops,


but that makes me look thicker or more hippier, so I wanted a traditional half-circle skirt kind of peplum, and wanted a bit of hi-lo with lower in the back. I found a DIY tutorial today at It's Always Autumn, then found some cotton knit I bought years ago at All About Sewing. The problem is that I didn't measure completely when I folded my fabric and just started cutting, then found out I was a couple of inches shy in one corner - DOH! Luckily, the tutorial tells you how to make a hi-lo peplum by shaving off a couple of inches in one corner....trouble was that I was in the wrong corner...thus I ended up with a center front seam. Is this a deal-breaker? And this is pre-sleeve just to see what I had in the closet to go with it. Obviously the men's shoes don't compute with a peplum.


Here it is with 3/4 length sleeves, and the seam is just killing me, but ignore the weird wrinkles - it's not pressed.


I could take it off and move the seam to the side like it was intended, with the shorter side on my left hip where I wear my beeper, so that would be FUNCTIONAL, if not weird. I could also make it all one length and move it to the side, since I don't have any crazy-tight leggings to wear this with, which was why I wanted the hi-lo thing - to cover the rear in case of tight leggings.


So please comment on whether a center front seam is a deal-breaker or not, and be BRUTAL and HONEST.

So I held off on hand-stitching the neck and sleeve bands because we had a benefit gala at the Greek Orthodox Church which was black tie, which meant I got to wear this oldie but goodie, Butterick 6582:


Looking back at my original pattern review (none of the picture links to Picasa work anymore - boo), I didn't remember that I used this black dress as a muslin for another pink dress that I wore to a cancer benefit! I LOVE this black fabric, but it was only $3.99 a yard, so I guess that's why it was the guinea pig.


Anyway, it was MADE for the Ivanka Trump zip-up heels, which I didn't have the last time I wore it, so this was a great night! Now to work on knitting a V-neck sweater, and later I'll tell you about the 2-socks-at-once-on-circular-needles that I'm attempting. What are you working on this weekend?