Catch-up: Mardi Gras 2020

Yikes, I never reviewed McCall's 7047 and now I don't remember how I found it, other than I think I saw it at Pattern Review. I did find my comment on one lady's version from February 2020, so that must've been it. I remember that it was super-easy to make and my mom didn't have to help me rip or re-sew anything. I'm doing this now so I can keep track of the pattern and dress for future Mardi Gras's.

I do love that the huge drape can be styled as conservatively or boldly as you like!

It was super comfortable, not fussy, wearable with a strapless bra. Highly recommend! Here are some more photos from that Mardi Gras:

Dancing at Lafitte's is always a hoot.

We stayed in an AirBnB for the first time and I got to enjoy a hot tub during the down time - what a change from staying in a hotel!!!

My son Drew's BF Omkar's first Endymion extravaganza, and you should consider hard hats if standing close to the floats, as they throw those beads like they're Patrick Mahomes.

This is actual Mardi Gras day when everybody dresses up and Dean was in the Pete Fountain's Half-Fast Walking Parade. The most prescient costume I saw was a couple dressed as a beer and a lime with a sign that said, "I'll take my Corona with a Lyme."

Hey this posting was a lot easier than before - maybe I can finally catch up with posts. If anyone is still here, y'all have a great week!

Sheet Challenge Skirt, Mardi Gras Dress, and Geocaching

So remember I had that vintage sheet that I cut into thirds and sent to my mom and sister to see who would come up with what? Well they're still working on it, but here's what I did.


I found a coordinating blue stretch fabric in the stash (no idea where this came from - maybe a GCGSW swap?) that was fairly casual. There was also a beautiful purple polyester fabric that matched the flowers perfectly, but was too fancy to pair with a sheet.


I used New Look 6189 that I also had in stash (so green, honestly!), because it has a center front panel,


and carefully placed my flowers front and center.


Voila! I left off the belt loops and sash because I only planned to wear this around the beach in the summer, but it turned out kind of cute.


And I don't usually tuck things in.


This is New Look 6470 and it goes with the purple flowers, I think.


And this is a knitted T-shirt I made but need to lengthen a little bit.


And now the backstory (haha - didn't intend that pun). I made a muslin of this skirt first with the rest of the bed sheet and it was too big, but then I tried a smaller waistband and it was too tight, so I went back up the size 16, which ended up floating on me. Being the lazy sewist I am, I took 1/2" out of the side seam WITHOUT the zipper, because yes, this has a side lapped zipper - DOH! So this is what happens to the back when you take in one side and not the other. The back seams get off-kilter and make you look weird. Now otherwise I finished this thing very nicely with serged raw edges throughout, etc., so I fully intend to take the zipper out and take the waistband off there, then take out 1/2" from the left side. No idea why I didn't do it before I put the zipper in. Just lazy.


Oh wait, it's because I had THIS project waiting! Lucas is part of the crew for the high school's spring show, and I volunteered to sew costumes with 2 other ladies. This was my first assignment: cover the gold with fur.


Yer WELcome!


Next up - finish the Mardi Gras dress. My dear patient mother assisted yet again with Simplicity 5093 , mainly to get the straps right on the back, which entailed unsewing and re-attaching to make them symmetrical.


Ummm, it honestly has to be my shoulders or blades, because we measured this like 3 times and it was perfect when she was there to arrange straps. I just need a dresser tonight to yank on those things till they're even...um, the straps, not my shoulder blades. (Yes, I'm wearing it tonight for a local-run before taking it to New Orleans...notice I didn't say dry-run, because Mardi Gras balls certainly aren't dry!)


I also had to get some new shoes to go with this, since my gray Ivankas didn't look right with the blue. (Speaking of Ivanka, I fully intend to let Nordstrom know that I shan't be shopping with them anymore. I'm sure they'll be crushed.) I love the little Mary Jane strap, or whatever you call that.


I may have to wear them out to dinner since they look good with jeans!


In non-sewing news, my mother made me this shell necklace after taking a class with a lady - nice!


And Lucas developed a need for glasses - he chose bright blue frames (when seen from the top) after deciding against Sally Jesse Raphael red - phew!


And finally, we went Geocaching around Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores. Can you spot the containers?


Somebody very clever set these out.


And we walked about 3 miles that day in beautiful weather - who knew this was hiding across from the beach?!


May have to rent a cabin or go tent camping here sometime...

Now to finish my knitted split-neck sweater which I will wear to work next week. Then to finish the socks on circulars I've been learning to do. What are you working on lately?

Air Fryers, Mardi Gras Dress, and Crafting

So Dean's parents gave him an Air Fryer for Christmas, and I was the first to try it out (shocking, I know). Have you seen these in Bed, Bath, and Beyond? You can chop up some sweet potatoes and spray them with Pam or coat them with olive oil, put them in the basket...


Cook for about 20 minutes, turning them halfway through...


And have delicious sweet potato fries! Not sure why they're that color, but be sure to cut them into uniform strips or they'll be more like sweet potato wedges that nobody really wants to eat.


And with chicken, be sure to only put a few pieces in there, because otherwise they won't cook uniformly and it'll take twice as long. This chicken was delicious though (buttermilk batter from the recipe book that came with the fryer), and was SO JUICY! Plus there's no grease!


So I highly recommend one, because it goes into the dishwasher, but mainly if you're cooking for 1 or 2, as cooking for 4 people overloads the basket. Dean made chicken wings in it and they were delicious, but had to be done in batches to cook evenly. Also great if you don't have an oven or don't want to fire up the oven!

On to a crafting project. I discovered an old sheet in my closet that used to be on my parents' bed in the 1970's. Not sure how (or why) I held onto it that long, but I pulled it out and decided it needed to be recycled into something useful. I was thinking a summer tank top or skirt, with some Alabama Chanin-style embellishment maybe. My mom thought it should be placemats with a coordinating backing fabric. I decided that she and my sister and I should each take a section and do something independently with it, then compare notes! So here are the 3 sections:


Lucas thinks the design is not modern enough for clothing and said the colors are not in right now (he's my fashion guru), but I told him that's called "vintage."


My mother said clothing will go out of style, but placemats won't. I'm not sure what Tracey will come up with. When we're finished, I'll post the final projects and we'll see how creative we all were. Fun!


And are you ready for the 2017 Dr. Fun Mardi Gras dress? It's the Simplicity 5093 slinky dress I first made back in 2011,


but this time I added the flounce from view E and criss-crossed the straps in back, so as not to be boring with the exact same dress in a different color. And I think now the "flounce" would be referred to as a "mermaid dress."


This is plain crisscross, but I thought maybe I should jazz it up with a loop or something instead?


Um, nerp. That didn't work out.


So I'm heading upstairs today to undo that and hopefully hem it up, plus I do need to tighten it up a little around the waist, since I thought I made a size 14 bodice based on my 2011 review, but apparently I really needed a 12. I'm bad about adjusting stuff after I've cut it out and not going back to adjust the pattern accordingly - do you do that? Usually by the time I get around to hemming, I'm sick of working on it, so I just stuff the pattern back in the envelope and forget about it. This time I made some notes on the pattern envelope, since this seems to be a keeper. And now for a beautiful panorama that Lucas took of our local swamp...er, wetlands.


And 2 last craft projects from my brother. This was the lamp he made from a nice gin bottle last Christmas, and it's taken me one full year to find the right lampshade for it! Apparently a 10" drum with a flat spider is unheard of, but Home Depot of all places ended up with an appropriate substitute!


And it's perfect on my self-assembled shelf. Jake approves!


I also forgot to mention his hand-turned wooden ornaments he brought for Christmas this year - gorgeous!


So have you done any neat craft projects in 2017? I'm very happy with this year so far, since I've gotten back to my running fairly regularly (we are off for the Azalea Trail Run and will be signing up!), my sewing mojo is hanging in there with this dress, my knitted split-neck sweater is ready to start sleeves, and we ate breakfast outside today because of the beautiful weather! Also, I'm re-reading The Shack because they're releasing the movie soon - anybody else read that? It's very inspirational and makes you happy to be alive. So I hope you're having a great year so far, too, and go have yourself an awesome Sunday!

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!