A 3-day weekend is upon us in the States! Yes!! I don't know what I'm more excited about: finally entering September or having an "extra" day to mill around.
I don't know about you, but August has felt so freaking long. It's the same number of days as July, but for some reason July seemed to fly by. Despite taking a vacation in early August (see photos above and below....I Miss You, Seattle!!), I feel like this month has been lingering around for way too long. It's time to kick August to the curb and get around to Fall.
There is some house stuff I want to accomplish this weekend, but I mainly want to tackle some sewing projects! The past several weekends were devoted to sewing a gift, but now that's it finished I can go back to selfish sewing. I made a trip to the FIDM scholarship store during my lunch break this week and oooh boy, it felt good. I had a self-imposed ban on shopping there until I finished the gift I was making so it's probably been a month since I've been there. Somewhat disappointingly, there was nothing there that made me think "omfg I have to have it!", but I did purchase a couple items.
The blue safety pin is a silk fabric that was $5/yard. It looked to be about 45" wide so I got 1.5 yards. I'm not sure what the other two fabrics are; they're silk-like, but were only $2/yard so probably not silk and most likely polyester. Both were about 60" wide so I only got 1yd of each. Difficult to tell in the photo (due to the flash...sorry), but the polka dot fabric is a bit sheer so I'll need to wear a camisole underneath whatever blouse I end up making, but no biggie.
I want to make another Sewaholic Belcarra blouse (with a few modifications to fit better) and another version of a really simple McCalls blouse that I just recently made (and will share soon!). If you can't tell, I'm on a mission to make simple blouses. Tops that I can easily throw on and pair with slacks or a suit to wear to work. I'm sick and tired of paying up the wazoo for silky-but-not-really-silk blouses at Ann Taylor and BR. It's about time I make some myself.
I also stopped by Mood this week on my way home from work one day. I almost had to call an audible because I couldn't find parking on my first drive-by. But I persevered and found a spot on my second try. I forgot that during weekday rush hour you can't park along the street and a nearby open lot is filled with office workers in the area so available parking is significantly reduced. But in the end, my trip was meant to be! If you find yourself in a similar situation, just circle around a couple times and look out for permit parking restrictions.
My main reason for shopping at Mood was to get fabric for my husband's vest! I recently made a muslin of Simplicity 4762 Version C and it fit pretty well (look beyond the hokey pattern cover!). Honestly, the pattern seems so freaking simple because there aren't any frills. The flap on the front is just that. A flap. Welt pocket fake-out! I offered to make actual welt pockets, but my husband said it wasn't necessary......but I might try my hand at it. I mean where else is he going to stash his monocle and pocket watch?
The main hangup in finishing this vest was just a matter of finding the right fabric. Mood has a pretty good selection of suiting fabric, although the first 10 fabrics I cooed over were in the $60-$80/yd range! yikes! I eventually found a couple Georgio Armani fabrics for $20/yd, which seemed like a steal at that point. Gah, Georgio Armani is a steal?! wtf. Luckily the pattern only calls for 1 1/8, but I got 1 1/4 just in case. I also needed a lining and oh man am I terrible at selecting lining. The lining I liked the most based on touch unfortunately had a Balenciaga logo all over it. Since the vest has the lining fabric used on the right side for the back bodice, I didn't think my husband would appreciate such a distracting logo. I ended up getting an inexpensive Thakoon acetate lining for a whopping $2/yd. It's my first run at making a men's vest, so I'm not going for pure luxury here.
I also threw in a yard of an Anna Sui poly at $10/yd. Umm...hello, look at those stars! How could I pass it up!? The black is a bit faded looking, but whatevs. Again, the flash ruined everything, but I wanted to get these photos and post up before the weekend....sorry! Unfortunately I couldn't find any of these fabrics online....sorry, again!
Along with all the fabric I picked up at The Fabric Store back in June during the LA Sewist Meet-up, I'd say I'm well stocked for a full weekend of sewing! What sewing or non-sewing plans do you have for Labor Day???
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