Betz White's Sewing Green

It's Sunday?  Boo, hiss.  I guess I should just be thankful that I'm going to work this week, because when I went to bed Friday I still didn't know.  Continuing Resolutions kind of suck, but not having a paycheck sucks even more.

Anyway!  On to more fun things.  I attending the Betz White sewing class at Bits of Thread yesterday in beautiful, chilly Adams Morgan.  A couple things about Adams Morgan: there aren't too many tourists which is really nice (however, cross into Woodley Park and they're there waiting for you), there's a "Capitol Hemp" store right next to a Starbucks, and gas is $4.29 there.  Another great reason I don't live in the city.  But I made my way in, on time for once, and decided to make the Easy-Breezy Sundress.  I had originally intended to also make the pillowcase skirt in the book, but it seems that my hips are big--my boyfriend even told me so after class at dinner.  Be jealous, ladies.

So here are the dresses, and I'm sorry for the cellphone pictures.  My digital camera is even lower quality so it's the lesser of two evils:

I had two people tell me they had the floral sheets as a child, which I think is hilarious.  As a kid I had Sesame Street sheets (and then Martha Stewart Everyday when I was a bit older), so I avoided running into my past at the ironing station.

These dresses are going to my cousin's daughter Gracie, who will look more adorable than any other child possibly could.  Ever.  I have more pillowcases but I'm not sure if I want to hang on to them for when I (hopefully) have a daughter, or if I want to give them up.  No one else I know has little girls, so they may just hang out in my stash for a few years.

The shutdown had me so anxious all week I barely sewed, so I need to get back into the swing of things.  I'm working on the Sew Mama Sew Charm Quilt tutorial--which means I have the charm quilts and nothing else--so I do need to start on that.  I bought both Oliver + S charm packs and plan on making both for my future kids.  Ugh, when did this blog turn into a mommy blog?!  I'm not even married!

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.  And guess what?  It's going to be 85 here tomorrow, so that must mean it's warming up all over the place.  Go enjoy spring!

The Socialite Dress

I can't believe I forgot to tell everyone I finished the Anna Maria Horner Socialite dress!  Remember when I said I wouldn't be sewing until Jake and Kali were gone?  Well...I lied.  They were gone for hours Saturday and Sunday nights, which gave us plenty of time to watch movies, fart around on the internet and sew.  Well mostly I sewed and he listened to the machine.

I apologize for the crap picture.  There are few places in our apartment to hang something, so I keep resorting to the bifold doors near the bathroom.  I should just buy some of those 3M sticky hooks and keep one on the wall at all times.

I made it with Joel Dewberry Nature Valley fabric that I picked up at StitchDC in February.  To be completely honest with you, I wasn't very excited about sewing this.  I bought the pattern when I first decided to start sewing and picked up the fabric on a whim.  I put it off and put it off (and read the review at Sew, Mama, Sew millions of times) and finally said, "No more!"  And I went for it.

I'm...content with the results.  I like the look of the dress.  It'll work well into fall, if it ever decides to warm up here.  I don't like how I had to hand sew the facing.  That was awful because I'm a terrible hand-sewer.  I also don't like that the medium, though it said it would fit, is very, very tight across the chest.  I'm guessing the gathering has something to do with it, but it's also the saving grace: while it feels tight, so tight that Nicholas had to help me get it on and off, it doesn't look like it.  These boobs aren't going anywhere, so I'll just have to handle it.

In short, I'm not making another.  I'm sending my cousin Jesse the pattern and, if the facing didn't look so godawful, I'd send her the dress as well.  Oh well.  I'll get some use out of it, I'm sure.

So now I'm not sure what to do next.  I think I'm abandoning the baby clothes for my former co-worker because, well, I just don't care about it anymore.  I only cut out one fabric instead of all three, and if anyone I know is having a boy, I'll just finish them up pretty quickly for them.  I do have a charm pack waiting on me, so maybe I'll start that.  And I have my Betz White sewing class coming in just over a week, which I'm really looking forward to.  Vintage pillowcases becoming baby clothes and lady skirts?  Count me in.

(One final note: if anyone loves Tina Fey as much as I do, check out the review of her new book, Bossypants, over at Slate.  You don't need to agree with the message as long as you find the excerpts pretty effing funny.)

Luck of the Irish?

I even wore green today and apparently my luck has disappeared. 

My Metro stop is the deepest one in the system.  The station entrance is at-ground, but you have to take an elevator down 20 floors (it doesn't seem like it, but it is) to the actual station.  There's no running down the escalator or stairs.  You depend on the elevators, which are always broken down or slow, slow, slow.

So when I stepped off the elevator this morning (before 7 AM, thank you), I realized my red-line-to-Shady-Grove was stopped with the doors open.  So I ran.  I run once a year and this was it.

And the doors closed when I was within three feet.  The riders probably saw the look of absolute defeat that immediately graced my pretty little face.

That was a great start to the morning.  Here's a +/- breakdown of today:
+ It's St. Patrick's Day!  Which means that, as a redhead, I'm not an outcast for one day of the year.
+ My mom booked our hotel room for our trip to Atlanta in October.  We're going to the Country Living Fall Fair which looks like it's going to be completely awesome and wonderful.  I've already started checking out flights.  I can't wait!  (Can you tell I miss my mom?)
- 30 Rock is on tonight.  Normally this would be a plus but because NBC has moved it to 10:00 and I wake up earlier than staying up until 10:30 allows, I'm forced to watch it onDemand on the weekend.
+ I signed up for a sewing class being taught by Betz White!  It's in three weeks at Bits of Thread Studio here in DC.  I'm very, very excited and plan on making lots of pillowcase dresses for my cousin's daughter Gracie!

- It's not even 10:30 and it's been a ridiculously busy day already.  Case in point: I started typing this entry at 8:00.

I think that sums things up for right now.  How are you all spending your weekend?  Anything fun?