way too easy...

Way too easy to see, like, click, and buy online! I have been pining over this Day After Day dress on ModCloth.com for so long, and today it came back into stock in my size. Great! I have a refund coming through in a couple days for a pair of shoes that didn't fit and a dress (gift) that just looked terrible! I add it to my wishlist and see, "Only 1 Left!"  There is no way it will still be available Friday when my store credit comes in. So I hem and haw for a half hour, then I buy it! FOR $100!!!! I'v never paid that much for clothing, except my wedding dress and a prom dress! It's just too easy to make that decision, and all your info is saved so you don't even need to type in your address or dig out your credit card. And then I find this:

I so could have made this dress for way less! Take a look at this Butterick pattern as it's really cute (minus the big ugly sleeves. But you could turn them into cute little cap sleeves.) I would have never picked out out that pattern on my own. Maybe Butterick should consider restyling the pictures on the envelope...

At least it's just as easy to return at ModCloth. Chances are though, if I try it on and love it, I'm going to keep it. Then maybe I'll buy this pattern and make myself another in a different print. :)

a made-by-me 2013!

Happy New Year! I've spend the past few days reading 2012 re-caps on my favorite sewing blogs. My resolution: to be writing my own this time next year! I've turned the spare room in our apartment (read: junk storage room) into my new sewing room, got my mom's old Singer working, and am ready for a made-by-me 2013!

Ok, so I did sew a little in 2012... but what a did sew was a big project!  I hadn't made clothing in years and what do I try to make? My reception dress for my August wedding: a strapless princess seamed dress with a full knee-length skirt, the entire thing made from yards and yards of ruched chiffon! What a pain to sew, but I did it and it came out even better than I expected! Maybe because I the material forced me to pay attention and follow directions (mostly) which I not always know for. Making a dress like that gave me a little boost of confidence to really try to make myself some fabulous cloths this year!

So what to make first? I decided that maybe something super simple and quick would get me off on the right foot. I remembered this pin on pinterest that I loved the styling of. A simple short white skirt with black leggings and a black sweater. How cute! But I needed a short white skirt.

http://pinterest.com/pin/52213676901620126/

I was very close to buying this version from ModCloth.com:

http://www.modcloth.com/shop/skirts/dream-streamers-skirt

but then thought, "I can make that!" And what would be a great cozy fabric for a winter mini? Flannel  I love the idea of using flannel in unexpected way. Plus, flannel was on sale for $2.50/yard! I used a 1/2 yard (and had to shorted quite a bit to get the length I wanted so I could have used a 1/3), and made a simple gathered elastic-waist mini skirt. The hem wasn't laying right, so I decided to do a few more lines of stitching, which made a great added touch to the finish that I can pull off as intentional.  Could have used a lining or just two layers of flannel, but with leggings it's not really a big deal. Overall not perfect, but not bad start to made-by-me 2013! Already worn it out to dinner, so it's a good sign that I may get a lot of use out of it this winter.