Knowing When to Stop

This refashion made me curse. A lot. The really naughty swears too. Not because it was p'tictly difficult but because I apparently don't know when to stop.

It made me rethink my most dearly held belief, "everything looks better with a ruffle or a bow" and I had to take TWO days of stepping away from it to realise that it was done. AFTER I'd made unnecessary meters of ruffle and after I'd drafted and cut out a Peter Pan collar (which actually was good practice but frustrating not to use).

Anyway. Here's the before, purchased for silly cheap in the Old Navy sale :

It's, well... when my sweetie saw it on for the first time he said, completely earnestly,
"I like your new nightdress".
Which yup. Totally fair. I explained that it wasn't in fact a nightdress and he stammered about what a nice new dress it was (because he's awesome).

But I knew he was right the first time. Still, I actually wore it in all it's shapeless glory a few times with jeans and a cardi. And an extra 42 lbs of Erin chubs. It was not my bestest look ever.

But I turned it into this:

It's now proper dress length instead of unflattering tunic length, it has slightly puffy sleeves and it has a drawstring waist. I'm actually really happy with it.

Here's what I did.

First I snipped the lining of the dress out. Which means that I'll need to wear a slip. But actually, turns out my granny was right, one really should always wear a slip. Avoiding cling and smoothing bumps AND not flashing your dainties is awesome. She was less right about the smoking and alcoholism, but you can't win em all.

Then I got rid of the STINKING pockets.
Those suckers sat exactly at my hips and puffed out. I'm plenty puffy on the hips already. So I sewed the gaps up and cut the pocket fabric out.

The length was just exactly wrong on me. . I used the hemmed bottom of the lining to add length (yay for LAZY!) but I added a bit of interfacing so it wasn't so flimsy.
I used the blue bias binding along the hem to tie together the two colours and (I hope) make the bit at the bottom look less random. I used it on the sleeves too.

Next, I unpicked the ruching from the back yoke and added a huge, practically-the-whole-length-of-the-dress dart, which made it a bit less sack like.

I was going to add darts at the front under the boobs but while I happened to be perusing Anthro (big surprise!) I spotted this little Orla Kiely number.


It's the Beanstalk dress and it's $229 Canadian.
I decided that a drawstring waist was the way to go, so I made a channel on the inside of the dress to run a drawstring through. Then I hand stitched two buttonholes to pull the ribbons out of. I can take pictures of what that looks like if you've a burning curiosity. I found it about a MILLION times easier to hand stitch the buttonholes than to machine them and pick them out 50 times.
I used a spot of grey ribbon as a drawstring but I might switch it out for the plain light blue. I tried it with the dark blue but it was a bit "HEY TUMMY! WHOOO" which, as previously discussed, is not cool.

And ta-da. Done. Well it would have been if I had the sense to leave it alone. But nope.
I made acres of ruffles out of the light blue. They looked... not awesome.
So, inspired by the Orla dress I made a collar which looked.... nightdressy. Also not awesome.

So I stalled. Hung the dress up and left it alone for two days.
And realised. Dude. That dress is done. So here it is.

While we've had a mild winter it hasn't been, strolling-around-in-shirtsleeves-warm; so I've shown it as I'll be wearing it now. But here's how I'll wear it when it warms up a bit. (um, but with a slip underneath. You can see my foundation garments a bit in this shot. Avert your eyes if you're easily offended!)

As a weird aside, I look a bit like a picture of my mum in the '70's in this shot, only not as pretty (my ma, is a stone fox).

Missing history. A bit. Just a little. Like a half a cup maybe.

Today I had planned to write about my standing sushi lunchdates with my bear. Fish and toddlers is actually way more fun than it sounds.

But I got a bit of a homesick.

Firstly of all let me say that I love Toronto. I really love it. with hearts. and kisses. Moving here from London has been one of the best and healthiest changes in my life. It was like breaking up with Charlie Sheen (eew) and hooking up with Matthew Broderick. Which is not to say that London is Charlie Sheen (still eeew) just that the way we lived in London was harder.

But. I sometimes miss history.
Occasionally I will see a picture of London, or Paris or Rome, or a village in the home counties or even the font used on British street signs and get a jab of homesickness that's like being punched in the kitten.

Everything here is so new. Which in lots of ways is awesome. It means we can live in the center of town, means the public transport rocks, means the infrastructure works like a charm and on and on and on.
But I miss the buildings that I grew up with; the comfortable, self-assured decrepitude of an Early Edwardian Semi.
I miss having centuries of history RIGHT there, an eyeball flick(or the wave of a National Trust card) away.
The potential for being someplace COMPLETELY different and equally steeped in history in a few hours is something I miss too. My Dad lives in France, my mum in Ireland. My Brother lived in Barcelona before he came here. Racing around Europe was so easy, just a Eurostar/Easyjet/Ryan-stinking-Air jaunt away.

OK. Whining over. Because really... these are not the worst problems in the world...

But if you happen to be anywhere near a crumbling pile/Norman church/Victorian Semi this weekend could you blow it a kiss from me?
Oh hey lookit! Corfe Castle!

Now With 95% More PINK!

Notice anything different? Do ya? Do ya? Do ya?
I gave my blog a makeover. WITH PINK! And I did it ALL BY MYSELF. Which, kind of obvious maybe.
I was poking around with my HTML and you guys, I'm pretty sure I had the same expression on my face as a monkey trying to tie a bow.
But it was really fun. And I made all the little imagey things. And if you click on the twitter thing IT ACTUALLY WORKS!
So, what do you think? Too much pink? Weird? Hurt your eyeballs? Do let me know if there's anything you hate/love!

I heart Anthro

I love Anthropologie. But really, who doesn't?

In a super perfect world I would spend my days clad entirely in Anthro loveliness, and I would have expertly applied makeup and brushed hair. And I could fly. and I'd, say, fight crime?

In this world not so muchly. I haven't the cash. Or the superpowers.

But I can look and that's what I was doing this morning when I spotted this:

It's the Field Game Cardigan and it's $140. Which at my house is say, the phone bill. Anyway. I loved the cardi and I was super excited because this seemed really doable for me. I happen to have this top. And it's stripey!



I also happen to have the bag o' crocheted lace trim. I scored it at a church sale last spring. The bag was a whole 50 cents and it was being sold with the crochet hooks that had been used to make it. There was a LOT of it. We're talking hours and hours and hours of work to make. It makes me feel kind of weirdly philosophical about all kinds of things, like the work that women do. And the things that are left behind, and their value to other people. Which is big stuff for a bag O' trim.

ANYWAY.
I was inspired to make this:

I sewed the trim down with a zig zag stitch and added occasional pleaty bits. And voila! Quick, simple, instant gratification.
Here it is on:

The Great Escape, T-Bone Style

It must be tough to be 3 foot tall and have all your plans scuppered by the height of door handles and locks.
Teddy found Dilly's leash and decided that he and his best chum were OFF. He held the leash in his paw and told the bonester very firmly to COME.
Poor old T-bone hasn't any legs so he just sat there.
Teddy sighed heavily then went and tried to put the leash on t-bone's bow/collar.
"ON?"
Once the bonemeister was leashed Teddy dragged him along the floor to the door and commanded it "OPE", whilst giving it a few smart taps. Which really. In a fair world would totally work.
But not so much in this one.

He picked up the bonester. Jammed him in his mouth then had a think. And obviously a brainwave.
"KEY!"
Next he went racing over to my desk and picked up our neighbor Heather's key (note to self... hide keys).

Which is where we join the story....

The World's Worst Lumberjack!

That would be me.
I'm afraid of heights. and chainsaws and bugs, and sometimes trees. But those Lumberjack fellows have it made when it comes to the brushed cotton flannel. It's all warm and softie and nice.
And cheap. Well the shirt that I picked up from the dollar store way back in December was.
It might be a bit cheaty but I bought it specifically because I knew I was taking The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge and figured it could be the not-a-tragedy-if-I-pooch-it-up prototype for future shirty refashioning.
Anyway here it is in all it's unaltered glory...



I p'ticly like the inadvertent froggy fashion commentary. Apparently he writes for Women's Wear Daily.


And here' it is refashioned.
(This picture was the best of about a bazillion, so imagine if you will, how THOSE ones must have looked. And yah. little bit awkward and NO. I haven't so much as brushed my hair.)



Ok. and here it is without the distracting forehead shine.


What I did was,
1. Unpick the collar and remove the top part. Then sewed it up again.
2. I cut out the arms and then made the armholes smaller. Not terribly sucessfully actually, but now I know what to do next time.
3. I reattached the sleeves giving them a bit of puff. Next time I would totally have them puffier. I like this sleeve length though andI added these little pleats at the cuff (I need a better picture of them).
4. I added darts front and back. Unpicking them a squillion times each, just for fun.
5. I made 2 box pleated ruffles with the spare bits of sleeve. (I think I got the idea from a tute on Burda style. Maybe the one with all the ruffle techniques that I am now completely unable to find? is right here. Thanks Wendy!)
Do hit me up in the comments if you've a wish for a tutorial. I'll be making at least one more of these fellas (with thrift store shirts naturally!)
Crumbs. I forgot to say that I was HUGELY inspired by clevergirl's First Men's Shirt Refashion and that her tutorial is super clear and easy to figure out.

There's something about this time of year that makes me want to decorate, usually with a kind of scorched earth, "burn it down, burn it all down" fervor. This year I have my beady eyes on a few projects.
One is making new slip covers for our couch and reupholstering my new(to me) office chair. The other is reshaping our diningroom/office space to be more bear friendly without being an annex of ToysRus.
And the other was doing something to make our kitchen better.

So far I've gotten to the kitchen, I was helping my chum Sarah with her new kitchen and the clean lovely shininess excited a terrible case of the jealous in me. So I decided to do a bit of a something to ours.
You might not remember how our kitchen looked when we moved into this apartment three years ago. Let me refresh your memory:

Dark isn't it? Are you thinking "but Erin? why wouldn't you just turn the lights on?"
Bet you are.
Well folks. The lights ARE on. And perhaps you'd like a closer view of those charming yellow cabinets?
TA DA!
Brutal.

So three years ago I made it look different with a spot of contact paper and some uh, ingenuity?

I did this:
it's wasn't perfect but it was OK. You can read about how I did it here.
This last weekend I gave it a bit of a "freshen up". In the Joan Rivers sense. And now it looks like this:

You can read about what I did HERE 'fyou like.

So that's the kitchen. The slipcovers and Upholstery have to wait until next month on account of I spent the cash earmarked for them on The Red Cross Haiti appeal. Which really was a no brainer.
BUT next weekend is all about rearranging the dining room and the fun times with heavy lifting! I am SUPER excited, which may mean I need to get out more.

Breakfast, Hold the Tiffany's

When there is quiet and my Bear and pooch are hanging out in the same place there is almost always some kind of shenanigan going on.
Like this.
(Anybody with a healthy respect for hygiene might want to look away now or risk being traumatized.)

1. OK. It's too quiet over there.


2. Huh?


3.

Well of course. Of course you're eating cheerios off of the floor in the grubbiest spot in the house. And naturally you would completely lose your wiggles when I try to return the cheerios to the bowl.

4.

because leftover cheerios belong in mamma's boots.

Sammiches too.

Brrr Bear necklace

Colbert might be right about bears being "soulless, godless, rampaging killing machines" but awww, the cute!
So look, I made an effigy! To wear about my person!
And it's not just ANY bear, it's a Polar Bear; and dude, Polar Bears really will give you a righteous killing soon as look at you. What can I say. I like to live dangerously.

This bear is made of craft foam, scored from the dollar store today and whipped up this evening whilst pretending not to watch CSI Miami. Oh Horatio, why you got to be so orange and creepy?

The idea is from Christine at Jane Avion who, you guys, does SUPER AWESOME STUFF. That you should go look at. Really. All I'm saying is Cardboard Moose Head Trophy, but you'll see.