Falling for Cotton: Part Deux

Holy smokes, September has FLOWN by!  Between the Etsy shop, my PTA duties, my mom duties, and my kids' crazy schedules, I'm amazed I was able to finish this dress at all! Seeing as #fallforcotton ends on September 30th, I'm just squeaking in on the deadline.

Apparently, I'm a glutton for patterns of many pieces right now.  Here are the pieces for this dress:

Ack!  So many pieces!

Here are the edits I made to construct my dress:

First, I cut the back piece into two pieces just below the shirring lines and added 5/8" seam allowance on each new piece.

Marked

Cut

Due to the limited amount of skirt fabric I had, I also narrowed the front skirt pieces - the original has 3 pleats on each side, mine only has 2. 

I did end up using the floral fabric for the skirt, collar, and to do fabric covered buttons.  I read a great tutorial on doing fabric covered buttons without a kit here.

I have to say, this really is a comfy, do-anything kind of dress.  I wore it to church and received a compliment from a woman old enough to be my mother (or my mother's older sister), and then, when I wore it to pick up my son from school, received compliments from two 3rd grade girls, which pleased me to no end!

Front view selfie.

The back view.  I really need somebody to take my FO pics for me.

Behind every good dress is a good seamstress, and behind every great seamstress is a cat.

What's Cooking? Nutella Latte!

Hey everyone!  Sorry I've been a bit absent - I launched my Etsy business and then got contacted about doing a couple of local craft fairs, so I've been frantically making pieces and trying to get my display up to par, which has left little time for blogging.  Also, I just finished up my #fallforcotton dress.  More on that later.  I openly admit that this will be a pic-free post - I just whipped this up and want to get the recipe out there ASAP so you all can enjoy it too!

Right now, let's talk about fancying up coffee.  Now, I'm the first to admit that I'm generally a hard-core black coffee kind of girl.  No sugar, no cream, no fancy flavorings with only a few exceptioins - Pumpkin Spice Lattes in the fall, and a shot of peppermint syrup in the winter. 

This evening, I really wanted a little something sweet, but frankly, I didn't want to share with my 2 year old.  Mom of the year, I know.  :)  I was already getting ready to pour out a cuppa when I remembered that I had some Nutella in the pantry.  A little kitchen experimentation and voila!  Delicious, sweet (but not too sweet) coffee dessert with stuff I already had in the house.  Go, me, go!

Here's the "recipe":

Ingredients: 
Nutella (duh)
Coffee
Milk

Instructions:
Take a teaspoon and dip into the Nutella.  Give it a half turn to get the spoon coated.  Remove spoon from Nutella and put into an empty mug.  Pour hot coffee in mug.  Add milk to taste - I don't care for milk in my coffee, so I just added a quick splash.  Stir until Nutella is well mixed.  Enjoy the coffee, then enjoy licking what's left of the Nutella off the spoon!

Easy peasy!

What's Cooking? Tomato Pie - Tex-Mex edition!

Thanks to our fabulous CSA, Gorman Farm, we are nearly drowning in fresh, delicious tomatoes.  We have pounds - pounds! - of them sitting in our fridge.   I'm not really in the mood to can any more tomatoes, so I've been looking for things to do with them.  Luckily, the CSA also puts out a weekly e-newsletter with recipes for some of the produce we are receiving.  A few weeks ago, they sent out a recipe for Tomato Pie, which was an instant hit with my husband (not so much for the kids).  It's super simple to make and easy to adapt.  The original calls for a mayonnaise sauce, which is very rich, very creamy, and thankfully does not taste very mayo-y.

The original recipe  [Tex-Mex changes in brackets]:
1) Obtain pie crust - I get mine from the freezer section of the grocery.  If you're a real purist about making your own, more power to you.

2) Bake unfilled pie crust at 350 degrees for ~ 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Remove crust from oven.

3) Layer sliced tomatoes [and banana peppers] into crust.  I usually cut them ~1/4" thick, but again, it's not a precise science.  I layer until the crust is halfway full.

4) Spread sauce (which you have previously mixed).  The original sauce is 3/4 c. mayo, 1-1/2 c. shredded cheese, and salt & pepper to taste. [Tex-Mex version: 1/2 c. ranch dressing, 1-1/2c. Mexican four cheese blend, salt, pepper, and about a tablespoon (eyeball it) of Tapatio hot sauce.]

5)  Add another layer of tomatoes, and more cheese if desired (and really, who doesn't desire more cheese??).

6) Bake for ~ 15 minutes.

7) Remove from oven and ENJOY!

The final product

The side view

Pinkie Pink Pink - Oh, look! I made a jacket.

It's finally done!  The last installment (for now) of Pinkie Pink Pink is complete.  Admittedly, it's not quite as pink as I thought it was, really more into the burgundy tones, but that's okay - let's just go with it, shall we? 

Here it is, my new fall jacket, made of some lovely floral print velveteen:

I used the Simplicity 2057 pattern, which is part of their Project Runway line.  I omitted all the "extras" - welts, epaulets, tabs, etc. - since my print was so busy.  I opted for the pleated sleeves, which definitely give a nod to the 1940s.  Some people might say it's too much, but I disagree.  It is lined in an ivory flannel backed satin, which is so lovely.

Facing & lining.

The pattern itself was not very difficult, but cutting out the pieces took FOR-EV-ER!  At least a couple of hours.  I looked at the pattern reviews before starting this and while a couple of people suggested reducing the depth of the armholes, I didn't find a problem with the way they were on the original pattern. 

The back

I really couldn't be happier with this, and I anticipate getting a lot of use out of it.  Once the weather decides to cooperate, that is.  It's forecast to be 90 degrees for the next few days. C'mon autumn, get with the program!

See the shorts?  Clearly it isn't yet jacket weather.

Next garment up is the #fallforcotton dress. 

Etsy love and an Announcement

A few words on Etsy. 

First, I love Etsy - some of my favorite jewelry items and gifts have come from Etsy.  What a great expression of boundless creativity!

Second, I love that Tim-freaking-Make-It-Work-Gunn loves Etsy.  There's a great interview with him where he talks about the world of craft here.  As if I needed another reason to love the man!

Third, I am reopening my Etsy shop, Moon Star Adri.   Here's a peek at what you expect to find...

PLUS, I haven't even taken photos of the envelope clutches I'm working on, which will also be for sale.

I'll be unrolling the above items and more in the next few days.  

Exciting times around here, I'm telling ya. 

Falling for Cotton

I came across the blog Lucky Lucille this weekend while browsing 1930s and 1940s patterns, and discovered that is running a sewing challenge called "Fall for Cotton."  The details are here, but in a nutshell, the challenge is to create a vintage-style garment in the month of September using 100% cotton fabric. 

I scored this fabulous fabric at Jo-Ann's over the weekend - originally $13/yd, got it for $3/yd! - although the bolt only had 2-1/3 yds left on it.

So, so, so in love with this print!

I want to make Gertie's Shirtwaist dress, but that requires 4 yards of fabric.  Clearly, I don't have enough. 

I'm thinking about the version on the left.

So here's my thought for this challenge - make the skirt portion of the dress, and maybe the collar in the floral.  Make the shirt part of the dress out of a muslin and possibly do fabric-covered buttons.  What do you think?  Am I on to something? I think this would be so cute with a little coral or mustard colored cardigan.