Monday 18 June 2012

Catching up

I haven't posted anything in 3 weeks?  Guess that means I no longer have all the free time in the world (AKA back home on parent duty).  I have been doing lots of planning and a little bit of sewing, but first here's what's been going on in my world:


 My green double-sided shwe shwe dress was chosen as a featured Sew Weekly project in May.  I actually didn't find out until the week was almost over because I was travelling and didn't have a good internet connection.  That's a nice surprise!

I finished Me Made May without too much trouble.  Here are the last few days:


Soaking wet from an afternoon spent fabric shopping around Cape Town.  Sadly, I tore the back of this skirt on a rusty bolt when trying to squeeze my way out of a combi with a huge package of fabric, jammed between two huge Mamas.  It's repairable. 

Wearing my leopard print mini when giving a talk to a bunch of synthetic chemistry graduate students who had no idea that I didn't study chemistry past first year engineering.  I threw in a bunch of structural diagrams to keep them awake when the "soft science" of traditional healing, indigenous knowledge sharing,  and biological screening made them fall asleep.  Note to self:  work on a more authoritative posture when lecturing. 
 
Doing science in my Cape Town Switcheroo wrap dress.  

 Sculpture installation behind my residence (had to set up my camera on a bench and take automatic photos while lots of confused looking law students wondered why I kept repeatedly walking back and forth between the statues)

Warthog ribs at the Hussar Grill!

And finally back home again.  I cheated and wore my Thank You Zoe outfit on June 1st because I was travelling on the 30th/31st and wore what I've now come to call my Travel Survival Outfit.  It was fun participating and seeing how people all over the world were using similar fabrics / patterns and coming up with such diverse creations.  I was also interesting to see everyone get more comfortable with taking photographs of themselves as the month progressed.

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I made a dress from 100% mystery fabric.  It wasn't quite the look I was aiming for, but it's a pretty good dress in its own right.  I was trying for a much more fitted bodice, but in the end, this was the best I could do.  Looking more closely at the pattern cover, it appears that the models have the same fit, and just bring the waist in with those ties / belts.  Note to self:  always check the model fit.


It was based on Zoey Deschanel's red dress worn in the opening credits for New Girl.





So here's my weird Picmonkey / Photo editor / Power Point hack.  I'll never have the Zoey hair again (no time in the mornings when there are 3-4 people to prepare for the day) and I'll never live in a loft apartment with three men (THANK JEBUS), so here's the closest yer gonna get. 








12 comments:

  1. Ha! Love the photo montage. The dress is cute!

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    1. I think I'm not in love with it because I had another dress in my mind while I was making it. I was picturing something tight and fitted, with a slightly higher waistline. Why I didn't just use a pattern like that is a mystery in itself, but at least I have a good winter dress to wear next year.

      And what is it about men and red dresses?! Whenever I wear one, I get loads of compliments, even if it's not the most flattering shape. There must be some primitive red dress evolutionary response, like "Red dress = ovulating female" or something.

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  2. Love your red dress, it really suits you.

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    1. Thanks! It's somewhere between a cherry and a brick red, but red is SO hard to photograph. It's the only colour that consistently shows up weird for me.
      BTW, did you ever make up that Gunny Sax pattern?

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  3. I missed your post those 3 weeks but am glad that you're back to blogging!!

    oh wow! That dress is amazing! From the pictures, the fit doesn't look bad at all. Even if the fit was bad, the color is so amazing that it overshadows it!

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    1. The fabric was one of those mystery bolts that are abandoned at the back of the shop with no info or care instructions, but the colour was so great that I had to buy some (and $2/m doesn't hurt either). It smelled a bit "wooly" when I washed it and it has some stretch to it, so it was quite nice to handle and sew. I'm going to keep my eye open for another orphan bolt like this the next time I'm there.

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  4. There are a million things I love about this post, but let's start with the big things: YAY NEW GIRL DRESS! You are rocking it 100%. I love that pattern, and the red is gorgeous on you - I love that you photoshopped yourself in with the guys! Boat necklines are great on you :) 2) I really love seeing pictures of you working/lecturing/traveling in your me mades. Not only does it give me inspiration to get out in the world and take pictures, but I also really love seeing the bits about your life - I think what you do is so interesting! I loved science growing up and so I live vicariously through you. So...yay! Ok 3) Your double sided dress is delightful - I love the colors so very much and finally, 4) WELCOME BACK!!

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    1. Thanks Meg! I'm in the midst of training / assisting two visiting scientists, doing the annual performance review for my daughter's daycare director, single parenting for two weeks, planning our summer vacation, working full time and trying not to fall asleep while doing any of the above. I'm really going to phone it in for TSW this week...and do some photoshop on my face!

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  5. Oh, I love the red dress1 Awesome colour, great shape. :D

    Do you have to fight the urge to make yourself an awesome, shapely lab coat? Because I do every time I have to put one on (which fortunately isn't often these days...)

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    1. I actually have two patterns for lab coats / scrubs. I keep thinking about it, but more intersting things take priority. Someone in my lab embroidered all the parasites she works with on the hem of her lab coat....that's a tough act to follow!

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  6. Cute, cute, cute dress and it is the most perfect color red (both for your skin tone and also that is the shade of red I love the most)!

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  7. very cute photoshop-ing! nice red dress.

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