Friday, March 30, 2012

OWOP Day 7

I made it through one week of wearing one pattern and only had to repeat once! Today's pants are technically a combination of two patterns but I am claiming them as Vogue 1051. The process with my jeans went like this: The Burda pants pattern I started with was not a good fit. Legs were too wide, waist was too high. The first thing I did was use the Vogue pants to taper down the legs of the jeans. Then I used the Vogue pants to adjust the waist height to be more reasonable for my super short torso. I almost had it right and then realized the waistband on the Burda jeans would have to be completely redrafted. A straight waist band is just worthless. I had to draft a curved waistband, so out came Vogue. At this point I have a pair of denim Vogue 1051 pants with the yoke, back pockets, and the little little coin pocket coming from the Burda pattern. So, clearly Vogue 1051 is a winner!!! I love the fit of these pants!

My parents have joined me in Washington DC for the weekend. More pictures to come, but here's my favorite shot of the day.
Washington Monument through the branches of the last of the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin. The Cherry Blossom festival starts this weekend. It's the 100th anniversary of when the Japanese gifted the trees to Washington DC. Unfortunately they all bloomed two weeks early this year and most of the trees have already dropped their blossoms! I did get to see them last week before they all fell off and they were very pretty.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

OWOP Day 6

This picture isn't really fair to today's outfit, but I didn't get a shot of me alone. This is my class photo for the training I am attending. There are five other classes of 15-16 students attending the same training, but they break us out into small classes.

The capris are Vogue 1051 in a beautiful wool pinstripe. Yes, I said wool. If you know me at all you know I can't stand wool. These are ok as long as it doesn't get too warm. They start feeling itchy if I get hot. The shirt is Simplicity 2191, the short sleeved version, made out of a super soft silk/cotton blend. I will have to get a better picture of this outfit another time because I really like it.

This afternoon a few of us went up to Old Town Alexandria... which is not as old town looking as one might think from the name. They do have a cute little boardwalk out by the Potomic River and a nice restaurant/shopping street.

 I was MOST excited to see my first real life yarn bombing!
The graffiti on the sign says "Art is not a crime." This was a pretty art laden part of town. We also went into the Torpedo Factory Art Center which was really neat. Each little room inside the center is a separate gallery and studio space for an artist or group of artists. Some were still open when we got there but most had closed already. It looks like they also offer classes. If you are up in this area I recommend walking through. It was a really neat concept for a gallery space.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

OWOP Day 5

I finished most of my homework yesterday so today I took a little outing to G Street Fabrics to see what they had and to repair a little mishap in my newest pair of jeans (to be blogged later this week). The manager on duty let me use one of the brand new Bernina machines they have on display to fix my pants. That was very nice of her because they charge $10/hour to use their classroom machines! Yikes! After repairing my pants I went on to roam through their giant fabric sales floor. Unfortunately I couldn't convince any of the store workers to take my picture so I had to set it on a cutting table and use the timer. So not the best shot, but you get the idea.

Pants are a repeat: Vogue 1051, the black linen pair. Shirt is Simplicity 2191 tunic. And this shirt happens to be the same fabric as the facings in the pants, so I was matchy matchy today!

So did I buy anything? Duh! They have a clearance section where everything in this one area is $2.97 per yard! No matter what kind of fabric it is! So I picked up a few goodies. I had to take it easy since I have limits to how much my luggage can weigh.
Can you guess what that fabric in the middle will become? Not too hard to figure out since this week is an ode to my favorite pattern.... :)

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

OWOP Day 4

I have a lot of homework tonight, so you get nothing special today! Just me on some rocks. Pants are Vogue 1051 in this really cool fabric:
The shirt is McCall's 6120. And now back to homework!

Monday, March 26, 2012

OWOP Day 3

Rule #32: Enjoy the little things.

For the most part I can get everything I need in Germany and I don't miss shopping in the US at all. But for goodness sake... why does contact solution cost SO MUCH in Germany? Even at the commissary! Yeah for Target! 

Today's pants are, surprise surprise, Vogue 1051 in brown twill. This post could have also been called "Those pesky seam allowances." This pair of pants almost didn't make it. I seriously thought I had gained weight when I put these on and they didn't fit! But I couldn't figure out why my other pairs still fit just fine... Turns out I had been using a 3/8" seam allowances on all my previous pairs instead of the 5/8" the directions said. This time around when I followed the directions they were too small! I had to pick out as many leg seams as I could to make them wearable. It worked, but I don't think I'll be making that mistake again any time soon! I finished these just in time for them to make it on this trip with me.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

OWOP Day 2

One Week, One Pattern Day 2 comes to you from inside the National Museum of American History. Vogue 1051 pants are seen here in front of MICHELLE OBAMA'S Inaugural ball gown!!! They had some really beautiful gowns from the First Ladies, all the way back to Martha Washington! (though hers wasn't on display today)
 Vogue 1051 Pants in black linen. Shirt is Butterick 4789, which I don't think I ever blogged!

We only made it through half of the American History Museum. It was towards the end of the day and we were exhausted by then. 
 We also visited the National Aquarium, where I riled up some lion fish.
 And we saw the White House from the fence. I think this is the backside of the house.
 And we visited Arlington National Cemetery just in time for the last changing of the guard for the day.
Tomorrow week 2 of class begins so the rest of my pictures probably won't be in front of such cool sites!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

One Week, One Pattern (DC edition)

I am in Washington, DC!! I've been here a week for training for work, and in the evenings and weekends I've gotten to go off-base and do a few fun things. For example, have you seen the Hunger Games? I have! 

Today's adventure took me and three other people to the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum, both part of the Smithsonian system. Here's me in Day 1 of OWOP in front of the Amelia Earhart exhibit.
The capris are Vogue 1051 (my favorite pants pattern) shortened to capri length. The top is my beloved Simplicity 2191 Tunic. I'm thinking the pants will be the pattern I stick with since I don't have seven different tunic tops.

Did you know Amelia tried to start her own clothing line? I didn't!
 More Air and Space Museum:
 The Natural History Museum was quite impressive. They have a lot of bones! One of the ladies in our group said "We're going to see things that made oil!" I thought that was so funny!
 The rooms with gems and rocks were the neatest to me. The meteorites were so cool!
And I did wait in the crowd to get a close-up of the Hope Diamond. But there were some other equally stunning pieces on display!
My feet felt like they were going to fall off by the end of the day! We walked for seven hours straight. Well, no I guess we stopped for about 30 minutes for lunch. But other than that... we were there when the doors open and they kicked us out at the end of the day!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Quick Shoe Makeover

Why is it that the cute shoes are unbearable to wear, and the comfortable shoes are boring?? WHY???

I'm getting ready for a business trip and wanted some nice, comfortable pumps. Alas, comfortable shoes only come in "old lady" or plain. Or outrageously expensive! Is this just me or is this a universal thing? 
So I went about making a little ruffle. I started with two strips of fabric, cut on the bias, 3/4" wide. I turned my stitch length to the longest, and tension up all the way to get a cheater ruffle. (I tried this with vinyl first and it refused to ruffle!)
 Ruffle strip!
 I gauged how long I wanted and cut both strips the same.
 Then used this amazing tape
 to stick the ruffle to the shoes.
 Ta-da!
They aren't perfect, but they liven it up a bit! I think some satin ribbon might have been nicer, but I didn't have any on hand! The nice thing is since they are taped on they can be removed. But this is a really great tape, so it won't come off from normal wear.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

One Week, One Pattern


I will be attempting this challenge: to wear one pattern in different ways for one week. You can either wear one garment for seven days and style it differently every day, or you can wear seven different versions of that garment, or some combination of those two. The seven days are March 24-30. I'll be at a training, so I'm leaning towards my favorite slacks. I have five versions of these pants. Two are capris, one cropped pants and two slacks. (I fell in my linen version and got a hole in the knee, so I thought I could cut them off for capris. I haven't done it yet, but I'm counting it in my five.) In order for this to work though I would need the weather to allow me to wear capris some of those days!


Or I could wear this tunic. I currently have three versions of this, but one is snowflakes fabric. So maybe not the best for March... maybe that could be the weekend outfit. This is my second option since I would need to make more of this to actually be able to wear it for seven days. I love this tunic and wouldn't mind having more copies. I would just need the time to make them before I fly. So..... we'll see. 


Do you have a pattern you would wear seven days in a row? Want to play along with me? Click the image at the top to visit Tilly and the Buttons and get all the details!