A Quick Jaunt to New York!

I had the best time in New York this past weekend.

Lladybird Lauren, whose meetup I attended last year, was heading to the Big Apple this weekend and decided to make an event of it. 

Photo from Madalynne

Originally, I wasn't intending to go, since I ended up planning an earlier trip. But when that trip was canceled for bad weather, I immediately jumped on the meetup train, and I'm so pleased I did! 

We all met up at Mood at 1 p.m. and there was QUITE the group. Lauren was there of course, as was Marcy (in one of her Project Sewn dresses), Lisette (who is super sweet), Jennifer (who recently traded me a pattern that I still need to sew up!), Fleur (who has a really good Instagram account), Amanda (I met her at Male Pattern Boldness day), Suzanne (also met at MPB day!), Clare, Nettie, Madalynne (she brought us all vintage silk thread -- so sweet!), Juli (I read her blog, but I didn't recognize her in person, lol), Cindy and Elaine (who don't have blogs but are still really cool), Angela (she just moved back from Japan and has the cutest blog ever) -- oh gosh, and who else? 

Several people I saw, recognized and didn't get a chance to talk to (Sonja and Amity). And several people I talked to and didn't write down their blog names. So I'm totally depending on the rest of roundups to link to them so I can figure out who they are! I try to make sure I follow every person I meet at these meetups, so if you're not listed, you should hit me up in the comments. ;-)

Hilariously, about three or four of us wore our Sewaholic Minorus. Most people seemed to be wearing at least one homemade clothing item, which, can I just say, is the coolest thing ever? I made a new dress just for the event (which I'll share later on -- after wearing it for an entire day, I decided the armscyes need fixing.)

It is so nice to meet up with sewing folks. I don't know anyone around here who's into sewing, so it's neat to be able to get in-depth opinions on things like sewing silk and lining wedding dresses. 

... Speaking of which, I bet you can guess what I bought. 

Yes.

Wedding dress fabric! Eep! 

Not only did I spend a wonderful day luxuriating in the wonder of Mood and the company of lovely and talented ladies. I also found the perfect wedding dress fabric! 

The top fabric is a silk charmeuse to use for lining. The bottom two are a delightfully soft silk-cotton blend. I got four yards of each, just to be safe. 

I also got some light purple cotton sateen to make a dress for Greg's sister's wedding (I'm a bridesmaid) and some light pink silk for Greg's mom. 

In other news, I finished my first sweater (pictures to come) and started a second one, which I worked on during the bus trip home. 

What a fun way to spend a Saturday. :)

Advice Needed: Am I Finished?

Last week I had a super stressful meeting coming up at work. So what did I do the night before said meeting? 

Stress sewing, of course!

Here we have a Sewaholic bonanza --  a Hollyburn from a thick brushed cotton from Mood and a white Renfrew.

I love the combination of navy and white. I am a sailor, after all. I had some white piping left over from some baby sewing I did for my God-daughter, so I decided to add piping to the waistband of this skirt.

Of course now, in retrospect, I think I probably should have used piping in the pockets. Instead, all I did was white top-stitching at the pockets and hem.

I keep going back and forth about whether I like the piping at the waistband and the top-stitching elsewhere or if I should have done piping at the pockets and a blind hem.

What do you think?

Work-at-Home Chic: Another Hollyburn Skirt

Well, we had another massive snowstorm last night. I'd originally planned to travel to New York today with Christine to buy fabric for my wedding dress, but, of course, we had to postpone -- which means we're going to Lladybird's meetup in a couple weeks instead! So we'll get to hang out with some lovely blogland babes AND get our shopping done. 

Anyway, instead of an awesome shopping trip, I took advantage of the beautiful scenery to photograph one of my favorite recent makes!

This is a grey corduroy Hollyburn skirt. I love my first Hollyburn so much that when I saw a lovely soft grey corduroy at Fabric Mart in Pennsylvania, I snagged a couple of yards for a Hollyburn. It's very slightly stretchy, which makes it super comfortable.

While I did button tabs on the waistband of my first Hollyburn, I decided a plain waistband would be best here.

This pattern takes no time at all to make up -- I finished this entire skirt in a single night. Instant gratification!

The most difficult part of this was pressing the corduroy so that I didn't squash the lovely cords. I read somewhere on the Internet about someone using a piece of corduroy as a press cloth, so I tried that. I also ironed from the wrong side.

As per usual, I cut the pattern pieces and then serged all the edges before sewing. I love the clean look of serged edges.

I wear this skirt at least once a week -- it's perfect for working at home because it's nice and free below the waist. I can run around with the dogs and sit with my legs crossed comfortably.

Plus, I always think it's nice to wear actual clothing when I work at home. Too many days of yoga pants and sweatshirts and I start to feel grody.

My current favorite way to wear this skirt lately is with fleecy tights, a long-sleeved T-shirt and the shawl my mom made me. (Usually I wear slippers instead of snow boots!)

You may have seen this shawl before -- I wore it tons during Me-Made May last year. It's a favorite of mine. It's so easy to wear and it's super warm. I think she knitted it from an acrylic yarn? I adore it and really want a second one. Maybe after I finish the sweater I'm knitting.

I definitely love the Hollyburn pattern and will probably make several more of this skirt. It's super versatile, very simple and -- of course -- it fits perfectly.

Hope all my fellow East Coasters are enjoying the snow! (At least a little bit.)