I won!

I won a giveaway for the first time! I hardly ever enter giveaways...only if there is truly something I want so it makes sense that I have not won any before since I am not upping my chances by entering a lot. But who cares?? I won one! And it was for a great prize. I won The Art of Manipulating Fabric by Colette Wolff which shows you all kinds of cool ways to texturize and add fun details to garments that may otherwise be plain. And I won it from a lady with the coolest blog name ever (if you are a lawyer)--KC from The Sewcratic Method.

After winning, she suggested meeting up  for fabric shopping and lunch since we were both in the Los Angeles area...no way was I turning that down! We met up at the Loft and spent awhile there finding all kinds of goodies. For those of you who are not familiar, or who didn't read about my last Loft experience, the Loft is an offshoot of the famous Michael Levine's that sells an entire room full of fabric in boxes and on bolts for only $2.50 per pound! It is an amazing deal....especially if you are getting a ton of chiffon--they hardly weigh anything! But of course my aim on this trip was to get bottomweights and suiting materials because I have so many knits and chiffons...all I make are blouses! But I plan to expand on that....wait until you see my planned lineup for my sewing projects...I must be feeling ambitious because there is a LOT on there!

KC also made out with a lot of great fabrics.,..she even used some for her Promaballoona dress! Here is a picture I stole off her blog to prove this event really happened. Nhi, another sewer who I have shopped with at the Loft before met us as well and joined us on our expedition.

The three of us at Fabric Planet

Warning!!!! Anyone looking for Fabric Planet...do NOT follow the address on their website for their downtown location...it is totally not there! We walked like 250 extra blocks to go to this address, in the heat, and it was not there and had moved to 8th and Santee...which was so close to Michael Levine's (where we had been) that we did all that extra walking for no reason! Ok actually nevermind...I just checked their website and they updated it!  Good!  Because it had been since before April that their location was different...and I told them when I was there about how ridiculous it was that their address was STILL not updated on the website!  Well it looks like it worked...feel free to actually follow the address on their website and ignore my warning.

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La di da...

Phew! and New Look 6648

looks like I need to clean the camera lens.....

New Look 6648....a ridiculously comfy top that has been reviewed many many times on PR. I made this out of a poly/rayon/spandex I got on my recent excursion to LA's garment district. This knit was only 2.99 per yard in this store that I wish I remembered the name of! They had all your basic colors as well. I wasn't sure about the quality but it washed well and wearing it is amazing!!! This is the most comfortable fabric and top that I own. So comfortable in fact that the first day I wore it, I wore it to sleep as well because it was just that comfy! I did not want to take it off!  This fabric is so soft and warm its incredible. I want to go back and find that place so I can get more!  Also, sewing with the fabric was not very difficult...the edges curl a little but such is life with a knit.

Here is a good picture of how large the sleeves are....but they end up making the shirt warm.

back view

Now I ended up cutting too many of the bottom band because I misread the cutting layout...which I normally don't even follow anyway! So I made another colorblocked one with this same fabric used as the band at trim. But that one bled in the wash....which is so weird because I wash the teal one all time with all my clothes and there is never any bleeding! And I prewashed the fabric! So I don't understand what happened with the second one....weird. I will show you all when I get pictures of the second. It is currently in the washer...I still wear it around the house...my husband is so lucky :)

These are the cute shoes that match so well...I got these approx 8 years ago from Nine West

Also on the second, I tapered the underarms up some so the sleeves were not quite so large...but I kind of like the original better. Well it really depends on the look you are going for...the sleeves I redrafted below are much more casual than the originals. Here are some close-ups of how I changed the sleeve on the second version in case you want to redraft yours in a similar manner.

I drew a line out from the arm

then drew a line up from the underarm

Then connected the two lines using the curve to make a nice rounded shape--if you look closely you can see the white chalk from the two lines made by the above pictures

closeup of the chalk marked curve

after it was cut off

close up of where it was cut off so you can see the relation of the notches

So in summary, just read the layout carefully because I didn't pay attention to how it is not folded selvage to selvage but otherwise, the million reviews on PR are not wrong...this shirt is easy, fun, and comfortable!

Check out my pattern review here.

Promaballoona!!!!

Yes I have been absent....but I have definitely been sewing. And fabric shopping. And partying with sewers at Promaballoona!!!  I was one of the lucky ones that actually lived in the location where a sewing themed event was being held! And I was in town! It was like the stars aligned. And even crazier, Miss Oonaballoona herself commented on my own humble little blog the day before Promaballoona...so I was able to write her back and tell her I was coming to her prom! Now I know the true mark that a sewing blogger has made it is when they get a nasty/useless anonymous comment on their blog....still waiting (fingers crossed lol!)....but I think a sewing blog has made some sort of mark in the sewing world when Oonaballoona comments!

The prom was held at Sew LA in Los Angeles on Sunday night. I met up with the sewing friends I met at the last Sew LA event I went to for Colette Patterns. A new friend also came to the Prom. I met KC, blogger of The Sewcratic Method (fyi coolest blog name ever if you are a lawyer), when I won a giveaway on her blog! I won The Art of Manipulating Fabric by Collette Wolff. This book has some very cool techniques that can be used on fabrics to make interested textures and designs...I cannot wait to try some of it on a simple garment to make it shine.

I am not giving many dress details on this post because I will do a separate post on it, the amazing shoes, and the amazing makeup, but it was a piece of work! I originally started this dress for my sister-in-law's wedding (well sister-in-law now) but I only started it the night before (like I do) and it did not get done in time. But in my defense, the pattern was a Vogue Easy Options and I should have been able to get it done no problem in around 5 or 6 hours. No...absolutely not. This Vogue 8280 Roland Mouret Galaxy dress knock off is anything but easy. I would even call parts of it advanced...like the flanges where the directions are incredibly difficult to understand. But all this has been said in the numerous reviews on pattern review I looked at after this dress did not get made in time for the wedding.  Also, I had my heart set on some hot pink and black houndstooth fabric which was no where to be found...anywhere...at all. But FabricMart had some white and black houndstooth rayon suiting (similar to this) that I bought and dyed...with Fuchsia Rit dye. Now that was also an experience I will save for the detailed post. But I did finish the dress...about 20 minutes before I left on Sunday night for the prom...and it does look good in the pictures if I do say so myself...and I do. Here they are:

It looks like I am pushing KC out of the way :( I'm not!

Did I know she was behind me? Why am I jumping in front of her?

OMG there is a theme! I keep cutting KC off!  Sorry KC!!

From left to right: Nhi, Sandra, and Jill

Now I stole some of these off Sew LA's facebook page because there was this pretty sparkly backdrop that said Promaballoona and an unattended camera with remote where you could just hang out and take pictures of yourself. Yes! I did that! A lot...so that explains some of my random candid shots. Oona also has some pictures of me somewhere...maybe she will post them on her blog and I can steal them for mine!

ROCK ON!

Moral of the story is this: Should you ever get a chance to attend a Promaballoona...or Oona event...do so!

UPDATE: Oonaballoona has posted her pictures! Go see them!