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!