Change of pace - for now

Hello, The Internet!!

I think you will have noticed by now that I'm not regularly posting new Newfoundland pictures since the first post. I have a second post partly finished and a few more in plannign stages. The thing is, there are lots of photots. No, really - looooooooooots. And Blogger, well, let's just say their photo uploader leaves a whole fuckload something to be desired. So I've given up for now - you'll have to wait unitl next week (or possibly even longer - baking/cooking projects coming up for next week!!) for more Newfoundland goodness. Cause I was about to punch a hole in my nice (and almost new) Mac, which might have been cathartic, but would have ended up being pretty expensive (what with the buying a new computer and the reconstructive surgery on my hand. . .).

But there is another new project I'm going to be starting in the near future (just waiting for a package to arrive in the mail) that I want to share with you now. I have a couple of weddings to attend this summer and I'm planning on making a dress I might be able to wear to one of them (if it turns out to be wearable, of course). My inspiration is a vintage dress I saw on an Etsy shop (Dear Golden Vintage) but with rather different fabric choices (wait and see!). I have a pattern that approximates the one I want to end up with and I think with a few easy modifications, I'll get the dress I want.

I love vintage clothes, and I have a pretty 50s silhouette so vintage and I get along pretty well. The only problem being most things that are actually vintage won't come in my size (I'm not petite, in any dimension - thanks Eastern European peasantry ancestors!). I could have just bought the dress (though, a bit pricey), but it was something like 4 dress-sizes too small. No thanks, I don't need the stab to the gut and self-recrimination. I could also have gone the dressmaker route. I did in fact do that with the dress I'm going to wear for the first wedding (just two weeks - the summer is realy flying by, isn't it?). That was inspired by another dress I saw in the same Etsy store - I tried to find it but it's apparently vanished :( That one was a pale silver metallic strapless dress, with a sweetheart neckline and a really cool obi-style belt - I can't wait to show you photos, Dear Internet!! It was just too complicated a task for me to tackle (boning??? no thanks), and the dressmaker I found was very good and really easy to work with. The next time I come accross a dress I'd like made for me, I'm definitely going back to her! The dress I'm going to attempt has a pretty basic shape and I'm pretty handy with a sewing machine, so hopefully I'll do ok. I also got a whole bunch of basic broadcloth to make a mock up (with modifications) so I can attempt the dress and not muck up the pretty fabric I got, also sort out how I'm going to do things. Like putting in invisible zippers. Which I've never done before. . . 

I'm really looking forward to this project. It's been a while since I've  made any clothes for myself, and it'll be nice to work on those skills again - maybe even start to make more clothing, instead of always buying it. I've been really inspired by a few new blog finds of mine: Adventures in Dressmaking, and Kittyzilla's Handmade Stuffs which have really started me thinking about getting back into sewing again. Clothes as well as embroidery.

I'm excited to start this little journey! How about you, Dear Internet? Start any new projects lately?

I can't wait for the fabric to arrive :D