You Wear Those Shoes & I Will Wear That Dress

Ah, this dress. I am so pleased with it, to tell you the very honest truth. The little details really pay off! It takes so much extra time, but proper ironing, topstitching, and blind hems all make my heart beat a little faster when I see the results of my hard work. I mean, I'm already going to be spending hours working on something... I might as well be a perfectionist, right?

Although, I don't know if the word "perfectionist" can be applied to my kind of sewing. Self-taught, I mean. Obviously I have plenty of projects where I let things slide, but I kind of feel like when I'm making something to sell, a switch in my brain flicks on and I do things properly. Because I don't want something to fall apart on a customer, and I want them to know they're getting quality for their money. How horrible would it be for something to fall apart? But because I'm always learning, and I wasn't taught to measure everything to the exact eighth inch, things aren't perfect. But darn it, I try!



Man, I don't mean to sound like I'm tooting my horn over here. I worry that some of the pieces I sold a few years ago when I was less experienced weren't up to par (although I'm hoping this is just me being overly critical) and I don't want to feel that way about the things I'm making now, so I just try my best.

So, I got photos by the mustang! I am so excited about this. I'm also hoping to get more pictures here sometime in better lighting. Maybe some soft sunlight. I was paranoid of getting grime on the dress (white is a hard color to manage!), so I washed the parts of the car that I'd be near. You can kind of tell where the washing stops.





Ready for some dress details? Okay, me too. It's out of a nice cotton with a subtle off-white floral pattern. My mom got the fabric at our Fiber Guild exchange thing--it was originally bought for a quilt backing, so I have yards left. The dress is quite a bit like my sheep dress, with a few key changes! The straps aren't halter style, there are five buttons in front, and I made a removable bow belt for it. I also did a lot of topsitched detailing on it, which helped make the skirt lie more smoothly. I'm thinking that this exact style in light blue would be perfect for an Alice In Wonderland-inspired dress!





While I'd love to give you a bunch of sweet details on the car, I can't! All I know is that it's a '67 Mustang something-back, and it needs a paint job. (And that the upholstery is stellar--houndstooth fabric on the seats! So awesome.)



After a bit, I noticed that the sun was setting, and headed down to the lake to get some shots in that golden light I love.









Wild roses are so beautiful, and very plentiful this time of year.



Also, new header! I'm trying it out, but it might not stick. I think this will be my new font, though; it's simple but fitting.

Can't believe it's only Tuesday. I worked on cabins and the lodge and stuff all day yesterday, and then cleaned my room (well, started to) and then sewed for about five straight hours today. Now after working on this post and editing photos for a few hours, I think my eyes need a rest! But seriously, having to post every day for a stretch of days has been really good for me. It's such a good motivator, and I think I'm more apt to sew just to get more material to post!

(Oh, by the way, this dress will be listed within a couple weeks when I open my new shop. I'll keep you posted.)

Sneak Peek: White Dress

I am making a pretty white dress. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm also pretty exhausted--I cleaned cabins today and washed windows and am now staying up too late. So, I'm pretty much going to bed now.

You Are My Blue-Eyed Universe

I love when a handful of safety pins can completely transform a dress. I've worn this dress in a couple different ways before, but I think this is my favorite. The silhouette is what gets me, I think! I just adore dresses that are fitted in the waist and HUGE on the bottom. Safety pinning the hem to a slip even fooled my mom, who saw me in this and at first said, "New dress?" And I show her everything I make, probably annoyingly so. We actually had a conversation about that once, which ended with me saying, "You're like my Tim Gunn!" and her quipping, "Make it work!"

But anyway, the point is, I'm all for wearing clothes over and over in different ways--clothes are meant to be loved. It makes me feel unsettled to know some people wear clothes once and then donate them and buy new ones. I want people who buy the clothes I make to have that feeling where you want to wear that piece, and nothing else will do.







glasses / f21 | necklace / adriannemae | dress / handmade | chain / gift | shoes / modcloth





Um, best time of day to take pictures ever! I seriously didn't edit the lighting or colors in these at all. It's got it all: saturated colors, sunspots, lens flare, and silhouettes. Perfect. (Makes up for yesterday's darkness, right?)



I'll let you in on a secret: I barely wore this today! To be honest, I was lazy and in sweatpants. How embarrassing! Haha. But I dressed up for you guys.

I like that, besides a log of projects and personal style, this blog is kind of a journal of sorts. I can look back on some of the best (and worst) days of the year so far to see what I was wearing and thinking. And you know what? I'm actually loving this posting every day thing. It's kind of a scramble sometimes, but as long as I can keep things of a certain quality, I'd like to try posting almost as often for most of the summer. We'll see how that goes! This is so fun. Ha.

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANA! I love you!

Patchwork Dress

I know I promised a shoot by my brother's vintage mustang, but by the time I got this dress finished, the only place it was light enough to take photos was down by the lake, and even that was a bit sketchy. I recruited my dad to help take the photos since it had started to sprinkle and I didn't want to expose his camera to the moisture for the amount of time it takes to get photos with a self-timer. While the pictures he takes are always stellar, I am realizing now that I have a harder time being the model when someone is around. I always revert to the same pose, avoid looking at the camera, and don't move around much. This is a problem!



This dress was a total experiment. I'd never done a bodice like this before, so I was making it up as I went along. It has adjustable straps (!), a built-in bra, shirring in the back, an invisible side zipper, and is fully lined. The whole thing is carefully pieced together from three different fabrics (which you'll probably recognize if you've been around for a while!), and is all nicely topstitched.





I do plan on getting more brightly lit pictures at some point, as this is going to be one of the first things listed when I open my new shop. Have I mentioned that yet? I thought up the name "Matey Couture" when I was 14 or so, and I really don't identify with it at all anymore. I'm not doing as much costume-y stuff as I was back then, and my clothing certainly is not couture, so I'd rather not label it as such. Thus, I think I'm going with a much simpler name that I have to like, if only because it's mine and I'm stuck with it! I was thinking of just, "Addie Marie Clothing" or something. I'm not decided yet, but since I've plastered my first two names around just as commonly as my brand name, I'm figuring it will work. I'm open to suggestions for names if you have an idea, by the way!

Macarons

Instead of sewing, today I played buck euchre with friends and made pink raspberry macarons. I froze most of them for my graduation party, but saved a plateful for dessert. I am going to practice making these throughout the summer because they'll be some of the desserts we're making for my brother's wedding in August. (I'm sure I'll be showing you all the mini desserts we'll be working on!)

Tomorrow will involve finishing a very exciting dress, listening to raindrops on a metal roof, and photoshoots with a vintage mustang.