"Hey, you're wearing a green dress. What, are you Irish? I bet you're Irish." FO: Dolly Cricket dress!

Nothing to disclose.



I finally did some fancy pictures for my Cambie dress. I decided to enter it into Sew Dolly Clackett, so I took a page out of Dolly Clackett herself's book and took pictures in front of my front door. Glad all my little plants are blooming! 





This was why I added extra fabric to the skirt: to be able to wear it to dance in on St. Patrick's Day. Holding the skirt is part of all of my favorite dances. This is me on the local news dancing in the dress: http://www.news10.net/videos/life/2014/03/17/6549351/



I'm a sucker for a dress with pockets.

I'm not a sucker for a dress that puts the "ass" in "massive", and this does. I didn't add that much to the skirt, so I have to assume that I'm not the only one with this problem. Especially because the waistband hits below my natural waist, it really makes the lower half of the dress look BIG. The fabric design doesn't help. If I remade this, and I very well might, I would definitely take fabric out of the skirt or do view A. This has actually reverse-inspired me to make some pencil skirts and tighter fitting things because this is so big. The fit could have been better, but I always consider the first item done from a pattern to be a muslin. You never know how you will feel about fit until you put in a zipper and wash it a few times and wear it all day long. I know that for future Cambies, tighter is better in the bodice. I will probably wear a belt with it, too, but haven't tried that yet.

I do love this dress and plan to wear it to a lot of the Celtic events that I attend, when I'm not wearing dance costumes and the like. I LOVE that I can wear a "regular" bra with it, and I've been meaning to put some ribbon strap-holders in the shoulders. It's very comfortable to wear and despite being pretty out there (i.e. covered in shamrocks and clover) no one has said anything weird or otherwise about it.

Pattern: Sewaholic Cambie
Fabric: Heather Ross Briar Rose Cricket Clover in Yellow Clover (quilting cotton)
Alterations/Mods: added fabric to skirt
Dress stats: fully lined, vintage metal zipper
Cost: fabric $15, pattern $24 ($18+shipping), zipper - stash = $39
Started 2/27/14, finished 3/02/14

Verdict: Dress B+, Pattern A

Second sewing FO: Cambie!

nothing to disclose




YAY!

Pattern: Sewaholic Cambie
Fabric: Heather Ross Briar Rose Cricket Clover in Yellow Clover (quilting cotton)
mods: added fabric to skirt

I feel in LOVE with this fabric the instant I saw it. I work in an Irish pub; I have a shamrock tattoo; I needed this fabric like air. I had a hard time choosing what color I wanted, since there were 3. The others had a more chartreuse green, and had I been able to see them in person I probably would have picked one of them. But going only off pictures on the internet, I knew this would be a safe bet. (And thank you to Anna for getting it to me!)

I used a vintage zipper that belonged to a family friend whose sewing stash I inherited. It is a metal zipper painted white, that has quite a lot of wear but looks really neat. It quite clearly had been used in a previous garment and removed. I did an exposed zip although I don't have any pictures of it.

I'm pretty happy with the fit of the dress. It could be better, but I was erring on the side of being not too tight because the muslin seemed tight. It doesn't bother me enough to take it in, but if I make another one, I will make the bodice tighter below the bust. The sleeves/straps are GREAT! I love not having to worry about wearing a specific bra for a dress or even a strapless one. I could probably even wear a sports bra for when I dance on St. Patrick's Day.

Verdict" A+ would make again

this week in TartanHeartsLand

I did a few pretty cool things this week.

1. I went to Costco by myself, like a real grown-up.

2. I got to make several heart-shaped jewelry pieces, which I LOVE! The Saltire (bottom, it's the Scottish flag) will be coming soon to my shop. It came out so well. It'd be a great key chain.

3. I've not done any sewing, but I've been doing some sewing prep and figuring out what my next project will be. I have the pattern and fabric to do a Simplicity 1882, but it will be another floor-length Rainbow dress. BUT! I'm thinking I need an every day dress that will see more than the inside of a lodge. I am leaning heavily towards a Sewaholic Cambie and I have a couple of fabric ideas. I really love sweetheart necklines and sleeveless dresses, so I hope it's the match made in heaven that I think it will be. 

Here's Moe helping me lay some fabric out. (It's leftovers from one of my dance costumes from 10+ years ago. I have a little over two yards, I think. I didn't get a chance to actually measure because Moe was too funny.)  

Several people on instagram suggested that he needs a hand-sewn dog bed. NO. No he does not. He prefers the couch, anyway. 

4. I'm going to Stitches West tomorrow! I've gone the last two years and it's a blast! I'll be at the LSG meetup Saturday night, which is never a let-down. I'm amazed Bennigan's lets us come back. 

The fun part about Stitches is that I am now spinning. I'm not looking for yarn at all, but spinning fiber instead. 

back on the sewing wagon.

Which is literally the title of a post I did in 2010: http://tartanhearts.blogspot.com/2010/03/back-on-sewing-wagon.html

Sewing isn't my favorite thing. It doesn't come naturally to me the way that knitting and other fiber-related crafts to. I have to really think about it and take my time. And the worst part is that mistakes are so much harder to fix. Especially when it comes to cutting.

But when you combine being 5'10" and generally not petite, fitting ridiculous dress codes (Highland dance, DOS, IORG, etc.) and it almost becomes a necessity. Plus it seems like I want to sew every year at this time. Winter blahs? Who knows.

Point is, I made a dress.

(I still have not taken nice pictures of this dress, so selfies will have to suffice!)

I even did it properly and did a test-run muslin.



This was the dress pre-alterations:



I ended up taking it in about 3-4" in the waist. I could have easily done a size or even two sizes smaller but I really wasn't sure how much ease I would want in a finished garment that was fully-lined.





Finished specs:

Pattern: McCall's 3129 (Patternreview)

Fabric: This rainbow polka dot stuff from Hobby Lobby. (I had a gift card. I was not impressed with them at all so I do not feel bad about not shopping there.) It is perfect for IORG, which is what it was intended for.

Alterations: Took in the waist about 4". Added full lining (which was so easy and I am so glad I did). Should have lengthened it (and the pattern was great about how to lengthen/shorten), because it's about ankle length instead of top-of-my-foot/floor length. Nothing major.

Notes: The zipper installation instructions sucked, and I am very glad that the internet and many of the wonderful tutorials out there exist. I have installed zippers before but needed a refresher. I forgot that I don't care about using invisible zippers, and won't waste my time with that in the future. I have never done a lapped zipper, which I am looking into presently.

Verdict: I would sew it again, but I probably won't because there are too many other gorgeous patterns out there begging to be sewn. Sewaholic Cambie is on my list to be done next. Or Simplicity 1882.

Fountain Pen Day!

(I do know I'm 4 days late. Shhhhh!)

My rotation for Fountain Pen Day 2013 (left to right):
Platinum Preppy fine/03,
 Noodler's Nib Creaper flex in Carniolan Honey,
 Lamy Safari Apple Green 2012 LE fine,
 FPR Dilli flex pen,
 Noodler's Ahab flex in Hudson Bay Fathom's Blue,
 Platinum Preppy 05/medium purple,
 Serwex 162 fine,
 Noodler's Clear Nib Creaper.

I'm probably cheating here because I hadn't cracked the purple Preppy cartridge yet, but I plan to soon, so I left it in. I have a rainbow going and I now need some red/pink and maybe a little black  to complete it.

It's not really fair to tell you what inks are here because you can't see them but they are:
Blue Platinum cartridge
Private Reserve 'Avacado'
Noodler's 'Heart of Darkness'
Noodler's 'Black Swan in Australian Roses'
Diamine Oxblood
Purple Platinum cartridge
De Atramentis 'Plum'
Noodler's Antietam

*All products here were purchased by me for my own use and review. 

when things don't always work out as they should. (plus an ink review?)

I had this brilliant idea to do fountain pen ink reviews.

I have gotten super into fountain pens and ink is kind of like nail polish in that ten people using the same ink (or polish) will have ten different experiences and opinions. I end up reading tons of reviews that often cover the same or similar products, albeit inks, pens or paper.

So, since I've bought a ton of samples lately (and a ton of pens) I decided to start writing out some reviews. Everything was going smoothly so far.

Then I scanned them.



Firstly, my scanner refuses to can the entire page. Not sure why. Obviously, I don't use it very often. There isn't even anything about this in the manual! (Next time I'm going to try scanning it still on the pad and see if having three dimensions helps. Also considering drawing borders.)

Secondly, this color is not even close to the actual color.

Then I googled: https://www.google.com/search?q=noodler's+black+swan+in+australian+roses&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=5iNwUtTzNuGBiwKr04DgCA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=643

It seems to show up this way in everyone's photos and scans, so I don't feel as bad.

In reality, it is a much more red purple. Almost a burgundy. It isn't as red as Black Swan in English Roses, but is still more red than it shows above. It's a nice color. It's not my favorite, as I've yet to find a purple that has really wowed me.

The pen, the Fountain Pen Revolution Dilli flex pen is fantastic! I adore it and it is currently my favorite. It's highly versatile and can write from a very fine line to a fat, flex-y puddle. The pen and ink combination here was ideal, because BSAR shades so well. I anticipate picking up at least one more.

I'm a bit discouraged and re-thinking this ink review thing. I'm going to try scanning a few more and see what happens. Please, any feedback is welcome.

*All products here were purchased by me for my own use and review. 


ETA: I decided to not include swabs because I think swabs can be kind of misleading about how a color writes. How it looks in a big ol' blobs is not really relevant for me because I am only writing and not doing art. Plus, everyone posts as swab so I really don't need to. Right?

DIDNEYLAN! (or How I Can Go On Vacation And Still Be Succulent Crazy)

I went to Disneyland. It happens.

Yes, I am a childless (childfree!) grown-ass woman.

Yes, I took pictures with Mickey and Minnie and Goofy and Pluto and Donald. (And Daisy!)



One of the things that I appreciate most about Disneyland is that everything is so detailed and well-done. Everything fits into its theme to a T!

Imagine how delighted I was to look around while I was in Frontierland and discover SUCCULENTS! Everywhere!



There were a ton of strawberry pots like this with a huge variety of plants. There were also plants in wall hangers and quite a few in the ground as well. (I also saw quite a few in California Adventure in the Cars Land and Bugs Land sections.) I really wanted to take cuttings because how cool would it be to have a plant that came from a plant growing at Disneyland? I'm too big a square for that. I kept thinking, "If everyone did it, there'd be none left to enjoy."

I always enjoy when two of my interests come together!

Is it an addiction if you can't stop buying plants?

I wrote in June about succulents and haven't looked back. I've gone a leeeetle bit crazy. I mean, as crazy as one can get buying plants.




This is just one such purchase. I love echeverias and rosette-like succulents in general. I was super excited to find the Perle Von Nurnberg (back left) because I'd been admiring it in photos for quite a while. I'm currently debating whether to plant it outside or not. I also love weird plants of all kinds, like the Baby Toes (back middle), Split Rock (front left) and lithops (front right). My Baby Toes plant is pretty beat up, so you can't really see how creepy they are. The Split Rock got a purple buddy this week, and I'll have a really neat picture of the apothecary jar they were planted in.

What I'm the most excited about are the lithops!



I love these, because they are some of the weirdest and most boring plants on the face of the planet. If you aren't paying attention, you might not even notice that they are plants! Surprisingly, they have a really pretty, daisy-like flower. Of course, they bloom in spring so I will be waiting quite a while for that. Before that, mine will be getting new leaves, which I am also looking forward to.

I'm planning to repot these (about two weeks after their initial planting) to do something like this, in a really beautiful vintage vase:

(image found on pinterest. original source is http://www.solxsol.com/p/11725/)

Expect more succulent pictures and chatter! I repotted a bunch today but didn't take photos.

recent makings

Here are a few things that went into the mail recently! Tartans included (from left to right) are Nova Scota, Cameron of Erracht, Cameron, Rose, and MacKenzie. Plus we've got the Next Stop Everywhere and the Lady Elizabeth pendants plus Evanora's Emerald Amulet.

I really LOVE LOVE LOVE the new black settings, and I'm looking to add Loopy black so that everything will come in black.

Things have really started to pick up now that Fall is around the corner and I can't be more excited to be making things and sharing what I'm making!

C'est le weekend!

Here are some photos of what I've been doing lately.

I went on a very awesome vacation where I did a lot of spinning.





Finished this while I was there! I plied it the night Tim Lincecum threw his no-hitter. It's lucky yarn!


This was tonight's Tour de Fleece spinning, with my little helper.

My succulents are doing well. So is my pitcher plant.



I found out I can water him with air conditioning condensate which is great! We have a LOT of that this time of year. It's a lot cheaper than distilled water bought by the gallon.

We found a really weird succulent while wine tasting at Ceago Winery in Nice, CA:

I found out later it's a cereus forebesii monstrose. I really wanted to take a cutting, but didn't know how! The winery is gorgeous! There is a beautiful garden and there are lavender fields. Check out their photo gallery if you need some more pretty things to look at.

I've been doing some pretty fun jewelry stuff, too. (Of course. I always am!) Here's a little backstage peek:


One of my pendants is going to Comic Con this weekend! I hope the recipient sends me photos.