More Holiday Truth...

I forgot to mention the other holiday item I found last weekend. On my drive to my dad's house on Thanksgiving I came across a radio station already playing holiday music. Ugh! I was about to change the station when they announced the next song, Hard Candy Christmas sung by Dolly Parton. I had never heard of it and since it wasn't one of the traditional songs I gave it a listen...and loved it.

You can pretty much always depend on Dolly to keep it real...in song lyrics, that is. (As it turns out, she didn't write this one, but it has her sensibility.)

It's a holiday song for those who aren't too thrilled with the holiday season, their lives, and how they're doing at this time of the year. Here's the song:



And here are the lyrics*.


* Home sewers check out the third stanza!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Yesterday, I got to see one of my favorite holiday movies, Home For the Holidays, directed by Jodie Foster and starring Holly Hunter and Dylan McDermott. I think I love this film because the family dynamics are so real. It's not a pretty picture of family life but it seems more real than typical Hollywood fare. You can watch the whole movie here on YouTube in ten parts. If you've never seen it, definitely give it a try.

Now I just have to see my other favorite Hollywood film, 1945's Christmas in Connecticut. This film is pure Hollywood, vintage-style and just lovely.



I did a bit more sewing, but man am I slow! I miss the days where I didn't stop until I was exhausted, sometimes sewing until early the next morning. Last night, though I was still up late I was watching TV instead of sewing.

Sewing Weekend Update

• I finished one of the projects I wanted to work on this weekend. I finally resized New Look 6807 down one size and even wore it to a party on Saturday night. I ended up sewing the back seam up so that the bow no longer works as fastening and is now
  decoration only. Therefore, I didn't have any problem with it slipping off my shoulders.
  
  
• I sold both pieces of the navy wool crepe that I had in my Etsy shop. Thank you! Once I decided to list them separately, they both sold within days. Hmmm, what else can I find to sell?
  
  
• I completed the dress lining of my big project. I decided to do the lining first, and then the dress in the fashion fabric, because the lining usually seems like the part you can't wait to get over and done with. This also made it easy to see where potential fitting problems may show up. However, it's looking pretty good for a bias dress, so I can't wait to stitch up the dress tonight and finish it. In a winter red twill, it will be my go-to holiday dress this season.
  
  Oh, by the way, it's a test pattern for this dress. YES!! and you will definitely want one too after you see it!
  
  
• I came up with a cool design for a frothy holiday necklace while working with the ice blue lining fabric. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to actually work one up yet. Maybe this weekend.

OutsaPOP!

That's right, Outsapop is a cool website I found a few weeks ago, that covers all the trashion (DIY-inspired fashion) that's out and about.

Outi Pyy, the author, is Finnish but her blog is written in English. She includes notes from the designer fashion shows, DIY tutorials like this one for totebags made from old tank tops, pics from the recycled sweater challenge on Project Runway Finland*, felt circle pallietes decorating a sweater, etc.

Outi knows about DIY fashion because she is also a designer. In fact, she makes great accessories out of garment zippers and sells them here. Check out some examples of her own work:

Bonus: A belt tutorial she created for zipper manufacturer YKK.

*Did you even know there was a PR Finland?! The US show is really too conservative. Just look at this season's finalists, anything that seems edgy in their recent collections (ex: zipper collars) has already been done better somewhere else. Like Comme des Garcons in 2005. All you have to do is do your research...which Outsapop does.

Wool Crepe In The Etsy Shop!

Remember that navy wool crepe I mentioned I had for sale? I wrote about it here a month ago.



Well, I just put it up for sale in my Etsy shop, Dragonfly. I'm selling it for approximately $8 a yard even though when I bought it I originally paid $12. (yeah, I was a big spender back then.) Please check it out here.

Again, the fabric is in perfect condition. It is 58" wide and is already cut in two lengths. One piece is 2 and 3/4 yards or 98 inches. The other piece is exactly 75 inches or a little over two yards of fabric.

NOTE: I'm selling them together in order to offer you more fabric for larger projects. However, if anyone is interested in them as separate lengths, just let me know. I am open to selling them separately. UPDATE: I decided to sell the two fabric lengths separately after all! ALL GONE!!!