Nakisha came in second with her gorgeous interpretation of minimalism architecture, and Sue's amazing, yellow trench coat inspired by Pop Art came in third. It was a true honor to be in the last challenge with them.
I have a lot of thoughts about the competition, what I learned, what I experienced, and how the whole thing went, but I will save that for another time (I do want to dissect it, though, since the progress was pretty significant overall--more so than I expected it to be). I do really want to say thank you to Fabric Mart for hosting the competition, the judges for all their thoughts and words about the garments I sewed up, and to my fellow sewing friends in the contest with me, it was wonderful to be part of such a cool thing with such gracious, generous, and gifted sewers. And of course, I *know* so many of you voted for me, or left incredibly kind comments here or at my FB page, so thank you for that. I had many moments where comments were what I needed to keep my head up high, since there were points in the challenge where I wondered if I should keep on keeping on...
Okay, onto the outfits...both featuring dresses I sewed up in the competition (there's the connection, lol).
Where: To celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary, Mr. Dina took me to America Eats, which has moved from its downtown DC location (featured at this post and here at this post) to the Ritz Carlton Tysons (ooh, fancy!).
Ease of Wear: (3.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) I made this dress for me (read more on that here), but it is still a fancy dress worn with heels. It won't be the most comfortable dress ever, but considering that normally dresses feel too tight in my hips, it was a nice change of pace to feel not restricted there, for once. :-)
Cool Factor: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.) I love it. I think I looked really nice, and I always, ALWAYS want my hair to look that good *why can't it always behave--WHIIIIINE!*.
Anecdote from the day: Driving to Tysons it was SUPER FOGGY out. We have a few tall buildings in our neighborhood and there are really tall buildings (well, by DC standards anyhow) in Tysons, and the tops of the buildings were completely hidden behind the wall of fog. I love fog, so I was really into it, but Mr. Dina was freaked out.
Yeah, we've been married for 13 years and it was awesome that it was on the 13th. Wish it had been a Friday, too, that would have been even better.
Where: International Fair at the school.
Ease of Wear: (5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) Yeah, this dress is so comfortable. I am really glad I spent all those hours patterning out the original and sewing up a gazillion gathers (wrote the process up here). Worth all the effort. Such a breezy, lovely dress.
Cool Factor: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.) Very pretty and presentable outfit, and perfection for the weather we had here today (umm, gorgeous, with a slight breeze).
Anecdote from the day: We have been a house of sick lately. I was sick with the flu for a week and then both CW and I came down with laryngitis. Unfortunately Mr. Dina and Angus now have it, too, and they are struggling. Only Rex seems immune. I bet he scares the germs away. :-) We had a good time at the International Fair, though. One of my favorite families from the school are Ethiopian and they remembered how much Rex likes the yellow pea dish, so they made that special so Rex would be able to enjoy his favorite. Isn't that so sweet? What a nice and generous gesture.
Okay, that's all for now. Still pinching myself over the win, cannot wait to give another sewing project a go, and now that I have a bit more time, I think I will be tackling a coat or jacket, which I have always wanted to sew up.
Have a great night!
