OOTDs: California. 2015.

I realize I actually have a California, the Outfits, post or two, here at the blog.  I guess since I travel there so much I now have to start just naming them by years.  Of course I didn't think I would have a 2015 version, but as many of you know, my great aunt passed away on July 5, so I ended up traveling back to my birth state to say my last goodbyes.  It was a great visit, and her funeral service and interment were very beautiful, just like she was.  It was also nice to see friends and relatives, of course, and even though there was a loss bringing us together, it still brought us together, which is something my great aunt loved.  :-)

I will post the California: Photos post later, but those are still all stuck in the phone and camera for now. 

I am going from most recent to furthest in dates for these outfits, starting with the outfit I wore to fly home. 

Day: Tuesday, July 14, 2015.

Where: Flight home from CA, with three airports in between.

Ease of Wear: (4.25 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  Any outfit is going to be uncomfortable after twelve plus hours of wearing it (barring pjs, let's be real), but considering I had this on for that long and with a very unexpected change of flight plans, with a long shuttle ride to another airport, this outfit was as easy to wear as can be without looking too sloppy.  :-)

Outfit Details:  Pants, J. Crew here; Tee, J. Crew (but I found it at Marshall's for $16--who knew they had current J. Crew stuff); Sandals, Target here; Sunglasses, Costco; Necklace, Gift.

Anecdote of the Day:  I discovered my phone can take selfie shots on timer when propped up just so on a tall bottle of San Pelligrino (those are the shots with the white background).

Our flight plans were originally Long Beach--Phoenix--DC (National) but then the little plane set to get us to Phoenix was unable to shut its door (not good, obviously), so that flight was canceled and we ended up going to LAX (SHUDDER) to fly nonstop to Dulles (double SHUDDER).  But, meh, once on the way it was fine.  I should complain less.

INSTAGRAM of LGB here.
INSTAGRAM of LAX here. 

This is my lovely cousin, K. Isn't she super cute?

Day: Monday, July 13, 2015.

Where: Knott's Berry Farm's Soak City.

Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  A swimsuit, a lightweight a-line teeshirt dress coverup, and a pair of flip-flops?  Definition of ease.

Outfit Details:  Dress, Soprano (found at Marshall's); Flip-Flops, J. Crew; Bag, J. Crew; Sunglasses, Costco; Swimsuit (not pictured--but it's the yellow one), J. Crew.

Anecdote of the Day:  Soak City was so much fun.  I usually am so absorbed with going to Disneyland every time I visit CA that I always neglect Knott's, even though as a kid, we went there quite a bit too.  Soak City is the water park for Knott's and not the amusement park, but that was more than fine by me.  I should have worn more sunscreen, though, my very pale skin burned.  Eek.

INSTAGRAM of the other outfit I wore that day here, definitely more dressy than the outfit above.

Day: Saturday and Sunday, July 11-12, 2015.

Where: The funeral on Saturday and mass on Sunday.

Ease of Wear: (5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  Garnet Hill's tiered maxi dress is one of my favorite summer staples (I have this version and this version, too).  So unique, very presentable, exceedingly packable (doesn't wrinkle), and comfortable to the max (groan, bad pun there).  Add a pair of sparkly, fun, casual flats, and it's a winner outfit.  Can you blame me for two days of wear?  (Well that and the fact that I packed very little.)

Outfit Details:  Dress, Garnet Hill here; Sandals, Target here (they are true to size); Bag, J. Crew; Sunglasses, Costco; Necklace, tru.che.

Anecdote of the Day:  My aunt is buried next to my uncle, and whenever I go to the cemetery, I am overjoyed that their final resting place is on such gorgeous grounds.  Nestled in the hills in between Los Angeles and Orange County, it is verdant, full of light, and in a position to see the mountains to the east. 

We stayed in Downey for the visit, and my dad, though raised in Downey, had never really taken me there as a girl.  Walking around the downtown area after mass I fell in love.  It is an absolute mecca for fun mid-century architecture.  I especially adored the Masonic Lodge.

INSTAGRAM of the outfit here.
INSTAGRAM of my cousin and I here after mass.

Day: Friday, July 10, 2015.

Where: Marshall's (where I got the tee and dress above from), In and Out, and one of my many visits to the hotel's Happy Hour.

Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  The day after traveling I always feel ugh, so I wasn't surprised to wake up and feel a bit bloated and under, so no matter what I wore, it wasn't go to be awesome, but I figured a brisk walk (our mode of transport to get to Marshall's) would help.  I wanted to show some pride in the gorgeous palm trees of CA, so I decided to wear this Madewell linen tank with one of my favorite pairs of shorts.  The outfit was comfy enough, and got comfier as the day wore on.

Outfit Details:  Tank, Madewell; Shorts, Bandolino Blu (THEY ARE SO OLD); Sandals, Target here; Sanibel Reversible Pendant Necklace, Stella and Dot here.

Anecdote of the Day: I cannot believe how much my family enjoyed happy hour.  Embassy Suites has free drinks from 5:30-7:30 nightly, and the drinks kept coming.  The first day I was jetlagged (you'll see evidence of my fun while jetlagged in the next ootd), but by the second I was more clear, so I enjoyed it more.  By that point, all the relatives had come to town, including my once super bratty boy cousin, D.  He's not bratty anymore, more like an enabler.  I have to massively detox this week to make up for my CA sins at the bar.  :-/

INSTAGRAM of the outfit here.
INSTAGRAM of the shenanigans with boy cousin here.

Day: Thursday, July 9, 2015.

Where: Flight to CA from VA, El Torito for lunch, Happy Hour, and thankfully bed thereafter.

Ease of Wear: (5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  I made that tee you see the day before and dang, it's super comfy.  Granted it is two rectangles sewn together and made out of stretchy rayon knit, but it was so comfy, I made it work as pjs later that weekend.  And leggings, I mean, really.  It barely counts as an outfit.  ;-)

Outfit Details:  Tee, handmade; Leggings, J. Crew here; Sandals, Target here; Necklace, Madewell here; Sunglasses, Costco.

Anecdote of the Day: This day was fine, but remind me never to start the weekend of drinks before my family gets to me.  If I had known what they were capable of, I would have waited (I had a glass of wine on the plane and a beverage of choice at El Torito).  I fell asleep easier than I have ever fallen asleep before.  AND--I slept better than I have in a long time, so there's that.  :-)

INSTAGRAM of the no makeup Dina here.
INSTAGRAM of the shenanigans with girl cousin here.

Okay, that's all for now.  Armchair travelers, some more atmospheric photos to come.  (And for those of you interested in more shenanigans, those are coming, too.)

OOTD/Made by Me File: Halloween and a Pizza Costume.

Hey, all.  It has been a week.  Woah.  There hasn't been a lot happening around here, but there is a lot on the docket to be published.  I have been living real life fully, though, so my virtual life has been very muted.  ;-)

For those of you who would like to see the post I wrote for Fabric Mart on the skirt that was part of my last made by me file, check it out here.  I did do that last week, but still have to get around to publishing those posts for here. 

Okay onto this post which is not super late, but not exactly timely, either. 

OOTD will be first, followed by my son's pizza costume next.

Day: Friday, October 31, 2014.

Where:  Halloween Festivities.

Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  I have had all the bits of this outfit for years (barring the shoes and sweater which I bought last year) so these are time-tested comfortable favorites.  I love the coat, what an unusual shape and color, but very comfortable, and thankfully warm.  It was so cold that night.  (WHY?  It isn't like we live in Manitoba!)

Cool Factor: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)  The silhouette works for my frame, so that helps with the cool factor.  At the end of the day it is a fairly simple casual outfit though spiced up by funky Halloween earrings and a very interesting coat.

Anecdote from the day:  The kids had the day off from school that day.  I am a fan, it made getting ready for the night easier AND they weren't super-tired walking around.  Wish they would do this every year. 

Also Angus was supposed to be Yoda.  He refused to wear the hat so he was just a regular Jedi.

So if you are thinking this pizza costume looks like a stuffed toy, that is because it does function as one, just with added ties to make it wearable as a costume.

When Rex came home from Target one day and said he wanted to be a pizza costume after seeing one in its aisles, I was like, "challenge accepted!" 

My issue was more on how I was going to go with it.  Was I going to make a flat costume with some structure or was I going to make it stuffed?  Was I going to make it so his head sticks out of the costume and slips over his head or was it going to be a tie on? Was it going to be a circular pizza pie or a slice of pizza?

In the end I decided to make it stuffed, tied on, and in the shape of a slice of pizza. 

The process of making it was somewhat involved, but the measuring part wasn't terrible.  Basically I laid his school uniform over the tan colored jersey and drew checkmarks where the points were (shoulder points, waist, crotch, and knees).  From there I determined the crust at the top would be at his shoulder line, not above, and that the bottom of the slice would be near his knees.  I then connected the marks with a ruler and made a triangle shape.

Then I figured out that if I used some smaller glass bowls as the template for my pepperoni slices, that would make for the right sized pizza slices, which I then appliqued to the tan jersey using special fusible fabric bonding interfacing with a blanket stitch on my sewing machine.  (The applique looks okay, but circles are really hard to applique as it turns out!)

To give the pizza top some heft and to keep it from collapsing on itself, before I appliqued the slices of pepperoni, I decided to treat the tan jersey and one layer of the (awful looking) brown jersey as a quilt and bonded those two together with a thin fusible batting.

(Btw, the top crust was part of the bottom layer of that quilt sandwich, it just wasn't fused to anything and hung out above the quilted tan and brown jersey lower layer until I was ready to fold it over and stuff it, which happened later.) 

Once I had my tan jersey/brown jersey fused together, that is when I appliqued the pepperoni slices on the pizza.  That, in essence, quilted all of the layers together.

After that I went ahead and made the top crust part by folding it over and sewing it to the quilted pizza top.  Then I added the poly-fill and sewed up the seam left open by the stuffing process.

I wasn't done yet with the costume (though that could have worked on its own, I suppose).  I decided that the pizza would look great stuffed, so I made a duplicate layer of brown jersey to match the bottom triangle.  I then took the piece and the quilted top (with crust top), right sides facing (wrong sides towards me and the machine) and slowly and carefully sewed them together, LEAVING the top open.  I also made sure to attach the ties in the side seams at this point (at the waist).  I would later add the top ties, but since the top bit is open, the process of sewing them in was straightfoward. 

I then fully stuffed the pizza with more poly-fil (the same stuff from the stuffing the top crust).  It took a lot of the stuff, but this is truly a stuffed pizza and not only can serve as a costume but a stuffed toy and pillow.  Rex has now slept with it multiple nights in a row, so yay for multi-tasking sewing projects!

The top is still open, closed with simple closures.  If I were to wear this as a costume (I can, it just ends higher up on me), I would take out some of the extra stuffing since I don't need all that girth, lol.  For now all the stuffing is staying in...

Here it is on him before we were just about to go out.  He really liked it, so I consider that a success.  I also dig that I drafted and figured how to sew it up on my own without a pattern.  :-)

I am not digging that we forgot to get Halloween buckets, so my kids had to use Easter baskets instead.  I thought we should use pillowcases (that's what I used!), but he was like, "NO!"  LOL. Okay, then...

My little man from the side in his stuffed pizza costume.  This view allows you to see what I am talking about when I speak of the quilted top, the bottom layer, and how the ties ended up in the side seams. 

(I am not sure if any of you are going to want to try this, but just in case you really want to make a pizza costume it is nice to see this view!)

And the back.  Very simple tie closures so that he can grow into it or others can wear it, if they so choose.

I did write this project up at Pattern Review, btw, so head over there if you would like a bit more info. 

Okay, that's all for today.  I have a lot of free time now for a while, so I am excited to get back to hanging out at my blog again!

Made by Me File: Garnet Hill Knit Tiered Sundress...COPIED!

UPDATE (9/24/14): You can now vote for my creation, if you so desire, here at this blog post by Fabric Mart!  :-)  Thank you!!!

In June 2013 I decided to finance a Bernina machine from my local fabric store.  Eventually I decided on which machine would be my "forever" machine (it dang well better be!) and when I went to the stores to sign the papers, I was wearing one of my most favorite summer sundresses, the Garnet Hill Knit Tiered Sundress (which you can see on me here in this post--second to last photo).  As I was walking around waiting to get the paperwork in order, one of the managers there looked at my dress and said, "well, now I guess you can make yourself a version of that pretty dress with your new machine."  I just kind of chuckled, thinking he was putting WAY too much stock in my abilities as a sewer. 

Little did I know that eventually he would be right, but it took Fabric Mart's Fashion Challenge competition (third week, woo!) to make this dream a reality.  Because he was right, I *did* want another version of this dress since Garnet Hill no longer made them, and to get my hands on another version would mean my hands would actually have to do the work to construct it!

Here are the rules as stipulated by the competition:

Carrying out the Challenge - Did you successfully create a new garment using your favorite RTW garment as a pattern/guide? Don't forget to show us the original RTW garment!

Process Explanation - Did you explain to the viewers how you went about copying the RTW garment and making a brand-new handmade garment? You will need to create a post on your blog. (I will link your post up with our blog.)

Craftsmanship - Did you put a lot of care into the construction? Top-stitching straight, careful overall construction, etc.

Presentation - While we totally understand not everyone has a professional camera and the perfect backdrop for photographing their creations, (Me included!!) you are in front of a world of other sewers! Make yourself look presentable. Submit a photo of the front, back and side view of the garment, as well as a "presentation photo" (this should be the best photo!) Detail photos are also requested so we can be better judges. So if you do some embellishing or a specific technique, zoom in and share with us!

And here it is--my dupe of the Garnet Hill Knit Tiered Sundress!

I had not thought that I would actually physically make a copy of this dress from the actual dress I owned, but instead I had planned to use Butterick 5757 and Butterick 5653 to fake it.

It turns out there are a gazillion tutorials on how to make tiered skirts and dresses on the internet, but barring a few, most are for little children, which while adorable, will definitely not work for me in my current body shape.  ;-)

But in the end, and after (I think) 16 hours of work on this project, I am far happier with this result, since I suspect actually copying from the garment you love will yield a far better duplicate.

Now I own a nice paper copy of this pattern and can remake this one whenever I feel like I need another casual dressy summer sundress in my closet (and if you know anything about me, you know I LOVE a great sundress).

The one place I was most worried about as far as fit and construction were concerned was in the bodice.  I knew that I had patterned it according to all the various instructional videos/sites/tutorials I had seen out there, and I knew I had applied the binding to the neck as precisely as I could, but you never know until you actually get the garment on you completely finished.

The fit is really good.  If I have more time to fiddle with the serger next go round (I did this dress completely on the sewing machine), I think that could make for an even easier/more flexible fit, especially since the seams will be super-stretchy instead of "just stretchy enough."  I will still have to apply the neckline and strap binding on the machine, since I don't own a coverstitch machine, but that's okay.

I decided not to fiddle with the serger for this dress simply because I had already put nearly eight hours of work into patterning and cutting (I work slowly and very carefully, agh!), I knew I didn't really have the option of spending another hour trying out samples of this knit (a very lightweight knit from Fabric Mart called "Fuschia/Cherry/Multi Abstract Paint Daubs Burnout Knit") to get the right tension on the needles and loopers.

So speaking of this fabric, I am really glad I picked up nearly five yards of it from Fabric Mart when they had it on sale for $1.99 a yard.  I love this print and think its coloring suits me more than the original print in my original Garnet Hill sundress.  So for a grand total of eight hours sewing time (those gathered tiers take SO much time to sew) and $4 in fabric, I have a beautiful sundress that I (shh, don't tell Garnet Hill) love more than my original.

In order to make this garment, I needed to take a look on the inside of the original and make notes of what I saw so I could make the dress as close to the original as possible.  I didn't need to make alterations (though I did make mine a touch longer), so I did an exact copy from the original.

If you open up this photo in a new tab, you will see my notes on construction order and on the tier measurements.  My stepmom was the person who clued me into how to construct the actual tiers.  I knew that *most* tiered dresses and skirts are just a set of rectangles, but this dress had a very large difference between the top of the tier and the bottom of the tier, I just kind of figured the shape was more trapezoidal than rectangular.  My stepmom just showed me how very gathered each TOP of the tier was (to match the bottom of the tier/bodice above it) and that was why it seemed the bottom of each tier was so much wider than the top.  Aha!  Lightbulb.  After that I knew I could construct the garment, but I also had a *tiny* inkling of how much work it would be, since I don't have an industrial elastic gathering machine sitting in my house.  LOL.

Armed with HOW the tiers are rectangles, I set out to measure how wide each rectangle would be by using my flexible measuring tape on the bottom of each tier.  The top tier (below the bodice) on both sides was 9" long by 25" wide.  The top of that tier needed to be gathered to 17" to fit the bodice bottom.  The second tier (below the first tier) on both sides was 9" long by 36" wide.  The top of that tier would need to be gathered to 25" to fit the bottom of the first tier.  The last tier (below the second tier) on both sides was 9" long by (A WHOPPING) 60" wide.  The top of the last tier would have to be gathered to 36" to fit the bottom of the second tier. 

Yes, if you are doing the math, I had to gather over 240" of material.  Sigh.  That was when I decided traditional gathering was for the birds and decided I would at least try elastic gathering before I gave up and resorted to traditional gathering.  (Yes, the elastic gathering worked, thank goodness.)

I spent the majority of my patterning time on the bodice since this fit is so crucial.  You can kind of fudge the tiers a bit since there is so much material in all of those, but you can tell if a fitted bodice doesn't, you know, *fit.*

I was unsure if I was going to use my needle point tracing wheel (purchased when I was doing a pants patterning class last year) or if I was going to do the method Steffani Lincecum showed off in her Pattern Drafting from Ready to Wear class (involves a lot of pins).  I knew I didn't simply want to fold the bodice in half and trace around it, since I would personally worry that I would trace it too big, and one of the reasons I sew is so I can get garments that properly fit my very bony/narrow chest and neckline.  And since the neckline/chest area is one of the hardest to alter, I knew I couldn't afford that mistake.

I found using the needle point tracing wheel very accurate and very easy to use.  So while I plan on taking away *how* to pattern draft from RTW from Steffani Lincecum's class, I think the needle point tracing wheel will be how I actually get the proper shape to each pattern piece.

Do note that I did end up drafting the bodice pieces so they would be cut on the fold so I could have symmetry.  I also added a 1/2 inch seam allowance (just like that amount for me, and since it is my pattern for me, I get to call the shots).

BTW, that gridded paper plus the gridded cutting cardboard surface is amazing for getting exceedingly accurate measurements.  If you have any interest in patterning yourself, buy both, trust me.   (I got mine at G Street.  They have an amazing notions area, I feel fortunate they are just down the street.  If I had to rely solely on Joann's for notions, I would probably sob. Or get proactive and hunt down the best notions supplier on the internet.)

Like all bindings, these were made from rectangles, so I just took the measurement, added a half inch to either end for seam allowances and doubled the width measurement.  (I wanted a 22 inch piece for the shoulder straps with a 1 inch total shown binding.  1/2" is shown on the outside of the garment, the other 1/2" is on the interior of the garment.  The other 1 inch is folded under for stability--almost acts like a facing for the part of the binding shown on both the inside and outside.)  Since this was a knit garment, I did not cut these on the bias, instead choosing to cut on the cross grain, as is per usual when making bindings from knits.

After the long process of getting the pattern pieces ready (and checked for accuracy against the original garment), I was ready to lay out the pieces on the fabric.  The fabric was a little bit of a bear to lay out since it is so lightweight, but eventually I told it who was boss and it behaved.  (It involved a lot of pinning on my part.)

I then set to begin the stupidly long process of gathering each tier's top with elastic.  It isn't simply a matter of taking the elastic and putting it on the fabric and sewing it on with a zig-zag stitch.  Nope, it involves marking the elastic in equal bits and then matching those equal bits to the equal bits marked out on the tier itself.  And then the process of gently, yet firmly, ugh, tugging on the elastic while sewing it on the machine with the zigzag stitch.  Anyone out there who has a tutorial for this and is all, "ooh so easy you all" is a LIAR.  LOL.  Or maybe they had less gathering to do and didn't start cursing their choice after the first 200" of gathering.

But having said that, it was worth it since the elastic gathering made for very even results and did help give the dresses seams some stretch, even though I wasn't using the serger.  And since the fabric is so light, it gives the dress some heft where it needs it.

I wanted to ensure the binding was going to lie as flat as possible against my skin, so definitely pressed it until I was fairly certain that it would lie flat.  I also made sure to press the gathered seams up (I guess they could be pressed down but seemed to want to be pressed up, so that's what I did).

BTW, I like this tutorial by ikat bag and this tutorial by pattern scissors cloth for knitwear neckline binding.  They helped me better visualize what I needed to do on my dress to succeed.

By the time I tried the dress on Triple D (Dressmaker Dummy Dina), I was fairly sure I had a winner.  But I needed to get it on me and take photos of it and the original to be sure I had successfully accomplished my goal.

And here it is.  And I would say it does look an awful lot like the original.  Barring the extra length, the silhouette is the same, especially in the bodice *YEAH!*.  It is harder to see the gathered tiers in the darker print, but up close, the gathering is very obvious (you can look at it in the third photo from the top again, if you so choose).

What makes me kind of chuckle, though, is how my poses are nearly identical, too.  You must have a "set" place you like being, and I guess I am proof of that in these photos here.

Anyhow, that's all for tonight.  :-)  I am slowly winding down after a crazy weekend!  (Quick rundown--in-laws in town for my daughter's sixth birthday party; finishing the Elsa costume for my daughter for that same birthday party; going to one of my son's baseball games, and of course working on my duplicate dress for this contest.  I will sleep well tonight!)

P.S. Tomorrow I am hosting a pretty big giveaway, which is being done in conjunction with a review/ootd.  If you are a fan of Boden, definitely make sure you stop by.  ;-)

OOTDs: Thursday, Friday, Sunday.

Hey, all!  Happy Monday.  If you have today off in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., I hope that your day off has gone well.  We have kept it fairly sedate here, but sometimes sedate is the best kind of day.  :-)

Anyhow, onto the outfits from my recent days.  (I have some from earlier last week, but these three "go" best together.)

Day: Thursday, January 16, 2014.

Where: G Street Fabrics/School Run/Little Gym.

Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear) The pants are now kinda big, but since I am a big fan of comfort, especially when going to the Little Gym (all three kids had classes that afternoon), I keep the "they're just a touch too big" pants just for that purpose.  I wish that they wouldn't have that weird whiskering at the crotch area, but any pair of pants is going to have that, *unless* you get the exact right size for your body.  And I can tell you from all this sewing experience I am gaining, that even if you sew the exact right size for your shape, that still doesn't mean anything, you could still end up with weird lines everywhere.  Sigh.  (Even really loose pants will whisker if you put your legs together, you will have very deep frown lines radiating from your crotch.  LOL.  That sounds funny.)

The rest of the outfit was super comfy, and even though I don't wear the Fiona jacket that much anymore, I am glad to pull it out once or twice a year since it is so pretty and warm.

The shoes are the Penny Loafers from Boden that I just received the day before.  It took me less than twenty four hours to pull them out and wear them in real life.  Yep, like I feel about all my Boden loafers, it is love.

Cool Factor: (3 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest--for both outfits.) This is a pretty preppy outfit, so I think in some circles it would be cooler than in others.  Fortunately most of you who read here seem to like this brand of preppy, so I think there will be a few fans of this look.  :-)

Anecdote from the Day:  I went ahead and purchased a class at G Street that starts this Saturday (the 25th) on drafting a pants pattern to your exact measurements.  Maybe, just maybe, I will eventually have a pair of pants that have no whiskers, at all.  (Crosses fingers!)

Day: Friday, January 17, 2014.

Where: Little Gym/Harris Teeter/Sushi Dinner.

Ease of Wear: (3.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear) Overall a very comfortable, weather-appropriate outfit, but I wish that I looked less "matron of a German women's prison" when the jacket is buttoned up.  I rarely button it up, but it was chilly enough that day to have a need for the full buttoned-up look.  No biggie, I am sure no one was staring and saying, "get back to the Fraus, dear lady," but still.  I guess the more severe cut is emphasized in the name, the Military Wool Jacket ( here--and on deep discount in all shades). 

Cool Factor: (3.5 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest--for both outfits.) I like this look.  I really like it most without the jacket, but again, cold day and all.  :-)

Anecdote from the Day:  That is not a typo, we went to the Little Gym twice in two days.  I had missed so many of their classes when we were gone in December, that I have had a lot to make up with them.

And I went to Harris Teeter with all three kids.  They were very well behaved, by some minor miracle.  Hallelujah!

Day: Sunday, January 19, 2014.

Where: Day out in DC with the family.

Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear) It was windy and cold, so any plans I had to wear anything other than a thick cashmere sweater and snood went away after I went outside briefly that morning. 

On the fly, I kind of dig how easy this outfit is and how cute it looks all together.  The Anthropologie boots (made by Pied Juste, more on the brand's history here) are super cool, but not super warm, so they are the reason the outfit had a point knocked off.  (Well and the fact that I triple-looped the snood around my neck, which meant it felt rather tight...warm, but tight.)

Cool Factor: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest--for both outfits.) I reckon this is a pretty cool look.  I felt cool anyhow.  My girl was probably the coolest.  Standing at the J. Crew, trying to figure out what time it opened (we had a return to make), a lady remarked on how well-dressed CW was.  Aw!  (She picked out her outfit completely on her own, btw.)

Anecdote from the Day:  We had intended to have me take the oldest two to the city on Friday (they had the day off--hence why they were so well-behaved at the Harris Teeter), but those plans fell through after Angus's babysitter fell through.  In the end, we decided to all head to the city on Sunday instead and I took CW to the Portrait Gallery, while Mr. Dina took Rex and Angus to the Spy Museum.  I then grabbed Rex and CW and went to the Pret a Manger, while Mr. Dina took Angus to the Shake Shack.  (Rex, CW, and I LOVE Pret a Manger, and we go whenever we can.)

Okay, that's it for tonight.  If you haven't had a chance, don't forget to enter my five-year blogoversy giveaway here. 

Boden Review: Pigeon et Étoiles.

Bonne Nuit!

In tonight's Boden reviews, I take a look at two Johnnie b. items, including one with a wee plump man bird named Le Pigeon, which is why my post's title is in French.

(And for those who don't speak French--I am one of them, btw, just know a few words--étoiles are stars which references the second item, the pretty cardigan with lots of them in a foil print on grey cotton.)

There he is, looking a lot like a man I met at Chartres Cathedral last year.

CC, one of the best blog friends here at My Superfluities, pointed out the sparkly graphic t-shirt to me back when it debuted.  I hadn't even noticed it, but was super excited when CC suggested it. 
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I knew as soon as I was able to get a good enough code for Boden, I would definitely be purchasing this gorgeous chartreuse tee embellished with Monsier Pigeon and his sequined beret.

Sparkly Graphic T-Shirt.  My issue with this tee was I was unsure of sizing.  It had been since last season that I had purchased a Johnnie b. item, when they were still using alpha sizing (I was a medium top in the alpha sizing).  Now they have age-sizing, with the lowest 8 years and the highest 15-16 years.  They say the sizes correlate to XS-L (the 15-16 would be the L), but I found it hard to believe that my former size equaled a size 13-14.

I should have known better.  Although I am fine with this tee being less fitted than my tees of the past, it is fairly loose through the shoulders and through the waist.  And since I can't tumble dry this to shrink it AND it is sold out in all but the tiniest sizes, I am going to live with it not being as slim fit as they describe in its copy.  :)

I look forward to wearing this "put a bird on it" shirt with a pencil skirt and heels.  This is a great critter and I think I will be on the receiving end of many "I love that tee" comments.

Pretty Cardigan.  I also took this in a 15-16 and I am glad I did.  The 13-14 would have fit, but I appreciate that I can completely button it up and not worry about gaping.  At all.

The cotton is super soft (100%, btw) and the foil printed stars are nicely printed, deeply, and without me worrying that they will flake off with wear and wash.

Opened over the Le Pigeon tee.  I can see wearing the two together, with a smart pair of skinny jeans and boots, and of course, because I don't do irony, a beret on top of my head.

This face is made because even me, Miss Monkey Arms, think the sleeves might be a bit ridiculously long.  ;)



Sparkly Graphic T-Shirt and Pretty Cardigan.  The t-shirt is less sold out than the cardigan in grey, but there are popbacks sometimes.  Don't hold your breath for the star cardigan, though.   If I do see it, I will try to make an announcement on my facebook page.  :)

Okay, that's it!  Have any of you ordered any gems from the Johnnie b. line that you would like to share?  Any experiences with the new sizing?

Talk with you tomorrow, when I do reviews/ootds with the Swishy Jersey Skirt.