Made by Me File/OOTD: Inspired by Nature.

Day: Saturday, December 20, 2014.

Where:  To say goodbye to my friend, W., who passed away in mid-December.  I blogged more about the death here.  We went to his church in northern Virginia where they held a memorial service in his honor.

Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  In true W. style, we were asked to wear casual clothing to the service since W. was a casual guy who lived in fleece and jeans and boots.  W. also knew that I was (his words, not mine, lol) a "true fashionista," so though I could have worn fleece and jeans and boots, he wouldn't have expected my version of casual to match his.  I had to stay true to what his image of me was, as well as honoring the wishes of his family, so I went with my version of casual, which is exceedingly easy to wear, but since it isn't fleece or boots, doesn't get the full 5 out of 5 stars for ease since the beret, while "stylin'," does start to itch after a while. 

Cool Factor: (... of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)  Not really a necessary score because this outfit is about W. and not about being cool.  I am sure he would have liked the effort, and would be proud to know that I own a cardigan that has a full on forest on it, however abstract it may be.  (He was a lumberjack/nature man/(his words, not mine) manimal, so the more rustic and down to earth, the better.)

I literally spent days and days crying over W.'s death, as many of you who read here know already.  I didn't know how to process losing him in such a sudden way.  I had kids to watch out for, so that helped me get through the physical hours of the days, but the emotional weight of the emptiness inside was really upsetting.  I had this void of a good friend upon whom I depended for companionship.  He was a tie to so many things in my life, my youth, my love of things "nature," my stupid silly side that I rarely let see the day's light. 

I went through our many messages to each other and it struck me that no matter what, he championed my sewing and creative side.  He was very supportive of everything I made, which was odd considering his way of dressing up was to wear a fancy baseball cap and shoes that weren't boots.   Regardless of his own personal style, he loved mine.  So I figured one way to deal with his death was to make a dress in honor of him for the mass that was going to be said for the repose of his soul (my friend, M., set it up for this last Sunday, 1/25/2015). 

I found two beautiful quilting cottons at fabric.com, the Forest Walk print, and the Cotton and Steel Metallic Netorious Goldilocks that would work well for the vintage pattern I had found to use for the dress, Simplicity 7252 (from 1967).  I wanted the body of the dress to be a forest or tree print, but it had to be abstract, and the Forest Walk was perfect, since from far away it looks more graphic and splotchy than the birch trees they actually are.  The Cotton and Steel fabric is a very subtle silver geometric print on a turmeric colored base, and happens to be an exact match for the yellows in the Forest Walk fabric.  To add some interest, I also included a bias corded piping in ivory at the yoke base and the cuffs.

I made sure to line the entire thing in a slick poly lining so I could wear tights (quilting cottons stick to tights).

The dress sewed up well, but I did have to take in the sides a whole lot since the ease from the bust down to the hem was excessive.  It was very tent-like.  I wanted the silhouette to match the girl on the cover of the pattern, so I knew I had to take it in to achieve that.  I didn't make a size too big, btw, I went with a size 14, bust 34, and through the shoulders, neck, and arms, it fits fine (after I did a square shoulder adjustment, which is very typical for me), so I think there was just a lot of ease built into this pattern. 

If you would like to see more on this project, I wrote more about the sewing side at this Pattern Review.

I also made two small bags in the same prints for my friends who also were at the mass.  The three of us have been spending a lot of time watching out for each other in the past month and a half, so I felt like they needed a tangible reminder that I was there for them, too.  It is really easy to whip up zip bags, btw, I basically followed the instructions at this Purl Bee tutorial (with my own pattern--I wanted one that allowed for the two fabrics to be on the outside, sort of like this bag).  I highly recommend using the Purl Bee tutorial if you are ever looking to make a quick gift for someone else and you have scrap fabric you'd like to use.

After the mass, four of us friends from high school went to Great Falls, which is a national park here in northern Virginia on the Potomac river, where Virginia meets Maryland.  Above is one of the photos I took that day.  I know W. would really have liked this, in addition to being an all-around outdoorsman, he was a very talented photographer.  I felt inspired by him that day and I was glad that I was able to photograph this moment.

Here are the four of us before we set out to hike that day. 

BTW, those boots I am wearing?  Timberland Euro Hikers from 1995.  Yeah, I own some manimal boots myself.  Just don't show them off around here much.  ;-)

You all have a great day.  Enjoy the world outside as much as you can!

Boden: Sale is Now Up to 60% Off!

Now for news that most of you know by now...Boden has reduced prices even further (called second cuts!).  There is a lot of items reduced to very nice prices indeed, including many of my favorites, like all those darn cute dresses from this season.  (Visit my Boden Weekly Review Roundups for more on those, but definitely come by tomorrow morning for reviews on the Isla dress*, Beatrice Dress, and the Eliza coat.  I have actually reviewed the Eliza coat before, but it is only recently that our weather has gotten cold enough to justify actually wearing it out in public.

*I know I said I would sew up a version of the Isla dress instead, but I was gifted a $50 gift card on the weekend of the big Black Friday sale and so I ended up getting the one I wanted, in my size, for a lot less money than it would have cost to buy the fabric to make one myself.  But maybe I will still give it a try some other year in the future, especially now that I have one I can use to help me draft a pattern from.

I did see that a few items were reduced to 70% off, which is the lowest Boden will normally go, outside of that one or two weekends a year where they go crazy and reduce everything to super low levels (bound to be in January knowing what they have done before).

Okay, so that's it for me until tomorrow when I post the in real life reviews of the three items mentioned above.

I hope all of you are well.  I am hanging on and in there.  (For more on what's going on in my life since my last post go to the bottom of this post.)

Link to sale here:
Shop Boden's Winter Sale with Up to 60% Off EVERYTHING

So regarding my friend's suicide...it got worse before I started to feel better.  I spent most of Sunday crying and while I had to keep it together at school from Monday-today, the beginning of the week was met with me tearing up while at school, which was very hard to swallow down.  I definitely stopped crying at school but it wasn't until I had a friend hug me real tight on Wednesday while I was sobbing that I felt better.  I am surprised that is what it took, but it worked.  She just met my pain with her own experience of depression and let me know she would be there for me. 

I want to thank all of you who came out of the woodwork to hold my hand virtually in my last post.  I really needed all of your support and your echoes of "YOU ARE NOT WRONG" to feel the way I have been feeling.  The more time I spend thinking about our relationship, the more I realize that even if no one else knew how close we were, the fact is WE WERE close, and ultimately I am going to react the way I react, regardless if anyone *knew* our friendship was there and viable. 

His funeral is tomorrow, and as some of you are putting together, that is the date we were supposed to hike together.  So that made me head into a separate tailspin apart from the initial "he's dead and I will never see or talk to him again" tailspin. 

I don't really have much motivation for anything, and I am sure most of that is because I am suffering from the loss of him, but I do know that subbing non-stop for second-graders the week before Christmas is not likely to make me really motivated to do much.  I hope that with sleep (very much lacking, it is hard to sleep right now) and rest I can get motivated to be the sewing, reviewing, blog person I enjoy being.  I'll know better by next week. 

So day by day and hour by hour and sometimes moment by moment, I am very much moving forward.  I guess that is what I can do now.

I do have plans to see a therapist, and I know that will help.  For those of you that have reached out to me with emails, I will email you soon, I definitely need to talk with others who have gone through this.

Okay, {{hugs}}, and thank you, again. 

Boden: Big Winter Sale Time with up to 50% Off Everything!

I have been away a long time.  There is a LOT that has been going on, which is the only reason I have left the blog for nine days.  Most of it is for great reasons, but there is at least one sad reason for my absence.  I wrote more about it at the bottom of the post since it is likely to be a few days before I am able to post again.

Okay, onto the sale.  A few of us last week received a "early access" email to go to the Boden Preview site and check out the big sale (basically the clearance sale, but they don't call it that for a while) early.  I did have a peek around, but chose not to buy anything because of the crazy busy I was experiencing.  I normally would have mentioned it here, but again...

The sale is decent.  I was surprised to see some of the items that I expected to have a greater percentage off have a smaller percentage off, and see items which I was sure would be reduced less reduced more.  For instance, the Daisy Jacquard version of the Beatrice Dress, which did sell well in the holiday season, is 50% off, while its sister color Floral Jacquard, is barely reduced at all, and it has always had full stocks.  I purchased the Floral Jacquard version when it was 40% off (and I had a voucher or gift card of some sort), and while I love it, I am very glad I paid the price I did.  The Daisy Jacquard version price is very good, and I am not surprised to see it selling out.  For those of you curious, I did purchase a size 6L and it fits exactly like I need it to, barring a bit of extra length in the bodice I don't need.  (I have plans to wear it this week, btw, and as long as you can hold out, I will be able to do quite a few clearance item reviews this next weekend.)

Anyhow, there will be second cuts eventually, so if something you love is not reduced enough, there is a chance it will be further reduced soon.  But--and this is important--if your color is a popular color and it is selling out or in low stocks now, there is less likely a chance that it will be reduced by a huge amount in the second cuts.  For instance, many colors of the Millie Skirt may hang around just 20-30% off simply because the silhouette and fabric construction have made it popular and easy to wear year round, so Boden will be less likely to want to give them the big heave ho at 70% off (which often happens in the second cuts). 

Before you take a look around, there are quite a few reviews of these items at the most recent Boden Weekly Review Roundups.  :-)

If you make the order early enough, and it comes from the PA warehouse, you will definitely receive it in time for Christmas.  But, remember, some of these come from England, and while the shipping times have gotten better from across the pond, there are still times when the shipping is slow enough that Christmas delivery is not likely, so if you need something for Christmas, call and ask if your item will ship from PA or the UK.

Do you all have any picks?  Would love to see them!  Let us know if you have any in the comments section!

Below is the link to the sale, and below that is the "my life" update.


Okay...so my life right now (if you are interested):

1. I am subbing like a mad woman, I started last week and will continue into next week (the day before break starts is my last day).  I am subbing in my son's class and while that is great and all, they are in second grade and RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.  They are wearing me out.  There are twenty-three of them and they are bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and busy.  BUSY!  LOL.  Wish me luck!

2. When I returned from Mississippi, I had to start and finish a major sewing project for the Fabric Mart blog.  I had hoped to do it while in Mississippi, but unfortunately my mother-in-law's machine wasn't up to the task of handling such a challenging project, so I waited until I got home.  But the project's delay meant all of my energy was devoted to that upon returning home.  I will eventually publish the sewing project here, but the blog post is done over at their blog, so check it out if you would like to see it!

3. On Friday night I went onto Facebook and saw that a friend's wall had been written on by one of his friends with an "RIP, brother."  This friend and I had reconnected in March (he was my first date ever and I was his, aww!) and we were very close.  I spent many nights chatting with him on facebook and texting with him over the phone.  It was SO easy to spend time with him virtually and we were making plans to go hiking with each other next weekend (the 20th). 

So of course seeing that wall message sent me into a tailspin.  I really hoped that it was a sick joke, and while highly inappropriate, at least it would be a JOKE.  But then I went to that friend's facebook page and he had written more for his friends about my friend's passing, and it sunk in that it was real.  My friend, W., was really gone.  Suddenly, without notice, with such finality.  I had to take a week off from messaging him (I last chatted with him on the 2nd) and on the 9th I wrote to him a quick apology note with a sticker message with foxes holding balloons hoping that he would see that and get back to me when he had a chance.  He never did write back.

I am gutted.  I spent all of yesterday attempting to process what happened.  I cried a lot, I barely moved, I am unsure of what I should be feeling.  I feel like I shouldn't be feeling the intensity of pain I am since I hadn't seen him for years and only reconnected with him recently, but then I vacillate wildly to the other side of thinking of course I am feeling pain...he was one of my best friends out there and he understood me in a way very few people do, and I think maybe I understood him in a way that kept him wanting to spend so much time with me, too.  (You all thinking of my hubby, he was fine with my friendship, he knows how important my friends are, male or female.)

Then in addition to devastation, I am SO angry.  Like really mad at him.  Especially because his dad recently suffered a stroke and he texted and chatted with me multiple times that he had to be strong for his mom.  Well his dad is still alive (thankfully recovering).  And his mom is the one that found him in their basement (he did kill himself).  I cannot even imagine what her pain is.  All I know is my own love for my children and what I can imagine my pain would be if I had the same thing happen and it is so awful I have to stop myself after two seconds of that thought.  I am SO mad at him for doing this to her.

But then I swirl back to he must have been in so much pain and in such a dark place himself that he couldn't process it and this was his only option.  And that makes me so sad and angry at myself that I didn't do more to help him.  I didn't know, true, since our conversations were always very fun and light-hearted, but hindsight has allowed me to reflect and he had moments where he let me know that times weren't great for him.  But because all was peppered with humor and levity, I just assumed he was fine.  I wish greatly I could have seen him and hiked with him before he took his life, and that is a selfish thing on my part.  I don't think for a moment that a man in that sad of a place would have made a different decision, but what I would do to go back, be less busy, and see him one last time.

Anyhow, I am not sure of how I am going forward.  All I know is that I am VERY SAD right now.  I miss him so much.  I obviously can't lose it fully since I have kids and a house and work and such, but I feel like I want to tell someone and since I know some of you have spent years on this blog with me, you would notice the lack of posting and you would notice my lack of happy.

If you are able, could you please say a prayer for his soul and for his family?  I think both need it immensely right now.  Thank you!

Okay, that's it for me.  Thank you for continuing to read here.  All of you blog friends me so much to me, and I really want you all to know that.