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!

OOTD/Review: Squirrels in the Hartland.

Just a very quick reminder before I get this post written, Boden has been offering an extra 10% off all sale items for the past few days, and it is set to end tomorrow night (December 27, 2014), so if you wanted to receive the additional amount off, make sure to get those purchases done before it expires.  I have a sidebar link for the 10% off, but I have also included that link at the bottom of this post.  For more information on this sale, go to this post I wrote a few days ago.

Many of you have been asking me to show off the Hartland Dress (here at Boden, the white one is EXTREMELY well-priced with the extra 10% off), but because of a few reasons, I am only able to review it now, but better late than never, I suppose.

This dress is a size 6 Long, and that is actually one of the reasons why I waited so long to show it off to you on me, I simply did not have it in this size.  I originally purchased it in a size 8 Long (that written review is here), but after losing some weight, I discovered the 8 L was ridiculously oversized in my bust and somewhat oversized in my hips, so I knew getting the 6 L would make it work better on my frame.

It was the right choice, ultimately, but it took a long time to get to me.  In fact it wasn't until I got back from our trip to MS that I received it.

Before I move on to the next photo, the pockets are fab.  They are patch pockets, but they work well, and I found I was slipping my hands in them all day, so while my preference is side pockets, these were great!

Boden did a great job with the sewing of this dress.  The squirrels line up perfectly at the seams and through the sleeves.  It would look *off* if they weren't properly laid out, so bravo. 

I find this dress favors those with curves, so if you are more straight up-and-down, you may have a bit of a challenge getting it to fit properly through the bust, waist, and hips.  Because I am straight from bust to waist, my bust area is not filled out at all, even in the smaller size (there is a bit of bagginess from my lack of boobage), but as you can see my bottom fills out the curve in the back of the skirt well.

The dress features a back zip, which is my favorite, as it makes getting in and out of the dress so much easier.

You can also see here how well Boden lined up the squirrels.

The length is awesome, hitting right at my knee.  The sleeve length is odd, I think I would have preferred full-length, but the combo of full-length sleeve and shape of the dress could have read frumpy, so I guess that was why they went 3/4 length instead.

The fabric is super soft, btw, made from a baby cord material.  It also stretches a bit, though the lining doesn't, so it is neither here nor there ultimately regarding stretch.  The lining helps when wearing tights, though, so I will happily give up stretch for ease of wearing with tights in the winter.

The squirrel print is not super obvious until you get up close.  From far away it definitely looks like a geometric print.  It is for sure a perfect teaching dress, especially if you teach younger kids.

And that is what I did that day, I was on day #3 of teaching second-graders, but it was also my first day back after finding out that my friend, W., had killed himself, so it really was a matter of finding something easy to wear, modest enough for school, and cheerful enough to take away some of the sting of losing a good friend.  It worked, sort of, but truth be told (and those of you that have read the last few posts know this), I still majorly struggled to get through the day (and it was a half-day on top of it).  W. loved the outdoors and hiking and the woods, so the squirrels were a bit of a nod to his love for all things nature.  (I wore a tree print cardigan to his funeral, too.)  So that was my day, figuring out how to simply get through the day.

Okay, that's all for now.  I really hope you all are having a lovely Friday.  I love having the kids home with me for vacation (it's a long one this year, too, two weeks total).

Have any of you tried the Hartland and would like to put in your two cents?  Would love to see your comments!

Link to the extra 10% off is below:
Extra 10% Off Sale and Clearance Items + Free Shipping!

All the ice and snow was awful...

Truly, I am a winter weather wimp. It's okay. Most of us "natives" of NOVA are...we know we can't drive in the bad weather, and we try to not drive if we can avoid it.

That said, I appreciate its beauty, especially when it is sun-dappled...which usually happens the day after a storm. We got our beautiful winter scene last night (Wednesday) at sunset. GORGEOUS. The sky was purple and red and the snow looked so harmless sitting there bathing in the late day sun.