It's ALL about the shoes

Though I couldn't wear them in public without the dress.

Which, of course, since it's horrendously sunny in Philadelphia again, looks all washed out and I was trying to stay out of the bright light. But you get the point, and more importantly, you can see the shoes.

Right?

Right?

Aren't they fabulous? And best of all, they're comfortable and I can walk in them - even outside, except I hate getting their flowered soles all scuffed up on the sidewalk. These may be carpet shoes only.

Off the shoe topic, how did they sneak a new season of Project Runway up on me? Usually I'm planning my whole evening around the premiere, laying in the snacks, getting the wine ready, and all of a sudden at 3:00 p.m. Thursday, someone mentions the first show is at 9:00! Six hours warning for PR, and part of it spent stuck at work?

On the plus side, it looks like it might be a promising season. I liked the beginning twist, it just shows how evil they are - they got all the designers together, told them their first challenge would involve an item from their own suitcase, and after they sifted through and came out with some cherished piece, they were told to hand it over to the designer on their left, for them to cut up.

Ouch. I know how I'd feel.

Nothing too fabulous came out of the challenge, but still, it's Project Runway, and it's back, and now I can finally pry my darling news junkie off the couch and get the remote off its rotation of MSNBC-CNN-CNBC-Comedy Central so I can watch fashion porn for 90 whole minutes every week!

Time to pay the piper

For all the piping on this dress.

Did I ever mention I love piping? I don't even mind installing it anymore, though I used to hate it. My regular zipper foot isn't a big help, but the adjustable zipper foot Kenneth King recommended when I took his Piped Pocket and Buttonholes class on Patternreview does the trick.

This is yet another version of BWOF 2/09 #113, the dress I wrote about recently. This is my fourth version of this dress, and while I could keep going, I think I'll give it a rest for a while and think about other things.

Besides, I'm out of piping. I bought 5 yards of this at Pacific Trims some time last year, with every intention of knocking off a perfectly adorable Tracy Reese dress. That may still happen, but I'll have to restock first.

This may be my favorite version of this dress so far. I went upstairs to Mario's office to get him to zip me all the way up, and he who never really has a comment on what I make said that he really liked this one too. "The lines are good on you." I don't know if he means the lines of the dress, or the lines of the piping, or what - and I decided not to ask. Sometimes getting into in-depth conversations with a non-sewing man who just wants to give a you a compliment defeats the whole purpose.

I'm pretty pleased with this dress. I used up my entire 5 yards of piping, which is kind of annoying because I would have liked to pipe the skirt's side seams and around the armholes, but then again, the armhole piping would have probably just ended up with deodorant on it anyway, which would have been really annoying. I should just shut up and be glad that it all came out evenly, including across the back at the zipper where I had issues last time I did a piped version of this dress.

The fabric has been in stash for a week, which may not be a speed record for me, but it's definitely approaching one. It was $2.99 per yard at Karlin's, the local store who recently kicked up their stock and lured me back in after several years of lackluster thread-and-zipper buying. The owner says it feels very Lily Pulitzer to him. Not so sure about that, but it's bright and summery and - at $2.99 per yard - the whole dress cost me about $5, including zipper.

This is absolutely getting worn to work tomorrow, first of all because it deserves a test drive and secondly because it's the perfect dress to wear with my new shoes I got on Saturday.

If you love something

And it doesn't fit . . .

Set it free.

I made this dress from BWOF 3/08 #115. It's Liberty. It's fully underlined in cotton batiste. It had 12 freaking darts in it.

I love it. It's fitted, unforgiving, and has no stretch.

I wore it once, to my friend's wedding last spring. Even with uber-Spanx, it was uncomfortable.

Deepika brought me a lovely piece of raw silk from India. I sent her home with that dress. I'll make something that fits me; she got a dress that fits her.

It's a lot like letting my friend wear - and keep - my great aunt's wedding gown. If it's not doing anything in my closet but pissing me off, I need to let it go to someone who will wear it, and in this case, someone who appreciates the work who went into making it.

Maybe now that this version is gone from my closet, I'll get around to making one that fits me.

Or maybe not. So many patterns; so little time.

Better late than never

PR Weekend took place back on May 14 - 16, but we were missing one Very Important Person.

Problem solved, as you can see.

Deepika arrived in Philadelphia Friday evening for a belated visit, in the middle of the worst heat wave we've had yet this summer, and we've had a few. We stayed up with wine and chocolate for a while, but we wanted to get an early start on Saturday.

The next day, we went for breakfast, me, Deepika and a very patient man, and then hit a couple of porch sales in the neighborhood, the farmer's market and the monthly flea market. After that, we headed downtown and passed a few crucial tourist sites, like the site of PR Weekend and the restaurant where we had our group dinner.

There were plans to meet up with the rest of the PR Weekend planning committee at 1:00 p.m. - Andrea, Elaine, Annette, Mimi and Lee - but we had some time to kill first so we wandered around Old City, browsed the Headhouse craft fair, and had an encounter with a very welcome fountain.

I don't want to think about the incriminating photos she has of me!

We had a great lunch at Alyan's on 4th Street - falafel and hummus and french fries with onions and peppers (and thought of you, Trena!) and then hit Fabric Row.

I didn't think much could put me off fabric shopping, but near 100 degree heat is almost enough to do it. Thankfully all the stores had AC, so we didn't melt. It was close, though.

A good time was definitely had by all, though I've certainly done more fabric damage on 4th Street than I did yesterday. All I ended up buying was a zipper at PA Fabric Outlet and 2 yards of gray pinstripe at Verte Couture so I can try to replicate the pinstriped skirt I posted about recently.

Deepika found her fabric (that's a disciplined woman - she buys one fabric per trip!) and Andrea did a little damage in the name of sheath dresses yet to be. Mimi got some fabric for a bathing suit coverup, and Annette disappeared off down the block and came back smiling, with a bag. Lee got some lovely fabric that I'm looking forward to seeing made up. Elaine couldn't stay long, so she escaped empty-handed (I think).

In search of cool air, we stopped into a few different stores, and I ended up buying a totally kickass pair of shoes at Bus Stop which will absolutely require a new dress to do them justice.

Before we headed toward home, Deepika, Andrea and I walked up South Street toward the Magic Gardens, which is a fabulous tile and mirror mosaic-covered building and garden space created by Philadelphian Isaiah Zagar. It's much more magical in person; some things just don't translate in photos.

By that point, all the cool had drained from our systems and we were melting again. Home we went, to stand in front of the AC and get changed for dinner.

Mario and I took Deepika to our all-time favorite restaurant, La Locanda del Ghiottone (roughly translated: Place of the Gluttons), a BYOB at 3rd and Cherry Streets. I've been going there for about 15 years, but you don't need to be a regular to feel like family. After feeding us wonderful Italian food, the waiter dropped off a plate with a tiramisu and a cannoli on it. We dug in, and the other waiter, Joe, came past. "That's not enough," he said, and put down another plate, with another slab of tiramisu and a fruit crepe.

I'm proud to say, we cleaned our plates.

In an attempt to walk off dinner, we headed for Penn's Landing, where we encountered a concert and sat out under the full moon and listened to music for a while. When the music ended, we headed home again, and sat up and talked late into the night.

Unfortunately, the weekend ended too soon and Deepika flew home this afternoon, but I think we were able to give her a taste of what PR Weekend Philadelphia was like, and have a great time in the process.

Come back soon, Deepika!

**Edited to add a few photos supplied by Deepika.

I didn't need any fabric

but I bought some anyway.

Which really wasn't necessary because my Very Special Houseguest will be here soon and there will be some retail therapy occurring this very weekend.

But I couldn't wait. I walked down to Karlin's on 8th Street at lunchtime with Andrea, and we both indulged a bit.

I indulged a bit more, but I'm beginning to think about fall sewing, and Karlin's new supplier (the same one who sells the fabric crack to Jomar) is obviously also thinking about fall.

Of the 4 fabrics above, 2 are summer and 2 are fall: from the left, a dark olive pinstripe bottomweight with a little stretch (it's a really good green, it just photographs like crap); orange, brown and white plaid stretch woven - a 2.5 yard remnant for $5; 4 yards of olive green herringbone silk/wool/rayon blend with tweedy flecks; and a large print floral stretch woven that is destined to be another version of the BWOF 2/08 #113 sundress.

Apparently that shade of green is going to be big this fall for me. Like it isn't every year.

An experiment with gravity

A few months ago, I attempted my first strapless dress, as a theatrical costume for a friend. It wasn't my favorite project, for reasons of its own, but I enjoyed the challenge of constructing it since I'd never used boning before or attempted to make something that stood up on its own.

But once it was done and handed over, other than seeing it in the show and being glad it stayed up, I really didn't think about it any more.

Until all the cute strapless dress patterns started showing up for spring and summer, and until all the even cuter strapless dresses started showing up on blogs. Thanks, ladies.

All of a sudden, it seemed like it would be an interesting challenge to take on - seeing if I could construct something strapless for myself, something that would not only contain the girls, allow me to do fun things like move and breathe freely, and keep me from committing any public acts of indecency.

I started looking at back issues of Burda, because where else do you start when you need a specific pattern?

I really liked the strapless dress they did this year, but it had too much detail. I wanted something really simple, because I'd intended this as basically an experiment; I didn't want to do a lot of sewing to make an involved exterior when it was really the interior that I cared about.

2010, 2009, 2008. I kept looking. There were contenders, but nothing that really grabbed me, until a random 2002 issue that I'd gotten on Ebay thrown in with a few more current issues. May 2002 had this nice basic two piece pattern. Can't get much more basic than that.

Of course they had drafted it for a stretch woven, and I didn't intend to use a stretch, but just a minor detail. I traced it out in the 40, giving myself some extra on the sides in case I needed it.

This pattern has front and back darts, a center back invisible zipper and a slit in the back. Quick and easy for the initial construction. I tried it on, and it seemed pretty good. Then I got to the boning. Burda's instructions were pretty vague there, something like "sew to seam allowances." Okay. I was using the Joann's plastic boning in the casing, so I slipped it out of the casing, pressed open my seam allowances and stitched the casing down on either side, then reinserted the boning. It worked. Not sure if that's the correct way to do it, but it held still, and more importantly, it shows every sign that it might hold me up.

Sorry about the bra and the sunburn. It's too warm tonight to think about getting completely changed for construction photos; when the dress is finished, I promise I'll go strapless.

The fabric for this dress, which is technically a wearable muslin (I know some of you hate that term, but I have to say I'm a fan, at least when it turns out. If I think there's a chance it won't, I just don't use fabric I'd miss if I had to chuck it) came from the swap pile at the Philly PR Weekend, so it didn't cost me anything. There wasn't much more than a yard there, and it had an interesting flaw which I think I've managed to work with. It wasn't off-grain, but the machine-embroidered border was! The border was about 2" from the edge at one end, and about 3" a little more than a yard away. Obviously I wanted the border to be at the hem, so I straightened it and used it from there, which means the entire dress is just slightly off-grain. Thankfully it's a solid, so it won't show as much.

The only place it seemed like it might be visible was directly across the front. I think I may be getting over my fear of embellishment, because when I looked at this plain fronted dress with the embroidered border, I went diving into the trash to see if there were any scraps left to perk it up a little. The only bits left are literally what's on the dress right now. I still have to sew on the two smaller bits, and then I think I want to do a bit of discreet beading on the appliques. I have some dark copper beads left over from a project and I think just a few of them scattered on there would look nice.

So there you have it. A work in progress, but it looks to be successful, at least in that it won't spring me on an unsuspecting public.

Updates all around

First (and foremost), thanks to everyone who had fingers and paws crossed for Lily. I picked her up after work today with a clean bill of health, though my vet did at least agree with me that the symptoms were worrisome, even though on the geriatric tests they ran , she came up fine. Geriatric? I think she'd be offended.

The best we can come up with is that maybe she ate something she shouldn't have - seam binding, anyone? ribbon? - and it caused enough irritation to make her lose her voice and have some of the other physical issues. Her voice is a little better; she's up to an irritated scratchy whisper at this point, but the tone is as demanding as ever.

On top of that, I heard from the roofer today, who gave me the choice of $500 or about 5 times that, depending on whether I took the low road or went for for major reconstruction. He recommended the easy way out, because it's about 90% likely to work, and if I have to go back within the next year and take the expensive route, he'll knock the original $500 off the bill. That will hopefully get done before Friday, because I have a very exciting houseguest coming at the end of the week and I don't want contractors underfoot!

There has been sewing going on, and if I can get it together to write the post tonight, I'll have it up by tomorrow morning. It's an experiment, but a mostly successful one.

Thanks again to everyone who wished Lily well. She'd thank you, if she could be bothered to get out of the bag of fabric where she's napping.