Huzzah!

I have finished my mystery project, and am ready to reveal it!



This crazy skirt was made from a 1950s McCall's pattern I had laying around in my stash:





This is one of those patterns I have had in my stash for a while, and probably bought because it was whimsical and made me laugh, but never actually believed I'd make. . . Until my husband volunteered to do a 501st event at the Higgins Armory museum in Worcester, MA. This is a museum that is nothing but suits of armour, swords, and things like that. You know you've found the right place when you roll up to a building that looks like a fortress and has a giant knight looming over the top of the building!



Glenn stayed very busy taking tons of pictures with padawan-sized Star Wars fans as part of the Higgins Armory's "Star Wars day" event, but I managed to steal him long enough to get a picture of the both of us. . .



And for him to take silly pictures of me looking frightened of the knights. . .



And for me to take silly pictures of him "blending in" with the exhibits, HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!



All in all it was an awesome day, and I had a blast wearing my new skirt around. There was a hint of sadness though because this museum is actually going to be closing for good at the end of this year. :( The collection will all be moved to another museum in Worcester, but in my opinion, it won't even be one tenth as cool as it is now, in this building that was built specifically to hold the collection, and made to look like a castle inside! Also, the museum has all kinds of cool things like this Star Wars day event, and other completely amazing events like a sleepover event for kids! It's just so sad to see it go. If you live in the area and have an interest, you should totally check it out before it's gone! (And, if you want to read more about the museum closing and why, you can check out this Boston Globe article which talks about it).

I took a lot of pictures as I went along working on this dress, and a few of them are on my Instagram page. . . Additionally, here are a couple that I like. . .

A close-up of one of the knights:



And, the skirt laid flat, before I sewed up the back seam and attached the waistband:



After our Higgins Armory adventure, we hopped in the car and headed right over to the Brimfield antiques show (and stayed over night and hit the show a second day, mwah ah ah!) I had fun there too and got some great patterns! A few of them I'll be keeping for my personal collection, but I did come across quite a good size lot of patterns in large sizes (38"-46" bust) from the 1950s-early 1970s. I just added them on Etsy, and further more, I am so incredibly excited about how my skirt turned out, and wanting to spread some joy, so for the rest of the week, you can use the coupon code "higgins" to get 10% off anything and everything in my shop! Enjoy! :)

More fabric for the hoard!

I've been offered/given free fabric before, and generally, it tends to be quilting cottons, home dec fabrics, and other random stuff like that. It's never dress making fabrics. But the other day, I was gifted with a little fabric jackpot!



I don't know if it looks as amazing in this picture as it does in real life, but rest assured, these are all fabrics for making clothing, not just draperies and quilts! And, at least some, if not all, are vintage, probably 1960s-ish. All the fabrics to the left of the houndstooth are semi-sheer and would make lovely summery things (or historic costume items, in the case of the white-on-white patterned fabrics; although, sadly, there is not enough of any one fabric to make an entire dress, which would have been awesome!) Then of course, that houndstooth, which is really classic and pretty and I can totally make something cute out of it. The teal is corduroy and I was thinking maybe of a Colette Beignet skirt from that. . . And the last three are probably poly and I'm not sure what I'll do with those. The lilac colored fabric might be the right shade I've been looking for to trim a doll outfit I have in mind, however. . .

Anyhow. Yay for free fabric that I will totally use the heck out of!

In other news, I didn't make that dress for that wedding after all. I ended up finding a perfect dress that I loved at a consignment shop and was gifted it by my Granny as a very early birthday present. It's a lovely moss green that has a "shot" look to it, and I paired it with a black velvet bolero and evening bag, and silver/rhinestone accents, and topped it off with a mini hat with black dotted veiling and a rhinestone detail. Sadly, I didn't get any good pictures in natural light! This will have to suffice:



But I still love my previous idea, and have two more weddings to attend this year, so I'll be making the dress for one of those weddings intead!

And finally, stay tuned, because my mystery project is almost ready to be revealed! I'm putting the finishing touches on it today, and wearing it tomorrow. I am so excited about how this project has turned out, and can't wait to post about it!