Giveaway Winner! (Now if only the post office would open)

The sun came out this morning, for the first time since Hurricane Sandy sent us indoors many days ago.

So, as promised, I had my Lucy help draw for the dress I'd promised to giveaway in the midst of the storm:

From a HAT — Old school!

Congrats Justsewsew! I'll dig up your contact info through your Wordpress blog. The post office may not open for a few more days though. So be patient. Things are slowly getting back to normal here in NYC.

As you can see, it's quite beautiful out now:

Which is good news for Lucy, who will get to wear her Twilight Sparkle costume out trick-or-treating tonight after all:

I actually threw together a costume for myself the other day. And the great thing about being so last-minute is I got to be totally topical:

Get it? I'm a tourist who didn't get the memo about the hurricane. I made the camera from cardboard, hot glue and electrical tape, and the strap from a wire coat hanger and nylon strapping. The shirt was stencilled using freezer paper. And the Playbill was from the show I just saw on Broadway. It's hard to see my hair, but I used a half-can of hairspray to get it up pretty high.

So happy Halloween, everybody!

Hurricane Giveaway! Last day to enter

I hope you're all well following the destructive hurricane that blew in last night. We are lucky to live on high ground in the Bronx, so we didn't suffer any flooding or power outages. But we were up late because the wind was so loud no one could sleep (my four-year-old included). Trees are down on our street, and we're likely spending the day at home again today since school is cancelled, and subway and bus service has yet to be restored.

My only tragedy during Hurricane Sandy was the fact I never actually got any time to sew. My husband had to work from home, so I was on entertaining-a-stir-crazy-kid duty all day and night. Too bad, since I'm working on something I'm very excited about.

It's still raining and a little windy here, so the storm has not yet fully passed — which means you still have time to enter my Hurricane Giveaway! I promised I would accept entries until the sun shone again, so leave a comment on this entry to win this dress I made (which has never been worn, except during this photo shoot):

Enjoy your day off, New Yorkers! I hope your cars didn't get crushed or float away last night.

Finished Project! Vogue 1212 Princess Seam Coat

I'm pretty happy I persevered with this plaid wool-blend version of Vogue 1212, a "Today's Fit" Sandra Betzina pattern

Even though there's some strange lumpiness where the lining meets the facing — right over my bust, unfortunately:

That's OK. I can just wear it open:

Or keep my back to the audience (the seam lines on the back are pretty darn cute, after all): 

The fabric was pretty unforgiving, and I'm giving the rest away to a lucky reader who I hope has an easier time working with it (you know who you are):

I love those seam lines. What I don't love is a coat that needs to be ironed twice daily in order to look sharp enough to wear out of the house. Let's just call this a wearable muslin. Oh, you wanted to see the collar up, did you?

I think it looks spacey with the collar raised. Not my favorite. (That's my diplomatic way of saying, "I hate it."

I still love this design even though this version of Vogue 1212 is not my new favorite made-by-me item. I'll likely wear it occasionally (I did actually sport it to a Broadway show last week; I took Peter from Male Pattern Boldness as my date to Grace. I had the opportunity to review it for this website I write for. 

So I'll just have to wait until I have more money in my budget for a nice wool that's a little more forgiving before I make this again (maybe next time in a nice black with a crazy lining — and with a hood instead of the collar? That's my (far-off) plan.

In Hurricane Sandy news, it's just starting to get blustery here in the Bronx, and we're all ready for a day at home — no school for my kid, and my husband's office has everyone working from home for the day. There may be some chocolate chip cookies in my future today. Or an apple pie.

Also, if you haven't entered my Hurricane Giveaway, please do. If not for you, for a friend. Give it as a holiday gift! (Say that YOU made it. I won't be around to tell them otherwise).

Giveaway! My Hurricane Pain, Your Gain!

We're preparing for Hurricane Sandy to hit NYC sometime in the next 24 hours, and like all of us in the city, I'm having a few flashbacks to Hurricane Irene (except I haven't heard anyone advise putting big tape X's on your windows, like they did in August 2011. If they did, all the lazy people in the Bronx would be super stoked that they never bothered to take theirs down in the 13 months since the last hurricane to hit NYC).

We have water, enough food, and some new craft projects on hand to prevent boredom in our kid. All that's left to get today is a box of wine (this thing might last three days, after all!).

Anyway, now seems like a good time to hold a giveaway. I contemplated giving this dress away after I made it for Kollabora.com last spring. The fabric is a gorgeous olive silk crepe de chine from Mood. It was $17/yard, and was just a dream to work with. In fact, that's the reason I'm giving this away.

I have just enough of that lovely fabric to make a new minidress, which I will be working on during the hurricane this week. This dress here, sewn from Simplicity 1872 is a little on the modest side for me (when it comes to evening wear anyway). I never really thought I'd wear it, but was torn because I love the fabric so. However, now that I am making something else out of crepe de chine,  I finally feel ready to give this dress away:

I'm 5-foot-3 and think this dress would look great on someone my height or several inches taller. My waist is 30 inches, but there's a ton of ease in this, so even someone a few sizes up could easily wear this (Or if you're smaller, cinch it). I'm a very average B/sometimes C cup, and there's a lot of room through the bust, plus it's a wrap front, so you could always go with a camisole underneath if your chest is so big (bless your heart) that it actually fills out this generously cut top:

A gust of wind made it flare out like that!

In short, this dress is very forgiving. It's not at all fitted, so it could fit quite a range in sizes. Or you could go as Sexy Big Bird for Halloween in this. I won't be offended:

The color would make it great for a holiday party, or other special event.

To enter, just comment and tell me what would be in your hurricane preparedness kit. I'll accept entries up until the storm breaks, cutting it off and drawing a name at random when the sun finally shines again.

For a second entry, follow my blog (there's a little button thingie on the right of the page). Or if you're already a follower, just comment to tell me you are, and you get two entries too. I don't play favorites (except when it comes to boxes of wine).

Stay safe everyone, and happy hurricane sewing!

Work in Progress: Vogue 1212

You're a prudent bunch, dear readers. When I posted about hating the state of my current project — Vogue 1212, a coat pattern, nearly all of you advised me to set it aside and sew something else.

I guess I rebelled. Not because I decided this would be a knockout coat. Only because I went to the Garment District and decided I just couldn't splurge on jacket fabric right now. Everything I liked was so expensive. Plus I had my kid with me. It's too hard fabric shopping with a four-year-old.

So I bought grey zippers and a couple shoulder pads, and soldiered on (thinking if it turned out terribly, I would rip out the zips and use them elsewhere. No loss). If anything, I would learn a little something about coat construction.

I do love how the zippered pockets turned out:

And the bias binding looks cooler  now that it's all coming together. (The coat is still unlined, and the collar unfinished).

There's something vaguely Star Trekky about the back, I do believe:

But did you notice how my zipper needs to be reinstalled? I have never once sewn in a zipper without having to rip it out and try again (and sometimes, more than twice). I post this so you feel better about your sewing tribulations:

So there you have it. Necessity forced me to carry on with this coat. And I think I'll be happy that I did. I don't reckon I will ever sew with this type of fabric again. The weave was so lose. Everything gets off grain so easily. What a pain in the neck.

Unfortunately I already dropped the ball on keeping track of my time. I've worked on it a little bit each day this week, so let's estimate....40 hours. No, only kidding. I'd say I've invested about six hours and 20 minutes (the 20 minutes were spent staring at this squint-eyed, trying to figure out whether it was indeed going to look good when done).

I still have much to do: fix the zip so the front lines up properly. Sew the collar, sew the lining and sew it to the coat. Stare at it some more. Try it on with everything in my closet and ascertain whether I do like it....

I have a couple yards left of this fabric. If you think you can handle it, I will happily hand it over! Let me  know in the comments below. The first sucker (or more experienced sewer) who wants it can have it!