OK, Totally failed rule one of blogging: actually blog. Consistently.

Its 4 years since my last posts and well, poo, I should show the dress I finished and got married in 4 years ago tomorrow. Still married and still happy as an idiot.

Pre Wedding

Wedding in Action

Post Wedding

Pretty dancing action shot.

And then one awkward photo where I am not looking glamorous.

I would describe myself as hourglass. I was I think 155 lbs (5' 7") at the time of the wedding. I am now around 190 and I still fit in my dress! Bias is lovely that way.

Let's Get This Party Started

So, what am I making for my wedding dress?

THIS:

Elizabeth Hawes "Diamond Horseshoe" Fall 1936/1937

; 

And THIS is the back

So pretty. So much draping and slashing and spreading. Ms. Hawes originally conceived this dress as a long-sleeved evening dress.

The original is made from heavy silk jersey and metallic piping, with 6 panels making up the skirt. The bodice has a pleat and gathering at the bust, gathering at the shoulders and a low v-neck.

The Diamond Horseshoe dress with other Hawes creations at the "high Style" exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum 2009

While I am curvier than the original, I thought, hey, perfect! Bias! Bias makes me look pretty and this dress will not be too Va-VOOM.

My version will be made form 3 ply silk crepe in cream/ivory that I got from my beloved Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics with metallic gold bias as the piping.

I began with using Vogue 1032 as the base pattern for the skirt.  Draping the bodice from scratch is much better than altering the bodice.

So, here is one my first draping drafts for the bodice. In these I have the bodice in the bodice cut on the straight of the grain. Its not quite right, too much volume in the bust:

Also the bodice is in two parts here, I think it needs to be one piece with just gathering stitches at the shoulder seam. Also, I think pitting the top on the bias will be a vast improvement.

More photos to come of the skirt and the slash and spread extravaganza!

Feeling Better About Me (all of mes)

I'm getting married soon. I am also a curvy girl who likes to emotionally eat a little too much. So, I'm a curvy girl. I refer to my belly as my "pudge pudge" and my love handles as my "churros". My mom loves to tell the story of when I came running into her bedroom when I was about 14 and exclaimed "Look, mom! I have CURVES!" She also likes to tell the story about how I announced I would be a "real woman" when I could enjoy spicy foods (accordingly, I have been a real woman for about 10 years), but that's another post.

After college, I have watched my weight slowly creep up, and my activity level, and metabolism, steadily creep down. I have never liked two things: a scale and a diet. Judging my body and self worth based on numbers is like standard testing in schools for evaluating a teacher's ability: they are not accurate. Being a great lover of food, limiting my intake or type of foods I love is a punishment rather than life change. I don't hate myself, so why would I punish myself?

I eat pretty well. Its not all fried foods, bacon and Twinkies. Vegetables get there most of the time. Pasta sauce is a vegetable, right? Fruit? Juice is a fruit, right? I get tired, stressed, upset, sad, angry, forgetful, distracted and I get CRAZY hungry so I will eat whatever is in sight. Sometimes I get CRAZY moody and I eat everything in sight. And so, I don't feel to positive about my body. And I want to feel good about being me, especially for my wedding and beyond.

While doing some self help reading (my guilty pleasure) several years back, I did an exercise looking at my emotional eating. I made two lists: one where I listed all the food that, when I eat it, makes me feel happy and without any guilt or regret; Olives, cherries, avocados, zucchini, herb salad, salmon and mushrooms were on the list. 

Then I made a list of all the things I eat to try and make myself feel better but ended up making me feel worse (emotionally) after; Fried chicken, cheese and bread, wine, burgers, fries (I think fries was on there twice), Thai food, pasta. 

I then looked in my cupboards and fridge. I had NONE of the foods that made me happy anywhere in my apartment. Lightbulb! I made a point of buying the foods that made me happy. But, then I got into a great relationship with my now fiance, and I was less lonely, but still periodically overly emotional (pun intended) and I stopped consistently eating my "happy" foods.

More recently, my boss was talking about a nutritional program called Whole30 that she was doing and she LOVED it. I also heard terms like "paleo" and "diet". No thanks. But, I checked it out anyway, for giggles.

As I read Dallas and Melissa's website, I found their Whole30/Whole9 message really resonated with me. All the foods I had on my "happy" list were on THEIR list! I was brilliant way back then, but I did not have the knowledge or "sciene-y" information to back it up.

I decided then and there, starting with the next meal I have, to follow the Whole30 plan. Thirty days of no sugar (natural or additional or synthetic), grains (bread pasta, rice), dairy (clarified butter or ghee are acceptable), I had not even read their book, It Starts With Food yet. So, I was a bit unprepared, meal planning wise. 

But I made it. After a cocky first two weeks I struggled intensely on day 15 with bread and sugar cravings. Even up to day 30 I was craving things like Chex mix and ramen noodles.

Now, 32 days after starting I am trying it again. This time with adding the goals of increasing my activity levels (and exercise), committing to getting 8 hours of sleep a night (no more sleep deprivation due to wedding prep), conquering my cravings monster (or at least having the levelheadedness to tell it "Sit! Down! Stay! Good cravings". This time with Whole30's daily newsletter with tips and cheerleading. One bit that I really related to in the first newsletter (for day 0) was this:

"Setting a specific goal gives you clarity on whether you are living up against what you committed yourself to do when you first set your goal.This accountability is accountability to yourself, not anyone else. When you stay accountable toward your goals, you are in fact staying true to your desires."

 I have always had a problem of self sabotage. I'll say "I'm going to do this!" Then, when I do what ever it is (usually going to the gym, cutting out french fires, etc.), I whine "I don't wanna do this". "But you said you would do this, so do it." "No, I don't wanna" (if you can guess by now, my saboteur voice is a whiny teenager. Why? Because I can never reason with her, no one understands her and she is always right). I remind myself about all the good reasons why I want to do this, I should do this... to no avail. The teenager flatly refuses and so the reasonable me says "well, you're an adult and can make your own decisions, so, okay".

Yep.

After which I am filled with self anger and self loathing. How can I let that nasty inner voice win? Every time.

Not this time. I am going to stay true to MY desires. So, shut your face, nasty voice. Momma's in charge.

Ahhhhh, Costumes!

So, good times. Late night sewing, early morning sewing, last minute sewing. Good stuff. I'm a nut, I know. But sometimes with a deadline looming is the best time to sew. Sometimes you miss some details you need correct or you realize you just won't get around to hemming anything, but here is something very satisfying about it all coming together and the stress of the past several hours melt away as you arrive at your event and watch the eyes of those around you light up with envy and awe.

Hey! I never said I was modest.
Pictures!!!!!!!

Hair preparation

Ready to go! Check out the kiss curl.

Me and my cute beau. I made his vest and I found a tie with the Phillips dog listening to a Vitaphone at a thrift store. SCORE!

Me looking smart by the Dunsmuir House, Oakland.

Classy!

Next time: Trip to Chinatown to buy a dragon.

Gatsby Picnic Dress 2012

*Sigh* Why is it that I work best under a looming deadline? 
So, Gatsby Picnic. This Sunday. I'm there and I'm bringing my terribly attractive boyfriend to it for the first time. This was my dress least year:

Cute day dress, right?

Here is my concept drawing for this year's dress

Bias cotton dress with wrapped shawl styles ruffle on the bodice, pipped insert seams with kick pleats at the front and back in contrasting fabric and a self belt. 

I coveted this reproduction fabric at Stonemountain and Daughter Fabrics until it went on sale and then bought 5 yards.

BOCCI BALLS!!!!!!
Tres adorable! Red is one of my favorite colors, so that's my contrast fabric. I ironed my kickpleats...

basted the pipping to the skirt inserts...

faced my shawl ruffle with contrast so that it peaks out when I move...

and piped the ruffle so that you can see the lines of the dress better through all that pattern.

And that's what I have so far. Hang in there, more pictures and the completed dress will be coming sooooooooooooooon.

FashionArt Santa Cruz

So, LOTS to talk about. First and foremost: One of my gowns was accepted into the line up of fashion artists for FashionArt Santa Cruz! Here is their postcard:

See?! That's me, Mary Jane Nee, listed under the guy who plays the accordion in crazy costumes in Downtown Santa Cruz. OK, maybe the image is too small, but I'm listed. So, there!

What will I be showing? Something gooooood:

I created this dress for the opening of my favorite artist Yinka Shonibare, MBE at the Brooklyn Museum. I got to meet him and he loved the dress and asked if I was single. *sigh*

There will be a few minor changes to the dress, but luckily I have a model who is very close to my measurements, so very few alterations need to made.

FashionArt Santa Cruz encourages us to be theatrical with our models, so that's what I'm going to do. More to come on what I have in store. This is my inspiration piece, of course by Yinka Shonibare:

What else? Gatsby Picnic is this weekend!!!! Is my dress ready? NO! Will it be ready in time? I sure hope so! Photos of my design concept and the process to come. Stay tuned, kiddos.