The Shirt

For the last five-ish years or so my husband has only worn western, rockabilly style dress shirts. On casual days he wears black tees and rolled up jeans. He's a simple guy. Unfortunately these shirts are pretty hard to find and they're usually pretty expensive. Sometimes $80 and up for the nice embroidered ones. This may not seem like a lot but we're pretty cheap around here, haha! So, for about five years I've been saying that I needed to learn how to make these. Up until now I haven't felt like my sewing skills were up to snuff but I thought that this would make an excellent 30th birthday present and boy was I right. He was giddy about this shirt and promptly "ordered" a dozen more just like it, haha! It made the work so very worth it. He wore it to work this morning and I was able to snap these few pics before he ran out the door. It's a bit wrinkly from being in the gift box but he was happy and didn't care.

I was terrified that it wouldn't fit or be super wonky when he put it on but, hallelujah, it fits perfectly! And to be honest, it fits nicer than his store bought ones. I know I'm biased but gosh, he looks so handsome in it! Of course it has "issues" being handmade. The slash pockets aren't exactly the same and don't line up exactly and the hem wants to roll but he was totally cool with all of its flaws and said those things made it better. (He's so sweet) I don't even want to think about the hours that went into this but it was a HUGE learning experience and I'm totally confident that the next one will go together in about a quarter of the time. Most of the time suckage was just that I had no idea how these shirts were constructed and since there are no modern patterns that are exactly like this I had to make some of it up as I went. I used McCalls 4530 as the main pattern and did a lot of research and comparing to his other shirts to make a bunch of little changes. The biggest of the changes was adding the slash pockets. There are ZERO instructions for how to make these so I used a tutorial for making a welted pocket and just kind of muddled my way through. I'm over the moon happy with how they turned out and now have a pretty good method for making them. The hand sewn arrow tacks ended up larger than I wanted just to cover up some mistakes but I like the way they look. I have to say though that my favorite part (other than putting the last few stitches in) was the embroidery. It was super fun and I've got big plans for future shirts! He's the upright bass player in a rockabilly band so I'm thinking he needs some "show" shirts, this is going to be fun!

Oh, and I made this shirt for under $20 pattern and all! Woot! I'll try to get some more detailed pictures in the next few days to share. Happy 30th to my very best friend and the most amazing husband a girl could ask for!

New Quilts and Catching Up

Wow, I didn't mean to completely disappear for an entire week! I was so busy getting ready for the market last weekend and this week has been a game of "catch up". My husbands birthday is tomorrow and I'm frantically trying to finish sewing his present. After tomorrow I should be back to the regularly scheduled chaos but in the meantime I've added a few new quilts to le shop. Hope everyone is having a great week!!

What I'm Wearing

This is my first day back to the "normal" routine after a marvelous five day weekend. Every minute I got to spend with my family was wonderful and such a great way to celebrate my birthday! Although, I dreaded getting out of bed this morning knowing that the fun was over and it was time to get back to work. It's better that it's a cloudy day so I don't feel like I'm missing out on too much, haha!

But on to the pictures... I picked this dress up last week at one of my favorite local shops. The Shop Next Door. They sell handmade local goods and super excellent vintage clothing. I consign with them and seem to always leave with something when I go to visit or drop off new things. The owner Heather is such a doll and does an amazing job finding new artists for the shop.

I was so tickled when I spotted this dress on the rack. Two of my favorite colors and it fit me perfectly, score! It was a little more than I normally like to spend on vintage stuff but well worth it for something I really love. And still so much less than buying something new. The flower pin I picked up at an estate sale awhile back and love the way it compliments the dress.

The one thing I'm finding with trying to dress up more often is that I don't have enough shoes! Seriously, for a girl my shoe collection is very lacking. My husband has more shoes than I do, it's quite sad! I struggle with shoe buying. I never find anything at the thrift stores and buying new kind of goes against my program. I may have to make an exception in this case to just get what I really want. Which leads to my next quandary... In the past I've always just bought cheap shoes. Like PayLess cheap shoes. I wear them a few times and they fall to bits and get tossed. So, is it worth it to buy a few pairs of nice expensive shoes or continue buying cheap shoes and be able to have a lot more of them knowing they'll just get tossed? And when I say expensive I mean it. I've been drooling over Fluevog shoes for years, here's a few new ones that have caught my eye...

How amazing would those gray ones look with the dress I'm wearing!? These are the type of shoes you take it to have repaired and keep for a lifetime. Are they worth it? Anyone have any experience with them? Of course the cost ($200 a pair, ack!) would mean that I'd have to save my pennies for a pair at a time... The great shoe debate begins. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Happy June!

June is my most favorite month of the year so it's fitting that this months desktop calendar is one of my favorites so far. It's a celebration of all that's wonderful about the official beginning of summer. Sunshine, flowers and color, oh, the colors! As always, just click on the size you need below to download.

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I'm deep in production mode over here getting ready for a market next weekend but I wanted to make sure I shared this with you before the start of the new month so you can enjoy it! June is super special in this house. Three out of the four humans in this family are June babies so it's a month full of celebrations. I'll be celebrating all month long here on this space and in the shop as well. So stop back soon for some special deals in the shop!

Giveaway!

If you haven't already pop over to Bloesem Kids. You can enter to win a huge gift of four things from my shop! Thanks so much Irene for hosting this wonderful giveaway. And keep it bookmarked, she's hosting a giveaway every Wednesday!

What I'm Wearing

I think I mentioned a few posts ago that I've been trying to get dressed everyday. Haha, How's that for the start of a post!? But seriously... working at home it's so easy to get caught up in just staying in "comfy" clothes all day. I started to get really down and very unproductive. Getting dressed in real clothes does wonders for my mood and really boosts my productivity. As you can see from the pictures I don't always go so far as to actually put on makeup but hey, it's a start. And shoes? Forget about it, unless I actually go somewhere!

I adore this dress. It's so floaty and comfy and it fits me absolutely perfectly. No need for undergarments that squish in the flab with this one! I scored this teal beauty at the thrift store,practically new, for $1! Yes, you read that right ONE DOLLAR! Woot! I've discovered that one of my favorite thrift stores has a special deal every Friday at 6PM where you can get 5 pieces of clothing for $5. How cool is that!? I'm thinking this Friday I'll bring my husband along and we'll make a date out of it. The butterfly pin is one of my favorites and was also thrifted. It just adds a little special something to an outfit.

The past few weeks have been so stressful with full-time work, I feel like I just can't get a break. The proverbial "shit" just keeps piling up and up. This morning our air conditioner repair-man let us know that we need an entire new unit. Ugh. So we'll be muddling through the summer with our window units while we save the money for that giant bill. Our city recycling program is so excellent that we just have to set out our glass in buckets at the curb. This morning some yahoo drove by and stole all of our glass for the deposit money, which I would have been ok with but he stole our buckets too! Seriously, who does that!? Ok, enough whining for today. Time to move ahead and get stuff done so I can enjoy my long Memorial Day weekend! Although I'd love to throw on my disguise and hide out for a bit.

Just stopping by...

To say "Hello"! I'm still alive. My full time job is sucking up all of my time at the moment which is why I've been scarce around these parts lately. I've got a marvelous FIVE day weekend ahead of me so I'm planning on playing catch up and spending more time with you my crafty internet friends. I've got lots of new things to share this week and a HUGE giveaway / surprise to share on Wednesday.

In the meantime there's a brand spankin' new print in the shop!