Behold my own take on McCalls 8397! Due to a dearth of lining material I made my usual TNT skirt (thank you Carolyn for that acronym!). Due to a dearth of skill (and time) I didn't make the welt pockets.

I used a gorgeous silk tweed boucle from Gorgeous Fabrics. I wore it to my big meeting with the DEA specialists this week, and out for drinks that night with a gentleman I hadn't seen since I was 25. It was kind of funny - I went to Williamsburg, which is not a suit kind of place. I walked in a few minutes early, feeling pretty good- good suit, good shoes, good bag, looking pretty darn put together. Sidle up to a bar stool, look around. Nothing but skinny 20-somethings in stovepipes and ironic t-shirts. I got this loooong look up and down from one young lady, before she turned up her nose and returned to her drink.

Stuff like that used to bother me.

Used to.

I am genuinely OK with looking put together. I no longer feel its something to apologize for. No one who knows me has asked in years "why are you so dressed up?" Its just me, who I am, how I like to look. And I don't apologize if I have to go straight out from work and still look "corporate", because I'm pretty OK with how I earn my living too.

It was just one of those "I am so glad not to be 25 anymore" moments.

I've been on fire lately at the sewing machine! This is Simplicity 2959 made up in more Amy Butler from the Midwest Modern collection. The blues and greens she's been using are great colors for me, if I do say so myself. The octagons actually run with the width horizontal, but I cut at 90 degrees to the grain because I thought they'd be more flattering if the length of the octagon ran vertical. I combined the pattern bodice with my basic straight skirt. Side zip; self-bias trim of sleeve edges and interior waist (I have recently rediscovered the joys of my bias maker).

I must have been a little more zealous than normal in my pre-emptive pattern corrections. This just zips up, but its right on the edge of tight and perfect. I'll wear a half slip with it, which will make things a little easier. I was so happy with it I went ahead and took a picture without cleaning up, hence the detritus in the background.

I also made a vintage 60s style suit this weekend - I just have to decide which of my many important work meetings this week to wear it to! There will be a photo by next weekend, be assured.

Last weekend was a productive weekend! I made another 2 Simplicity 2513s, each with a straight skirt. One is pictured here in new Amy Butler Midwest Modern.I love how this pattern shows a bit of back. I think this is my new go-to summer work dress pattern. Its classic in appearence, a perfect foil for beautiful quilting cottons, and gos together in under three hours. I made another one in pink last weekend and have several queued up for the next few weeks

In parting, here's the birdcage dress on! I wore it to work today (it was casual friday!) with a black cardigan sweater (its cold and rainy)

I actually made both of these last weekend. I was going to wait until I wore them to take photos, but the temperature dropped back into the 60s, so it'll be a while.

This is Japanese import fabric from reprodepot, which is actually 43" wide instead of 45". I've been trying to cut back on the wild prints in favor of more serious stuff I can wear to work and in front of clients, but a girl needs a few weekend dresses. This is also my absolute favorite new bodice - its from Simplicity 2513 and its a 'teen' 12. If I bump the side seams to one inch, it fits perfectly. AND - its the right length! no need to shorten the torso! I will be using this bodice again and again this summer.

Like on this dress, as yet unhemmed, made from a heavy stretch border print pique.

Which just happens to match the white cotton pique jacket I made last summer.

This weekend I made my first summer dress of 2008: Simplicity 2959, view 2. I made something similar last summer, except it had pleats at both the front and back neckline. 2959 has pleats at only the front neck, which I prefer; I wasn't a fan of the blousy back, except on 90 degree days.
The skirt is in between full and straight - its not a slim skirt, although the pattern described it as such, and doesn't even call for a back pleat or slit. Its not a-line. and its not full. What would you call it?

So I made another McCalls 5580. I did the bodice last weekend and attached the skirt and did the finishing today. I look half dead, but that's because I feel half dead and was too exhausted to even swipe on a lipstick. I got in from 2 days in La Jolla for work at 5.20 this am and got maybe an hour of sleep on the red eye plus 4 in my own bed. This after 2 days of meetings and client schmoozing: too little sleep, too much alcohol, caffeine, and dessert. On the other hand, La Jolla is one of the prettiest places I've ever seen, and I highly recommend this hotel. It was craftsman style, absolutely gorgeous views of the ocean and pine trees.

I see that next time I make this, I need to shorten the bodice by a half inch.

I also cut out the above. I'm doing the view on the right with some changes: I'm missing the original pleated straight skirt piece, so am using my tried and true straight process. I'm doing the skirt and midriff in a nice black and white glenn plaid worsted I got on clearance on fabric.com, then the bodice in leftover black wool crepe. Then I'll do the jacket in the glenn plaid with black buttons. I think it will be pretty darn spiffy, but will take me a while since I have to work next weekend too.

LOVE this post on Miss Celie's Pants.

I will not post about my dating life in any but the most top line fashion, for a whole host of reasons. I will say that as a girl who works a lot, and doesn't indulge much in pop culture (Frankly, most movies are a 3 hour time investment, and I rarely have 3 hours to spare), I have recently found myself in a strange position where I can really only talk about two things:
1) My work. Noninferiority studies! Product labels! Launch readiness! New drugs! Fascinating stuff to me; not so to many others.
2) My sewing. Again, fascinating to me, not so much to others.

Often this results in me just clamming up altogether, to avoid talking about these things, because I'm afraid I'll bore the other person. I think me clamming up often DOES bore the other person.

Meanwhile, I've sat through rants about other people's exes, dietary restrictions, and politics; lectures on comparative religions and the impossibility of monogamy (not from the same man!); and most notably, a summary of the entire Dune series. Delivered by a pond. On a freezing day.

What are the odds I ever find a man with whom I can discuss both pharmacology and fashion?