Thursday, March 15, 2012

The Perfect Note

I feel like I've been a sundress factory lately.  In addition to the two I made last week, I bought fabric for two more, and also made this one.  It's loosely inspired by this Dolce & Gabanna worn by Katy Perry.

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I love that dress so much, but finding music note print chiffon is probably impossible.  I'm kind of over gathered skirts, too.  Instead, I used this Simplicity pattern from 1949.  I paid a whole dollar for this at an antique store in Minocqua, WI.  The fabric is quilting cotton from Joann's and it was around $6 a yard and I had a coupon.  It was Coupon Commotion (!!!) Week again.

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I live in Wisconsin, so usually around this time of year it's cold, windy, and snowy.  Well, we had record high temperatures and it hit 78 yesterday.  I don't know what's up with Mother Nature, but I am LOVING IT.  I've worn sundresses and sandals and no tights all week long.  I've had beers on my porch twice!

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My cat Lamb wanted to pose for you all. I think she was starting to feel left out since Bone is regularly featured in my photos.

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Not one to leave anyone out, I let Bone get in on the action, too.

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It's been a rough week, cat-wise. I found out last Tuesday that Bone has diabetes, an underactive thyroid, and elevated liver enzymes. He'd been drinking water like crazy and the litter box was out of control. I brought him into the vet and his blood sugar was 410 and normal for a cat is 70-150. The vet suggested we switch him to wet food, and I swear it helped so much. The water bowl has stopped being empty every day and the litter box situation is back to normal. My gut is telling me that no way can it be that easy, though. I thought for sure we'd be doing insulin and having to bring him into the vet weekly to have his blood sugar checked. I just dropped off a sample this morning and I am anxiously waiting to hear from the vet if he's improved. I'm optimistic, but I still have that nagging feeling that it's not going to be that simple.

Anyway, enough about feline diabetes. I feel like that is all I've talked about and thought about for the past week. I'll leave you with some construction photos of my sundress.

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Extreme Closeup!

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Lapped zipper. I am becoming obsessed.

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My Michael Miller bicycles fabric will be arriving today, so that should keep me busy this weekend. Have a great day and enjoy this fantastic weather!

13 comments:

  1. It's kind of cool how the fabric at a distance looks a bit like an abstract stripe.

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  2. Pretty sundress! I love that pattern.

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  3. So pretty! Great pattern, lovely fit, love the material. But I'm sorry to hear about your cat!

    strugglesewsastraightseam.wordpress.com

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  4. Cute sundress and a shout-out to a fellow Wisconsinite! I'm loving this weather too! I'm wearing jeans today, I bought some new mint-colored ones so they were hard to resist, but it still feels so wrong to have pants on in weather like this!

    Hope your kitty feels better soon :)

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  5. Very cute fabric!! and lovely dress!

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  6. I'm sorry to hear about your kitty, but hopefully everything will work out with the change in diet.

    LOVE that fabric, it's so cool! Though it would be awesome to find some of that fabric in the inspiration dress. Our weather has been super nice too, though I'm not as far north as you are.

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  7. That's awesome, I saw that photo of Katy Perry in that dress awhile ago as well and I just loved it. I like your take on it; I applaud your line matching, that attention to detail is great, it makes for a much more cohesive looking dress, when lines are going every which way it can be distracting.

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  8. Sooooo pretty! You look amazing in this dress. Good to see a pattern that works in quilting cotton too - I just can't get enough of those gorgeous prints.

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  9. You're so cute. You look about 14 in that last photo! :D I love the dress! Gorgeous inspiration too. I'm crazy about using quilting cottons for these vintage dresses, because they didn't have "quilting" cottons and "dress" cottons back when these patterns were printed. They had COTTON. Or rayon. Or silk. So they used whatever fabric they liked for their projects. I wish the sewing community would lose the quilting vernacular and just use whatever fabrics suit the project. We would see more adorable dresses like these!

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  10. Gorgeous! You look so great in that dress, it's so cute.
    I'm sorry to hear about your kitty though, I hope he gets better.

    A random thought - have you tried playing the music on your fabric? Is it possible?! It looks like a pretty hectic tune.

    And what is Maple Bock? So curious..think I'm going to have to Google that now!

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    1. I haven't tried to play it but that is a funny idea! It looked like piano music to me.

      Maple Bock is a beer from the Hinterland Brewery in Wisconsin. Not sure if is available elsewhere but it sure is tasty.

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  11. Love your dress, it's pretty and fun!

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  12. I starting following your blog because of a comment you left on a Katniss Dress on Gertie's blog for better sewing. Love this sundress! I used to live in Wisconsin until I went away to college and now I am living in Michigan. Keep up the great sewing!

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