Pants on Fire

Last week, although I didn't state it outright, I did strongly insinuate that I would be finishing Capri over the long weekend.  Alas, I just couldn't find the patience to sit and sew on twelve #10 snaps.  I did, however, find the patience to do this:

I love this print - it reminds me so much of a
Vera motif.

What have we here?  Another Sorbetto?  Yes, but this time with a matching skirt!

A couple weeks ago, in the midst of Sorbetto Fever and high on the fumes of $2.99 per yard cotton lawn, I bought a yard and a half of this along with a few other goodies, intending them all as Sorbetti.  After I washed them, as I was ironing this offset plaid, I thought what a great skirt it would make.  So of course the next day I went back and got two more yards - wouldn't you?

I then proceeded to hem and haw for two weeks.  Should I make a dress?  Should I make a separate top and skirt?  Which skirt?  And how to line it?  Truthfully, each night as I was going to sleep I would mull over what I wanted to do with this lovely fabric.

On Sunday night I finally made up my mind, and spent the entire day on Monday sewing.

The top is your basic Sorbetto with no modifications.  The only way this one is different from the others I've made is that I turned the bias tape to the inside so that the print isn't interrupted on the outside of the garment.

The skirt is a mash-up of Colette Patterns' Ginger and Gertie's Full Skirt Tutorial.  I used the straight waistband pieces from the Ginger skirt rather than "draft" my own a la Gertie, because I like where the waistband of the Gingers hits me, and my cunning plan is to wear it with an elastic belt I bought from Anthropologie last summer.  The lining too is just a Ginger skirt made of plain muslin - nice and heavy, to give some structure to the floaty lawn on the outer skirt, for which I followed Gertie's instructions.  I want to state here (mostly for myself, because I'm likely to forget) that her 40" wide pieces gave me exactly the amount of pouf with this fabric that I wanted.  (For the curious, I generally wear a size 4 in RTW, which will give you a basis for comparison if you are interested in making this one as well.)

I was having some fun with my lining.

I wasn't really sure how long I wanted the skirt to be, so I just cut the fabric in half (it was either 54" or 60" wide - I didn't measure) and left the selvedge edge at the bottom.  When it was all finished and I'd hemmed the lining a little shorter than my other Gingers, I tried it on and pinned it up to where I wanted it to be.  I ended up taking it up 3.5", and then folding it back an inch and a half and doing a blind hem stitch on my machine.  So it's got a nice, wide hem that gives a little stability to the pouf.  Finished length is 22.5" exclusive of the waistband,  and it hits me just below the knee.

I'm mostly happy with how this turned out, and the parts I'm not happy with won't be visible to anyone but me.  I think my interfacing must have been too heavy for the lawn, because the waistband became crinkly when I ironed it.  But remember, it's going to be covered up by that cool belt.  And I had a hard time attaching the facing to the invisible zipper; it's not my neatest work, but no one else will see it.  Of course, the Colette Blog had a post on exactly how to do it the following day.  Isn't that always the way?!

OK:  now back to our regularly scheduled programming.  Time to sew those snaps on the Capri!

Sparkly

Since I messed up one of my nails cooking dinner the other night, I decided to fix them all by adding one of my new crackles:

Essie Tart Deco
China Glaze Platinum Pieces

These crackles are so interesting.  Before adding top coat, they don't look very sparkly, but as soon as the top coat is on, boy, do they shine!

I took this picture on Saturday, and took off this mani on Sunday.  Now my nails are NAKED!  *gasp!*

Summer Colors

Here's what the sky looked like at 1:00 p.m. yesterday in Chicago:

The menacing view from my guest bathroom.

I needed to get some summer colors on my digits to brighten things up:

Toes:  Orly Frolic
Fingers:  Essie Tart Deco

The Orly is only the second polish of this brand I've purchased, the first being Space Cadet, with which I was less than impressed.   The formula was very thin and shrank as it dried - before I even put any top coat on!  And the color looked a lot less appealing on my nails than it did in the bottle.  But I had a $5 coupon from Sally Beauty, and knowing that a lot of people love this brand, I decided to try it one more time.

Frolic applied very nicely, and I liked the brush.  But it dried semi-matte, which I thought was unusual.  I'm not sure if this is common with Orly.  Top coat fixed it of course, and I think the color is great.

Here's a better pic of the Essie:

Essie Tart Deco

I wasn't sure this color would work on me, but I really like it.  Unfortunately, I messed up one nail while cooking dinner later on.  But it was fun to look at all afternoon while I was working on finishing up Capri!  Button bands are knitted and sewn on, neckband is picked up and knit.  All that's left is to sew the thing together!

Quelle Surprise!

I really surprised myself with my crush on OPI for Sephora Traffic-Stopper Copper. Here's why:  1) I'm not really a fan of copper or copper-colored things, and 2) I'm not really a fan of glitter.  Well, I am a fan of glitter, but not a fan of trying to get it off when the mani has expired, and not a fan of the texture.

But this polish has been in my head for the last couple months.  After I first saw it, I went in to Sephora at least three times intending to buy it, but then not following through.  On Wednesday, after I went to the library to pick up my book, I headed over to Sephora yet again (conveniently located only two blocks north of the library!) and this time came away with this beauty:

$OPI Traffic-Stopper Copper
Essie Da Bush
please click for full glowy effect!

Look at that coppery pink glow!  I feel like I have jewels on my fingers!  I can't stop looking at it!  

It seems like every time I've put on a green or blue in the last couple months, I've wished I had this one to put on top of it, so I'm glad I finally bit the bullet and bought it.  Interestingly, the silver and gold versions of this glitter held no appeal for me.  Hmm . . .

I tried it over my old mani right before I removed it and yes, it is a bear to remove. I think I'll probably end up doing the foil method when it's time for this one to come off.  But the texture is so much better than I was expecting.  Maybe "modern" glitters are better than what I remember from several years ago?  My nails don't feel bumpy at all.  Which is shockingly important to me.

I can't wait to try this over a more turquoise shade, like Mermaid's Tears.  Or a blue like For Audrey.  And I think it will look great over pink too.  Oh, the possibilities!

Insert "crack" joke here

I had to go to Costco the other day, and there just happens to be a Sally Beauty Supply very nearby, so of course I went in.  I was looking for the new China Glaze Crackle Metals, and was very surprised to find all six colors:

These now belong to me.  Yay!

I quickly tested a couple over a mani I was getting ready to remove and the application is very interesting.  When I didn't shake them up first, they applied more like a frosty over-coat and didn't really crackle much.    They worked much better after shaking the bottle vigorously.  When they dry, they look kind of 'meh,' but after applying a top coat, they really sparkle.  The directions say to wait three to five minutes before applying the top coat.

I wasn't really into the solid colored crackles, but these metallic ones really piqued my interest, and I'm glad I got them.  I think they'll be a great mani-extender.  I've already used the purple one to extend my navy blue pedicure and it looks great. Interestingly, they didn't crackle much on some of my tinier toenails, but they really did on the big toes.  It'll be fun to come up with color combinations for these.

What do you think?  Crackles:  yea or nay?

Sorbetto in Action!

I wore my new top this morning to go to the library!

Waiting for the 'L'.

I felt cool, comfy and cute!

Sorbetto-a-GoGo

How could I not bring this fabric home and make it into another Sorbetto, I ask you:

More cotton voile from Vogue.

Is everyone sick of Sorbetto Spam yet?  The end is near, I assure you.  I only have three weeks left in which to do any sewing.  After that, my 9-year-old niece will be visiting for a month plus, and all bets are off!  We'll be far too busy going to the beach and the water park!  So I'm trying to get as much done now as I can so that I don't have yards and yards of unused fabric sitting around.

And I'm hoping there will be a finished Capri in the very near future!