Cheetah Velour

Distracting you with shiny objects since July 2007

Just a few photos to distract you from the fact that I haven't posted any pictures of the dress. Now that I'm starting to find my sewing stuff after the move, I believe I will go back and tinker with the pattern just a wee bit more. I'm just not happy with it yet. I'm fussy like that.

A couple of months back I picked up a decent sized stash of old 'n' cheap sewing goodies to add to my growing collection of things I don't actually need. Ok, maybe I need these. LILLYLUSTRE!

Ok, and I definitely need this because I am a modern gal on the go. The instructions say DON'T BE A BUTTON SEWER, USE DOT SNAPPERS. Everything is still in the kit and the instructions say Copyright 1949. I guess someone bought it and never found a use for it. I guess they were content to be an old fuddy duddy BUTTON SEWER. Who am I kidding? I will probably keep this thing around for the next 50+ years and never use it. I really just want to stare at it.

Now here's a fun one. The Kenmore Buttonholer. The picture didn't turn out so great but hopefully you get the idea. The book has this to say-"One of the most exciting stories in this season of sewing adventure is based on the achievement of the Kenmore Buttonhole Attachment. A touch of magic at your fingertips- and the happy miracle is that this attachment will produce, with accuracy, neat durable buttonholes in any fabric without special skill on the part of the operator".

Adventure? Magic? Happy miracles? No special skill on my part? Sign me up!

I picked up lots more buttons and rick rack and goodies, but these were my favorites. I just love junk like this.

My confession

I must confess that I am a sucker for packaging. If something is packaged in a modern, eye catching, clever way, well that's one thing. But what about packaging that is just plain old-fangled and uninviting? Packaging so bad it's good? Who loves that? I know I do!

I found this in a Rite-Aid in Reno. I wonder why nobody was buying it?

I mean, who can resist this trustworthy (and not at all evil) face? Li'l Jenny would never do anything to hurt you, right?

In case you're wondering, no I didn't buy it or eat any. I wasn't feeling particularly brave that day. It sure didn't stop me from taking a picture, though.

Going back to Cali, Cali, Cali

Just moved back to California after 1 year and 11 days of living in Nevada.  It's good to be back since I lived in CA for almost 4 (!!!) decades, but I will miss good friends back in NV (you know who you are). Why, here is a picture of me stylin' and profilin' with two good Nevada friends right now! I'll bet you didn't know that Shrek and Donkey live out in Empire, NV. Movie stars don't just live in Hollywood, you know.

So I'm back to the bay. Today I saw fog and I almost passed out from the excitement.

Butterick B4790

This seems to be the "It" dress right now and so EASY to make! No zippers, just a few snaps and buttons. I love not sewing zippers. Most of the edges are finished with double fold bias tape- how easy is that?

I made a practice one out of thrift store sheets first. I'm really glad I did! There are a few adjustments to be made. It's not my fault that I don't have a va-va-va-voom figure like the ladies in the illustration!  I don't know about you, but I think this pattern runs a little on the small side (meaning I KNOW I am not a size 20 in a lot of patterns but that's what seemed to work best for my proportions) so I would highly recommend doing a practice run first. Some of you maybe have the opposite problem, but that all depends on your particular figure. You can always start big and whittle it down, but you can't easily do it the other way around, right?  A little nip here and a tuck there and it should be perfect. Or about as perfect as it's going to be this time around.

The skirt is really full too, so I think it drags the dress down a little bit. Next time I'll try a slightly heavier fabric and see how that works out. The cheap polyester/cotton blend thrift store sheets I used were a little thin for this sort of thing, but just think of all the wacky fabrics you could use when you do it up right.

You can read more tips and tricks over here at PatternReview.com

Once I get my hands on a camera maybe I'll post a picture of the sheet dress.

Hello!

If you're reading this, it means you found me! Welcome to my World Famous Blog. Of course this is my first entry so it's not really World Famous, but why not get started on a high note? It's going to be all downhill from here!

I'm not sure exactly where I'll be going with all this, but you can be sure there will be lots of photos, craftiness, kitschy goodness and wacky hijinx. Leave me a comment and say hi, why don't you?