Belly's

IT'S A PARTY

My brother's wedding was last week, and it was fabulous. His gorgeous bride (now wife) made it even happier and prettier, with her amazing smile and personality... And I... I'll confess I did shed a tear (or a few hundreds). After all, my younger brother, whom I used to tell I'll turn one day into a frog, has reached his "prince" day.

Tacky sweetness overload aside, we're hosting a dinner party in honor of the newlyweds tomorrow, and as always- I get everything done at the very last minute.

Here are the dishes I just washed (by hand, all 90 of them)

And here's a glimpse into the theme

Can you tell I was inspired by chinoiserie, Eddie Ross and My Marrakesh's Maryam? Come back tomorrow to see more!

---

UPDATE:

The party was last night and it was a huge success! Really, it was beyond fabulous. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures (yeah, I'm beating myself up) but I'm told one of the guests did- so all hopes for bragging are not lost:)

what the fit

I blabbed and teased about my Oprah Dress enough, and that was a little because I don't have much to show for it.

the inspiration - it used to look more like it

Will you believe me this dress was beautiful and flattering at one point, not many months ago? What was I thinking? Didn't I realize that if I had to take in 8 centimeters (that's 3.15 inches for you USA folks) in two skirts, this dress cannot in a million years be fitted in time for a dinner party?

Well, apparently I lost some weight (how much? I don't know, I don't weigh myself anymore, just take my size), and apparently I lost it all over the friggin place, and apparently fitted dresses don't look any better when you lose a lot of inches than when you gain them.

So what? Should I squeal of joy? well, yes, that's what I did a day later, but at that point I was near to tears (aren't you happy I didn't say I went into a fit? yeah, me too) - there was no way I could fix the dress in time (see all these arrows? that's just a few of the places that needed mending) and I couldn't think of anything else to wear.

Enter the Charlotte cardi. remember how I told you I am not going to take it the Park Avenue route. What the heck, I said to myself, and decided to go all the way with it: A little black dress from my favorite Israeli designer, Delicatessen, was teamed with pearls, princess-y makeup, the notorious, still button-less cardigan and Miss L-Fire shoes for a bit of irony.

Et voila.

I guess I'll be spending the next week or so reading closely the section on mending and adjustments in Reader's Digest Guide to Sewing.

P.S. I just got my first tripod. Please bear with me for the next decade or so, till I learn to take decent pictures with it.

my mother's day

So how was your Mother's day?

By us everything was as usual, because in Israel Mother's Day is celebrated in February (and has recently been re-named Family Day. Don't mothers deserve a day of their own?). I did try to make it a little special by buying my mom a book, and before Chanoch went to bed we watched Annie together. I remember watching it with my parents when I was around his age, and the movie's charm still holds 20+ years later...

Talking about the eighties, I finished cutting McCall's 5473, and dubbed it the Power Skirt. Remember those days, when every noun had a "power" to enhance it? Power Walks, Power Talks, Power Couples, Power Lunches, Power Suits... So why not a Power Skirt? The PS is made from a scrumptious wool-silk blend (with some stretch, apparently), that I bought months ago. It's from a seller who gets fabric remnants from Italian mills, and so I got 2.50 meters for 55 ILS, which is about 10 dollars. Now I only need to sew it, and I'm debating whether to make a half lining.

Today was also the first day of Kids Clothes Week, in which I'll be dedicating at least an hour a day for sewing clothes for Chanoch (and maybe my sisters, they are still considered kids!). Check out the button at the sidebar for more information. I started by tracing patterns for a vest and shorts from the 3/2009 issue of Ottobre Magazine. I planned to sew them 2 months ago, for Passover, but I never got to it. Isn't the boy in the magazine cute? I called this outfit The Macaron because that's what he's holding in the picture and that's what I want to eat now...

Good night, friends. Please check back tomorrow for a post on weight and fit (and an update on the Oprah Dress) and our regular Monday Morning Coffee.

belated bragging brought to you by the letter B

Ah, who doesn't like a ridiculous alliteration now and then? I sure do, and so I'll go on to belatedly-brag about the costume I sewed for little C (aka Chanoch, aka my 3 years old son) for Purim. Purim, for whomever of you not familiar with the holiday, is a Jewish holiday celebrated by wearing costumes, giving charity and exchanging gifts, which should contain at least 2 kinds of food.

I usually try to keep C's costume as simple and as close to everyday clothes as I can, because otherwise it's too itchy and too difficult to get out in order to go to the bathroom. This year the weather was also exceptionally warm, so I decided to keep it light. I followed Burda World of Fashion 1/2010 (styles 143 and 147) to sew a vest and pants fit for a cowboy. The shirt was RTW. I made the costume in linen, as suggested by BWOF, and I turned to regret it. The linen was indeed very comfortable, nice to touch and pretty (I happen to love linen), but it also shrinked when I ironed it and was very wrinkly. All of that is to be expected from linen, so maybe that wasn't the perfect garment to use it. Anyway, this is my Project That Taught Me To Always Pre-Wash Fabric (don't we all have one??)

Happy spring-y week, everybody!

Chanoch was extremely happy with the costume, especially with the faux-leather star attached to the vest and with horse appliqué on the front of the pants. And I was happy he's not wearing a scratchy, warm, ill-fitting and badly sewn polyester confection.

In other news, today was Memorial day in Israel and tomorrow is Independence Day here, so I hurried to the local garment district before the stores closed and I found quite a lot beautiful fabrics. In one store, two young designers actually thought I was a pro and asked me for advice on sewing knits. I actually managed to help them (I corrected their mistake first, of course) and we all exchanged business cards. I also almost finished my color-blocked, paneled jersey dress. It's just a muslin to test the pattern I drafted, and it doesn't look bad, but yet I'm disappointed with it. I think I need to make the side panels wider. I'll try to take photos tomorrow, so it would be clearer.

Have a great week!

photo sources: sketch42, my burdastyle page.