Shabby Apple Giveaway!

I'm very please to announce a very exciting giveaway from Shabby Apple. Most of you have probably heard of Shabby Apple already, but if you haven't, boy, are you ever in for a treat. Shabby Apple offer's fantastic vintage-inspired women's dresses that are absolutely drool-worthy!

So, I'll honestly admit to being a lurker at the website, fantasizing about the beautiful dresses they have. One of my favorites is this beautiful purple dress, Bali Ha'i:
It's very current with the beautiful neckline, but still has a beautiful flattering line to the bodice.

Perhaps I am more drawn to the color than I thought, which is such a surprise if you've seen the last 2 tops I've made. It's a surprise because I've found myself very drawn to this red (or, er... vermillion!) dress, New Caledonia:

It looks very comfortable and casual, but yet absolutely striking. J'adore!

Now, I know that those dresses featured above are perfect for me and my *ahem* boyish figure. For this giveaway though, I really wanted to find a dress that will flatter ALL body-types.

And, you know what? Shabby Apple has the perfect Blue Faux Wrap Dress, Azure Coast

I've been told many times that wrap dresses are very flattering. However, because of the way wrap dresses are made, there is sometimes a danger of accidentally flashing too much leg. So, I'm pleased that this dress has a fully closed skirt.

Oh, it's gorgeous and so very cute! And I'm excited that you have a chance to win this dress!

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To enter this giveaway draw, all you have to do is leave me a comment on this post to let me know what your favourite Shabby Apple dress is!

Also, please make sure there is some way I can contact you, if you get picked as the winner.

Note: Shipping of this dress is to the U.S. only.

The draw for this giveaway will take place at 10pm EST on June 2nd, 2011.

edit: Technical issues made commenting unavailable for a couple of days over the weekend, so I will extend the giveaway to 10pm EST on June 4th, 2011.

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If you are too impatient to wait for the giveaway, Shabby Apple has a 10% off coupon code for Vively Online readers.

The coupon code is vivelyonline10off, and will expire on June 26th 2011.

Also, if you are on Facebook, go to Shabby Apple's Facebook page and check it out. Don't forget to "like" the page so that you can get in on all those special promotions and exclusive discounts that they offer!

Good Luck! :)

Martha Stewart's Reversible Purse

Just for fun, I decided to try out Martha's Reversible Purse pattern.

Well, OK, I'll fess up. I had her show on in the background the other day while ironing. I'm pretty sure it was a rerun, but the show was really background noise while I was daydreaming.

Then, I pleasantly realized that Martha was doing a segment about sewing. Part of the project they did was to make this cute reversible purse. Isn't it pretty?

I thought to myself. That's a genius idea, and I could probably just quickly make one for myself.

Then, "No, no, Su! Follow the pattern Martha gives you!"

So, did, except for the one handle. I decided to lengthen it.

But, er..... either I must have followed the pattern really wrongly:

It's still very cute, but, a little bulbous??!? And a little small, honestly.

Putting it together is not that difficult, but if you are a visual person like me, take the time to watch the video segment that comes with the tutorial so that putting it all together will be a snap :)

Luckily, the fabric is all scrap (very cute Ikea fabric, but still leftover from other projects).

And also, luckily, my daughter really likes the bag and have claimed it for herself.

So, while I don't think I may have done anything wrongly (it's a one piece pattern!!!), it still came out really wierd. I think the next time I make this, I will be drafting it myself and making the bag a lot bigger.

Speaking of bags, I won one from the What's in your Purse contest over at Obsessively Stitching. It was the first time I've ever won anything online, so I was pleased as a punch.

Last week, I received my very own Onion Label Tote Bag in the mail:

Nice, right? And it's extremely sturdy and perfect for library books.

And Now, Something Way Out in the Left Field

This has nothing to do with sewing.
Or crafting.

Inspired by Carolyn, I've decided to play along with the accent/dialect vlog meme. I've stumbled across youtube vids of these vlogs, but it was not until I started to see videos of bloggers I actually follow, that I discovered how much fun this meme is.

Anyway, it is really fun to be able to get a sense of the accents and idioms that normally do not translate that easily into written words.

A few things:

1. It's my first vlog.
2. I've always been conscious speaking to the camera because of my accent, but I was surprisingly comfortable talking to the camera, perhaps because of the subject matter.
3. It was early in the morning and I had no makeup on, probably did not comb my hair, and again surprisingly, I did not care.

Here's the video:


The words are:

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

And these are the questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

Interchangeable Wreath

My friends,

Spring truly has sprung in my region and as a result, I'm find myself sewing less and less of the time, and more and more outdoors.

That is why I'm glad I spent some time doing some selfish sewing last month. I don't have much to show after a whole weekend at a friend's cottage, but I did manage to make a wreath from things that are scrappy:

The ring was made out of 3 pieces of cardboards stuck together.

Yarn was leftover from a baby project 6 years ago!

Scappy felt for the flowers.

And the pièce de résistance is not even visible:

Interchangeable flowers on the wreath using some leftover snaps from old baby onesie projects!

I love that the flower attachments are interchangeable. Sweet!

I got the idea from here.

Twinkle Sews, the Origami Blouse

I was lucky enough to be loaned this beautiful book, Twinkle Sews by Wenlen Chia. I fell in love with the cover, as well as the beautiful clothes featured in this book.

When I saw this top, the Origami Blouse. I knew I had to attempt to make it. I love the pleated collar and the neckline is so cute.

It has been taking me a while to put out this post, just like it took me a while to finish this top. I just did not really know where to start. Don't get me wrong, I adore the top. It is just that so much about this pattern was different that it took me much, much longer to complete the top.

First off, the sizing is a little strange. What I mean by that is that patterns come only in size 0,4,8,12 and 16. So, erm, you pretty much have to grade the other sizes yourself! Heh!

Luckily, this blouse is loose fitting, so I chose to make size 4. The patterns come in a cd, and you have to print and tape and then cut the pattern pieces out. This was not as difficult as it seemed, but I felt that this could have attributed to what I perceive to be a lack of precision of the pattern pieces.

Regardless, what took me so long to make the blouse is the instructions. I don't think of myself as a beginner sewer anymore, but while making this blouse, I really felt like very much the novice. Even if I know what to do, I appreciate it when pattern instructions are complete, even overly verbose and picture heavy.

Just like some vintage patterns, the instructions of some of the steps to construct this blouse is sketchy at best.

And because I'm not one to leave a project incomplete (that is just not part of my makeup!), midway through the project, I just threw aside the instructions and made up the rest.

The neckline:Fabric is coarse linen, something that I've kept in my fabric stash for over 10 years.

I'm glad I finished it. It's a pretty blouse