• I finished making this yellow and grey (grellow) check top on Sunday. I was trying to play with the check. It’s pin tucked in the yoke and finished with a contrast grey spotted bias binding. I also added the check as a bias hem band.
  I’m not sure if I like it. I need better pictures of me wearing it, with no bag, to see if I think it is flattering. I’m feeling like this might be a bad length on me and I need to go back to longer smocks.

  

• Now I’m on to making my first Washi dress. I know this has been a very popular make in the sewing community.
  One thing I really like about it, is the shirring in the back.If one has a protruding rear (as one does) this might help with the tent look, where the fabric comes out to the highest bust point and the highest butt point, making one look very large.

• I love bold, large prints. We, as sewers, are taught to do careful pattern matching across seams. But, did you know, there’s a trend to mismatch prints across seams? There are a number of red carpet looks lately that do this, like this dress on Elizabeth Olsen. The idea is that, matching across seams makes the wearer look upholstered. Mis-matching is seen as funkier and more contemporary.
  What do you think?
  My eye is darting all over this dress. I love the colour and the print. I think I’d have preferred it to match across the princess seams, but allowed it to go askew on the curving hip seam. I wonder if this fabric is stretchy? At least this Olsen smiles.

• I discovered Vivienne McMaster’s website this week. She promotes self portraiture as a way of cultivating self-love and acceptance. This is a very clever idea. There are so many of us who hate having our picture taken (or taking it ourselves). I’ve just started reading her self-starter e-book and may take one of her online courses.

• I’m feeling better about my own selfie taking and about my appearance.

Met Gala Dresses

• There were so many Good and Bad dresses at the Met Gala! (I don’t know which I enjoy more ~ good or bad). The Met Gala is definitely my favourite red carpet event, of the year. We don’t have to pretend to care about movies or anything.
• It was so hard to choose a favourite look. I am leaning towards choosing Lupita Nyong’o because she looks otherworldly. This is such a beautiful colour next to her skin, and it looks amazing the way it changes texture and opacity. She never fails to look interesting.
• Also I love her hair. Can I have hair like this? Seriously. Apparently she had to lie down in the car on the way there so her hair would fit.

• My most hated look is Madonna’s, of course. I’m her anti-fan.
• This year’s theme was Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology. Most people wore white, black or silver. Whenever there is a futuristic fashion event or exhibition, colour is ignored. We seem to imagine the future to be very stark. Why?