Happy Birthday!

It is now 12:01 am, so that means my husband has just turned... well, a little older. I never did figure out what to make with that elephant, and he told me he doesn't really do the apron thing at wine shows. Why? Would that make him a sissy? Nope, they're just for klutzes, according to him. Oh well. He says I could sew it to the bag he already has. I'm not overly excited about that, though, so I might just wait till inspiration strikes some day.

Soooo, instead of making something for him for his birthday, I finished my blue dress (installed the zipper and did the hem). It took me a while to get the zipper area just right. I should really take a course in zipper installation and blind hem sewing. Those two tasks always take me too long. Anyway, at least it's done, and when the weather decides to allow it, I'll wear it and feel pretty and really attention-getting (because of the color, mostly).

The other picture I'm going to show you is a little modification I did today on an old-lady skirt I got at the thrift shop yesterday (went shopping with Lambchop #1 for a mother-daughter outing - hit the thrift shop and the used bookstore). I paid 1 euro for this skirt. When I showed it to my mother-in-law in its original form, she looked at me like I was nuts. She's a lot closer to being an actual "old lady" than I am, and even she wouldn't consider wearing it. It was just a simple straight skirt several sizes too large for me. I suppose even I should have wondered why on earth I bought it. Perhaps the seersucker got me again. Or, perhaps, I saw the potential to do this to it. It was actually a pretty quick presto-changeo job. I chopped it off just above the knees. Then, I took a decent amount off the sides to make it fit me. Then, I sewed the little pleats in the bottom section and reattached it. After that, I removed the waist band and sized it down before reattaching it. A little ironing job, and it was done. I love it. I also got the shirt I have on with it on another thrift shop expedition. It cost me 1 euro, and I was really excited to see it's a Banana Republic shirt. I've kind of always liked that brand but never could convince myself it was worth the price.

Some other goodies were bought yesterday at the thrift shop, including a Hawaiian shirt to play with and a polka dot shirt I fell in love with, which is odd considering my past hate of polka dots. I'm working on changing my personal style (if you can call t-shirts and jeans that), because I'm tired of feeling frumpy. Before having three kids pop out of me after blowing me up like a balloon, I had a decent enough figure that I still felt feminine wearing t-shirts and jeans. Now, thanks to the jelly roll they left around my mid-section, I need a little help. Skirts and dresses will be a good start.