Wednesday, August 1, 2007

The Present Dress

The reason this dress exists is because I found some fabric that I thought was hideous in my stash and used it to experiment with a new dress pattern. As it turns out, I absolutely love the pattern now. Go figure! It was officially named when a classmate exclaimed, "You look just like a present all wrapped up!" So it's the present dress. :)


Monday, July 9, 2007

Ways to Beat the Heat

All my life I've lived in the South and summers can get hot! However, I've almost always had an air conditioner on inside, but this summer all that is changing. I'm determined to turn the air on ONLY when absolutely necessary (i.e. when the humidity is sustaining all mold life forms in our home). Luckily that has not happened yet, so we've only turned it on a few times when a guest was about to expire. So what are we doing to keep cool? In the end, we got so used to the warmer temperature that I ended up carrying a light sweater with me for trips to the grocery store, classroom, etc because their air conditioning felt too strong!

  • Drinking lots of water, tea, and lemonade. For the first time in my life I've drank more than one glass of liquids a day. Mint tea and cholophyll water has become such a treat for me. But best of all is mixing some freshly squeezed lemons with maple syrup in water. It tastes like summer!
  • Leaving the windows open at night, and shutting the windows that let the heat in during the day. One set faces a shaded area with a breeze so they usually stay open all the time.
  • Carry a hand fan around with you. This has been one of my favorite ways! I feel so delightfully old-fashioned with one of these.
  • Reusable ice cubes (the kind covered in plastic that you can freeze again and again) work great for those nights when you just cannot sleep! Damp washrags also work well.
  • Small, portable fans. While we don't own one, my in-laws do and I love to use it on those hot, humid nights. I've found that as long as the wind is blowing in my face, I don't think about how hot the rest of my body is.
Hope some of these help you stay cool. Let me know if you use any other methods.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Romantic Updo (Old Fashioned)

I wanted to create a hairstyle that would stay out of my face and off my neck during the summer. I also wanted it to frame my face in the front (otherwise I look quite bald), and look nice in the back. This is what I created.


  • To start flip your head over and section off an inch from ear to ear over the top of your head.
  • Start at one ear and being twirling the hair above it. Move the twirling over your head to the over ear by adding a little hair to the twirl each time (similar to a french braid.)

  • Twirl until just behind and below the other ear and then braid that hair.
  • You can see how the braid at the bottom comes out of the rolled (or twirled) hair. Split the rest of the hair in two and braid each.
  • Now wrap the three around the back of your hair (bobby pinning in place). Each should be slightly seperated from each other and all ending near the middle of your head.
  • If you have extra hair left at the ends, roll it around two fingers and pin in place.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

The Sunflower Dress




This cheery fabric jumped out at me when I was visiting my in-laws in central PA. It works perfect as an empire waist, A-line dress that hits the mid-calf line. I finished it just in time for Drewski and Amy's wedding, with plenty of fabric to spare for another creation. Yay!