Month: May 2013

Three sentence movie reviews: Drive

First off, I must say that this movie has one of the best kisses I’ve ever seen in cinema, but I don’t think it’s worth it to watch the entire film just to see that 30 seconds of movie magic perfection.  This is because I hated this film and went on a long rant about “dick flicks” where I have a sneaking suspicion that two guys were just sitting around (possibly high) and saying stuff like, “it would be cool if there was this guy who was a mechanic and a stunt driver, but also a guy who drives for people committing crimes and there would be all this cool stuff like stunt driving and shooting and shit like that,” and then those guys get to make this movie and, frankly, it’s not a very good movie, but because the people who get movies made are men, and the people who review movies are men, it’s considered amazing.*  I actually found it gratuitously violent, once it really got going, and why exactly was I supposed to care about this guy, aside from the fact that he did the hamster Ryan Gosling thing with the sad eyes** the entire movie when he struck me as somewhat of a sociopath?

Cost:  free from library
Where watched: at home.

*at one point, this rant was working itself into an essay, but it never made it the full transition, so you just get to read a run-on sentence here.  But really?  This movie made me so mad I almost spit.
**see that?  He’s doing it right there in the poster.

Drafting new facings, cutting and basting

Here was the original plan for the facings, but I’ve got to make new ones due to arm area expansion.
 
It was easy enough though.
 
It’s important to star one’s cutting layout.
 
Bodice stuff that needed to be cut on the fold. 
 
Prepping my cutting area.
 
Have you seen the movie Unzipped, about Isaac Mizrahi’s fall 1994 collection?  It’s a great documentary.  And one thing I learned is that all the women making the fashion wear black all the time.  So I’m wearing all black in homage. Also because it’s rather cold today.
 
I really despise cutting out.  It might be better if I didn’t have to crawl all over the floor all the time.
 
After cutting out the underlining, I was to put out the main fabric…
 
…and lay my underlining pieces on top.
 
Then Gertie told me to carefully baste around each piece and then finish cutting out.  I suspect this is one of those things Gertie does because she likes to be careful.  I’m doing it, but it’s taking forever.
 
But look how pretty it looks when it’s done.
 
However, I needed to watch a movie to keep me occupied.  And when that movie was over, I was nowhere near done. Grrr.

Today I spent five hours working on this and I’m still not done with this week’s items.  

Final muslin fitting, prepping material

Muslin #2.  I can see that lengthening the front now has me in trouble with the back. The side seams are even.  I sense a muslin #3 in the future.
 
The back is now a little bit better.
 
The front is reaching my waist.  And notice how taking all that fabric out at the armpit level helped tremendously.
 
But I’ve still got a shoulder thing going on.  I solved this by having Matt cut back until there was a bigger opening.
 
Why is this picture upside down?  There is now more room in the shoulder area.
 
Here is the pattern for #1 topped with the pattern for muslin #2 in front,  with the changes outlined for #3 in green.  I’ve known it since I tried on Sara’s strapless formal dress in tenth grade, but man, do I have shoulders.
 
Muslin #3.  I feel like I could pull in the shoulders a bit, and the waist, but I don’t really know what I’m doing here, so I think I will leave it.
 
The back looks good.
 
Sentinel is a good helper.
 
Now to press all the underlining material.  This dress does not skimp on material.
 

Three sentence movie reviews: Friday Night Lights Season 1

I’m not really anti-spectator sports (meaning I love to read about baseball in novel form, and I don’t mind that spectator sports exist, I just don’t care to watch them) but I do have limited patience for football culture especially–it seems to magnify a lot of what I find unattractive about US society.  So why watch this show all about high school football in Texas?  Because the characters made me fall in love with them, broke my heart and keep me coming back for more.

Tracing pattern pieces

I’m feeling confused about how to make the changes from the muslin to the pattern, so I’ll distract myself with tracing all the pattern pieces.
 
Here’s the official pattern piece.
 
I devised a check system to ensure that I got all the pieces I needed.  I have to be wary of project pitfalls and one of them is not having everything I need.  If I miss a piece and have to backtrack to this stage, there’s a good chance I won’t finish the project.
 
The file cabinet holds what I need.  Here is a skirt piece and a pocket.
 
I only use the finest tools.  A true statement in the case of the rulers, which have been invaulable.  A false statement with the pattern weights which are just whatever object I can find to serve as “heavy.”
 

Three sentence movie reviews: Before Sunrise and Before Sunset

In preparation for the next movie, a review of the first two was in order.  Once again, I found my front teeth drying because I smile for so long while watching them.  Now the hard part will be waiting for the next one.

Cost: Free because they are Christi’s
Where watched:  at home with Christi, Kelly and Ameena.

posters from:

Have you been to the Good Stuff bakery?

Unless you happen to work at, or attend the school where I am employed, I’m guessing you haven’t because this bakery is run by a fifth grader. He takes orders from Tuesday through Thursday and delivers on Monday.  No exceptions.
 
And when he delivers, there is branded packaging.  He knows his marketing.
 
And his craft.  Those Almond Toffee Bars are delicious.