design inspiration: asymmetry

I have been seeing so much asymmetry in clothing design lately. I love it, especially in dresses. I really want to make a midi/maxi skirt that's short in front and long in back, maybe with some lace in the front? Or maybe this first top?

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What do you think? Cute? Obnoxious? Worth a try?

help!!!

Happy Memorial Day weekend, if you're in the US! I hope everyone is having a happy Monday all the same.

My Pretty Blouse pattern got picked up by a really big sewing blog (yay!) and it will be available in a couple of weeks. In the mean time, I need 3-5 last-minute pattern testers to help me make sure it's good to go.

I'm looking for pattern testers who:

* Have a range of sewing levels (probably not absolute beginners, but if you've got a little garment sewing experience under your belt, that's great)
* Wear size medium to extra-large
* Have an editor's eye
* Can complete the top and get feedback to me by THIS FRIDAY.

I cannot offer any compensation, but hey, I'll love you forever + link to you here in a later post.

If you're interested, send an email to themodernmarigold at gmail dot com with "pattern tester" in the subject line. Let me know what size you wear and what level seamstress you consider yourself. If you have a blog or Flickr stream you can link to with examples of your sewing projects, that's super.  Got it, thanks everyone!

THANK YOU!! smoochies!

rhubarb comes to new york

There are lots of nice things about having a farmer for a next-door neighbor (a tractor snow plow and maple syrup come to mind, besides that they're just super nice people). It's also nice that they have about a billion rhubarb plants and are happy to offload a few pounds here and there.

Side note: new sandals this week. We each picked our own, can you tell?

{oh that toddler tummy! nibble nibble!}

Strawberry-rhubarb compote: 1.5 pounds chopped rhubarb + 1 cup sugar + 1/4 cup water, cook till it's falling apart, then add the zest + juice of 1 lemon and a bunch of chopped strawberries. It's like strawberry-rhubarb pie without the crust (which, ok, is half the point, but jeez, a lot easier).

{Red white and blue! Happy Memorial Day weekend!}

Breakfast. And lunch. And midnight snack. Yum.

giveaway winner

Woohoo for Stephanie! Thanks to everyone who entered & for all of your supersweet comments -- I was glowing all week long! And I'm so excited for all the new readers who've joined us -- welcome! See you soon...

the dandelion tee tutorial

I love dandelions! Technically weeds, ok, but I think they're really pretty. This tee has been floating around in my head for a couple of weeks, inspired by all the dandelion bouquets my little chickies have been gathering lately. It's an easy-breezy tee, meant for gardening, picnics, and cloud watching.

All you need are a few small supplies (you probably have some of them hanging around already) and about an hour.

If you have a shirt you want to use that fits well, great. Otherwise, you'll need to dig up that perfect-fitting white shirt of yours that's in the bottom of your laundry basket and is getting embarrassingly grungy because you're too cheap to buy a new one, so you wear it twice between washes and just about every day.

What?

Oh. So, take your men's undershirt and fold it in half. Fold your grungy white shirt in half and lay it on top of the men's shirt, matching the shoulder seams of both shirts. Cut the men's shirt about 1/4 inch bigger all the way around than your grungy white shirt.

Go wash your grungy shirt. Then sew up the sides of the men's shirt, right sides together. If you have a serger, you can finish the neck/sleeves/hem. Or not.

Cut a few small squares of your yellow fabrics and fuse them to a piece (mine is 7x12 inches) of Wonder-Under (man I love that stuff). You'll also need to fuse a long, skinny green fabric scrap to make the dandelion stem.

Cut the Wonder-Undered fabrics into wonky rectangles of varying lengths and widths. Mine were between 1-3 inches long and 0.5-1.5 inches wide. Go fuse yourself to the TV while you peel off the paper backings (I watched Prince Caspian. Kinda fun. I love the part where they storm the castle and one of the guards wigs out when he figures out how to turn on Edmund's flashlight.)

Arrange all the pieces into a design that suits your fancy and iron thoroughly.

Now for my favorite part! Head to the sewing machine and doodle away. Don't get all persnickety, just make squiggly lines and screw up and miss a few spots and then go back for more.

Done! Now go take a picture to share with us (and if you find a way to take a cute picture of yourself, call me).

Thanks for reading/sewing along!

it's giveaway day!

Three cheers for Giveaway Day! And welcome, cute new readers!

I'm giving away a luscious rainbow stack of vintage linens -- seriously my favorite thing.

And I bet you're gonna make something fabulous.

To enter, just leave a comment and your email address. Open internationally.

I'll pick a winner randomly sometime Thursday the 26th.

In the mean time -- poke around? check stuff out? and have a great day!

(*smooch*)

butter bar no more

So my man got promoted yesterday. I can't tell you how stoked he is about it (and to not have to wear the dreaded butter bar anymore). Lizzy stuck the new rank on his ACUs, I pinned the new rank on his beret, we kissed, and we had Burger King for dinner. All is right with the world.

Congratulations, love. Two years ago, we stepped off the edge of uncertainty and found a life better than we ever could have imagined. I love our life together. I love you. I'm so very proud of you. Thank you for being the best man a girl could ever ask for.