Portrait of the Blogger as a Young Girl

My sister posted some old childhood photos of us...I think we were pretty cute kids.

(And in case you were wondering, I'm older by four years.)

I'm probably watching Sesame Street while my mother tries to take a picture.

That was my all time favorite sleepwear. I called it my ballerina nightgown.

I actually got that same doll for Christmas again last year.

Yes, Belle was definitely my favorite princess when I was little.

I always loved reading...Lindsay liked looking at the pictures. Now that we're almost grown ups, I love to write and she loves to draw.

The first day of third grade for me, the first day of kindergarten for Lindsay. And more proof that Belle was my favorite princess!

My mouth looks funny because I had to wear an orthodontic piece called a frankel for several years. It was painful, but it meant that I only wore braces for a year and half.

So that's a handful of pictures from the past. Although I don't think I would want to wear any of the outfits ever again.

Except the pink dress. I might wear the pink dress again...

But just for fun, here's my sister and I now! This was taken at my bachelorette party in February. She bought that red coat at a thrift store, and that night two drunk gay men tried to buy it from her while we were at IHOP at three in the morning. She wouldn't let them buy it, but she did let the blond one try it on. It was hilarious.

A Colonial Deluge

Every Christmas my university would host Lighting of the Green, a holiday event for Nashville locals. Amy Grant sings, there are lots of snacks and pictures with Santa, and it generally kicks off the season.

For the past two years, members of the theater department provided walkaround actors who helped direct guests and answer questions. Since I was one of only two members of the department who could sew (the other being my sister), I was in charge of casting and costuming.

In 2008, we had a combination of Disney and Dickens characters. I sewed a few new pieces, but most costumes were cobbled together from the costume shop and my personal costuming closet.

However, in 2009, I was informed that theme would be colonial America. Wonderful! I grew up with visits to Williamsburg and I love the time period.

Bad news? Our costume shop contained only four possible dresses (one with a 36" bust, one with a 34", and two with 32") and a few pairs of knee britches. I would have to make everything else. And so I did.

Here's how I spent my Thanksgiving vacation in 2009:


I sewed four pairs of knee britches, two short gowns, ten dresses, eight petticoats, two aprons, and half a dozen pinner caps. Due to my lack of time and lack of accurate patterns, almost everything was self drafted. But all in all, they turned out nicely.

Blue and gold shortgown with gold pinner. The actress also wore a gold petticoat.

Purple stomacher gown with purple pansy stomacher. The petticoat was the same fabric as the stomacher. The print was anachronistic, but I just loved it, and it was perfect for the actress who wore it.


Floral stomacher gown with striped stomacher and petticoat. I worked with my friend Lindsey to sew this, so she did most of the work herself! And it was her first project, too.

Four pairs of knee britches. Yikes! I hate sewing pants...


White muslin gown (the only one sewn directly from a pattern). The cloak was from the shop.

Mint green floral frock gown. And she was totally wearing a bum roll too.

Blue frock gown and pinner. It was inspired by the American Girl Felicity doll's birthday dress.

I made the knee britches; the rest was from the shop.

Blue silky polycotton dress with white cotton petticoat. Totally inspired by Felicity's Christmas dress. (Doesn't she look like the Felicity doll?)

I didn't make any of these pieces, but I did put it together.

I didn't make their outfits either, but I did reconstructive surgery on that frock coat suit. It was ripped twelve ways from Tuesday!

Blue satin frock gown. This one is my favorite...it was inspired by a dress from the Marie Antoinette movie and has 17 1/2" yards of ruffles!

Pink cotton and white muslin chemise a la reine, also inspired by the Marie Antoinette movie. I'm probably going to make one for myself.

The pink monster! Sewn from a terribly awful polyester satin from my stash that did nothing but fray and bunch. It broke five machine needles and is now languishing in my scraps box, thinking about what it's done.


Plaid shortgown and petticoat, inspired by Felicity Merriman's school outfit.

Red and white flannel gown with red cotton petticoat. My absolute favorite! It fit her like a dream.

I made a dress for myself as well, but I don't have any pictures of it.

It was a lot of time, energy, and stress, but I think the end was well worth it!

Virtual Shopping Jaunts

Now, I enjoy shopping as much as the next girl. I like meeting friends at the mall, strolling around, perusing shops, snacking on overpriced pretzels. It's a nice way to spend the day.

However, I rarely get any real shopping done. I usually pick up a top or a pair of shoes or a headband, carry it around for an hour or two while agonizing, and eventually put it back. There is no rhyme or reason to my shopping, just an insatiable desire for stuff.

But as I begin my quest for a fantastic wardrobe, I know I need to be more careful about what I choose. Therefore, I'm starting out with a good friend of mine: Ebay.

I've made my list of sewing projects and necessary wardrobe pieces for the month, and I've made a couple of tentative bids.



A black pin stripe dress

A black Libertine dress

Black strappy sandals

A red bag

Black tights

I'm also going to hit up Target for a plain white tee shirt and jeggings. So, in other words, I'm getting a crap ton of basic pieces.

I've also planned three outfits I'm going to sew. One is this Anthropologie dress.

I think that this jersey from Denver Fabrics will do quite nicely, don't you?

I have also been inspired by the outfit from The Clothes Horse. I love the floral trim on the hem. I made an 18th century gown that had a very similar feel, just on a larger scale, but that went to the costume department instead of my own stock. It'll be nice to have such a pretty dress in my own wardrobe.

I also have designed an outfit inspired by Snow White. She's not one of my favorite princesses, but her dress is so iconic and lovely. I'm thinking a puff-sleeve blouse, a yellow skirt, and a navy vest, plus a red headband.

Now...where to find the money...

(By the way, I do commissions. In case you were wondering. Also, I am a poor newlywed.)

What's a Kafka?

Back in the fall of 2008, I took my first directing class. I had been an assistant director for a couple of shows (Into the Woods, He Grips the Heel, some random church sketches) but now I got to do it all on my lonesome. And then I realized I loved it. Awesome sauce. Too bad it's so hard to make a living as a theater director...

In any case, for my final I had to direct a one-act play for Shorts!, which was actually going to be a mainstage production for December rather than a class workshop. Out of the handful of approved scripts, I chose Words, Words, Words by David Ives. You know the theory that if you leave a monkey alone with a typewriter, odds of probability dictate that they'll eventually type out Hamlet? That's the basis for the play. Three monkeys- Milton, Swift, and Kafka- have been sitting in a laboratory with typewriters for years, trying to figure out whether or not they're typing Hamlet. Hilarity ensues.

I've assisted with casting plenty of times, and was really particular when I cast my production. I knew going into it that I wanted Caleb to play Swift, the angry monkey. (Although, unlike other directors who blatantly play favorites, I kept this to myself and listened to auditions with an open mind. It just turned out that Caleb had the best reading after all.) Caroline played Kafka, the adorably confused girl monkey, and Bliss played Milton. Originally he played the character very sarcastic, very biting, but it was too close to Swift's personality. We talked it over and decided to try playing Milton as a fanboy and huge suckup to the scientists, particularly Dr. David Rosenbaum, and it was perfect. And we also had a Dr. Rosenbaum (played by Nick) even though he is only mentioned in the script and never seen. It was an absolutely fabulous cast and I was lucky to have them.

Also, the set had a real tire swing.

In any case, I had a microscopic budget for costumes. So when I designed them, I knew they had to be cheap. I also didn't want to put them in monkey suits. That would be creepy.

So my costume plot began with what performing monkeys in old-timey circuses would wear. I decided on knickers, bow ties, and suspenders for the boys, and a little-girl dress for Kafka. We had about fifteen minutes to shop before we had to be back for run-through rehearsal, so with no further ado we all loaded into Caleb's car, drove to Goodwill, and ran.

I told the boys to find corduroy pants in a muted color, while Caroline and I searched through dresses. We grabbed what we could get, paid for it, and got back on campus in time for rehearsal. We had a quick fitting afterwards, and then I had to take them home and work some magic.

Converting the boys' pants to knickers were easy. I marked them off with pins at their knees, cut, and hemmed them. Simple enough. Later, I had each of them pick out a shirt and bow tie from the department. I added red suspenders (the angry color) for Caleb and an embroidered vest for Bliss, and that was that.

Caroline's costume was a little harder. We ended up finding the perfect pieces for her, though. We found an orange and gold salwar kameez- a loose dress with long bloused sleeves and long loose pants, typically worn by Indian women. The dress was the right length, but far too loose on her. I sewed long darts on the front and back- two on each side- in order to fit the dress without taking it in on the sides. I also cut the sleeves to a shorter length and added elastic, turning them into puffs. I also removed the shoulder pads, because really, are those necessary?

For the pants, I cut them off at her knees and made elasticized cuffs, effectively turning them into bloomers. I used the remains of a pants leg to make a hairbow that I slid onto a narrow headband.

The final result?



Dr. David Rosenbaum is only mentioned in the script, but we had a real one. He was actually the assistant stage manager, so he just threw a white labcoat on over his black clothes and put on a pair of goggles. He stood in the balcony with a spot on him, observing the monkeys throughout the play, and tossed the reward of a cigarette to Milton at one point.

Nick got into character really well. Words, Words, Words was the first one-act after intermission, so he spent intermission in costume with a notebook in hand, wandering through the audience and taking notes. I think I still have the book somewhere...

Gettin' some love from my cast (minus Rosenbaum, who was probably up in the flies taking down lights at the time.)

(Also, I used to be blonde.)

(No, I don't know how we managed to color coordinate.)

And just to show what I had to work with in the beginning:

That was a good show.

Good grief...

This is an excellent evening to stay inside with a good book, hot chocolate, and a really large blanket.

But it would be ever so much better if the hubster had decided to stay home with me instead of going down to Green Hills to play video games with the guys. You see, I-24 is flooded. Badly flooded. Submerged, even.

So now I'm sitting alone on the couch, alone, sulking, aimlessly wandering through the internet while watching How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. He'll be home soon, though, for which I am truly grateful.

I would post my outfit for the day- the Soda Fountain Dress from Modcloth with a petticoat, silver ballet flats, shiny blue trench- but I arrived home rather bedraggled. So no picture.

And my dinner was rather dull- seared tuna and seasoned pasta. So no thrilling recipes.

I have no music, no movies, no books, no theater, no cupcakes, no babies (maybe...), and therefore I am as dull as dishwater this evening.

Therefore, please enjoy this video of a cat trying to run up a slide.


Have a good evening.