Winner of Birthday Give Away!

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My birthday this year was AWESEOME! Mr. Retro surprised me with an two day overnight trip to NYC. We spent eight glorious hours in the Metropolitan Museum of Art--man that place is HUGE! Of course we made a stop at the "Impossible Conversations: Elsa Schiaparelli and Muicca Prada" exhibit. It was pretty awesome as I didn't realize how outside the box Prada actually thinks when designing (for some reason I always picture her stuff as kinda boring and in neutral colors). The Lobster Dress (made famous by Wallis Simpson when she wore it for her engagement pictures) was not on display but some of Schiaparelli's other significant fashion contributions were. Her attention to detail on jackets and hats is beyond amazing. And it was really interesting to see how much Schiaparelli influenced and continue to influence fashion. Seriously--elements of her stuff is EVERYWHERE. 

But on to the winner...

Congratulations Karen Shaw-Jones! 

Karen shared this lovely and envy-inducing birthday memory:

My birthday is December 12, and each year I am reminded of one very special time. My partner surprised me with a trip to Paris (2008). He had thought of every little detail, boutique hotel, dinner on the banks of the Seine followed by a boat trip where he produced a stunning diamond solitaire ring and proposed.
It was a magical fairytale, sailing along the Seine with the twinkling Christmas fairy lights in the distance surrounded by the stunning backdrop of all the Parisian sights at night! Of course I squealed with delight and we celebrated with a champagne show at the Moulin Rouge!. 

Congratulations on so many levels, Karen! I'll be in touch shortly to get some mailing details from you.

Birthday Give Away!

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com Hello friends!

My birthday is exactly one week from today. I'll be THIRTY-THREE years old. I had a really rotten end of my twenties, and have thus far loved every minute of my thirties including falling for Mr. Retro and living in India for a year. They've been wonderful and magical, these thirties!

To celebrate my birthday, I'd like to gift one of you a little something special:

Vogue 8234 in size 12-14-15

Vogue 8280

Both patterns are uncut. I will also send along a grab bag of a few sewing thing-a-ma-jigs to the lucky winner. 

How to enter:

1. Leave a comment telling me about your fondest birthday memory. 
2. Make sure to include an email address so I may contact you if you win. 

I'll leave the giveaway up until midnight (Philadelphia time) May 28th (my birthday!) and will announce the winner May 29th. 

Good luck! 

Me-Made-May '12: Week Two (in which I cheat the rules a little...)

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com This is my Me-Made-May '12 pledge:

I, Tina of Down the Retro Rabbit Hole, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '12. I endeavour to wear an article of me-made clothing at least three times a week  for the duration of May 2012.

I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I kind of cheated a little this week. See, I have a dress that I was going to finish and wear this week. But I made a poor fabric choice (a quilting cotton--shameful, I know, but it was readily available and free to boot so... ). I'm going to finish the dress--and probably never wear it--because I've decided that I need to: 1) see projects through to the end and 2) practice, practice, practice (practicepracticepractice) my sewing skills. That being said, I'm really proud of how the insides of the dress turned out, specifically the sleeves (which I've had problems with before) and the lining of the sleeves and pockets. So I'm going to to finish the dress... damnit!

But moving on to what I wore this week...

May 8, 2012
This is the first item I successively (as in wasn't a complete and total wadder) completed this year. That being said, I don't really care for this shirt; however, it's perfect for mucking about the house whilst sewing and cleaning. 

May 12, 2012
Wore my modified Sorbetto to a porch party. The scarf is from Old Navy and the jacket from Target.
 Have I mentioned I love this top? 

And here's where I cheated friends:

May 12, 2012
Me-made earrings (Venetian glass and sterling beads)

I like to make items like jewelry, scarves, mittens, etc. and gift them to friends and family. As a result, I don't have a lot of these items in my possession. However, I really loved these Venetian glass beads and couldn't give them up!

So there you go... my cheat. As a result, I'm modifying my pledge thus:

I, Tina of Down the Retro Rabbit Hole, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '12. I endeavour to wear an article of me-made clothing or accessory at least three times a week  for the duration of May 2012

How about you guys? Is your Me-Made-May '12 going smoothly? What's your position on me-made accessories? Any cool sewing projects looming on the horizon?

Me-Made-May '12: Week One

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com Hello friends! This is going to be a short and sweet post (mostly). To recap, my Me-Made-May '12 Pledge is as follows:

I, Tina of Down the Retro Rabbit Hole, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '12. I endeavour to wear an article of me-made clothing at least three times a week  for the duration of May 2012.

And I did! Check ME out:

May 1, 2012: I wore my new PJs all day. Yeah, I roll like that.

May 4, 2012: Simplicity 2215 skirt worn to the Van Gogh exhibit at the PMA. Fittingly, as this skirt is made out of a cotton I purchased while living in India, Mr. Retro took my picture in the Asian Art Gallery in front of a sculpture of the Indian God Brahma. 

The last item I wore this week is a modified Colette Sorbetto. If you remember, friends, the Sorbetto was the first item I made and debuted on this blog and it was AWFUL. If you really want to see it in all of it's Frankenstein glory, go here. This Sorbetto, however, I rather like. And I damn well better as it took me... wait for it... THREE DAYS to get to fit right! I lengthened it by two inches, made the scoop in the front more scoop-y, and cut a "V" into the back. I attempted to scoop out the armholes a bit more, but it didn't really work for some reason. All of that I managed to do in one day. The next two days were spent fiddling with the gathers at the bust and the side seams. I ended up taking out about 1 1/2 inches on the sides to get it to curve in and not look like a tent on me. I wish I could say I made the bias tape, but I didn't by the time I got to that point I just wanted to be done so I bought some tape! I used this tutorial from A Few Threads Loose to bind the inverted "V" at the back. It worked rather well!

Front... you can't really see the gathers. 

Back... I kinda love the "V"! 

 The fabric is some toile I had laying about since... oh, forever. You can kinda see in this picture that I cut two back pieces (I added 5/8 inches for a seam) and sewed them together. This has more to do with the lack of fabric real estate than it does pattern modification. I feel that this garment will probably find itself in heavy rotation as Philly grows increasingly hot as balls warm.

Pay it Forward...

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Friends, in honor of Me-Made-May '12 (see my pledge here) I'm paying it forward! 

When I saw this post on Kat's blog, Petticoats & Peplums, I really wanted to play along but was late to the party (per usual). However, Marie at A Sewing Odyssey was not! I was lucky enough to catch her post (I hope ETA: I was not... but who cares! this is a great idea regardless. ETA II: I tried to be altruistic... I failed. I signed up over at Megan and the Machine. Go check out her blog, she's adorable!) and would  now like to invite three lovely readers to...

Here are the all-important details: I will send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this post - the gift will be a handmade surprise by me and I will send it to you sometime in the next 365 days.  All you need to do is the following: 

• Leave me a comment telling me your favorite color (or the colors you absolutely loathe) to help me make you a gift you'll hopefully love! Please don't forget to include your email address (if you profile doesn't link back) so I can get in touch. 

• To complete signing up, you MUST play along too by blogging a similar post and pledging to make a surprise for the fist three (3) people who comment on it. 

So, who’s going to join me and Pay It Forward then? I’m so excited to be playing along!