On a Lark » swiss dot http://onalarkdesign.com Sewing, cooking, and generally enjoying life Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:08:53 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Brown Paper Packages! http://onalarkdesign.com/2010/03/26/brown-paper-packages/ http://onalarkdesign.com/2010/03/26/brown-paper-packages/#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 01:36:06 +0000 Emily http://onalarkdesign.com/?p=358 Are there many things better than getting a package on a sunny spring day? Sitting in my mailbox this morning was my order from Lush! My New Years Resolution this year was to try to make generally more healthy decisions, so I used this as an excuse to order some natural shampoo, conditioner, and deodorant. I’m [...]]]> Are there many things better than getting a package on a sunny spring day? Sitting in my mailbox this morning was my order from Lush! My New Years Resolution this year was to try to make generally more healthy decisions, so I used this as an excuse to order some natural shampoo, conditioner, and deodorant. I’m not willing to give up function on any of these items, but Lush products work great and are mostly free of preservatives and harmful chemicals, which is both good for me and Mama Earth. Word to the wise, order from the store not the website. If your order is over $60 (which between my roommate, our boyfriends, and me wasn’t too hard to meet), than shipping is free and it comes in just a few days.

I got the Seanik Solid Shampoo, the Teo Deoderant and the Jungle Solid Conditioner. Both of the guys got Soak and Float Solid Shampoo. This shampoo literally smells like fire. But men seem to love it. So there you go.
Lush 1
Lush 2
The fact that there’s more than one picture on here of my shampoo and conditioner should be an indication of how excited I am.

In other news, the dress is coming along great. I had to make two alterations in the top and this is the first time I’ve ever done an alteration mid-project that actually looked like I meant to do it in the first place. Big strides around here.
Almost there!
The final step is the invisible zipper. Which requires an invisible zipper foot. Which I do not have. Anyone have any great suggestions on how to put in an invisible zipper?

And finally, one more lovely reminder of spring. Our resident huntress, Scout the Kitty. Can you spot her under the bird feeder?
Scout

]]> http://onalarkdesign.com/2010/03/26/brown-paper-packages/feed/ 1 Spring time and dresses http://onalarkdesign.com/2010/03/11/spring-time-dresses/ http://onalarkdesign.com/2010/03/11/spring-time-dresses/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:12:33 +0000 Emily http://onalarkdesign.com/?p=331 Do you know that feeling that you get when you step inside after standing by a bonfire as the sun goes down? And your nose and ears are cold but the rest of you still has the lingering warmth of the fire? And the house smells like fire and spring time? That is the best. It [...]]]> Do you know that feeling that you get when you step inside after standing by a bonfire as the sun goes down? And your nose and ears are cold but the rest of you still has the lingering warmth of the fire? And the house smells like fire and spring time? That is the best. It looks like it might finally be spring time in Maine. The flowers are sprouting. The driveway is muddy.

Besides enjoying the spring weather, I got my bridesmaid’s dress for my brother’s wedding. His fiance (who is probably the most organized and sane bride-to-be that I know) told us all to find a black cocktail dress for the occasion. No seafoam green tulle will be rotting in my closet! So here’s what I picked (from J. Crew):
I love it so much that I want it in other colors. I wonder if I could make my own. Has anyone sewn with silk tricotine? It seems like a relatively easy pattern, but I’m pretty new to working with slippery materials that might not respond well to my furious seam ripping.

I also picked new fabric for my graduation dress! I’m starting to get a little panicked that it won’t be ready in time, because I only have about 6 weeks! And as it turns out, they still expect me to do homework until I actually graduate. Crazy. Anyhow, I went with a little bit more informal fabric, and I’m excited. I picked blue light weight chambray for the top and the deep red swiss dot that I showed in a previous post for the bottom:

It’s going to be great. What are you doing to celebrate spring time?

]]> http://onalarkdesign.com/2010/03/11/spring-time-dresses/feed/ 0 Operation Graduation Dress: Part 2 http://onalarkdesign.com/2010/02/26/operation-graduation-dress-part-2/ http://onalarkdesign.com/2010/02/26/operation-graduation-dress-part-2/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:28:07 +0000 Emily http://onalarkdesign.com/?p=306 So now that my muslin is complete and (miraculously) fits, I’ve been doing some fabric shopping online. Luckily it’s been rainy up here because if it had been nice I would have wasted an entire afternoon indoors shopping for fabric online. Thanks to Powerpoint and Grab I made up a few “mock ups.” I’m pretty sure [...]]]> So now that my muslin is complete and (miraculously) fits, I’ve been doing some fabric shopping online. Luckily it’s been rainy up here because if it had been nice I would have wasted an entire afternoon indoors shopping for fabric online. Thanks to Powerpoint and Grab I made up a few “mock ups.” I’m pretty sure this is how they do it in the fashion world :) Anyhow, inspired by my buddy Shannon’s suggestion, I followed a trend I’ve been seeing around with two or three block colors. What do you think?

I’m leaning towards the first pick because it’s all lightweight cotton lawn or hemp, so it’ll be a little less formal. The other two are silk/cotton pique or a combination of the two.
In related news, my sewing machine is all packed up and ready to go home for spring break! I’ll be in Boston for a few days and in Philadelphia for a few days, but the rest of the week will be quality one-on-one time with my sewing machine. My iron will probably be involved. And I bet my golden retriever will get in there somewhere.

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