Movie Monday-Best Friends

Do you love animals?  You'll love today's Movie Monday pick!

            

I love that the puppy looks like she's in pure bliss and joy.  And the little kiss near the end is beyond sweet~

Big thanks to my lovely bloggy buddy PJ from over at Planned in Pencil who suggested this video and promised me I wouldn't cry when I clicked on the link.

She was right, it just puts a great big smile on your face when you watch.  Go ahead...try it!

If you have a favourite YouTube video that makes you smile, send me the link and I'll add it to my list of Movies to share.  You can reach me at etcetorize {at} yahoo {dot} ca or leave a link below.

Blogher Master Class on Pinterest

We all do it, but do we all do it the right way?  Is there a right way?  You can find out by watching 3 quick videos that were recently released by Blogher on the power of Pinterest.

The first one covers best practices:

The second video looks at how to harness the power of the most influential digital platform on the web today:
             

Lastly, and my most favourite of the three, Tips from Power Pinners:

I have to admit, I pin pics of things that inspire me along with my own projects, and that's about it.  But this class has me looking at it all in a different way.  Pinterest is probably my top referrer so it pays to get a better understanding of how to use it.

Are you a power pinner?  Do you "pin to win"?  What do you use Pinterest for? Leave a comment below~

Chasing Elise Ward II

Last week I showed you my Elise Ward (Angelina Jolie in the Tourist) inspired dress.  Today I'm sharing a lovely long, skin tight pencil skirt I made with the same inspiration in mind.

It has a nice kick pleat at the back that makes for easy maneuvering.  The stretch suiting I used helps too.   I took it in on the sides a bit and angled in along the bottom of the side seams to give it a more sassy look.

I made View F of this nice new Simplicity pattern:

View D is definitely on my
list of things to make.

If you make this pattern, beware the trap you might fall into if you use invisible zippers.  I didn't look ahead in the instructions and completely forgot there was a yoke.  Skip the zipper step and go back to it after your yoke is in, otherwise you will have a lot of stitches to pull....take it from me.

Unfortunately, I got some vexing news at my local fabric store.  They aren't going to carry Simplicity patterns any more.  Apparently Simplicity no longer has any distribution from Canada so a lot of stores have given up on them because they take so long to receive orders.  New Look is already next to impossible to find, now Simplicity too!

Good think I know how to shop online~

Voguepedia

We've all heard of Wikipedia, but have you heard of Voguepedia???

If you're a sewer, then I know you're also interested in all things fashion as well.  Voguepedia is a goldmine of information on everything that Vogue (the magazine)covers, which as we all know, is the fashionista's bible.

You can type something in the search bar or just have fun clicking through the categories.  I love the Turning Points section which looks at all sorts of topics that changed the look of fashion over the years.

Because Vogue is more than just fashion, you have everything from the Bob, to shoulder pads, to stiletto heels in here.  There's a beautiful image, a short article, a timeline, along with the date that it was first shown or mentioned in Vogue.

The Bob Haircut, first shown in Vogue
December 1914.

Of course, models and personalities is a fun category to click through, but I really enjoy looking through the editors section.  This is for the real Vogue afficionado's.  We all have our favourite editors who have brought their own special flair to the magazine.  Mine is probably Grace Coddington, her fashion layouts are legendary.

A Grace Coddington directed fashion shoot.

Check out the Brands, Designers, and Photographers sections for more fabulous images and inspiration.  You're sure to find something that will spark the design for your next project.

*This is not a sponsored post, I just thought you would enjoy this fun site~

Movie Monday-Pachelbel's Canon

Happy Monday everyone!

Even if you don't listen to classical music I'm sure you've heard Pachelbel's Canon, one of my favourite pieces of music.  Rob Paravonian disagrees though... he's haunted by Pachelbel.  Maybe you will be too after you watch this quick video~

Have a great Monday!

Easy Fall Scarf

This project is so easy it doesn't even really warrant a tutorial, but I've been on the road all week for work so this is all I've had time to put together~

To make your own all you need is 1 metre of dyed muslin and a standard sewing kit.

I picked up this muslin at my favourite discount fabric store in Edmonton, Alberta last spring.  I've never seen coloured muslin before.  They had all sorts of pretty pastel colours.  It was hard to pick just one but in the end I went with the pretty pink.

This is the loosest weave muslin,
almost a cheesecloth but not quite.

The fabric just under 60" wide.  I thought about cutting it different ways, but in the end I simply straightened the cuts on the ends and sewed them together so that it's one big loop.  I didn't even unfold it.  So one long edge is folded and the other is the two selvedges brought together.

This is a great project to put your french seam skills to use.  That way your seam is enclosed so that it won't fray, but also people won't focus on the finished seam edge, just a pretty halo of pink around your pretty face~

I know light pink might seem more like a springtime colour, but when you pair it with a deep aubergine, olive green, or dark grey, it's gorgeous for fall.

Don't you hate it when all of a sudden,
out of nowhere,
you need a haircut~

What's your go to colour this fall?  Leave a comment below~



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Fun (and FREE) Digital Images

Even if you don't have an electronic cutter, even if you're not into digital scrapbooking, even if you don't know what I'm talking about, you'll enjoy a visit to MissKateCuttables.

Miss Kate sells, and gives away, svg files.  She gives some great directions on how to use and cut svg's on cutting machines but they also come in handy for other digital art.

Just set up a quick account, go to Freebie of the Day, and download the file.  You can download it up to 3 times and you'll get a .jpg, .png, and a .svg inside a zipped folder.  Just open the folder, save the files to your pictures folder and away you go.

The Freebies of the Day are only up for one day so you need to check back each day so you don't miss something cute.  I can't believe I missed those adorable owls!

Miss Kate also sells all kinds of other images for very reasonable prices.

Check out all the categories!

There's waaaaay more than that, but that's all I could fit in here.

Run on over there and let me know what kinds of awesome projects you come up with for these super cute designs~

*This is not a sponsored post. I just stumbled onto this site and thought you would enjoy it~

Channelling Elise Ward

For my new fall wardrobe I've taken inspiration from Elise Ward...otherwise known as Angelina Jolie in The Tourist~

I just think she's the epitome of grace and style in this movie.  I haven't mastered the sultry walk, the husky whisper of her voice, or the ambiance of glamour and mystery all rolled into one, but I do have an awesome fitting dress.

I had this dress in mind while I was making mine.

but I think I was subliminally inspired by this one:

I didn't want my dress to actually look like anything she wore, I just wanted that vibe.  The look and feel of something made well, that hangs absolutely perfectly, with not one ripple...and maybe even gives you curves where you don't have any.

I'm shocked that I was able to accomplish this with such a simple (and old) pattern.

circa 1999
I made view E size 6.

Just goes to show you, sometimes you don't need all the bells and whistles.

I'm so tempted to make 10 more of this dress, just in different colours, but that might look a little weird.  So, make sure to come back next week to see my other Elise Ward look~

New Blog Look

Ahhh!  After more time than I care to admit thinking about it, I've finally made a few changes to how Etcetorize looks.

I'm the type of person who takes 10 minutes to decide whether or not I want my spaghetti baked when I go out to dinner, so making a change to the entire look of my blog, which has stayed pretty close to the same for three years, is actually a pretty big leap for me.

I really don't mind change, but I also love routine.  And I really did love the look of my blog, I just felt like it was beginning to look a bit dated.  And let's face, I'm trying to fit in with the trend of everything being nice and clean and clutterish free.  (I still have some work to do.)

I'm nowhere near considering changing blogging platforms but if you're like me and thinking about making some small changes here are a couple of tips.

Create a practice blog where you can try things out.

-Don't actually post anything of substance here, you don't want Google to pick it up.  It's like a sandbox where you can try different images, colours, headers, sidebars, etc.

Once you've figured out what colours you want for things like tabs and links, write down the colour numbers. (Template, customize, advanced)

-You might think you'll be able to remember where to find the perfect salamander coral again but trust me, you won't.  When you're ready to make the switch on your regular blog, just type in the colour number instead of trying to find it on the pretty little grid.

Ditto for blog and column sizes. (Template, customize, adjust widths)

-Write down what size all of your columns are currently, just in case you want to go back to that.  Also, write down the column sizes for your new look.  This will help when trying to figure out how big your new advertising and sidebar images need to be.

Once you have something you like, stick with it, at least for awhile.

-It's fun to play around but branding is about recognition.  It will take your readers a very short amount of time to adjust to your new look, but you don't want them guessing from week to week if they've hit the right link and landed on your blog or someone else's.

Pretty common sense stuff really.  Like I said above, I still have quite a bit of work to do to get things exactly where I want them, but I've taken the first step and am happy with the result so far, hopefully you like it too!

Movie Monday-Mariza

Yay!  It's the start of a new week.  You know what that means?  It's time for Movie Monday!

I've been a huge fan of Mariza ever since I saw her perform on David Letterman years ago.  She has one of the most powerful voices you will ever hear~

Have a great week everyone~

Ribbing Skirt

I have lots of travel out of town this month for work (including this past week) so that means two things....all of the clothes that I'm making myself right now need to be 1) comfortable and 2) quick and easy to make.

Which brings me to a skirt I whipped up before I headed out for meetings earlier this week:

Those shoes look beautiful on
but they are killers on the feet~

Believe it or not, I've had this fabric in my stash for at least 10 years!!!!!  Time to put it to use~

Here's what you need to create your own skirt in not time flat.

Materials:
-Stretch material (mine is some sort of sweater type ribbing maybe?)
-thread, elastic, standard sewing kit

Steps:
1) As I mentioned above, my fabric may be some sort of ribbing.  I'm really not sure but it's extremely narrow which is often how ribbing comes.  So, to start, I simply cut two piece the approximate length that I wanted my skirt to be plus the hem length and another half inch or so.  I really just eyeballed it.

2) I have fairly narrow hips so this fabric, once opened up, was exactly the width I needed for one front and one back.  If you're a bit more curvy you might want to piece together your back piece or you may need to have a seam in the front.

3) I knew I wanted a sort of sassy school teacher vibe so I sewed up the seam along one side and then left a bit open on the other for a slit.  Even though the fabric is stretchy, this also makes it just a bit easier to walk in.

4) Serge or finish all of the sewed edges except for the bottom.

5) Now cut a piece of your wide elastic to fit around your waist and sew the ends together, making a circle.

6) Mark your elastic as well as the top of your skirt in quarter or eigths, whatever you're most comfortable with.

7) Match up all of your marks and secure your elastic onto your fabric.  There are several ways you can do this but if you want everything to lay as flat as possible simply place your elastic on the outside of your waist edge and pin about 1/4" down, stretching everything as you sew.

8) If your fabric is anything like mine serging will stretch it out and create a lettuce edge effect.  Sometimes this is a fun embellishment but not something I wanted for this project.  For the bottom edge, I zigzagged it and then just applied loads of steam to get it to lay flat.  Then just measure up your hem and sew down as you normally would.

Zigzagged and steamed,
but not hemmed yet.

That's it!  In about an hour or less you'll have a brand new skirt....and once less chunk of fabric in your stash closet.

I wore this to a meeting on Wednesday and got lots of nice compliments, and only one person who had the urge to touch it to feel how soft it is (female, thank goodness).

I sewed up a storm last week and can't wait to show you my other sassy schoolteacher outfits next week.

What's your fall style, trend, or colour that you're picking up on?  Leave a comment below~