Beach Bustier Adventures

Happy weekend to you all, my dear readers! This has been a really busy month for me and I apologise for not posting more often. We had a lot of important events recently in our local military community that kept me busy, as well as pretty much a weekend-long birthday celebration for myself. Not to mention the super fun steroid withdrawals I've been having (Yay! I'm just thrilled to be off the horrid things!) keeping me sickish and therefor lazy. But on the bright side, my chronic pain is better enough that I have a sewing project to share with you!

I had a blast sewing this beach bustier top. It was one of those projects where I got to see my sewing practice start to pay off; you know, when you can finally see that you're a better seamstress than you realized? My top stitching came out straight, my seams all matched perfectly, and this little baby is clean from the inside out!

I made this beauty using my 1950's Style Beach Bustier Digital Pattern with the intention of adding a skirt to make it into a dress. I had originally planned on making it strapless so I boned the side seams for more support. Then after a fitting, realized that if I waned strapless I needed to have used a size smaller. So in went the original halter strap which I really liked better in the long run.

I hadn't added any buttons at this point, waiting for the skirt to be attached so I could work out a smooth button/ zipper combo in the back.

Well, I added the skirt, and in a hurry to get it finished in time for an event, completely botched my closure plans. I kid you not, the whole thing has been sitting in a crumpled pile on my guest-bed now for a month. All I need to do is rip the zipper out and sew it in again with a bit of the dress taken in, but have I gotten around to it yet? No. (hangs head in shame).

Well, there you have it. I'm not perfect, but I sure can make a pretty half-done mess, now can't I?

Are there any UFO's (UN-finished objects) laying around your sewing space, shaming and guilting you as you ignore their cries for closure?

On Beauty

Casey from Casey's Elegant Musings posted a great piece on beauty throughout history today. The post included some videos that I found very fascinating, that outline a bit of the history of women and their cosmetics.
I have to say that I enjoy my morning makeup session as much as the next girl, but I had never thought about how trends had changed over the last 100 years and how cosmetics were affected by wars, liberation, the vote, and many other things. I highly recommend checking out Casey's fascinating post.

The only makeup I wore before I was 20 was a bit of concealer to cover up the random blemish and eye shadow on special occasions. Then I was engaged and my darling mother-in-law to-be introduced me to bare minerals and from then on I was hooked. Now I can barely step out of doors without my face perfectly powdered into submission. Why is that? I was perfectly confident in my appearance until I started using makeup, and now, without it, that confidence is greatly diminished. I'm sure that's just what cosmetic companies depend on. Makeup has become a sort of armor, and without it some of us hesitate to go out in public.

Well, I won't think about that today. I'll think about that tomorrow.
Instead of dwelling on my own insecurities, I'm going to deflect, and show you some beauty advertisements from my own collection that I thought you might enjoy.
France, 1950's:

 Always sure to be in style: with one of the new colors of Gemey powder.