BAMALAMADINGDONG

This month, the Sewcialists are paying tribute to Everyone Who Is Awesome. AND THAT'S A LOTTA Y'ALL. To be honest, ninety percent of what I make is inspired by what I see on your sewing tables. And sometimes, it's inspired by surprises from "strangers" who, in truth, know me better than some IRL civilian friends. Shhhhhhhhhh, don't tell.

Sarah from Grey's Fabric was charged with sending me a little somethin' somethin' for which to test a pattern by, and when I found out, I didn't hesitate to give her carte blanche. In fact, my reply to her query: What are you interested in? went exactly like this:
"OOOOO SARAH SARAH SARAH!!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!! i am so excited!!!! THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the world is your oyster, girl… surprise me!!"

AND SURPRISE ME SHE DID. LOOKIT THAT SPRAY CAN. LOOKIT IT!!!!!!
The pattern testing morphed, and turned out to be not perfectly suited to this Crazeballs Kablooey Awesomeness... so it remained folded. And waited. And quietly screamed at me. Daily. Then I was introduced to some Instagram eye candy, in the form of Tweak Boutique, and HELLO STRANGER, I devoured her feed and immediately had to cut into my spraycans. The lovely Caroline comes up with not only the most vivid, fun, eyepopping ensembles, she crafts her own jewelry to go with them. I found this out halfway into the bodice, when she asked if I might like a few pieces of bling. She crafted the real Dendrobium orchid ring you see perched on my finger, which is the perfect mate to this dress inspired by her feed!

Oh, Anna. You make me feel so tall. Even in flats! If you haven't deciphered the silhouette, this is indeed another By Hand London Anna. This makes 5 (a few are yet to be blogged). At this point, I know the pattern so well, I just barrel forward with a smugness borne of previous success.
We all know what goes before a fall.

I was super careful to place a can directed at my face, because, THAT'S AWESOME, but a bit willy nilly on the rest of it. Had some truly upsetting twinning goin' on with the two back panels, which required some flipping and some serious reattaching of limbs. The twinning mistake added about 4 hours of work in a smug free zone. You can spot the extra limb in the shot above, where side meets back.

But the surgery was worth it because, UM. THERE ARE MIRRORED SPRAY CANS RADIATING DOWN MY BUTT!!!

HAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Entire outfit: supplied, and inspired by, Friends I've Yet To Meet. OH WAIT! Did I say yet to meet? I LIE! YOU SIMPLY CANNOT TRUST ME! There's one more gal in there, Miss Lladybird Lauren, who gave me the contrasting vintage zipper yeeeears ago, before we had the fortune to meet IRL (repeatedly:). I waited all this time to find the perfect mate.
This outfit literally would not have happened without three fantastic women. And I feel pretty freaking lucky about it. Like I should play the lotto. Thankya, lovely, lovely ladies. I'll be rolling out ensembles inspired by Alla Y'all Amazing People all this month, and linking up to the sources of inspiration... and, as always, looking forward to seeing what you're cranking out! Inspiration Train, departing on the minute!
The Enablers And Inspirators:

Sarah from Grey's Fabric | Instagram | Blog Caroline from Tweak Boutique | Instagram and Lauren of Lladybird!