Lilly Refashioned: Part 2

Lilly Refashioned: Part 2a
In addition to the palazzo pants, I was bestowed another Lilly garment to refashion while visiting my parents. Inspired by the Floridian lifestyle, my sewing sage and I tackled the project. 

The Before: 

    

(This is what I look like when I haven’t showered or changed clothes in 36 hours because US Airways lost my luggage, in case you were wondering. In addition, yes, my tan lines have reached a new level of severity.)

My sister got this dress on a family vacation over ten years ago. It has faint stains all along the bottom, especially in the front. Hmm. Midwifery? Food butchery? Rust Belt livery? I believe the mystery might tell a more interesting story than the truth, so let’s imagine her cradling an injured sea turtle while on an excursion to the Galapagos. Bravery. 

Clearly the garment wasn’t going to work as a dress. But a top? We shall see. I whacked it just below the waist, thinking this might be a one-step refashion. The dress is very well structured, and the back has great detail. But I was unhappy with the effortless top. It looked like a dress I chopped off just below the waist. Weird.

My instinct was to keep the empire waist but make the body fuller. I inserted two triangular panels on the sides. Done and Done.

Now I’m not totally thrilled with it. The bell shape is too pronounced, but I’m taking it home. I have an idea the look may transform if I wear it with skinny jeans.

The After:
Let's just call it a work in progress.


Lilly Refashioned: Part 2b
With the extra fabric, my mom made a purse. She has instructions on her blog.

   

Adorable, right? 

And this is how much fabric is left. Coin purse? Dollhouse curtains? Monkey headdress?

Lilly: Refashioned

Enter stage left: oversized, wide-legged, unbecoming pants with adorable alligator pattern.  They are a Lilly Pulizter thrift store find.  I believe it is against state law in Florida to pass up Lilly on clearance.  Not wanting to be arrested, my mom bought them, with hopes that they might morph into a wearable pair of pants after an unspecified period of hibernation at the bottom of the dresser.

Thankfully for me, no natural metamorphosis took place, and I was able to exact my "reckless" sewing skills on them (her words, not mine).  I did what nature couldn't; that is, transform the pants into a very wearable dress.  But I definitely couldn't have done it alone.  I owe a lot of the finished product to my mom's sewing prowess and patience.  (She has a gift!) I (we) made darts! I (we) serged! I (we) used a gather stitch! All new techniques for me.

Here's the process: 

1. Rip out the crotch and both inseams.  Sounds a lot more painful than it is.  Switch the seams, and resew, to make a cylinder. Sew the pockets closed and rip off the back pocket.

2. I turned it around, so that the button and zipper were in the back.  I guess I could have stopped here, but it was a little too muumu-esque for my tastes.  But comfort and mobility it did offer. 

3. To mitigate the potato sack qualities of the dress, I took off the waistband and used a gather stitch to give the dress some fullness at the bust.  My mom also attached a cord with a bar tack stitch to give the dress some security and an artsy detail.

4. I chopped the hem off.  (Goodbye, Reformkleider.)  But it was still very sack-like.

5. This is where we (she) got serious.  We (she) added four darts, two straight up and down on the back side and two diagonally on the front side.

back darts

front darts, seen from inside out

6. Final steps.  Serge the bottom to prevent fraying and hand sew a hem.  Make a simple sash in a complementary color to cinch the waist.

7. Ta da! Heidi Klum isn't going to say Auf Wiedersehen to me any time soon.

8. For the kids, and for pinterest: 

Floridays: Crafting and Cooking

Stop one of "Patti Wagon: 2012 World Tour" was a complete success.  New York was wonderful, and I came away feeling very inspired, artistically and otherwise.   I am now in Florida, with full access to my mom's art studio and her 50ish years of clothing-making experience.   Time to get busy. 

The inspiration behind today's craftiness is two-fold.  (1) This blog.  An artist in South Carolina just finished two years of up-cycling a new outfit everyday.  Her imagination is obvious, but it's the execution that is so stunning to me.  The way she's able to "make it work" would titillate Tim Gunn.  (2) My luggage was lost on the way to Florida, i.e., I had no clothes.  Is there honestly a better reason to make new clothes?

Let's start with a little no-sew action.

Before: Dowdy skirt. Cute pattern. Lots of potential.

After: Trendy Tube Dress. New decree: Never pass up dowdy skirt in a cute fabric again. All you need is a belt to cinch it into a wearable piece.

If you're into this sort of thing, I have two more complex projects that I'll post tomorrow.

Consummate crafting day followed by consummate Florida evening. Shrimp feast at the Clayton homestead.

Quickest, most delicious shrimp recipe ever: Boil water in a large pot, add in a couple tablespoons apple cider vinegar and a couple tablespoons pickling spice. When it comes to a boil, add in raw shrimp, still shelled. Cook until the shrimp turn pink. Drain. Serve with ramekins of melted butter and various mix-ins: tabasco, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Sirracha, wasabi. Eat until you're sick. Regret nothing. 

Whew!

Today was the first day of Summer Workshop, and I'm as tired as [insert clever simile] <<<<< too tired to come up with one.  I had a 6am - 6pm day at school, and I'll be back at 6am tomorrow to do it all over again.  The kids seemed to really enjoy it, so I guess it's all worth it blah blah blah.

But let's get real, who's going to rub my tired feet tonight?

Here's the set-up: 

Red carpet. Notice the step and repeat on the left. Clever, right?

Swag bags

Any guesses?

How about here? (The green room snack was m&m's with the brown ones removed.)

Love these signs!

Who wants to go home with a vuvuzela? Blow-up guitar?

Tomorrow is movie character day, i.e. lots of Twilight references. Team Edward!

A Little Whetting of your July Appetite

Here are four things coming up on the Patti Wagon in July.  And lucky you! You're riding shotgun on the Patti Wagon for all these adventures.

1. Summer Workshop.  Starting Monday, I will don my costumes (pirate, Gaga, vampire, Potter, rapper), make a complete fool out of myself, and hopefully in turn, teach my students some SAT vocab.  We have been working like crazy getting everything set up just the way we like it.  The photo below is just a taste of the snack area. I'll post pictures of the finished product later this week.

2. A two week-long whirlwind trip that will lead me from Memphis to New York to Florida to Kentucky.  It will culminate in two of my favorite Clayton family traditions - canning camp and cousin camp.  This will be the sixth anniversary of canning camp, but the first since I started my blog. Look forward to a photo diary of the week.  I might even reveal a recipe.  (By the way, cousin camp = (boating + beer - children) × all the cousins on my dad's side. I do not expect any further questions on that.)

3. A guest post on home brewing from Bro Lo / El Cuñado.  There are so many things right about that sentence.  If you are not familiar with BL / EC, start watching The League. It's a favorite.

4. Two giveaways!  I'm partnering with my mom's blog, and we'll both have giveaways in July.  Be sure to check back later for all the details. 

An Ode to Corn

I have not been shy about my love of corn on this blog.  The Patti Wagon is rife with references to Zea mays.  Remember when I implored you to freeze corn here, and here, and here?  Well it's that time of year, so you better get to gettin'.  By all means, eat fresh corn this summer.  But find your inner-squirrel, and like acorns, save some corn for winter.  There are many ways to freeze corn, but you do need to cook it first.  You can cook it in your iron skillet.  My aunt swears by the microwave method.  Since I have a pre-1960s kitchen, I boil it. Here's what I do:

1. Find a farmer and get some corn. Sit back and admire the corn for a moment. (DO NOT omit this step. Corn is a beautiful thing.)

2. Fill your biggest pot with water and bring it to a boil. (Don't be intimidated by the canner. It's just my biggest pot.)

3. Husk the corn and get out as many silks as you can. Remember the rule: he who eats the most corn, eats the most silks. So don't stress if you don't get them all.

4. Once the water comes to a rolling boil, put about 5-6 ears of corn in the pot. Set your timer for 5 minutes when the corn goes in. Cover the pot and the water should come back to a boil in about 1 minute. If not, use fewer ears in the next batch. Or get a bigger pot.

5. While the corn is boiling, fill the sink with water and ice. I like to freeze a couple water bottles beforehand and use those to chill the water as well. Once the timer goes off, remove the ears from the boiling water and immediately place in the sink. Let them cool for 5 minutes. Add more ears to the boiling water and keep the cycle going. Make sure you keep adding ice cubes to the sink. You want that water to stay cold.

6. Once the ears have cooled, it's time to cut off the kernels. Use your sharpest knife, and make sure it's easy to cut through. If you feel like you're sawing and something tough, back the knife away from the ear a bit. (Advice Van Gogh should have taken.) Once you've cut off all the kernels, turn your knife over, and run the dull side against the cob. You'll get the corn milk out this way.

7. Keep boiling, cooling, and cutting until you've made your way through all your corn.

7. Bag it up. In freezer bags, of course. I started with 12 ears of corn, and I finished with 7 cups of kernels.

8. What to do with the naked ears? Compost? Squirrel food? Let a teething baby chew on them? (Note: I am decidedly not qualified to give parenting advice.) Or make corn stock? (My qualifications on cooking advice are slightly better.)

Corn Stock: Put the naked ears in a pot with a carrot, a few celery stalks, an onion, peppercorn, and some herbs (thyme is my favorite). Cover it with water and simmer away. After a few hours, you'll have corn stock. Run it through a sieve, bag it up, and freeze it. Think of the corn chowder you could make next January! (Note: I made corn stock last year, and it's still in my freezer. Oops. But the possibility that I could make homemade corn chowder with my homemade corn stock is one of the many reasons I wake up in the morning.)

9. So what do you do with the corn kernels after you freeze them (besides dream about the possibility of corn chowder)? Add them to vegetable soup. Or you could add them to this soup. Really add them any soup. Or make a Molly meal. Or cook the corn in my favorite way, described here. (Note: if you have fresh corn, don't boil it first. Just cut it right off the ear and put it in the skillet.)

I did that with my first ear of the season and then added the corn to a panzanella salad. In addition to the limey corn, the salad contained tomatoes, avocado, a boiled egg, and fresh herbs. I used my favorite pan for panzanella salad: the whole wheat English muffin. I love how the nooks and crannies soak up the dressing. I had one left from my experiment with homemade English muffins, and this was the perfect way to finish the batch. I dressed the salad with a simplicity: white wine vinegar, lemon juice, brown mustard, honey, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

Happy July 5th!

The July 4ths of my childhood were spectacular affairs.  My family would gather with the families of my parents' college friends at Summerhouse in Crescent Beach, FL.  While we had a week of festivities, July 4th would always include: 

• Endless dives off the diving board (with endless goading of the bullshot-drinking dads to "Rate my dive!")
• Watching Wimbledon in a wet swimsuit
• Woz dogs (I can describe a woz dog to you as a hot dog with a slice of cheese inside grilled on a charcoal grill by a man named Woz wearing a bumblebee striped shirt, but its prestige transcends the English language. Perhaps one of those 284 words for love in Eskimo would work.)
• Flag cake (simply ubiquitous)
• A choreographed dance routine (video evidence will unfortunately corroborate this)

This year I incorporated some of that childhood magic into my Independence Day. 

First there was this. 

And later this. 

And a wet swimsuit bike ride in between. 

And then there was this to eat. 

It's no flag cake, but I thought it was pretty cute.  I made the crust with this recipe.  The white, coconut cream pie. Recipe here.  It's a winner.  I cut out stars of the crust and baked them separately for about 10 minutes at 375 (brushed with milk and sprinkled with sugar beforehand).  The blue, blackberry pie.  Recipe here.  Delicious and couldn't be any easier. 

And then there was the red. Oh, the red! I'm not sure why the blue worked so well and the red was a major fail, but it was. The cherry pie recipe is here, and it was good-tastin' but not so good-lookin'. If I make this again, Betty Crocker strawberry pie will my red. It's as tried and true as Old Glory.

And then this morning, there was the feeling of having been run over by a mac truck.  Bike wreck, ship wreck, slip n slide wreck(s).  As the dogs say, 2012 has been rough.  But here's to hoping the rest of 2012 involves just as many adventurous activities with the potential for non-serious injuries!