Happy Wednesday! I'm excited to be today's stop for The Staple Dress Blog Hop! I've talked about The Staple Dress Pattern by April Rhodes quite a bit on this blog, and I'm happy to be a part of the celebration for the release of the print version!


It's no secret that I love this pattern! I knew I wanted to make an extra special version for the hop. I picked up some lawn from The Sewcial Lounge shortly after the pattern was released and had been saving it for a special occasion. This is the fourth dress I've made using the pattern and it might just be my favorite! You can find my past dresses here, and here.


True to myself, I of course procrastinated in a major way and didn't sew up this dress until Monday. Thankfully it comes together super quickly and easily! I thought things would be foiled by today's rainy weather, but I had a lot of fun playing in the rain to get these shots!


I was reminded that sometimes when things don't work out the way you think they should, there is an opportunity hiding to do something out of the box. Is this what I had in mind taking photos the day before? Not exactly! But thank goodness, because my usual garment photos are a bit boring! Also, good thing my umbrella matched my outfit!


This dress is so wearable, even I will be finding excuses to wear it! And I'm not much of a dress-wearing girl.  I'm barely a skirt-wearing girl!

You can find the PDF version of The Staple Dress here, and the print version here. April also has a list of stockists here.


Would you like to win a copy of the printed pattern?  It's totally gorgeous!

To enter just leave a comment on this post! If you'd like, tell me about your favorite garment you've made! All entries welcome, winner will be chosen randomly.  Giveaway ends Tuesday, July 16th at 5pm CST.

Don't forget to check out the other stops on the hop, there is a chance to win a copy of the pattern every day!

Tues. July 9th: Katy Jones - I'm a Ginger Monkey

Wed. July 10th: Jeni Baker - In Color Order - (you're here!)

Thurs. July 11th: Carrie Bloomston - SUCH Designs

Fri. July 12th:  Julie Herman - Jaybird Quilts

Sat. July 13th:  Caroline - Sew Caroline & Rae - Made By Rae

Good luck!

Catching up!

Zakka Handmades: Raindrops Tote, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

Popping in quickly today to share a few things with you! I'll be back tomorrow for my stop on a fun blog hop!

Thank you to everyone who entered the Zakka Handmades giveaway! The winner is #35, Barbara! Congrats!

Our Apartment, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

I totally blanked and forgot to tell you about a fun feature earlier this month!  My sewing space was on Where I Sew, an awesome month-long series (in it's third year!), put on by Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Fabrics! Make sure and check out all the fun sewing rooms (you can see mine here), add yours to the tour and comment to enter to win one of 50 $20 gift certificates! For the whole tour so far, see this post!

Nordika Launch Party, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

The Nordika launch party is this week! I hope you'll join us this Friday, July 12th from 6-8pm at The Sewcial Lounge to celebrate the release! For more information see the Facebook page for the party!

Antique Mall Finds, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

On Saturday Lei and I got together for some shopping and sweets! We managed to split a Dutch Baby for brunch and still squeeze in Menchies! In between we hit up the Odana Antique mall and found some awesome goodies! I found a black and white stripes Cathrineholm bowl for a song and some fun vintage feedsacks! It was lots of fun!

George, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

George! So sleepy!

Today I love the..
Smell of: Fresh air
Sound of: Pitch Perfect
Taste of: Diet Coke
Sight of: Sunshine
Feel of: A/C

Good Things about Today:
- Happy mail!
- Had fun taking photos in the rain!
- Finally watched Pitch Perfect, so cute!
- Waffles + strawberry jam!

Chalet Sewing Weekend

Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of renting this beautiful cabin in Mt. Horeb with Anna, Deedee, Faith, Holly and Jacey for a sewing getaway! We sewed, shopped, ate, experimented with indigo dyeing, and did lots of catching up and chatting!

Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

The cabin was beautiful and in a gorgeous location southwest of Madison.  It was so nice to show everyone around town!

Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

The views!

Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

The cabin was so cool inside, decorated in mid-century modern style! I wanted to take home all the furniture!

Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

Everybody traveled handmade! It's crazy how much stuff six people need for a sewing weekend!

Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

I brought Hilde, my Singer featherweight, out for the trip! I had to try out my new travel set of course!

Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

I didn't end up doing much sewing, but that's perfectly fine with me! I try not to put too much pressure on myself to sew, it takes away all the fun! I did manage to make a set of six pillow cases for Michael and I using Art Gallery Fabrics Voile and the Roll-Up pattern by American Patchwork and Quilting! They turned out really cute, and so soft!

Antique Mall Finds, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

On Friday before we could check into the cabin a few of us headed over to the Columbus Antique Mall! I always love going there! We didn't get through the whole mall but still managed to find lots of goodies!

The Grumpy Troll, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

Did I mention we ate? That's an understatement.  We ate all the food! I think my favorite meal was at The Grumpy Troll in Mt. Horeb.  Three of us had the Uff Da Pretzel for our entree, which is a 1.5 lb soft pretzel, YUM! I should clarify, we each got our own!

Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

Deedee made us so many delicious treats including an Iced Mocha Cheesecake! It was SO good! I made some salted caramel sauce to drizzle on top and let me tell you, it was heaven! She has posted the cheesecake recipe on her blog, here.  It is amazing, go make it!

Photo by Holly DeGroot

Photo by Holly DeGroot

Holly was so sweet to take some head shots for us! She has a Facebook page for her photography business, Holly DeGroot Photography, and a website, HollyDeGroot.com! If you're in the area, look her up! She made us all look so good, it was hard to choose a couple favorites to post here! You can see the rest from the weekend on her page, here. Thank you Holly!

Photo by Faith Jones

Thanks to Faith for toting around her camera and Sara at The Sewcial Lounge for taking it, here is a photo of us all together! We stopped by on Saturday for some fabric shopping before we headed downtown for a bite!

chalet sewing., a photo by Bijou Lovely on Flickr.

We managed one last photo before we left on Monday. It was truly a weekend to remember.  I'm so thankful to call these talented ladies my friends! Already looking forward to our next get together! :)

Indigo Dyeing Results, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

I have wanted to try indigo dyeing for a long time, and have actually had a kit for years, waiting for the right time.  Thankfully Deedee, Holly and Jacey were excited to try it too, so this weekend was the perfect opportunity!  (This is the kit we used.)

Indigo Dyeing - Before, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

Deedee's husband was so kind to make us wooden resist shapes to try out resist dyeing! I also purchased a set of acrylic circle resists from Rossie.  We had a lot of fun just getting the fabrics ready and the resists in place.  My favorite piece to prepare involved using small rocks secured with rubber bands. It took a while, but was worth it!

Indigo Dyeing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

We followed the directions in the kit as best we could and sure enough, it worked!

Indigo Dyeing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

When the pieces first come out of the indigo bath they are green! They slowly turn blue as the oxygen hits them.

Indigo Dyeing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

Jacey unwrapping one of her pieces! That was the best part for sure, it was like Christmas seeing what each pieced was like!

I dyed mostly white linen and a few other things, here are is one of my favorite pieces:

Indigo Dyeing- Rocks, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

This is the piece that was secured the rocks.  It creates a wonderful ring design.  I think I'm going to use this for a tank!

For more from the weekend, I've put lots of photos in a flickr set, you can see our instagram hashtag from the weekend: #chaletsewing.

Favorites

Favorites, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.

1. My modern quilt from the May/June #Quilty magazine (used #Comma), 2. IMG_0010, 3. Summer Log Cabin - my way, 4. AMH IC Star Quilt Finished!, 5. Lombard Street, 6. QAYG Basket Weave, 7. Blue Herringbone, 8. Front // Retro Rubies 2, 9. Spirograph

Every week I go through my favorite photos on Flickr, and choose nine sewing/quilting related projects to showcase here. These photos and projects are not my own, you can find the original images and creators by clicking the coordinating links! If for any reason you do not want your project featured here, please email me and I'll remove it!
Happy Friday!