
I am not a puzzle expert. People are sometimes disappointed to learn this, because, obviously, as a lexicographer, I should be good at everything to do with words, including crosswords, Scrabble, and handwriting. (Note: I am not good at any of the preceding.)
I enjoy crosswords, but I'm not competitive, and if it's a choice between spending two hours hurting myself with the Sunday puzzle, and making a new skirt, I usually go for "make a new skirt."
So why am I wearing this dress (RIGHT NOW, I'm wearing this dress) at the
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament?
Well, it's complicated, but it boils down to "I'm working for some folks making a words documentary and they got me to talk puzzle-guy-extraordinaire
Francis into making a crossword with a bunch of underused words in it for me, and they're filming people solving it tonight."
Of course, once I knew I would be attending, the important question was "what will I wear?" Then I saw
this fabric and, well, I *never* turn down a chance to make a stunt dress.
This is roughly the same pattern as
this dress, which I made last year, but I couldn't find the skirt pattern pieces, which I think I had reassigned to another pattern last summer. So I Frankensteined it up with a different skirt pattern with has a scalloped bottom. (Which: never again! I had to HAND-SEW the edge binding on it! The skirt sure looks cute, though, so I'm sure I will eventually forget what a pain in the ass it was to do and try and make it again someday. Although you can't really see the scallops in the picture.)
Anyway, since I'm here, I thought I may as well compete, and thus give a whole lot of people the joy of beating a real, live dictionary editor in a crossword puzzle contest. Perhaps next year I will extend my altruism to the Scrabble tournament, where I would also be roundly shellacked.
Here's a closeup of the bodice (which is not exactly perfect, just like my puzzle-solving ability!):

The piping's a bit uneven (again, like my puzzle ... you get the idea).
I'm having a great time here so far, though! Although that's probably because the contest hasn't actually started. I expect to be tearing my hair out and groaning within the hour.
Labels: crosswords, erin_sewing, stunt_dresses