Happy Valentine's Day!

I admit, I am kinda a fan of Valentine's Day. (And not just because I got woken up this morning by a seven-year-old giving me a card and a heart-shaped box of See's. In my house, if you haven't completed your celebration of any particular holiday -- Easter, Christmas, Arbor Day -- before seven a.m., you obviously shouldn't be allowed to participate.)

I like Valentine's as an excuse to wear red, obviously, and also because I think it's a great day to just be nice to people for no reason. Pick the grumpiest-looking random person you can find, and hold a door open for them today, or pay them a compliment. You can find something to compliment ANYONE about, I promise. (I'm very much looking forward to being an cheerfully eccentric old lady and can give people pieces of candy out of my pockets without them thinking it's creepy and weird.)

If only it were warm enough to wear the above dress in Chicago today (projected high: 39) I would be all over it. You should really click on the image to see the full effect, because this photo concentrates on the glorious rick-rack to the exclusion of the equally magnificent bandanna-print ruffle at the hem. Rick-rack and bandanna: does it get any better? (Well, I don't see any pockets on this one, but otherwise ...)

It's $50 at Penelope Pup's Vintage. B36/W28. I think that if there's someone who was going to send you roses today (ESPECIALLY if that someone was yourself -- hey, we've all been there, and it's not a bad place to be; when you're buying your own Valentine you never give yourself scratchy cheesy underwear) you should hint to that person to send you this instead. It will last longer, and probably isn't drenched in pesticide. A win all around!

If you want to see my last-year's Valentine's Dress, please to be clicking here.

Stunt Dress (Don't Try This At Home)

As you may or may not know, I recently wrote a book about love words in other languages (That's Amore). As part of the giant publicity blitz for said book (you may have also heard me on the radio in Michigan and Albany, NY), there was a short feature in Chicago Magazine about it. With a photo (of me, not the book jacket). For which the photographer asked if I could wear something red.

Well, that, of course, was like a flag (of the same color) to a bull: why not, I reasoned (although I'm not sure if "reason" really came into it), go all-out and make a Valentine's-themed dress? Something I'd never wear in civilian life, but would be fun for a photo shoot? I'm not usually a fan of stunt clothing, but this seemed easy enough to do, so I did it.

The fabric is Alexander Henry "Tattoo Hearts" (sadly, no longer available in the red colorway from eQuilter, but the buttercream is now on sale ...) and the pattern is Simplicity 4532, which was quite easy to make.

Here's a closeup of the bodice:



Now, I probably won't wear this dress very much (not even today, because even though it's Valentine's there's about a foot of snow outside). I might even cut it down for a skirt, which would be more wearable. But making it was a fun way to spend a few hours, certainly ...