Taking a deep breath of air...

Before plunging back again into my dissertation pages.

(Chère Ann, I can never thank you enough for introducing me to Yogi Teas a year ago :))

Petite annonce en français... Si une gentille couturière parisienne peut héberger une amie couturière américaine sérieuse et discrète pour une petite nuit samedi... Ce serait formidable. Je ne serai pas là et ne peux donc l'aider... Ca y est ! Une couturière généreuse a accepté, c'est génial !

I still haven't mentioned the lovely time I had with Karen and Trena last week. We met in front of Karen's hotel, which happened to be a minute from my workplace. (Except I hadn't been able to work there that day as planned when we'd set up our meeting: I had completely missed the fact that Pentecost Monday was back to being a bank holiday in France. Yes, that is how disconnected I am from the world right now.)
We went to Dalloyau for pastries that were little works of art and weren't even outrageously priced.

Trena looked absolutely adorable and pretty in her Burda dress with turquoise detailing. Trust me, she is even lovelier than she appears on her blog.
Karen looked très élégante in her black skirt and Burda tie wrap blouse – as we remarked, we have yet to find someone who doesn't look great in this blouse. Karen looked gorgeous in it.
We had such a nice and refreshing time chatting about sewing, our lives, kitties, and Paris.
Oh, and they both knew perfectly the writer my PhD is about, which was, wow... comforting and exhilarating.
Be sure to check out Karen's and Trena's Paris diaries - they're fun and detailed, even though I haven't had time to read through them thoroughly yet. :)

I am so bummed that Trena is looking for accommodation in Paris on Saturday and I won't be here - Sunday is Mother's Day in France and I'll be at my parents'. If any of you in Paris can help her out... Found!! Karen, who happens to live in the same street as me, generously offered Trena a place to stay. Woohoo!! Thank you so much, Karen, this is wonderful of you.

~*~

A resolution:
When I have finished my eighth chapter, I shall take a break and make a dress from Butterick 6582 (the slim version) that Sylvie gave me.

(I scanned my own cover as the picture on the Butterick website was such poor quality).
I shall make it in a remnant of Liberty fabric that I used to make this Vogue dress last year – turns out I have just enough of it left.

This fabric turned out to be a good investment... being small does have definite advantages, after all. A special gift deserves a special fabric, right? I've been dreaming about this dress ever since dear Sylvie gave me the pattern!

I am a wee bit annoyed at not having pictures of the Burda trenchcoat to share with you yet (and probably so are you...). Seb promised me 3 weeks ago to take pics of me in it during one of our walks across Paris. This hasn't happened yet, and he is now gone for two whole weeks (of course, this hasn't been helped by the fact we have had so little occasion to take our beloved walks together lately - by my own fault). I'm slowly resigning myself to say goodbye to the idea and to think we'll just have to be content with the grim pictures taken with my tripod in front of my usual white wall. Sorry, folks.
I adore wearing it!

~*~

I'm meeting with my supervisor tomorrow, and am toying with the idea of handing in BOTH my completed seventh and eighth chapters. I don't know exactly how I've managed this, what with last week's conference and all, but my eighth chapter may get fully done tonight, if I muster enough energy. It may be a bit insane. But, you know, it would feel so good to think that I have only one chapter left to write, however daunting this specific chapter might be.

OK, back to the saddle.
Forgive yet another mostly self-centered post. It seems I need to write these sometimes to check in on myself. ;)
Hope you're all having a great week. I miss visiting you, although I do try being a slightly more regular visitor than in the last couple of months. :)

Sending Paris sunshine to you all!

Birthday Kindness

In the order they were received... :)
From Carol:



From Doris:


Back of the cushion, pleasingly matching Doris's chocolate:


Shashi's gifties... Beautiful lace and a cross-stitch bookmark kit.

This is when P'tite Mignonne decided to get into the picture... and when my camera started misbehaving (it's really getting old). I was unable to take a better shot of Shashi's gifts, and to photograph the stitching magazines that Summerset sent me. I am sorry, Summerset, but thank you!!

My dearest friend Sylvie's wonderful parcel.

The following picture is to show you better the beautiful fabric that Sylvie sent along:

This doesn't give the fabric justice, as it is in fact a gorgeous dévoré. Definitely one of the most beautiful fabrics I have ever owned. I can't wait to use it.
Sylvie... is able to send me patterns that I had forgot to put on my wishlist but that I was wishing for anyway. That is how close we are. (I'd been eyeing Butterick 6582 ever since I attended the V&A New Look exhibition, as I think it would make a great knock-off of the cover dress).

Sorry for not being more chatty... I must absolutely get back to work.
My friends already know how much I love their gifts, and surely you can all see for yourselves how beautiful and thoughtful they all are.

~*~

The conference yesterday went real well, except I felt I was dying with exhaustion at some point. I hadn't slept AT ALL the previous night and had to take a train at 6 am. What with the short nights I have had to spend over the past few months in order to get the most possible work done, it proved to be a little too much. I feel so much better today with a 7-hour night's sleep!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thanks everyone

Dear all,

Thank you for being so helpful! I knew I could rely on you for considerate advice. :) You've all been so thoughtful.

I have decided to wear something I'll be more comfortable in at the conference, and to leave the dress as it is for now... After the conference, I won't have anything formal to attend for months, so it might not be worth altering the dress *just* for this one occasion... and it's not as if I didn't have anything suitable to wear to the conference, right?

I just think I needed to create something fun to alleviate the rather austere life I've been having lately. So, cute and fun it shall remain.
I may lower the dress by a couple of centimetres if I feel like it after wearing it once or twice.

Oh, and it is currently really hot in France, so tights of any kind would not have been an option (especially since the conference is in the centre of France, south of Paris).

I am now off to frantically write the presentation I am to deliver in 48 hours. Eek!

Thanks again to everyone who gave their opinion!

You guys are just the best. :)

The Squiggly Dress (AKA Simplicity 3744)

So, I came back home tonight from a delicious moment with Karen and Trena (delicious in every way - but we'll say more on that later), and I realized I just wasn't up to working right after this. I just couldn't shut down in my mind the lovely conversation that we'd just had, and wanted to complete the moment with a little bit of sewing. Besides, I just thought, you know, that I might be much more efficient tomorrow in a cute new dress ;)

So, here is my little Squiggly Dress - Simplicity 3744, from a navy cotton embroidered with white squiggles.

Sewed in half a Sunday afternoon, hemmed tonight:

Ultra-quick review:
The dress went together like a charm, especially as this nifty little pattern is designed for B, C, and D cups. This means that instead of fiddling with the pattern pieces, cutting a 6 in the back, a 10 in the front and tapering the 10 to a 6 at the waist, I was able to cut a 6 all around with a C cup, and it fit straight on. It could do with a little tapering at the waist, but I also think it's cute as it is.

I used - gasp - a tapestry needle and white perlé to "embroider" the neckline, princess seams, and hem, with a running stitch.
I lowered the neckline from a couple of centimeters, to make the dress less strict. I like the look of a widish neckline on a shift dress.
I ditched the pockets, alas, because the pouch on the stomach seemed... an unnecessary extra, shall we say? The ironic thing is, I chose this pattern because of its pockets; but I hadn't realized these were on the stomach, not at the side. I mean, hello? Who would want a bulging shift dress? The beauty of a shift dress, to me, is in its fluid lines.

As I was making progress yesterday, I really wasn't sure I liked the dress, until I did the running stitches and decided that it was cute after all. What do you all think? Honestly?

One big, nagging question though: is it too short? I would really appreciate your advice here.
You see, friends, I'm not used to wearing such short dresses, and have therefore a hard time deciding if it remains classy and acceptable as it is. Why did I make it shorter than usual? Well, I won't be able to wear heels before months (my left foot needs operating on, which is nothing serious or urgent, but requires me to wear comfortable shoes all the time, or it becomes painful). I decided to make the dress slightly shorter than usual to help elongate the figure a little since I am so short, and because I thought the dress might be a little too severe if it were longer AND I wore it with flats.
What do you guys think? The hem is 6 cm deep (more than 2 inches) right now, so it can easily be altered.
I have almost decided to let the hem down a bit, because I might not feel comfortable otherwise (especially as I'm thinking of wearing it to my conference on Friday), but I would be grateful to hear your views ladies :)

(sorry the pictures are taken with the flash on - they also needed a bit of lightening up -, but it's 10 pm and I knew that it could take me weeks to blog about this if it wasn't done in the spur of the moment. ;) )

~*~

Carol and Doris both sent me adorable gifts for my birthday, but these do need the daylight to be photographed properly. You can already see Carol's gift on her blog - it is so beautiful. Thanks and merci to you both!!

Off to organize my files and thoughts for tomorrow's writing session ;)
Have a good night/day, everyone!

A silly little post...

Because I felt like it. ;) I'm afraid this is a very self-centred little post.
I hope this finds you all well, enjoying spring OR the beautiful fall leaves... :)

I finished my seventh chapter yesterday night (or wait, was it this morning, very early?) and started on the eighth this morning (I do have about a quarter of the eighth written out from last week).
I am dreaming to take a couple of hours this weekend to make Simplicity 3744, view A.

In a crisp navy cotton, embroidered with white squiggles.

BUT - I am to talk in a symposium next Friday and haven't prepared a word of it yet... so I'm not quite sure if this is going to work out. On the other hand, I worked my heart out this week, had a real bad week in some respects, and I miss sewing to the point I want to cry.

** Friends, please be understanding if I am not able to reply to emails right now. Please do. I don't sleep half enough as it is. I just can't achieve more in a day than I am currently doing. It doesn't mean I'm not thinking of you! :) **
** S'il vous plaît, soyez compréhensifs si je n'arrive pas à répondre aux mails en ce moment. Je vous en prie. Je ne dors déjà pas la moitié de ce qu'il faudrait. Je ne peux pas en faire plus pour le moment. Cela ne veut pas dire que je ne pense pas à vous ! **

The meme of books, I got tagged by dear Laura (congrats again, ma belle!).
I am supposed to pick up the nearest book, turn to page 123, find the fifth sentence and post the next three sentences.

I had to twist the rules a bit, because all the books nearest to me would

1. sound probably very strange and boring to many of you
2. be sure to have my blog crop up in very specific scholarly searches, which I don't want.

Here is one of the latest non-work-related books that I read, and which I thoroughly enjoyed: White Teeth, by Zadie Smith:
"Samad wasn't listening. It was imperative that he be at school before nine if this trip were going to have any purpose whatsoever. By nine, she'd be in class."

I am not tagging anyone, but feel free to join in the silliness. :)

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes :) (I turned 27 on May 4.) I received a box from dear Doris, but Seb doesn't want me to open it yet, because he didn't get to celebrate my birthday yet - it sort of snuck up on him this year. He wants to be the first to give me gifts or something. LOL. I'm sorry Doris, I hope you understand... I didn't want to bicker about this as Seb and I are so seldom together this year. I do hope you got my email. (désolée Doris, j'espère que tu comprends, je n'ai pas eu envie d'argumenter alors que nous passons si peu de temps ensemble. J'espère que tu as eu mon mail ! Gros bisous.)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.