Seven Random Things

Well, PG tagged me to do a seven random things post (which I have never done before) so, we shall see how this goes.

1) I always thought my name was wrong. I mean, Daddy told me that God sent my name to follow my namesakes from the Bible and be both a prayer warrior (Hannah) and a prophetess (Elisabeth), and I think that I am gifted in those areas. But the meanings were the problem. Elisabeth is "God dwells here" which has been true since I trusted in Jesus nineteen years ago. But Hannah means either gracious or graceful, depending on the translation, and I am neither. I have never been a particularly gentle or forgiving or gracious person and I trip over my own feet on a daily basis. But then I found a definition of Hannah in Strong's Dictionary that meant Favored. And that I can agree with. I am most definitely Favored.

2) I grew up in a house full of women who love sports and broccoli. I love neither. Mum cursed me to marry a man who loved both. Never knew curses could be good things...

3) I am a foodie. And my waistband knows it.

4) I am a political junkie and will talk your ear off about why we need to return to strict Constitutionalism, why QE3 is the stupidest thing ever, why a Perry-Bachman ticket would be fabulous for our country, and why 98% of our problems could be solved with less government and more church.

5) I am NOT a libertarian.

6) I would rather spend an afternoon in a museum (ANY museum) than anywhere else on earth, except maybe Glen Coe, Scotland. My favorite museum is the Victoria and Albert in London. It looks the museum curators went to all the other European museums's garage sales, bought the leftover bits, and threw it in a grecoroman style warehouse. My second favorite museum is probably the National Gallery in DC. Lovely lovely collection of art.

7) I fundamentally believe that chocolate is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Emma, you is next.

A Modest Infinity Dress

My birthday has come and gone, and with it came such generous gifts from dear friends and grandmothers that I was able to make an infinity dress.  Surely, you've heard of this little gem.  It is essentially a skirt with a wide waistband and two LONG straps that are used to wrap and form the bodice. 

Now, to frugal me, the idea of having one basic dress that I can make into many, many different styles and looks for different occasions appealed greatly.  So, I set off to make one, and rushed over to Google to find somebody to teach me.  I found Sew Like My Mom who had a FABULOUS tutorial and from KnuckleSalad I found this ultra cool graphic detailing what to cut out:

Fabu. 

So, got my material, got my measurements, made the dress in ONE AFTERNOON! (even with breaks to let my back rest after pinning and hemming 114" of material O.O ) I was excited, threw it on and discovered the biggest, fundamental problem with infinity dresses (which I probably could have figured out from the first picture above).  See what the problem is?  No.  Okay, I'll spell it out, because I needed somebody to spell it out FOR me. 

You cannot.

Wear a bra

With this dress. 

And, as if that weren't bad enough, one of the wonderful ladies in the church kindly pointed out to me in an email just how much skin that dress reveals.  Now, I was able to wrap the dress in such a way that it could completely cover my back.  The problem is that 1) I pulled my tricep trying and 2) nothing short of duct tape could keep those straps there.  Grrrrrrr.


But, as I lay awake last night, pondering just how to rescue my birthday present, an epiphany!  A revelation!  A plan! 


I could extend the waist band up until it covered most of my torso (essentially creating a strapless dress).   That would be the "foundation" on which I could build the different styles of dresses!  w00t!  So I pulled out the rest of the leftover material and doubled the length of the band to make the Modest(er) Infinity Dress. 

So, if you would like to try, I recommend following the directions from either sight except for one slight adjustment.  Instead of making the waistband 10" wide and doubling it, measure from your waist to the top of your bra, or to a height that is comfortable for you (for me that was 10").  Then double that number, (so to make a 10" finished waist band, I needed a width of 20"), fold and sew the raw edges to the waist of the skirt like in the directions. 

Here's JUST the  band on me, no straps yet. 

 Here's JUST the band, from the back.  Just about swimsuit height for me.  

Here's one way to wrap it.  (I know, I'm terribly happy in this picture.)  

 

Here's one back of that same dress.  

Personally, I like the X back the best, rather than the open style.  I think it hides more of my tan lines.  : D

So, that's how I *tried* to make this dress a little more modest than the other ones out there on the market.  My one other suggestion is to lengthen the straps.  They say do your height x 1.5.  I say double your height.  Gives you more strap to work with in securing everything.  

Hope that's a helpful contribution to the world of dress making.