Alright, alright, alright. I know. I'm horrible. I'm the worst. This blog hasn't been updated practically since Edison invented the light bulb. I'm sorry! But, you know, these things take time for me. I become obsessive with them. I find that I can't finally publish a post until I've read it through at least five times and have checked for every possible error (although, I'm sure this post is riddled with errors).
So, here we are.
I'm home from Northwestern for the summer now, and I've been sewing up a storm. I've sewn more in the past couple of days than I have *probably* sewn all year. Sad, I know, but that's the life of a Northwestern student.
StudystudystudyEATstudystudystudySLEEPstudystudystudyHAVEFUNstudystudystudy
Needless to say, Main Library and I became great friends this year (shout out to my favorite desk cubicle in 3 South!). Before I get to the project I made most recently, I want to give a little recap of what's been going on in my life since I last updated this old thing back in January. Spoiler alert: I'm more in love with Northwestern now, than I was six months ago. How is that possible, you may ask? Well, my dad has a theory they put something in the water. This theory hasn't been tested, but I'm inclined to believe it...
So, I braved my first Evanston winter. This may shock you, but it was really, really cold. Stupid lake effect.
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| Just look at that face of sheer happiness as I walked to class. (Internal monologue: "Why didn't I go to UC Berkeley?") |
Joined the coolest sorority, got the best Pledge Mama, and met some really inspiring new friends:
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| Chi Omega, Yours Forever. |
I danced for 30 hours straight to help raise money for the Danny Did Foundation. Northwestern ended up raising $1,214,632. Just let that sink in for a second. It was the most exhausting thing I've ever done in my life, but once that final total was posted at the end, all the throbbing in my knees was worth it.
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| I danced with my residential college's team, Willard, and I'm so excited to be a DM co-captain for Willard this next year! I don't know if the Northwestern community is ready for some of my moves... |
I studied my butt off, spent hours in the Inorganic Chemistry lab and the library (of course), declared my Psychology major, and, well, often dozed off. But, c'mon! Power naps are really effective, right? Yeah, let's go with that...
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| Any LOST fans out there might notice something peculiar about the sequence of numbers I found scribbled on the wall in front of me, as I was studying in Main Library...creepy. Where's Desmond when you need him? |
I had some fun in between the stress of midterms, finals, labs, and papers. Chicago adventures, a lot of concerts, chilling by the Lakefill, long walks with friends late at night (*early morning?), stumbling upon the beautiful Bahai'i Temple, and chilling on set of an awesome TV show, watching some really talented film majors do their thing. With all of these activities, I created a lot of really happy memories to deter the anguish of academia.
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| Wondering why there are a bunch of people wrestling in a kiddie pool filled with pudding? Yeah, that was Woo-au Luau. I could explain, or I could just tell you that my residential college is the best. WOO SHACK! |
I fell for one of my best guy friends. I know, cliché, right? Well in the words of Icona Pop, "I don't care. I love it!". Jon is a Radio, TV, and Film major who I met through my best friend Allie S. He also has a TV show that he created and does with his two best friends called Carpe Diem that just started this past Spring. Jon fills me with a new kind of happiness that I hadn't found until he came along. He's one of the funniest guys I know, incredibly intelligent, creative, and above all, what attracted me to him is his caring heart and concern for others. Not a lot of eighteen-year-old guys have that quality, but he does. And I consider myself very, very lucky.
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| I mean, c'mon, how cute is he?! |
And, of course, I couldn't have survived the rigor and stress of Northwestern without the incredible support of these goons. A photo collage can only hold so many photos, so of course there are many more people and pictures I wish I could have fit. For the sake of brevity, however, here are some of my favorite photos.
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| Polka Party, sword fighting Vassilis R., El rides, formals, beauty sessions with Jacob R., Norbucks runs, late-night talks with Allie S., Sarah R. (my froomie!), and Allie A., and all sorts of tomfoolery. These are just some of my friends, and I love them all. |
So now, it's time to show you all what I've sewn recently. For this blog post, I'm just going to talk about one project, but just know that more blog posts will be coming at the end of this week and in the coming weeks, as well.
A long time ago, my wonderfully talented and kind co-worker and friend, April Rhodes, came to work in a beautiful blouse that she had sewn. I asked her what the pattern was, and she told me it was The Wiksten Tank. It wasn't until recently that I actually bought the pattern online and decided to make it for myself.
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| It took me FOR-EVER to cut and paste the pattern together. I do prefer online PDFs to actual patterns, though. Pattern paper is a gift from Satan, I swear. |
It's hard to tell in this photo, but I chose an adorable fox print fabric from the Indian Summer collection at Sew to Speak for my tank. Once the fabric was washed and pressed, I began tracing my pattern.
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| Sorry all of my photos are pretty crappy. I would die to have a nice camera instead of just my iPhone camera. |
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| Boom! |
And here's a better look at the fabric I chose. I'm really happy with it.
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| Gettin' a little bit foxy, amiright? |
Then I went on to sew the arm seams...
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| Side note: these pins are the best. In my opinion, that is. |
Then, once the side and arm seams were sewn, I fit my tank on my dress form Betsey (yes, I named my dress form. Go ahead, judge me.) to make sure it would fit well before hemming and putting the finishing touches on the neckline and arm holes.
Then, it was on to finishing those arm holes. Just a lot of pressing, folding, and pressing again. I can't tell you how many times I burnt my fingers on the iron. And, how many times I shouted some obscene words...
And once it was all pressed, I was ready to sew it up and be done!
Just a little final pressing, and..........
..........The Wiksten Tank was complete!
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| Awkward selfie of me in the final product in my backyard. |
I'm really happy with the final product, and it feels good to make something for myself that I can actually wear and be proud of. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE sewing for others (in fact, often I prefer it to sewing for myself), but every once in awhile, it's nice to TREAT MAH SELF! (Parks and Rec reference? Anyone? Anoyone?) There's something about sewing, for me, that fills me with a great sense of fulfillment and happiness. I'm so excited to continue my marathon sewing for the rest of the summer (which, for me, is until the end of September!) and to make others happy through the art of sewing.
Thank you so much for reading this, stay tuned for more blog posts coming very soon, and, as always, I hope this blog post finds you all in great health and happiness.
Love always,
Sydney
<3
