Coraline / Zoraline costume (+ carpal tunnel and RSI struggles)

Little Z dressed as Coraline (or "Zoraline") for Halloween, complete with her button-eyed "little me" doll, yellow raincoat and a blue afro wig

Hi all! Sorry for the silence but I've been suffering from some incredibly painful carpal tunnel and other RSI (repetitive stress injuries) from too much computer use and have to severely limit time on the keyboard/mouse (and all other hand activities as well, from baking to washing dishes to sewing to reading blogs) for the next few months.

Don't worry—I'm keeping myself busy learning how to use voice dictation software (which is how I'm writing this post!) going to physical therapy, practicing yoga, exercising, taking long walks and listening to lots and lots of audiobooks. Meanwhile my wonderful husband has been doing pretty much all the housework, and three-year-old Z has been helping even more than previously—measuring and mixing the waffle batter, cleaning up her Duplos, putting away her laundry, and getting herself dressed and undressed, no matter how finicky the buttons and zippers.

All of this obviously put a damper on my Halloween sewing plans, but my amazing mom came to the rescue. Z wanted to dress as "Zoraline" (inspired by the character "Coraline" from her—and my–favorite movie) so my mom made Z a "little me" doll for her costume. These were the inspiration images:

She didn't make the entire doll from scratch—it was a doll Z already had, but my mom sewed a little yellow raincoat and glued on some blue hair (aka leftover sock yarn) and button eyes (from an old sweater):


None of Z's preschool classmates had any idea who she was supposed to be (I think this rather scary movie is intended to be for ages 11 and up, oops!) but she was just thrilled. Thanks Mom!

P.S. If you're interested in the voice dictation software, I HIGHLY recommend it. You can do pretty much everything on your computer or smartphone nearly hands-free, from sending email and text messages to searching the web to writing essays (though not drawing and PhotoShop or graphic design and such) without even touching it.

The best Mac voice software in my experience so far is Dragon Dictate (though I hear it's more expensive and not as good as the PC version, Dragon Naturally Speaking), and on my Android phone I use a combo of Dragon Mobile Assistant (free!) and the built-in Google Voice Search software (also free).

(Retro) Style Icon: Amy Adams as Mary in "The Muppets" (with a sewing twist)

Forget that new Muppet or the green felted frog--how cute is Amy Adams in that beautiful green dress with tulip sleeves?!

So I went to the new Muppet movie and it was fun and all, but I had a little trouble paying attention to Fozzie's bad jokes or Kermit's attempts to make up with Miss Piggy because OH MY GOODNESS I WANTED ALL OF AMY ADAMS's clothes.

Ms. Adams plays Mary, a Shop teacher who fixes cars and does electrical work, all whilst wearing a parade of lovely retro-styled dresses and blouse/skirt combos. She's all about bright-colored belts, fitted bodices and flared skirts...

Also: pintucks.

And stripes!

Polka dots (or polka-dot-like hearts, I think), too...

Not to mention sweetheart necklines:

But the part of the movie where I got really distracted was the finale. Mary was wearing an adorable little jacket, but the fabric of the blouse peeking out from underneath looked oddly familiar... and then she took off her jacket.

I practically fell out of my seat with sewing-related excitement! Because it was the same orange floral silk twill I used for my vintage 1970s orange floral maternity dress ages ago:

Apparently Muppets shop at Fabric-Mart too!

Oh, and I'm not the only one who noticed this or made a dress or a jacket from this popular fabric.

Style Icon: Penelope Cruz in Volver

Over at the Colette Patterns blog, Sarai asks: who are your style icons? Hers is Sofia Coppola, for example, and Gertie's current style crush is the Glee character Emma Pillsbury.

One that immediately came to mind for me was Raimunda, Penelope Cruz's character in the fantastic Pedro Almodovar film Volver ("to return"). Cruz plays a hard-working woman down on her luck whose mother returns as a ghost, and I can best describe her look as "colorful bombshell on a budget."

I had some trouble finding clear stills to show you, but throughout the film Raimunda wears a mix of bold-patterned pencil skirts, low-cut tops, figure-hugging floral cotton dresses and bright-colored cardigans. Her color and print combos (red sweater with green top, red-and-white gingham-check cardi top with purple floral skirt) seem like they would clash--but instead they work beautifully. And everything has a slightly worn, vintagey feel to it.

So that's one of my style inspirations. How about you?