sew bossy: you ARE the boss of me.

Over six months in the making... the Sew Bossy Initiative has landed.

Waaaaaay back in August 2012, I wanted Heather Lou of closet case files to jump in the promaballoona limo, but my wires were drunk crossed, and my invite never made it. But, eureka! It sparked a stroke of genius in sweet Heather: we send each other everything we need to make a creation, and post it. No suggestions from the participating peanut galleries, you gotta make what you get. GENIUS.

Or not. I know what you're thinking (or maybe I knew what I was thinking): this could go badly. And yeah, it could have, but having ogled the files of this particular Closet Case since its inception, I knew her style would suit me hella fine. I wholeheartedly accepted the brilliant sasstress's gauntlet.

In October, Heather hit me with an email: CHOO CHOO. That is the sound of the awesome train leaving for the station. Days later, everything I needed to make up salme's yoke dress arrived at station Kalkatroona, right down to hem lace, invisible zip, bias tape, shimmery button, and mix cd to blast whilst stitching!

Yet, it wasn't till December that the train made it back to Heather's neck of the woods. Seriously, trains take forever. It made stops at Halloween, a new job, Hurricane Sandy, a new home... unfortunately it missed mowing down the JACKASS that broke into my girl's apartment and took everything that wasn't nailed down. 

But the Sew Bossy Initiative could not be stopped.

CHECK OUT THAT WAXED COTTON! Golden peanuts? YES PLEASE. Now, ahem and ahrrrm, a certain Sew Boss may notice that a certain recipient used a different fabric for the yoke. Casting my memory back six months ago, I recall that said Sew Boss wished she had been able to find a sheer black for the yoke, but had to settle for black cotton. So hey man, really I was just following orders by pulling this sheer outta the stash.

(I know. I cheated. It's just that I truly am so very, very bossy.)

I love the way this waxed cotton holds the pleats of the pattern! And can we talk about the waist on the salme yoke dress? I feel like it's a magic trick. MY WAIST GOES ON FOREVAH!!!

Aaaaaand, BONUS golden peaunts trick... when you pull a totally doofus move and slice right up the middle of a bodice that's supposed to be on the fold, you can stitch it back together with barely a nod to your error. Those peanuts disguise everything, yo. 

(Yeah, in wanting to make this absolutely perfect for miss skip-to-my-heartbeat lou, I pulled what Ruggy has recently dubbed a "ruinaballoona". That ruggy. He's a card.)

Don't you hate it when you think your camera is in focus and IT TOTALLY ISN'T.

It was so much fun to be a part of Heather Lou's brainstorm-- like going shopping with your girlfriend that has eighty two tons of fashion sense and letting her pick your outfit. If you don't know her already, just wait, you'll see why I happily jumped straight into the deep end of the pond.

We thought you might like to play too...if you want to throw your own bossy decree out to a sewing pal, feel free to grab that delicious button my girl made up top! (Isn't it cute as hell? I'm telling you. fashion sense.) Now, head on over to heather lou's and see what i forced her to sew! I can't wait for the reveal!!!

update: the Sew Boss has made a page for this venture, explaining the details ever so nicely ("the sewing world equivalent of a trust fall") check it out, and HOLY COW HER DRESS IS AWESOME.