can you really dye my eyes to match my gown?

i stomped into trumart discount fabrics with a scant five minutes to shop, eyeing the clock like a maniac. grinning frantically at the shopkeep, i yammered I WOULD LIKE THE CHEAPEST LYCRA SWIMWEAR YOU HAVE, fully expecting something appropriately ridiculous.  when you prefer an oz closet, "cheap" and "colorful" are two birds easily annihilated with one stone.

ten seconds later, my man pulled a bolt of black.  it took the remaining four minutes and fifty seconds to say yes.

and two hours to make the backdrop match the shoes.

by now, you know her well... she is heather lou's bombshell swimsuit, and as myriad shapes and sizes have said before: she is perfection.  they're not lying, and neither am i.  this is not gushing, this is not hyping a designer who i am so lucky to call a friend in real life, this is simple truth: i followed my measurements, cut my size, and tipped around the bedroom like i was a 1940s version of beyonce. 

Y'ALL, I HAVE NEVER FELT SO SUPPORTED IN A BATHING SUIT IN ALL MY LIFE.

support.  what a wonderful word.  to be honest, there isn't a day that goes by that i'm not sewing, or thinking about sewing, and those days are more often than not filled with designs from indie women who i am so stoked to support.   kati of kate and rose patterns left a beautiful comment on a recent post by heather lou, likening my testing feedback to a kind professor who teaches you something truly helpful.  that blew me clean away.  there also isn't a day that goes by that i don't remember some teacher's words, from my concert choir director who supported me every single day, including weekends, to a substitute teacher's passing words of encouragement, only met once.  we effect each other with our words, our actions, our support or our judgement, and those effects can reach farther than we know.  i've waxed poetic on it before, and i'll probably do it again.  it's worth repeating, no?

speaking of repeating, as you may have guessed, miss bombshell is my stop on the blog tour currently filling up your reader of choice: perfect pattern parcel numero 3.  yep!  another blog tour!  egads!!!  does that make you roll an eye or two?  does supporting a charitable endeavor that strengthens the relationship between teacher and student make you roll an eye or two?  do pink trees make you roll an eye or two?  i don't know the answers to these questions.  (well, i can probably make an educated guess on the answer to that last one.*)  

i do know that i am thrilled to be a part of getting the word out on this effort.  jill and danny dorsey have thought up a way for us to use the dollars we would already spend on digital indie patterns, and have our wallets support our kids, and those who take on the great and admirable task of teaching them. you choose a price for a bundle of patterns, and a chunk of that change goes to charity.

supporting designers.  supporting teachers.  supporting kids.  WIN, WIN, WIN.

*not gonna lie, those couple sentences were a bit snarkaroo, and as they've been weighing on me since i posted it, i'll admit: it stemmed from me being more than sick of the clique talk going around.  makes me crazy, especially as i've never been part of a clique.  i suspect that most of us haven't, which probably has everything to do with our corner of the internet being the wonderful anomaly it is.  what's lovely, and inspiring, is that we are all now part of a giant, supportive, amazing clique, where i can have pink trees, and you can have pink hair, and we can all forgive each other a little snark, non?

this bathing suit, and a license to return to the pool with confidence, was made using a pattern from Pattern Parcel 3, which was gifted to me in exchange for spreading the word about this awesome cause.