Just Keep Sewing, Just Keep Sewing...

I'm more excited about my race costume than I should be.

Maybe it's that Halloween is coming, or that there seemed to be more guides to making your own perfect Elsa dress (sadly, most were for children) on Pinterest than usual. But it was probably Once Upon a Time getting into the Frozen madness. I will admit I stopped watching in the middle of season 2 because it all just came so repetitive. Aww, (insert villain's name here) is only evil because their (wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/child) was (killed/kidnapped), or their (parent/grandparent/neighbor's hairdresser's dog) was mean to them! They aren't REALLY evil deep down! Oh and they're related to Henry. 

But then I saw the ads for Frozen. Part of me rolled my eyes; annoyed by this obvious hop onto the gravy train. But the other part of me (the part with the Netflix account and seven pairs of Mickey Ears) demanded that I catch up on the show so I could be well informed on the story when the new season started. Yes, I hate-watched the Wizard of Oz storyline something fierce, but I really tried to give it it's best chance. 

Oh yes, I went there.

The high point was The Little Mermaid (AHH MY FAVORITE) with Regina's Ursula impression. Regina has always been my favorite, but I really want more excuses for her to be Ursula, relevance be damned! Anyway, onto this season. I wasn't expecting much but it was worth jumping back into the show. I do love Frozen after all, and the obvious references to the movie ("Aren't you cold?" "It never bothered me") are sort of fun. Plus, if you're fine with the show ignoring every other inhabitant of Storybrooke (which I might be) then hey life is good. The sorcerer's hat made a brief appearance in a cliffhanger, and I'm calling Yensid out as the fairy tale book writer right now. My inner Disney geek is thrilled. 

So anyway, back to race costumes. For a show that has such beautiful costumes on the regular (and I could admit that in the depths of season 3) I could understand why people were expecting Elsa's dress to be a little more spectacular. On the other hand though, it did look very practical for going about your day and ruling a country. and if she hacked off the skirt she could probably run in it!  

So now we know what happened when the Fringe timeline reset. 

With that inspiration in mind, I set about starting the top of the ice queen dress portion. The perfect fabric was easy to come by, and I definitely wasn't the only person at Joann's making an Elsa dress. I used a meshy tank top I had found at TJ Maxx, and some inspiration this t-shirt tutorial. I don't know much about sewing, so this seemed like a safe bet. I settled in with Once Upon a Time and got started.

Here's what I did. I'll be better about taking pictures at each step in the future!

1. I put on the meshy top over my sports bra and drew a few dots in pencil to outline where the sweetheart neckline would be.

Sorry this picture is terrible.

2. Get some waxed paper (or some other see-through paper) to trace the dots. Fold it in half a cut it. Voila! you have a pattern!  I made a low scoop for the back portion.

3. Trace that pattern onto your sequin fabric.

4. Again I know almost nothing about sewing so I thought I'd just hem this nonsense by hand. Don't do that. Pin that business to your undershirt (meshy top in my case) and save your tears for something worth it. 

5. I opened up the seams on my sides of my meshy top and resewed them with the sequin fabric inside. There is probably a better way to do this. Maybe make one piece of fabric rather than a separate front and back?

6. Sew the top of the front piece to your shirt along those pencil marks.

7. Sew the sides. I left the top of the back open to attach a cape later.

8. Jack it up! I used glitter glue and flat backed gems. I'm not sure if they'll hold up during the run, but they look nice!

YouTube was my savior during this process. I borrowed a sewing machine with a downloadable manual (ugh) and needed some help setting the thing up. Darling Adventures and Singer Sewing Company have awesome channels that helped me set up (and unjam) my machine several times. Seriously, if you're as clueless as I am, watching someone put the bobbin into the machine is so much more helpful than reading a description!

I'm trying to work on this a little at a time, but I'll be writing more about making costumes!

Running Hot

Yesterday, I went running with a friend from high school on a trail around her neighborhood. She's in terrific shape and she knows how to keep someone running when they really just want to walk (or lie down on the ground and cry), so with her help, I ran a 5k!

It took us 38 minutes in 77 degree weather, which is faster than my last official 5k with extreme(ish) weather as an obstacle. Hey, I'm from the Bay Area, we don't do this hot nonsense! It was definitely hard, but I think I ran about 90% of the trail, including hills. Needless to say I looked like a hot mess afterward and my face was red for about an hour and several bottles of water later.

Like this, but gross.

It made me realize that I need to prepare myself to run in all kinds of environments, because how frustrating would it be to put in so much training, but then be affected by something out of your control? Active.com had some great tips, and I'm going to try to incorporate these into my training for summer.

According to Active, it can take two weeks for a body to adjust to running in hotter weather. While adjusting, the goal should be to improve your tolerance for heat rather than time. For someone who is working with the Couch to 5k program, I feel like this advice fits in perfectly. I'm challenging my body to do something new a little bit at a time, much like an experienced runner adjusts to a hotter season. For my next outdoor run, I'm going to try sticking with the  program and seeing how I feel. My other favorite tip was to run in circles and and hide goodies (like ice-filled bandanas and ice pops) at a stop along your route! I'm not sure how practical this is where I live, but maybe laps around Starbucks would be an okay substitute?

Hey there, beautifuls.