HP Wong-Singh-Jones Kimono Wrap Dress

Dudes, I have a new dress, and I LOVE it:
I made this a few days ago. It didn't take long at all, and went together beautifully. This is a straight size 10, although I made some minor changes, such as lengthening the skirt 4 inches, and making full patterns of the contrast bands (instead of cutting them on folds as per the pattern).

The ties are VERY long, and I ended up shortening them 18 inches (they are already wrapped around my waist twice). My original plan was to make the dress green and the contrast bands in the print, but I did not have enough of the green. HP suggests about 2 yards of 60" knit for the dress for sizes 6-8-10, but I ended up using 2.625 yards of the print. HP also suggests about .75 yards for the contrast bands, and again, I don't think that is possible. I used about 1.75-2 yds and had to piece the ties.

To apply the bands, I trimmed 1/8" off of one side (seam allowances are 3/8"), so that the edge would overhang the seamline by 1/4". Basically the same way I finish off a waistband. This keeps the bands nice and flat.

It's a great dress, I definitely need more of these in my closet. :)

Full review is here.

Regionals (plus 4 other meets)

I don't know why I put off uploading Calvin's gymnastics videos, but I do. It's not like there is anything new in them, it's the same 5 (should be 6) routines each time. Anyway, there are a lot to catch up. I won't embed them all.

In mid-February, we traveled to Iowa City for the Iowa Boys Invitational. Calvin's all around score was 61.8, the best for the season. His routines are here: floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, and parallel bars.

March started off with a meet at Salto, where he got an all around score of 57.1 (floor, pommel, rings, vault, and p-bars).

The following week was our meet; his all around score was 57.3 (floor, pommel[painful!] , rings, vault [messed up his steps], p-bars).

The week after that was state, which Calvin qualified for, as they changed the qualification score. His all around score this time was 60.9 (floor, pommel, rings, vault [messed up his steps again!], p-bars).

Finally, this past Saturday was regionals. They were held here in Milwaukee, so we didn't have to travel anywhere. The boys started out on floor, where Calvin got a score of 13.85:


Next was pommel horse, which was painful to watch. He got a score of 6.2:


On rings he got a 12.8:


Then it was on to vault, where he got his steps right! His score was 14.45:


Last, parallel bars, with a score of 11.75:


His all around score was 59.05.


He also got to meet Morgan Hamm. Paul (his twin brother) was there as well. Morgan will also be at Porter Camp this summer, so they'll get to hang out again. :)

Competition season is DONE!