Friday, June 28, 2013

Help me, hive mind!


Something is off about this dress - and I can't decide what.    I know the proportions are wrong, but I'm just stuck and any advice would be lovely.   I have a little bit of extra fabric (about a half a yard) so I can redo something, and I'd really like to keep the skirt floor length.  Otherwise, anything goes.  Help!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

currently in progress

As usual, I have about four projects going at once - but the one currently occupying the majority of my attention is the latest installment in my fixation on long floaty dresses.   Simplicity 1801 was an unusual choice for me, as I usually avoid waist gathers like the plague, but I'm using a very thin, very drapy rayon, so I figured I could get away with it.  I also reduced the width of the skirt by about 4 inches to make it less gathery - it worked well in the muslin (which photographed very badly) but it was a stiffer fabric....  not quite sure how it will look, but... I'll make it work one way or another.



The fabric was an impulse buy the other day at the store (ostensibly, I was there for fabric makers...) It looked like water and made me think tropical thoughts.    I intend to wear it to work and pretend really really hard that I am actually on an island paradise*.     It got my thinking of Scruff's  fabric vs. pattern first question. Usually, I am pattern first and then dig through my stash to find something that suits.  In this case, I saw the fabric and knew it needed to be a long dress.   Then I dashed over to the pattern counter, found a dollar-a-pattern sale on simplicity, and here we are today.

Plus.... it has pockets!   


*Those of you who know me in real life may point out that I actively avoid going to the beach.   I respond, no one said I had to sit in the sand and bake in the sun.   I imagine myself in a charming cabana, with shade, a cool drink, a lovely view and nowhere particular to go that afternoon.


Wednesday, June 19, 2013

V-2971 - finished at long last!


It took my cousin's wedding, but I finally finished the hem.

Excuse the face.  My family caught me using the self-timer and ignoring their conversation. However, this is one of the better pictures showing the full dress. (What? what? dress?  This is a shirt pattern.   Read this)


Like the original pattern, the front is still a wrap.   It's really the easiest fit ever. 



And now we move on to much nicer pictures that don't show the dress nearly as well.  Fun with cousins!



I signed the ketubah!  (I felt very special - thank you C. and S.!)  I may or may not have had a cheat sheet...


Hi Mom!  She is fake smiling.  You have to distract her to get something real.


but really, what wedding is complete without a bonus alligator?

Friday, June 14, 2013

mending sheers


I'm still not sure exactly how I managed it, but I managed to rip my floaty dress the first time out.   
The tear was right next to the seam - as in the fabric of one side sheered right off.  It took me a little while to figure out how to repair it so that it wouldn't show... 



Enter a fine mesh, nearly same color as my skin and very very close to the slip I wear under this dress.   I pinned everything back into the correct place and hand sewed along the seam and around the dots (I decided the transitional areas would show less than right through the dark patches)   I cut the edges of the mesh in a wiggly line to avoid any sharp transition that might help to give it away.


Which resulted in a fix that's nearly invisible on my hand and totally invisible on my back (which, of course, I don't have any new pictures of...  just trust me on this one)  But!  It held up all day!  Win!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

The tale of a patch-over

This is the story of an avid sports-fan, and a pair of Boston to Philly transplants.

Somehow or another, Papelbon moved from the Red Socks Sox to the Phillies.(I was pleased that I knew it was baseball.  The specifics of the transfer are beyond me).   M, our plucky fan, had made the same move and decided her favorite shirt could live on! She asked me to help her patch the Phillies logo over the Red Socks Sox, brought them both over -- and they sat in my closet for about a year.   


The other night, we actually got down to it -- its hard to see in this picture, but there is a chalk outline around the Phillies logo that traces the curves of the words - we decided it would be more interesting than a straight rectangle.   After that it was just a matter of zig-zaging over the chalk and trimming off he excess green fabric.


The whole process took less than an hour  and resulted in a very happy sports fan.  Also a discussions of motorcycle gang patch overs.  It seems there is an etiquette to such things.  All to the music of Mr. Nimoy.







Thursday, June 6, 2013

The internet is a wondrous place



I did not make this.  I don't know where is it from.  However, it is glorious.  

I think it works best to the Bee Gees   (click on the picture, if none of this makes sense)

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Dressed Up Practicallity


As you may recall, a few weeks ago I was planning on making this dress - V8319 for summer work events when I needed to be dressed up, but wanted something cool and comfortable.... (this last bit is about to be key)


 I started muslining it up - it was getting close (there are still tons of pulls and wrinkles and I'm a crazy obsessive) but I found it really wasn't comfortable sitting down.   There is a reason I almost never wear straight skirts - I fidget like mad and prefer my clothes to accommodate me.   Then I also realized, it really looked better with heels -  and I wear heels *maybe* once a year.   And even then its rarely for the whole day.  Clearly, this was not a sensible option.   So, I decided to make a fancy shirt that would go with the pants I already have (which happen to look just lovely and totally professional with flats) that I could wear in the summer and still be able to fidget and climb and get strangers to take me seriously, provided they haven't caught me hopping over things.


So, the current plan it a modification of the Next Big Thing Dress, from Twinkle Sews.   I was very taken with Very Prairie's version (abeit, a dress) and have had it bopping around in my head for years now.



I still need to muck around with the waist band - the original is elastic and getting this thing over my head and chest is a bit of an operation as it is - I think I might sneak in a center back zipper to make getting dressed a bit easier. 




I'm still not sure how I'm going to wear a bra with it... the neckline is rather open and visible straps won't do,   and I'm just not a fan of strapless (shooting myself in the foot perhaps, but c'est la vie) so... we shall see.   However, me thinks I'll just suck it up.

Final Me-Made-May-13 round-up

Day 22: refashioned dress!  (it used to be a wrap skirt)

Day 23: the dress! (also, rain was coming)

Day 24: Shirt and capris!

Day 25: dress!

Day 26: dress!

day 27: same outfit as the 24th (efficiency in packing) this time with the jacket shown

Day 28: cold and rainy and a shock after Atlanta (me made jacket and lace shirt)

Day 29: a shock in the other direction and a 20 degree temperature shift (me-made dress)

Day 30: context: imagine the rake is a pitchfork and you are a mad scientest bent on evil deeds.
me-made dress!

Day 31:  exhausted:
ladybug dress again.  (theme day: red!)


And with this.... we go back to sewing!

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