Bodice muslin nearly complete!

sinus infection face didn't need to be on the internet

Granted, it will be all the same color, but this is more or less what my dress is going to look like.  (Also beads)  I'm thinking of putting a small crinoline underneath to make it more of an A-line instead of just falling right off my hips... but that can wait until everything else is done.

I want to do one more version with the chiffon overlay, to get the wrinkles, and that funny fold ober my bust out, but otherwise, its looking pretty good.

The bodice is a super hybrid franken-pattern.  The front of the underlay (highly modified) is New Look 6557, the back of the underlay is a cropped Vogue 8727, and the overlay is By Hand London's Anna Dress, also cropped.

I'm about 90% certain the pulls on the lower back are due to it continuing beyond my natural waist and not having room for my hips.   In the final, the skirt will be sewn on and the area beneath it trimmed. (Also, it will be reinforced and beaded, which will help)

Think happy thoughts, since I'm going to start on the beading tomorrow!

frankendressing

Silk shrinking worked out well, and the first three panels of the skirt are cut out (chiffon is kind of annoying, so I'm taking it slowly)... but I still haven't decided on what the bodice will look like.

current thought:

Charles James - 1945

Maybe something along the lines of ....

super photo shop skilzz

  

I'm already set on (and committed to) the flowy chiffon skirt -- but most of the bodices I've been thinking about don't really need chiffon -- in fact, they are better with something sturdy and structured.  But a gathered sort of a bodice, with an opaque something or other underneath, could look rather nice.

hrmm hrmm hrmm     I keep changing my mind every few days, which is why I started with the skirt.   The way I see it, this will be my most photographed dress ever, so it had better look good.   (Plus everyone, their brother and their second cousin twice removed has been asking me if I'm making my dress and then saying they are looking forward to seeing what I come up with.  So I need to collectively stun them.)

Gatsby Dress

I went a little rogue on the design.

When I made up the original pattern muslin, it was a standard 20s fit - a giant sack, tied tight at the hips and floppy at the waist.  It was somewhat less than flattering.   So, while I could have fitted and fusses and made it work, I just didn't feel like it, and I knew no one else at the party was going for historical accuracy (except Greg - but he's a cheater*).  So - I took a pattern that already fitted in the bodice (VPLL princess slip)  and drafted the VPLL evening gown skirt onto it.

I had some extra fabric, that I attached around the collar to make it resemble the original cowl.   I left the floppy bit in the back - it ended up looking a bit more 30s than 20s (especially with the hair) but it worked.  I also snuck in a side seam zipper - 

I was in a odd mood when I started this dress, and couldn't be bothered to get off the couch - so I decided to do it entirely by hand.    The hem is a double set of running stitches with metallic thread which helps the draping show up and sparkle.

I added beading around the neckline and false cowl.   I got a variegated set.  lots more sparkly bits.  

 Happy New Year!

Purple Coat

After years and years and several changes of plans, purple coat is finished, being worn and generally bopping about town.

It is made of a purpley-rainbow bucle wool, purple bemberg lining and lightweight cotton batting as interlining.   (two layers in the hood and torso, one in the sleeves and skirt)  

I've had it nearly finished for a couple of years now - languishing in my closet waiting for me to figure out the closure and the trim.    However, after my regular wool coat started to seriously fall to pieces, I dug through the stash and found a roll of navy piping that worked.  (This also lead to the self-fabric buttons getting switched for big navy ones.  More pop - and made the pipping make sense.)

The pattern is my own design - a massive franken-beast with a fair bit of redrafting.  It has zippered side pockets, zippered sleeves (a relic from when I wore arm braces daily and needed to be able to get in an adjust them without taking off the whole coat.)  (Happily, its been a while and I rarely bother carrying them around anymore.... Actually I'm not even sure where they are right now.   ::heart swells with joy and wonder::   This coat spans years and sagas and stories -- and this one has come out really well. )   (Seriously - we're talking serious glee over here right now.)   

 frolic frolic frolic frolic

 The giant hood sometimes blows off in the breeze and the skirt part flies open, letting my lovely warm air escape - but the torso is warm and the coat is fun to wear, so right now its my feeling-fancy coat, and I love it.

First look at the Simplicity 1612/2580 hybrid

 I still need to hem it, but my lovely franken-pattern has come together nicely.

In fact, I'm more than a little smug with how its turned out, and plan more of these.   Now I need to convince the world that they are work-appropriate and then I can live in them all summer.

Check out the snazzy back - its hard to tell from the low-res, brightened pictures (I'll be getting nicer ones when its slightly warmer out) but there is a nifty twist detail on the back)

someday my spring will come.....

Theoretically, someday it will be warm again, and in that hazy someday, I have a couple of weddings to attend and sundresses will once again be my standard fair.  Bring on the bright colors!

A few months ago, my mother, the enabler, blithely ignored my fabric fast and offered me a cotton eyelet and lining she had left over from one of her own projects, which I was powerless to resist.   (Fun fact:  I'd swear this was a bright pink, but she claims it is red.  Thoughts?)

pink or red?

I decided to go with more or less the same frankenpattern I'd used for my new year's eve dress - although instead of using a third pattern for the skirt, I'm using the original from V1174.  I lust after pockets with an unholy desire.

pockets and straps.  I will win the weddings.

Thus far I have the outer shell of the bodice put together.   (It won't look that pointy when I'm wearing it.  I'm afraid the table and I have rather different figures.)  The next step is overcoming my winter induced malaise and cutting out the lining (the same cotton) and catch-stitching all the seam allowances so it lays flat and pretty.

and so it begins...

 Does anyone else loose productivity in winter?    I can sew up a storm on summer nights, but in winter I just turn into a lump on the couch and watch movies sideways.

The New Year's Dress

New Year's Resolution: Higher Resolution.   (As ever.  I crack me up.  But seriously, after spending so much time on things, I'd like to get nice pictures of them)

Anyhow - The dress!  It is finished and worn for New Year's Eve, and.... I actually really like it.   I wasn't expecting to at all - but after all that fuss I'm really pleased with how it came out.   (I may have been hate-sewing the dress, out of spite for the money I spent on materials, and didn't bother with any interior seam finishing.)  

The pattern ended up being a mix of three patterns, V1304 for the straps, V1174 for the bodice and B5350 for the skirt.  Surprisingly enough, the seams matched well and there was very little monkeying around to get everything meshed together.   I shorted the straps a bit, ditched the cap sleeves and removed all the interior structure from the bodice.   Otherwise, it as would be expected.

 spin spin spin

blue steel.

Fixing the back of the floaty-frankendress

Not sure how, but in cutting out the fabric, I managed to royally screw up the back -- the original plan had it coming all the way up to my neck, making the whole thing solid and an excellent support for the neckline... somehow the pieces ended up too short and without the correct shaping (I must have not transferred something) so I chopped them off and started afresh.

I still needed to support the neckline somehow, so I drafted a yoke that would wrap around the back of my neck and hold everything together.   (I also ended up dropping the center back about an inch or so - with the round yoke, the square back really didn't work.

Resulting in my fancy pants new back yoke!   

All of the binding was done with strips of self fabric I made with masking tape.   I generally find floaty stuff impossible to cut properly (probably part of what happened to the original back) and using the tape stabilized it enough to let me cut it without frustration.

Full pictures of the dress when I hem it - also that whole making a slip thing.  The dress is... rather transparent.

prepping for the floaty franken-dress of summer

the resultant muslin

sources of the frankenpattern

For whatever reason, I fell back in love with floor-length skirts over the winter (possibly because I was cold) and particularly liked the fit of the mesh skirt.   I decided it was clearly also meant to be a dress and started going through my patterns for a top, when I realized the princess seam slip was actually a really good match.  The seams already lined up, and both already fit me.

So, I marked where on the slip the waistband of the skirt hit me, lay the patterns on top of each other and traced out a new set for a franken-dress.  With only a slight bit of adjustment, the muslin came out remarkably well.   The fit of the skirt wasn't quite as nice as that of the original skirt.... but, I was still happy enough with the result.   I made one major change (which, inevitably, doesn't show up in the picture) - instead of going straight back over my shoulders, the neckline is more triangular and wraps around my neck - leaving the back entirely covered.

I have it all cut out (and more or less put together -- it needs binding and hemming and an alteration at the neck I'll talk about when I've figured it out) of this sot of polka-splotched material.  The fiber content is a mystery (I never got around to a burn test) but my guess is polyester.  It frays like there is no tomorrow and is a bit of a pain, but I like the pattern and the floatyness, and I think it was all of a dollar a yard.  (AND! it is a stashbuster!)

Due to the totally transparent nature of the fabric, I'm also going to need a slip.  I dug through all the stretch materials I'd ordered back when I was trying to make my own arm braces, and grabbed this one. The picture doesn't do it justice, but its pretty close to the color of my skin and won't fight the pattern of the dress. (Double stashbust!)

Winter Coat (really, this time!)

Third time is the charm and whatnot.....  

So, yeah, I really didn't like working with the rubberized codura.   it stuck to everything (I think a Teflon foot would have helped, but I need more space from that particular project)   Anyhow - I still really wanted a winter coat with arm zips so I could fuss with braces and gloves and I had several yards of mystery woven* (burn tests indicate wool) and a few days after visiting family blissfully free of anything at all.   I decided to ditch the bi-swing back, pit zips and thinsulate for the moment as it was just getting to be a bit much.   I still wanted free movement for my arms, so I went with a back gusset instead.    

This coat is actually the ultimate frankenpattern.  (refer to the chart below)   I used the coat block I'd created out of the Tracy Reece (V1086) dress pattern (lace shirt to brocade jacket to tentacle sleeve jacket) the sleeves from Badgley Mishka (V1040) which became all my polar fleece jackets, my own version of the hood Lisa of Small Things came up with, and a couple of other changes for good measure (bust darts, sleeve zips, planned front double welt zipped pockets...)   

Taking the pictures was the first time I'd actually worn it outside -- turns out its quite toasty and warm.  the interlining is cotton flannel which I basted onto all the pieces before putting it together.   The bodice and hood have a double layer for extra warmth. (All the wiggly blue bits are hand-stitching -- days and days that took)

I still need to do the lining, closures, pockets and other bits of fancy I have planned, but I think its coming together really well.   Around here January / February tend to be the coldest, so happy thoughts of it getting done soon.   

*pictures taken mere moments before sunset.   Contrast/exposure/brightness bumped all the way up so things are visible.  The fabric actually reads as a dusky purple in real life - although if you get up close you can see that its really a rainbow.  Looks like it might be a buclé - not totally sure.