Easter dresses, part 1

Jenn was a real champ this time around and was very gracious about letting me take her picture in her seafoam Easter dress. Doesn't she look cute? I should have made her twirl in that full skirt...

Yep, I made her take to the field in heels. Nice sister, eh?

I used Butterick 6582, the same pattern I used for her "Mad Men" party dress and my Christmas dress (new dresses for every high mass!), though I used version C for the first time to create a full-skirted springy effect. This pattern has been getting some good use, being used three times in about six months! The full skirt was a bit unwieldy at times and it seemed to take forever to hem, but look at how it fluffs out...

So you can't see the skirt fluff out too much because she didn't want itchy legs. Can't blame her. However, I think this pose was used for Jenn's 8th grade graduation shots, too. Any word on that?

Naturally I used horsehair braid along the hem to give the skirt some life (like I even have a choice at this point in the game). Going into this dress project, I knew that both Jenn and her friend Sara had issues with this dress slipping off their shoulders at the Mad Men party (for which they both had someone make this dress for them) once the dress was made large enough to accommodate their busts. With that in mind, I made a pass at shortening the length of the neckline near the shoulder seam by folding the pattern to remove a triangle of space before I cut the fabric.

The parts shown in red are parts that I "removed" by folding the pattern over itself before I cut the fabric. And isn't my drawing awesome and totally to scale? I thought so. :) 

This seemed to keep the dress on Jenn's shoulders and I think I'll make the same alteration if I make it again for myself. It would probably also work to take the pattern down another size then do a full-bust adjustment, but I'm still avoiding those...
So this is the dress I finished Thursday night, then I started working on the next one which was ALSO long overdue...

2011 in Review!

It's leap day and I don't have someone to propose to, so I have to do other impressive things like beat my mile goal time (holla! yes!) and finally post my year-in-review. 

January !

2^nd: Bethie’s tweed dress

12^th: Scott’s Spice Pack

20^th: Bryce’s fireplace

January was a “clean-up” kind of month. I had a lot of Christmas gifts to finish and deliver. I was really stoked about Bethie's dress, but I made the huge mistake of choosing brown tweed for the fabric. I am fairly certain she has never worn it because it is brown (and a little big, but who's checking?).

February !

6^th: Chris’s bed pocket

22^nd: Jenn’s skirt   

We went to Mexico in February, and that seems more impressive than finishing up a skirt (hemming it, really) and making a bed pocket.

March !

23^rd Turquoise playsuit

26^th: bedroom curtains & ties

27^th: curtain ties (for the front room's curtains)

27^th: Cate’s pillowcases

Ah, the first playsuit! Made a size too big in some cheap yardsale fabric. Oh, how I love it! And my best curtains to date. So pretty and remarkably even in the hem!

April !

6^th: Michelle’s camel skirt

17^th: 5 pairs of bloomers for the KDVS Fundraiser!

May !

-fail-

But even if I didn't sew, it seems that I did wash a dog that month.

June !

12^th: Michelle’s light blue net dress

16^th: black w/ red & tan flower dress

30^th: coral window pane romper

Wedding dresses and other lifetime goals! I'm still mega proud of the dresses I made for Michelle and myself for Clara's wedding, and I can't wait until the return of romper weather. It should be a good time for all. 

July !

12^th: Michelle’s yellow playsuit

15^th: two headbands (one of which matches Michelle’s playsuit)

24^th: Orange/tan paisley Sorbetto top

 A Colette Patterns-heavy month, if I do say so myself.

August !

23^rd: teal skirt w/ black/white/red buttons

31^st: bed pocket for me

My teal skirt...why must you rumple so? I also need to do some serious fixin' on the lining, which I've shredded with my power stepping.

September !

2^nd: Jenn’s Art Tote bag

3^rd: Merril’s bloomers

22^nd: Thrift storedress modification

30^th: Blue BurdaStyle sleeveless top (never saw the light of day)

You guys haven't seen this shirt, but it is all around bad news. Susan is so embarrassed to be seen in it! I'm starting to think the buttons are cursed (they were used on my doomed Sencha blouse, too) since everything they touch turns to awful. Hrm.

October !

11^th: Atmosphere bag (decoration)

21^st: Jenn’s houndtooth wiggle dress

 Jenn didn't give me a picture of her in her houndstooth wiggle dress. I'll remember that. My atmosphere bag is pretty fun, though!

November !

12^th: Stella’s skirt

12^th: Cate’s sleep top (adorableness, why don't I have a picture?)

December !

1^st: Michelle’s laptop bag

1^st: Cate’s bloomers

11^th: Bryce’s eye mask and bloomers

16^th: Cate’s sleep top (I had to go back and finish the hems, then it was really done)

21^st: CJ’s bed pocket (which he keeps at the ranch)

24^th: 12 lavender sachets

24^th: Bethie’s white eyelet top

24^th: Claire’s summer fun dress

24^th: My red/tan lace dress

Busy month, don't you think?

That is my 2011 in review. December was easily my most productive month and May the least productive (I was distractedly working on Michelle's blue dress for Clara's wedding the WHOLE MONTH), and there were lots of bedpockets and bloomers. Colette Patterns dominated the show with thirteen items (though eight of those were bloomers), and my own love of cutting out shapes for home decor purposes made a good showing too. (hello bed pockets and curtains!) At the end of the year there were over 40 notable things I had sewn. Wow! Good job me!

Now that we're entering March, any ideas on sewing goals for 2012? It's not too late!

Rainbow Collection: Blue Beignet Skirt

Whee! I finally finished Rainbow Collection: Blue! (It also counts as my "August" item of clothing) We'll say that it is finished, though it is missing belt loops. I really wanted to be able to wear it for my Wednesday meetings on the 24th (after failing to meet my "wear the skirt to my meetings on the 15th. No? How about the 17th. No? How about the 23rd. No?" goals), so I set those scraps aside and called it a cake. Maybe I'll stitch them on later today if I'm not at the river.

Lunch break! Very bright! (Chris was right) 

This fabric was purchased as remnant fabric from Britex last November. Even back then I was planning to use it for this skirt pattern or something similar. There was less than a yard of the linen, so there weren't too many other options. Finally, I would have a high-waisted skirt that was meant to be high-waisted instead of a skirt that crept up until you were forced to call it high-wasted. I've got too many of those...

No real comments on the Colette Beignet. It worked out pretty well, even installing the lining (which was snaky and sneaky and slipping all over the place). The skirt seems to have some stubborn stiffness along the button placket, but that is probably because I used too-stiff of an interfacing. The coolest part about the skirt is the button selection. Check it out!

I ordered these from LiDDesigns after becoming thoroughly disappointed with the selection of U.S. shippable buttons. The products from Thailand and Korea were interesting, but how long does it take for something to ship from those parts of Asia? I have enough delays without factoring long shipping times in! Anyhow, the buttons are perfect for the skirt and make sewing a worthwhile endeavor. Has anyone else had a hell of a time finding notions that complement your awesome creations?

This statue is right by my work in an art-walk corridor. Judging by the girth of her hips, I bet this statue has to make her own clothes, too.

The skirt will be great in the winter because it is surprisingly warm (unwelcome August discovery). Next on the list, I'm going to work on a "purple" challenge. I just dug out all of my purple fabric and found that a) I don't have much yardage of purple fabric, in spite of it being "my" color, and b) most of the fabric I do have is leftover satin from wedding projects. Someone should shoot me. 

Rainbow Collection: Yellow Playsuit (for Mishunky)

AWESOME! I have now completed my "yellow" requirement. This was kind of a cop-out because my yellow mission was pre-determined--Michelle bought this fabric in early June (along with some other no-strings-attached fabric) and demanded a playsuit. Well, a playsuit she shall have!

Disaffected? Disinterested? Pensive? Furious? Lost?

She demanded a playsuit after I completed the turquoise playsuit from March. The benefit of having made this pattern before is that I had a better handle on the sizing this time. You might notice that it...ya know, fits. We stuck with the Colette Rooibos (wonderful stuff!) and a sturdy yellow linen-like material from JoAnn's. The blue and white contrast fabric is also from JoAnns from some wonderful sale that was going on when we stopped by for notions for her bridesmaid dress. The blue and white contrast fabric is a little on the sheer side (I am forming plans for its next use!) and super soft like a face full of puppy bellies, but without the puppy breath or needle-like teeth. Pile-of-puppy fabric.

Close up of the contrast fabric on the neck.

In other exciting news, I finally used my double needle! It was rather easy, too! That wasn't a surprise, since I had read about how it is a really easy technique to make hems look more decorative; however, I used the double needle because my belief is that two rows of stitching are sturdier than one. Playsuits should be as strong as my will to eat chocolate!

Victory!

Thus, I declare Rainbow Collection: Yellow Playsuit a success! Doesn't she look like a daffodil of a geography teacher?

So much sass for one geography teacher...

Next up, I was planning on making a blue skirt from this linen I've had since last November...then I wore a particularly ugly shirt to work today with my suit. I also happened across this free pattern and though I'm not crazy on the pink there, I imagine many of my sheer fabrics would light up this pattern and make something box-of-crayons-wonderful to fulfill the "top-bits-covered" requirement of suit-wearing. With a slip, naturally--I ain't no sexretary! 

What do you think should come first? Skirt that I've been talking about FOREVER or new summer top?

Romper Quest Meets Rainbow Collection: Red

I'm pretty freakin' stoked about this. I FINALLY made a romper! After roughly six years of wanting one! Yes, this harkens back to that New York trip to an American Apparel store when Bryce tried on an "obscenely cute" romper (emphasis on the "obscene" part of that statement) and I thought to myself, "this is the most critical item of clothing I could ever own".

It's blurry because I'm excited!

As you well know, most female clothing items from American Apparel are more trampy than not, so I searched other places to find that wonder-playsuit of my dreams. Most of them were too short in the torso, or only fit one part of my body (take your pick, top half or bottom half: which will look good?). The rest were ugly as sin and/or made for underage prostitutes.

I found a pattern for shorts in the June Burda Style. The original pattern has side-seam pockets and back pockets, drawstrings to pull the shorts up at the sides (a cute detail that I always fall prey to), and a side zipper instead of a front zipper and button. I scaled it back a bit, so there are no pockets to be found on this romper--midway through construction I decided that I really wanted pockets, but since I never put pockets in I royally messed up the process and ended up ripping them out. Angrily. After that debacle, I decided I didn't even want to mess around sewing back pockets in, though I might try to add them a little bit down the road. Same goes for the side drawstrings.

Instead of putting the reinforced top waistband on the shorts, I threaded one-inch elastic through the waistband. From that point, I took a shot in the dark and cut a large trapezoid (since I'm pear shaped) and sewed to the waistband to cover my top half. From there, I tried it on a couple of times, (re)installed a zipper up the left side a couple of times, and finally found a spot that was close enough to magic for me. I made a casing for 3/4 inch elastic at the top of the romper and stitched everything into place, and ta-da! Romper Quest 2011 fulfilled!

Some serious wackness going on with the back due to the inevitable buckling of the zipper. Also check out my horrible swimsuit lines--those were not there last week.

The"red" fabric for this Rainbow Collection is a piece I got from Stone Mountain and Daughter for my birthday last year. It was on sale and I can't resist a sale...I think you know where this is going. When I bought it I had absolutely no idea what I would use it for, which is why I still have it a year and a half later. Ideally, the fabric would be a little heavier and I need to find the perfect belt to go with the romper. Next time, I suppose. Speaking of which, I think I should make a sleeved romper before the summer is up! Will I have time?

Who's that happy boxy girl?!

What do you guys thinks would work best for a belt? A sash style in a matching fabric, something in a contrasting fabric, leather, fresh mint? Let me know!

Time to break the silence

If you were wondering, I DID finish Michelle's dress in time for Clara and Brendan's wedding. Those of you who were at the wedding know that, since Michelle was clothed. What is somewhat more impressive is that I also made a dress for myself the night before I flew out. One night=one dress, but since when? Mine was black with red and tan flowers, and there were some...difficulties involved, but both of the dresses turned out really well.
Now, how do I say this...I didn't get pictures of either dress. Yeah, I totally dropped the ball on that one. Not only that, but all of the facebookers also dropped the ball as well, so I can't find a good picture of Michelle's dress anywhere online. Now I need to handwash both her dress and my dress so we can have a proper photoshoot. This photo is the best I can scavenge from online; it was taken around 2:30am at Caleco's.

See that sleeve? That sleeve is the root of one thousand curses!

Anyhow, let me bring you into my brain for this one. The mental picture I have of this blue dress is Michelle standing in front of the assembled wedding guests, a couple of steps behind Mikey. The hair has some more lift at that time in the night (can you imagine?) and the lighting was not so...brackish and neon. It is a very pretty picture, it is a shame that I don't sketch. Or use my camera.

KDVS Fundraiser--Bloomers!

Yay, the bloomers are all done! Five pairs, sizes XS-XL in blue with lil' yellow flowers and dark blue embroidery (only shown in the last picture). In spite of the best intentions, the bloomers are the only things I'm sewing/completing in time for fundraiser. I ran out of time and I don't want to offer a sloppy product in KDVS's name. So, bloomers are the end of the line, and don't make me tell you how I managed to screw up what should have been a very cute and simple cafe apron. Another time. I'm really sorry, dudes--nothing sewn for you this round.

Bloomers are for playing!

and for monkeying around.

If you pledge during One-on-One tonight and want a pair of bloomers but find that your size is taken, there is still a chance that you can get them in your size! There will be a premium listing under the craft section available only between 8 and 10pm on Monday the 18th where you can tell me what size you want and I will make you a pair (limited to five). It's that simple!

Didn't DJ Sister do a bang-up job of stitching these? I think so. Thanks!

You can pledge to the fundraiser at fundraiser.kdvs.org or by calling 530-754-KDVS. Whee!

Heavy Duty Playsuit!

I mentioned this dress (opaquely) before; I cut the pieces out before we left for Mexico thinking I'd have all day on the 7th to work on it, thus finishing it kind of in time for the Sew Weekly challenge. A canceled flight from Cancun to Los Angeles made a mockery of my sewing plans and ate up all of my sewing-Monday, and the pattern pieces stayed in the bag until last week, when I set small sewing goals to accomplish each night, i.e. sew the bodice on Wednesday. I finally got to hem it last night, and I'm pleased to say that I am now the proud owner of a heavy (heavy) duty (duty) playsuit (heavy duty!)!

ease in fit makes it ideal for sassin'

I picked up this turquoise fabric last summer when Michelle and I were yardsaling to find raw materials for Burning Man. I loved the color and the fabric, which originally gave me pause due to its canvas-like properties, worked out really well for this project. Regrettably, there were a number of small stains and defined faded areas here and there on the fabric, requiring strategic pattern placement/cutting, but I think I was successful in not making a pre-stained/faded dress. My sizing difficulties continue; though I'm okay with it for this particular project, the dress seems big all over. Why is that? How are my inches different from the inches of pattern makers?

good for dancin' too

This is the Colette Patterns Rooibos dress, which has a fun opportunity to pick a contrast fabric for the top of the bodice. This is excellent because I used to have this ill-advised habit of buying fabric sample packs where nothing was bigger than a half yard. Um, I don't quilt, and you'll be hard-pressed to make anything other than a purse out of such a small piece of fabric. At least I struggle...

close up of the neckline, on Susan the dressmaker thinger

I fulfilled my sewing resolution for March, and it might very well be my Easter dress! But you never know, my next project might be another springy dress, in spite of the fact that my office wardrobe is seriously lacking.

Bethie's dress and some sewing resolutions

Remarkably, I finished Bethie's dress in a week; specifically, the week after Christmas. Also known as the week when I was both physically sick and sick of sewing. But, I have now completed my first dress using an unprinted pattern! It is also the oldest pattern I have used to date, being from 1954.

Beth tried it on when we dropped it off, and though I would like to take it back and alter it a bit (re-do the darts to their original width instead of the less deep version seen here, shorten it another inch or two), Beth seemed unwilling to give the dress back. I guess that is a good thing?

This is the first project of the new year, and it brings me to my sewing resolutions: 

• I vow to create one to two "big" projects per month, and 
• I vow to create more things for myself. 

A "big" project means an article of clothing, not just a tote bag or traveling pouch. In spite of sewing for the past three years (anniversary of my first Craft Center class this month!), I still only have two dresses and two shirts I have made for myself. I never wear the shirts because of awkward fit issues and unforgiveable rookie-sewing mistakes, but I wear the grey dress bi-weekly and the green dress whenever I can rustle up an occasion. (There was also a drop-waist 60s dress fiasco in there; no pictures were taken and I donated it to good will because it made me look like frumpy maid)

So, more projects and more things I get to keep in 2011! Once I finish my to-do list for others... :)

Oh, and I'm also going to be more active or something. And leave my house more to hang out with you. Yeah!

This is Just for Sizing!

I can’t stress enough that this dress is just for sizing purposes! This is Bethie’s trial run of her sister gift. The theme I drew for her was 1950s, so I purchased a Vogue 1954 pattern in her size (more or less).

I naturally procrastinated quite a bit...I ended up sewing the following muslin-ish thingin' today. 

Chris said that he's never seen me sew a dress so fast, as this only took me about four hours to cobble together. However, it isn't hemmed at all (why hem the muslin before you have the recipient try it on?) and there are some sketchy parts of it, like the front yoke...don't look too closely at that. 

I look forward to making the legitimate version of this! It should be beyond awesome, all brown tweed and 50s.

Timber says, "merry Christmas!"

Pattern Weights, the solution

What is something I have in abundance at my house that makes an excellent impromptu pattern weight?

Yep. Wine bottles. I actually remembered this at the beginning of July (the 1st, to be specific), but I didn't want to drop any hints about what I was making for Michelle's birthday.

Bloomers!

Also, some of you might remember the stories of how Jenn and Michelle used to make me cry by putting my clothes on the dog.

Revenge is sweet.

Thoughts on the Sencha

I spent roughly an hour last night looking at the Colette Patterns Flickr page for Sencha inspiration. By and large, I was not thrilled with a number of the products, but I think I figured it out. People were using very busy fabric, which obscures the pretty design features of the pattern, namely the tucks. Here is a picture from the Colette website (via polkadotoverload)

Now imagine 80 billion flowers and garish colors jammed on that. Yeah. Hrm. Well, at least the people who made them were happy with their results; I will attempt a different route.
Unfortunately, that means I'll have to actually acquire some monochromatic fabric--this will be much more difficult (and slow!) than any of us imagined.
Here's another thought, you all can weigh in if you like...what about this top in a translucent gauze? As in, wear-a-camisole-under-it translucent? I might give that a shot in the future.

'50s Party Dress! Sort of

You might remember that at the beginning of June, I was yapping about making a dress to wear to Claire's wedding. Well, her wedding party was on the 19th and I didn't go naked. Behold!

The somewhat '50s party dress, based on another version of Simplicity 2588. I'm pretty happy with the dress all around, there are a lot of "bests" and "betters" tied in with it. For example, the bumps on the back zipper are much closer to non-existent, the zipper is well-installed, I actually used a method to hem the skirt (ganked from Gertie's blog), and I minimized my "winging it" with...some of the more critical parts. Now, if only I could find a belt that really matches it.

See, the bump in the back is way smaller, I think the dress is just a skidge too long for my torso and I need to slash out some of that length. Also, the top of the dress doesn't gap as much as the grey workdress I made. Yes, the bump is still there, but these are the little victories.

Here is something else I'm proud of. I tried on the pieces of the dress when I was stitching up the bodice to see if it was going to fit. It seemed like the dress would not be able to contain my midsection so I ripped out the back darts and made them much shallower and completed the dress from there. The dress was complete and I try it on and...something's not right. The damn thing is approximately one size too large in the midsection. Curses! But! Instead of just leaving it as-was and never wearing it again, I ripped the dress apart and re-installed the darts in their full capacity and--huzzah!--a dress that fits! Go me! I didn't wallow in my mistakes! (Chris might report otherwise, but that is another story.)
So yes, this dress is complete and in time for Make It, Wear It challenge. Whee!

Pattern weights

I recently came around to the idea of using pattern weights to keep the delicate pattern paper in place while I trace it instead of tearing it to shreds with stickpins. When I was making bloomers for KDVS, I had a stroke of genius and discovered the perfect household item that would double as a pattern weight.

Unfortunately, I forgot what that was and now I'm using kitchen jars; though handy, they leave much to be desired.

Did I tell any of you about the pattern weight revelation in April? Please remind me!

Bloomers, much better!

Yes! I finished the bloomers, more or less in time for the fundaiser (one day late). I'm pretty pleased with them and I feel they turned out very well, especially considering that this was my first time making the pattern, and my first time making french seams. Being a total monkey, I didn't take any pictures of my super stellar french seams so you'll have to pledge money to KDVS for the bloomers to see what I'm talking about.

Here is the size small

and here is the size large

The mediums have pink ribbons just like the large ones, all are quite cute. I made them out of some sheets that were donated to my sewing stash, so I'm really glad to have found something that worked well with the fabric pattern. Seriously, what was I going to do with light pink and green flower fabric? But now I'm thinking of making a pair for my boss's birthday because she really likes pink frilly things, we'll see what happens there.

For those not in the know, this week is the KDVS annual fundraiser, I made these bloomers as a pledge thank you. If you pledge $25 through the website or by calling 530-754-KDVS any time of the day or night before midnight on Sunday the 25th, you can haul home these bloomers; they are listed under the craft section. Now go pledge!

Bloomer style, bam bam

Some terrible pictures, but I had to mark the occasion somehow and all of the batteries in the house are dead! (which means no camera. lame.)

I finished one pair (of three needed) of bloomers!

Can you believe this is the size large? I shudder to think of what the small ones will look like.

I'm going to bed now, I'll post some better pictures later, like when it is light again. Cheers!