Claire's Summer Fun Dress! in December

Yay for summer dresses in December! It really gives you something to hope for, since I've had summer on my brain in an incapacitating way for the past month. How is it in the 20s at night? How is that POSSIBLE?! Anyhow, Claire has long been talking about dresses of mine that she likes, specifically my 50s party dress. My goal had been to make her a version of that dress until I realized that I didn't have the pattern in her size. Dangs. The plan shifted into making a version of Burda Style 108 (March 2011), with the seam allowances included, unlike my last duel with this pattern.

more pictures from my porch, such class!

This fabric was a gift from Michelle as a thank you for sewing her a number of things. Can you picture it as something other than a spring-in-your-step dress? I can't. The original dress pattern called for a bubble skirt, but that seems a little silly on a grown woman. Instead, I cut the pattern pieces in the recommended length (a rather short and kicky 21 inches, ee!), gathered the tops and sewed it to the bodice. The hem is basic, as in without horsehair braid because I felt it would give too much lift to an already short skirt. Without the horsehair braid, the skirt falls about four inches above Claire's knees. 

Gathering skirts is something I should put on my resume...

The dress fits her pretty well (no photographic proof, just trust me), gives her hips and everything! Now if only it would warm up a solid 60 degrees. 

These photos were taken at the 11th hour, aka right before I wrapped this gift on December 24th. 

Rainbow Collection: Bethie's White Eyelet top

This may be a first for me--Bethie seemed to like her Christmas gift. WHAT?!

This eyelet top has been in my brain for a while. The fabric was picked up at a sale in a storage unit in Davis from when Riki was...selling fabric, I don't remember the line of reasoning behind it. This was probably the most usable piece of fabric I bought that day (what am I going to do with that army green wave design?) in spite of it being a smaller piece; I originally planned on making a dress for Stella, thinking that Beth would be crazy about it. I kept not making the dress and eventually adjusted my goal to make a top for Beth, which I imagined would pair perfectly with a dark grey cardigan (neutral colors to achieve her goal of looking French). I'd made the Sorbetto earlier this summer for a hangouts top and had originally planned to make the eyelet into a tank top, but it seemed like the right thing to do to slap some sleeves on it and make a delicate yet casual short-sleeved shirt. Claire of Sew, Incidentally drafted a pattern for sleeves for the Sorbetto and shared it on the Sew Weekly, so I was set.

I paired the eyelet with some tannish-gold liner fabric to provide much-needed modesty while giving the illusion of showing bare skin. Construction was not too complicated, but the lining caused some strife. The Sorbetto is not usually lined and I improvised on using the lining as facing, so there were some imbalances when I tried to affix the lining around the armholes to the shell fabric and sleeves. Specifically, the sleevehole lining came up higher than the sleevehole shell fabric, which was ugly and led me to curse and seam rip and curse some more. The only way I knew to solve the issues that rose out of using the lining as facing was to topstitch the hell out of everything--the neck opening and sleeves are topstitched into oblivion. Note to others: consider how fabric shifts when you're using lining as facing!

You've been topstitched!

I hereby declare that this top fulfills my Rainbow Collection: White requirement! I wonder if I have enough of this eyelet to make another Sorbetto...

Christmas is over, thank heavens...

It is a tremendous relief to have Christmas behind me--all of December was lost to sewing, worrying about sewing, preparing to sew, and breaking needles. I break the most needles at Christmas. Especially on Michelle's gift, which took out a pack of needles.

I made lavender sachets to accompany most of my gifts (homemade and bought) this year, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. The sachets are a great scrap-busting project! I have leftover lavender if anyone wants another (or a first) sachet to put in your drawers or with your laundry as it dries, drop me a line if you would like one.

I'll post pictures of some of the things I made over the next couple of days, though I sadly did not get a picture of Cate's Janet-Leigh-in-Bye-Bye-Birdie-inspired nightie (from Simplicity 2749),

I used the 3rd version, naturally.

paired with the mini-Madeleine bloomers, nor of Chris's ranch bed pocket from Simple Sewing (now with more pockets than ever!); aside from those omissions, I think I got photos of all the handmade items. Better than all of that, I only used fabric in my stash as part of the big fabric destashing effort. Huzzah!

Totally Premature Rejoicing!

Yes! I finished one Christmas gift already and I'm almost through another one. To make sure I took care of the most important things first, I made a gift for a very demanding recipient who would surely give me hell if I did not give them something wonderful and amazing for Christmas.

I played a dangerous game, placing a skirt so close to Olive's back end...quite a gamble.

Yes, I made a skirt for lil' nine-year old Stella, who doesn't seem to really know when I gave her something and when I ducked out of a gift-giving situation and just showed up for cake. Anyhow, I figured it was safe to post this because Stella doesn't seem to do much on the internet, and even if she did, she'd probably forget about her gift before Christmas.

This skirt was based off the tutorial on Sew Delicious for a little version of a skirt seen on Peggy from "Mad Men", which should also apply to making grown-up sized skirts if you're so inclined. The denim is from an old pair of jeans that I wore through (finally, something to do with those other than denim-bottomed bags!), and the fabric is something that Eschy bought a couple of years back at Bolt for me to use on an Anna Tunic for her. The buttons...

The buttons are from the Ephemeral Mailbox Museum from a time before I really knew how to buy notions. They're adorable and and I love them, but since I'm not as whimsical with my clothing as I originally thought, I've had a hell of a time figuring out how to use glittered cupcake buttons. Don't even get me started on how I'm supposed to use the glittered scissor buttons in the same fashion...

So, not a bad start to the season, right? Right. Hopefully I don't go on a sewing strike until December 15th just to bring myself to the appropriate stress level. I hate my subconscious balancing acts.

Bad weather coming your way

I finally fulfilled my dream of being a tornado for Halloween! One pack of assorted farm animals from Rite-Aid (~$6) and your existing set of black clothes and you've got yourself a gift-card winning costume! Farm animals, Chris's miniature train tracks and trees, and some of my bike pins were among the items to get swept up in the dervish known as Victoria on Halloween-Monday. Things to know if you ever make your own tornado costume: a skirt is probably a better idea because the debris on my legs kept getting tangled, and make the strings on your legs shorter so they can't get tangled! I lost some of the items just walking around the office, so don't be super attached to any of your debris. Oh, and be ready to spin ALL DAY LONG. Still dizzy.

Here it is in action:

In other news, I made Jenn a black and white houndstooth-type dress in this pattern this past month, fulfilling my new year's resolution, and a fabric destash as well.

Compliments: Butterick.McCall.com

I used the black version with the bows as the selected model. I made a huge mistake in not taking her picture when she tried it on at my house, as the louse refused to send me any pictures from the party she wore it to. I'll get her yet. For the record, the pattern calls for interfacing on the bows, but that made them waaaay too stiff and I had to hand-tack them to the dress so they wouldn't poke people's eyes out. I would not do the interfacing on the bows again. Her friend Sara had the same dress made for her in blue taffeta (Mad Men party, if you're wondering), minus the bows. Tres chic! At the very worst, I'll be able to report on my version, which is a brown/gold linen blend with a red lace overlay, no bows. I need to hem that beast and document it! I kind of want to wear it to the bazaar on Saturday, so I better get moving. Unfortunately, I'm getting sick as we speak. dangs.

September Blues

September passed with a whisper. The entire month was lost to me, a transition month that failed to take me from summer to fall. September (and summer?) are gone now, and I don't feel that I have much to show for it aside from a lot of work-related stress. Though I feel like I fell back on my destashing project, I did manage some sewing in there: I made a long-overdue tote bag for Jenn, finished Merril's bloomers from the KDVS fundraiser, tackled a thrift store project, and thoroughly muffed up a Burda-style shirt (still trying to figure that one out). Since you saw a slew of bloomers earlier this year, and Jenn's tote was a duplicate of the gift exchange tote (though her version is lined and has pockets inside!), I'll show you two other projects I have pictures of, one of them a long time coming. And they're both blue!

Of course I could teach you macrame!

I got this dress at the thrift store for a dollar. It had some unsightly stains hip-level and the length was...questionable. It had a post-prairie missionary feel to me, but check out that border print! It definitely called for the skirt to be removed, shortened, and reattached.

Success!

Back in June, I complained heartily about making Michelle's maid-of-honor dress for Clara's wedding because the netting was such a nightmare. I sewed until my fingers bled--not exaggerating, I had to wear gloves and bandaids to keep from staining my powdery blue tormentor. But it turned out really well! (and I should hope so after the muslins and fittings and general anxiety) Here are some shots from a different wedding earlier tonight...

What is Michelle's exclamation lately? You know, it is shouted at parties, texted...hrm.

This was my second round using horsehair braid on the hem. It is still wiley and less-than-cooperative, but the effect is lovely and I *think* my technique is getting better. (it gives the bottom of the skirt that rolling body)

I was reminded tonight that the original inspiration for this dress was a lacey Erdem number, which tells me that I need to look at more fashion magazines/websites so I can strive to replicate (and re-interpret) notable things. I need to constantly remind myself of that.

Extreme close-up!

And that Burda style shirt...shis. What happened there? Well, first of all there were some ill-placed buttonholes, and the fabric might be less than ideal for the pattern (left over blue fabric from this dress)...you know what, I'm going to try to fix it. I'll let you know in a month or so if that worked out. Technically, it was my September clothing item to fulfill my resolution, but it needs more work if I'm going to ever wear it without a self-loathing grimace. Like I said, I'll get back to you on that.

Happy October!

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.