Altered plans

So, I had 100% planned to alter the aqua sheath dress I'd picked up at Goodwill in time to wear it to a wedding over the weekend. Things got off to a fine start. I took a 1" chunk out of the back bodice, which improved the fit a bit. But, the front of the bodice was still pretty gapey in the chest and the overall fit remained oddly baggy. I tried a few things but nothing quite did the trick and I was still struggling with the chest being simultaneously too tight and too gapey, so I eventually just threw the dang thing on the floor -- SO over it. Perhaps I'll try again some other time.

I ended up wearing another Goodwill find from a while back, a black twirly dress with a bateau neckline, a little scoop back, and a full skirt. I paired it with a black and white polka-dotted belt, yet another Goodwill find. It was a fun party outfit and the wedding was lovely. Unfortunately we only got a couple of pictures (and only one of me, in which you can just see the neckline of the dress). Sometimes when you're having a super time, it's not easy to get photographic evidence. ;-)

with Tom at the wedding

Oh, and I got a haircut! I'd hoped to redefine my bangs that had been seriously growing out of control... but they kind of fade off to the side now. Eh, well... it works for now.


Anyway, in case you're wondering, the wedding really was great. The reception was in the bride's parents' backyard with a big tent where we all sat at tables below strings of pink and green lanterns and white lights. The bride and groom's first dance was to Walk the Line, and was pure adorable.

first dance

Oh, and I don't have a picture, but did I mention the FOOD?! Well, it was amazing. We had pulled pork bbq sandwiches, cole slaw, mac and cheese, cornbread muffins, green beans, potato salad, and the cake was lemon with coconut frosting - SO DELICIOUS.  It was really an awesome wedding to be a guest at - we were having so much fun, I was even able to drag Tom out on to the dance floor! Good times.

I'm definitely looking forward to attending two more weddings this summer. I've been thinking a lot about my wedding guest dress plans I posted about last week, and was really fixated on how I could use the Milly spotted silk with the New Look pattern. (I'd love to sew this up in the green/blue rayon, also - if you can't decide, just pick both, I always say!) I pinned some fabric to good ol' Ruby to get a better idea of what it might look like to use the spotted silk as part of a dress.

pink bodice with spotted skirt

I'd planned to use the pink sateen for the bodice and the spotted silk for the skirt (the actual skirt will be fuller than this). When I combined the two, it really seemed like something was missing, so I added a black ribbon (left over from some Victoria's Secret "gift wrapped" something...circa 2003?) I happened to have in the sewing stash to give some contrast and definition at the waistline. This was a definite improvement, but I kept gravitating toward more black to pair with the spotted silk. I dug a random piece of black corduroy - literally the only piece of black cloth in my stash - out of the closet and threw it over the bodice. I really think it's an improvement, but I'd love to also add a pink bit at the waist, probably with a bow, to break up all the black. You can kind of get the idea here - just imagine a pink belt.

black bodice with spotted skirt

Obviously, I would not actually use the corduroy for the bodice - it's just acting as a visual aid now. I've ordered some black fabric from fabric.com, as it appears to be a color lacking in my stash - if I don't end up using it for this project, I know it'll get used in something else.

Do you guys think the black is better than the pink, or am I losing it?

I think it'd help soften the look, if I do end up going with a black bodice, to add some kind of collar detail. I own the Heartbreaker Beverly dress (in peacock blue, no longer available?) and really love the neckline on it...perhaps I could do something similar here.

Heartbreaker fashion Beverly dress

Thoughts?

Summer weddings dress plans

Friends, I have a confession. I'm sorry to say that I sort of disregarded your votes for my wedding guest dress plans. Well, not completely, but...
(Also, I've taken on Kate Gosselin's style of discussing a topic here a little bit, the self interview. Just a heads up.)

I've decided to at least try to make two dresses since I'll be attending two weddings this summer - in early August, actually. And the two patterns I chose from the four I'd had you vote on are:

McCall 4581 and New Look 6910!!!!!!

1958 McCall 4581

New Look 6910 - yes, this photo isn't the highest quality, but is that Sarah Palin??

Yaaaaayyy!

What?

Next to no one voted for New Look 6910?

That's the part I "disregarded" ...because I want to make it! It's similar to the other NL pattern I'd thrown in the ring for voting, but I like the scoop neckline + princess seams combo. What don't I like? That jacket. I'm pretty sure that's why this baby got very few votes from y'all too. Don't judge a book by it's cover! Or a dress by it's heinous shiny chartreuse jacket! It's what's inside [the jacket] that counts. Ok?

I'm planning to go with a combination of options A and B. I'm thinking full skirt, scoop neck, little sleeves (which I might lengthen a bit). Why would I want sleeves if these weddings are in hot, humid, muggy, gross August? I think it looks better...and maybe they'll help catch the sweat that will be pouring off of me. Oh, and I'm ignoring the little waist detail/belt-y things going on in this pattern -- a bow belt thing might be cute, depending on my fabric choice, but we'll see.

NL 6910 fronts

NL 6910 back

And for fabric choices, I was initially thinking I could use the blue/green rayon challis I'd hoped to make use of in my warmer weather wardrobe plans since it would be nice and breathable and soft and twirly, but now I'm really being drawn to the pink/cream/black color scheme of the fabric (maybe it looks better in person?) I picked up with my livingsocial deal for G. Street Fabrics. I'm kind of torn between the two - they'd create such different looks. If I picked the green/blue rayon, I think I'd want a contrasting belt of some sort to break it up a bit, since it's an allover print...but if I went with the pink/cream/black, I could use the pink pima sateen for the bodice and the Milly spotted (slightly stiff) silk for the skirt. What do you guys think?

blue/green rayon challis abstract floral

rayon closeup

OR:

pink pima cotton sateen (matches the pink of the dots on the silk below)

Milly spotted silk - pink/cream/black

As for the vintage McCall's pattern, (the illustration for which also lives in my blog header, in case you  missed that) I think I'm all decided re: pattern + fabric. It was kind of a given for me - I couldn't not choose it! Gillian called me out in the comments on my last post before I could even announce my plans...to use white & red fabric! I'll basically be making the dress on the envelope - full, not pencil skirt - with this fabric I'd originally planned to use for a Sencha, but couldn't resist matching up with this dress (after hurrying online to buy extra yardage). It's a kind-of-drapey white rayon shirting with red spots. I was thinking I could finally use my belt kit I got from Sunni's shop over at A Fashionable Stitch to make a coordinating red belt, too...or maybe matching polka dot...?

spotted rayon

As you can see, the skirt I'll be working with here is rather full - that's a lot of fabric!
I've never made a circle skirt, so have nothing to compare it to, but I'm hoping to doing lots of twirling. Such a full skirt makes me wonder if I should try to wear my light pink vintage (very similar to this, but closer to tea length, which is not really my optimal length) crinoline under it, or make a new, smaller crinoline (like Gertie's), OR try Gertie's other full skirt flouncyness solution of lining it with organza for a slight, built-in poof.

instructions illustration

back of pattern envelope

Well, what do you think? Am I on the right track here?

I've actually got three weddings I'll be attending, but the first one is this weekend, so I didn't have the forethought time to sew something up. I did however pick up a simple teal sheath dress from Goodwill that I plan to alter (at the last minute) a tiny bit so I can wear it to this derby day/cinco de mayo/wedding. Planning to go for a teal + red color combo, but I'll share more all about that once I've got photos and such.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Finished Project: Estate Sale Dress

This project kind of popped up out of nowhere. It doesn't really relate to my warmer weather wardrobe plans, but sometimes you've just gotta go where inspiration takes you.

I started it on an impulse, did not plan it to death, and am finding myself rather pleased with the results. As Gillian noted recently, quick, impulsive creating sometimes pans out well and other times it falls flat. In this case, I think it worked in my favor. Not planning this project out too much helped me enjoy the sewing process on this simply constructed dress, kept me from stressing about working with plaid for the first time, and boosted my morale a bit, too.

McCall 9735 - view C

I used the plaid fabric, some navy bias tape, and McCall 9735 all from my recent estate sale haul. Now, I technically made this dress in April (with my Ginger and my Easter Egg blouse, that makes 3 finished pieces for the month...yay!), even though I'm debuting it in May.

Here she is! (the collar looks rather uneven in this photo, but I promise it's just an illusion.

Let's get down to some details about this dress, shall we?

I opted for version C -- SLEEVELESS! (I'm still pretty much over set-in sleeves) I think this will make it a good casual summer dress that can easily be paired with one of my ever-present cardigans. Now, speaking of the sleevelessness of this baby, at the last minute I decided to use bias tape to finish the armholes instead of just as armhole facing.  I'd even cut out the actual armhole facings with the pattern pieces, but now they're hanging out in my scrap basket - oh, well. The way I did the bias tape kind of extended the edge of the armhole over onto the shoulder a bit, so they're verging on cap sleeves of sorts, which I actually like.

I did end up using the neck facing pieces, but not as facings! I combined the front and back pieces to create a little collar and faced the inner neckline with more bias tape.

Bias tape bound armholes.

Collar!

As soon as I'd decided to make this pattern, I knew I wanted a belt involved, or else I'd just feel like a frumpy, plaid blob. Instead of opting for the exact belt option in the pattern, complete with buckle and eyelets, I just used a strip of fabric to make a little sash/tie. This helped eliminate the baggy tent-like aspect the pattern design, sans belt, had going on.

From the back - the belt/waist tie definitely helps give this dress some shape.

I was inspired by the soft, lightweight, linen-y feel of the plaid and wanted a casual warm weather dress (I haven't switched out my winter wardrobe, since the weather here has been all over the place. All my spring/summer clothes are still hiding in a bin). I love how comfortable this dress is. Part of that is due to the loose fit, though I'm considering making a couple of darts/tucks in the front bodice near the waist to keep it from looking super blousey on top - at the same time, though, I don't really care! like it anyway.

Might eliminate some extra bulk in bodice with more darts or tucks.

Now, about working with plaid...matching up the stripes in this project wasn't totally horrible, but I'd still call it a fail, mainly because I just couldn't really be bothered to care. If I'd been really trying, I'd say I did my best, but...I didn't. I did work to at least acknowledge the placement of stripes when I was aligning the pattern pieces on the fabric before cutting, but I didn't match anything along the seams. The bust darts plus the long french(?) darts combined to kind of make plaid-matching impossible, or at least not worth it for me. I came close, but then failed at matching the plaids at the center back zip, but, like I said, I'm not sweating it! I've noticed it's not terribly uncommon for inexpensive RTW garments to not bother with matching plaids and prints at seams, so for this quick project, I don't mind and don't expect to get any weird looks when parading around in my somewhat miss-matched plaid creation - or at least not due to my lack of matching stripes.

Is it even possible to match plaids on side seams of an A-line skirt??

Also of note for this project, I was finally able to install an invisible zipper with my regular zipper foot and not have it look totally bunchy, blatant/un-invisible, and gross! yay.

I promise I'll do an official fashion show with this dress and my Ginger(s) - I'm hoping to have a denim one in the works very soon - once I can get some photos of me actually wearing them.

Also, up next, I'm going to be picking one or two of these dress patterns from my stash to make so I can have a pretty new dress (or dresses!) to wear to the two back-to-back weddings I'll be attending this summer. What do you think? I've numbered them one through four, so feel free to vote on which one or two you think I should make!

As always, please excuse the crappy photo! Bonus points to anyone who recognizes the vintage McCall pattern. :)