Party Dress: Fabric

I ordered six different fabric swatches, from three different online fabric stores, before I could bring myself to make a decision on the fabric for my party dress. After looking at everything in person, I was stuck between the least expensive option, from Gorgeous Fabrics, and the most expensive fabric, from Mood. I would "decide" on one and then change my mind the next day when I'd attempt to finally check out online! After taking a mental-fabric-break for a couple days, I revisited the swatches I'd received and held them up to my dress form, trying to imagine them as a dress. I liked the idea of a more sparkly fabric, and that paired with the lower price is what brought me to my final choice: the Spanish Couture Lame Brocade from Gorgeous Fabrics. Wish me luck!

How do you decide on fabrics for a bigger project? Do you plan the fabric and then the pattern, or try to find the perfect fabric to match an idea that only exists in your head?

Party Dress: Update #2

I've still got the party dress bug!

So far, I've taken a few cracks at the Elisalex bodice and have just begun my third iteration -- yeah, y'all! This instant gratification sewist just made three muslins for a dress she's not even confident she'll have an occasion to wear anytime soon. Crazy? No! I'm patting myself on the back right now for being patient and thorough.

long sleeve / short sleeve

I'll talk more about my muslin adventures in a moment, but first wanted to share a couple of notes about the pattern from my process so far. If I'm somehow not the very last sewist on the internet to try this pattern, and you're thinking of stitching it up for the first time, you'll want to take note:

• Sleeves! One thing I noticed right away, and then again while looking at inspiration and reviews on other blogs, is that the actual sleeve options provided within the pattern do not completely match what's shown in the pattern illustrations, or the sewn examples on the page where you purchase the pattern.
  
  What's actually included is the long sleeve pattern piece, with a line to shorten it to the "short sleeve" length for Variation #2. Following that line, though, results in a sleeve that hits at the elbow. What's depicted in the illustration clearly shows a short little sleeve that ends at the upper bicep. Big difference, and a very different look, overall.
  
  
• Skirt! Similar to the sleeves, there is a discrepancy between the length of the skirt as advertised at first glance, and what the pattern pieces actually produce. These skirt pieces are huge, and result in a skirt that hits well below the knees by several inches. Meanwhile, the official pattern imagery shows a skirt ending magically at, and sometimes above, the knees.
  
  Is this drafted for women approaching 7' tall? Is the real Elisalex (pattern's namesake and model) a giant? This throws off fabric requirements (don't need as much, unless you want a midi skirt) and also means you'll be shortening the skirt, hopefully in a way that prevents re-tapering/adjusting the lower few inches to retain the pegged look towards the bottom, but keeps the fun tulip pouf at the hips. The 30"+ skirt length is listed in the finished garment measurements, but I wonder why it's not depicted accurately in the illustrations and sewn samples.

Update: As soon as I published this, I noticed BHL is finally addressing these issues! See their update here. (Thanks, ladies!)

These gripes aside, I still love the look of the pattern. I dove into bodice making, hoping to end up with a wearable muslin. I'll be the first to say that when it comes to fitting adjustments and altering patterns, I'm not very experienced. I've only ever done one FBA on a darted bodice, and otherwise tend to just take seams in "here and there," by pinching out areas on the sewn garment, once I try it on. I want to be proud of this dress, so I'm putting forth more effort this time!

1. First muslin: I bought a pretty, floral home dec. sateen by Joel Dewberry. I wanted something a little bit stiffer and heavier than muslin, to be more like my intended fashion fabric. I had grand pans to make an adorable, wearable muslin that I could perfect the fit on and then gleefully reproduce in my expensive shimmery fabric. The bust ended up a tad tight (shocker! the finished measurements list the size I cut at 1/2" smaller than my most recent bust measurement. duh), while the princess seams curving up to the armscye were bunching and too big above the bust. The waist also seemed a tad loose. Rather than add the sleeves on to see if it looked better, I tossed it aside and moved on.
2. Second muslin: I used some blah home dec. fabric I'd had leftover from a tiny catbox curtain project years ago. You know, because cats need privacy, too. I did something a little weird for this muslin: I trimmed my pattern pieces for the bodice front sections, so that the side seam, along with ~2" above and ~2" below the bust were one size smaller, leaving the apex of the bust alone.
   Then, I cut one size smaller for the front of the sleeve head, tapering to nothing at the center/top, but left the back at the original, larger size (since I wasn't making any adjustments to the bodice back).
   WTF? you're thinking. Yeah, it didn't really work out. The bust ended up too tight, still (duh, see measurement note in First Muslin), though the upper bust and shoulders, and also the waist, looked somewhat better. Sewing the sleeves on rather than omitting them may have also helped this time, but I still wasn't pleased overall. On to the next!
3. Third muslin: I unpicked my first muslin and re-cut the parts I could re-use, going down a size, so that the entire bodice is the smaller size (rather than just parts of the sleeve and front pieces being smaller). Then I closed my eyes, held my nose, and did my first  FBA on princess seams. Surprise: it was fine!
4. Fourth muslin:  Luckily, I bought a shit-ton of the home dec Joel Dewberry fabric from Grey's on sale, so this fourth version may well end up the wearable muslin of my dreams. We'll see!

Hopefully, I'll have some wearable muslin action-shots to share soon! I've got some tips I've picked up during this process to share, too, so I'll be posting those shortly. Now I just need to decide on the final fabric!

Party Dress: Update #1

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a nice holiday and you're all ready to crush 2016... in a good way. Like, be awesome and get stuff done.... Anyway! Party dress stuff.

#moodfabrics #swatches #IRL #partydressplanning #decisionsdecisions

A photo posted by Sue (@sue1656) on Dec 27, 2015 at 3:08pm PST

Swatches can look pretty different in person than on a fabric store's website! I suppose that's the whole point of ordering them, duh. Here are my photos (still not the same as seeing the real thing) of my Mood swatches. If you look back at my previous post, you can see the difference between the official photos and mine.

I want a shimmery party dress, but not a glitter-encrusted/sparkle vomit look. I'm leaning most towards the bottom right fabric, of the four shown above. It's a vaguely striped, lovely, silk brocade, which is a little expensive, and I'm on the fence as to whether I should just pull the trigger, or opt for something a bit less costly.

Here are the two other contenders I found online, in the search for something more affordable:

left / right

These alternatives are not cheap, but wouldn't hurt my wallet quite as much. I've ordered swatches of both, and the dotted (right side) fabric looks exactly she same (and pretty!) in person. As for the other fabric (left side), Harts sent me the wrong thing. I'm learning toward taking that as a sign, which, paired with how much I'm actually liking the other fabric, is pointing me toward just snapping up some (of the right side fabric) from Gorgeous Fabrics and being done with the fabric decisions.

To throw a wrench in the works (but a happy one!), silly me forgot that the date of the company holiday party that I'm sewing this dress for is very close to my nephew's anticipated due date (yay!). That means I might be scooting off to California to visit a newborn rather than attending the (sort of) glamorous work party. Either way, I'm going to sew the shit out of this shimmery dress, and, at the very least, wear it out to a nice dinner somewhere!

Stay tuned for an actual sewing update very soon -- I'm onto muslin number three and have some more details to share.

Season's Greetings!

 

And very happy holidays to you all!

I hope everyone has had a great month (almost) since I last checked in. Though there has not been a lot of blogging in these parts lately, there has been some sewing and thrifting. For my latest sewing project, I whipped up a dress to wear to the rehearsal + dinner for my sister's upcoming wedding. The pattern is M5845, the bodice of which Neeno loves and which I used for a previous wedding guest dress. On this latest version, I used a Navy cotton sateen from my fabric stash and dark purple/blue rayon bemberg lining from JoAnns. 

I modified the shape of the back opening by changing from the sharp, square cut-out edges to more of a scoop. I also raised the center back by about an inch, to help cover my bra, since the opening is a rather low scoop. The only other real change I made to what the pattern prescribes is to sew the darts inside of the garment, rather then having them on display on the outside of the dress. It's a more classy look this way, if you ask me.

I do love the shape of this bodice, but decided to use a sleeveless NL6000 for my upcoming floral wedding guest dress, rather than repeat the scoop back style again. This will be the dress I wear to the actual ceremony and reception. I've had luck with this pattern before as well, and since there's just one long front piece to NL6000 and two back pieces, instead of separate bodice and skirt pieces, I think it will work better with the floral sateen I've picked out -- more uninterrupted floral pattern! This fabric has a painted kind of look, which has a vintage feel to me, and is a rather bold print for my wardrobe! Here's a peek. 

That's all for now on the sewing front, though my thrifted finds the past few weeks have also had a significant sewing theme. In fact, I don't think I've found a single fashion accessory and not more than one article of clothing in my travels, but lots of notions, some bias tape, and some fun fabric. I found a teal sweater type of knit that I'm considering using for a Hazel dress (Victory patterns, not Colette), and a thin soft cotton/poly blend floral fabric. I love the color combination of the two together!

A quick peek at the fabric before I run off to wrap presents and get into the holiday spirit!

October

This month I've been a little bit all over the place. Tom is traveling for work which has thrown off my weekly routine slightly. I've found myself splitting my focus between what feels like a million things.

• For one, new vintage. I recently got a cute '50s navy suit jacket on Etsy that just needs the gold-painted dark glass buttons re-attached. Of course the simplest mending is what takes the longest to make yourself complete. 

• I went to my first official rummage sale this weekend. It's actually the same sale Sam from Fluffyland just posted about. As you can see from her photos (I always forget to take photos), it was huge and, for me, a bit overwhelming. I'd hoped there would be more sewing supplies, but apart from fabric, it was slim pickings for vintage lovers in that department. The fabric table(s), however, were covered in piles of cute cuts of fabric, all neatly labeled and bundled up. But, I manged to resist adding to my already-huge stash. At the end of the morning, I walked away with a cute, wool Sacks Fifth Avenue 2-piece dress from the "vintage" rack in the clothing room, and an '80s spotted red bow blouse.  

• I also had some good luck thrifting this weekend, bringing home some vintage sleep/lounge wear and snuggley cashmere sweaters.

• I've still been stalling, paralyzed with indecision (and distracted by other projects!) on just what cuffs to add to my green Pilgrim Peony.

• Duke is pretty into my new shoes, which I recently wore with my latest project. I've managed to sew up another Peony dress in the Orange linen blend I'd mentioned, but am still working on getting some good photos. 

• I told you all I was moving on from my Laurel obsession, but it just so happens that a friend at work saw my navy & white speckled version and then went and found the cutest fabric so I can make one for her. Apparently the fixation is contagious. :)  I stitched together the wearable muslin for her in an evening, using some very cute pink/orange/purple striped fabric of hers. After she wore it around the house a couple of times, she told me what needed adjusting and I've made alterations to the pattern pieces. It's such a simple dress that I think it will be ok to just take it in where she's told me, and cross my fingers that everything else fits in the final version.  The final dress will be in the white/blue/green/purple zig-zag/herringbone print (above) and we're adding in-seam pockets, mid-length sleeves with the RUFFLE option. I'm so excited to have the finished product -- those sleeves are just going to be adorable. I'll make sure to get at least some photos to share once it's ready.

• In addition to my recent pattern acquisitions from Deer & Doe, I've also just ordered the Emery dress pattern by Christine Haynes. The vintage details were too cute to pass up and Shanni's review really made me want to try it. 

• I found out this month that one of my best friends is going to be having a baby girl in late February. I started looking at Oliver + S patterns (adorable), but am hoping to find some other options, too. Baby clothes seem so fun and quick to sew. Any recommendations?

That's all for me. What have you all been up to this month? 

Is anyone sewing their Halloween costume? 

The Pilgrim Peony

You may recall I have a polka dotted Peony with striped & piped cuffs that I made when I first started this blog. That was my first ever version of this pattern and, with more experience under my belt now, I realize I should have cut a smaller size, among other things. I had been so excited about how I was going to sew it and what fabrics to use that I'd kind of ignored the less-than-ideal fit of the finished dress.  Well, I mentioned it, but at no point did I stop the project to try to really fix it. Unfortunately, the thing never gets worn now. Anyway -- it's time for a new round of Peonies.

At first, I had been a little over-it when it came to the Peony pattern, thinking that maybe it just wasn't for me. And it had sleeves, which I've only recently become comfortable sewing. Then, I saw this adorable version over at Sewbon. It hit me that, duh, this is a versatile dress that would really look cute and let a beautiful fabric shine. If I used a solid color of a nice bright linen or something, I might really like it!

Since fall is here, I want everything to be orange, red, or gold, haha, so I snapped up some of this pretty, Orange linen blend at Fabric.com, with plans to make it into a NICE, satisfactorily-fitting, Peony. Is this going to be a good color on me? Don't know, but I was definitely drawn to it.

Carrot colored linen blend, from Fabric.com

However, none of the above noted Peonies are what this post is actually meant to share! Instead of cutting right into my new bright fabric, or making an annoying bodice muslin out of plain, unwearable fabric, I opted for a wearable muslin, of sorts. I used a kelly green double-knit polyester heap of fabric that had been lurking in my stash. I can't quite remember how I came across it, but probably some early, misguided online fabric shopping from my earlier days of sewing. I added a while collar and thus created my latest Peony; The Pilgrim Peony.  (I know you're not supposed to use fabric that's this drastically different from your anticipated final fashion fabric when you make a muslin, but whatever!)

Please excuse the iPhone photos, I'll have better ones once the dress is totally done. That's right, I've left off the finishing touches on the sleeves, so this is still technically a WIP. I've also done a few other weird things -- since this fabric is thick polyester and is not prone to fraying, I didn't finish a single raw edge or seam! I was also able to leave out the center back zipper since the double-knit fabric is a bit stretchy. AND, to make my futuristic/Jetsons'/pilgrim/'60s collar, I literally just used the facing pieces that came with the pattern. Is that weird? It makes the corners at the shoulder seam pointed, rather than curved and I kind of like it. The inside of the neckline is finished with matching bias binding. Oh, and I also omitted the gathers at the front of the skirt and just added a pleat on each side. I didn't think this fabric would lend itself well to little gathers.

The only thing I have left to do now is come up with an idea for finishing the sleeves. I could just hem them at this slightly-shorter-than-the-pattern-calls-for length. Or, I could add a little pointy, white cuff to match the collar. Or, maybe just a white band/cuff that's plain, not pointed? I really can't decide. Any recommendations?

A Sort of Vacation...

Sometimes, when you don't take the time to set aside a chunk of your life and plan a vacation for yourself, some subconscious part of you eventually takes the reins and forces you to take a kind of mental vacation in your free time. At least, that's what I think must have happened to me this month?

In my free time, I've been totally un-inspired to do anything other than veg by the (new, fancy) TV and watch Gossip Girl on Netflix. There are a lot of seasons (and cute clothes to study)! At first, I was just watching one episode here or there as a way to wind down or relax, but now I've been completely sucked in. All my brain wants to do now to unwind after work or on the weekend is feed its Gossip Girl craving, not sew, not even walk up the stairs to the sewing room/office.





(source)

SOME sewing has managed to get done on my friend's matching rayon Laurel top, but nothing to brag about.

You may notice I've added a blog button for The Quirky Peach (Sally is just the cutest) over on my side bar. I'll eventually be providing her with a button for my blog, once I kick my butt in gear and wean myself off of the dang Gossip Girl. If any of you all have blogs and want to swap buttons, send me an email & let me know! I'm happy to post yours up right away and give you mine as soon as it's ready. :)

I spy...

I've got a few projects in the works right now. This weekend I did some research at Anthropologie and inspected a top that I want to recreate, got some fabric from Mood for the job (did you know they mail your orders wrapped in a Mood shopping bag?! Now I can re-use the bag and causally flaunt it all over the place - yes!),  cut out  a new dress project, started working on a Laurel top for my friend (after seeing my rayon print version, she wanted one for herself), and did some thrifting at Goodwill, where I scored these adorable 1960s pajamas.

The PJ's are Co-Jamas by Cohler, size 36 - just my size! I paid a whopping $6 for them, and think they are awesome! As I tried to show in the photos, they've got high-waisted pants with little pleats in front and back, instead of darts, and the length of the pants is cropped/capri-length. There is an opening on the left side that is closed by an adjustable button tab that is surprisingly comfortable. Did I mention that the fabric is super cute, too? It's got light blue tulips, some medium & darker blue strawberries, dark blue butterflies, plants, and bees, and little French words. I'm in love.

And the winner is...

Marie! of A Stitching Odyssey.  There were 35 entries total (after a reply and a deleted comment for 37 actual comments on the post), which was awesome! It's great to see so many of us appreciating this cute, cute fabric.

Thanks to all of you who entered, and congratulations to Marie!

I know I also promised more details of my latest project, but I'm saving the full post for once I've got pictures of me wearing the dress to the wedding I'm attending tomorrow. Until that's ready, these quick iphone photos will just have to tide you over. :)

It's Giveaway Time!

Hello! Remember the colorful, printed rayon fabric I found a couple of weeks ago and then used to make my latest Laurel top? Well I've got enough of it left to do a nice little giveaway for you lovely readers. There's a little over a yard left, which was the perfect amount for me to make my sleeveless Laurel and self-bias tape. Don't feel like you must make that (though, I don't mind if you do!), if you win this fabric - it's a good amount for another simple top, or dress bodice with contrasting skirt, or ... well, you get the idea.

To enter, just leave a comment below by Wednesday, June 12, 11:59pm EST. Make sure your account links to your email address, or just type it into the comment so I can reach you if you win. One lucky winner will be chosen at random and I'll ship to anywhere in the world.


And just in case you were wondering, here's a peek at what's been keeping me busy at my sewing table this week. I'll have more details soon!

 

On (and around) my sewing table...

For the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I've got 3 different sewing projects in progress at once. For the past week-ish it was just 2 simultaneous WIPs, until this morning. I ran to JoAnn fabrics to get some thread and for the first time, definitely ever, I stumbled upon some great apparel fabric! There was a lightweight, soft & buttery, rayon print that I fell in love with and knew needed to be made into a blouse. I'm loving the bright color scheme of coral, pea green, turquoise, orange & red hued-browns, black, and light grey, on a white background.

In addition to the new rayon blouse WIP, I've also got another Colette Laurel dress underway, as well as a NL6723 dress that's just been hanging out in the background for a while. I'd had a burst of inspiration a few weeks ago, that I could just whip this dress up quickly, use up some fabric from my stash, and possibly wear the finished product to Tom's brother's wedding next month, but now I'm not really sure. I'm starting to fall out of love with it before it's even finished -- please tell me I'm not the only person this happens to.

Laurel details

What I didn't tell you in my last post, in which I sneak peeked my in-progress Colette Laurel dress, is that it was already finished when I posted that! Oh, and that I was also already feverishly stitching up a second version.

I'm obsessed with trying out every possible version and variation of this dress that I can think up.

Version 1 - the linen mini with flappy pockets - (better photos of me wearing it to come in a future post)

I decided to use a grey linen I'd had in my fabric stash for a long time. I'd bought it back when I worked in an officey-office requiring business casual attire, and had planned to make a jacket out of it...but never did. I'm super hyped about that because I love this fabric for this dress. It's light and crisp and bouncy and soft and nice, all at the same time!

Disregard the lame, cluttered background.

The bias tape and pink loopy trim were both from my stash as well. I had just enough of the pink trim to use along the neckline, so that was nice! Overall, I really loved making this dress. Applying bias binding is super satisfying to me, and as I just mentioned, I'm in love with the linen fabric I used, too. I was even able to omit the back zipper, which literally made me giddy. The dress just slips on over my head easily - YES!

The aspect of making this dress that I did end up throwing a tiny temper tantrum about? The sleeves. I really just hate setting in sleeves. I was all pumped up to try this method I read about on KestrelMakes. When I actually attempted it, though, the gathering just wasn't happening. I un-picked and tried again with literally the same result. Ugh. I didn't want to lose my momentum and become discouraged, so I just went for my little cheat-pleats I've used on set-in sleeves before. Am I the only person out there who just can't bring herself to use gathering stitches and go the traditional route to set-in a regular sleeve?

The mediocre sleeve result is all balanced out by my fantastic pockets with bias bound flaps. They are in no way perfect, but they were so fun to make and I think they turned out pretty cute! I'm ready to add them to any and every project from now on - I'm hooked!

Wonky stitches but I don't even care! I'm in love with pockets.

In finishing up the dress, I chopped off quite a bit of the overall length, and have now ended up making it just slightly too mini to wear to work without tights. I think the shorter length is ok because the longer sleeve length helps balance out the look. I'll make sure my next version as at least a tiny bit longer than this one, though. :)

And, you heard (err... read) right: I'm already working on my second version of the Laurel dress. It's great for stash-busting and it works well with plain or busy fabrics. My next version will definitely be a bit more...vibrant. Here's a peek:

Coming soon!

...my new, mini, linen laurel.

On the sewing table

Today I went to my favorite antique store with an old friend and scooped up the far left and far right patterns shown below. The center pattern is a recent purchase from Etsy that was just too cute to pass up. Not sure just when I'll be sewing these up (though they'd all be great for spring & summer!), but thought I'd go ahead and share them anyway. Who here doesn't like to peek at vintage patterns??

The big green bow (a bit lighter/brighter in real life) was also just done today and will soon be part of my Mad Men dress I've been working on. Hopefully I'll be finishing up the dress in the next week, so I can take a few photos and have time to officially submit it to Julia Bobbin before the April 19 deadline. Yikes - back to work!

A frock-sewing dilemma...

So I've been working on my polka-dotted New Look 6000 dress I gave you a sneak peek of a few days ago. Everything was going swimmingly, until I got to some of the last steps - the sleeves!

What first drew me to this pattern, when I bought it like 2 years ago, was the cute collar and cuff options. Well, for this version, I'm making view E - no collar, but with the cute cuffs. Or, at least, that's what I'd planned. Now that I've got the sleeves on, and have tried on the dress-in-progress, I'm really not liking the look of the 3/4 length sleeves and can't imagine I'll be any happier with them once the cuffs are attached. Standing in front of the mirror, I started rolling up one of the sleeves...

...and I actually quite liked the shorter length. It's not nearly as short as the other, cap-sleeved option in the pattern, and seems just right to me. I'm also liking that this length and silhouette of sleeve would work well with layering under cardigans, which the pointy (but cute) cuff I'd originally planned for would not do.

However, I'm undecided on the cuffed look of a rolled-up sleeve. Should I use some contrasting fabric? Or maybe go for little ties, like Sunni did on her adorable shirt-dress? Maybe no cuffs at all, but just cut the sleeve to the length it's currently rolled to? I can't decide - please help!

What would you do?

Lately...

Hello! Here is a quick look at my current sewing project. I'm still marinating on some ideas for the second Mad Men Challenge, so I'll be sharing more details and inspiration soon. In the meantime, I've been working on this.  Hint: this project just might have something to do with the Frock Fest underway over at Scruffy Badger Time. :)

Sew...much!

I feel like I've got a lot going on in my brain & sewing room right now! I'm clinging to multiple sewing ideas, while also trying to do some refashioning and complete my Pendrell blouse. I actually took some time off work to give myself a long weekend for getting things done. However, in the sewing department, instead of being productive, I've ended up spending a lot of time marveling over all of the ideas for things I could work on. There's sewing project inspiration, potential refashioning projects waiting in a pile, and my in-progress Pendrell blouse.



Inspiration:
Ever since starting to read (yes, read - not just flip through the pretty, pretty pictures!) 100 Years of Fashion, one particular style has been stuck in my head. I know I've claimed the '60s as my best style decade for its more wearable, cute fashions, but who can resist the New Look.

1947 'Bar' by Dior -  V&A

Something about the fitted jacket and or blouse belted over an a-line or full skirt, idea won't get out of my mind. For some reason I'm picturing myself wearing this type of suit, maybe in dark blue, boarding an airplane? Don't ask. I've found a pattern that I'm dying to try, but then again, I think I could turn Gertie's jacket and skirt from her book into just as nice of a suit, and I wouldn't have to purchase any new patterns. But, just look...

Source: etsy.com via Susan on Pinterest

It's even from 1960! But, then there's also this lovely '50s pattern, too.

Source: etsy.com via Susan on Pinterest

Pretty! I'm not normally into suits, but these seem so smart and fun to wear. I'm especially liking the look of the jacket being nipped in at the waist and extending down to cover the hips, but not as long as a '40s style suit jacket. This look definitely helps create that hour-glass silhouette, but isn't revealing or racy. I'd call it ladylike but cute - at least that's how I'm hoping it would look on me.

Drooling over inspiration is a lot easier than completing a sewing project, though. Which tends to leave me with too many ideas to narrow down to a starting point and no progress on my current projects.

That said, I'm also being tempted by the Polka Dot Frock Fest that's been talked up over at Scruffy Badger Time.

I already own this pattern but have yet to sew it up. I also own some blue, polka dotted fabric that's been sitting forlorn in my stash for longer than I care to recall. Sounds like a match made in heaven, if you ask me.

If I do participate in the frock fest, I'm hoping to make my version something I could wear in my casual work setting without getting "...you're dressed up today" comments. I'm liking the view that's already illustrated in a   spotted fabric on the pattern envelope. Hmm... we'll just have to see.



Refashioning:
Earlier this month, I picked up this black, wool herringbone pencil skirt at the thrift store. I think it's from the '70s or '80s? It's fully lined, has pockets, and has a little strip of elastic on each side of the waistband  This might not sound like a plus, but the elastic is not super noticeable and makes a big difference in terms of comfort! It's a great length for a vintage office-y look, but my office is pretty casual, like I mentioned, and I'll get more wear out of this piece if I shorten it to above the knee. Not really a drastic refashion, more an alteration, but yeah. That's the plan.

Thrifted wool skirt with pockets  - closeup shows elastic at side-waist

I also have 4-ish other thrifted pieces just sitting in a pile, unwearable until refashioned into something better. I've tucked them away for now because I don't want to get sick of them before I even have time to start working on 'em. I easily get carried away with all of the pieces I see with "potential," rather than keeping in mind what I'll actually have time/energy to work on and will be able to really wear when completed.



Actually Working On...
In the meantime, through all of the swirling inspiration and project plans in my head, I've come to terms with the fact that trying to work on, or even just think about, too many things at once ends up being bad news for my sewing productivity. Once I finish my current project, the Pendrell blouse, I'll move on to address any lingering sewing inspiration or refashioning ideas. That may sound dull, but I think I'll go insane if I don't focus!

In-progress, creased and droopy, teal Pendrell

Today I'm planning to draft a collar to add to my teal rayon Pendrell WIP. Gertie's tutorial from her book seems pretty easy to follow for collar drafting, so, hopefully that'll turn out nicely. I am trying to make an effort to not rush through this relatively simple project. I don't want to be tempted to cut any corners and end up with a poorly finished piece that I won't enjoy wearing. Wish me luck!

Sewing Table Snapshot

I've got a few things in the works right now. There's a sewing project I'm finally starting, as well as some refashioning of recently thrifted pieces. More details soon!

why is picmonkey making my "trasnparent" corners black?

The '60s are my Jam.

Remember in my 2012 reflections post when I mentioned that one of the things I've learned over the past year is that even though I've loved 1950s fashion my entire life, I've found that 1960s styles are more my thing when it comes to making and wearing 'em? Well, yeah.

Recently, I've been infusing my wardrobe with even more sixties style (and working on my "wear more everyday dresses/skirts" goal). Over my little Christmas break, I snapped up a bright purple, all-season shift on sale on Etsy, and just this weekend I bought two more dresses while on an antiquing extravaganza in Frederick, MD. Check 'em out!

These dresses are easy enough to wear and not so fancy that they can't be worn for everyday, casual occasions. The linen one with white spots fits great, and the black wool one fits in the shoulders, but might need taking in along the sides for a more flattering shape.

In Frederick, I also picked up these two sewing patterns - a 1950s(?) blouse and a 1940s looking skirt. Just because the '60s are my fave doesn't mean I can't wear other decades, too, you know. Both of these patterns are the un-marked kind that don't have any printing or lines on them, only hole-punches in the shape of numbers to let you know which piece is which. Scary. I hope I don't chicken out and can actually make myself use them!

I didn't realize just how good I was being already, until typing this up now. I'm also in the midst of a refashioning project, too. Just chipping away at my "do more refashions" goal! Here's a peek.

I'd thought I would be using this black velvet ribbon to do some kind of embellishment or collar detail, but the stuff is too stiff to really work in this situation. Now I'm thinking I might make (or buy on Etsy?) some sort of embellished, detatchable black peter pan collar necklace thingy. I don't have any particularly rich black fabric in my stash to match with this spotted silk and I really don't want to buy any more FABRIC, since I'm already drowning in it.

Beaded Collar Necklace from SoStyle

I do like this collar found on Etsy. Any thoughts - make one? buy one? do something else entirely? I'm all ears.

Going green

Well, you guys, I did it. I wanted Green and that's... kind of...what I got! I threw all caution I'd expressed in my previous post to the wind and threw this beige/grey eyelet dress into the vat (my kitchen sink) of Kelly Green dye. Here's how it turned out.

Before:

...and after!

The cotton fabric part of the eyelet took the green dye really well and is a little, tiny bit more saturated looking in real life than in this picture. The thread of the eyelet embroidery and the matching grey lining, however, did not take a drop of dye and magically look exactly the same as where I started. This is what I'd been afraid of, but I'm actually finding myself liking the way it looks now! The (now) contrasting lining and stitching make the flowery pattern of the fabric much more pronounced and ...interesting.

Here's a closer look.

The one downside of this project has been that the cotton part of the dress, mainly just the skirt, though, has shrunk a little bit from the hot water and subsequent washing/drying of the dyeing process. Now the grey lining peeks out and is longer than the hem of the skirt. That can be easily fixed, though. :)

I also threw a bit of bright white, synthetic something-or-other, lace in the dye solution in hopes of making it some shade of green. Surprisingly, it came out baby blue! It's pretty but, I'm not sure what I'll do with it.

Those cut pattern pieces you're seeing are part of my latest sewing project, which also happens to involve the emerald cotton sateen I picked up at G. Street fabrics during the sewing blogger meetup earlier this month. I'm hoping for a cocktail dress to wear around Christmas. It was totally unplanned, but after looking on etsy for something vintage, and drooling over this dress pinned to my inspiration board, I decided to just make something...and if it doesn't quite work out, I'll just wear something I've already got. :)

Hooray for green! More details on my WIP soon.