been slowing plodding along on my lady grey! i have a tendency to rush through sewing projects, just to get them “done,” and i never really enjoy the sewing process itself. i am trying to slow down and take my time; get everything done right and learn as much as i can!
but man, it is taking forever! and yes, i am SUPER far behind haha!
and padstitching? ugh, if i’m lucky, i’ll be done by christmas.
i haven’t been updating much on the lady grey progress, mostly because i’ve been slogging through the boring stuff.
i cut out my pattern pieces…
serged all the edges…
and marked each one with a small note so i would know which piece was which (since i need all the help i can get!).
i am actually not finished with the cutting yet… i still have to cut the pieces for my interlining (lightweight flannel) and i have more interfacing and hair canvas that needs to be cut. cutting is the worst!
last night i worked on bound buttonholes for the first time.
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME BUTTONHOLE PRON????
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just popping in to let everyone know i will be participating in the 2010 lady grey sew-long, as instructed by gertie’s new blog for better sewing. i couldn’t be more excited – i was thinking about taking the plunge into coatmaking/tailoring, but a little apprehensive. plus, i am in loove with this pattern:
aren’t you in love, too? 🙂
anyone who wants to participate is welcome to join! you can follow along at gertie’s blog, or just click the badge in my sidebar.
for a limited time, colette patterns is offering 20% off the lady grey pattern for anyone who wants to make their own! use the code GERTIE20 (it is case sensitive) to take advantage of the discount. code expires on september 30, 2010.
NOW. what color should i make mine? turquoise? yellow? pink? deep purple?
ooh the decisions!
so i started trying to hammer out this vogue pattern over the weekend:
vogue 1161
i know it doesn’t really look like much, but there are a lot of neat design lines (WHY would you style the dress with leopard print fabric that hides the seaming and details? WHY?) that i thought would make a hot little cocktail dress. you know, for all those cocktail parties i don’t go to.
anyway, the fabric calls for something slinky and silky, so i went with this rich orange silk:
also, btw y’all, i hate sewing silk and i really am going to swear it off soon.
reasons why i hate silk:
– it unravels worse than anything i’ve ever seen before. just during the process of cutting and marking my fabric pieces, i have probably lost over 1/2″ on all seam allowances due to the silk unraveling and being a bitch. this dress prob won’t even freakin’ fit by the time i am done with it AUGHHH!!
– it is a bitch to cut – it shifts and slides and hates on me. i tried cutting on paper, i tried cutting one layer, i tried pinning the everloving hell out of it… it must be some kind of shape-shifter because it would NOT stay in place. the only thing i didn’t try was my rotary cutter – because, 1. i hate my rotary cutter; 2. the blades are dull; and 3. i hate my rotary cutter bc i don’t actually know how to use it – but my scissors are pretty freakin’ sharp soo i don’t know. anyway. cutting sux, y’all.
– ironing makes me sad. i learned very quickly that, even though my rowenta has a “silk” setting, it wrinkles and puckers the crap out of my silk and apparently i need to use a press cloth. whoops! the iron isn’t hot enough to totally flatten those dang seams, which is a bummer because i am an seam-pressing fiend every other day of the week.
– i had to buy a marking pen because my wax ~tailor’s pencil~ was too hard and bore a tiny hole in the fabric, crap.
but you know what? at least it is a pretty silk.
sooo i have no idea who cynthia steffe is, but apparently she is a big-shot designer who sells her digs @ nordstrom’s for like $345:
and then sells the rights to vogue for pattern-making!
vogue 1174- fortunately, the took a hint with that michael kors styling disaster and this one actually looks really nice.
i have been working on this pattern since monday and i’m pretty close to being finished. i don’t even know why i have been making this pattern – i look awful in strapless dresses. at any rate, there are several techniques here that i wanted to try out – boning, inner foundation (like, a lightweight corset), piping, etc – so here i am. the pattern is not nearly as advanced as i expected it to be, although i am about to start working on the inner guts (aka the foundation and boning) tonight, so i may end up changing my mind 😉 at any rate, the instructions are fairly straight-forward. the only problem i’ve been having is with the fitting. even with a muslin, the fitting has been a total bear 😦
LLADYBIRD 