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Completed: My Valentine Dress

For the past couple of months, us Mood Sewing Networkers have been plotting to have a month where the entire group worked with a similar fabric. Lace was decided for March, and since I had already been lurking the lace selection and dreaming up options, I was 100% game. I was also inspired by Liz’s Macaron Lace Dress because GIRL(boy?), have you seen that shit?! so jealous. I thought it would be fun to have the dress ready for Valentine’s Day – I’m not really much of a Valentine’s person (this is like, one of maybe four Valentine’s EVER that I haven’t been single, aha), but it’s not too late to start yeah? Not to mention, if I had a fancy dress all ready to go we’d HAVE to end up doing something. Preferably something that involved gelato.

So, without further ado, I give you… my Valentine’s dress:

I bought my lace back in the very beginning of January – and then sat on it (well, not literally – that would get wrinkly) for nearly a month. I knew the minute I saw this red floral lace that it was ~the one~, but I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with it other than wrap my body up in it’s yardage. I couldn’t settle on an appropriate pattern – and when I finally did, the muslin was a DISASTUH (let’s not even go there), so it’s safe to say that about three weeks of that month were spent pouting and thinking I’d end up with a boring circle skirt.

I mean, I like circle skirts as much as the next gal, but I really like them when they are attached to a matching bodice, see.

In the end, I improvised and merged a few different patterns together to create my Frankenpattern Dream Dress: the bodice is McCall’s 5972, the sleeves are a vintage Butterick pattern, and the skirt is my self-drafted circle skirt. I’m actually surprised at how well everything fit together, it’s like I fulfilled some kind of pattern destiny or some shit.

I knew I wanted a substantial lace in a bright color (no whites or pastels for me, please), and while my original dream dress involved visions of navy, I knew this red lace was “the one” the second I laid eyes on it. It’s perfect for this type of dress – the pattern is large and bold, but held together with delicate netting which keeps the fabric from being too heavy. Since it’s a cotton lace, it will wear nicely in the summer as well as during the cooler months we’re in right now. The lacework is erratic enough where I didn’t have to worry too much about matching up the design at every seam line (just thinking about that is making me break out in a sweat, argh!).

Once thing I did notice with this particular lace is that the pattern runs parallel to the selvedge — so I had to adjust my pattern layout accordingly. This wasn’t difficult to do, and my lace was wide enough where I was able to get my pieces in there (including the full circle skirt) without too much fuss, but I thought I would point that out if you are thinking about working with directional lace. I’m so used to the pattern running perpendicular to the selvedge, I almost didn’t check before I started cutting

The dress is underlined with pink Bemberg Rayon – everything except the sleeves. I basted the pieces together by hand, using silk basting thread, around all edges and also along the dart lines. Then I sewed the dress up as normal, serging the seams as I went and pressing them flat.

I love that you can see a hint of tattoo through the lace sleeves 🙂

The sleeves posed a special challenge since they were unlined and I wasn’t sure how well that netting part would hold a seam. I had a small piece of pink cotton batiste in my stash that perfectly matched the underlining, so I cut long bias strips and bound the sleeve seams for extra stability. The resulting seam is very strong, and I love the little peek of pink that shows when I move my arm 🙂

I actually used that pink cotton to add a lot of special touches to an otherwise plain dress…

Facing the hem on the sleeves

Binding the armsyce seams (again for stability at an area that can get a lot of stress, and also because serging there would just be ugly)

Binding the waist seam

The neckline facing (label is from here, fyi!)

Piping the waistline (my favorite!!)

I mostly plan on wearing this with the satin bow (because I love looking like I’m wrapped up like a present), but I do like the way the dress looks with just the piping 🙂

I hemmed the skirt with 2″ white horsehair braid, since I wanted it to flare. Actually, hemming was the worst part – and not because it involved nearly 5 yards of hand-sewing. I could not decide how I wanted to treat the hem, since the lace is sheer and the braid would show through. The dress is underlined, including the skirt, but I was afraid that pulling the underlining all the way down to the bottom of the skirt would end up with some funky grain problems. In the end, I laid the skirt out VERY CAREFULLY on the floor and matched up the hems on the lining and lace, pinned everything together, and then stitched the braid on. There are a few areas where the fabric doesn’t hang *quite* right, but thankfully the giant circle skirt-ness of the whole thing kind of hides that.

Anyway, it’s TWIRLY ♥

All in all, I think it’s a pretty snazzy Valentine’s Day dress. Lookit how fancy me & Landon look!

And just for the record – my evening did involve gelato, whoop whoop!

Tags: completed, dress, lace, Mood Fabrics, Mood Sewing Network

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Categories completed projects - new

Completed: A Stripey Tiramisu

8 Feb

It’s no secret that I love knits – I love sewing them and I love wearing them. Sometimes when life throws you a big shit sack full of bummer, the only way to get back on the horse is with a good ol’ TNT. All knits are TNT as far as I’m concerned (so. freaking. forgiving!), but I especially love my purple Tira, because it goes the extra step of actually looking pulled together. Which is nice, especially when you just wanna feel like you’re wearing comfy pajamas.

As much as I love purple, though, it’s pretty winter and no duh I need a stripey summer Tiramisu now, right? No shame, I totally ripped off both Steph AND Penelope, because I am shameless and awesome and secretly hoping we can be twins(triplets?). Ladies, pls.

Anyway, who doesn’t love stripes?! It’s like wearing a circus ON MY BODY.

This fabric is from the giant sale at my local fabric store, where I totally cleaned up last month. I actually have this stuff in black/white stripes too (and I think I bought some crazy amount, like 4 yards of it haha). It’s so stripey and soft and awesome. It’s also kind of not really suitable for this kind of dress; it’s VERY stretchy, 4 ways, and super drapey. I had to make a few changes to the pattern to get it to work – which ended up ok in the end, but please heed my warning: you need something more stable for this dress, unless you want to futz with the fit all night like I did.

Still, it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself! And it looks so good with my new shoes 😀

Anyway, let’s talk about the changes I made:
– I reduced the size of the bust to a C on the pattern tissue, but once I basted the top together to test the fit, it was still a bit low (as the fabric was pulling under it’s own weight. And this was before the skirt was attached!). I removed another 3/4″ from the underbust, although looking at these pictures, I could’ve stood to remove a little more.
– I reduced the waist by 3/4″ before sewing; once sewn up I had to take in the side seams another 1/2″ or so. I’m telling you – this fabric is soo stretchy!
– I shortened the neck and arm bands and stretched them to fit when I sewed them on; without stretching, they would have ended up floppy.
– I shortened the hem twice – first hacked about 3.5″ off the pattern tissue, then another 2″ when the dress was sewn up as the skirt had stretched under it’s own weight.
– I left out the pockets – I feel like they add a lot of bulk with fabric like this.

I tried to match up the stripes, but I didn’t do the best job. They match up on this side…

… but not the other side. This is partially because the fabric was a PAIN IN THE ASS to cut (so shifty!), and partially because I had to keep sucking in the side seams after the dress was finished, to get it to fit. Also, please note that the waistband is not cut straight. Again, shifty fuckin fabric.

The shoulder seams also do not completely match up. Oh well!

Despite my problems with the fabric, the gape factor is pretty non-existent:

I think the key to this is shortening the bands and stretching them to fit the neckline. It kind of sucks everything in, and allows it to curve to your body.

If you have your heart set on sewing this pattern with a very drapey fabric, make sure you are vigilant about pressing every seam. It really makes a huge difference, especially on the bands.

Sorry about all the loose threads; I had literally just finished the dress before I took the pictures 🙂

Now then, let’s have a bit of Spring up in here, pls?

Tags: cake patterns, completed, delicious cake, dress, knit fabric, stripes, Tiramisu

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Categories completed projects - new

Completed: A Very Purple Simplicity 3178

16 Jan

Y’all. Can we talk about wool crepe for a minute? I just love this shit to tiny threadbare pieces and I wish everything I made had a wool crepe option. I love the spongy texture, the glorious drape, the magical body-temperature-regularity (yay, wool!), and the COLORS. Truly, everyone should have at least one experience rolling around in a uncut length of wool crepe. Especially if it is a jewel-toned wool crepe. Ooh la la.

For my first Mood Sewing Network project, I wanted that experience to include wool crepe. I have a beautiful 1940s Simplicity pattern that I knew would look amazing done up in such a fabric. And since we’re talking about ~my first time~, I decided to go all out with my bad self and splurge on silk crepe de chine lining and satin bias tape as well. The end result is very… purple.

The pattern I used is Simplicity 3178, which is undated but looks to be from the late 30s/early 40s. I love vintage patterns because they always have sweet little details, like the darts on the elbows that provide gentle shaping for the sleeves and the shoulder yokes that are actually pockets (!!).

The skirt is bias cut, so I finished the hem with 1″ horsehair braid to give it a nice flare.

The pattern gives a couple of options for finishing the neckline – I went with the double collar (self fabric on top and ivory wool crepe at the bottom) and a giant bow!

I didn’t have to make too many changes to the pattern to get a good fit. I took in the side seams by 1/2″, tapering up to the underarm. I also removed a whopping 9″ of length from the skirt – the original pattern pieces came all the way down to my ankles! Yeech!

I reckon the pockets are totally unnecessary, but ughhh I love those little fuckers!

This baby is also lined! Wool crepe really begs for a nice lining to give it some additional structure, and although the pattern doesn’t include pieces or instructions for adding a lining, it wasn’t too difficult to figure out. Unfortunately, I didn’t correctly calculate my yardages, so I didn’t have enough lining for the entire dress – which means the sleeves are not lined. I’ve noticed a distinct lack of lining in lots of dress sleeves, so this doesn’t bug me too much. Bonus plus: now you can see the pretty bias tape at the sleeve hems!
Also: lol at this hideously unflattering photo of me. IT WAS WINDY WHEN I TOOK THESE PICTURES, OK.

The instructions do call for the sleeve slit and hems to be finished with bias tape, and then closed with a series of snaps. After trying the dress on during one of many fittings, I decided to flip the hems back to show the bias tape since the dress really needed a bit of color breakup. I pressed the cuff (wool crepe really does press so beautifully) and tacked down each side with a couple of hand stitches to keep everything in place. The neck bow is the same bias tape, just pressed completely open.

I think the shoulders are my favorite part of the dress! Instead of using shoulder pads, I made a small stiff rectangle with horsehair interfacing and tacked that to the armholes like a sleeve head. It keeps the pleats from dropping too much and gives the dress those badass strong shoulders that were so fashionable in the 40s.

Here you can better see the yoke pockets. I just think they are the coolest little detail! I wish they were big enough to hold my phone, but they’re just baarely too small. Hm, what do you think I could use them for? My seam ripper seems to fit 🙂

I worked hard to make the inside of this dress just as pretty as the outside. The yoke pockets and neck facings are lightly interfaced with silk organza, the facings are finished with satin bias tape, and I even rolled the hem lining and used tiny hand stitches to secure it. The collar is detachable – it’s current state of attachment involves basting stitches.

Overall, I’m very happy with my dress – I love it’s snuggly wool warmth and did I mention purple? Because purple.

IN OTHER NEWS:
– Brittany of Viva Bang Bang, one of the MANY local Nashville bloggers who I’m just obsessed with (check out my sidebar; there are tons of us! WE ARE EVERYWHERE, YO), came to my house over the weekend and took a bunch of pictures of my sewing room. If you thought it looked cool before, definitely go check it out now because she made it look fucking amazing. Yay! Thank you so much, Brittany!!
– I’m sure some of y’all are into Project Runway, yes? Even if you’re not (that would be me, haha. Guilty!), you should totally watch this season because my homegirl Amanda Valentine is one of the designers and she is super rad and you should support her. I mean, they called her a bitch in the season preview. How sweet is that?! Haha!

Tags: 1930s, 1940s, completed, dress, Mood Fabrics, Mood Sewing Network, simplicity, vintage, wool crepe

Comments 43 Comments
Categories completed projects - new, Mood Sewing Network

Completed: A Slinky Red Butterick 5078

15 Jan

This doesn’t really warrant much of a post – it’s a knit dress, I’ve already made the pattern before, wah wah – but I thought it warranted at least a mention, after I made the changes I was musing over.

This is my second version of Butterick 5078 – and way better! So much better!

For one, the fabric is better. I wish I could share a little piece with all of you because it is SOOOO SOOOOFFFTT. It’s a rayon knit that I picked up at my local fabric store’s 40% sale (I should go back. Should I go back? ARGH), and it’s even softer than the purple bamboo knit that I used to make that Tiramisu (which, ps, I’m wearing right now. Actually, I wear it like once a week. THIS.DRESS.IS.THE.BOMB.). The color is a rich vibrant red, and it is slinky as all get-out. So, perhaps most people wouldn’t want a slinky red dress. But I like! Slinky and feels like pajamas, yeah!

I used the same sizing and everything as before – the 8 – but I did make a few changes:
– Lengthened the bodice to cover all my boobs and not cut across the middle of them. To do this, I put on my first incarnation of the dress and measured how much I needed to add, and then just added it to the bottom of the pattern piece. It was somewhere in the realm of 3″, FYI.
– I removed 3″ of the skirt length from the pattern pieces, so I didn’t waste any of my precious fabric.
– I changed up the construction sequence of the dress, to make it easier and more, uh, knit-friendly. Most everything was constructed flat (the pattern has you do everything in the round, including the sleeves. ewww), and then I zipped up the side seams at the last minute. This was extra convenient, as the super drape powers of this fabric made it a bit big when I first sewed it. It was very easy to take in the side seams!
– The biggest change I made was to eliminate that runched drape deal at the waistline. I considered adding it – even cut out and assembled the pieces – sewed the dress up, thought, “Oh God, I have made a huge mistake”, pulled the runching back on over the dress and realized I would have made a bigger mistake by adding it. I dunno, that runching just looks weird on me. Sorry.

I am fully aware you can see, like, everything through this dress. NO CARE – it’s like a slinky, sexy pajama. Ooh ooh!

I also think it’s interesting to note how different the neckline looks with a drapier fabric. Unfortunately, this one isn’t so gape-friendly. I do have to be careful when I bend over (and wearing a tank underneath to counteract isn’t an option: see above re SLINKY).

I guess there’s not much else to say about this dress. I do think knit dresses are my new go-to for cold weather, though. I can cozy them up with tights and boots and a handmade sweater, and I feel polished while still being totally appropriate to roll up on the couch. I need to dig into the rest of my knit stack from Textile; I’ve got a few stripey pieces that I’m dying to play with!

Kitty approved? Sort of.

Tags: butterick, completed, dress, knit fabric

Comments 41 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: the Elisalex Dress

14 Jan

I know I’m SUPER late to the dance party on this, but I just looooove the new goods from my girls over at By Hand London. A pencil skirt with generous ease at the hips?? That made me sit straight up and divert all my attention at once (a feat on it’s own!). So when I was offered to try my hand at the patterns, I responded with an enthusiastic “UHM YES PLEASE!!” and was immeditely given my very own hourglassy pencil skirt pattern of dreams, as long as the Elisalex dress pattern.

I’m going to fully disclose here and let y’all know that I’ve actually been working on this pattern for over a month – we got off to a very rocky start, unfortunately. My first problem stemmed when I couldn’t find any finished measurements listed anywhere in the pattern, and for some reason I had a huge issue with measuring the pieces (which is not the fault of the pattern, I was just basically being a dumbass. It happens.). Once I got the sizing sorted out, the muslin I whipped up gave me the biggest hunchback that you ever did see. Just… oh my god, it looked like I had a growth back there HAHA. I had to cut quite a bit off the center back to get a snug fit – about 1.5″ per side. I hesitate to blame this back on BH, as I’ve seen a few of these dresses in the wild west (aka, internet) and no one has mentioned the size of the back, which would indicate that this is a Lauren-fitting problem, not a poor drafting issue. Happily, the rest of the bodice muslin looked fine, so I cut my fabric, cranked up the music, and started assembling the dress.

Oh, the fabric, by the way. Isn’t it AMAZING!? It was a (super sweet and incredibly thoughtful!)gift from my homegirl Erin of Miss Crayola Creepy. She bought a bunch of this stuff at the LA Garment District, apparently it’s ~Prada~ ooohhh!! Don’t worry, she kept some of it for herself – you can see what she made with it here. I’ve been sitting on this fabric for foreeeeever, just waiting for the perfect pattern to come up. With the marriage of the Elisalex and the dreamy Prada floral twill, I thought I had it made. I HAD IT MADE.

But you know what? That tulip skirt, as beautiful as it is – it really sucks with this drapey, stretchy fabric. Ask me how I know. Wait, no, I’ll tell you. It droops and sags and it looks like a shit sack made out of beautiful fabric. There’s a reason they tell you to use a weighty fabric to make this dress – the skirt needs the structure for those beautiful pleats. I had done goofed, again. Sooooo I threw the bodice on my dressform and gave up for about a month. Womp womp.

I finally pulled the UFO off my dressform last week and decided it was time to asses the situation – normally, I’d throw in the towel at this point, but considering both the fabric and the pattern were given to me with wonderful intentions, I thought it was pretty shitty to just toss them out. So I made it work. I scrapped the droopy skirt and traded it for a circle skirt – I had to shorten it a little to get it to fit on the rest of my fabric, but it works! I sewed some 2″ horsehair braid at the hem to give it some lift and combat any potential droopiness. And then I spent like 3 days handsewing the the lining and hem, bc, FUCK, there is a lot of handsewing involved.

It was worth it, I think 🙂

The finished size ended up being a 6 at the hips/shoulders, grading out to an 8 at the bust. I didn’t bother with a FBA, I think the fit is fine. In the future, I need to lengthen the bodice as it is a bit short on me and hits at a kind of frumpy place… hence the belt.

The back is my favorite part! Love love LOVE that V detail- so pretty!

Here it is without the belt. See what I mean about it being a hair short? It kind of makes me look like a box. A beautiful autumn box (perhaps full of Pumpkin Spice Lattes, mm)

I added a little bit of trim around the neckline and the sleeves as well, to help break up the pattern a bit.

Oh, and I subbed out the exposed zip in favor of an invisible one! Mostly because I really wanted to try out my new Bernina invisible zipper foot 🙂 This fabric did NOT like that invisible zipper – it bunched up soo bad, and I had to rip it out several times. The mess you see right now was the best attempt I managed, haha!

LOVE ME A GOOD CIRCLE SKIRT.

Neon yellow Bemberg rayon lining, courtesy of my remnant hoarding 🙂

This dress is quite comfortable and well-suited for those of us who like to be a bit active, see:

Great for kicking at the cat when she tries to get in the picture frame

Trying to pull the cat out from under the desk because you know she’s totally giving the camera the evil eye and could quite possibly be scaring small children

WHAT’S THE MATTER, Y U NO WANT CUDDLEZ

Aw, so sweet!

Nope, nevermind.

In closing: Elisalex is a YAY, just make sure you muslin that baby out first if you are prone to hunchbackness 🙂 And yes, I have plans for that Charlotte skirt! Just you wait and see!

Tags: By Hand London, completed, dress, elisalex

Comments 54 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: The Tiramisu!

13 Dec

WHOOOOOOOOOOO LOVES CAKE? I’m talking about the new pattern line, the brainchild of our beloved StephC (although the food is all kinds of delicious too, mmm). Tiramisu is her first offering – a knit dress with a mock-wrap front (in cup sizes A-D), short kimono sleeves, and pockets.

I was actually part of the crew of ladiez who were initially chosen to test the pattern before it went to print. There was a small snafu with the tester printing (so it goes), which is why you see my dress at the same time you are (hopefully!)holding your own copy of the pattern. I’m still treating this like a test pattern, which is why I actually paid attention to the instructions and made notes as I sewed. I also made a muslin. I never make a muslin for knits – are you proud of me? ARE YOU?

Despite treating this like a test, I’m sorry to report that my pictures are still total shit. You know, winter, lack of light, I’m not getting up early, blah blah. Also, my hair looked REALLY good last night and I need to take advantage of that. Them’s the breaks!

Anyway, check out my new dress!

~So in love!

It looks totally different in a solid color, yes?

For this lil guy, I used a gorgeous purple bamboo knit that I bought at Vogue Fabrics while I was in Chicago. I actually bought it specifically to make this pattern; I’ve been holding it for a few months haha. I wish I had a big enough piece to send every single one of you a little swatch – it is the softest thing I have ever put on my body ahhhh!! And the color… none of these photos (mine or the ones from Vogue) do it justice. It is the most beautiful eggplant purple in the world.

Basically, I never want to buy another knit that isn’t bamboo again. Ever.

So let’s talk about the pattern! The sizing is pretty brilliant, and in fact my favorite part – you pick based on your high bust measurement, and then corresponding cup measurement (which is more of a measurement of proportion rather than the actual size bra that you would normally wear). The waist band is chosen based on your actual measurement (rather than the usual, “Well, if your bust is x, then your waist is y.”). It sounded confusing at first read, but once I actually got the pattern in my hands and looked over the sizing information, it was pretty easy to determine what size I should cut.

The size I ended up with was 30D, based on my measurements, and the waistband was cut for a 25″ measurement. I had to make a couple small changes to get my preferred fit, but even straight out of the envelope it was looking pretty good!

The changes I made were actually pretty mundane:
– I took about 1/2 off the bottom of the front bodice, as it stretched a little too low in the muslin (PROTIP: When making a muslin for this dress, you only mock-up the bodice & midriff. Since the skirt weighs down the whole top and thus affects the fit, it is pretty important to pull down the band to mimic this if your fabric is on the heavy side. Otherwise, you may end up with a longer bodice once you sew the skirt on!)
– I took at least 1″ off the side seams, for a much more snug fit
– I took 3.5″ off the hem, as below-the-knee doesn’t look so hot on me. The skirt is 20.5″ now.
Ok, looking back, I realize that those bust changes mean I actually ended up with a 30C. WHATEVA.

Things I love about this dress:

DAT SKIRT.

SOFT POCKETS.

NO GAPE.
Seriously, the bodice engineering on this thing is a thing of beauty and wonder.

One thing I did note with this particular dress is that the pockets do add a bit of bulk at the hips. I think this is unique to my particular fabric (it’s quite clingy due to the 4 way stretch), as it’s not apparent on Steph’s version (or the bonus version), but I think it bears mention if you are concerned about that kind of thing. I’m not, personally, so the pockets will stay.

Oh, here are some pictures without the belt, btw:

It’s still pretty! I just like to belt, well, everything 🙂

The only thing I would change next time I make this is to sew the sleeve binding on after the side seams are sewn. It’s a personal preference – I know why the pattern has you sew the binding on before (so you can test and tweak the fit – and yes, it comes in handy!), but I just like the way it looks as an, er, uninterrupted tube. It also may or may not have anything to do with the fact that I sewed the sleeve binding to the bottom of the midriff on my first go (and no, I’m not bitter or anything, why do you ask?).
Another thing I’ll mention is that the fabric estimates are generous. I only used 1.5 yards of my 60″ fabric. Even at $15 a yard, that’s a pretty cheap dress!

I know my threads look as white as I am, but I promise they are purple! Also, this picture is boring as hell.

Anyway, super happy with this one! I can see this in lots of different fabrics – it’s so comfortable, especially since you don’t have to worry about THE GAPE.

With that being said, if you haven’t already done so – you really need to pick up a copy! And OMG so excited about the upcoming Pavlova!!

Tags: cake patterns, completed, delicious cake, dress, knit fabric, pattern testing

Comments 83 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: McCall’s 5972, The Vintage Floral Sheath

4 Dec

I just realized the title of this post is a little misleading. This is a new dress, made from a new(ish) pattern. I’m fairly certain that even the fabric is somewhat new. I’m calling it vintage because of the colorway and the overall look of the finished piece 🙂 Just so we’re clear!!

ANYWAY, meet my new favorite dress, y’all!

This is McCall’s 5972, which is Laura Ashley pattern. Funny, I actually bought this dude a few years ago with the intention on making view C, with those ridiculous neck ruffles. Spoiler: I still haven’t managed view C. But I have made view B twice – once in a gorgeous purple lambswool (pre-blog, so no pictures – but I wear it frequently in the winter!), and then this piece you’re looking at right now.

The fabric is a bit special, only because it’s fucking GORGEOUS and I had the tiniest piece. I found it at the flea market over the summer, although I don’t think it’s vintage – it’s a Waverly print (says so right on the selvage) and it’s definitely upholstery fabric. I would not be surprised at all if this is a print that they are currently selling at Joann’s. However, that doesn’t make it any less amazing, amirite.

I’m really surprised that I was able to get this much dress out of the fabric. Like I said, my piece was pretty small – I think I had about a yard and a half, but it was only 35″ wide (I suspect it was 60″ at some point, as there was only one edge with a selvage. Also, holy shit I am abusing these parenthesis today). I initially wanted to make a wiggle dress, but I knew there was no way in hell I’d have enough fabric. I barely squeezed this one out as it was – I cut everything on a single layer. Almost all the pieces are cut on the fold, which meant I had to do a lot of flipping and tracing. It was worth it, though! I even had enough to cut the collar, although I did have to slice it on the center back seam since there wasn’t enough fabric to do it in once piece. I’m so pleased with my fabric stinginess!

I know the belt that I’m wearing here doesn’t really match. Shh! I plan on making a self-covered belt (I should have just enough fabric to pump one out), but I need to buy belt backing.

I made this dress entirely with stash stuff! The lining is china silk. I usually prefer to line with Bemberg Rayon – I think it feels so freaking luxurious, even better than silk! – but this stuff actually matched perfectly. And, surprisingly, it was easier to sew than the rayon. Imagine that.

I did have a bit of an issue with the fit. As I said before, this is the second time I’ve used this pattern. The first dress fits wonderfully, just the way I like it. For this reason, I did not make a muslin. I don’t know what happened between the pattern and the first finished dress, but there is definitely a size discrepancy – and I’m not really sure what I did to make it fit (other than, you know, NOT ALTERING THE PATTERN TISSUE), since it was finished so long ago and I didn’t leave my future self any notes. Thankfully, I’m a bit of a stickler when it comes to fit – I try on my stuff frequently as I go, just to be sure there aren’t any little surprises waiting at the end. I caught this right before I put the zipper in. I ended up taking in the zipper side seam by quite a bit – 1 3/4″ at the bodice, 1 1/2″ at the waist, tapering down to nothing by the hip. I may need to go back and deepen the darts on the front skirt; they bag out a bit because I guess I don’t quite fill it out. So weird!

I only made a couple of construction changes to the pattern:
– The finishing calls for bias binding at the armholes. NOPE, SORRY. I pulled out my Rooibos pattern and followed the instructions for inserting the bodice lining – and it worked! No handstitching here, and it looks much cleaner 🙂
– The collar does not call for interfacing. I decided to underline mine with some of my precious silk organza. Ah. I love silk organza ♥
– I inserted a lapped, hand-picked zipper instead of the invisible dude. So pretty and sleek and yay!
– Due to aforementioned fabric shortages, the underside of the collar is china silk (same as the bodice lining), instead of self-fabric.

Ignore that belt and imagine this with something more, er, matching.

Here’s that handpicked zipper! See the stitches? NEITHER DO I.

Probably should have stuck a zipper guard in there. Oh well, no care!

I took a few extra steps to make this special – including binding the waist seam.

And this lace hem is super happy 🙂

You know what else this dress looks super good with?

Wait for it…

THAT DAMN AGATHA CARDIGAN, YEEEEAH!!

Seriously, tho, let’s talk about how this is a fucking match made in Heaven.

You probably noticed Amelia lurking on the serger table during all these pictures. That is basically what she does the entire time I’m in the sewing room (unless she’s napping on top of my pattern. Or fabric. Or scissors), and the reason why I moved my sewing machine to be away from the window. Her big butt was always in the way!

Notice her look of pure disgust. This cat hates me hahaha.

Shitty Cat is staring into your soul.

Tags: amazing fabric, completed, dress, mccalls, sheath

Comments 83 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Review: eShakti.com

19 Nov

Fair Warning: I did not sew this dress at all. This is a product review for eShakti. They mailed me a dress of my choosing, and now I get to talk about it on the internet woohoo!

When I was first contacted for a review, my initial thought was, “lolwut.” I mean, this is a sewing blog. I make clothes and then we talk about how awesome (or not awesome, I can swing both ways) the finished piece is. Trying out something for someone else’s clothing line just seemed weird and completely against the entire point of this damn blog. I’m not ~punk rock~ anymore, but I still get real weirded out at the idea of selling out, if that means anything.

Then I realized that there are lots of people who read this blog who don’t sew – or don’t sew clothes. There are a lot of us out there who struggle with getting a good fit (and yep, I’m part of this crew! Always learning new stuff!), and it sure would be nice to have a grey area between “Making Everything I Wear” and “Buying Bullshit At The Mall That Doesn’t Fit Over My Ass.” You know?

So, my non-sewing readers. This is for you. And also for me, because, hey, free purple dress 😀

If you’re not familiar with eShakti, it is a website that sells cute lady clothes. Mostly dresses, but there are also tops and coats and even skirts floating around if you look hard enough. Everything is adorable, and there is a wide range of styles to cover most events, from cocktail parties to a semi-professional office. What makes them unique, though, is that they not only offer a serious slew of sizes – 0-36! – but you can customize the fit to accommodate your ass. Or boobs, or petite stature, or whatever. In addition (I know, I’m just blowing your mind over here), you can change certain design elements as it strikes your fancy. Changing up sleeves, hem length, and sometimes even the neckline. So basically, it’s like the seamstresses’ dream wardrobe without actually pulling out the sewing machine and doing it yourself. FANCY.

Oh, I forgot to mention the price range. Most of the stuff they offer is under $80, and any customization is $7.50. Not too shabby, eh?

For my dress, I went with the Ruffled Tiers, except mine is purple, obviously, and not black. I didn’t see the purple one on the site anywhere, so sorry if you’re salivating in jealousy over mine (on the other hand, I did just discover this green goddess one, this silk (!!!) one, and this one that is totally channeling Liz Taylor, and now I’m really jealous haha). It was really hard to NOT just get a fancy cocktail dress, but seriously? I own like a dozen of those things and I couldn’t tell you the last time I actually wore one. So I went with something office-appropriate, in a pattern/fabric that I wouldn’t sew myself (too slinky!), that would also be suitable for biking. I did end up customizing the sizing (since this is normally an issue for me with RTW), but I kept the general style of the dress the same as it looks on the site.

And how did that turn out, you might ask?

ME GUSTA.

Seriously, though, isn’t it just adorable? I’m a big fan of the color, especially… and all the cascading ruffles. The off-center neck bow is my favorite part.

From a construction perspective, I have no complaints. Obviously, we’re not talking about the finest couture here – this dress is polyester, after all – but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised. I actually studied the insides like I was studying for a test, except that I was giving it the Evil Eye the entire time and waiting for it to slip up somewhere.

I would like everyone to know that this dress is absolutely perfect for cycling in – a good length to prevent flashing, and the shirring in the back keeps it snug without cutting off circulation.

My only beef is that the armholes are a bit low on me – see my bra peeking out? Yikes! I think this problem is pretty unique to me and my body, though – I definitely have low shoulders in comparison to my bust size (hence why it is so important to do a FBA on sewing patterns and not just size up), and most stuff has to be taken up quite a bit there. Out of all the measurements I gave, shoulder height was not one. So I’m going to chalk this up to LT-body problems and not point fingers back to eShakti.

That one doesn’t bother me too bad, though, because…

THIS DRESS LOOKS SO FUCKING AWESOME WITH MY MUSTARD AGATHA CARDIGAN.
Doesn’t it?! I knew it as soon as I spied it on the site. Actually – it looks good with ALL my handknits, including the Chuck sweater. The top is fairly sleek and smooth, so there isn’t much bulk when you wear stuff over it. Add in a ruffly tiered skirt and a little bow at the neck and now we’re just talking straight-up adorable.

Right now, they are offering $25 off your first purchase! Someone should go buy this dress, because holy shit I want.

In conclusion: Big thanks and thumbs up for eShakti!
In other news, I have a new garment on the sewing table that just needs picture… hope to get a post up this week 🙂

~*~Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this post, although I did receive a sample to review & keep. All opinions on this product are my own.

Tags: dress, eShakti, review

Comments 41 Comments
Categories misc

Completed: Butterick 5078

13 Nov

Whenever I finish up a big project, I like to ease myself back in with something short and sweet (also, I had a really bad muslin disaster with another pattern and I don’t want to talk about it, except to say that woven kimono sleeves are clearly my Kryptonite). Knit fabrics are especially good for this, since most of the fitting works itself out in the form of stretch fabric.

I’ve had Butterick 5078 lurking in my stash for a couple of years now – it’s out of print; I picked it up during my local fabric store’s annual “Buy $10 Worth Of Fabric, Get A Free Out of Print Pattern!” sale (yes, that is a real thing. It is hell on my bank account, if you want to know the truth.). I liked the line art as I reminded me of a dress I used to own – until it went the way of the Tragically Cheap Buffalo and died in the wash one day – but I never got around to making it because it sucks up a surprising amount of knit fabric, which I never seem to find significant yardages of at the thrift store.

But hey, this fabric is pretty cool, yeah? It was given to me by an awesome blog reader, Heather (yo girl, if you got a blog PLZ LINK ME UP), who hit the motherload of vintage fabric at an estate sale and sold a big wad of it to me for stupid cheap. This stuff is perfect for this dress – fairly stable with a slight stretch, a nice thick warm fabric for winter. The print has flowers and butterflies, which isn’t exactly my thing, but the grey on black kind of cancels out the extra girly girly. I had about 1/4 yard less than I actually needed, but I was able to get everything cut out on grain with some clever cutting layouts and a lot of screaming and cursing.

Speaking of the cutting layouts… this shit is weird. The bodice front & waistband drape (the runching around the waist) are actually cut on the bias, not the straight grain. For some reason, cutting my knit fabric this way caused the pieces to lose most of their stretch! I KNOW. I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around that one. Obviously I can still pull the dress on, but it’s a tight fit.

The runching on this dress is so weird. I initially thought it might look better with a lighter, more fluid knit – but I scoped out a few on pattern review, and I actually think my stable knit looks a little better, even if it is bulky. There is a whole ‘nother waistband underneath the runched one, so the drape could easily be omitted for a smooth waist.

I sewed this up in a straight size 8, with no alterations other than shortening the hem about 3″. For future makes, the front bodice definitely needs to be lengthened – it cuts straight across my boobs. Not really a good look! And I think the runching could stand to start a little lower than it does right now. The bulk is kind of making me look thicker than I am.

I like the skirt, though!!

I tried to take a ~twirly picture and instead, I got this. This is the second most awkward picture I’ve ever posted on my blog (first awkward obviously being the teeny peeny I neglected to mention I had… haha, forreal, though, I am so delighted to see so many people have their mind in the same gutter as meeee!). It also made me laugh really hard when I saw it, and I thought it would be cruel to NOT share it with the rest of the world. God, I’m so generous, you guys.

Here you can see that unfortunate bodice-meets-midriff-right-over-my-boobs seam. Also, this dress needs some bra snap holder things.

Who am I kidding, I’d never be arsed to sew that kind of shit on a KNIT DRESS.

I sewed the entire thing on my serger, minus the hems – which I sewed on my machine with a double-needle. Overall, I think this dress took about 2 hours to sew.

To be honest, I didn’t like this dress after I pulled it on. The bias cut made it really difficult to pull over my head, the runching covered what I feel like is one of my better assets, and the horrible bust seam placement made me feel like I had these super weird high and flat boobs. UHM.

However, it is comfortable. Like, the kind of sneaky comfortable that makes you feel like you’re getting away with wearing pajamas. And Landon likes it – his words, “That looks like you bought it at a store. That’s supposed to be a compliment!” And it’s polyester knit, which means I don’t ever have to iron it. I would like to make this again, provided I can find the right knit.

Tags: butterick, completed, dress, knit fabric

Comments 46 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: The Gazer – A Ginger/Hazel Hybrid

6 Aug

Ha, remember when I said I was going to be moving soon so there wouldn’t be much sewing coming out of my end? I LIED (or rather, my new landlords lied. Dur!). Move-in date has been tentatively pushed to mid-week. The awesome part is that I thought we were going to be moving on Saturday, so I packed eeeeverything in anticipation & we didn’t move on Saturday and oh wait, that’s not awesome, this shit sucks ass.

Long story short, about a quarter of my sewing room is unpacked (oops) and I have a new dress! Yay!

So why is this dress called the Gazer? Well no shit, it’s a hybrid pattern – the top is a Hazel, the bottom is a Ginger. Hence, Gazer lolol (previous name considerations were Gazel & Hinger). Also, if you look at this dress too long you WILL get dizzy so the name could very well be a cautionary tale, if you will.

Anyway, I received this pattern as a birthday gift from reader Tracy. I actually tried to make it up a couple of months ago, but the fabric I chose was super tragic & the result was one of those wadders that lived in the corner of my sewing room until I threw it away, ahem, a couple of days ago when I was packing. Haha! I’ve come to the conclusion that gathered skirts just don’t suit my shape whatsoever. I knew that I wanted to do something with this pattern, though, so I stewed for a few weeks on what to do about the skirt. I had a lot of gingham left over from my Thurlow shorts (seriously, like 2+ yards! The fuck!?)… and then an idea was born.

First, I had to drag out my cardboard cutting mat (what? Doesn’t everyone have two cutting mats?) and somehow clear floor space for all that cutting:

My back is STILL angry at me, by the way!

I cut the bodice pieces for the Hazel and the skirt (minus the waistband) is the Ginger, version 3. Due to the gingham being sheer, everything is underlined with white cotton batiste.

I was initially unsure whether the multiple check directions were going to result in a Hot Mess, but I think this turned out pretty cute!

I mean – LOOK AT THAT CHECK-MATCHING!

FORREAL, THO.

Not to toot my own horn here (I’m totally tootin’ my own horn), but this shit ain’t half-bad.

I do think this pattern is pretty flattering!

The original version actually had pockets… but I must have placed them too low, or else they were fighting with the bias… either way, they kept making these weird lumps around my hips & the openings kept bagging out, so I just ripped them out & called it a day. I’m not really a pocket-person, anyway – I never put anything in them haha. So they won’t really be missed!

Psst – the white bow isn’t part of the dress, it’s just part of my massive belt collection.

I do love the way the skirt looks, but I don’t think I like wearing bias garments. They just feel weird to me.

Oh, here’s how it looks without the belt – I wasn’t able to get the checks to match up at the waist 😥 Mostly because I didn’t take that into account when cutting. OOPS. I mean, it’s close enough I suppose – but also just off enough so that it bothers me.

As mentioned before, my cutting table is down for the count (it’s currently holding a lot of boxes!), so have some flat shots on my quilt. Before anyone asks – I did not make the quilt, but my great-Grandmother did 🙂

The center front at the waistline totally looks like a vortex, fyi.