this is an old UFO (err… ~unfinished object~, to all you non-sewers) that i’ve been sitting on for about 2 months now. it was nearly finished – all that was left was to stitch down the neckline binding & hem the skirt. instead, i let it hang in the corner of shame in my sewing room because i was irritated with how it looked on me. i am still kind of angsty about the way it looks, but whatever, it’s done & i can move on to greener pastures.
pattern in question:
simplicity 2412
i know what you’re thinking: “ew! shoulder pads! the one element that should stay in the 80s forever!” and i guess, for the most part, you’re probably right. there’s nothing like a giant shoulder pad to make you feel like an out-of-place linebacker. in my defense, though:
– i bought a really neat dress on a recent thrift day with lauren winter and it was clear that someone had removed the shoulder pads and that they needed to be put back in asap – the shoulders were too big and doing this horribly wrinkly/puffy thing that ruined the otherwise sleek lines of the dress. considering how many shoulder pad dresses i buy on a regular basis, you’d think i’d have a discarded shoulder pad or 8 laying around somewhere but noooo
anyway, that’s not as fun as what brings us to my second reason…
i have this pattern, and i wanted to try it.
hee!
this isn’t really much a sewing-related update… i mean, there was sewing involved, but i did not get any pictures of the innards, or a before shot for that matter.
anyway, i got this great 40s navy wool(blend?) dress from my friend carmen of closet case vintage (and, uhm, if you are in the market for vintage goodies, def check her store out bc this girl has got some seriously good taste). the dress is lovely on it’s own, but it needed a little bit of work before i was ready to re-debut it.
i originally started this blog to post pictures of my clothing line, lladybird (hence why the blog is ‘lladybird’ and not something clever, witty or, at the very least, involving my name somehow). lately, though, my poor clothing line has become my bastard child… much like this blog, actually. HA!
ok ok, so anyway, i made a cute new little collection and had it photographed last month by a lovely photographer, shea! this shit was legit – we even had hair and makeup done!
photos are under the cut because uhh there are a lot of them.
haha you guys… i actually finished this *almost* a year ago. why didn’t i post it? BECAUSE THIS PATTERN IS SERIOUSLY FLAWED, THAT’S WHY.
anyway.
vogue 7313, circa 1988
i *love* how dramatic this pattern is. eventually, i would like to try the full skirt with the suspenders (too much? oh well). the pants i could live without, but clearly the previous owner was all about them. i bought this pattern at my favorite secret thrift store for 25¢ are you jealous
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.
sorry about this little hiatus! in my defense, i haven’t sewn a thing since friday – i slipped on a puddle of water at the bar (no, i was NOT drunk!) and severely strained a bunch of muscles and built up a mess of fluid in my elbow. i just was able to retire the sling this morning, but it still hurts. having one hand sucks, man.
here is a little recon i did last week for a livejournal friend. she sent me this vintage dress and asked me to redesign it into something similar to what i’ve made before – it was a lot of fun to cut up and sew back together!
before
the main issues with the dress was that it was too long, too big, and she hated the necktie. we decided to remove the zipper, add in a waistband and bottom band, sleeve cuffs, and turn the neckline into a nice scoop neck.
LLADYBIRD 