Muslin Mania

Muslin 2 of my Design-it-Yourself A-Line skirt:

I bought a hip curve!!!! Yay!!! I don't know how I lived with out it. I thought I smoothed out my hip line, but not so much. This innocuous looking curve here:


becomes this not so subtle shaping on the body.

The measurements seem to work out OK though. (Although I think I want the sweep - the measurement around the bottom of the skirt - to be wider.) Ah well, Version 3 coming up soon.

And here is the muslin for the high-waisted vintage skirt from the Bonnie Collection that was 8 inches too small around.


I am all sorts of twisted around in this picture, but the skirt fits really well. (I'll talk about my resizing process when I show the finished skirt.) I had some photo issues (this was the best of a bad lot) but I think this will look great in my real fabric. Which I have to order. So I can make this in the week between coming home from Hawaii and the Charity Auction that I want to wear this to. Black wool I think.

So Wrong

This is the dress I tried to save. It is Simplicity 2497, a Cynthia Rowley pattern. (I wrote about the failure here) The skirt of the dress looked like a paper bag that had been gathered and sewn to the waistband: not a flattering look on a woman my size. So, I just took more fabric and created a dirndl skirt. Which was kind of OK, and then I added the puffy sleeves, which are sooooo not ok. My daughter really liked this dress, but she is 19 and I am 42. I feel like Elly May Clampett when she got middle aged and still wore the same stuff. However, if anyone has a young woman in their life who is a size 16 in ready-to-wear and just loves this dress, it's hers. (I realize that I am not "working it" in this photo. I would be fired from the runway.) I could redo the sleeves, but really that is not going to happen. (I want to state that the pattern is fine. I just made a series of bad choices for my age and body type.)



Well, at least I got this cool photo out of it.

My New Boyfriend Wade Laboissonniere

If you are at all interested in Vintage Patterns, you need to check out Blueprints of Fashion by Wade Laboissonniere. He's got a book on the 50s and a book on the 40s, and each one is a treasure trove of patterns. The books contain information on the industry, marketing, and of course lots and lots of lovely pictures of vintage patterns. While I do buy vintage patterns, I don't really consider myself as a collector. This book is great for folks like me who just like to get ideas for things to make, as well as people who are a little more serious in their hobby. (As per usual, you can click on the photos to get more detail.)

I bought the 50's book.


A sample page.


The 40's book (Checked out from the library, but soon to be bought.)


The pattern on the lower right is one of my all-time favorites.


(By the way, this is a vacation post. I am actually on a beach somewhere in Hawaii.)

Off and Away

I ripped out the zipper of my bias skirt (see last post) and it is now hanging by my closet. Just hanging. I won't get to it for a couple of weeks because I am off to Hawaii tomorrow for 10 days. YAY!!!!!!!!! I will not be doing any live posting during that time, but I have set up some vacation posts while I am gone. I have some updates about my new imaginary boyfriend, a dress that is not a fail, but is faaar from a success, and some skirt muslins that are begging to be seen.

I hope everyone has a good two weeks!

Need Help Please

So I am working on my BWOF bias skirt with the side zipper and am having some major issues with said zipper.

Top View:


Side View:


Yup. Ripple ripple ripple. Here is what I have done trying to avoid this.

1) I have really wide seam allowances per all sorts of sources.
2) The seam allowance is interfaced. (Not helpful.)
3) Being a painter, I have tons of canvas around, so I cut two strips and basted them to the seam allowance (down to a couple inches below the zipper.) That actually helped a little, but now there is just one big ripple.

I am not having a total meltdown but I am very frustrated. If anyone has any suggestions on how to save this, I would really appreciate it. I guess I can just wear really long shirts with this skirt, but I'd rather have some more options.