Simplicity 2281

You may remember, that I made Simplicity 2281 for my daughter for Christmas. It's a Cynthia Rowley pattern. They tend to look like crap on me, but look great on her.

I finally got her to send me a picture of her in the dress

The sleeve tucks are a little lost in this picture, but if you look at the previous one, you can see the sleeve and neckline details. This was a very easy pattern and the only thing I had to change was to take in the waist band about 3/4 of an inch on each side. (She is shaped like an hourglass, just like me. Albeit a very small one.) The fabric is a polyester matte jersey from fashion fabric club. It's not of the highest quality, but it can be machine washed and requires no ironing. (Which is a good option for my busy college junior. Man, I am getting old.)

I think it is a really cute dress on her and will be great for spring.

Sewing Through the Decades: I hate the 80s (and 90s too)

Debi at My Happy Sewing Place and Sarah from Rhinestones and Telephones are co-hosting Sewing Through the Decades. (Click on picture to go check out the challenge.)

I like this because there are no deadlines or even strict rules about what you should be making. I need dresses, so I am going to sew a dress from each decade 1920 - 2010. I want to work more on drafting my own patterns, so I can just do one of these projects whenever I feel like it. (I also may be using my sloper to recreate designs rather than trying to grade up on patterns that are much smaller than I need.)

I am taking a sewing break right now (jetlagged from Korea and taking another trip next week) so I thought I could benefit from some time thinking about possible projects. This included looking at all the pictures of patterns from the 80's and 90's on Etsy.

This is what I looked like in 1988: (The band behind me is Out. They recently got back together if you live in the Seattle/Bremerton are and are interested in late 80's Kitsap punk music.)

I got to skip most of the mainstream 80's and 90's for a combination of vintage/punk rock/homemade fashions. Looking at these patterns, I was shocked, I say. Shocked! I know retro 80's are kind of in, but ugh. Not for me. However I found a great dress from merchant sydcam123.

As for the 90's, BORING. If you can think of a fashion trend from the 90s that doesn't suck, please let me know. However, I found this little number from seller sewdamselsew. (Although I am not sure how the lowered waist will look on me.)

Both of these patterns have been purchased and will be making their way to me soon. (Yay!)

Korea Dress

Here is the official photo of the Korea dress. It's kind of a funny angle, but it's a live-action-on-the-spot shot.

Here I am giggling with the groom.

Because of the nature of this print, almost none of the detail shots came out. Here is my invisible zipper. I got the junction of zipper/skirt lined up on the first shot. (A miracle!)

Here is a close up of the neckline.

Details:

• You can't see this from the picture, but it has short sleeves.
• It covers all of my tattoos. (Not something I would do, but when in Seoul . . .)
• I designed it using the sloper I developed at pattern making class.
• It is loosely based on designs from the early 1960s.
• The fabric is a stretch sateen from Fabric.com that is sadly sold out.
• There are 4 waist darts in the front bodice, two in the back.
• 4 tucks in both the skirt front and back.
• The 4 front bodice darts line up with the 4 front tucks.
• Because this is a fairly substantial stretch fabric, I did not line it.
• I did not notice until I was about to sew it, that there was a major flaw in the fabric that was present on one side of the bodice. Luckily I had enough fabric to cut a new piece.

Here is a pretty food picture. This place had the best banchan. (Little side dishes.)

Hi from Korea!

Sorry for the silence during the last couple of weeks. I got a bad cold, then was focused on getting ready for my Korea trip, and now I'm in Korea. I got my dress ready in time (designed and sewn by me!) Turns out that it did not have to be a cocktail dress, so I decided to make a nice dress that I could fancy up with accessories. (More practical this way.)

Here is a sneak preview. I'll get someone to snap some photos at the wedding for the real blog entry. You can't see any details with this picture, but hopefully you'll get a better idea once you see it on.

Happy New Years!

Happy New Years! I've been gone and not so much sewing has been done, but there are a few things to show off that I made for my daughter for Christmas.

Cloth napkins made from extra quilting fabric from the crazy top.

I screen printed some owls on blue linen for kitchen towels.

Simplicity 2281. It's another Cynthia Rowley dress. This one turned out quite well, and I'll talk a little more about it when my daughter sends me a picture of her in the dress.

I just want to take a moment and say thank you to all of my readers. It's great to have some cyber-sewing friends! I appreciate all of your comments and support. I hope you all have a great New Year!