Pretty Sweet

Interesting Things

2012-02-13T15:53:00.000-08:00

So, I have not sewn anything for a couple of weeks, and it may be a couple more before I make anything new. I've been sick for awhile, and it's not going to change anytime soon. (My visit to the endocrinologist is not for awhile.) I am very slowly working on a Vogue skirt, but I am at the fitting stage (my least favorite stage of all) and finding it hard to get up any motivation. I may switch to a pattern I've made before, but then again, I may not. Ah well.

Anyway, since there is no sewing going on, I thought I would get a little personal and let you know somethings about me that I have maybe not shared.

1) I am a film writer for the MacGuffin website. If you are interested, my stuff can be found here.

2) I do not make etchings very often, but my degree is in printmaking and painting, so when I ask you to come look at my etchings, I mean it.

3) My favorite cake flavor is peanut butter. I am gluten intolerant, but I can make most any cake/cookie/quickbread type item by substituting gluten-free flour for wheat flour by weight.

4) I read a lot. I am a big fan of mysteries and Victorian sensation novels. I am not particularly fond of modern literary fiction or Charles Dickens. The best book I read last year was A Hazard of New Fortunes by William Dean Howells. I don't think he is a particularly fashionable person to read anymore, but this was a lovely book about life in New York City at the end of the 19th Century.

1) I love to travel. This year's trips will include Austin, Hawaii, Taiwan, and probably Korea (again). I could never afford to travel when I was younger, so I am taking full advantage of it now.

Well, that's enough for today. Have a great week!

Practical Sewing: Painting Smock

2012-01-27T12:14:00.000-08:00

A while back I made a ceramics smock with Simplicity 2245. I decided I wanting the same thing for painting, so I just grabbed the same pattern and made it straight out of the envelope. Nothing fancy, but practical and useful. The fabric is a lightweight quilting cotton that will last for a while. I'm thinking of making the dress version of this, but who knows. I think about a lot of things. If I were to make it again, I would do the sleeves differently. The way I have them now is great for protecting the short sleeves of anything I wear underneath this, but is not so flattering to me.

Violet With Curved Front Yoke

2012-01-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

Yup, I made another Violet blouse. This time I moved the bust dart into the shoulder and made a curved yoke piece using the instructions in Metric Pattern Cutting for Women's Wear by Winifred Aldrich.

Here's a photo that kind of illustrates what I mean. (I'm thinking of making a tutorial.) I will separate and reassemble the yoke piece and use gathers instead of a dart on the shirt.

Because I made another black shirt, the details don't show up to well, so here is a close-up that has been lightened. (You can click on it to make it bigger.)

Here is what the shirt looks like on me.

I am very happy with this version of the shirt. The next one won't be black, so maybe you'll be able to see the details. My next project will actually not be a Violet blouse though. I need to make a smock to paint in.

From the back.

Black and White Violet

2012-01-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Why yes, I did make another Violet top from Colette Patterns. I really need tops and I am not questioning anything that has got me excited about sewing right now. After suffering from repeated dry spells this year, I'm just happy to be enjoying myself again. With this version, I kept the modified cap sleeves, and added a semi-successful collar change.

I should have gone with smaller buttons, but I like these ones and it is too late to change my mind now. There looks like there is some weird pulling at the upper bust. Hmm. I did not see that on the other versions. Not sure if I am going to care. Probably not. The fabric is a stretch cotton I got from Gorgeous Fabrics ages ago. It is a little thicker than the other fabrics I have used. It works, but may be contributing upper bust shenanigans. You can't really see the collar changes, so I will show you with the magic of the camera.

I could never get the curved part of the collar to look just right, no matter how hard I tried, so I just straightened it out. It mostly worked.

You can see in this picture, which is taken with the garment flat, that by adding the little square parts, where the curves used to be, that the collar points are to close together. It is not that noticeable on, because I am round instead of flat, but I will correct it for future versions. All in all, I am pretty happy with this.

I do have plans for two more of these, but with more drastic alterations. I am going to add a front yoke on one version and change the bust darts into shoulder tucks for another. Like I said, whatever keeps me enjoying sewing and providing tops is a good thing.

Violet Save

2012-01-09T06:30:00.000-08:00

So, remember my blue violet shirt with the bust darts that were too high and the collar where the interfacing bubbled? Well, I managed to save it.
Ta da!

I just ripped out the darts and redid them lower down. Easy peasy. I was going to rip out the collar too, but the top buttonhole made that too hard, so I decided to add some embroidery to the collar to distract (cover up) the bubbles. (The color of the previous picture is more accurate.)

It took me about three hours to do the whole collar. Now I like it even more than I did before!

Party Dress

2012-01-04T15:59:00.000-08:00

Here is my holiday party dress. (Since I take these pictures with a tripod, my facial expression usually leaves something to be desired, which is why I am almost always headless.) I have three events this year that call for a nice dress (Christmas, Fake New Year's eve, and a friend's reception) and I was in no mood to mess around with a new pattern and stress about fit. (I had to monkey with the picture a little since there is no sun in Seattle. The tights I am wearing are purple.)

I decided to go for a 60's silhouette, so I grabbed this great cotton sateen that I ordered ages ago from Fabric.com. It's heavyish, but not too much for winter. I decided the pattern I made for the drop cloth dress was perfect; the only change I made was to take in the side seams a little and raise the hem to knee length.

I have worn things that were more flattering to my body, but I have seldom had more fun in a dress. I received tons of compliments and I am quite happy with it. It's not perfect, there were some tension issues with my machine, but it's great for a one season dress.

Happy New Year

2011-12-30T11:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Last Day of 2011 everyone! I'm on holiday goofing off and wishing I was sewing. (Which is a nice change. My desire to sew seems to have come back!) I hope everyone has had a great holiday season and the new year brings you lots of good things.

I have a couple of things I've done but not posted yet. I managed to save my icy blue Violet shirt, and I made a holiday dress. I only have crap pictures of that so far, so here is a teaser picture.

Have a great year everyone!

Violet: Take 2

2011-12-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

Here is my second version of the Violet top from Colette Patterns.

There is a little ripple in the collar in this picture, but it is not there in real life, just the way it is laying. I moved the bust darts down to the proper place and am now pretty happy with this shirt. I made a stupid mistake when cutting it out, so it is a hair shorter than the last version, and I also had a lot of issues getting the collar to be perfectly rounded where it goes up in the front. I don't want to spend a lot of time monkeying with something that I am never going to get right, so I am going to change the collar for the next version. The fabric came in a mystery box a couple of years ago and I am assuming that it is some kind of cotton. It has little ridges on it like twill. I dunno, it was nice to finally be able to use it up. This is post-washing and there is NO bubbling of the interfacing. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it!

Grump

2011-12-20T14:24:00.000-08:00

What is this I see?

That would be my interface bubbling on my new shirt. Which is annoying because I only use the good stuff, and it has never done this before. Which means it is either this fabric or user error. (I have cut several pieces from this length and have not had any other problems.) What's more annoying is that it is not only on the facings, but on the collar too. It doesn't look too bad after being pressed, but it doesn't look good. Right now I have to figure out if I want to rip out the facing and collar (and lower the bust dart while I'm at it.) I love this fabric (this picture does not show it's true color) and cannot get any more, so I need to figure out how much work I want to put in to salvaging this item. Grump.

On a more fun note, here is my gingerbread painting for this year. It's the scene from Die Hard where the Nakatomi Plaza blows up.

Colette Patterns: Violet

2011-12-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

I made something!!!!! Wooo hoo! Ok. I've calmed down. I desperately need blouses that go with jeans AND skirts. I've been flirting with getting the Colette Patterns Violet top for awhile, but resisted because I though I could draft something similar. Turns out I can. Also turns out I don't have much motivation to do so, so I caved and bought the thing. (There was no sun today, so crappy flash picture will have to suffice.)

I made several fitting changes and one big style change. ( I like Colette Patterns a lot, but I always make a muslin because I have to make so many fitting changes.)

I added 5/8 inch to the seam allowance because I liked the length of my muslin without hemming.
The bust darts ended somewhere slightly above my waist, so I raised them. I can see from this photo that I raised them too high, so I will move them down just a smidge.
There was a lot of gaping at the neckline (and too much fabric at the upper chest) so I took all of that out by making a neckline dart and then moving it into the bust dart. (I did not muslin this change and may be what raised the bust dart point a little higher than I thought it was.)
I took about 1 inch out of the length of the back yoke piece. (Above the armpit.) I often end up with a bunch of fabric pooling in the middle of my back and I don't have a swayback. What I have discovered is that the pattern length from my neck to my armpit is often too long for me and causes the back of my shirts to be longer than the front. Hence the pooling.
I made an under collar piece slightly smaller than the upper collar, so it would look nicer.
I did not care for either of the sleeve options, to I took the short sleeve piece and turned into more of a cap sleeve shape. Much more flattering and comfortable on me.

This fabric is kind of an odd color (super saturated in real life) so I thought it would be great for my first prototype. (It was one of the $2 per yard cotton poplins I got from Fabric Mart.) Aside from the darts being a little too high and having some trouble getting the rounded parts of the collar just right, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. It is exactly my kind of shirt, and I will probably make several of them now that I have the fit right. (I tend to procrastinate on making things with buttons, which is stupid because the machine I have now does great buttonholes.) I also like the peter pan collar, but am going to play around with some different collar shapes because I can. Colette patterns tend to skew young, and I might want to age this up a bit by adding a less youthful collar. (Although I think it looks fine on me.) All in all, I'd say I am pretty happy.

Hey! I'm Still Here!

2011-12-02T13:44:00.001-08:00

So, I just realized that I have not posted here in like a month. Oops. And I haven't sewn anything in that time either. Double oops. Well, I have two reasons for that. One is that I have been trying to improve my wheel throwing skills in ceramics, and in order to do so I have had to put in a lot of time. Throwing does not come natural to me, and it has taken quite a lot of work for me to get better.

The other sewing preventer is the fact that I have had to change my eating habits again (last time I realized I could no longer eat gluten. ugh.) and I have been slowly but surely getting smaller. Although that could change. I would like my weight to stabilize before I get super busy sewing again. However, I do need some shirts, so there should be some projects come up.

Mostly right now, I want to step back and think about my wardrobe as a whole and form a loose plan for what I really want it to be. So for a little while, my posts should be geared around wardrobe thoughts and shirts. Also bad pictures of ceramics.

Here are a couple of things I've made this quarter that I love. There is no sunshine in Seattle right now, so these are the best I can do. I think I'm gonna get my photographer friend to help me take some better pictures eventually.

Pretty Skirt

2011-10-27T14:43:00.000-07:00

I'm sick today and haven't been sewing this week. But I did see a pretty skirt on the Talbots website that I might just wanna make for myself. (I am unlikely to spend $199 on a skirt.) But when would I wear this? Tea length might just make this more wearable for me.

Mystery Box Challenge #2: The Plan

2011-10-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

So, I've worn my Mystery Box Challenge color block dress a couple of times and I really love it, so I think I'm ready for challenge #2. I'm gonna use the weird brocade fabric that I had no idea what to do with.

Here is the line drawing for Vogue 8755.

This pattern seemed like a good way to use both sides of the brocade. Unfortunately, it did not suit me me at all.The neckline was unflattering, the bodice sits up too high for me, the darts are in the wrong place, and it was way too big under the bust (but fine at and above.) I could totally spend a lot of time working to fit this too me, but I've decided to take my sloper, which fits me perfectly, and adjust it to pick up some of the details of this dress. I don't have much need for a polyester brocade (I don't actually think it is brocade, but I don't know what to call it) dress, but I don't have any fun party dresses. Maybe this can be that.

Drop Cloth Dress

2011-10-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

Another new dress! I needed something simple to make, and while drafting your own pattern might not seem that easy, it can be a lot easier than trying to fit a new commercial pattern.

I also needed something with very, very simple lines to suit this fabric. This is a crazy print and no fine details were even remotely going to show up. (The fabric is from Jay McCarroll's Habitat line. Yes, it is a quilting fabric. No, you are not supposed to use quilting fabrics for clothing. Turns out many styles inspired by the 50s and 60s don't have a lot of drape, and these fabrics can work just fine.)

Since it is hard to see anything because of this print (and if you have been reading for awhile, you know I love a crazy print) I will describe it to you.

Boat neck, but not too wide, because I don't want my bra straps to show.
Basic dirndl skirt.
Sleeveless. (I was going for a 60s look so I did not bring in the shoulder points of the armscye like one might normally do when making a summer sleeveless dress.)
Invisible zipper.
Hemmed by hand.
French darts are not sewn all the way.

See where I've drawn that white line? That's where I stopped sewing the bust dart. Instead of having bust darts and waist darts, I moved the bust darts into the waist for 2 giant french darts. (Just to see if I could.) As a rule, the bigger the dart, the pointier it is, and let me tell you, this dart was insanely pointy. Like a paring knife sticking out of my chest. So, I stopped sewing the dart below my bosom area and pressed the dart legs towards the center. This creates a little fold above where I stopped sewing that ends at my bust apex, creating a much smoother look. ( I could not get a good photo. If I use this bodice pattern again with a calmer fabric, I will try it again. If you click on the photo, it should get bigger, and you might be able to see the fold.)

The arm and neck holes are finished with my combined facing technique.

I am very happy with this dress. I wanted to see if I could work out a french dart that would flatter my hourglass figure instead of making it scary. Also, the fabric is crazy and I deeply love it! Throw a sweater on over this, and I am ready to go! Also, look how nicely I matched up the back! Can you tell I am excited! ! !

Simplicity 9825

2011-10-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

This post might just as well be subtitled "another navy skirt." but I needed this one! My other denim skirt is very old and doesn't really look like denim anymore. This was a beautiful cotton/bamboo mix that I got at my neighborhood fabric store, Nancy's Sewing Basket.

I love this skirt pattern a lot. (I currently have three others in rotation. It's just a very basic 4 gore skirt, but the shape works very well for me, and I wear all my skirts a lot.) If I had a uniform, it would be a-line skirt, top, and cardigan. Pretty standard stuff for me.

Here is a close up of the skirt where you can see the topstitching:

This was the only thing I did that wasn't regulation; I thought it gave it a more dressy vibe. This is pretty much a straightforward skirt, so nothing much to tell on the construction side. It doesn't fit quite as well as the other ones (just a little loose,) but I made the others back in the days before I blogged and didn't take construction notes. If I did something different, I don't remember what it was. Grump. I'm pretty happy with this though. Time to make something more complicated.

Why?

2011-09-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

Ralph Rucci makes some of the most beautiful clothing in the world, but you might never know that from the garments for which Vogue makes patterns available. Example Vogue 1269. Sigh. I guess it is his fault for making the ugly thing in the first place. And this jacket should never be worn with this dress.

Simplicity 1969 (SewSimple)

2011-09-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

I, like a lot of folks, have recently noticed Simplicity's new SewSimple line of patterns. Since they are only $2, I thought I would give one a try and settled on this blouse.

Here is my version:

Here is the line drawing.

I like to have an easy project after I make a dress based on my own pattern. It's just nice sometimes to do something uncomplicated. This certainly was easy. It had 4 pattern pieces and the instructions seemed very clear, although I have been sewing for a long time, so I'm not sure how a newbie would judge them. The pattern line seems geared towards beginning sewists, and I think a beginner could very easily tackle this pattern and come away with a wearable top. I used what was advertised as a cotton lawn, although the weave is much looser than my other lawns. I think this pattern works best with a fabric that contains a little drape, so a stiff cotton might not looks so good.

To be honest, this top is not the height of fashion, and there are some changes I would make before I made it again.

I would add some length. I have a 3/8" hem on it and it is just barely at wearable-with-jeans length.
The armholes are a big and show my bra strap in the armpit area. I need to wear a cami with this version because of the fabric, so it is not that big of a deal.
It pools a little in the back. I might just add a little more width back there or take out some length. Not sure.
It's pretty shapeless. It looks a lot like a scrub top in this picture, but that might be my fabric. Although I think it is cuter in real life. I could be deluding myself.

Not the most earth-shattering top, but this would work great for a super beginner who wants a successful project. I'll wear my version, although I think it might work better with a skirt.

Mystery Box Challenge #1: The Dress!!!!

2011-09-19T13:07:00.000-07:00

Yes. I finally made something! As usual, I am not 100% happy, but that is my problem, not the dress's. I know for a fact that once I wear the dress a couple of times I will forget about its "problems" and enjoy the hell out of it. (Click on the images if you want to seem them in more detail. Cause I know they are that fascinating.)

Here is the head on picture (without the head):

Slightly tilted to the side (Big difference, I know.):

This dress is made from what I think is a brown stretch cotton poplin from my Fabric Mart mystery box and a light blue cotton poplin from Fabric.com. (Left over from my first Sorbetto top.) I drafted the bodice from my bodice sloper, and the skirt is just a simple drindl. The neck is finished with made-by-me bias tape on the outside and the armholes are finished on the inside with bias tape, but bought at the store. (The armholes were originally finished the same as the neck, but it looked too much like a basketball jersey.)

There is some bust detailing that is hard to see in these photos, so I lighted one to show them:

This is what the front bodice pattern piece looks like:

If I had it to do over again, I would have made the bodice two pieces (splitting them in the obvious place) and adding a little less fullness. I feel like this makes me look bigger up top than I am or want to look.

All in all, though, I am very happy with this dress. It's a baby-step towards color blocking, and I think it works. Also, I've had issues in the past getting just the right amount of gathering for a drindl skirt, and I feel like I got it just right this time. This is a perfect dress for the summer/fall transition. Yes!

Rear view:

Mystery Box Challenge #1: the plan

2011-08-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

I was gonna make a lavender linen skirt before I started my mystery box challenges, but really, it's almost September. Linen speaks of spring and summer to me. So, I'm gonna plan some new skirts to go with some seldom worn blouses instead. (But not right now.)

Ok. First challenge from the Fabric Mart mystery Box: The brown stretch poplin. (At least, that is what it seems like to me. It's a mystery.) I am pairing it with a light blue non-stretch poplin for a little color blocking. I've seen a lot of color blocking coming up for fall, and this has never been a trend I've jumped on before. However, I thought I would start out with something not-to-outrageous and see how it goes.

This is the original plan for this dress, and I think I'm gonna make it some day, but I'm kind of getting tired of all of my dresses having the same basic bodice structure with a bust and waist dart. (The only dress where I haven't done this is my red linen shift dress.) I'm gonna experiment with some gathers and yokes today, I think. We'll see.

Challenges

2011-08-08T05:13:00.000-07:00

I have decided this year not to watch Project Runway anymore. Up until last season, I really really enjoyed the show. But the influence of the producers manipulating the show is just right there on the surface now. I understand how reality tv works. I know that it's not really real, but I like the illusion that it might be: that the best person might win. I watched a few minutes of the first challenge episode this year, and realized I just don't care anymore. So I decided to give myself a little challenge.

As you may have noticed, I've not been sewing much lately. Summer is pretty busy for me, and I have some new stuff going on. And I have kind of lost my sewing motivation. Since I love sewing, and it is my only source of new clothing, I needed to come up with something to get the juices flowing. So, I decided to have my own project runway-like challenge. I ordered a mystery fabric bundle from Fabric Mart and decided that I had to find a use for all the of the fabrics inside, love them or hate them. I don't have any deadlines, and I have a skirt that I would like to make first, but I think I'm gonna have fun with this.

Fabric #1: I think this is a stretch cotton twill (dressweight.) This is gonna be a cute fall dress I think.

I dunno what this is, but to me, this is ugggggly. I will make a skirt. We'll see if I ever wear it, but it can work as a prototype for something I might like more.

This is an unassuming brown stretch cotton poplin. I have great dress plans for this guy

This is a brocade of whose contents I am unsure. I have two yards and I'm not sure what I am going to do with it. This is going to be the hardest one to figure out.

So those are my fabrics for the challenge. I'm excited about this one! So excited, I'm gonna show you some new liberty lawns I got awhile ago. Aren't they cute?

Liberty Sorbetto

2011-08-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah, Sorbetto Sorbetto Sorbetto. This is the fourth version of the top I have made, and I actually made it a couple of weeks ago before I got super busy.

The fabric is a Liberty print that I got from Fabric.com. It is very faintly directional, and if I had been willing to cut the front and back pieces facing different ways, I would have had room on a yard of fabric to cut out the shirt with the box pleat. (My husband says he cannot even see the fabric has a directional print. I can.) I could have lived with the front right-side up and the back upside-down. Unfortunately, I had already cut out the back piece before I noticed I wasn't going to have enough fabric to do it the way I wanted. Long story short, I left off the box pleat and added a little faux button placket.

Close-up of one of the buttons, which I love a lot.

I think I'm done with this pattern for awhile. It goes great with skirts, but doesn't look so good with pants. I find that when I add length it gets super boxy and doesn't look so good on me.

I'm a little low on inspiration right now, so I'm gonna see what I can do about that. I have some skirts that I should make, but there is a dress I wanna draft. But not so much drive to do any of them. Ah well, it is summer.

Still Alive

2011-07-28T23:05:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I'm still alive and kicking, just not sewing or blogging. It's Rain City Rock Camp for Girls Week and I am camp counselor to 4 girls ages 8 and 9. They wrote a break-up song, and their band name is Cool and Random Sweethearts. They are Hi-Larious. Back soon!

Too Sassy for You: Modified Sorbetto

2011-07-13T14:53:00.001-07:00

Inspired by this project on Burdastyle, I decided that I too needed a top that tied at the shoulders. I just modified the Colette Patterns Sorbetto top and had my blouse a couple of hours later.

Here is my modified pattern piece.

Modifications that I made:

Took out center box pleat from Sorbetto top. (I just traced the pattern and left off the pleat extension from the front bodice piece.)
Extended the front and back shoulder by 11 inches and tapered it at the end by using my ship's curve.
Drew a facing piecing for the front and back to cover the armholes, neckline, and ties.
I lengthened it a little, but not sure I am going to keep that change.
I did not interface the facing.
I may sew these knots together and put a little lingerie-strap under the knot. Not sure yet.

The fabric is a stretch cotton sateen that I thought would be heavier when I bought it online. The stripe is a dark olive green. I knew I was gonna like this shirt when my husband said to me "I can tell this is gonna be cute because it looks good even in muslin." (My favorite quote from him is when he looked at me in a self-designed dress and said "The fit on that is amazing!" I love it when he just gets it.)

Gaping Armhole Tutorial

2011-06-30T15:31:00.001-07:00

So, when I made my first muslin the of the Sorbetto top from Colette patterns, I had a lot of gaping at the armholes.

I notice people taling about this problem a lot on blogs during the summer months, what with all of the sleeveless tops and dresses, and I thought I would do a tutorial on how to get rid that that excess and put it in the bust dart. (You can just make an armhole dart, but I like to move that dart into the bust dart. Just to be tidy.) Since the tutorial was so picture heavy, I decided to upload it onto the burdastyle website. (Also, I just wanted to try their tutorial format.) You can check it out here.

Look Ma, no gaping armhole!

Summer Lounging Dress

2011-06-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

I have a new red dress.

I made this from my 3 piece dress sloper (dress front, dress back, and sleeves as opposed to my 5 piece sloper which is bodice front and back, skirt front and back, and sleeve.) See how nicely the back fits?

I knew going into this that this silhouette was not going to be that flattering on me, but I don't always want to wear a fitted dress in the summer. (I am an hourglass and fitted dresses are the way to go with my figure. Otherwise you can't tell how small my waist is and only my widest points are emphasized.) I'm a little underwhelmed, but I know that will go away once I wear the dress a few times. (I've worn my cloud 6 or 7 dress a few times now and feel pretty cute when I do.) This is going to be a perfect dress for climbing into the hammock and "reading." (Do you like how I have convinced both you and myself that Seattle will someday get warm enough where I will need a floaty little dress?)

The fabric is a lightweight linen from fabric.com.
No closures. It fits over the head.
It's loosely based on the deep impact dress from Built by Wendy Dresses.
It has very narrow darts in the back to give it a little shape.
It has a once piece neck/armhole facing in the front and back.
I am trying to put more details on my dresses, but I went super plain on this one because I usually think linen looks best with super clean lines.
Because there are no details for distraction, I took special care to make sure the sewing was done well.
It's a little low in the front, but I did that on purpose. It is summer after all.
It appears to dip in the front hem, but I don't see that in the side view or in real life. I'm ignoring this.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this. Lately I've been feeling a little let down after I finish a project, which is weird because I have been doing some of my best sewing ever. I dunno what is up with that. It seems to be more prevalent with patterns that I make myself. It may be because I have expectations of what the item will look like, but I am not quite able to get my head and my hands to completely agree. (This happens in my artwork all the time, and there I view it as a plus. I might just need to let go of some of my perfectionism here.) Once I wear the dress a couple of time, I think I forget what I wanted it to be, and am just happy with what it is.

On Cloud 6 or 7

2011-06-09T16:36:00.001-07:00

My friend Jonathan sent me some fabric from Tokyo for my birthday. I took my pink birthday dress and modified it into this little number. Since I stitched it for Faye's latest challenge, you can get the details over there, if you are so inclined.

Sorbetto II and Arm/Neck Facing Tutorial

2011-05-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

Hey! I hope everybody had a great weekend. Monday was Memorial Day for those of us in the U.S. and I hope everyone had the chance to do something fun. I gardened, sewed, and made up another Sorbetto top from Colette Patterns.

My camera really hates this fabric and (something I did not notice in real life) the fabric on this version is so thin it tends to hang out on the top of my bra. Oh well. It's still pretty cute. The fabric is some kind of poly/cotton blend that was pretty fun to sew with. The main modification here is that I decided that instead of finishing the neck and armholes with bias tape, I would make a facing for a cleaner look. I am not a facing lover, but I decided to make an old-style one that uses one piece to deal with both the neck and the arm hole. You can tack it down under the arms and it will not flip up at all. I made a little tutorial in case anyone else wants to try it out. (I'm gonna use this a lot with all the sleeveless dresses I'm making for summer.)

Tutorial: One piece neck and armhole facing.

1) You are going to need some stuff.

pattern pieces (front and back)
tracing paper
pencil (I used a sharpie for this tutorial, but I usually do everything in pencil.)
ruler
french curve (you could do without, but I like to use them.)

We are going to start with the bodice front because it is a little harder.

Trace your tracing paper over your pattern piece. I am using a jar of screen printing ink to weight the paper down.
Trace over the top part of the pattern. (Neck, armhole, shoulder etc.)

It's when you get to the bust dart, that things get a little tricky. Stop at the dart and follow the dart leg for just a little bit.

Move your tracing paper down to the other dart leg so that the lines match up exactly. (Basically you are closing that dart.)

Continue the line down the side seam. I am making my facing 2 1/2 inches deep, so I made my side seam that long. (I am using the 1/4 inch seam allowances already on the pattern, so the final depth of my facing will be 2 1/4") I also drew a 2 1/2 line down center front. You'll notice that there are two center fronts on this pattern because of the box pleat in the front. Your facing knows nothing about any box pleat, so leave the pleat extension out! Stop at the first center front: also known as the stitching line.

Then I take out my ruler and start drawing the bottom of the facing. I just make a straight line that is perpendicular to the side seam and center front line. You can just eyeball it lengthwise. Now, see that crazy red circle? Inside that circle is a dot, and that dot is 2 1/2 inches out from the armhole. When you fill in the rest of that line, you do not want to go higher than that dot at that area when you join those lines together.

This is when you bring out that French curve (or whatever) to finish the bottom of the facing. I like my bottom facing edge to have gentle curves because I finish the edge by serging , and I don't want any sharp corners for that. (Plus it looks nice.)

Voila! Put all your makings on it and cut it out. (Remember that the center front goes on the foldline.) You now have a front facing piece. The back is done the same way, but easier because there is no bust dart.

Now how do you sew this to the garment? You can't just sew neck to neck, armhole to armhole because it won't flip out. I have a great magazine from the 60's by Enid Gilchrist (she's going to get her own post soon) that shows you how to attach this type of facing to a sleeveless garment. It's super easy. (I'm sure tons of people already know how to do this. I didn't and it was awesome to have an example.) (Clicking on the photo should make it bigger.)

Just tack the facing down at the side seams and you are ready to go. You can understitch or topstitch if you want. Do what you gotta do. I'm pretty happy with this technique and will be using it a lot this summer!

Weekend Distraction: Colette Patterns Sorbetto

2011-05-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

First off, I want to thank everyone for their compliments on my birthday dress. I wore it out on Thursday and it was a big success. (I love Seattle, but folks tend to dress in muted colors. Me, not so much. The dress was noticed.)

On Thursday last week, Colette Patterns made available a free pattern to download: a little 60's inspired blouse that you can get here. I downloaded it on Thursday night and had a version made up by Friday night.

Goofy action shot. I'm trying out the living room for photos since there is more light in there.

Closer detail shot:

I always thought I would gravitate towards the 50s as far as my personal style went, but I'm all about the early 60s. This little top was made for me, and goes especially well with my a-line skirts. It's a little boxy, but that is the style and the length is just right for it.

Project Notes:

I made a muslin for this and I am really glad I did. There are still some changes I would like to make on this, but I would have been disappointed had I just made it up in my fashion fabric. (I don't think this was a problem with the pattern per se, I usually do need to make some adjustments for fit)
I had some major gaping in the front armhole. Major. I ended up pinching it out into a dart, and then moving that dart into the bust dart. I have to do this a lot on sleeveless things. I think I am going to do a tutorial on this because once I figured it out, I was much happier with my clothes.
The shoulders were a little high, so I ended up increasing the shoulder seam depth by 3/8 of an inch. The bust dart was also a little too low, and this fixed that as well.
I am not sure I am sold on the visible bias tape finish. I used store bought bias tape and it is a little stiff. I'll see how it comes out in the wash. I might just make a neck/arm one piece facing and use that for a super clean finish. We'll see.
I used a lightweight poplin that I had in my stash. (It was 58" wide or so and I used about a yard.)
There is some pooling at the back and I think the length of the area between the neck and the bottom of the armhole is a little too long. I am going to experiment with that this weekend. (I don't have a swayback, but I often get pooling in the back of my shirts. I'm still learning how to fix this.)

I wore this outfit with a little cream sweater to the Olympia Farmer's Market today and felt really cute. I'm currently thinking of ways to modify it for more variation. (Insert evil laughter here.)

43rd Birthday Dress!!!!!!

2011-05-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

Ta da! The birthday dress is finished. I think I need a white belt, but I have to go out and buy one.

With shoes and crazy hair!

To refresh your memory, here is the inspiration photo:

I think you can see how the two dresses are related.

Instead of telling you what went wrong, I'm gonna tell you what went right! (I had a lot of issues with the sewing because I was sick during a great deal of the work. I need to focus on the positives.)

Fits really well! (Because I used my sloper to draft it.)
I love this corally pink. Very obnoxious.
I used packaged bias tape for the armholes and it felt nice not to have to make it!
My changes made it look even more 60s than the original. But not costumey. I hope.
My first time with piping. And while it was not a perfect experience by any means, nobody is going to notice where I was less than perfect because the pink will distract them by burning out their retinas.
I super-structured the button stand thingy with 2 layers of fabric and one layer of interfacing before I sewed it onto the bodice. No sagging from the heavy buttons!
My neck facings extend to the armhole, so there is no rolling up.
Mostly, my bodice and skirt seams and darts match up.
I was going to bind the edges of the button stand with bias tape, but that did not work for me. So I used piping. And I learned I need some kind of foot for my machine if I am going to use it again. But, the piping does look kind of cool.
A-line skirt is much more flattering on me than a short straight one.

Ok. I'm pretty happy with this. Next up: a dress sew-a-long with Faye, a 70's shirt, and another dress for a friend's wedding.

Parting shot:

Pattern Winner #3

2011-05-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

Remember the Supper Crappy Spring Double Giveaway? I picked two winners for the Lisette pattern and neither one of them responded. So I picked a third winner:

Sewfast!!! Yay!

I will leave a comment on your blog, but if you read this, go ahead and leave a comment with your email address.

Also, birthday dress tomorrow.

Birthday Dress Postponement

2011-05-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

My birthday dress did not get done in time for my birthday. (I was careless and got glutened and spent my day feeling miserable. We've decided that my REAL birthday will be next week and it will be an awesome day.)

In good news, I received three yards of my favorite Liberty fabric, which is something I would never get for myself. My husband rocks! (He also got me some geology videos, some Marx Brothers books, and a giant le Creuset dutch oven. My birthday was also the 11th anniversary of our first date.)

picture and fabric from here.

Birthday Dress Muslin and Pattern Making Notes

2011-05-17T00:11:00.000-07:00

Here is the muslin for my 43rd Birthday dress. (Please see previous post for inspiration dress.)

Muslin is not so flattering, so ignore that if you can. Also, the largeness of the buttons is causing some weird dragging on the bodice. I am hoping to fix that on the real dress with strategic button placement and support. Aside from that, I think this version incorporates all the changes that I detailed in the last post, and I am pretty happy with it. Ready to move to the next step.

If you are interested in the pattern making process behind this dress, keep reading.

I start out with the sloper that I developed in my pattern making class. For this dress, I traced four of the pieces from my five piece sloper. ( I also have a dress and jacket sloper.) (My sleeve is the fifth piece of this sloper.)

The first thing I do is make a map of the new dress. For example, I took the front bodice piece and made all of the style changes that I thought I would need to do for the dress. (You can click on any picture to make it clearer.) Making a map lets me see what pattern pieces I will need to make later. For this map, added the button placket thingy, took half an inch off the neck, and some off the armhole.

After I finished my map, I traced off the pattern pieces from the map (NEVER CUT OUT THE MAP!) and added seam allowances. (I haven't cut out the button placket thingy pattern piece yet, because I have to figure out the fit of the bodice first. )

Then I cut the bodice out of muslin and perfect the fit, transferring all of the changes to the pattern pieces.

Once the bodice fits, I move on to the skirt. First I make sure that the inside dart matches the dart placement on the bodice. My skirt sloper has 2 darts on every pattern piece, so I decided to just close the outside dart to make my skirt an A-line. (My first version of this skirt was a very teeny tiny A line. Too much like a straight skirt and not at all flattering. Tossed it.)

To close the dart and add flare to the skirt, you draw a line from the tip of the dart, down the rest of the skirt, perpendicular to the grainline. Cut cup the line and one leg of the dart. (This will cut the pattern into two pieces.) Then close the dart by placing one dart leg on top of the other and taping it down. (If this does not make sense to you, try enlarging the picture to see more clearly.) (I also added an extra inch of flare at the side of the skirt hem, fyi.) Then trace the pattern piece. (In the picture I have the modified and traced pieces next to each other.)

I after I cut out the skirt pieces and sew everything together, I check for fit and fiddle with everything until I am happy. Then I work on all the detail pieces like the button placket thingy and facings.

Time to go to bed. Hopefully I will finish this dress soon and post it on my birthday.

New Winner for Simplicity 2209: Super Crappy Spring Double Giveaway

2011-05-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

The new winner for Simplicity 2209 (The Lisette dress pattern) is Laura! Laura, if you see this, please comment on this blog entry with your email address! You have until Sunday May 22nd at midnight.

Birthday Dress Inspiration

2011-05-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

My birthday is next week and I'm gonna make myself a new dress. Here is my inspiration photo:

This is from the 2011 Marc Jacobs resort collection. What I love most: the buttons running down the front. Here are the changes I will make.

My version will be pink! PINK! (With white accents.)
It looks like there is elastic in the waist. Not for me.
It looks like the waist is raised a bit, I'm gonna put mine at the natural waistline.
Short, straight skirts are not really for me. I am going to lengthen it a bit, make it a slight a-line and maybe add some pleats. (or maybe not.)
Lower the neckline very slightly.

I better get cracking!

McCall's 6078: WINNER

2011-05-10T11:26:00.001-07:00

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you will know that I don't have much success sewing with knits. My projects usually fail for two reasons 1) I can just never get the hang of the proper needle/stitch combination (even with my serger) and 2) most knit shirts just don't look that good on me. I am a size 16, so I have some lumps that knits like to show off. However, I am also an hour glass, so anything that is large enough to cover the lumpy areas is going to make me look larger than I am because it will hide the fact that I have a very distinct waist.

I have, however, found a pattern that I kind of like. McCall's 6078.

This is a very easy pattern. Because it is sleeveless, I was able to fit as I sewed. (And I kept good notes so I could make changes directly to the pattern.) There are quite a few reviews of this shirt on PatternReview, and now I understand why. The cowl drape is really nice and not very overwhelming on my larger bust. (Most cowls I have tried are not very flattering on me.)

The stitching leaves a lot to be desired, but I'm still gonna wear it. (You'd be surprised what other people don't notice.) That is something I need to work on for the next iteration. The instructions call for just folding over the hem and topstitiching, and that is what I did, except for the bottom hem. I just chopped off two inches and called it a day. I used a thin ITY knit from Fashion Fabric Club, and since it doesn't unravel, I didn't feel the need to hem the shirt body. I may trim off the seam allowances from the arm and neck hole on the pattern and leave them unfinished on the next version as well.

In spite of it's imperfections, I am pretty happy with this shirt. In fact, I'm wearing it right now. I'm going to make at least one more. Yay!

Missing Giveaway Winner

2011-05-09T12:49:00.000-07:00

Eileensews: Please leave a comment with your email on this post. Otherwise I will have to give the Simplicity 2211 pattern to someone else. You have until 11:00 pm (PST) Wed May 11th.

Simplicity 2211

2011-05-03T04:04:00.000-07:00

I am pretending the summer will someday come to Seattle. Since Seattle is the town that spring forgot, I figure we are gonna have a great summer! (I am trying to convince myself more than you.) So I whipped up a cute version of Simplicity 2211 out of a very lightweight cotton shirting. (Another of the Lisette patterns.) (It's hard to tell in this picture, but there are little white polka dots on the fabric.) (And yes, I see that this is another blue dress.)

I knew going into this, that this style is not the most flattering on me. (I NEED waist definition. I am an hourglass, and fitted styles always look better on me. You should see the side and back views. But you are not going to because I do have some pride.) However I love having a little shift dress that I can pull on and laze around the house in on hot days. (Because we will get some!)

I lengthened the dress a little bit, but it is still above the knee, which is a little short for me. I also had to lengthen the bust dart to almost twice it's length. I don't know what was up with that. At this point there was some crazy pooling in the back and some severe drag lines in front. My shoulders are pretty sloping, so I adjusted for that on the pattern. This and lengthening the bust darts got rid of a lot of the drag lines and pooling. (Not all of it by any means, especially in the back. But that is what you get for not making a muslin.)

This is no fashion masterpiece, but it was a quick sew that will become handy when (and if) it ever gets warm.

The Super Crappy Spring Double Giveaway Winners

2011-05-02T11:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday everyone!

The winners for the Super Crappy Spring Double Giveaway are:

Simplicity Pattern 2209:

Eileensews (Eileen, please comment on this blog entry with your email address so I can contact you.)

Stretch Cotton Sateen Fabric:

Angela at RiAnge Creations. (You have already given me your email address, so I will contact you right away.)

Thank you all for entering!

The Super Crappy Spring Double Giveaway

2011-04-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

Since I have had no motivation to sew this week, (I am gluten intolerant and accidentally got glutened on Easter which meant I spent the earlier part of this week on the couch.) I am going to host another giveaway. This time to thwart this years crappy spring. (Seattle is the town spring forgot. Not to mention the horrifying tornadoes in the U.S. South or the Japanese earthquakes. Ok, Seattle's eternal greyness pales in comparison to those other events, but I think we could all use a little mood lifting. Getting glutened also makes me kind of depressed, fyi.)

First item up: Simplicity 2209 (sizes 14-22)

I have made two of these dresses already (three if you count the bad one) and they already have pretty heavy rotation in my wardrobe.

Second Item: 2 1/4 yard 48" stretch cotton sateen

This is a mid-weight sateen perfect for a skirt or dress. What appears to be black on my monitor is actually a dark brown. This is a really lovely piece of fabric that matches nothing in my wardrobe and makes me look sallow. (I have olive skin that is hard to match with yellow. )

Here are the rules:

1) You have until midnight (PST) Sunday May 1st to enter.

2) This giveaway is open world-wide.

3) Please leave a comment letting me know which item you would like. (You may request both, but each item will have a separate drawing.)

4) I will announce the winners on Monday May 2nd. If you do not leave an easy way for me to contact you, you may want to check back on Monday or Tuesday to see if you won.

5) I will use random.org to pick a winner.

Good Luck!

You Gotta Know When to Fold 'Em

2011-04-20T16:56:00.000-07:00

Last week, I was working on another self-drafted shirt. I got three muslins into it and realized that I had all the details right, and that the shirt would never look good on me. It was hard, but I just put it down, and went to work on something else. All that work for nothing.

Well, not really. I learn something on almost every project I work on, and this blouse was no exception. (My main lesson this go around, other than the fact that style does not look good on me, was how to discretely get rid of a back shoulder dart.)

Another thing I did last week was to go through my closet and weed out some items that I never wore. These also happened to be items that I made, and were well-made to boot. I loved looking at these things on the hanger, but not so much on me. It was hard to give them up, but it was even harder to see them taking up space in my closet and know that I wasn't going to wear them.

This is my Macaron dress by Colette Patterns. Fits wonderfully and looks great on the inside. Does not look good on me. The length was wrong (which I could have fixed) and the the fabric was too stiff (which I could not fix.)

Simplicity 2209. Makes me look stumpy. Nothing helped.

Colette Patterns Sencha blouse. This version needs to be tucked in. I don't tuck stuff in. Only worn twice.

A McCalls pattern I can't remember the number of. Fits okay, plaids kind of match, looks great inside, and the ruffle feels huge when I am wearing it. I get so distracted by it, I can't concentrate on anything.

Ah well, lessons were learned. Annoying though.

Simplicity 2209

2011-04-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

Here is another quick version of Simplicity 2209 (The Lisette dress.) I've already written about this before, and I don't have much to add. Comfortable and cool. (Not that we have any warmth in Seattle.)

I did get to spend the weekend in Las Vegas, which was tons of fun. (I always have fun travelling with my husband.) I am not much of a gambler or a drinker, but I loooooove natural history museums. Especially ones with cheesy dioramas of "the circle of life." Disney has a lot to answer for. (This picture was not the diorama labelled with that. But illustrative of the principle.)

Simplicity 2245: Ceramics Smock

2011-04-11T05:01:00.000-07:00

I finally got Simplicity pattern 2245 in my size. I was unsure if I could rock the tunic style, and I did not want to make a muslin, so I made a prototype instead. (Known as a wearable muslin to some of you.) Due to the business of the fabric pattern, you cannot see any of the details on this pattern.

A little medical scrub looking, you say? I concur! I got this fabric from fabric.com and was not loving it. It is supposed to be a cotton lawn, but it is a little on the heavy side, and it turns out I hate the print. (And was too lazy to return it.)

Here is the line drawings of the pattern, so you can see some of the nice details that are actually there. (There is also a Lisette flickr group if you want to check out some of the nicer versions that people have made of this tunic/shirt/dress)

This is the first tunic I have made, and I am not as against the style as I used to be. But, maybe not this pattern for me. Although, I think I am eventually going to make the dress in a lighter weight fabric.

If you are not sensing the sound of disappointment, it is because I am not upset about what could have been a slightly underwhelming project. This top is perfect for me to wear in the ceramics studio! I am constantly getting clay all over myself, and this would be perfect to stick in my locker to put on before I get to work. It is also pretty high cut, so on the odd occasion that I work on the wheel, I'm not gonna flash everyone.

This is one of those garments that is useful rather than fashionable. I might even make another smock for painting, although I am not as messy at that. Any useful items that you need to make?

Sometimes Things Could be Better: Simplicity 2209

2011-04-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

I thought I would whip up another Lisette dress: Simplicity 2209. I really loved the last one, this one is just sort of meh.

This is the best of about 15 pictures. Really. This makes me look stumpy. I am 5' 8". I haven't been stumpy since I was 3. It's not the fault of the dress, but rather that I made the bodice and skirt out of 2 different fabrics. This just cuts me in a funny way.

The bodice fabric is a quilting cotton (not blue.) And the skirt is left over from my last dress (more blue.) The unflatteringness of this dress is due to my fabric choices and not anything inherent in the dress. I have enough blue left over to make a belt, so I will see if it makes any improvement. This may just be a wear-around-the-house-throw-a-sweater-over-it kind of dress. It has some nice details, handmade binding for the arm holes and pick stitching around the neckline facing instead of understitching. It's not a wadder, but it's not a winner either.

First Self - Designed Shirt

2011-04-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

My first self-designed blouse:

I took the bodice from this dress and turned it into the above blouse. (No, they are not made from the same fabric. The top is more royal blue than navy. It is a great stretch cotton that I got a gorgeous fabrics a long while ago.)

What I did to make the blouse.

Traced my dress bodice and removed the waist darts.
Added length and hip width using my blouse sloper.
Added four inches to the center front neckline for the fold and tapered it down to nothing at the waist. To do this I needed to create a center front seam which was not in the dress. (This method for creating width for the fold without increasing the width at the bottom mostly worked but there is a little pooch at the mid section which I am not happy with, but not hating enough to do anything about.)
Extended the bust darts by 3/4 of an inch. (The extra fabric from the front fold makes the side seams looser there, so I needed to make up for that by making the darts longer.)
I top stitched the facings down, which I did not have to do on the dress. The neckline is a little wrinkly on the blouse. I'm not sure what is causing that, but it certainly does not make it unwearable.

Back view:

My blouse is not perfect, but it fits well, and I think it's pretty good for a first try. I'm wearing it right now. (There is only a poor facsimile of sun right now in Seattle, so the shirt looks darker than it is. I hope we get spring this year. ) I think maybe I need to make something that is not blue.

2nd Spring Dress (self-drafted)

2011-03-29T04:45:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest self-drafted dress. (I had to take a little time off from it, because some of the fitting issues were getting to me. When I came back to it, everything was magically fixed.) (The bodice is pulling a little in this photo, but I was in motion.)

Here is a detail of the neckline and sleeves. The neck has a little row of French knots around it to add some interest. I'm guessing the sleeves are called kimono cap sleeves. (Not sure what the proper name is. They are drafted as part of the bodice.)

Back of the dress. (I think I'm gonna make a belt for this dress. It can use one.)

Details:

4 gore skirt.
invisible zipper down center back
cap sleeves
navy stretch poplin (long sold out from fabric.com)

It took me awhile to get the fit right on this, but that was mostly trying to figure out how to get enough arm motion from the kimono sleeves. There was also some extra fabric in the back shoulder that I wanted to get rid of. (The kimono sleeves [if that is what they are called] can cause some bunching back there.) I built this off my sloper, so most of the fit was already there. However, any time you change one thing, you run the risk of changing something else, including fit.

I'm pretty happy with this dress. I could have fiddled around with it forever, but at a certain point, you just need to make the dress. It's not fancy, but I'm learning something new with each self-drafted dress. Also, my last 3 dresses have been blue. And the skirt of my next one is navy. I'm thinking I need something a little brighter coming up.

Giveaway Winner

2011-03-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

And the winner of the Lisette pattern and bias tape is . . .

Carolyn (commenter #1)

Carolyn, if you can leave me an email in the comments for this post, I will contact you and ship out your goodies!

Thanks everybody for playing!

Giveaway!

2011-03-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

Hi nice people. When I purchased my Simplicity pattern for the Lisette dress in the last post, I picked up another pattern, Simplicity 2245. This is another Lisette pattern with a cute tunic I wanted to try. However, I grabbed the wrong size (6-14). Thus, a giveaway item. I also have 7 yards of homemade bias tape that I made using this tutorial. Turns out I did not need that much for the armholes of my last dress. (It is amazing how much bias tape a 12" x 12" square will make.)

The fabric used for the dress and bias tape is a quilting cotton (Robert Kaufman: Hot Blossom) that I got from fabric.com a year or two ago on super sale. It has been pre-shrunk and is ready to go.

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this blog saying that you would like to be entered before Sunday March 27th at 11:00 pm (PST.) I will choose randomly and announce the winner on Monday. (If it is not easy for me to click through to your blog and comment/email you, please check on Monday to see if you have won.) This is open to both domestic and foreign readers.

Good Luck!

Simplicity 2209

2011-03-22T05:52:00.000-07:00

I HAVE A DRESS!! I finished something that I did not throw away! It fits me! I love it!

Ok. I can calm down now. I am just happy to have something that I didn't have to do endless muslins on or draft myself. I introduce to you, Simplicity 2209. (Mild action pose!)

Because of the busyness of my fabric pattern, I have included the line drawing from the Simplicity website.

I just want to say upfront that I loved this pattern. It was drafted pretty well, and I was able to fit it with no muslin. (I did give myself generous seam allowances to fiddle around with.) The crossing darts are the main feature here, although difficult to see in my version. Here is a close up anyway.

This dress is one of the new Lisette patterns, designed by the same person who does Oliver & S. (Turns out there is also a website where you can get more info.)

Things I liked:

Retro feel.
Very simple to put together.
Sleeveless makes it easy to fit as I sew.
The neck facings are extended to the armhole, which is finished with bias tape, so they facings aren't going to flip out.

Thing I don't like:

Normally I disregard the order of operation, but I didn't do that here. She has you insert the zipper at the end, and I wish I had put it in sooner. I hate inserting side seam zippers and I especially hate to do them after I have finished everything else.
I see a little gaping at the neckline, not sure if it is enough that I would want to pinch it out. I'll see how it wears.
The length was perfect for me with just a 3/4" hem. I think I'll add a little length so I can have a little more depth there. I like a deeper hem.

Things I changed.

I added a dart at the armhole, because it was super gappy.
I was between sizes, so I picked the smaller size and added a little on to the side seams. I could take a little more out, but I like a little extra room.

I am totally gonna make some more of these. I feel VERY cute when I wear this dress. (The jacket is not really my style, so I probably won't be going there.) As I get older, I am more sensitive to age-appropriate dressing. (With the caveat that I am fully aware I dress kind of funny.) A lot of the the vintage-inspired patterns that are being made right now, are really cute, but kind of skewed to a younger audience. (And with changes can be made to look more adult.) One thing I really like about this dress is that its age appropriateness depends more on the fabric than the style. (Although, I would be sure to check the length.)

TWO THUMBS UP!

Hi!

2011-03-16T14:13:00.001-07:00

I'm still alive. I've been sewing for class and working on an out of class dress design. And I've been sick. (This is the worst culprit.) And I've been finishing up some ceramic pieces. Here is an example of my latest stuff. If this hurts your eyes (or offends your sensibilities) just focus on the sewing books in the background.

Giant squid in space (with dinosaurs)

Mixed media on ceramic (3/2011)

Sewing Through the Decades: 60s and 70s

2011-03-02T21:02:00.001-08:00

I haven't blogged in 2 weeks, because, while I have been sewing, I have nothing to show for it. My dress I am designing for class is going good, but slow. (Because I just work on it in class.) My princess seam dress needs to start over from the beginning, and the knit top I muslined from Simplicity 2554 was a disaster. (Me have a knit top disaster? Never!) (Always!) (Someday I will find a knit top pattern that I don't despise.)

I have a plan to make something that doesn't require endless fittings and muslins, but I'm not gonna talk about it because I don't want to jinx it. Not that I am superstitious. But seriously. It's been a while since I have had a successful project.

I am going to help myself not think about it, by posting my 60s and 70s patterns for the Sewing Through the Decades challenge. (I am so happy there is no deadlines for this. Right now, I am just having fun picking stuff out.)

My 60s dress.

I want to wear this dress every day. I want one each in black, brocade, and floral.

My 70s pick

I like the fact that the gathers under the bust are very small. Normally, I would not gravitate to this style, but I think there are a lot of things about it that might make it flattering on me.

Ok. Back to the struggle.

I gotta do what I gotta do

2011-02-17T15:23:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of things I kinds feel I should be working on.

Make my second muslin for my 20s dress. I am going to do at least one more muslin, but then I am going to leave it at that. (Probably.) I am curious to see if I can get a better looking silhouette, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it. This style may never look good on me.
Work on my Colette Patterns Crepe dress. I am having some issues with the bodice fit, and have set it aside since before Christmas. I'll get back to it because it would be a perfect spring dress.
Make some nicer shirts. I need them.

But, I am not working on any of those things. I have temporarily lost interest and have decided to draft two new dresses.

The first is for my pattern making class. The assignment is a black dress and here is my drawing. (The certificate students all do their drawing with Illustrator.)

At home, I am working on the dress that was my alternate choice for the class assignment. I thought it would be fun for spring. It will be navy with the neckline piece in red. (I'm also thinking about putting some little red buttons around the pocket edge. I won't really know until I see it in real life.)

I just want to enjoy sewing, and sometimes that means throwing all my plans out of the window. I sure am having fun with these dresses, though.

Sewing Through the Decades: 20s dress pt.1

2011-02-11T14:50:00.000-08:00

Behold! The most unflattering dress pattern of all time! (It does not help that my muslin is a little too stiff for this style, but really, it's sack.) (And actually, I can think of at least one other dress pattern I tried that was less flattering.)

This pattern is taken from Making a Dress in an Hour by Mary Brooks Picken (1924.) This muslin took me about 2 hours and I did not do any of the suggested finishing. Basically this a pamphlet detailing a method where you fold, measure, and cut directly on the fabric to achieve this fabulously stylish garment. (Picture does not include the belt, which actually made things worse.) It's basically a kirigami dress. (Kirigami is origami that you cut into.)

The top is one piece of fabric and there are no darts in sight. I am undecided if I am going to try to modify this to be a better dress. (Sometimes it would be nice to open a pattern and just make something, you know?)

Things That are Really Wrong:

Too long. I know this was the length for day dresses during this era, but it's not working for me.
Too wide.
Sleeve is unflattering length.
You can't see the skirt side flaps, but they are waaaay too short.
Neckline not so great for me.
Need to find right spot for waistline. (This one is weird because I had to add on more fabric to the bodice because I cut it wrong.)

Not my finest moment, but it was a fun way to send an afternoon.

Sewing Through the Decades: 20s and 30s

2011-02-08T11:12:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have chosen to follow a slightly different path for my Sewing Through the Decades dresses for the 20s and 30s. I have two books that show you how to draft patterns from those eras, so I am going to give that a try.

From the 20s, I have a pamphlet from Mary Brooks Picken on how to make a dress in an hour. (Amazon has three other books from her on a similar theme, but I got this from PDF Classic Books for $2.95. It appears to be a different publication.)

My favorite quote from this book:

"You may receive a phone call at one o'clock inviting you to a little impromptu gathering of friends at three, and you can go, if you wish, wearing a dainty new frock make in the time you would ordinarily spend wondering what to wear."

Unlikely, but it looks fun. There are no darts in these dresses, and I suspect that any creations I make from this book are going to look like a big sack on me. I may add darts, I may not. If it looks like I could actually make a wearable dress from this, I might put some extra effort in to make something I might actually want to keep.

From the 30s I have Dress Cutting: Instructions for Sewing 26 Vintage 19302 Fashions.

None of these dresses on the cover are actually in the book, which is kind of annoying. There are however some cute things that I'd like to try to make. This is another book without any darts, which makes me hesitate a little bit. I need a dart. Usually more than one. But, we'll see. I can make this work, if it looks like I could get something cool out of it. I'm not as interested in dresses from this era (I love to look at them, but I am not sure how suitable they are for my figure) and I'm willing to take the risk that my efforts will be in vain.

Simplicity 2281

2011-01-31T04:56:00.000-08:00

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)

2011-01-27T05:31:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-24T05:02:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-01-18T03:46:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-01-03T14:37:00.000-08:00

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!

Crepe Sew-A-Long

2010-12-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

I've decided to participate in Gertie's Sew-A-Long for the Crepe pattern from Colette Patterns. (However, I want my dress done for Christmas, so I intend to be a little speedier than what she has for her schedule.) I have some beautiful red chambray from fabric.com ready to go, and am working on my muslin. The pattern is made for beginners, so I am not expecting too many sewing challenges. (Fitting challenges are a whole other matter though!)

Crazy Town: Simplicity 3964

2010-12-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

Many years ago (I dunno. At least 2, but more like 3, 4, or 5) I fell in love with Simplicity's Built by You Patterns designed by Wendy Mullin. (Of Built by Wendy.) I made the below pattern and have worn the death out of it.

The poof has gone from the sleeve, the elastic has started to peek through at the armhole, it's made from quilting cotton, and has always been a little too big. I continue to wear this shirt, and even though it is kinda weird (I am fully aware of my taste issues) it is actually my most complimented item of clothing.

Watching this shirt disintegrate, I decided that I wanted another one. (I am, after all, in need of more shirts to wear with jeans.) Voila: another trip to crazy town.

I love it. And I'm going to wear it all the time. Which, especially when you make your own clothes, is something you want. I've made things that were just lovely, but didn't really match my preferences, and they didn't get half the wear that the brown shirt has.

I should have tied a bow, but I am lazy.

Some project notes:

Once again, made with quilting cottons. (Urban Chicks.) I am aware of the draping limitations of quilting cottons. Works just fine for this shirt. (The body is not cut on the bias; this is just how this plaid is.)
I did not match my plaids.
The sleeve head is really puffy, so I took an inch out at the top. I am not 6. (Or even 26.)
Went down a size from last time.
I might wanna make the next one a tiny bit longer.
The yoke on this is somewhat time consuming. I am pleased to note that it was much easier this time around. (Maybe I have learned something after years of sewing!)
I have never liked the elastic at the bottom of the sleeves in the original shirt, so I bound them this time instead. (I cut an extra neck binding piece and cute it in half. Turned out to be exactly right.)
I love it.

Cocktail Dress

2010-12-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

I need a cocktail dress. I usually make a new one every year for my yearly benefit auction, but I need an extra (and fancier) one this year. I am going to an evening wedding in Korea this January and want to look great. (I don't need much of an excuse to go to Seoul, but I am totally excited about seeing a lot of my grad school friends from Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.)

Korea is a fairly conservative culture and I am pretty heavily tatooed in the shoulder/back/upper arm area, so my dress needs to hide as much of that as possible. (Hey, I am proud to let my freak flag fly, but I can respect other people's special moments. Not to mention I don't want to piss off the ajumas.)

I've decided to design my own dress (working on a new sloper in pattern making class.) I'm using the early 60's as inspiration. Jewel necklines, full skirts, and sleeves are all things that I can work with, and even if the Mad Men furor hasn't hit there, I don't think I will stand out as too costumey. (And I'll pick a back-up pattern just in case. Be prepared!)

Here are some inspirational patterns that I have filed into my notes. I'm thinking a brocade might suit this type of style (and dress them up a bit) but we'll see. I'm still in my thinking phase.

I love the skirt on this one.

The neckline on this is pretty cute.

Hm, princess seams. (This neckline might be more flattering than a jewel on me.)

I dunno, I just like this one.

Another neckline that might do me well.

Finally! Simplicity 3692

2010-11-30T14:53:00.001-08:00

So, I finally found a T-shirt pattern that I think might work for me. It's an out of print Built by You (Wendy) from Simplicity. I bought all of these when they came out and have had varying levels of success. I made a super cute dress from this pattern when I was in business school and it still serves as my "I need a black dress right now" go-to dress.

I made some shirts from this as well, but they seldom got worn because they were too big. (The dress was made from a double knit with little stretch, so the bigger size kind of works in its favor.)

Here is my muslin. I need to move the gathers toward center front a bit so they are above the ladies and not so much to the side. This is some awful rayon blend fabric that I got super cheap to make muslins with. I ended up loving the color and the fit wasn't so bad, so I added a little embroidery to the yoke. (The pattern is from Sublime Stitching and I just added some lightweight tear-away stabilizer to the back so the fabric would not stretch.)

Close up:

It's not the most awesomest shirt in the world, but it is certainly good enough to wear around the house or to the ceramics studio. I have some more knit fabric coming, and I'll be curious to see how this will look in a nicer fabric.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T13:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the US! (And to our travelers, soldiers, and expats abroad.) I would like to send a special shout out to the men and women who managed to get our power on an hour ago. I get pie. mmm. Pie. (I am especially Thankful for my wonderful daughter and my husband who managed to thaw out our well so we can have water. )

baby baby baby

2010-11-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

I've been off meeting my new goddaughter Coco, so no sewing. But I don't mind. She's pretty cute.

I Will Get Motivated!

2010-11-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I lost my motivation these last two weeks. I've sewn nothing. I am taking a pattern making class at the New York Fashion Academy (which is kind of a silly name because it is in Seattle) so I don't feel like a total slacker. (The classes are a lot of fun btw. It is a bare bones operation, but my instructor Terry Horlamus sure knows her stuff, and what you get out of it directly correlates to how much effort you put in. I'll be taking her sloper class next. I have a sloper, but the fit can always be better.)

Part of my loss of inspiration has to do with the frustration I've been experiencing over trying to find a knit shirt pattern that I feel flatters my figure. I'm not a big knit fan, but it sure is convenient not to have to iron everything. I don't mind ironing, but sometimes I just want to wear a shirt. I am currently working on OOP Simplicity 3962. I have a dress from this pattern that is pretty cute; we'll see if I can get the fit better for the shirt.

I've decided to focus on tops right now, because I need more shirts that go with jeans. (Where is Faye and her Month of Tops Inspiration when I need it? I will channel her for awhile! She is working on her Lady Grey right now. I can't wait to see it!)

First up, I am going to work on muslins for Simplicity 3789 (maybe the wrap shirt)

And Simplicity 2447 (View C, but maybe with collar.)

Hopefully I'll get some of my motivation back.

Pumpkin Killer!

2010-10-31T17:10:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween

2010-10-28T14:51:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone!

I haven't been sewing this week, so I have nothing to show. However, I do love this scene from Tod Browning's Dracula. (The first half of this movie is very beautiful. The second half, a little boring.) If you are a Dracula lover, you may be interested in this blog post on the FIDM Museum blog. "Beyond the Black Cape: Dress in Bram Stoker's Dracula." Have a great weekend!

Muslin #2 for Hot Patterns Relaxed T-shirt

2010-10-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have completed a second muslin for the new relaxed t-shirt from Hot Patterns. You might remember that my first muslin was too relaxed. (This is a 16 from the envelope.)

Still not there.

The shoulders and neckline have been moved down to a size 8, while the body is a size 14. The shoulders and sleeves are okay, but the neckline is still too wide. (Although the depth is good. You can tell by looking at the pattern what the problem is with the neckline depth in the larger sizes: the shoulder height keeps going up as the sizes get larger, but the neckline never gets raised. I am pretty sure my shoulders didn't get taller as I gained weight.) The width issues give me a funny little puckery thing at center front.

The width through the body is still too much and it gives me funny drag lines at the sides. It is too short at this point, but that is my fault. When I cut some off the bottom, I forgot to factor in the amount I was losing from the reduction in shoulder height. This picture is cropped so closely, because the shirt hits me in the worst place. Not good.

I'll give this one more try, although I'm not too happy about endless muslins on a t-shirt. I can accept that this style may not suit me. I am not however, to happy with some of the things that look like grading issues. It's hard to grade a pattern correctly so fit such a huge range of sizes, but the neck depth issue is kind of a no brainer.

Simplicity 6742: The Finished Skirt

2010-10-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

Yay! I am finally done with Simplicity 6742! And I am very happy with it.

For those who are new to this story, I decided to draft my own skirt based on my sloper rather than grade this vintage pattern up. (I blogged about it here and here.)

The skirt got a little twisted at the end.

Details include:

A side lapped zipper. (Instructions in my Reader's Digest New Complete Guide to Sewing.)

Hand sewn hem.

Inverted pleats at side back and side front seams.

A petersham ribbon waist facing. (Thank you Vogue Sewing.)

Pleat facings.

I really enjoyed this project. I got to draft my own pattern, while having the original vintage version to refer to when I got stuck. I think I'll do a couple more items like this.

Simplicity 6742: The Muslin

2010-10-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

The muslin for the Simplicity 6742 is finished. I didn't like the waist treatment on the pattern, so I just did a facing. It was much more comfortable to me.

Here is a refresher on how the skirt is supposed to turn out.

Here is how the actual muslin turned out. There are a few small differences (waist, and number of darts,) but it's close enough for me to want to cut into my fashion fabric. (Which is the same color as the muslin, coincidentally.)

For comparison's sake, here is my straight skirt block, the mother of all my skirts.

It's very plain, straight up and down with no pegging or flare. I would never want to make a skirt like this, but this pattern is what makes all the other magic happen.

Changes that I made.

I added 2 cm of flare to each side. The line drawing on the pattern indicated that there was just a little teeny tiny flare. I like the way it looks.
I changed to to a six gore. I used the ratio of front to side-front and back to side-back that the original pattern used to place my princess lines.
Moved (or removed) my darts accordingly.
Moved the zipper to the side.
Added a two inch hem allowance. (Block has none.)
Added a waist facing. (Block has none.)
Added small inverted pleats to the side-front and side-back seams.

The back:

Now to cut out my fashion fabric!

Simplicity 6742: More Inverted Pleats

2010-10-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

I am currently working on vintage pattern Simplicity 6742. (The six gore skirt with little inverted pleats in the side front and side back seams.)

Instead of grading this pattern up (my hips have not been 36 inches for a very long time), I decided to use my skirt block that I created using my trusty Metric Pattern Cutting for Women. It's the basic straight skirt sloper that I used to create the other two skirts that I drafted. To modify that skirt to this, I divided the skirt into 6 gores, added just a tiny bit of flare to the sides (2cm), and created the 4 inverted pleat sections. Unlike my last skirt, the inverted pleats do not run all the way up the skirt length.

Why draft my own skirt instead of grading this pattern up? I just finished my muslin on Friday and it fit me on the first try. It doesn't always happen (sometimes design changes can have an interesting impact on fit) but this time it did. Woo Hoo! Plus, I get to work on my drafting skills and easily make any kind of changes that I want. I let it set over the weekend to think about how I want to handle the waistband, and I think I'm just going to follow the straight waistband on the pattern.

Here is the back of the pattern. (I reoriented it in my photo software, but blogger will have none of it. Whatever.)

Tutorial: Adding a Center Front Inverted Pleat

2010-10-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

It was really easy to add an inverted pleat to my A-Line skirt pattern. You too can achieve similar results with not much effort!

Step 1: Identify and mark the center front of your pattern. (I would trace over my pattern to create a new one, making sure to replicate all the notches etc. Don't cut it out or anything yet and leave plenty of room next to the center front to add the pleat allowances.) (We are pretending that my center front lines etc are all straight in these drawings, btw.)

Step 2: Add your pleat allowances. I wanted my pleat depth to be 3 inches so I added 3 inches to the fold line and then another three inches to create a second center front. (You will create an inner and outer center front for this. It will make more sense later.) You should mark all of your fold lines and center fronts. This will also be cut on the fold, so mark that too.

Here is what my actual pattern piece looks like:

Step 3: Cut out your muslin and mark everything.

Step 4: Bring the outer center fronts to meet at the inner center front marking. This is where you create your pleat.

Here is how that looks from the front. (The top part of my pleat is sewn together.)

Here's how it looks from the back:

Step 5: Open or closed. At this point you can decide if you want to leave the pleat open, or if you want to sew part of it closed. (I did the latter on my skirt.) If you want to leave it open, just fold it, press it down at the top, and baste along the upper edge to keep it in place until you add your waist treatment. If you are going to sew part of the pleat shut, just mark the amount you want to sew along the outer center front lines, sew down that far and then match that center seam along the inner center front of the pleat and baste it at the waist.

I like a crisp pleat, but I would not advise ironing down to the hem until you have finished it. (Your hem finish should not be too bulky either. You want to be sure that you can get a good fold on the pleats.)

There are ways to get more complicated with this, such as using inverted pleats as kick pleats at the back of your skirt, but this is a very simple application.

Self-Drafted Skirt #2 (Inverted Front Pleat)

2010-10-05T13:08:00.001-07:00

It's fall, so I need heavier skirts to wear with my sweaters. (My fall uniform is an A-line skirt, tights, and a sweater over my shirt.) I've decided to move back to pattern drafting (after not sewing for so long, I wanted to ease back into it.)

You may remember my first skirt pattern back in May:

I drafted my sloper using Metric Pattern Cutting for Women by Winifred Aldrich and then followed her instructions to create an A-line skirt. Love Love Love this book. I wear this skirt all the time, but wanted a little less flare, so I revised it and decided I wanted to put an inverted pleat in the front. (The skirt is navy, which is difficult to photograph under the best of circumstances, so I messed around a lot with the saturation and such.)

A more natural light picture:

This was a very simple skirt to put together. It has an invisible zipper in the center back and an inverted pleat in the front. The waist is finished with a facing. (I don't hate the facing, but I don't love. it.) The fabric is a navy stretch twill from Fabric.com. I messed up on the hem, so I added red bias tape when I redid it. A little shot of color on the inside.

There is a little topstitching above the pleat. I should have put the tip of my point right at the end of the sewn part of the pleat. It's barely noticeable, but it looks a little weird to me. (You can click on the picture to see the detail.)

Adding the inverted pleat was easy, and I am working on a tutorial for you. Next up, another self-drafted skirt based on one of my vintage patterns.

Muslin for Hot Patterns Relaxed T-Shirts

2010-09-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is the new T-Shirt Pattern put out by Hot Patterns. I know know know that I usually take one size smaller in these patterns than my measurements usually indicate on the package. (WHY? How hard is it to put the finished garment measurements on the envelope? I know that I can measure the flat pattern pieces but it's hard to know where exactly to measure them and why should I have to.) That's why I always make a muslin with this company, no matter how simple the garment.

This is not "long, lean, and slightly slouchy." Well, ok, it is long. (The hem allowance is only an inch.)

I should tell you that the scoop neck is so scoopy that I have to wear I cami because you don't need to know the brand of my bra.

On a pleasant note, this is the rayon jersey that I bought before my last rayon jersey fiasco. This stuff is much nicer and more like T-shirt material. I may try to save this shirt. I haven't made up my mind yet. I have some ideas though.

Macaron Dress

2010-09-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have finished my Macaron dress from Colette Patterns and I love it! I spent a lot of time on it, and I'm pretty proud of the workmanship. Here is my mugshot photo (we took a ton of pictures and this one was the best.) There is some wrinkling at the juncture of the bodice and the yoke, but no matter how hard I pressed, the wrinkles wouldn't go. I've looked at other pictures of the finished dress, and a bunch of them have them, so it just may be how it goes.

The fabric is stretch cotton poplin from fabric.com. My original color plan was to have the navy be the body of the dress, but even though the fabrics are from the same company, the light blue is noticeably heavier. Since the sleeves are made with two layers of fabric, I thought that the light blue would be too thick. (It occurred to me later that I could have used lining for the second layer. Oh well.)

I started out with a muslin in my size, a 16, and ended up making the following changes.

The sleeves were very restrictive. I tried raising the bottom of the armscye, but that didn't work. I read about some other problems with this on PatternReview, so I grabbed the bodice from my self-drafted block and compared the armhole curve. (This won't work for everything, but the bodice shapes were very similar.) It turns out that the curve of the armhole was much too shallow for me to have full range of movement. So I laid down my bodice under the pattern yoke, put a piece of tracing paper over it and created a new yoke with a more suitable armhole curve. This worked wonderfully to give me a full range of movement. (I think maybe using stretch poplin helped as well.)

At the same time, I made a sloping shoulder adjustment.
I also raised up the bottom of the armscye just a little.
I took some ease out of the sleeve caps, With all of the changes, they were too puffy.
The back neck darts stuck out a little too much. I added an inch to them, but they are still not quite perfect. If I make this dress again, I will move the darts over to the shoulders, where the shaping will make more sense for my body.
I shortened the sewing on the back pleats by one inch to make it more flattering to my booty.
I did not add the pockets because I wasn't sure if I wanted extra fabric at my midsection.
In most versions of this dress, the band around the waist is in the yoke contrast color. I chose not to do that because I didn't want to cut myself in half there. It might of worked, and I may try it on a future iteration.
I added 5 inches to the length to give myself a two inch hem. It may actually be a a little too long at this point, but I am going to live with it for awhile and see how I like it.

The construction of the bodice curve is interesting and, while very lovely, may be what is causing those wrinkles. (When laying flat, the dress does not have them. Irk!) At the curved part of the bodice, you fold the seam down 5/8s of an inch and then top stitch it to the yoke.

Here is my lovely topstitching. (I used my very handy edgestitching foot for this.) You can click on the picture to make it bigger and see the details.

Inspired by my Susan Khalje class, I used a hand sewn pick stitch to do my understitching of the facing.

Here is a gratuitous picture of my rear taken by my daughter.

And here is another goofy picture of me in the dress.

This dress makes me happy. The stretch fabric is really comfortable and I love the style. If I were to do it over again I might do a few things differently.

Move those back neck darts to the shoulder.
Make the hem a little shorter.
Take a little more ease out of the sleeves.
Move the front waist darts in a little.

As much as I love this pattern, I did not like the hem treatment. There is a definite curve to the center front and back seams and the instructions just say to do a blind hem. Really? With that much of a curve? Maybe with a really small hem. I did not want to use a facing or a lining as a facing, so I just slit down the side seams a little and stretched the hem a little to lay flat. I also made a little slit in the center front hem allowance and hand finished the edges. In the picture, you can see the curved edges of the hem. I will figure out a better way to do this next time.

Yay! A new dress.

New Vogue Patterns

2010-09-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

Well, there are some new vogue patterns up on the website. And I have to say, a bigger snoozefest has seldom been seen. There is only one super cracktastic outfit (although there is their usual amount of asymmetrical weirdness.) And, there are a lot of very nice dresses. None of them, however, are anything new or outstanding: nice lines, but kinda boring. There are also lots of shapeless tunics, cause I guess that is what looks great on women. Ick. Take a look for yourself.

Here is your coat on crack.

V1213 (Koos Van Den Akker, of course.)

Here is the one dress I was kind of drawn to. This might be fun to make for my daughter. (Don't tell her that though. Then I'll have to make it.)

V1209 (Rachel Comey design)

The two vintage reprints were kind of cool.

V8686

V8687

Susan Khalje Class

2010-09-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

So, last Saturday I took a class with Susan Khalje sponsored by the Seattle Chapter of the American Sewing Guild. For the first three hours she showed us various garments (many of the featured in Threads magazine) and discussed their construction. She talked a lot about underlining and all the great things it can do. I am a convert. (For nicer garments. Not sure I want to be super fancy in everything I make.)

The second three hours were spent making samples of various hand-stitches. You can tell from the below pictures that I still need some work in some areas. All in all, I had a great time and met a really nice woman named Shelley. (Hi Shelley!)

First we learned how to use a fell stitch to attach lace to silk. (You can click on any picture to make it bigger.)

Here is a close-up were I added some beads. Not much of a bead person myself, or lace for that matter.

We learned how to cover a snap and a nice way to sew it on. I need practice.

This one was easy.

Need more practice.

We also did a faggoting stitch which I forgot to take a picture of. Pretty cool.

Comedy of Terrors

2010-09-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

(With Apologies to Vincent Price)

I am about to show you some of the most unflattering pictures on the interwebs. Prepare yourself. (I debated on if I should show them at all. This garment did not work for me in any way. But, sometimes we fail in sewing, and sometimes we fail big. This is one of those stories.)

Ugh. This is my muslin for Jalie 2921. Everything about it is wrong. (Not everything, but we will talk about this later.) It didn't start out as a muslin, but it became one when I realized it was evil.

FABRIC: This is a lovely rayon Jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics. I HATE IT!

I swear the site said it was army green. Although the picture is true to color, I bought it anyway. Not army green. I don't think the color looks bad on me, but I don't really care for it.
This stuff snags. I had two really bad snags on it before I cut into it.
Too clingy. See all those lovely bulges? Mostly, that's my pants. Really? I don't need additional help making me look lumpy.
Yucky to sew. (Kind of.) I am not a big fan of sewing/wearing knits. Mostly not that enjoyable to sew and not always flattering. But they are convenient to wear, so I keep trying. I hated this fabric to sew with. It was fine with my serger (I miraculously got the tension just perfect) but anything I had to do on my other machine looked like drunk driving (and not just had one drink either. Hawaiian booze cruise time here.) I can work on that, but it is a pain.
I ordered another length of rayon jersey from another vendor before I realized how much I would hate it. Awesome.

Pattern: Actually, the pattern is not too bad.

Drafted pretty well.
I am unsure where I stand on the 1/4 seam width. If I attempt this again, I will widen the seam allowance on the shoulders, so I can add some twill tape to stabilize them.
Arms are a little too tight, but that is easy to take care of.
Shirt is too long, also easy to take care of.

I am not sure if I am going to try this again immediately. I may need some separation time. I also got FOOD POISONING last week and was knocked out for 24 hours. (Shudder. It was horrid.)

However, I am recovered. I went camping last weekend, I've started on my Macaron muslin, and I get to see Willie Nelson today. Yay! I am also taking a handsewing class with Susan Khalje this Saturday. We'll see how it goes!

Utilitarian Sewing

2010-09-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

Another nightgown out of Simplicity 2585.

The fabric is a cotton Hawaiian print from the Fabric Mart in Hawaii. (I think from an Oahu trip 2 years ago.)

A little project bag from Stitch 'N Bitch: A Knitters Handbook. I have a bunch of these and they come in very handy.

Nothing fancy, but much needed.

Not a Firm Plan

2010-09-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

It's a bad idea for me to get too caught up in a sewing plan. I get so determined to finish everything that I start ignoring issues like suitability and good finishing. It's better just to make things on a whim and enjoy what I am doing. However, there are a few things that are in my pile that I would really like to make.

Vogue 8667 is pretty darn cute. I'm thinking view B or C.

I've had the pattern for this Jalie top for quite awhile. I think it might be time to bust into it.

I love these pants. It's been awhile since I've tried pants. (I've made pants before, and wore them, but have never gotten the fit just right.)

I have wanted a Macaron dress for quite a while. I think I'm gonna do it this fall! (Or at least I am going to make a muslin and see how it goes.)

I still need to work on my trench-substitute for the trench sew-a-long, and I have a ton of other patterns I could be making, but I think I am going to start with these. (Before I get distracted and move onto something else.)

Happy September 1

2010-09-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks, it's good to be back. I've only sewn 2 things in July and August (both of them in August) but I've had a great, if busy summer.

Went camping
Travelled back home (Southern Oregon) for awhile
Taught some financial literacy classes for teens at the Boys and Girls Club
Was a camp counselor at Rain City Rock Camp for Girls
Volunteered at the first Seattle Ladies Rock Camp. (I am the lunch lady to end all lunch ladies)
Helped my daughter move
Read a lot of books

I've tried to keep up on all my blogs, but if I missed you, I'm sorry. Summer is always crazy busy for me.

Now for the sewing part of our entertainment. Simplicity 2586.

I have made the tunic from this pattern twice before. Not so flattering on me, but I'll wear them when it gets very hot out. However, I needed some new nightgowns and this pattern seemed perfect for a rather shapeless shift and did not take much fabric.

Not a great picture, but I wasn't really going to bother much with this dress. I'm not trying it on for you. It's short. Very very short. Fine for bed. Not so fine for display. However, it was a fast sew, and I have another one cut out and ready to go.

I'm happy to be back and am coming up with some plans for my fall sewing!

Busy Bee

2010-07-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

I am obviously not posting very much lately. I've got a lot going on this month and not sewing much, so I am just gonna say Hey and see ya in August. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Happy Days

2010-07-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

I hope everybody had a great 4th of July! This is how I spent the best part of my day. (My niece Alice and I are the quiet zone in a party of 20+ folks.)

2010-07-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is my inspiration for the Trench sew-a-long. I realize this is not a trench coat; I have one and never wear it. (Not even once.) It is from a 2009 issue of Stylebook. I'm going to cut off some of the length, so that the hem sits just below my hip. I think. We'll see.

Here are the instructions. I can't believe I am going to try and draft this puppy. (Glutton for Punishment.)

Simplicity 2931: Quick Summer Tops

2010-06-30T05:16:00.000-07:00

If it ever gets warm in Seattle, I am going to need some cute summer tops. So, I reached into the stash and pulled out some cottons I've had for a couple of years and this pattern:

I made this once in November during Faye's Month of Tops, and wasn't sure how I liked it. I've been wearing it recently and have gotten some compliments, so I said what the heck. I fixed a small fitting issue and cut out both shirts on Sunday night. (While watching The Hard Way. I looooooove Ida Lupino.) On Monday I set up my production shop and cranked them out. (Sewing movies: Angus and Alien.) Not the most enjoyable of sewing endeavors, but I needed some shirts, therefore the shirts must be sewn. My husband took some shots in the yard, after it RAINED.

Squinty me.

Husband is goofing off.

Another Cynthia Rowley Dress

2010-06-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with the sleeve detail on this Simplicity 2406, but knew from previous experience that Cynthia Rowley Patterns are not going to flatter me at all.

So, I made it for my daughter, Senorita Ham.

I made the shorter version of the dress, and had to rework the sleeves to fit someones very little arms. Here is the first version.

She also felt that the armscye was waaaay to low, so first off, I raised that by 2 inches.

Then I took some out of the sleeve length and width.

The above changes resulted in this. Better, but not good.

I ended up taking another inch out of the sleeve width and making the cut-out bigger to make up for all that I had taken out. Now we have the final version. Much much better.

The fabric is a waffle linen I bought from Gorgeous Fabrics. It was a little too thick for this design, but it did ok. (My daughter really wanted a yellow dress and I really wanted to make this dress out of linen.) The thickness of the fabric made it a little hard to get the joins between the dress body and sleeves just right, but if my daughter doesn't notice anything wrong, I can totally be in denial.

One other very important change I made was at the top of the sleeve where the front and back meet. I added 1/2 inch width there so I could pass all the fabric through there when I was turning it right side out. Even with my muslin, I had a hard time with it. There would have been no way with this linen.

I also omitted the slit detail in the back so she could wear a bra with this see-though fabric. She was able to slip the dress over her head, so I just left out the zipper as well.

All in all, this was an easy and fun sew.

Dress Inspiration

2010-06-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

My co-parent's girlfriend gave me a bunch of Workbasket magazines from the 1960s for my birthday this year. The needlework projects are pretty cool, but it was the mail-order pattern pictures that ended up really inspiring me. The lines are simple, but feminine. I'm not a big fan of the hippy 60s and 70s, but I am really fond of the fashions left over from the 50s. I'm pretty sure I am going to use these dresses as inspiration for my pattern-drafting adventures this summer.

February 1968

May 1965

March 1966

April 1967

November 1966

Thanks and a Request

2010-06-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hello nice readers. Thank you so much for your comments about my first self-drafted dress. It feels really good to have that under my belt; now I feel that with enough hard work, I can do it again! (I'm gonna work on some simpler things this week. My brain needs a rest.)

On a completely different note, I am coming to you with a different type of blog entry today; a request. One of the organizations I volunteer with is the Western Washington Girl Scouts. I'm not a troop leader or anything, but am helping procure items for their auction on Sept. 11 at the Annual Girlfriends Weekend. (The weekend sounds like a pretty cool event. I am excited to go. For more info check here: http://www.girlscoutsww.org/node/4912.)

Two of the items I am putting together for the auction are a sewing basket and a knitting basket. I am adding things to the baskets and thought I would open it up to you guys to see if you had anything that you want to donate. Colette Patterns graciously donated a Sencha Pattern and Denise Interchangeable Needles kindly gave us a set of knitting needles.

What I am Looking for:

Sewing basket

Fabric. Anything cool will do. (The Sencha blouse takes 2 yards if you have something suitable for that.)
Really good reference book. (I am thinking The Sewing Bible, The Complete Guide to Sewing by our friends at Readers Digest, or Vogue Sewing.)
Scissors
Pins
Markers or chalk
Hand-sewing needles
~~Tape measure~~

(I am donating some Burda magazines and some vintage patterns, so we have plenty of patterns.)

(Striked out (Struck out?) items have already been donated.)

Knitting Basket

Sock size double-pointed needles
Really good learn - to -knit book
Yarn needles
~~Row counter~~
~~Stitch markers~~

Here's how this works:

The items need to be new (or used so little that they could pass for new.) Fabric should be unwashed, and things should be in their original packaging (although we can work around that.)
The only exception to this is things that are so old they qualify as vintage.
If you would like to donate an item, please leave a comment stating what item you would like to give with your email cleverly disguised against the spambot trolly things.
I will send you my address.
Items should be mailed by July 31st.
I have some old Burda Magazines and vintage patterns that I have no need for, so if even one person donates to the Girl Scouts Auction, I will start giving those patterns away on my blog.

The proceeds of this auction will send girls, who might not otherwise afford it to camp. (As well as helping to provide other leadership opportunities.) They turn no girl away, and I think that is pretty cool. Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

First Drafted Dress

2010-06-21T05:07:00.000-07:00

* Note: I was hoping to get some nicer pictures but there is no sun in Seattle right now, so these will have to be good enough!

Well, here it is. I'll show the fancy styled version first. (It's not really so fancy; I'm just wearing shoes and a belt. And I poofed the dress out a bit before I took the picture. I hear they do that on those big fancy photo shoots.)

Unfancy shot with rare glimpse of my face. Now you know why I usually crop it out. Deer in headlights. I'm sure the camera angle isn't helping.

The fabric is what I think is a Michael Miller quilting cotton, although it feels like it has a little stretch to it. Go figure. Yes, I know I am not supposed to use quilting cotton to make clothes with; yes I do it anyway; well, not as much as I did before. Hardly ever actually. (Although I want to make it clear that I feel you should be able to make your clothing out of whatever you want. They're your clothes after all.) I have some three yard lengths of quilting cotton in my stash I want to get rid of, and learning how to draft my own dresses seemed a perfect way to do it. (Not too precious to cut into.)

Here are some close-ups of the front and back bodice. It's hard to see the details because of the loud and busy fabric. I PLANNED THAT. What better way to hide the wonky bits?

Artsy shot.

Invisible zipper is invisible.

I'm not really gonna talk about process here because I learned everything I know from reading my pattern books, specifically Metric Pattern Cutting for Women's Wear. Which you have heard me mention a million times. I worked and worked and worked on this bodice. Maybe 7 or 8 different iterations. (I still don't like it, but more in a minute.) When I got to a version I could live with, I learned to draft a set in sleeve. It fits in the armscye and I have mobility. Then I made the simplest skirt ever so I could just have a dress finally.

Things I learned, need to work on, or don't like:

If I had waited for this dress to be perfect, I would never have a dress.
It isn't going to kill me to make 8 muslins. (Although it feels as if it might.)
There is still a lot of wonkiness in the bodice. If you look at my bosom area in the toile, it appears that I may need an FBA by all those drag lines surrounding a certain part of my anatomy. (Btw, I could not see these until I took a picture. My bathroom mirror showed none of that.) I'm gonna start from scratch and make that bust dart bigger.

The bust darts are not as nice with a heavier fabric. Need to get the length just right.
I could probably take the waist down another inch or so. (Maybe. I need to experiment.)
Not my favorite skirt. I would like a gathered skirt with more volume, or something else entirely.
Length is everything. I was seriously hating this before I hemmed it. And then, like magic, it was no longer a dowdy house dress.

My final assessment. It's not perfect, but it is wearable, and I secretly love it a lot for being my first self-drafted dress. I'm just going to enjoy it in all it's imperfect glory.

Teeny Tiny peek

2010-06-18T16:05:00.001-07:00

I wanna see if I can get some better pictures of my new dress before I post about it.

Sneak Peak

2010-06-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

Okey doke. Drumroll please. Here it is, my muslin for my very first self-drafted dress. It ain't fancy, but it's all me! (The light is weird on my bosom area, but I think you get the drift.)

This is a very simple bodice, sleeve, and skirt. For my first foray out, I wanted to make something achievable, so that I wouldn't get too frustrated. (Believe me, I got plenty frustrated without trying to get all fancy.) I am going for a sort of 50's vintage feel. We'll see.

I used Metric Pattern Cutting for Women's Wear by my homegirl Winifred Aldrich. (I went out and added the newest edition to the second edition I already had.) For the most part, the instructions were very clear and I didn't have many issues with the actual drafting. It was fitting that killed me. Finally, after many trial and errors, I figured out 4 very important things.

1) The close fitting bodice had too much ease for me and I felt it made things fit funny. Took out some of that ease.

2) I have sloping shoulders. I took at 1/2 centimeters from the shoulder at the arm end.

3) Armscye needed to be lowered just a little. (.5 cm from when I lowered the shoulder and another .5 just for fit.)

4) It's important to play around with those bust darts until they look good.

It is by no means perfect. I think there is a little weirdness going on in the back of the sleeve, there might be a little gaping at the neckline, and there is a weird drag line in the front of the bodice by the armscye. ( I'm not sure if it is supposed to be there or not. I've been checking out other shirts and dresses, and a lot of people have it. Not sure if it is poor fitting or not.)

However, I do not care about anymore imperfections. I spent so long on this bodice, I need a dang dress now! (Looking back on it, the changes are not so revolutionary, but I kept going off on wild fitting issue tangets. I kept having to start all over again because I would end up making changes that I didn't really need.)

View from the back:

I have my fabric for the dress all cut out to sew up. I AM SO EXCITED!

Trench Coat

2010-06-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

I have decided to join the Trench Sew Along over here. I have a trench coat and I never wear it, so I am thinking I will probably make something more raincoaty. (I do live in Seattle.) While looking for coat patterns online, I ran across this little number:

I bought it. I'm not sure I will ever make it, but I had to have it. It is so wonderful/horrible that it needed to be mine. It's from 1975 and I love it!

Here is the back of the envelope.

On another note, I am much closer with my bodice drafting. Sometimes throwing a temper tantrum is all I need to get the frustration out of my system. I am still tweaking the pattern, but I have resolved some of the more obvious issues. And I drafted a sleeve that fit into the armhole. Very exciting, people.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

2010-06-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

Hi. I'm a little frustrated right now. I haven't sewn anything lately because I am working on learning how to draft a bodice pattern. I wanna make a dress. I can get just about everything right, but there is always some gaping at the armscye or some oddness at the shoulder.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Turns out, its not the pattern drafting that's a problem for me, it's fitting issues. GRRR. I have fitting and pattern drafting books up the wazoo, but I can't seem to fix this.

Ok. Tantrum over. Please return to your regularly scheduled program.

Cool Birthday stuff

2010-05-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday this month, and for the first time I got some sewing-related gifts. YAY!

My co-parent's fiance got me a stack of workbasket magazines and an old McCall's sewing mag.

My daughter bought me a jar full of vintage notions from an antique mall. (She saw me notice them when we went there on Mother's day.)

My husband got me this great book:

Some great pictures:

My husband also got me this.

That would be a Rowenta steam iron. It produces more steam than I know what to do with.

My girlfriends grimace when I tell them I got a new iron. Little do they know how much I am going to love this little machine.

Simplicity 2451

2010-05-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

After not sewing for 2 weeks, I went a little crazy yesterday and knocked out a new skirt. I have been wanting a kicky summer skirt that I could dress both up and down so I looked into my pattern collection and picked out this:

Simplicity 3251

The fabric is a lovely tweedy linen that I got at Gorgeous Fabrics. (They still have some and it is on sale, btw. Also in black and green.) I really really like this fabric. It was nice to work with and it just has a great hand.

The finished product!

I think this skirt will look great in a variety of situations. I love that is swingy and fun.

I did not read the instructions, because it is fairly straightforward pattern. I inserted an invisible zipper and a lining. (Neither of which is called for. I forgot that the front side piece has a section cut out for the pockets when cutting the lining, but I just added a little piece there later.)

Top of the skirt details:

The skirt fits really well except for the yoke part. I did not make a muslin of this skirt, but fit as I went along. I must have misfitted the yoke, because when I was finished, It was waaaaayyy too big. (And I thought the yoke was cut funny. If I make this again, I am going to completely redraft the yoke. Don't like it at all.) Rather than taking the entire thing apart, I just hand-seamed the yoke side seams more. No one will notice and I never tuck in my shirts anyway. Except for that one thing (and maybe the fact that my lining hem looks like I was drunk when I did it) I am pretty pleased with with this skirt. (For some reason, my linings never look as nice as the garment itself. I just need to learn how to manipulate that tricky polyester crap. My serger hates it too. And yes I know I could spend more and get higher quality lining. I'm not quite there yet in my mind.)

Ladies Rock Camp in Seattle

2010-05-24T14:53:00.001-07:00

Long time readers know that I am a camp counselor for Girl Rock! Seattle which is a non profit group that fosters leadership and self-esteem for girls 9-16 through music. The girls take up rock instrument instruction, form a band, write an original song, and perform a concert. In one week.

They are currently accepting applications for girls and volunteers for summer camp July 26 - 31. Please click HERE for more information. I cannot tell you how awesome this program is. I saw shy girls get up at the end of the week and rock out. Too Cool!

More exciting for the more adult aged ladies out there, is the announcement of our first Ladies Rock Camp. I went to ladies rock camp in Portland, OR this year and had a blast. Ladies Rock Camp is a fundraiser for the Girls Rock! Seattle program. Basically, it is the same program that the girls have, but condensed into 3 days (Fri-Sun). It's one of the best experiences of my life. At the camp I went to, the ages of the women ranged from 20s to 60s. There were even a few mother/daughter pairs there. Absolutely no experience is needed. This camp is for anyone who has ever wanted to be a rock star, hang out with cool women, or support music and leadership education for girls. (If you are from out of town and want to attend, we will help you find a host family to stay with if needed!)

Go HERE for more information and the application for Ladies Rock Camp in Seattle.

Here is some info from the website:

Ladies Rock Camp (LRC) is a weekend day camp in Seattle that serves as a fundraiser for Girls Rock! Seattle. LRC is an opportunity for ladies 19 and over to let loose for the weekend and play rockin' music together. You'll start to learn and/or practice your instrument of choice on Friday, then keep receiving instrument instruction all weekend. Meanwhile you'll also form a band and work together to write an original song you'll play on stage as a band on Sunday. The Ladies Rock Camp Showcase is an unbelievable experience! In the course of the weekend you'll also be offered a variety of workshops with topics related to being a lady rocker.

2010 Camp Details
Camp Dates: Friday, August 27- Sunday, August 29
Camp Venue: Theater Off Jackson, 409 7th Avenue South, Seattle, WA
Showcase Venue: TBA
Cost: $350
Email: ladiesrock@girlsrockseattle.org

Hip Pad Pt.2 Dior

2010-05-13T10:52:00.001-07:00

I've been a little obsessed with hip pads this week and have had some fun looking at dresses that have them on the Internet. (Most hip pad links are for cross dressers who want a more curvaceous figure. More power to them!) My favorites belonging to Dior of course. A lot of his early New Look clothing was very sculptural, and hip pads were just another tool in his arsenal.

(The images below are from the Metropolitan Museum of Art where they have other photos of some very beautiful Dior dresses. Drooling. Clicking on the images will make them bigger.)

"Chérie" dinner dress 1947

That hem is something like 13 1/2 yards. Hand hemmed.

"Bar" Suit and Jacket 1947

Long time readers will know that this is my favorite jacket ever.

"La Cigale" Dress 1952 - 53

Look at that thing. Crazy, no? I love it. That skirt is a masterpiece of engineering.

Hip Pad Optional

2010-05-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

During the BEST MOTHER'S DAY EVER, I managed to pick up this little number for $2.00 while at an antique mall with my daughter.

Vogue Special Design S-4821

I don't think I'd ever really wear this dress, but it is very very cool. From the description:

"Tucked Skirt with soft pleats at side fronts and side back, joins bodice at waist-line. Shaped collar, self fabric tie. Long fitted and very short sleeves. Hip pad optional."

It was the "hip pad optional" line that called to me. During the New Look period (1947 to 1957 for the Dior years) hip pads were often inserted into skirts to exaggerate the difference between hip and waist. (Sometimes a girdle/corset can use a little help.)

Here is how yoou would insert the hip pad into the dress: attached to an inner belt. I have installed an inner belt into a very full-skirted 50's dress to provide stability, but I have never attached anything to it before.

I wish this pattern had a better full on view, so I could see how the hips are exaggerated. Ah well.

Another thing I really like about this pattern is the instructions they give on possible alterations:

And for those who like it, here is the back of the envelope (clicking on any of the pictures will make them bigger):

Giveaway Winner

2010-05-10T05:19:00.000-07:00

The winner of the Design-it-Yourself Clothes book is . . . wait for it . . . Angela! Angela has a great blog at So NGLaLALa. She just made the cutest jacket for her mom; you all should go and check it out!

Angela, please leave me your email in the comments section so I can contact you about where to send your fabulous prize! (I will be happy to delete it once I have it.)

In other news, I had the best Mother's Day ever! It was the first time my daughter has ever taken me out for lunch (now that she is 19, she's all mature and stuff), I got to lie in the hammock and read, and then went to a drive-in double feature. Life is good.

Skirt by Me!

2010-05-06T17:14:00.001-07:00

Yay! I now have a skirt that was designed, drafted, and made by me!

Hands-in-pocket action shot:

Close-up of pocket:

This skirt was drafted using the methods describe in Metric Pattern Cutting by Winifred Aldrich. The fabric is an Amy Butler twill and it was a pleasure sewing with it.

Features of the skirt:

A- Line
2" Facing at the waistline
9" invisible zipper
Patch pockets (with top inserted into waistband and side inserted into side seam)
Really really good fit!

As you can tell from this view, I did not match the pattern at the seams, which is something I need to learn how to do.

I thought I would go into more depth on how I made this skirt, but I decided to wait for the next one so that I would have a better idea what I was doing. I already have a plan for the next iteration, so hopefully I will remember to take lots of pictures during the process.