Don't Miss Me Too Much!

I'm heading out today for Austin, so nothing very interesting has been going on in the sewing room.

Although, along with cleaning up the basement, we have also been cleaning and rearranging in other areas of the house. One of the places that is being worked on is the sewing room. A difficulty with the sewing room is that it is also one of the two guest rooms in the house, and because of that we had a queen sized bed in it. The room is only 11x14, though, so with the big bed, a rolling garment rack, the containers of fabric, three sewing machine cabinets, and a cutting table it was getting pretty tight in there.

The first step in cleaning up the sewing room was to trade my brother the queen size bed for a twin bed. Next, we will buy a daybed with a trundle, so we will still be able to house just as many people when the room is used for guests. Finally, I want to install a long countertop along one wall and inset all the machines into it and put the cabinets (don't tell my husband this plan, he'll have a stroke) in the basement. I would need workstations for the 401, the 503, the 603, and the serger. Those are the main machines I use. The 66 treadle will stay where it is, and the 99 and 301 will stay in their travel cases (as will the featherweight...once acquired!).

After the beds were changed, I decided to go through my fabrics and see if there was anything that wanted to be sewn up. I took some time to lay out my next projects.

First, I want to make another version of the Hot Patterns Sunshine top:


I will make it in grey knit that was left over from the cardi-wrap I made last winter. It is very lightweight, so I think I will make the belted tunic version.

Second, I have a black and white knit print that I want to make a cowl neck top with:


I have so many patterns that I am loathe to purchase any more, but I think it would also be a great fabric for McCalls 6069:


Or, pehaps I just think that because the one in the illustration is black and white. I have also considered morphing the skirt from the Hot Patterns Uptown Downtown Dress:


Onto the top for the Sunshine top:


Next, I have a length of really soft pink knit that I would like to make a simple pullover dress with:


It will definitely need to be belted, but there is a pattern for a wrap around obi belt in an old Burda that I plan on making using black denim. I am considering making it reversible, and doing one side with zebra print and one side with the black denim....we'll see.

One of my final projects for summer is this purple and green plaid:


I would like to make the shirt with the cuffed half sleeves. And because even though it is poly, I can never pass that shelf by in the fabric store:



I figured after that, I really should start thinking about projects for fall. I have love this dress from the January Burda ever since it came out:


But, I have finally come to accept that gathered or pleated skirts are NOT my friend. But, I still wanted a dress with that menswear styling. So....


Here is a better image of the pattern:


Finally, I have a couple of jackets planned. First, I have a red embroidered stretch twill that was going to be a dress, but I didn't have enough fabric. Therefore, it will become a jacket instead:


And finally, I have a grey twill and a great charmeuse animal print for lining to make a trench coat for fall:


And for today's "Interesting Basement Find," apparently at one time I was teaching myself to tat. When I was little, my grandfather tried to teach me, but I could never handle the shuttle properly. Apparently I had better luck needle tatting:


Seriously, I only VAGUELY remember even doing this. I REALLY need to just pick a craft and stick with it!

Anyway, have a fantastic weekend everyone! Be safe, stay cool, and I'll catch up with everyone's blogs when I get back!

My Featherweight?

One of the last machines that I need for my collection is a featherweight. The prices have always made me hesitate...I am notoriously cheap, after all!!

But I may have found a way to get one...but I have to tell you a story first...

I am a huge packrat. It's not therapy-worthy, but it's pretty bad. You just never know when you might need silverware service for 35, amirite? My husband seems to think that keeping every item you have ever owned, ever, in the basement is a somewhat less fantastic idea than I do. He has threatened on numerous occasions to call "Hoarders" and tell them about me. I have explained that they aren't interested in people who are just messy, and as long as you can still see all the walls of the basement, there is no way they are going to come out here. Although I could TOTALLY use the "after-care funds" they are always talking about to buy some more sewing machines!

So, because A&E is not interested, Jeremy has decided that he will lead the charge to clean out the basement. (Really, all the stuff down there is not mine. But when two people in their mid-thirties marry and combine households, somehow 2 households full of stuff looks like 4 when piled in the basement).

Every day he brings up boxes for me to go through...and each one is like a time capsule. In one, I find notes from my dissertation. In another, a photo of my ex. In a third, dig clothes that I used in Syria. In another, the closing documents from my first house. Each box is like a chapter in my history...or a stratum in the excavation of my life.

One of the things that was in the basement, was my old couch (or, the Sectional of Awesomeness, as I like to call it). It is truly a fantastic piece of retro craziness. I bought it in a used furniture store where it was purported to be a 1950's Danish sectional. And hey, that sounds as good as anything to me.

Now, if it were up to me, I would keep it in the basement until we purchased a house large enough that it could have its own room. My husband has vetoed that proposal. So, I decided to sell it. But sell it for pretty close to what a featherweight would cost me on Craigslist. Since I am selling it on Craigslist, and plan to re-spend the money on a Craigslist acquisition, I feel like that it good "Craigslist Karma."

So won't you help me say goodbye to the Sectional of Awesomeness?


Not only is it awesome as just a sectional, you can push the two sides together and make a double bed:


I will miss you, Sectional of Awesomeness. You served me well. But the featherweight that I will purchase with your proceeds will be even MORE filled with Awesome. And will take up significantly less space.

Planning Projects

Now that I have sewn my first silk dress, I have finally decided to break into some of the other silk fabrics in my "stash." Yesterday I cut out Vogue 1120, a DKNY dress with pleated neckline and obi-style waist tie:


I have a 4-yard length of silk charmeuse with "scribble" pattern on it from the same Vera Wang sale that the blue silk I used for my last dress came from:


I cut the dress out last night, and am debating whether or not to include the in-seam pockets. Really, I don't use pockets on dresses, so I am leaning towards just not putting them in at all. The pattern does have some nice details. First, the pattern uses a hem facing rather than just turning the edge under. Ever since completing my Hot Patterns coat dress, I am a hem facing convert. The sleeves are also lined, so that hem will be hidden as well. The pattern also provides individual pattern pieces for each size top that show the placement of the pleats. This is also a nice detail, because otherwise there would be so many lines around the top of the pattern, it would be impossible to tell what line went with what dart and what size.

I also have a silk chiffon in black with a chain link print that I would like to use for Burda 09.2009.139B.


It is a blouse with an interesting combination of v-neck, tie collar, and raglan sleeves:


There are also small gathers at the raglan seam that will make alterations for a full bust very easy. The fabric should make for a nice shirt for work, with a camisole underneath:


Hopefully I'll be able to get a little bit of sewing done this week, but work has been insane, so who knows? I have two syllabi to finish for fall, plus I am leaving next Wednesday for a short vacation in Austin. Not to mention, my husband has put me to work going through boxes in the basement and getting rid of junk. It is slow going, especially with this kind of help:

Reunion Dress: Final Photos

Here are a few photos of the Reunion Dress "in action." I had trouble getting a photo that really represented the color well. The dress is really a silvery-blue, but the flash makes it look much darker blue...and shinier. This is probably the best representation of the color:


Here it is ready to go:


The flash makes it look shiny and wrinklier than it really was. And here we are at the reunion:


A few notes about the dress and it's construction:

1. The silk organza underlining kept the dress from wrinkling, so it stayed fairly fresh looking all night.
2. The underlining also meant that there was no give to the fabric at all. Where the denim version would "grow" a bit during the day, this was the exact opposite. Had I been smart, I would have added some additional ease across the bust and hips, but never having sewn with silk before, I did not anticipate it. In the future, however, I will know!
3. I prewashed my silk. It took away a bit of the crisp, metallic shine but an added advantage to washing it meant that it would not spot if it got wet. Which was good, because I had a drink splashed on me in about the first 2 seconds that I was at the reunion.
4. I used the same underlining on the hem facings that I did on the rest of the dress. This, combined with the binding to finish the edge had an effect similar to using horsehair in a hem...it was very stiff and held it's shape.
5. I added a tiny snap to the end of the belt so that it wouldn't flop around like the denim version. The denim version is long enough to tie rather than just buckle, but I didn't want such a casual look with this dress.
   

Overall, I am very pleased with the way the dress turned out, and would certainly use the same techniques on other garments...I would just add some more ease (or just wear two layers of Spanx).

Now...on to other projects (finally!). I have a couple cut out and ready to go, and they have been languishing while I finished the dress.

Dress Finished....In the Nick of Time!

On Sunday I finished the "Reunion Dress." I need to give it one last really good press, but otherwise it is ready to go. I used the Hot Patterns Urbanista Coat Dress pattern (that I had recently done in denim).

I really wanted a vintage shirt dress, but as discussed earlier, the muslins I made with gathered or pleated skirts were VERY unflattering given my shape. So, I needed to find a dress that had princess seams. But, none of my vintage patterns fit the bill. So, I thought that the exaggerated collar, belt, and A-line shape of the Hot Patterns dress would suffice as an if not vintage, vintage-inspired shirt dress.

No photos of me in it yet...since I need some new undergarments and a pedicure, but here is the finished dress:


And from the back:


And detail of the top-stitching at the edge of the lapel/collar:


The silk was rather flimsy, so I underlined the entire dress with silk organza. Because I underlined it, I did not want to add another layer and line it as well, so I needed to finish the seams in some way. Because the dress was silk, and I had gone through the trouble of underlining, I didn't want to just overlock the edges. I decided to use what was left of the silk and do a Hong Kong finish on the seams:


And also on the edge of the facings:


Today I also picked up a pair of shoes to go with the dress. They are a bluey-silvery leather with little silver studs (that look a little like the dress's buttons) around the edge:


The reunion is Saturday, so I'll make sure that I post some photos on Sunday! Hope everyone has a fantastic week!!!

My New Baby

I need to rewire the foot pedal, but other than that, in great condition and a bargain for $50.00. I picked her up after work today:


Not to mention, how cute is that tiny suitcase???

Reunion Dress

So, to say that I have left this until the last minute is a bit of an understatement....

My 20th high school reunion is on July 17th (if you are doing the math....in 10 days). I wavered and procrastinated, and couldn't decide what I wanted to wear. I finally decided that I wanted a retro-esque dress with full skirt made from the blue silk that I had purchased at Fabric.com when all the Vera Wang fabrics were on sale for $1.95 a yard.

I started by resizing one of the vintage patterns that I bought on Ebay recently:


About half-way through the muslin process I trashed it because needless to say, that full, pleated skirt on these hips?? NOT a good look. So, I decided to go a different route. And then, I dithered. And I wavered. And I procrastinated. And then I dithered some more. Finally I realized...oh, crap! I have less than 2 weeks! So a decision had to be made.

One of the things that I love about the vintage patterns is the shirt-dress styling...but what doesn't work with my shape is a gathered or pleated skirt. I can't even explain how bad this looks! Perhaps one day I will have the courage to don that muslin and have photos taken just to show how wrong this is. But I am not sure I have that kind of courage!

So, what I needed was a shirt dress...but with princess seams as opposed to a pleated skirt.

Enter the Hot Patterns Urbanista Coat Dress:


It has a lot of the aspects of the vintage pattern...shirt dress styling, exaggerated collar, and the princess lines that I need given my shape. In fact, doesn't that collar look a little like....


So, I decided that I would use the blue silk for a second version of the coat dress. However, the silk was very flimsy...it didn't have the body that I needed for the A-line skirt, and would probably outline every lump and bump on me. I decided that I needed to underline the dress as well. Today after work, I stopped by the nicer fabric store in my neighborhood and picked up some silk organza. The organza was only 45 inches wide, so I needed 4 yards. When I got home, I got all my pieces cut out and started the assembly. So far, ONE seam is finished!


Since I was underlining, I decided to not line the dress as well. Without lining, I needed to finish the seams in some way. It seemed like after all the work of underlining, that just serging the edges seemed....wrong somehow. I decided to do a Hong Kong finish on the seams instead:


I also picked up a buckle and buttons while I was there. The buttons were a STEAL at $.25 apiece:


Hopefully, I will be able to pull my nonsense together and get this thing sewn by the 17th! Wish me luck!

On another note....here is how a value fabric at $1.95 a yard can be turned into a much less economical dress:

4 yards Vera Wang silk: $9.80
4 yards silk organza: $48.00
9 buttons: $2.25
1 buckle: $4.50
3 yards sew-in interfacing: $12.00

Total cost of $10.00 dress: $75.55

Per Your Request!

Apparently, Blogger lost it's darn mind last night and ate a bunch of comments.

But based on a couple of emails, folks really wanted to see the dress on someone with a head, as opposed to my dress form.

Here you go!


I know the dress would look better with heels, but I have a lunch meeting today that I am going to have to hoof it to, so flats it is!


And from the back, I am at a loss as to how this photo ended up blurry...it was on the tripod! Oh well, maybe its me that is blurry, since this was before my coffee!

I Have Trouble Sewing...

Because something is always getting in the way:


It has been a nice break to have a long weekend after last week's marathon work conference. We didn't do much for the 4th of July...just went to my cousin's house for a bbq and to watch the fireworks. The rest of the time I worked on sewing projects.

The first project on the agenda was a pair of jeans for my niece. She helped to sew them, so the topstitching looks a little insane. But, I had wanted to use the Jalie pattern for her because she needs jeans, and is incredibly difficult to fit. She is very long waisted...or short-legged, but it does mean that RTW jeans need cut off and hemmed by at least 3 inches. She also has a large bottom, and because of that Grandma is always on her case to pull her pants up. The problem is compounded by the fact that she is 12 and thinks that jeans must be pushed as low on the waist as possible (which makes her look like she has a pot belly, something that I cannot get her to understand...pull your pants up, and you will look thinner!).

So, I decided the best way to keep her butt covered and her pants pulled up was to make a pair that actually fit her properly. The adjustments that I made were as follows:

1. A wedge added to the back of the pant to raise the back waist and cover her bottom.
2. I divided this wedge between the seat of the pant and the yoke.
3. Taper in at the back waist.

Here are the adjustments drawn on the pattern:


She is certainly happy with the pants:


Here you can see the increased rise in the back, but the front remains fairly low, so it appeals to what 12-year-olds consider "fashionable" while not being indecent:


The second project that I finished was the Hot Patterns Metropolitan Urbanista Coat Dress (HP 1006).


Here is the finished product:


I made this from denim, just like the illustration. My denim is on the heavier side, and as a result the dress is very A-line. I suspect that after it is washed a few times it will "calm down."


I really like the fit of the dress, and the drafting of the pattern is very nice, with a two-piece sleeve, princess seams, center back seam, and no side seams. However, I will say that this is no beginner project. The pattern itself is rated "advanced beginner," but I would say that the pattern instructions are very sparse, and assume that one has assembled similar garments before. However, Hot Patterns does very clearly say on their website that "...we assume that our customers have a reasonable knowledge of basic dressmaking techniques; our patterns won’t teach you to sew, and they’re not suitable for complete beginners, although sewers with just a little experience can tackle our beginner level patterns with confidence." Therefore, I don't think that a lack of detailed instructions is a problem...as it is simply what is to be expected with Hot Patterns.

One of the things that I especially liked about this pattern is that even though it uses facings, the facings do not end at the shoulder seam as in many similar patterns (with collar and revers), but there is also a back facing. This back facing is very deep, so the facings will not "flip out." In addition, the facings extend all the way to the armscye, and are caught right into the seam while setting the sleeve. As a result, the facings will lie properly.

Here is a view of the back facing:


And the front facing that extends to the armscye:


Some other nice touches include hem facings for both the skirt hem and sleeves, pleated sleeve caps, and a very wide collar. There is also a belt made of the same fabric as the dress. I used a buckle with prong, so made very tiny buttonholes for the holes in the belt:


I also used blue jean "buttons" for the dress:


The entire dress is topstitched, as well:


Here is the sleeve:


The instructions do not direct you to use a button on the cuff, but I added it just because I liked the look. Overall, I am very happy with the way the dress turned out. I really like the slight vintage "vibe" and am considering using this pattern for my blue silk. Can't you just see it in silver-blue silk with self-covered buttons and a rhinestone buckle on the belt?

I must dig out the blue silk and make sure that I have enough....