Rantin' and Raven II: Bolero

So, the day after I finished writing the previous post, the greater DC area got hit with a snowstorm, which meant a day home from work.  With my upcoming (now past) trip and some unexpected free time, I figured it was as good as time as to make the matching bolero.  And since the Sophistique Noir theme for this month is outerwear and I just got back from the beach, this seemed the perfect time to post.

The pattern is New Look 6675, which I bought for the dress (view B), not the bolero, but oh well, I will get to the dress eventually. (Or considering my general lack of motivation, maybe not.)  The fabric is just the white inverse of the print last time, from Michael Miller's Nevermore collection.

I know I have ranted many times about yardage allotments from Simplicity and New Look, but this was ridiculous.  A size 10 called for 1 3/8 yards of fabric, and I had only one.  I was prepared to have to do some parts of it in leftover black, plain white, or plain black (if I can ever find that in my stash somewhere), but I easily fit it within one yard with a bit to spare.

The whole thing got sewn up in under day, and the only part that as a bit tricky were the ties on the side, because it involves cutting out a small section, flipping it up, and enclosing the seam.  I'd recommend this for an advanced beginner.

The only real problems I encountered with this were the cats were constantly in my lap, demanding attention, for the whole project.  I tell you, it was pure torture.

Green with Envy

Due to Red & Black week and being out of town this weekend, I don't have any new sewing to show you. Instead, I raided my closet to show you this dress that I made just before I started the blog.

I've mentioned previously that I am frequently get on kicks for a particular style (usually vintage-inspired) or color combination.  In this case, it was both.  New Look 6776 wanted desperately to be sewed, but I hadn't yet found a fabric that tickled my fancy.  I woke up one morning wanting to wear green, which isn't too prominent in my wardrobe (despite being my favorite color). To remedy this, I went on a fabric search.  Unfortunately, black and green isn't too common a color combination.  Although I love this fabric (Boo to You! by Riley Blake, which also comes in purple and grey), I wasn't too happy about making another vintage-inspired dress in polka dots, because I had just made one the previous summer (in orange, which I will feature at some later date).  Obviously, my reluctance was overcome in the end. The fabric for the sash is nothing special.  It's just a quilting cotton from JoAnn's.  They did have an exact match for the dots, but it was just too stark against the dress.  I thought this one, with its own dots, looked better.

If the bolero looks familiar to you, I direct you to my second pattern review, featuring Simplicity 2183.  I am getting more use of out of this more than I thought I would, because the bolero is frequently waiting to be washed when I want to wear it.  This means, of course, that I must make another and/or more in a different pattern.

Finally, onto the pattern review.  The dress isn't as simple to make as it looks.  There's gathering under the bust, which I expected, but it also has pleats in the front and back (which are covered by the sash).  It is also lined.  It isn't difficult at all, just it's more complicated than it seems.  The sash, however, is ridiculously simple.  I would recommend this for an advanced beginner.

Modifications made: I shortened the straps (as always) and lengthened the skirt (as always).  I made the sash in the largest size in the envelope because I like having lots of dangly ends.

One final word of caution here: take care when choosing a fabric for this dress because some of it is cut on the bias.

Accessories:
Barrettes: Etsy, ~$2
Earrings: Etsy, ~$5
Socks: Target, $7 for a package of six vibrant colors
Shoes: Famous Footwear, $70 (more expensive than what I usually go for, but so comfy and so worth it)

Yeah, my hair is wet again.  Sorry.

Coffee Dress

I mentioned this pattern previously. I made view A, 'cause I loved the sleeves.

I was going to go with a Halloween print, but ended up picking a coffee print instead. Think it'll look perky? Ha ha ha! Ha! Anyway, I found out after the fact that this is actually an I Love Lucy print. That doesn't really matter, but I thought I'd mention it.



Most of the construction of this dress is pretty straightforward, except the sleeves. There's some gathering in the bust, but that's nothing too big. Here's the bodice:



Rather than go over every little detail of the sewing and then showing the final product, I'm going to show the final product and then go back to the details. This was another dress where it needs to hang (overnight, not 24 hours!) to stretch before it's hemmed. I was impatient, so I went ahead and took pictures of the unhemmed dress.







Here's a close up of the gathering:



NB: those sleeves don't really look anything like the pattern envelope. I could tell as I was sewing them that they weren't going to work; the elastic was just too long and inserted in a stupid way. They're supposed to hang off the sides, but the only way the dress will stay up is if I pull them all the way up like I've done here. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it that way or try to fix it yet, but I was pretty disappointed by how this turned out.

I will probably go back and make the bolero featured in this pattern at some later date. If I do anything to the sleeves, I will do a post on that also.

Other than the sleeves, this is a pretty easy pattern. The gathering aside (which isn't even in all the views), the only other challenges would be inserting the zipper and the understitching. While I haven't tried the other views, I would say going with either the straps or the sleeves of view C would be the way to go here. A beginner could probably handle this pattern.

Bolero Pattern Review

I'm not really a fan of short-sleeved jackets. Frankly, I just don't see the point. I can get behind shawls, wraps, and shrugs, but a short-sleeved jacket just seems silly to me. But with warm weather fast approaching, I was reminded of one my beefs from last summer.

I live south of the Mason-Dixon, which means summers here are HOT. I'm sure it's worse in a place like Arizona or the Sahara desert, but it does get warm enough here (100F/~38C for weeks on end) that it's difficult not to be uncomfortable. I'm a tomboy at heart and prefer wearing pants, but dresses become a must down here if you don't want to melt. I've taken up wearing moondresses (which are sundresses that one doesn't wear in the sun), but even wearing strong sunscreen, I still get sun damage on my shoulders and upper arms from riding in the car. Skin cancer runs in my family and I don't want my ink in that area to fade, so the solution here seems to be to cover up as best I can, and that means a bolero or something of the sort.

Enter Simplicity 2183. I intended to make view D (the elbow-length version), but got home from JoAnn's to find that my fabric had been cut too short! By the time I realized that, the store was already closed, so I begrudgingly made view E (short-sleeved).



I made it in black, of course, so it will match every item of clothing I've owned since the age of 15. The fabric is quilting cotton. Really, the only other feasible choice would have been linen, but the cost and ravelly nature usually make me shy away from it.

This pattern is rated easy, but it does have a couple of tricky parts. First, instead of a buttonhole (which can be a big problem even for those that aren't beginners), it has a strip cut on bias to use as a button loop. Sounds good, right? Well, with the seam allowance and the tiny nature of the loop, it isn't so easy to turn right side out. The instructions state to tie a pie of thread to the stitching and pull it out that way. I tried that and didn't like how it looked, so just top-stitched it. Looks fine to me, and it will be covered by a button anyway.

There's another problem that might present itself for beginners.



Can you see it in there? If you can't, try this one:



DARTS. Damn darts! One is easy enough, but getting them perfectly symmetrical can be tough, especially for a beginner. This pattern isn't too fitted though, so it doesn't have to be all that great.

And lastly, this pattern calls for under-stitching. In the view I made, it was easy enough, but it looks like it could be difficult in the sleeveless versions (which are constructed differently).

Despite my complaints, this isn't a difficult pattern, per se, but it wouldn't be something that I'd recommend to a total beginner. It's a nice wardrobe builder, and I might try it again in the elbow-length version, which is what I originally intended.



Here's the final product:


The button came from my stash. I think it was from a suit I made a few years ago.



Please forgive the cat hair. She decided the best place to sit in my sewing room was on the jacket.



I have nothing snarky to say about the last photograph.