Rantin' and Raven I: Dress

Obligatory whine about how
we aren't the same shape -
the halter does not close

So.  This dress has been albatross around my neck since August.  I had cut out the pieces, but had to suspend work on it for my Halloween costume.  The motivation was severely lacking, so once I had finished that, it just sat in the sewing room for months.  I would sometimes get enough energy to work on it for an hour or two, but everything takes ten times as long when I'm in those moods, so even pinning a simple seam can take an hour.

But regardless, it is done now.

The pattern is Simplicity It's So Easy 2884.  Even with my cranky, crabby mood making everything difficult, I wouldn't say this is an easy pattern.  It has pleats and gathering, as well as boning.  Or maybe  I'm just losing my touch.  The fabric is Nevermore by Michael Miller.  I am sure everyone is shocked that I would purchase a fabric called Nevermore.

I have a love-hate relationship with halters.  They're so cute, but I don't like going out in public without a bra, and convertible bras rarely me fit correctly (hell, regular bras rarely fit me correctly), and the backs are frequently too low to wear a bra with anyway.  I could always wear an adhesive bra, but my feeling is that if it's hot enough to show enough skin for a halter, it's too hot for an adhesive bra.  So I made the executive decision to sew in bra cups.  More on this later.

Other alterations: the usual one to lengthen any skirt by several inches (it's been so long that I honestly can't remember how much I added; somewhere between three and six) and skipping the slip (basically, lining the skirt).  I also had to move the buttons for wear the halter attaches, or my cupcakes would have been hanging out, bra cups or not.

Somewhere between cutting out the pieces and getting back to work on this, I lost the lining pieces for the upper bodice.  I knew I had plain black somewhere in my stash, but a cursory search (I glanced over at it for five seconds) yielded nothing.  I had muslin nearby, so I used that instead.  You can see the edges, but I don't give a hot damn.

Despite my whining, this dress isn't as difficult as I make it out to be.  It could definitely be tackled by an advanced beginner.

Back to the bra cups: I was pretty surprised at the selection of bra cups.  I ended up buying these, in a B/C (by accident).  I was planning on taking them back, but tried them just to see, and they fit pretty well.  I am actually a AA, but I am taller than average and have a large band size, so I guess that translates to a B/C for someone of average proportions?  Well, it works, however it is.  When I was constructing the dress, I inserted the cups into the upper bodice, but didn't sew them until everything else was complete so I could get them aligned on my cupcakes properly.  I just hand-stitched them through the lining.

What motivated me to finally finish the dress?  Well, I am about to head out for trip to Puerto Rico!  I have been down in the dumps for a while, and thought the sunshine (looking at it, but not sitting in it), fresh air, and culture shock would do me some good.  The dress would be perfect to wear there and it felt like a good way to push past my motivational block.

I have the white version of this fabric sitting in the stash too, and I plan to make a matching bolero with it.

Bordering on Insanity

For some reason, I rarely revisit a pattern once I've sewn it (unless it's a wardrobe staple like a dress shirt or something like pajamas).  I recently started wondering why and I was unable to come up with an answer, so I decided it was time I started.  Couple this with a cute a border-print in my stash, and it seemed like Simplicity 2886 was going to be sewn again.

The fabric is Vintage Pumpkins from Daisy Kingdom.  I have been unable to find a good picture online (or any picture, for that matter).  I bought it on eBay sometime last year.  I don't recall ever using a border-print fabric for a garment before.  I've been seeing a lot of cute border-print sundresses around the office, and remembered this one in my stash, so I figured I would give it my own spooky spin.

You might recall that this pattern was made into the Space Invaders dress (view C).  The gripes and complaints I had about it then still stand, but this view (A), was easier because it does not have the pleated band, gathering, or elastic.  However, it does have even more pleats than view C.  I rated C as intermediate, but I think A could be tackled by an advanced beginner.

The only alterations I made were to shorten the straps (as usual), and lengthen the dress significantly (as usual).  I omitted the pockets, just like I did last time.

I wasn't particularly happy with how the front band turned out.  The pumpkins are too tall for the piece, so I tried to highlight the vines instead.  The pumpkins are at different heights, so I felt that it made the band look lopsided.  A contrast band might have looked better, but it didn't bother me enough to change it.  It might not be perfect, but it's good enough.

I wore this to a friend's house last weekend, and asked his son (who is three) if he knew what you call pumpkins when you carve them up for Halloween.  He was very adamant that the answer was "pie", and I can't say that he's wrong.

Grim Grinning Ghosts

Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time has probably already figured out that I am a GIANT NERD.  (It's kind of a requirement for a software engineer.)  While I definitely have the typical nerdy obsessions (like last week's Ms Pac-Man dress), I also obsess over spooky things as well.  Disney's Haunted Mansion is one of those things.

I had been planning on making myself a skirt featuring the Haunted Mansion wallpaper for a while.  I do have an embroidery machine, but embroidering enough fabric for a skirt was not a something I wanted to do.  My next thought was using a fabric stencil.  I went far enough to cut the stencil out of wax paper, but I lost so much detail in the faces that I just gave up.  I decided I would just embroider a couple of large faces on the fabric and be done with it.  I cut out the fabric for the skirt and it's been sitting in my sewing room for over a year, waiting for me to get around to it.

And then DoomBuggies made an announcement on their Facebook page: Spoonflower had a fabric with the wallpaper design.  It isn't cheap, but I couldn't resist, and bought three yards.  And that meant digging through the pattern collection to find a dress that used approximately three yards of fabric.  The winner was McCall's 6071, a Laura Ashley design, in view B.  (This makes four McCall patterns in a row, the last two of which were Laura Ashley.  This was unintentional, but now makes me wonder how long I can keep this going.)  This view actually calls for 3 1/8 yards of fabric, but considering the feat I pulled off last time, I figured I could do it again.

(Note: if you're even a slight fan of the Haunted Mansion, prepare to lose an afternoon at the DoomBuggies site. And if that still doesn't sate you, head over to Long Forgotten for even more info.)

By not lengthening the skirt, I managed to pull off getting the dress in three yards.  I picked contrasting black bands for the straps and tie.  I did this partially to skimp on the fabric and partially to break up the pattern.

I'm not sure what you'd call this color.  It isn't quite blue, and it isn't quite purple.  I suppose that would make it indigo, right?  But indigo is usually darker than this, so I'm proclaiming that this color will forevermore be called blurpligo.  Blurpligo is a hard color to match.  This thread is periwinkle, and while it is in the same color family, it isn't quite dark enough.  But it was the closest I could find.  (NB: I didn't try all that hard.)  As for the zipper, nothing was close.  It was a choice between this purple and lilac.  In retrospect, black or white probably would have been better.

So, as for the pattern itself, it's fairly straightforward.  The bodice has some gathering, but otherwise there's nothing particularly tricky or uncommon here.  The way the straps are attached makes it easier to lengthen or shorten them as need be.  This does make construction a bit trickier, because you need to leave holes for the straps.  I would say this is good for an advanced beginner.

The tie is sewn on over the gathering.  I think I actually prefer it untied, and if I made this again, I probably would have made it longer.

While I like how the dress turned out, I was a bit disappointed by the fabric.  It's thin and a bit scratchy. When I washed it, the blurpligo faded a bit unevenly.  I would have to really be in love with a fabric to buy from them again.

The Leader of the Pac

Welcome, Red & Black Week readers!

via fabric.com

The Pac-Man fabric returns!  You may recall this was originally going to be Butterick 4790 (instead, I used a dot fabric and it became the disastrous Skittles dress).  I briefly considered making McCall's 6024 in this fabric, and even went so far as to cut out the pattern, which I promptly refolded and stuck back in the envelope.  The fabric has been sitting, folded and forlorn, in my stash, just waiting...   Watching...  Judging me...

So after more than a year of this, and with Red & Black Week approaching, I figured it was time to get this sewn and stopped being judged by a non-sentient object.  I started flipping through the pattern stash and came across McCall's 4444, a Laura Ashley halter sundress moondress.  A chose a combination of views B (for the contrast bands) and C (for the length).  View C actually calls for 3 and 3/4 yards of fabric, but I was hoping that since I was using the contrast instead of the main fabric for the bands that I would be able to squeeze the pattern into the smaller amount.  I managed to do it, but it took some creative laying of the pattern pieces and doing something I've never done before: I shortened the dress by an inch.  (Normally I need to lengthen the dress by at least 1.5 inches.)

This back is too low to wear
a regular convertible bra

I guess I am losing my touch because this dress (and the previous one) took me quite a while to make and I struggled with the bands a lot.  McCall's rates this pattern as easy,  yet it took me a week of evenings to finish this.  (By way of contrast, 5050, which is rated as average, I sewed in one weekend afternoon, which included an unexpected voyage to JoAnn's to purchase lace.)  The main body of the dress (essentially, the Pac-Man part) came together quickly.  There are no tricky parts to it, except perhaps the gathering in the bust and the zipper.  The instructions for the bands on the front are poor, so I think I ended up sewing them on inside-out.  You can't really tell except up close, but I know.

Perhaps it is because I am not used to sewing halter straps (my evening gown is the only time that comes immediately to mind), but the construction of these was really odd.  It wasn't really hard, but it was weird.  At least the instructions for this part were clear.  I did make the change of closing the halter with a heavy-duty locking hook-and-eye because I don't trust buttons (what the pattern called for) to the stress of holding a halter shut.  I didn't want to flash my cupcakes at an inopportune moment (or any moment, really).

Other than the changes I already mentioned, the alterations used the contrast fabric for the loop over the gathering, shorten the straps (typical for me), and add the Ms Pac-Man buttons.  (They were custom made for me by Brittany of microwavedtofu on Etsy.)  Because they are made of polymer clay, I didn't want them to go through the washing machine, so I attached them to snaps so I can remove them before laundering.  I still have one left, as well as some of the original fabric, so I will likely make a hair accessory out of it.

So after all the rigmarole I went through for this, I would recommend this one for an intermediate.  Or I am really losing my skillz and this is actually an easy pattern.

To make up for the lost inch, I think I might add some lace trim to the hem.

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.

Watermelon Dress

Welcome to my final post for Sophisique Noir's Red & Black week.  Today's post is New Look 6900, view A.  The fabric here came from Fabric.com, of course.  I acquired it on my last fabric binge.  The name is Metro Market Watermelon Slices.  Okay, okay, so it's red and black and pink - pink is pastel red!  It counts!

Regular readers know of my love-hate relationship with pockets in dresses (tl;dr: I love having pockets, but hate that they bulge and look like crap).  This pattern's pockets are external, so I decided to take the plunge and include them for once.

You'll also notice a ruffle on the pocket.  The pattern did not call for this; I had a sudden urge to use up some of the pink fabric in my stash.  (It came from the much-mentioned Daisy-Head Mayzie costume.)



The facing details for both the pocket and the bodice (to the right) are attached in an atypical matter; you can see here that the right side of the facing is facing the wrong side of the bodice.  Because it is such an unusual method, I had to reread the instructions several times to ensure I was doing the right thing.  After these are sewn together, the facing is flipped over to the other side.

I learned my lesson from the coffee dress: do not straight stitch on elastic, even if the pattern calls for it!  You can see that I made a casing here and threaded the elastic through, catching it at the ends. 

I added a ruffle to the bottom too, using the same fabric.  Unlike yesterday, when I stole pieces from another pattern, here I just cut a piece that was twice as long as the edge of the skirt, gathered it, and sewed it on.

The dress is cute, but I fear it looks a bit like an apron, and would even more so if I hadn't extended the length by three inches.

I wanted to add another ruffle to the straps as well.  I cut and gathered the fabric, and was about to pin it on when I changed my mind.  I'm not sure why I 180ed.  Maybe I didn't want it to look too much like the cherry dress?  Anyone out there with any thoughts on adding ruffles to the straps?

Thanks for reading my R & B week posts.  Looking forward to seeing you again next year!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry Bomb

We're in the home stretch of Sophisitque Noir's Red & Black week, and I have a final blast from the past for you (today's) and a new outfit (tomorrow).  I apologize for the quality of pictures for today and tomorrow: the batteries in the camera were dying and I had to take them as quickly as possible.

The pattern here is McCall's 5094 in view F; if that sounds familiar to you, it might be because I used the straps from this in the Space Invaders dress.

I believe that I made this last spring, and I wanted to make it out of just one fabric (view D, basically).  However, when I went shopping for fabric, nothing really struck my fancy.  (Must have been before JoAnn's releases their Halloween fabrics for the year. :D)  This cherry and dot print I finally picked was cute, but I thought an entire dress would have been overwhelming. I couldn't resist its cute rockabilly/gothabilly charm though, so I went with view F.

Though a dress entirely out of that print would have been too much, I thought just the band and straps weren't enough, hence the ruffles in the polka dots.  They came from Simplicity 2325, an Alice in Wonderland costume that I adapted into Daisy-Head Mayzie for a friend of mine.








As for the pattern itself, it wasn't too bad at all.  I would recommend this for an advanced beginner.  The technical challenges were:

• inserting a zipper
• a lining
• a bit of gathering under the bust
• a lot of gathering if you go my route and add ruffles

I wish I could have taken pictures of the full outfit, but the husband wasn't at home and my self-photography skills are quite lacking.  The pictures don't show how fun this dress really is.  I get a lot of flattering comments whenever I wear it, which I inevitably follow with "...and it's fun for twirling!" and then promptly spin around in a few circles.  And then I get some weird looks (which, to be honest, is not a rare occurrence for me).




And for good measure (not the original, sorry):

Revenge of the Coffee Dress

Regulars readers may recall when I sewed the coffee dress, I was disappointed in the sleeves, and was only intensified when I wore it to work one day.  Basically, they are supposed to neatly hug the sides of the shoulders; instead, even hiked onto the top of my shoulders, the slightest movement sent them cascading down my arms.  I knew it wasn't going to work when I was sewing it, but I followed the pattern anyway.  This is what I get for following the directions exactly for once.

The proper way to fix this would have been to rip out: the hand-stitching on the lining on the bodice, the understitching at the top, the stitching at the top between the bodice and its lining, the sleeves from the bodice, and then the sleeves themselves.  Then fix the sleeves and redo all of the stitching that I had just ripped out.  That would have been the right way to fix it; instead, I ripped out the stitching at the top of the sleeve. 

I then ripped out the elastic.  I should have known better than following the pattern's instructions to use a straight stitch on elastic!

Before I started ripping the dress apart, I measured the slack in the sleeve: a whopping 2.5 inches!  Utterly ridiculous.  And I'm pretty broad-shouldered, so it isn't as if this doesn't fit because I am particularly petite or something.  Anyway, not wanted the sleeves to be too tight, I took off 1.5 inches.

I prefer to use a casing or a zig-zag stitch on elastic.  I went with the casing here because I thought I could hide it a little better.  I just folded the top of the sleeve down (along where the original stitching line) and then sewed it close to the edge.  It's a good thing I didn't trim the seam allowance here (and I remember thinking at the time that it was odd that the pattern didn't call for that).

The original elastic length was nearly as long as the sleeve (another reason their darn instructions wouldn't have worked).  Since I took 1.5 inches off the sleeve, I took off 2.5 inches from the elastic.  I inserted it into the casing and then top-stitched the sleeves shut.  Much fast than ripping out almost everything.

I apologize for the blurriness here; I had to turn off the flash so it wouldn't reflect in the mirror.  The sleeves still aren't perfect, but they're much better.  I wore this to a bridal shower and a bunch of people told me I looked fabulous!

My Triumphant Return

Hi everyone. I will apologize, once again and hopefully for the last time, for my absence. Things are finally starting to fall into place and it looks like I might have the energy, motivation, and time to get back into sewing. I haven't returned to my former level of vigor, but I'm tryin', peeps. I'm out of the blogging habit, as you will see from the post, and completely forgot to take in progress pictures.

But despite my lack of outgoing projects, my desire purchase large quantities of fabric was only slightly diminished. So when Fabric.com has one of their clearing out sales, and I have coupons, and I feel the need to do therapy shopping, well, you can imagine what happens.

This beauty was on sale for $4.95/yd and I had a 15% off coupon. I couldn't find any designer information, and the only title I have for this was "Halloween Words and Motifs on Black" - quite creative, right? I didn't realize until after I'd purchased and washed the fabric that "scary" is spelled as "scarey". Dictionary.com actually has an entry for the usage on the fabric, so I guess it isn't strictly an incorrect spelling, per se, just non-traditional. I harrumphed a little, but in the end, I decided that if it had taken me that long to notice, no one else ever would. I valiantly resolved to press on.

I purchased this a while back. I picked it because it seemed simple enough to knock off in an afternoon (and it was). I sewed up view A. Despite its easy nature, this pattern did have its odd aspects. The facing had darts, but the dress didn't; it did, however, have gathering that the facing did not.

The facing was not understitched. You can see it that picture that it doesn't lay as flat as it should. I didn't press it, which is part of the issue, but if I made this again, I would certainly understitch. The only real modification I made was the length (I did a 5/8" hem instead of 1 1/4", as I usually do) and instead of creating a button loop out of thread, I cut some leftover fabric on the bias and used that instead. The button here came from the stash. I know it probably shocks readers to know that I just happened to have jack o'lantern buttons laying around.

It has become apparent to me that Azzurra and I are no longer really the same shape. While she is adjustable, I think the waist is at the smallest setting and is still too big. She also bulges in places I don't. I'll have to adjust her and she how much I can fix. I've heard of people taking these forms apart and adding or removing foam, but I think that might be beyond my skill level (and certainly is beyond my current level of motivation). She also doesn't stand straight, though that might be the carpet.

Since I am much less curvy than she is, the dress doesn't cling so much. I'm still pretty happy about how it turned out and I'm looking forward to starting the Halloween countdown. Less than six months to go!

As I previously mentioned this dress was pretty easy. I would say it is a good pattern for a beginner. The challenges include:

• darts, but in the facing only, so they don't have to be perfect,
• gathering, but only the small amount I showed above,
• facings, which I never thought were difficult, but some people do,
• and inserting a zipper, which is something a sewing enthusiast is going to need to master early on anyway

This could probably be tackled as a first garment.