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.

Pac-Man Fever

I fully intended to post part II of It's a Jungle out There, but I haven't finished it yet.  I have made progress on it - I cut the binding today - but it hasn't been quilted yet.  Too much stuff came up this week: late nights at work, an unexpected trip to the vet, running errands, etc.  And then yesterday I just wanted to unwind from all that, which consisted of a a nice picnic with some friends and then eating brownies while watching MST3K.  So instead, I have another edition of It Came from My Closet! (though, in truth, this comes from my husband's closet).

He should know better by now than to dare me into sewing him something, because I will respond with something like "okay, what color do you want that in?" When he jokingly asked me for Pac-Man PJs, I went to eBay on my fabric search.  This was before the Geeks Gone Wild Pac-Man fabric was released, and I found nothing that fit the bill.  This left me with the choice of either buying something custom from Spoonflower or the like, embroidering fabric with my machine, or doing appliqués.  I didn't think embroidery would stand up all that well to the stress of PJs, and he told me straight up not to spend a lot of money, so Spoonflower was out.  Appliqués it was. While I might have skill with a needle and thread, I am not the world's best artist.  I know some people can free-hand their custom appliqués, but I am not one of them.  I did the designs on paper and then pinned them on the fabric as patterns.  For the things that were circular in nature (Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man, pellets, etc), I traced whatever was round and of appropriate size.  I think the big Pac-Man on the chest might have been the lid from a pot and the eyes were from a candle snuffer. Pretty much everything else was much tougher, and I made multiple patterns before I settled on one that I liked.  I think the damn banana (top picture, bottom right leg, which you can barely see) gave me the most trouble (which is probably why it is on the bottom on the pajama leg). The final touch was putting Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man smooching on the butt area.  I thought this was hilarious, but apparently some people don't share my sense of humor. Overall, I am happy with how these pajamas turned out.  It was a lot of work, and I wouldn't have done it for anyone else except him. :)

Skittles Dress I

Our story begins with Butterick 4790. It's a reprint of a pattern designed in 1952 with modern sizing. I go in and out of vintage phases, and was in one when I bought this pattern. I was itching to make it as soon as I could, but I was in the middle of other projects that I couldn't stop. Around the same time, fabric.com (one of my fave fabric sites) had this fabric on sale:



That's Geeks Gone Wild's Pac-Man fabric. I had to have it! Had to! I just needed to decide which pattern I would use it for and then buy the appropriate yardage. I remembered that pattern and thought it would be perfect. The incongruity of a 50s dress meeting 80s pop culture was too good to pass up. I even had some mega-cute Ms. Pac-Man buttons made for me on Etsy. I was ready and raring to go, all I needed was the time to make the dress!

Well, my projects all finished up (after months, harumph), and I finally was back to sewing for myself. I kept going to that pattern and fabric and then shying away from it. Something was making me hesitate. Was it the humor of a 50s/80s matchup wearing thin? Was it the thought of trying to explain the humor daunting? Concern over how the fabric would look cut on the bias? I think what finally changed my mind was those damn buttons. They're made of polymer clay and probably shouldn't be put through the washing machine. Even washing the dress by hand would be a risky prospect. I began thinking of ways to make the buttons removable without having to re-sew them whenever I wore the dress (such as sewing the buttons to snaps, sewing them to a Velcro strip, etc.). Ultimately, I decided that if I had doubts about such awesome fabric, then this probably wasn't the pattern to go with. You can always re-use the pattern, but you can't re-use the fabric.

So with that idea shelved, there was the question of what fabric I should make the dress in. It just so happens that I had McCall's 6024 and fabric already purchased - AND both patterns used the same amount! I'm going to take this as kismet and sew the Butterick pattern in the second fabric. I can't find the fabric on the Joann's site, but it's black with lavender, pink, yellow, and green dots - which is why it reminds me of Skittles.

I can't eat Skittles because they have gelatin. (Or at least they used to. I haven't checked in a while.)

I also know regular Skittles don't have a pink flavor and the purple is dark, rather than light. But Skittles were the first thing that popped in my head, so that's what I'm sticking with.

So next time, I'll feature the actual sewing of the dress. I imagine that post will be shorter than this one.