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.

In the Clutch

A few weeks ago, I posted the (kinda-sorta) pattern review for the overnight bag C Girl won in the Halloween contest.  This review is for the other prize recipient, Melody Brown.  This is the same pattern (Simplicity 2274), but for Melody, I made the clutch purse.  We decided to go with the same sparkly bat fabric that I used for the handles and lining of the overnight bag.  For the lining, we went with a matching green.

The gap is most apparent in the upper right corner

Because the bat fabric is a one-way design (and the purse is folded over on itself twice), I split the outer pattern into three pieces along the fold lines (plus seam lines).  The lining and interfacing were kept as one piece.  This would have worked out perfectly if the fold lines and placement for the closure were in the right place on the pattern.  They weren't.  When I folded over the top and snapped it shut, there was a large gap; it was large enough that car keys and the like could have easily slipped out.

That wouldn't do at all, so I ripped open the top edges.  My intent had been to move the closure and put a patch over the old hole (it was only in the lining, so it would only show when it was open).  But when I folded the purse where the fold should have been, the lip hung over the bottom of the purse.  So much so that I had to cut off the excess, and with that, the old hole for the closure.  So yay, no patch!

Now it came to simply reinsert the closure.  I had been concerned the prongs would be difficult to bend back and forth, but it presented no problems.  I did, however, reinforce the slits with some heavy-duty interfacing.  Due to the stress the closure would be under, I didn't want the closure to pull out of or tear the fabric.

Once I moved the closure, the opening was top-stitched shut.  And when I folded it over:

 voila, the gap has been eliminated.

NB: this purse calls for a magnetic closure.  If you make this and want it to hold your cell phone, MP3 flash drive, etc, you might want to consider a different type of closure, such as a really big button or Velcro.

Bag of Tricks

Remember the contest I held for Halloween?  Erm.  Well, my personal life kind of hit the fan (and is still actively hitting the fan, but that's a story for another day) and there was a huge delay in getting the prizes made (apologies once again to C Girl and Melody Brown).  Well, I have learned my lesson; if I do this again next year (which I plan to), I will either buy prizes or have them made before the contest ends.

Top view

Anyway.  This is the first prize, which C Girl won for being the first person to answer correctly.  Simplicity 2274 features an overnight bag, clutch, and luggage tag.  C Girl's prize was the overnight bag.

I had Dem Bones by Carol Elridge (in green and purple) sitting around in my stash, waiting for a project perfect for it.  C Girl and I thought this would do quite nicely; we planned on purple for the outside and green for the lining.  I laid out the pattern on the fabric and... I discovered I did not have enough.  I tried all the twists and tricks I know, but I could not get the pattern to squeeze into the smaller fabric without separating the pattern pieces.  The main body (top, long sides and bottom) is all supposed to be one piece.  I split that one piece into a top, sides, and a bottom.  I then did all the sides in purple and the top and bottom in green.  The front pocket is in purple and the side pockets (the pattern called for one, but I did two) is in green.  I found a fun, sparkly bat print at JoAnn's that mostly matched and used that for the lining and handles.

Side view with zippered pocket

Standard garment zippers were called for in this pattern.  While I did use those for the side pockets, I am always antsy about using those flimsy things for something that is opened frequently and takes a lot of stress.  So for the main zipper, I used a separating one instead, and just stitched the end together so it couldn't open all the way.  I couldn't find one in purple, so I went with classic black.

To give the bag shape, the pattern calls for quilt batting.  That's all well and good, but there was no interfacing at all in this pattern.  I reinforced the bottom anyway; I've made bags like this in the past, and it is utterly necessary.

Side view, sagging disturbingly

Speaking of bags that I have made in the past, I have noticed a trend for patterns to call for exposed seams on the inside.  (You sandwich the batting between the outer fabric and the lining.)  The instructions generously "allow" you to finish those seams if you choose.  Pfft.  An example of this is Simplicity 2713 (out of print - get it while you can), a diaper bag.  (An aside: I have made this pattern four times, and only once was it for a diaper bag.  That was the first time, for my new-born nephew in a Beatrix Potter print.  The second was for my now-deceased grandmother in a lavender rose print to use for her knitting.  The third was for my mother, in a print called "Caffeinated Kitties"; it holds her needlework.  Lastly, I made one for me in a spider print.  This holds my much-neglected crochet.)

Returning from my wild tangent about diaper bags, I have gone ahead and left exposed seams if it was something I was making for myself and in a hurry, I would never do that for someone else.  So with those aforementioned diaper bags and this overnight bag, I sewed the batting to the outer fabric and sewed the lining separately.  You have to be careful when sewing batting, because it likes to get caught in the feed dogs and presser foot.  To join the lining to the outer part, I sewed the seams together on the inside.  I had to leave an open seam - I picked one at the top that had to be hand-stitched closed, but it was in the lining and didn't show.

So, is it fair to call this a pattern review?  I only kind of used the pattern and only kind of used the instructions.  If I had followed the instructions and had enough fabric, the project would have been much easier, but I couldn't stand for those exposed seams.  If that doesn't bother you, then the only bit that's difficult is the side pockets.  Due to the way the zipper is installed and the pleats, It's trickier to do than it appears.  Machines with weak motors might have some difficulty getting through the layers of batting.  So if your machine is strong enough and you don't mind exposed seams, then this is a good pattern for a beginner.  If the seams bother you, then I would bump the difficulty level up to advanced beginner or intermediate.

Catfishing for Compliments

Readers have likely surmised that I enjoy a good pun (and bad ones as well).  I had it in the back of my head for a while to dress Theora as a catfish for Halloween.  I found the idea utterly hilarious, though I knew she would hate it.  Last year, I found the time to finally get around to the costume. The pattern here is Simplicity 3667. I used D, the dinosaur, but omitted the legs, cuffs, and spikes.  I added fins and a sad looking tail (you can see it flopped to the side in the bottom picture). Theora is Siamese, which tend to be a smaller breed, so I used the smallest dog size (based on the spine measurement).  I had to cut the leg holes bigger, but it was a pretty good fit. This was an easy costume; I knocked it out in an afternoon.  The tiny little legs openings might present a bit of a challenge, but it's no more difficult than baby clothes.

Misgivings Day with Medusa

Today marks the annual tradition of Misgivings Day, started by the Queen of Halloween herself, Ghoul Friday.  It's a day to start getting into the Halloween spirit (if you haven't already - I started in July) by decorating, making costumes, or whatever strikes your spooky fancy.  Personally, I am spending the day working on my costume for this year.  To mark the occasion, I wanted to present you with the costume I made last year: Medusa. The pattern I used was Simplicity 3647, view D (cape omitted).  The dress is black Kona cotton (the pattern called for linen, but I didn't want to spend that kind of money on what was already going to be an expensive costume) and the waist-piece is a stretchy snake-like print with chiffon drapes.  The trim, which the pattern did not all for, was a Greek key design similar to this.  In the first picture, I am wearing a shirt and tights under the dress because it was freezing the day of my party.  We actually got three inches of snow that day! Sewing this dress was super simple.  That is, easy except for the sleeve hems.  The had a narrow hem, which usually isn't a problem, but this fabric kept fraying and rolling.  It might be more prudent to just finish the edges, fold up a 5/8 seam, and stitch that in place.  That is probably what I would do if I made this again.  However, if you go my route and add trim, I would suggest doing that before you've sewn most of the costume together.  I didn't plan to add trim at all, but it happened to catch my eye when I was looking for something else.  Overall, I am pleased with how the dress turned out.  It has actually made its way into my everyday wear clothing. The waist-piece, or whatever you would like to call it, is another story.  I really did not like this piece.  In fact, I almost didn't wear it.  I took it off shortly after the party began because it was just too annoying.  It kept falling down and twisting.  Frankly, I think it made me look like I had no waist and huge hips.  The greens don't match either, but it was really the best I could find.  If it came down to making another Medusa costume, I would omit this piece entirely and come up with something different. The headpiece was the trickiest part here.  It's fifteen rubber snakes hot-glued to a headband.  The glue came undone periodically over the course of the night and snakes flopped in my face, which I suppose made for some appropriate serpentine action for observers, but it freaked me out a little.  I would use a stronger adhesive if I did this again.  I would also try to find hollow snakes, because this was heavy.  You can't tell from these pictures, but the front of my hair was green at the time, so it went well with the snakes. Onto the rest of the costume.  Just wearing cosmetics is enough to make something qualify as a costume for me.  I tried to show off the fantastic colors a little in the first picture.  Both the lipstick and eye shadow come from Sobe Botanicals.  The anklet and arm cuff come from 88 Links. Thanks for reading!  I will be doing more posts on previous costumes as the season progresses, and the Guess My Costume contest should start in late October (there will be prizes!), so stay tuned.  Enjoy your Misgivings Day and be spooky!

Hold Your Hearses

I must apologize for being AWOL most of the summer.  I've been posting, of course, but those have been mostly It Came from My Closet! posts (as is this one).  My only excuse is that my allergies this year have hit me the hardest of my entire adult life.  I don't know if it's the heat, or the drought, or something else altogether, but this summer has been an absolute misery.  I can deal with the sniffling, coughing, and sneezing, but I can't cope with the itching and extreme exhaustion.  Normally, I just pop a Claritin and call it a day; this year, one isn't even close to strong enough.  I've been taking two, but since it's a steroid, it severely interferes with my sleep, which only adds to my exhaustion.  And ragweed season is still to come.

Well, onto the post.  The quality of these pictures isn't so great; the batteries in my camera were dead, so I used my cell phone instead.  Also, light was poor and I was in a rush.  On top of that, I am a poor photographer to begin with, but you already knew that. I mentioned this fabric back in His & Hearse - it's Eerie Alley by Robert Kaufman.  Pink isn't my favorite color, but when it comes to hearses, any color is acceptable.  The lining and underlayer comes from leftovers of the - you guessed it - Daisy-Head Mayzie costume.  I think everything I've made using the leftovers has been mentioned by now, so hopefully you won't have to hear about it again.  (Unless, of course, I post the actual costume.) I can't remember if I bought this specifically to make Simplicity 3956 or not.  The pattern does not list cotton as a suggested fabric, but it does suggest handkerchief linen, so I figured that was close enough.  In retrospect, cotton is a little heavy considering that it is lined and layered.  If you want to make this in cotton, probably one layer would be sufficient. On the printing of the pattern I have, nowhere on the outside of the envelope does it say the fabric is to be cut on the bias.  Once I made the decision to actually go through with this, and I had already deviated by using the "wrong" fabric, I wasn't going to let a little thing like a bias-cut layout stop me.  It might be prudent to go up a size, as I did, if you use this method.  (For those who don't know, fabric cut on the bias is stretchy, so the extra ease of going up a size makes up for losing that.) This pattern isn't super difficult, but it does have some tricky bits.  The lining was finicky - more than linings usually are.  Due to the gathering and matching up the tailor's tacks, not to mention the ravelly nature of cotton, it was a bit frustrating.  I prevailed in the end, obviously, but I would suggest that only those already experienced with sewing linings and gathering tackle this one.  Probably good for an advanced beginner or an intermediate. You think I would have learned my lesson after the trouble I went through with the other hearse fabric - namely, blouses like this are obscenely low-cut on me and gap in the front.  I hand-sewed in the privacy panel in the front.  Because it isn't sandwiched between the outer fabric and the lining, it doesn't look as nice as I would like.  It isn't worth taking the whole blouse apart to properly sew in the panel, but if I did this again, I would certainly take do so. In other news, though I haven't had the energy to trek up to the sewing room, I did mange to work up enough to do something I have wanted to do for a while: I got my nose pierced over the weekend.  I would take a picture, but at the moment, my camera's batteries are still dead, and my phone's battery is nearly so. Thanks for your patience over the summer.  I am hoping things will improve once the worst of the season has passed.

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):

A Pirate's Life for Me!

This post is going to be a blast from the past.  I was a privateer for Halloween 2009 (for those of you that don't know, a privateer is basically a government-sanctioned pirate).  This costume was a bit of a rush job because I had to sew six costumes over the course of two months.  I apologize for the poor resolution of these images - I can't seem to locate the original high-res pictures.

First up here is the blouse.  It's Simplicity 4914, and if you want it,  I suggest you buy it as soon as possible.  It's been out of print for several years and I imagine that supplies are quite limited.  I actually didn't make the blouse to wear with the costume, I made it much earlier to as an everyday wear item.  It's a beautiful black-on-black brocade featuring phoenixes (phoenices?) and dragons.  I wish I had bought more of it, because it would make a fantastic vest or dress.

The blouse appears as though it would lace up the front, but it actually has a zipper in the back.  Unfortunately (though you can't really tell in this picture, but you can in the pattern link), the blouse starts to end at the actual waist.  I usually have to wear something under this, which is unfortunate, because the brocade is both quite heavy and lined.  The sleeves are also ridiculously short, so I lengthened them, but that only adds to the weight of the garment.  For those reasons, I don't get to wear this as often as I would like to.  Don't get me wrong, I love the blouse and get a ton of compliments on it, but it isn't as convenient to wear as I would have wanted.

Anyway, onto the pattern review.  The construction of the blouse itself wasn't too bad.  Some pretty precise marking is necessary here for the sleeve's grommet tape, and the front was a little finicky, but this could be tackled by an intermediate, I think.

I think the only pattern I hated more than this coat pattern (Simplicity 3677) was the tuxedo I made for my sister's wedding, and the only reason I hated that more was because a good chunk of the instructions weren't translated from German to English.  This pattern wasn't really difficult, but it was quite lengthy.  Nothing wrong with a lengthy pattern, as long as it produces a nice garment in the end, but this most certainly did not.  I know that I frequently bemoan Simplicity for calling for more fabric than the garment actually needs, but this had nearly two yards left over.

That was the least of this pattern's sins; if you look at the pattern picture, it doesn't have the best shot of the front.  I made this coat two sizes larger than what I normally wear because the blouse was so bulky.  Even two sizes too large, this coat would not close over the blouse.  I tried it over something with a slimmer silhouette, and it still didn't close.  It isn't actually meant to close - despite calling for twenty-eight buttons (which I had to special order), this coat contains no buttonholes.

And again, the sleeves here are just too short.  Do people think that pirates loved walking around with exposed wrists?

The facing here looked stupid and the instructions for the godets were crap.  There is nothing redeeming to this pattern and I would recommend it under no circumstances.

The breeches/bloomers are from the first pattern.  They're made out of crepe-backed satin.  They were so easy that I think I completed them in about an hour.   Basically, it was just cutting out the two pieces; sewing them together; folding down the waistband and inserting the elastic; and sewing on the bias tape into the legs and inserting the elastic.  Very simple.  They probably are not historically accurate for any era, but these would make a great start to a beginning sewer's steampunk costume.

There are two things I made here that I didn't have a pattern for: the wrap and the bandanna.  Both were super easy: the bandanna was just a square of satin (made from the excess from the failed coat) and the wrap is just a triangle of costume satin from Joann's.

A breakdown of my accessories:
Rose choker: $7, Hot Topic
Striped knee socks: $5 - $10, Hot Topic
Shoes: $20, Journey's
Hoop earrings: Claire's

Skull Skirt

Hello everyone and welcome to visitors from Sophistique Noir!  I wanted to kick off Red & Black week with something fun and spooky, so I decided I must sew something out of this fabric:

Allow me to present Midnight Madness by Northcott.  I'm not really sure why I bought this fabric (other than, ya know, it's super cool).  I didn't have any particular garment in mind, and I really do have plenty of skull fabric already, but I guess I just couldn't resist.  For those curious, it came from my favorite fabric site, Fabric.com, but they no longer carry it.

I only bought two yards, so I was a bit limited in what I could make.  I don't have all that many long, full skirts, so I figured that would be good.  It would be simple enough to halve two yards of fabric, sew them together, make a casing, and insert elastic, but I'm not all that fond of elastic waists (except in PJs).  Rather than try to find a pattern for something so simple, I just grabbed the waistband from a different skirt.  Readers may recognize Simplicity 9825 from my first pattern review.

That pattern actually zips up the back, and since I wanted to gather the fabric, I moved the zipper to the left side.  Readers may also remember that I almost did that, quite by accident, the first time through.

The next step was gathering the fabric.  I halved the fabric after I cut the waistband and then sewed it together.  To gather, I just used a long stitch and pulled the ends.  A gathering foot would also have worked here, but I don't have one.

The pattern calls for the facing to be hand-sewn in place after sewing the skirt to the waistband.  I just didn't feel like it at the time, so I top-stitched it.  I figured since the stitching would show anyway, I might as well do it in a contrasting color, and in spirit of the theme, I chose red.  And since I'd done the bottom, I figured I'd do the top too.

And I might as well do the hem!

This only took about two hours.  I knocked it off on a weekend in between breakfast and my morning run.  And that time includes several doctor-prescribed kitty-petting breaks.

I'm not sure if I prefer this with the shirt tucked or untucked.  I really balk at tucking in my shirts most of the time.  I know it tends to look sloppy, but they never stay tucked and sometimes look silly.  I think the untucked version gives more shape to the outfit.

 From the back, tucked, and the side, untucked.  My hair is wet, sorry.

And with my favorite new accessory, Lydia.  She was feral, and abandoned by her mother when she was only two weeks old.  A cat rescue found her and took care of her until she was old enough to be adopted.  The poor girl has some serious abandonment issues, but despite her rough start to life, she's sweet and cuddly.  This one wasn't too pleased at first, but seems to have accepted Lydia as a minion in her evil kitty army.

What I'm wearing:
Plain black girly-fit t-shirt: JoAnn's, ~$5
Sandals: Famous Footwear, ~$30
Metal skull bracelet: Spencer's, $7 (probably the first spooky accessory I ever purchased)
Plastic skull bracelet: Some gas station in the Outer Banks, ~$2
Skull earrings: the top and bottom pair are probably from Hot Topic, ~$5; the middle pair is from eBay, ~$2 (I bought them so long ago that the archives don't go back that far)
Skull barrettes: pretty sure these came from Claire's, ~$5

Thanks for reading and stay tuned!  I have posts planned for every day of this event!