It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding

My brother got married last weekend, and I finished my dress with time to spare (very little time to spare, but still a little). I didn't manage to get any pictures of the full outfit, so you'll have to settle for Azzurra as a model. The dress was McCall's 5269, view A. I originally was going to do view B, but changed my mind for no discernible reason. 

Sorry that the dress looks so wrinkly.  After I wore it, it got crumpled up in the laundry bag on the ride back.

The dress fabric is black glitter satin from the Casa Collection from JoAnn's, which is nearly as heavy as bridal satin.  (You might recall that I used the same fabric in blue for my Jareth coat.)  The pattern calls for crepe, silk, and and taffetta, which are much lighter.  Due to the heaviness, I decided to skip the lining.  Then I read the instructions and decided I needed to at least line the bodice and sleeves.  I chose a plain black cotton because I try to avoid close-fitting synthetics.

I cut out and constructed the dress (except the bottom hem and sleeves) in an afternoon.  Since the lining was made from the same pieces, and I was only lining the bodice and sleeves, it should have taken even less time, right?  Of course not.  I can't fathom why, but it took a whole afternoon just to cut out the lining, another to construct it, and yet another to attach it to the dress.

This dress has less ease than most patterns.  I didn't make a muslin (I so rarely do, and didn't have time for it), but it was stupid of me not to check the finished measurements.  For comparison, the plaid dress I just made, which is of a similar fit, from the same company, and I sewed in the same size, had an extra inch of ease in the bust.  Though the hip measurement was the same, the plaid dress had sections cut on the bias in the hips, so it stretched a little.

So anyway, this dress was quite tight.  (It also didn't help that I ate a whole pizza for lunch the day of the wedding.  I jokingly said to Mr Husband that my dress wouldn't fit after that, and then it almost didn't.)  It wasn't uncomfortably tight, except in the shoulders and arms.  I quite muscular, and it worked against me here.  I couldn't really raise my arms much above my waist.  If I had had the foresight to check the ease, I probably would have gone up a size.

Also, be wary if you have any chest at all or are self-conscious about decolletage.  This dress is a bit low-cut, and tight enough to push everything up and out.  Even I had cleavage.

Now, as for the difficulty, I am going to attribute the inexplicably lengthy construction to me freaking out over the deadline.  I imagine that if I didn't have a deadline, I could have knocked it off in a weekend.  While the yoke lines up to the dress oddly and that took a bit of fiddling, the main body of the dress was pretty easy.  It's just princess lines, so it's a matter of snipping your seams appropriately.  The pleats in the sleeves were a bit tricky, especially because satin is slippery.  It wasn't really hard, but it was time-consuming to get it just right.  In fact, it was so time-consuming that I ended up nixing lining the sleeves and hand-sewed the hem up.  (So for those of you playing along at home, I went from not lining, to bodice and sleeve lining, to just bodice lining.)  So I'm going to rate this as an average-level pattern.  If someone who hasn't attained that level wants to tackle this, I would suggest using a non-slippery cotton.

The wrap was just glitter organza (also from the Casa Collection) that I sewed together with French seams.  Since brooches have a tendency to damage fabrics, I attached two ribbon loops to feed the brooch through.  I just happened two have two tiny pieces of ribbon in my stash that were just long enough (why I had them, I don't know; normally I would have tossed such tiny pieces).  If I hadn't had those pieces already cut, I probably would have used a narrower ribbon.   It worked out okay with the brooch I chose, but it had a pretty long back.










If you choose to use this glitter organza, beware that it sheds its sparkles LIKE CRAZY.

It's Not Easy Being Green

As Granny Weatherwax would say, "I ATEN'T DEAD".  I'm slowly finishing up my laundry list of stuff that needs to be done, and hopefully I will have some free time around the beginning of June.  (Or maybe not - one friend has invited me to go camping and another has organized a picnic.  I've never had such a full social calendar.)

Anyway, onto to pattern.  This is McCall's 5923, view A, which is long out of print.  It's an empire-waist dress, partially-bias cut, with princess seams and a back slit.  View A has a front band.

The fabric is, of course, from fabric.com and is called Top o' the Morning by Allover Fabrics.  It's green and black plaid, with gold accents.  I acquired it during my last green and black binge.  It's heavier than most fabric of this sort, which was surprising to me.  It actually worked out well for this pattern, since the bias-cut pieces tend to stretch.  A lighter fabric could have been distorted.

The pattern has different cup sizes: A - B, C, and D.  I was a bit concerned about this, because I am actually a AA. I did some research, and it seems like the Big Four (at least) use a B cup as the standard size and that works out for me all right.  I think my broad back offsets the small cup and they end up evening each other out.

The cup sizes differ in the two front bodice pieces.  Though the pattern pieces aren't flat, you can can sort of see the difference between the D cup (top) and the A/B cup (bottom).

So I didn't alter the pattern for the cup size; I did the usual changes to lengthen the skirt and shorten the straps.

As for the difficulty, it's princess seams with no darts, so that greatly simplifies things.  The bodice is lined, and needs to be tacked down by hand because the bottom doesn't line up nicely, but that's pretty easy.  The weird fabric yoga you have to do for the straps so the seams don't show is weird, but that's the nature of the beast for anything of this sort.  So this would probably be good for an advanced beginner.

 And finally, let's go out with Kermit:

Right off the Bat

I am not known for doing subtle well (I am sure that it comes as a shock that the person with purple hair does not do subtle well), so when Trystan announced this month's theme was hidden bats, I was at a bit of a loss.  Most of the batty things I make are over the top.  So I'll just call it hidden by my standards, as I didn't add batty earrings, barrettes, hosiery, etc.

I was at a particularly low point in my life when I made this blouse.  I felt like everything I did was wrong, work was terrible, my husband's grandmother had just passed away, and a dear friend disappeared off the face of the earth.  In an attempt to make myself feel better, I thought that perhaps if I tackled a sewing project, I might have more confidence.  I already had New Look 6179 in the pattern stash, and it looked easy enough.  I selected view A and grabbed this bat and spider fabric from the fabric stash.

(The story behind this fabric: I went into JoAnn's after Halloween and this fabric was 75% off.  I didn't have any particular plans for it, so I thought two yards would do.  There was something like two yards and four inches left on the bolt.  Rather than just have that four inches thrown away, I told the clerk I would take the whole piece.  She seemed to think I was just asking her to give it to me, though I most certainly was not.  It took considerable effort to make her understand otherwise.  Because those extra inches were considered a remnant, which is 50% off, and the fabric was already 75% off, those four inches she was thinking I wanted for free cost me a grand total of... EIGHT CENTS.)






Back to the review.  I didn't read the instructions before I selected the pattern.  If I had done so, I might have selected a different pattern.  Though cotton is the first suggested fabric, this pattern is designed for sheer fabrics; thus, French seams are used.  At that point, I made never tried to sew them, and considering how bad I felt about myself at the time, failure at this would have devastated me.

I am too stubborn determined to admit defeat, so I plunged ahead anyway.  I learned that French seams aren't so bad, but it is certainly weird to put right side to right side for sewing them.  Even now, I do have to double-check myself to make sure I've got it right.

This is a basic, loose-fitting blouse, so there aren't too many issues with fitting.  There is a slit down the front that is faced that I couldn't quite get to lie flat (enlarge the last picture).  The damn thing kept flipping outwards as well, so I tacked it down with some hand-stitching.  The upper seam is enclosed in  bias tape (I made my own from the fabric), and I threaded the ribbon through that.

Even after all my whining about the blouse, it wasn't too bad.  Once I got over my fear of French seams and my general malaise with life, this blouse came together rather swiftly.  Someone not wallowing in the depths of depression could do this blouse with beginner skills.

As for this other shirt, I think I got it from Target in their Halloween clearance.  It features an intentionally distressed bronze heart with bats fluttering away from it.

I just happened to wear this on a day when I was getting some bloodwork done.  The phlebotomist was surly to me from the moment she walked into the room, even though I was entirely polite and respectful to her.  After she drew the blood, she explained her rudeness was due to her being afraid of bats flying into her hair.  Apparently the cartoony bats from my shirt were going to come to life and attack her?  Bizarre.

UPDATE: Here is a close-up of the bat and spider fabric.

 

Busy As a Bee

My life has been pretty frenzied for the last month, and will continue to be so for the next 6+ weeks, so updates will probably sparse or non-existent for a while.  So don't worry, I'm not dead, just busy.

McCall's Summer 2013

McCall's summer collection for 2013 has just been released.  I am not abundantly impressed, though this dress (in view D, the long, sleeveless on) is kind of cute.

McCall's 6770 gives me a bit of pause.  I suppose one would describe this as steampunk or neo-Victorian?  Or perhaps even colonial?  Don't get me wrong, I really love that jacket and the skirt (though the fabric appalls me), and I appreciate that they showed a more modern take on some of the items.  I guess it's really the terrible "I just rolled out of bed" hair that is distracting me.

Not a Ghost of a Chance

The Sophistique Noir theme for April is vintage, so I wanted to share two of the vintage garments I own and one that I sewed.  I love the look of vintage garments, but given that modern RTW garments don't fit my odd shape, I don't own all that many.  The benefit of sewing your own vintage repo garments is that they'll actually fit.

This jumper (US English)/pinafore (British English) is Simplicity 3673 view A.  The pattern doesn't give an exact year, but it does say 1950s retro.  It does feature a good deal of darts, some gathering, a rear zipper, a back vent, and a little bow-belt thing (which I omitted).  It was a bit finicky, so I would say this is probably an intermediate-level pattern.

The fabric I got on eBay an eternity ago; probably four or five yards for $15.  I couldn't give an exact year I bought it, but I remember bidding on it using a Sidekick I or II.  It features tiny little embroidered ghosts on a plaid-ish, and I believe it is cotton.

This cowl-neck sweater was my mother's.  She wore it as part of her uniform when she was in boarding school in England, so it is probably from the mid-60s.  The fabric seems acrylic and in cold weather, I wear the jumper with the sweater, heavy tights, and boots.  I suppose it isn't really vintage-accurate to combine the 50s and 60s, but I don't care because I'm warm.  In spring and fall, I wear the jumper with regular tights, a long-sleeved shirt, and heels; a t-shirt and sandals completes the outfit when it's hot.

I am not sure what to call this other vintage garment.  Is it a sleeveless jacket?  It doesn't really seem like a top, so I guess sleeveless jacket is what we'll go with.  The sleeveless jacket is lace covered with beads and has a synthetic lining.  A separating zipper up the back serves as the closure.

This belonged to my grandmother.  It was no tags, so I don't know what it is made from or where it came from.  I am not all that versed in vintage clothing, but if I had to guess, I would say this came from the 70s.  The lack of tags, plus the fact that the lace is quite similar to the standard one from JoAnn's, makes me wonder if someone made this for her.  (She certainly did not make it for herself.  She knitted and crocheted, but hated sewing.  She started a club called I Hate Sewing which I did not join.)  Due to the time period that I think this came from, if someone made it for her, it would probably have been my great aunt (her sister).

I might also add that all the beads on this make it heavy as sin.

It Suits Me to a T

A while ago, The Art of Darkness ran a contest to give away a t-shirt of your own design from T Shirt Printing, and I won!  I combined my love of sewing and my spookiness to create the design shown.  If it isn't apparent, the design is meant to mimic a skull and crossbones, with the bones replaced by sewing needles.

If you're in the market for a custom t shirt (or hoodie, or polo shirt, or...), definitely check out T Shirt Printing.  I couldn't be more pleased with how the shirt turned out and the transaction was thoroughly pleasant.

And if you aren't familiar with The Art of Darkness, check that out too.  It provides 100% RDA of spooky fun.