Miss Celie's Pants

I don’t really consider myself a modest woman per se. I think there is an appropriate mode of dress for most situations and the bulk of humanity ignores said accepted rules (i.e. football jerseys in church and pajama pants to the grocery store). One thing that is generally acceptable, but I’m too self conscious to do is walk around a beach or pool in my swimsuit. I. Just. Can’t. Not even in my skinny-but-thought-I-was-fat-20s. I always tossed on shorts or a tee shirt when I wasn’t in the water. There was a time in middle school where I would only get IN the pool wearing a tee shirt over my swimsuit. Heh. I actually didn’t even start wearing a two piece until near the end of college. Hmmm, maybe I am actually a prude.

And, this is why I love that I can sew.  Even when they are super simple garments. Still feeling inspired by my trip to Detroit and the Motown Museum in May, I turned to my small vintage pattern stash when invited to the Eastern Shore to visit the boyfriend’s parents. No freaking way was I trotting around in my swimsuit in front of them. Especially because all we do is eat. Pizza, french fries, latkes, bread, ice cream, Italian ice…. you name it. I eat it when we visit. This 1969 beach robe from Simplicity was just what I wanted.

I immediately knew I wanted to use a vintage bed sheet for my fabric. This plaid just stood out to me at the second thrift shop I visited. Oh, and check the sewing pattern at the top (which I didn’t take with me). There’s a yellow and pink plaid right there, BOOM.

The colors are just the right era in bright yellow, orange and pale green. And, a beach robe hides a multitude of sins…

The beach coverup was generally constructed when Trena came up last weekend for our annual Tour Dem Parks 25 mile bicycle ride through the City (gratuitous photo below). Yes, that is now my third bicycle. Yikes.

She said it looked like a lab coat. I thought it looked like an art class smock. My boyfriend thought it was a new jacket for work…. None of these what a beach coverup should like like, right?

Trena convinced me to lop of eight inches!! She also suggested I add tabs to the sleeves (I didn’t). And not to wear it buttoned (true dat).

And here I am. With the teeniest Afro puffs known to mankind, heh. I’m obviously, not at the beach. But, in the backyard of the house we stayed. The view… amazing.

You have to love vintage for putting darts into a casual garment. Darts my friends! There are also raglan sleeves and deep patch pockets that I placed on the bias.  In addition to shortening the hem by eight inches, I also lopped about four off the sleeves.

The coverup reminds me of the house dresses my mom and aunt still love. I may have to whip one up just to wear around the house.

But, for the beach, this is kind of ideal for me. I felt like I had some sun protection, felt confident prancing about and stood out along the boardwalk. I need to make another one in a solid material as I have two swimmers I made last year that are crazy prints. For real, totally happy with this simple cover up.

Tags: review, Simplicity 8276

It’s not too often I outright copy Trena and make something because I saw hers. I mean, I get salty when I give her unloved fabric and she turns it into a masterpiece. When? Like this shirt and this dress.  I already know I’m going to be mad when she sews this fabric from China. Four years ago Trena made (now out of print) Simplicity 3503 and I was j-e-a-l-o-u-s. Don’t get me wrong, I’d made my own version and a version for a friend. But, Trena’s was stunning with the use of border prints. And, the version for me I gave away to Liz because I didn’t understand a FBA back then. Once I knew I needed an FBA, I just didn’t like the way the dress fit. Ann, if you ever ever ever get that fabric again, please send me a telegram.

So, here’s my newest Simplicity 3503 (complete with a FBA), a good four years after the maxi dress trend peaked, lol. I’ve wanted to add more yellow to my wardrobe the last two years too. The fabric was in my stash from Fabric Mart and I scooped up an additional two yards at the DelMarVa blogger meet up last fall. I needed it too because of the way I wanted to cut out and place the various prints.

This is one of the prettiest things I’ve made lately. But, guys. It’s a kind of a hot, happy-hands-at-home mess.

1. I really really detest facings and sewing knits by turning under and stitching from the outside (wrong sides facing each other). I think it never looks nice and always looks homemade. My halter looks all kinds of janky on the outside edges because of it. And, I’ve already pressed the life out of it.

The inside of the dress is also self-lined.

2. To get the waist to fit nicely (I really shoulda/ coulda cut a whole size or two smaller), I took in the waist a few inches. I forgot that my facing knit at the waist band is SUPER stable. Which meant I couldn’t get the dress on after taking it in  as it wouldn’t stretch in the waist. To ‘fix’ that, I just sliced into the facing at the sides.

Now, I could rip out the waist, recut and resew. But, I’m already not happy with the way the halter looks. I am going to put this dress in the magic closet and see if I have the energy at some point to redo the waist. But, for now. I just don’t have it in me.

You can see a little peek of my bra on the left under my arm. Well, that’s after I took the straps up by two inches on each side. I also made a one inch FBA and shortened the dress by four inches.

Half of this was sewn on my new-to-me serger, the Babylock Imagine. So far, I am in love. I’ll do a separate post on it after I’ve sewn a few more items. But, this garment also made me get a serger. My Euro-Pro was chewing up and eating holes (while shredding and breaking threads) in this dress and many of the other knits I’ve tried to sew the last year.  I was so frustrated I wanted to *throw* it against a wall. It has served me well low these past 8 years. But, at $400 for the price from HSN. It has served its purpose and I bid it adieu to the sewing machine farm in the sky.

I wore the dress today to a wedding/ logistics- rehearsal. I’m officiating the wedding next weekend at my friends’ home. Doesn’t a maxi dress just make you think of Miami and a pool?  In my mind I’m making something new to wear. But, I haven’t even started….

Tags: review, simplicity 3503