Tag Archives: 9-2007-117

Sherlock Holmes: Boarding School Edition

19 Oct

This is the second time I’ve made the BWOF Sherlock Holmes Dress, 9-2007-117. The first time was last October at Trena’s. This dress has been waiting for hemming several weeks. But, it’s been warm warm warm and I wasn’t feeling an all-wool dress. Until today when it dropped to 60 and I needed a dress to wear to tonight’s Aida production at the Lyric.

This is the 2008 version. I wear the other one just about once a week in the fall. This one is made from the leftover grey wool from the original dress and some fabric from the Carol Collection. With the plaid skirt and leather boots, I’m feeling a little naughty British school girl– and I like it.

I am pretty proud of the matching of the plaid. There is an odd bit just below the waist that looks not ideal but nothing I have to look at :) It’s remarkable how different a dress looks if you just change up the fabric.

I also added almost two inches below the bust for my low bust adjustment. I know skinny belts are in this year, but a friend brought this back from Italy for me last year and I still love it. This version is also fully lined. The original design calls for just lining the skirt.

And finally, here it is without the belt. I have forgotten in the last few years that red is my favorite color. And, I’m currently in love with big, bold plaids.

I got the sewing machine! The cop and I drove up Friday night. It’s awesome. I’ll show some photos soon. I decided this week to move my sewing room from the smallest bedroom to the basement. I’ll make the small bedroom a den with the tv and computer. It’s going to take a lot of work but will be totally worth having the space. In the meantime, my creative space is in flux.

And, I wore the bubble dress to work on Friday and have never gotten so many compliments on a dress at work in my life. I’m absolutely going to be making it up again! Thank you for all your comments on it too. It’s such a fun and easy dress, I hope I get to see your versions soon.

This is my last post for the next two weeks. I leave for Egypt on Wednesday and won’t have regular computer access. So, I will chat with you all when I get back! Happy Sewing!

Incremental Sewing

26 Sep

In Wednesday’s post I noted that I was going to sew an hour every night. If not sew, I was going to spend at least an hour each day doing something on my project.

So, Wednesday I cut out the bodice. Thursday I cut out the lower bodice and matched my plaids. And on Friday, I constructed the basic shell of the dress.


I still have to cut out and construct lining, but it is very nice to get a general sense of how it’s going to look. Oh wait. I have to go out and buy lining, then cut and construct it.


The wool is not terribly stable. So, I’ve used fusible stay tape along the waistline and center back (thanks Nancy K.). I probably would have done well to block fuse the dress but it was all cut and partly sewn when I thought I should stabilise. But, with lining, I think that will cut down on wear and tear and possible bagging.

Last night’s dinner: Zucchini ‘Pasta’.I think I can honestly say this was my first time ever eating zucchini. It was oddly good! It wasn’t as good as lovely starchy white pasta, but it was still good.

Construction stuff, 10-2007-105 BWOF

8 Oct

As I mentioned, I spent the weekend sewing at Trena‘s in DC. Great fun. But, I think she was glad to see me go since we stayed up until midnight and I woke up at 7:00 a.m. and can’t sit still when I am up that early. I’m such a bad houseguest. It’s my stupid internal clock! I can’t turn it off!

At any rate, I made great headway on 10-2007-105. I’ll work on it this afternoon (I need to find a copy of my bookclub book, ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ and clean since I’m hosting this Friday night). In the meantime, I thought I could show you two pretty important construction notes that BWOF doesn’t tell you.


The first deals with a curved neckline. I think on principle, you should always stabilize a curved neckline with fusible tape. I placed mine along the seamline at the neckline. The neck will get a lot of pull and it’s on the bias so it can easily stretch out. Also, if you understictch your lining to prevent it from rolling out you are really gonna put strain on this curve and it will gape and that is just not pretty.


Second, use something to stabilize the pocket openings. This could easily get all stretched out and gross without some stabilizing. Wanna know a secret? I didn’t learn that until last year. Yeah, that’s right. I’ve had gaping pockets until this year. I always thought it was my hips making that happen. Oy. Now, I’m using some fancy mail order stuff. But, in the past I just cut interfacing on the bias and used that too.

Third, my wool is super ravelly. I’m not sure of the full content as I bought it from the the G Street $2.97 table a few months a go. So for this and for September’s #117 I serged each piece individually vs. serging my seams together. I think for wool it makes the pressing easier, reduces bulk and looks more tailored. Yes, it takes an extra 30 minutes, but I love the result.


Finally, there is more than one way to skin a cat. BWOF instuctions call for sewing up the sideseams of the dress and then attaching the pockets. I found that a little hard to understitch the top and bottom of the pocket bag (don’t want that rolling out) with the seam already closed.


So on my second go round, I attached the pocket bag to the opening first, understiched the bag, stitched the pocket bags closed and then closed up the seam. Both will work, it’s just a matter of preference.

I’ve again got to go to my low rent version of Summerset‘s Parting Shot. Yesterday while Trena and I played ANTM, I paid tribute in one pose to the fabulous Erica B. (I was totally backlit so it’s kind of dark).


And here is an actual pose vs. my model walk. I wanted to post this photo because I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that I had to grade up almost two sizes in the thigh (about two inches). I wanted to show that this dress really can work for a pear shaped figure. It’s just a matter of having it fit correctly. I was literally busting seams on my usual 38!


Ok. I promise no more pictures of me today. It’s just that I really, really like this dress.

It’s 89 degrees in October

7 Oct

Yet, I made a lined, all wool dress and stood in the middle of Washington DC pretending to be on America’s Next Top Model to have my photo taken by Trena.

I am 100 percent in love with my version of BWOF 09-2007-117 . Well, I will be once I cut off the stupid white tab I used against the grey collar.

BWOF should come with the disclaimer, ‘Girlfriend. Trust.’ There is a slit in the back hem for walking ease. There is no extra fabric on the pattern peice for it. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how it was all going to work out. Yet, it just does.

I really love my fabrics for this dress. The first is a white with grey, pink, yellow and blue plaid. The bottom is solid grey.


So, yes. Love it. Successful sewing weekend overall. I just have to sew the lining to the zipper and hem the October #105 dress from BWOF.

As for this dress, here’s hoping for a cold front. Because I was a sweaty beast by the time we came in from our little photo shoot.

There’s also a review over at PatternReview.com


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