Tag Archives: dress

Simplicity 3882, Not once. But, twice.

12 Sep IMGP0655

This is just the kind of dress I said I wasn’t going to sew this year! It’s a throw away dress needed in a pinch. It’s knit when I’ve been trying to sew more wovens. It’s casual and I’ve wanted to be more chic. It’s a bright and bold pritn and I’ve been trying to incorporate more solids. It’s a dress and I need more separates. I told myself I was going to sew more complicated garments instead of just trying to stock my closet. This dress took me less than two hours to sew and I have got to say, “I am so glad I can sew!!”

You see my friends, I have no “hang out clothes”. I solely focus on work garments.  Now, I have clothes I can meet you after work in. I can meet you for cocktails or dinner even. I can meet your parents. I can go to the museum or theater with you. I can go to church and attend a wedding. But, again, I have no ‘run around clothes’. I don’t have a thing that  can be worn to a football game at your house.

Yes, yes. There are jeans. But, I have some thick thighs and look 10 pounds heavier in jeans and try not to wear them all that often. Last month I had this dilema. I needed a “Farmer’s Market on a Sunday” outfit. What did I do? I Dropped $32 at H&M for the tunic above to wear with jeggings. The second time I wore that tunic was two weeks later on a Saturday morning coffee date. The third time I wore that tunic was later that week to a Thursday night free outdoor concert. Do you sense a theme here? I have no casual clothes.

Friday night came around and I needed something to wear on a Saturday night to watch football. I decided to go back to Simplicity 3882 made in 2007.


(Simplicity 3882 in 2007. Clearly, me at my thinnest. Ever.)

I remade the dress from the remnants of this Simplicity 3503 maxi dress. In this version, I cut the elastics all about 4 inches shorter than recommended and made a dartless 3/4 inch FBA.

So, I pulled it off! I had a new dress in short order and managed to eek the last of summer of out of my sewing.

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Weekend Summary

25 Jul

Since Friday, I’ve been dogsitting for my friend Catalina. Her dog, Frida Khalo, and I have been hanging out together in the sewing / TV room bawling our eyes out over Surprise Homecoming and  Say Yes to the Dress while discussing the debt ceiling crisis. If you’re wondering, yes. I would absolutely love a dog. But, I only want a toy breed and couldn’t  bring myself to purchase one when so many animals need homes. The small ones at the ASPCA, etc are the first to go and just about impossible to get if you don’t know someone on the inside. So, I’m satisfying myself by dogsitting. Kind of like being a grandparent and spoiling the heck out of the kid and turning them back over to the parents hopped up on candy and Frappes.

While Frida and I were spending quality time together, Liz came by to take her first stab at machine sewing a dress. You see, she used to hand sew garments when she did historical re-enactments at Ft. McHenry (home of the Star Spangled Banner (the US National Anthem) and right here in Baltimore). She’s liked my sewn garments but not enough to try sewing herself.  It was the Burda 6/2010 #123  knit sack dress that sent her over the edge. Can you stand a third version of it in one week? Clearly, I need to enter this in to the one pattern, three looks contest.

We picked out the material last week at G Street in Rockville. Can you imagine they had a Groupon? Woot! Woot! Her main concern with sewing is that she’s too much of a perfectionist. She thought it would drive her bananas if it wasn’t absolutely perfect and would get frustrated. You know what takes the frustration away? Sweet Tea Vodka while you’re sewing.

Mom. Don’t freak out about Frida on the sofa. I gave her a bath, brushed her and vacuum daily while she’s here. 

She has more material to make a second version. But, not bad for your first dress, right? We even matched motifs on the side.

I had her sew with a knit because the beginner fear of sewing with a knit boggles my mind. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If you’re not told something is hard, then you won’t think it’s hard. I believe in Fearless Sewing. Then again, I only made French seams this year and still haven’t done a rolled hem.

Oh, also sews on a Kenmore 1040. She had a Wal Mart Special that jammed every third stitch. This absolutely led to her irritation with sewing. So, when I was in Tampa buying my Singer 301, I found the Kennie and brought it home for her.

Oh. She was also blown away that I took 50+ photos for one blog post.  And, got a little tired of it near the end :D I just would not let her get away.

I feel like an idiot. Stop taking pictures.

I have no more poses. Stop.

Seriously. Isn’t that enough?

C’mon!

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Fun, Fun, Fun!

19 Jul IMGP0111

Trena came up to Baltimore Friday night to be my date for an Artscape party. Artscape is the largest outdoor arts festival on the east coast and is hosted right here in Baltimore.

That night, I was invited to a rooftop party to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Artscape. There was a live Fantasia concert on the ground. There were SO MANY PEOPLE. They were expecting 350,000 people over the weekend.

Cocktails and food were on the roof and fireworks at a reasonable hour (I just can’t stay up late).

It was a GREAT time.


Here’s a photo of us with some of my work friends.

More importantly, Trena and I were both in the same Burda 06-2010 #123 dresses of our own making in totally differnt prints.

She went with an elegant silk jersey, and I made up this yellow and gray polyester from Philadelphia’s Jomar.

According to her, the fan fabric is just $3 a yard. So, the dress was under $10 and I have a bunch leftover.

As Trena mentions, the swayback in this is pretty significant. I took out two inches and could have taken out another 1.0 to 1.5.

This was my test run of the plaid sack dress. This first version is two inches shorter. Which is fine just as long as I don’t try to blouson it like I did the silk version.


That’s me looking for the rest of the skirt

I think this length is also a little ‘stumpier’ on me vs the plaid dress. But, the right length for a summer cocktail party with fancy people.

Overall, it was a good night. I had fun with my bestie and got to show off my town.

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Pattern Review: Burda 6/2010 #123: Silk Jersey Sack Dress

14 Jul IMGP9975

Remember my obsession with this BCBG huge red, white and blue plaid print?

Well, I found a gorgeous plaid silk jersey in two colorways at A Fabric Place / Michael’s Fabric.  I knew as soon as I saw it I was powerless to resist.

Even on sale, I could only spring for two yards of each cut. This was my first time sewing with silk jersey. My serger didn’t like it. My sewing machine didn’t really like it. I wish I could sew a stretch stitch using a straight stitch foot and plate. That, would be ideal.

The pattern is Burda Magazine 6-2010-123. It’s such a wonderfully fast sew! I made it in two nights after work. So, let’s say four hours (at most). I am pretty proud of the plaid matching done on this dress. I am usually dead nervous about using plaids. I *adore* plaids. Seriously. Love everything about them. But, the matching = hives. I have several plaids for blouses that I’ve avoided making up because I start sweating at the thought of matching.

I chose this dress because it had few seams and would not be a fabric hog.

I did add one to center back to make my usual swayback adjustment.

The pattern calls for bias strips to finish the neckline. I could not be bothered. I just turned under and used my twin needles

Based on a previous version I made (Haven’t posted yet. Wearing to a party tomrrow night) I added two inches in length to make this office appropriate.

All the shaping from this dress comes from the belt. The dress is essentially a sack.

I ADORE this dress. It’s fun, sexy, and perfect for summer. But, I must warn you. I do not have the same firmness I once did and have to wear a slip with this dress. If not, it looks like squirrels are doing battle behind me when I walk.

The only problem with the plaid (and this is just apparent in photos) is that your eye has something to to ‘level’ on. So, with the blousooning, the dress can look a wee off kilter.

Overall, I’m happy. I did have several people at work say I should have worn this version for the Friday night party. But, I didn’t want to get my new silk jersey dress all yucky quite yet.

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Sometimes Purple, Sometimes Cranberry Pleated Dress: Burda Magazine 10-2009 #119

14 Feb IMGP7438

I don’t know what happened to me. This dress has just needed hemming for the last four weeks. It sat on my dressform. It sat on my ironing board. It sat on the floor. It sat everywhere but my sewing machine. Perhaps it was the bow tie business. After making the ones for work, I had an order for three. Maybe it was the pants business. I decided I wanted some black ones and muslined not once, not twice but SEVEN times. Seven times for me to still have wrinkles in my seat and a big fat bottom half. But, more on that later. It was actually a blessed relief to return to this dress on Sunday.

This is my second go round with Burda 10-2009-119 . I first made it in January 2010. I wore it consistently but shrank it in a vigorous wash over the summer. Sadly, I’m not in love with this version as I was with the first.

I started this dress over the MLK weekend. The first stretch wool version was so snug around my chest it was tough to wear with a turtleneck. Well, this time I added a full inch for a FBA.

In addition, I sewed my non-stretch woven with an extra 1/2 inch at the seams. And because the sewing fairies have jokes, it came out huge. I went back in and took in the sides by everything I added and then some. But, there is just something off about the proportions. This dress could almost use a tuck in the waist so the skirt is level and the sides swing inward. Now, the sides are very curvy, wide and off grain. This makes them swing outward makes me look hippier  than I (think) I am. You can see what I mean here on the bottom right of the skirt.

Both the fabric and lining are from the Carol Collection. The Carol Collection has been a goldmine of solid bold colors for me. Again, I wouldn’t normally pick out this cranberry, but me likey.  Unlike last time, I managed to press my pleats through the front.

I’m also still on my combination facing / lining kick and did the same here.

I finished the dress with my machine’s blind hem.

I’m fine with the dress. Not disappointed enough to fix it. But, very curious about how it behaved so differently.  There are three more former dresses I would like to recreate this year.  This includes the notched collar dress, the Sherlock Holmes dress and the knit jumper.

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The Parisienne Dress, Burda Magazine: 8-2009 #128

21 Jan IMGP7238


I was talking with my girlfriend Julia this week about what women are supposed to wear in the winter. She went shopping and everything and she meant everything was sleeveless.

This dress is great for winter as you can wear the long sleeves! After seeing Elaine’s and meli88a’s and knew I was going to have to make it up. I noticed on the French site for Burda the comments thought the model was a perfect Audrey Hepburn. I was thinking of this dress as very Jackie O. Funny, right?

Fabric

I started this dress over the long MLK weekend with two yards of a beautiful teal wool from the Carol Collection. This isn’t a color I normally wear. But, I actually get most of my fashion advice from you guys. You always tell me to wear more jewel tones and better shoes :) So, here I am in a jewel tone I wouldn’t normally pick and in a new pair of Mary Janes! I’m so susceptible to peer pressure :)

Luckily, the dress isn’t too poochy around the stomach. I don’t know how I feel about the tulip shape on me per se. But, I do like the gathers.

Lining

This pattern was a first for me. Burda includes facings that are meant to be sewn to the lining. Well, first let me say Burda’s lining instructions are just for the bodice — not even the sleeves. I lined the dress throughout using their facing and I LOVE how it looks! This is the way Ready to Wear dresses look (I think they do. It’s been so long since I’ve bought a lined dress from the store). The lining is from my $1 a yard buy at Jomar in Philly. Trena says it’s noisy. And, it is noisy like taffeta. You can definitely hear me coming! I bought 10 yards of it and I’m down to the last one.

I also bagged the lining on the sleeves — so to speak. I was so thrilled to finally accomplish this in my coat that I wanted to try it again. It’s nice not to have two layers shifting about.

Alterations

  • 1/2 inch FBA. I really need to get better at these when they aren’t princess seams.
  • 1 inch swayback adjustment
  • I traced the 40 and graded to the 44 at the thigh and gave myself a 1 inch seam allowance
  • Added 7 cm to the width of the sleeve. I don’t think I have large arms, but it’s a given that I’ve got to bump up with Burda.
  • Took almost 2 inches of length out from Center Front. The skirt was totally drooping on me — making the pleats incredibly unattractive.

Notions

Zipper. Which despite a 100 zippers, I didn’t have a teal. I bought this one from Sew True.  While zippers are invisible, I find that I can still see bits of them, especially at waist seams. So, I prefer them to match as closely as possible

Belt

This one is purchased from ASOS. I find the ribbon darling, but didn’t have any on hand and haven’t made it to the store. Plus, I need more cinching than I think the ribbon can allow.

I’m tempted to take another inch or so off the dress and peg it a hair more. I’ll see how I like it by the end of the day. My goal in 2011 is to SHOW MY KNEES! There are so many ways to accessorize this dress! You can rock the pearls for a Jackie O look. Brooch is perfect for business. Big earrings make it fun.  Plain belt keeps it classic. Chunky belt to modernize. Nice, basic dress. Perfect for work!

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Pattern Review: Burda Magazine 2-2009-101 ‘The Fifties Coat Dress’

3 Dec IMGP6296

This dress was a long time coming.  I didn’t feel one way or the other about the pattern when it first came out almost two years ago. I thought it was cute in my general liking of shirt and coat dresses.

Burda 9-2009-101

But, when I went to Philadelphia this summer for PR Weekend, I found this polyester tafetta.  I knew that it was destined to be the Burda Februaru 2009 #101 coat dress. It was the warehousy store and I couldn’t tell you how much it cost. I’m going to assume $20 to $30 for the material since I was still claiming to not be buying fabric in 2010.

Then, it sat like all material does.  Of course, I couldn’t find the inserts to the magazine when I was finally ready to start. So, Trena packed hers up and mailed it to me well over a month ago. Once traced, I seemed to have NO TIME to sew.

By the time I got around to cutting it, it occured to me I had never meausred to see if I had enough fabric. Of course, I was short on material by over 1/2 yard. So, I had to do a single cut layout and still had to shorten the dress.

I sewed a 38 with a 1/2 inch FBA. I am just not sure what size I am in Burda these days. I move between a 38 and 40.  I also elected to use buttons instead of snaps. I like the snaps idea, but I didn’t have enough and I wanted to add more buttons down the front as the dress was pulling a bit off grain.

The dress provides great 50s style fullness without the traditional petticoats. This is achieved with deep unpressed pleats below the waist. This is my second notched collar and I confess they are getting easier. I found the collar on this to have a great deal of fullness. I also think it looks best propped up a bit in the back.

Oh, the sleeves were also shortened a touch.I could likely stand to add one more button higher up on the bust, but I may leave it for now.

The dress is great and I received oodles of compliments. But, it’s not an everyday kind of work dress for me. I wore it today because there was a sit down dinner / reception I needed to attend. I think this is the kind of dress I would traditionally wear to church. That’s not a negative. It’s just not what I would chose to wear to the office.

Overall, it’s a lovely pattern. Definitely takes a bit more time. Especially if you are going to line it. But, well worth the effort. And, obviously, I need to find a brown belt and shoes.

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Pattern Review: BWOF 10-2008-117: Bubble Dress Redux

4 Nov IMGP5618

I first made this dress in October 2008 for a wedding. It remains my most flattering dress. This is the one I constantly get a positive response in. It’s slim and flattering through the waist and is complementary on the bottom. In fact, it’s my go to ‘Get ‘em gurrrl’ dress. In fact, a few weeks ago I knew I was going to see an ex-boyfriend (Ladies. Do not sh*t where you eat. No good will come of it). The original purple version is what I chose to wear. And, it did what I wanted it to do. Everyone needs a dress like that.

I’ve been wanting to make this up again for some time. Mainly because the original purple (this is mortifying), is stank with body funk. Yes, there I said it. I have a garment that is only wearable in the winter when I have no opportunity to get warm. I have done everything prescribed to it by the incredibly knowledgeable doyennes of pattern review. It’s significantly better (it was once unwearable) but it is not without flaw. Man, last week I soaked the pits for eight hours in  a pure ammonia and baking soda paste. Again, better. But, not perfect. I’ve since moved on to dress liners, prescription strength antiperspirants and washing my knits (with amonia, baking soda and borax) as soon as I wear them. But, I digress.

I bought this material at PR Weekend in Montreal. I have no capacity for remembering how much fabric was.

For this iteration, I left out the CB zip, did not interface the collar (so I could pull it over my head), widened the turtleneck, and did not sew the bust darts. I find bust darts in thin knits super annoying and I was thinking that they weren’t going to make that much of a difference.

Voila! I have a very nice gray almost sweater knit that I think I’d like to make it up in. This dress was especially needed this week as someone thought I was in my mid 40s. Not that there is anything wrong with your mid 40s. But, for heaven’s sake! I’m 34 !!

** I took pictures twice. Now that it’s dark out, the lighting in my living room isn’t great. And, I’m too much of a wimp to take pictures outside in the cold. I had some really nice detail photos on the dressform. But, my four-year old iMac is currently in the shop. I put in a Netflix DVD of Butterfield 8 (great costumes by Helen Rose) and my computer just stopped working. They are ordering a new elliptical drive. But, for now,  all my good photos are on there.  Boo!!

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“You Must Really Like That Dress”

25 Oct 89575041

When in Montreal this spring, my aunt noted that I must really like this red and white tunic I made from the August 2008 issue of Burda. Yes, yes I do. I wear it on all vacations, every PR weekend I’ve ever attended and with regularity each summer. It’s one of the perils of making most of your own clothes. You have a smaller stable to wear and you wear the heck out o the things you like best.

After two years, I finally made another version for fall. This time from a black, brown and grey knit I picked up in Philadelphia with Trena and Karen last October. This time, I added the sleeve from the 9-2010-121 turtleneck I made last week and added four inches at the skirt hem so it was office appropriate. Hmmm. Still a hair short for work. But, whatev.

I made this on Friday evening in about two hours. It’s entirely constructed on my serger.

My favorite feature are the tucks along the front yoke. They are often lost in my busy prints. The gathers also make for quite the boobilicious dress. Trust. I’ve had many a man distracted when wearing.

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t like hemming knits, but I had the twin needle already set up for the leotard that I went ahead and did it anyway. I must say, Ann’s posts on knits from a few years ago really changed the way I worked with them.

Christina also got me to buy this roll of knit fusible interfacing (Portland or LA. I think Portland). I use it along the hems of my knits so they are nice and stable.

Clearly, I’ve gone knit crazy now that my serger is back. Last night I cut out two more knit tops and have two purchased tee shirts I plan on refashioning.

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Pattern Review: Vogue 1086, Tracy Reese Dress in Ghanaian Wax Print

26 Aug 5d257d1b

I have to make a disclaimer here and say that I sew very infrequently from the Big 4 Patterns. I’m so used to the skeletal directions provided by Burda that I find myself almost confused when sewing from Big 4 patterns. So many words! So many markings on the pattern!

I pretty much buy every Tracy Reese pattern from Vogue that comes out. I love that she’s a young African American designer and I think if I want to keep seeing more from her, than I need to financially support her too. Luckily, her designs are worth every penny.

I decided to make a dress for my East Coast to Far East capsule because I have four days of business meetings and two banquets in Xiamen. Plus, I have a nice dinner planned for Saturday night in Shanghai.  A dress is perfect for these situations. There was some talk of business attire. I snorted. I *refuse* to take a business suit with me.

Alterations: I just raised the neckline up by 1.5 to 2 inches. I didn’t do a swayback and I didn’t make a FBA. I do find the top very roomy (I made a size 14) but suspect that’s partly the look of the dress. If I had thought about it, I would have piped the waistband as it gets a bit lost on this dress with my fabric.

For interfacing, I used a woven from Sew Exciting. It adds a wonderful crispness to the wax print. I used straight of grain interfacing on the neckline of the dress to stabilise it.

I planned to line the entire dress, but couldn’t figure out how to do the bodice. Well, I could figure it out, but I didn’t have time so just the skirt was done. I thought for like three seconds about trying to match up my print to cut out. But, I didn’t bother. It’s not a huge scale and I made sure to avoid having big flowers on my bust apex.

As I was sewing this dress, I was a little worried that it would be too ethnic looking. Not that it’s bad. But, I wanted the fabric to stand on its on and not look like I was misappropriating a traditional cultural print. The busy print of the fabric makes the details of dress hard to see. But, there is some lovely gathering in the shoulders and waist.

The fabric was purchased three years ago when I went to Ghana. I bought an OBSCENE amount of material. I salivated at the beautiful colors and tradition. I definitely purchased far more than I should have in retrospect. I have one last piece left and am still waiting for the perfect project.

So, in my last post I said I should rent a Kindle. Well, I went to the bookstore to get a guide book for Shanghai and made a TOTAL impulse purchase and bought the Nook. I loves it. I’m still taking my netbook with a few movies loaded. Thanks for the tips regarding iTunes. It sounds like the rented movies should work since I don’t have to login to the internet to watch them on my netbook.

And, now that I have a remote control for my camera, I take an OBSCENE amount of photos. And, you can think I’m vain, but I’m going to post them because I LOVE THIS DRESS. I feel fun and cute and skinny.

This is my Trena picture. Because I’m wearing my lime glasses, LOL. Totally retro, right?

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