Miss Celie

I Got a 94

I had to work Sunday — perfect weather and time for my final project dress. Sometimes, when you wear a garment and take photos, you notice stuff you totally didn’t see before (like the fact that I need to get my hair back to one color). First, here’s the most flattering photo of the dress, but I’m not smiling — odd for me 🙂 I was probably trying not to sweat.

I wore it Sunday and it was perfect for celebrating Italian Republic Day. My hemline is usually just below the knee and I’m making a concerted effort to sew shorter skirts. My knees felt all liberated and I feel taller. There are some issues at the armsyce because I forgot to add the shoulder seam allowance!!

Here I am smiling. I also acknowledge that the skirt is too big on me. I was really worried about it being small, so I have a touch more ease than I would were I too sew it again. See all the puckering at ruffle insertion? I think this happened because I sewed in the ruffle from top to bottom, and top stitched from bottom to top. You can’t see that in the original photo below.

I came home from my program tonight, picked out the top stitching, pressed and re-top stitched. It’s now perfect.

When I was in Seattle I got to try on the original Anthropologie dress I copied.

You can see here that they tacked down the ruffle (I didn’t) and they did not insert the ruffle. Just sewed it down along the outside dart. I learned a great deal from this project and will spend the summer perfecting my sloper. It’s a whole new world 🙂

Finally, are you ready for something crazy? After I blogged Saturday night, I actually went back out and picked up a second Featherweight. Long story short, there was a second one on Craigslist that I had been working on simultaneously and I felt it needed to be rescued. I know I should sell the first when I’m done cleaning up and repairing the carrying case and keep the second. Although I spent most of today wanting to keep both.

I think I’m going to name her Issie. You know, for Issac Singer.

31 comments

  1. Even if your dress wasn’t perfect, I’m sure you learned so much! You should feel so proud of yourself!

  2. Gorgeous! The dress is so you. I love the colors you chose, the Anthro dress looks kinda washed out in comparison. At first I thought the pic on the mannequin was swiped from the Anthropologie website – it’s that awesome – until I saw your dotted lining peeking out the armhole.

  3. The fact that you made it through the class and produced a wonderful dress is cause for celebration. You did a great job. Two featherweights…Wow. Enjoy.

    CarlaF-in Atlanta

  4. Congratulations on the dress. It’s very nice. Isn’t it great to be able to make whatever you want? Either seeing something, or coming up with an original idea and being able to make it–is awesome! How lucky are you to find TWO Featherweights?

  5. I like the dress so much better on you than the dressform! Congrats, you earned every point of that 94. If you’re not careful you’re going to end up with a sewing machine farm.

  6. That dress is amazing! Wow, very impressive. I love it. Thanks for posting pics of you wearing it. Can’t wait to see your next project.

  7. Congratulation, you did a great job on the dress. I agree with you about perfecting the fit of your sloper. Once you are satisfied with the fit of your sloper, fitting patterns will be easy peazyyyyyyy.

  8. Congratulations! I love your dress. I think it’s much more interesting than the Anthropologie one.

  9. The dress looks outstanding! I love the color on you (and on me, too). You are right, my dearly beloved has long said that women look taller in above knee length skirts and dresses (and he is a real womanizer). I’m so glad you got to try on the original, although I agree that yours is more interesting looking.

  10. Congratulations on a job well done! I really like the dress on you – so much more fun and colorful than the original one.

  12. I like the colors of your dress better. Even with the issues you spotted, I would choose yours over the Anthropologie number.

  13. Fantastic job, like Christina I thought your mannequin photo was from the anthropologie website too.

  14. Your dress is fantastic. Bravo on a job well done. Enjoyed following your progress.

  15. hummm, looks like 100% to me, well maybe a 99.9999%. Don’t want you to get to cocky. The dresses is just great.

  16. isn’t it funny how we tend to give “brands” too much credit? i’m thinking about the ruffle and how you sewed it in vs them sewing it on. now, it seems like such a short-cut on their end. anyways, the dress came out great!!!!! (i’m guessing that had to be the highest score in the class =) good job!

  18. Congrats on finishing your dress — it looks fabulous, and I think it looks much nicer than the Anthropologie one!

  19. the Dress is fabulous. Congratulations on the grade too, You earned it.
    BTW, that is the scroll work that I talked about on the Featherweight – I’ll look up the info for you on dating that machine, vs the later ones with the “striped” end panel. This one is more valuable…. you know that already.

  22. First, yours looks way better than the store one. Really. Much, much better!

    Second, I wouldn’t have noticed the ruffled area had you not pointed it out!

    Great grade and lovely dress!

  24. Ok, the dress is really an eye catcher and I am definitely one for uniqueness! Great job! Secondly, that machine is gorgeous, you should display it in your home like a piece of art!

  27. yummy sewing machine shot! You are really bumping your skills up. Way up.
    Way to go!!
    and btw, I like your blog and your attitude; you deserve the Attitude of Gratitude Award, which I blogged about today.
    cheers!

    I have to go back and look at that June 2009 issue.

  28. Well done! Pretty good mark for a first dress – bet it was best in class 🙂

  29. I have been following your blog for about 6 months now. I love it. you do a fantastic job! congrats on finishing your dress

  30. I love the dress. Thre’s no such thing as perfect. Each garment presents new learning challenges. You found a dress you liked, you made the pattern and the dress. It fits you better than anything you could have bought ready made. Success!! And as the enabler for at least one of the machines, I’d say keep them both. They are sweet machines and sew a perfect straight stitch.

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