Minty Spring Dress

A few weeks ago I made a dress, but I just finally got around to writing about it.

I used M6754, and combined view C and D.

The dress does not have a zipper.  The waist is stabilized, which makes it a little tricky, but once it's over my chest and shoulders, it's quite comfortable.

Fabric is a poly/lycra double knit I got for $1.50/yd at the swapmeet.  I first wore this dress out in Palm Desert, CA and it was surprisingly cool in spite of the polyester.

So, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out except that I should have done a small FBA.  The front of the waist seam pulls up a little.  The seam is not at my true waist which makes wearing a skinny belt a problem.  Belts don't quite sit at the waist seam and droop down especially at the CF.  If I use this pattern again, I will adjust the seam.  Lastly, the neckline hem is a little wonky over the thick seams, but looks as good as RTW in my opinion.

These pics were taken in my apartment complex.  The Boyfriend was a sport.  So was Pearl.  :)

Full Review on PR.

The Wedding Guest Dress

The Boyfriend's sister got married in Mexico at the end of October and I decided to make my dress to wear to the wedding.  I chose Simplicity 1873 because it was vintage-y and looked pretty simple to construct.  The bride instructed me to only wear certain colors, but I ended up in none of the pictures so it didn't matter either way.  I didn't follow her color instructions, so maybe that's why I wasn't in the photos.  Hahah.  

I chose a vintage cotton blend for the self and a cotton broadcloth for the lining.  I chose to fully line the dress.  I fit the bodice one evening a few days before the wedding and made a few changes.  I had to do a sloping shoulder adjustment, but I forgot to lower the armhole so it is a little snug.  I am super proud of matching the print at the CB.  I only noticed the front hiking after I took these photos!  I know what to fix if I ever make this again.


Look at my pretty hem.  I serged the edge and catchstitched it.  The lining was 3-thread overlocked with a very large SPI so it looks like a satin stitch.



























Overall, I'm happy with the dress.  It was freakin' hot in Mexico, and the dress was sweaty, but hopefully I'll never have to wear it in humid weather again.  I need to find a way to style this dress so I can wear it to work.  Suggestions?

Lavender Waste of My Time

Please ignore the shoe choice.
I threw on the first pair of heels I found just to give me some height.
Also the wrinkles are atrocious.  The dress was balled up on my desk for
over a week before I took these pictures.  Excuses, excuses, excuses...

Eww. 

I'm still here, just not making as many things as I would like.  I've been working for 2.5 months as a Technical Design Assistant (woohoo!) and spending the evenings with my family and the Boyfriend.  This dress took me 2 weeks to make, just because I would work on it for a little bit, quit for a few days, work on it some more, quit, etc., etc., etc....  

I bought the fabric for I believe $2/yd. at the FIDM Scholarship store in L.A.  It is a yummy rayon/spandex blend I think.  Feels great, but wrinkles like crazy.  It was purchased with the intention of it being "muslin" fabric, specifically with this dress pattern in mind.  Oh, I forgot, the pattern is McCall's 5974, the Palmer/Plesch Faux wrap dress.  I thought I would try the pattern and if I liked it, I would use it with a gorgeous bird fabric I purchased from EmmaOneSock.  The pattern was good, but I don't think I will ever use it again.  

I'm calling this dress a wadder.  It just isn't flattering on me.   The style and the color feel very "mother of the bride."   I made the smallest size and I feel it is still too big in the bust, arms, and waist, but it shows all my lumps in back!  In this fabric (and the potential bird fabric) I would need to grade down another size or two.  The ties were also entirely too much around the waist.  Wanna here something funny?  I asked my mom to try it on and it fit her really well and flattered her figure.    

My review will be up on PR in a day or so.  In sort, I didn't follow the directions on the tie construction and used a self binding instead of hemming the neckline.

I'm currently working on New Look 6130, the peplum blouse.  I'll share pictures of how I redrafted the facings to be an all-in-one armsyce/neckline facing soonish.  On the blouse, I have to just take in the side seams a little more and hem it.  Almost done....

Thanks to the new Followers! I'll give a proper shout-out next time when I'm not falling asleep as I am typing.

The "Everyone and Their Mother Dress," Part II

Last Christmas I made my mom a black double knit dress using Vogue 1250 and she requested another one a while ago.  I definitely owed her a present.  Months ago we went to Michael Levine's to find a suitable knit and she fell in love with the sea shell fabric.  It has the loveliest hand and drape.   We weren't quite sure what pattern to use and settled on another V1250.  It worked out great because my mom had been wanting a summery version of the dress.

The dress sewed up very quickly with no major problems. My Brother NX250 hates sewing stretchy knits, so the tucks and the neck binding were a challenge.  I constructed almost the entire dress on the serger and used a double needle for the hems.  

I think my mom likes the dress.

There was a little more than a yard left over and I made myself something too.  Photos to come!

Teal Garden Dress: Cynthia Rowley S2443

I bought a really nice teal double knit at the swapmeet not too long ago and had plans to make my mom a another version of V1250 because it had some additional stretch in the lengthwise direction.  She liked the fabric, but wanted the dress is a print instead.  I decided to try the Simplicity Cynthia Rowley pattern S2443 again.  Last time, I made this jacket.  At the time, I attempted the dress, but I used the wrong fabric and had a horrible time with the zipper.  Also, the amount of gathering at the waist was too much so I gave up.

This time, I took about 10 in. total from the gathers (to prevent the oh so flattering pregnancy look) and omitted the zipper.  I also only interfaced the waistband and shortened the dress 4 inches.

I wrote a lot more on PR.

I'm really proud of this dress because it was supposed to be a quick and easy project, but turned out to be more challenging than it should have been.  I had to rip out the sides 3 times on each side just to line up the side seams of the waistband and skirt.  Such a pain in the butt.  I overlocked almost the entire dress, including the attachment of the very curvy straps without basting.  I've already worn it twice!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions on my pants both on the blog and PR.  

I'm currently working on this:

View E (pictured)

It's almost done, but I've had a lot of distractions lately and had a bit of trouble getting the back pleat to lay properly.  This may end up being a wadder.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

My boyfriend's friends just had a baby girl (Lucy), and with my new found free time, I decided to make an outfit for her.  It's Effing CUTE if I do say so myself!  My boyfriend says the F word and cute just don't go together, but I have to disagree.  I can't stop cussing when I look at the little outfit.  :-P

I used McCall's 6303, a pattern I picked up this past Sunday at Joann's for 99 cents.  I bought the blue pincord fabric a while ago because I was shopping on Fabric.com and needed to reach $35.00 for free shipping.  I know....excuses, excuses.   I'm not a big fan of super girly kids clothes.  So I bought blue, because it could work for either sex.  The diamond print was in my mom's stash and she let me use about a yard of it for the outfit.  I made view C, but added pockets for extra cuteness.  The rickrack was awful though to attach.  New rickrack is made of such nasty fibers that it frays as soon as you cut it.  I always try to use vintage, but I didn't have any white in the right size.  I made covered buttons with a vintage metal button maker kit and it works every time.  I'll never buy new cover buttons kits if I can avoid it.   I highly recommend the vintage sets.  

Now on to the Review:

Pattern Description:

INFANTS' DRESSES, PANTIES AND HAT: Sleeveless A-line dresses A, B, C, D, E, F, G have trimming variations; dresses A, B, C, D, E have self or contrast fabric lining and a button closure at each shoulder; dresses A, B, C have criss-cross back; dresses D, E have open sides with contrast ties; dresses F, G have binding at neckline and armholes forming ties at shoulders; dresses B, D, F have front patch pockets; panties and hat are also included.

Pattern Sizing:

S-XL, I traced off a M for a 3-6 month old.  Hopefully it fits!

The hat is one size and it is large!

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

Yes!

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Very easy, except for the hat.  Not the best instructions there. McCalls omitted the fact that you need 6 crown pieces for the hat lining.  Oops!  I new it couldn't be right when I read the pattern instructions, but I figured it out.  The instructions for inserting the elastic are ridiculous.  I'll have to come up with a better way next time.  Make sure you leave a big enough hole in the dress lining and the hat lining so you can fit your hand in the aid in pressing the dress and hat, and inserting the elastic in the hat.  If you don't you'll be sorry!

Also try to find vintage rickrack, it does not fray nearly as bad as the new, crappy stuff.  

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

It's Super cute.  Like I could die it's so cute!

Fabric Used:

Cotton/poly pincord from Fabric.com and quilting cotton from local discount fabric store. 

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I added the pockets from another view.  I also used self-covered buttons and made the dress reversible with careful sewing on of the rickrack and adding buttons on the lining side. Oh, and I took off about an 1" from the top of the panties because other reviewers said they were too big.  

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

Definitely if I have a baby or I need to make another gift.

Conclusion:

EFFING CUTE!

More Pictures:

The back

Self-covered button and rickrack detail.

Pocket!

Adorable hat, the bunching is from the elastic.  I love the bow!

It's reversible!

It's April, and a Very Merry Xmas to you!

School got in the way, so I never posted pictures of what I made as xmas gifts this year.  Here they are:

Vogue 1250!  The "Everyone and their Mother Dress"  Coincidentally, I made it for my mom.  She said she loved it and wants another.

Another Simplicity 2603 Cardi-wrap for my sister.  She requested another one this year:

A dress I drafted from my sister's favorite Michael Star top:

And knit scarves for my sister and my niece.  My sister got the brown and grey infinity scarves and my niece got the zebra/black braided scarf.  Its from a tutorial I found somewhere on the internet, but unfortunately I don't remember where:

And of course the shirt for my dad which I just finished last week.  I've taken pictures and will post it soonish.  

And the worst blogger award goes to...

This girl!

Sorry folks for being MIA.  Last quarter was rough. It wasn't all that difficult.  Actually, I had relatively little work and very little to show.

I've been avoiding blogging because I've been too P.O.'ed about the Red Dress experience and have nothing to show except my sketch and some pictures of the half finished dress.  I was so angry the last day that I didn't even bring a camera to take pictures.  We were told there would be pictures taken of the dress though so I'll have to follow up on that.

I'll talk about my other classes briefly, then the Red Dress class. I only took 3 classes:

The Red Dress Special Project Class

Creative Design Analysis and Collection Development (CDACD)

Computer Pattern I


I enjoyed Computer Pattern making.  We use the Gerber Technology AccuMark pattern making software, and I think it is kind of fun.  The system is a little wonky and not intuitive at all. Nothing like Photoshop of Illustrator. I enjoy it though because to me it's like solving a puzzle.

CDACD was a fun class because we designed 2 bigger collections with little to no restrictions.  My teacher was very nice and informative if you asked the right questions.  I really wish there had been more structured and organized lectures.  The syllabus was not followed at all and I feel we lost a lot of valuable information.

Oh the Red Dress class.....I think I had a hard time this quarter blogging because the only thing I could really show you was my progress on the dress and I was not in love with my design, the fabrics, and most of all, the instructors.  I absolutely regret this class and wish I could get my money back and take Industry Pattern instead.  I can honestly say that I only learned 3 new things this entire quarter and all were explained to me in hindsight...after my dress was done.

1)  DRAPE AND FIT IN A FABRIC SIMILAR TO THE FINAL GARMENT! Yes, I know I've read this before and even fit my own garments this way, but my instructor insisted that draping, patterning, and fitting my bias skirt in muslin would not be a problem.  Only on week 10, the last week of the class, did she mention doing test fits in a similar fabric.  My dress didn't fit the form even though it fit in muslin.  

2) When cutting out bias pieces, hang the bias pieces unassembled overnight in the direction they will hang on the body.  Then place the pattern pieces over the "stretched" pieces and adjust the hem that undoubtedly became distorted.

3)  Sometimes, on a bias garment, the CB needs to be raised a bit to adjust and balance the side seams from swinging backward.

I should have dropped the class in week 4 like I intended, but I was assured the class would get better, and I would learn something.  All the demos were haphazardly planned it seemed, unorganized and usually postponed to following week...and the following week....and the following week until there was not enough time.  There were too many students and not enough working machines and work space was limited.  All the special feet were only available to us when the sewing machine repair man? was available to come in to class and bring them to us.  The first week he came, we hadn't even made our patterns yet.  He didn't come to every class so there was no way of knowing what equipment would be available to us.

I truly believe every student in the class felt the same way I did about the instruction and the way the class was run.  I know some students enjoyed the class because they believed in their design and liked making their dress, regardless of the lack of organization, space and instruction.  I am really glad that some people were able to make the best of the class.  

Okay, and now for some pictures, and what you've all been waiting for:


The first 3 sketches:

I chose sketch #1 because I thought it would be fun to flat pattern.  I ended up draping almost the entire dress...oh, well.  One day I will make sketch # 2.  I love this dress and would love to see it made up in silk velvet.

I first drafted a pattern and made a muslin (but don't have any pictures).  The skirt was way too Sleeping Beauty and the insets were so-so.  My instructors suggested I change the triangle insets to flaps.  I had to redraft the entire skirt portion, change it to princess seams, and I also changed the godets to inserted, inverted pleats.  (Say that 5x fast!)
Here is my second muslin with some fabric pinched out where it needs it:

  And delerious me "piecing" together my 3rd muslin.  I'm so glad I took a quilting class a few years ago because it saved my sanity making this dress:

Muslin # 3 on me.  Unfortunately, the dress was way too big for me:

The final sketch:

And some images of the almost final dress:  

I actually really liked the fabric in the end.  It was a heavy silk charmeuse.  The dress looks awful IMO though....

Back close-up:

I love the beading.  I ended up ripping out these beads and replacing them with darker narrow bugle beads.  They were much better.  I beaded the back collar and the triangle front flaps with scallops and evenly spaced the beads about 1/2" apart along the front of the neckline (not pictured).

Bodice close up:

Maybe one day I'll have better pictures....

Thanks to the followers that were concerned about my absence.  I'll try to keep up the blogging.