The Love Potion #9 Dress

We interrupt One Week One Pattern (OWOP) to bring you an unholy experiment in trying to get the Elisalex pattern to work for me...

I own three By Hand London patterns, and as you may know, I am firmly attached to both the Anna and Flora designs.  Bolstered by all the lovely dresses gracing the information superhighway, I ran off and ordered Elisalex.  How could I go wrong with a princess seamed bodice that featured a lovely scooped back and deeply rounded neckline?  The drafting wizards at BHL had not disappointed me yet - take my money!

And then I mocked up the pattern.  Oh dear lord.  Usually if pattern needs tweaking from me, it's because the front is snug and there's excess fabric in the back.  I knew that the Elisalex was drafted to have very little ease, so I cut my normal size 10, figuring that meant I wouldn't have to take it in at the CB and all the waist seams.  Yeah, not so much.

The back was SO tight I could barely get the muslin zipped.  But wait, you might say.  The front is probably too snug.  Nope.  The front was huge.  I mean, huge.  There was so much extra fabric that I was at a loss as to a way to fix it.  So with much fanfare and salty language, the pattern was folded, put back in the envelope, and stuck back in my pattern box, prominently displayed for proper glaring.

A fair few weeks later, and I decided to try out another princess pattern (I will spare you my rant over New Look that missing an entire sheet of pieces).  Enter Butterick 4443 - ignore the model's bland photo - I picked this one up because it's a straight forward princess dress (why is the trend a princess front and darted back all of a sudden?), and I liked the strapless and V-neck variations.  I mocked it up, and, though it was nothing worth photographing, it at least fit moderately well.

I was still haunted (yep, haunted) by the ill fit to my BHL dress.  It was stubborn obsession, to be fair.  So, I took the bodice pieces from it, and overlaid the pieces from the Butterick pattern, and there was my answer.  Elisalex's back pieces for a 10 lined up with Butterick's pieces for a 6, while the front pieces were a good 1" bigger.  Well, hell.  I really really really wanted the neckline of BHL, since Butterick was a bit on the frumpy/boring side.

Well, you know what that meant.

Here's where you can envision a montage of me in a frenzy of inspiration and subsequent pattern hacking and sewing a la Pretty in Pink.  All to a pop-y 80's soundtrack, of course.

Cue the Psychedelic Furs

Basically, this was the most half-assed hack ever.  All I did was fold the neckline of the Butterick pattern out of the way, so I could trace the BHL pattern's shape onto my fabric.

If you look closely, you can all the extra in the BHL piece in the front (white) and how much is missing from it on the back

Yep.  Science.

Maybe a little Adam Ant at this phase

It wasn't a horrid first go, either.  The armscye's of both patterns are in completely different places, as are the shoulder seams.  After the test dress was sewn up, I did have to take in the side and SB seams a bit (I REALLY either need to start making full bust adjustments or by multi-cup sized patterns and start making size 8 with a C or D cup), and I think I could use a regular 5/8" seam allowance over the bust instead of 3/4"; the shoulder seams needed to come up 1/2" as well.  I also want to dip the front neckline a bit more, but all in all, I think it's pretty cute.  Especially made up in the obnoxious glory that is my clearanced Valentine fabric.

I don't know what I like more -- the tiny little perfume bottles with Eiffel Towers, or the fact that this fabric has freaking GLITTER in it.  I think it's glitter for the win.

shine on you crazy diamond

I have since taken the mishmash abomination and transferred it to its own pattern, thus allowing BHL and Butterick to go their separate ways.  I used sew-in interfacing as my pattern material, so I'm interested to see how it holds up.

And now, a display of my enviable modeling skills.  Don't hate.

Just a girl and her bike.  Totally natural.

Ya hate to see me go, but'cha love to watch me leave

On the next go, I'm definitely taking another 1/2" out of the neckline and the armscye.  But other than that, I chalk this up as a success.

Well, that's it for now, dear readers.  I'm hoping to fit lots of sewing time into my schedule, as I have many projects queuing up (including unselfish sewing - yuck).  However, I just snapped up the most amazing, fucking fantastic length of fabric from fabric.com.  It was sold out for a month, and when I check on it today, it was already down to 67 yards left in stock.  I didn't even stop to consider, I just hit the "buy" button.  I am actually quite proud of myself for only buying 3 1/2 yards...



"Dysfunctional Family" by Michael Miller

Mom says things like "you're such a wuss" "Benji!  Don't pee in the pool" and "I love these pills...I feel so calm and relaxed".  MINE MINE MINE.  Thank goodness it's reorderable, because I feel that several different dresses are in my future.

 Cheers!

The Just Whistle Dress

Things have just been non-stop hectic around these parts.  I, for one, am delighted that we've actually gotten some rain and cooler weather today.  I guess that means I'm becoming a true Pacific Northwesterner!

The intense (for these parts) heat and humidity have pretty much sapped my motivation for sewing.  I have a couple of completed projects, and my Anna maxi dress cut out, but I just couldn't bring myself to sit indoors with fabric piled on my lap. And with the One Week, One Pattern challenge looming, I need some chill and rain to get me behind the machine again!  I also got my new toy - a Janome DC4030 - that I'm desperate to test drive.  My Viking is a great machine, but it's really aimed at quilters, which means it's large and has about 100 stitches I will never use.  I'm going to try out a smaller machine and see how I like it; this will also give me an extra machine to take to classes and have mini sewing bees.  Well, after the drum kit vacates the corner of my sewing room that is...

I've been busy, if not overly social, the last week.  Which I'm totally OK with.  I've gone biking (I REALLY need a good skort/culotte pattern for riding), been to the gym (my tennis game needs some serious work), and a bit of brewery time with friends (trivia at The Pig!), and it's been lovely.  But with the pledge to eat at home at least three nights a week going strong, the heavy duty bar time has dropped - no regrets there, I've already lost 3 pounds!

The Seattle Cider Summit is coming up in a few weeks, and our intrepid band of heavy drinkers is gearing up for a hop across the Sound and day spend sampling the areas finest cideries.  Should be a blast - if I can remember to buy my ticket... 
Then shortly on its heels in the Pumpkin Beer Festival, mmmm, pumpkin spicy deliciousness.  Night Owl from Elysian Brewery is truly heavenly.
I've also discovered a magnificent offering from Smirnoff.  They have a low-cal line of vodkas, and I found a mango-passionfruit that is DELICIOUS.  At roughly 50 calories per shot, it's a pretty dangerous concoction!

On a non-alcohol related front, I did manage to finish Anna #3.  A few months ago, I ordered a gorgeous Michael Miller print from fabric.com - Eiffel Towers in a black and white color combination.  Mostly prompted by the impending OWOP deadline, I decided last week to make it up in an Anna variation, instead of my umpteenth 2444 variant.

This is such a simple and well-drafted pattern that I don't have any real construction notes, other than replacing the facing with bias binding (my standard deviation).  I also used one of my favorite skirts, the Simplicity 1418 flared skirt with two big pleats front and back. Aside from the 5 gored Butterick skirt, this is my firm go-to, as it's fairly conservative on usage but looks impressive.  It's also incredibly easy to put together, which is a huge plus!

Again, the seams are pinked and the hem is serged.  I left the hem alone because I think I want to go back and finish it with a bias bound end as an ornamental treatment.  Jury's still out, though.

I wore this to the office yesterday, still unsure of what to name my newest creation.  Then I heard the news of Lauren Bacall's passing - she, along with Audrey Hepburn, has been one of my style icons most of my life.  Classy but ballsy, gloriously feminine with an edge, she was a true example of a woman of strength and elegance.  The lines of Anna's bodice have always evoked an air of the 1940's to me, and suddenly it could be no other name the Just Whistle Dress.

You know how to whistle, don't you?

You just put your lips together, and blow.

Yeah, totally not giving up my day job to model.

Now go watch a Bogey and Bacall film, people!

Bride of Frankendress; Frankendress II, the Frankendressening; or... The Monster Mash Dress

Well it's another gorgeous Friday here in the Pac NW.  As a matter of fact, it's been SO beautiful for the last month that I think we're all getting twitchy for some rain and gloom!  But I'm enjoying the sunshine while it lasts; fall will be here soon enough and hibernation season lasts a hell of a lot longer than summer.  Note to self, start stockpiling tights....

I just ordered a new table for the Stitchery off of Amazon.  It's awesome, it's a portable folding table with legs that adjust up to 48" - at $40ish, that's the cheapest cutting table I could ever get my hands on!  And if the drums find a new corner to call home, I'll have it set up all the time, and my little studio will be complete (here's where I rub my hands together in anticipatory glee).

I also hit up one of my local Jo Ann's Fabrics on Thursday.  They are having an amazing pattern sale - $1.99 Butterick and 5 for $5 Simplicity.  I've been wanting to pick up a couple of different styles to round out my dress wardrobe (and get a backup for Simplicity 2444), so that's what I did.

The two Butterick I picked are retro reprints - I chose B5880 for the skirt pattern but I actually am getting psyched about trying the bodice.  B6582 is one I've been stalking for a few years, but was always sold out.  I want to try a version of view C (with the full skirt) in a plaid suiting fabric I've had forever.

I haven't spent much time at my machine this week.  I did finish one dress and have another about halfway finished, but I've been fighting back a summer flu, visiting a bit, and football season is upon once again (can I get an amen?), so other pleasant distractions have been taking my time.  Which is fine - I'm a bit on the introverted side, and if given my druthers I'll hole up for weeks on end, happily stitching away.  So it's good to get out, even if I'm drug kicking and screaming once in a while.

And without further ado, it's dress time!  I first saw the fabric online at fabric.com, but it sold out almost instantly.  Much to my joy, as I was wandering through Pacific Fabrics, I found a bolt with a few yards left.  Score!  I should have bought all of it, but I kept to 2 1/2 yards - at $12.99/yard, that's a hefty purchase for me.  Usually I stick to Jo Ann's, and only on sale.  But this fabric was a MUST.

Sooooo awesome...

I wanted to give the Frankendress pattern another go, so that's the one I used (Simplicity 2444 for the front, 1803 for the back).  As I had a lot less fabric, I grabbed a 1/4 circle skirt pattern and went to work.

The end result of just the right pattern placement

Construction was pretty much the same; I removed the excess from the arm on the back piece by laying 2444 over the cut 1803 and trimming, bias tape binding for the arms and neckline, standard zip, and the hem is serged, then folded once and topstitched.  Pinked the seams for finishing, and I think I want to try binding the waist seam on another day (or 100).

Karloff's face, front and center

The Creature's innards

close up of the bias tape finish

When it was finished and I zipped it up in elation, I discovered one big fuck up.  I used the wrong skirt.

Yep, I was hurrying and the one I grabbed was for a slightly flared A-LINE.  Fuuuuuuuck!  Now, I should have known something was wrong, because I have a hunk of fabric left over that is big enough to the half of the front of a man's shirt (which is what it's currently earmarked to be).  But no, off I went, in a helluva hurry to get this done and COMPLETELY FINISHED THE DRESS before I found out.  It wasn't bad, but not at all the shape I wanted.  So I pulled out my scrap pieces to see if I could piece together another section and maybe pull off a slightly gathered skirt.

Nope.  Not enough.  Engage pout. Briefly consider giving the dress away.  Pout some more.  And then some more.  Heavily consider the need for cider.  After all, this is traumatic.

Ugh, enough of that.  Man up, Nancy!

Solution #2 - godets.

Waiting for Godets

I had enough fabric to make 4 godets (gores, gussets, etc.).  However, because the skirt is a 2 piece, flared a-line, I would have needed to make splits in the existing skirt pieces for insertion points (too risky in a completed garment).  I didn't want to do that, so I just cut 2 fairly narrow triangles for the side seams.  I ripped the seams open - stopping just short of the waist seam - pinned them in place, and stitched 'em in.  Super fun, considering the existing seams were already pinked.  Sigh.

After it was all assembled, I tried it back on, and was much happier with the result. And here is the finished product - The Monster Mash Dress.

Monster Mash dress + the clunkiest shoes I own

Extreme godet closeup

My flushed-from-a-summer-flu-yet-very-pleased face

**The back is a touch more snug that I like, as I took out the extra 1/4" I used in the first Frankendress, which I now know I need to leave in.  I still adore this dress, though.

That's all for now - hopefully by my next post I'll have had a chance to test my newest purchase, the Janome 4030!  Mhuahahahahahaha!!!!

The Frankendress

Sigh. Ever had a weekend that was so relaxing yet productive that you wished there was at least one more day?  That is this weekend.

Friday night was an early start in downtown Bremerton at the monthly First Friday art walk.  We stopped by several businesses, including one of my favs, the Rockit Roost.  They were having a big fundraising event to kickstart their pub project -- Chuck and Hannah are super and I love their dedication to this town.  I bought a couple of raffle tickets and the most amazing bottle of beer; it seriously tastes like tangerine soda. But the drinking of said libation wasn't until later...

Then it was off to Melissa's birthday party. She had several local bands playing and it was a blast, even though I was wiped out from my week. I hung until after 1 (cause I'm such a rockstar).  All in all it was SO much fun.  I, as the only sober one, was in charge of cake cutting.  I hope it was satisfactory!

Saturday late morning was a lovely bike ride, then shopping.  Dinner was chicken satay on the patio with my delicious beer and the Cure on the internet radio. Then we walked to the Hi Fi for a drink - cider for me of course, met up with some friends and retired to the casa for visiting (and lots of cider drinking).  A perfect day.

And now, dress stuff.

For far too long, the main issue that kept me from really jumping into apparel sewing was my lack of pattern-drafting skills.  Online instructions did me no good (visual, hands-on learner), local classes on drafting were only offered as part of fashion design degrees, etc.  Then I stumbled across a few blogs of some incredibly talented and creative home sewers, who laughed in the face of packaged patterns and boldly blazed paths into the land of mash-ups and alterations.

"Awesome.  I can totally do THAT" I said to myself.  And I was off and running and haven't looked back since.  However, there is a bit of difference in mixing bodice and skirt options and my latest creation...

One of my favorite RTW dresses is this Emily and Fin dress that I bought from Modcloth.  Ah, Modcloth...the reason I give my dresses cutesy names...and the big reason I started sewing for myself.  Gorgeous, but pricey.  Still my favorite place to shop for accessories, but I just can't fully indulge my love of novelty print dresses at RTW prices. But I digress.

This dress ticks every box for me:  fitted bodice, full skirt, scooped back, boat neckline, interesting fabric.  Love at first sight.  I bought it for my 41st birthday, and it was even prettier in person. As I am not going to drop $80+ every time they release an amazing new frock, I wondered if I could make a dress that was inspired by this design (Emily and Fin, you complete me).  I didn't have anything stock like this, but after digging through my pattern stash, I found I had several pieces that would work.

To the laboratory!

First things first, the RTW dress bodice.  It's fabulous; beautifully rounded back, flattering neckline, and fitted at the waist with four sets of darts.  For the front, that's a no-brainer, because that's Simplicity 2444 straight up. 

The back of the bodice took a bit more thought, because I wanted to use existing patterns in my stash.  I had several scooped back options, but I decided to go with Simplicity 1803 to stay in the same pattern line (both are Project Runway).  A quick layout and I confirmed the shoulders would match. The back shoulders were a bit wider set, but that didn't concern me over much.

Done and done.

Now the skirt.  This was an experiment, and my inspiration dress had a stunning skirt that's got about a million tiny knife pleats.  Hell no. Knife pleats can get on the bus to Fuckoffsville with facings.  Enter Butterick 5882 - the 5 gore 1/2 circle skirt. All the fullness, a fraction of the work.

*cue the lighting*

This project went together in just 3 days, from layout to cutting to sewing.  It would have been faster, but I was a terrible mood that week and kept making stupid mistakes that I will not go into here (but it involves a lot of re-sewing).  I did have to trim a bit off the armscye on the back piece, because it was a higher one that 2444, and if I matched the underarm, not only did the waist not line up but everything else would have skewed.  I did this by taking the pattern piece for the back of 2444 and laying it over the dress piece, then just cut the excess off.  Pinked seams, serged hem, bias faced armscye and neckline, 1/4" waist seam, and...

It's alive!  ALIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!

The unexpectedly cool thing is that, because the shoulders on 1803 are wider and slightly off-set, they pull the front of 2444 (which I have already trimmed to the size 4 line because I don't like super high necklines) into the same moderate boat neck of the E&F dress.  But other than the skirts being slightly different, I am thrilled with this project.  The fabric is light, but has enough of a stiff hand to flare on its own, and the colors will transition nicely into fall and winter. 

No flash back view

I will definitely make this again.  The only changes will be to open up the armscye a bit more and remove the extra 1/4" I added to the CB seam (because 2444 is much more fitted in the front, I thought it may be too tight with the back from 1803 as-is).  But even as it stands, this monster's got swagger.

Rawr

One more pose, just because I like this one

Well, that should do it for this entry.  It is positively glorious outside today, and I have coffee to drink while the breeze blows summer air through the house. I have my next Anna ready to start (September is too close and I have a challenge to meet), and another Frankendress in the planning stages.

Mountains.  Your moment of zen.

The Anna Dress - Pattern Test

Happy Monday, all!

Back to the grind after a hectic weekend.  Saturday evening, we went to a 90's grunge tribute show at one of our favorite spots, The Manette Saloon. 

My attempt at the grunge look - plaid + stripes + red lips and loads of eyeliner

Even though it was stiflingly hot, it was a total blast and made me feel like a college kid again.  We missed the STP cover band because the show started on time (who does that?), and left before Pantera because I was beat.  But we did get to see the fantastic Alice in Chains tribute by the Seattle-based band Silvergun.  I kept closing my eyes (not overly smart in a pit, but whatevs) because they were so good I felt like I was listening to Layne Staley. 

Silvergun, aka Alice in Chains

Then the guys from Bad Habit Bremerton took the stage and blew the place away with their tribute to Nirvana (complete with thrift store sweater!).  And if that wasn't awesome enough, my friends Becca, Melissa, and I were pulled up on the stage to back-up dance for the last few songs of the set. It was so much fun, I was an exhausted, sweaty mess by the end and I was thrilled!



Nirvana back up dancers.  I wish I had pom-poms.

 

Sunday was spent doing Sunday chores, although we did go take advantage of our new memberships to the Athletic Club.  To anyone I've ever told that swimming laps isn't hard enough cardio, I am deeply, truly sorry.  Everything hurts.  Owie.  But it was fun, and it felt great to be active again.

I also swung by Pacific Fabrics and picked up a couple of really cool lengths of fabric - Little Red Riding Hood and an absolutely gorgeous map print accented in teal.  Oooooo.

I like the staff there; they're friendly and helpful and the store is chocked with designs I can't get from JoAnn's.  It's a bit more expensive than online shopping, but for instant grafication an support of a local business you can't go wrong.

Backing up, Saturday afternoon was spent on my newest pattern acquistion, the long-awaited and coveted Anna dress from By Hand London.

I had anxiously waited for this pattern after discovering the joy that was the Flora dress (but I'll get to that review later).  By Hand London is an independant pattern company that offers some of the coolest, unique patterns I've come across.  And I have a LOT of patterns.  After seeing some of the gorgeous creations gracing the internet, I was obsessed with obtaining it for my own.  Not really thrilled with the idea of international shipping, I found it for sale through patternreview.com - score!  Alas, the pattern was sold out on their site, and everywhere else.  EVERYWHERE. I was a bit dejected, but placed my order and reserved a spot on the wait list - pouting all the while.

Then the Great Vacation Project took over, and thoughts of Anna took a backseat to cranking out a ridiculous number of dresses in 1/2 a month.  A project I completed successfully, but it did occupy ever spare moment of time until we left.

After I returned from vacation, I decided to check my online shopping cart at Pattern Review, and not only was the dress back in stock, but it had already shipped and was scheduled to arrive the next day.  I was overjoyed.

The pattern arrived, like the other two By Hand patterns I own, beautifully presented in a sturdy folder with a little story of the design name on the back.  I checked the measurements against the Flora, decided on my normal UK 10, and - of course - cut the pattern because I'm too lazy to trace.  One day...maybe.

I had lovely chocolate brown damask I bought from the clearance section of my local Joann Fabrics, and decided to use that for the mock-up. My theory is this - if I'm going to toile a pattern, it should be wearable. I believe the fabric was clearanced and then another 50% off, so the investment was less than muslin or a sheet.  Fabric also depreciates in value to me; if I've had it for a while, it is somehow less of an investment than brand new fabric (cost of the purchase never figures in).  And this yet another example of why I failed Economics in college.

I decided that I only wanted to test the bodice and save the skirt for later, as I didn't have enough fabric to use the skirt pieces properly.  I laid out the pattern pieces and jumped in.

After the fabric was cut, and the darts and pleats were marked, I put the pieces aside for the evening, ready to come back to it on Saturday.  Then I saw that my fabric pen had vanished, leaving me a trail of pins, but no stitching lines. 



Um,where are my markings?
 

Balls. So I pulled the pattern out again, and remarked everything with chalk.



$*%!

Yes, I cut the darts out of my pattern.  It makes my life easier (I do reinforce them with tape so don't go too crazy, internet).

The bodice went together without a hitch.  I ignored the paper instructions, because By Hand London offers a killer online sew-along.  I read over the steps for the slash neck top, didn't see any major issues, and went on my way. 



Bodice pleats pinned - this is before the lines were re-drawn in chalk

Darts and pleats sewn and pressed - already looks amazing

The neckline is finished with bias tape because my hate for facings knows no bounds. Burn in hell, facings. 



Nifty Wonder Clips and a pic I forgot to rotate

Of course, as I was so hot to whip this baby out, I forgot that facings take up a 5/8 seam allowance. Since I didn't remove the excess fabric, the neckline is a bit higher than I want (and than the pattern is drafted for). Well, moving right along...

After the bodice was finished, I took the remaining fabric and decided to gather it into a skirt.  I used two pieces that were the width of the fabric, splitting one piece in half for the skirt back.  After sewing them together, I started what SHOULD have been the simple process of gathering.  Yeah.

For some reason, my thread kept snapping as I gathered.  I don't know if it was the weight of all the fabric or a defect in the thread, but after it happened twice I was a bit pissed off.  So I decided to gather it in three seperate sections, using matching the side seams with the bodice.  That worked, but the tremendous amount of fabric created issues beyond gathering.



FINALLY gathered and pinned

Annoyingly, even after carefully pinning, the waist seam skewed on me after the zipper was inserted.  Oh well.  It's a minimal difference, this was a mock-up, and the print is busy enough that I don't care enough to rip it all out.

The seams are all pinked (my new favorite method of finishing), the neckline is finished with bias tape, and the hem is serged, then turned up once and machine stitched in place.  This is because I have no patience and my hand sewing is atrocious.

Now, I admittedly ran into several issues with this project, but they were all entirely operator error.  This pattern is marked as a beginner, and I firmly agree with that rating so don't be scared off.  It's a simple 2 piece bodice with kimono sleeves, back darts, and front pleats rather than front darts (SO cool) - but even though the pattern is simple and all the techniques used are basic, you get a very sophisticated look.  And the sew-along tutorial is fabulous, even for a hands-on learner like myself.

The next time I make this, I will be making my standard adjustment to the center back seam and removing some width.  The front is perfect, but I do have a bit of excess in the back (normal issue).



Anna <3

I was initially concerned that, because I had waited so long for the pattern that the finished product would in no way measure up to the dresses I had daydreamed of making.  Boy, was I wrong.  I love this pattern.  Love.  My biggest issue is whether to make another slash-neck version immediately, or try the v-neck style next.  And that's a pretty good problem to have, sewing-wise.

Until next time, cheers!

Working through the backlog - Happy Trails dress

I recently returned from 10 days in Texas - which was wonderful, if not hotter than the hinges of hell. My goal for the trip was to sew my entire wardrobe, and wear only handmade dresses for vacation.  After 2 1/2 weeks of sweatshop-like sewing, I completed 14 dresses.  I do plan on posting step-by-step dress creation on this page, but for now, there will also be the liberal posting of ones I've already made, peppered with my uber witty commentary.

One of my favorite dresses was made from a pattern out of Simplicity's Project Runway line, pattern 1803.  Specifically, I was drawn to version C of the bodice. Of course, because I can't ever do anything the normal way, I didn't use the cap sleeves or the notch in the center.  So off I went on another pattern hack...

The interesting thing about this pattern (to me, anyway), is that it uses a princess seamed front, and darts in the back. The pattern is also drafted to be cut with a seam down the center front and has a nice scoop in the back. Joann Fabric's was having a 5 for $5 sale on Simplicity, so I grabbed the pattern and toiled it up in my normal size 10 - I cut the front bodice piece on the fold instead of using a center seam (cause no way, Jose, that's more pattern matching).  I was confident that it would fit right out of the package like 2444 did.

Boy, was I wrong, because it was too big.  HUGE, even.  Of course, I looked at the finished garment size after the fact - cause I'm smart like that - and saw there's a ridiculous amount of ease in the pattern.  So it was back to Joann's to grab another one, because spending another dollar was well worth the aggravation I was saved from trying to fix an already cut pattern (have I mentioned I'm an instant gratification junkie and cut my patterns rather than trace them?).

Note:  I did save the mock-up by slapping a second set of darts in the back, taking in the side seams, and taking in the front princess seams from just under the bustline to the waist seam.  I did all of this without ripping the skirt off, because I am lazy like that.  I'm at peace with it.

Luckily, the size 8 did the trick, with one minor change...

I've discovered over the years that I have one major problem area when sewing - the small of my back is very narrow.  What this does is create a lot of excess fabric in the back that I corrected in my younger days by taking in the side seams, then getting pissed when there were stress wrinkles under the bustline.  Now I just remove 1/3" to 1/2" from the center back seam, depending on the pattern, and that works brilliantly.

After defeating the toile monster, I grabbed my chosen fabric - a fairly obnoxious but adorable Western print, complete with Stetsons, horses, ads for the county fair and cowboy boots.  I did the same pattern adjustments, including the center front, cut the neckline in a size 6, used the simple gathered skirt from the pattern, and bound the neck and armholes with red bias tape.  And my Happy Trails dress was born!

super pleased face

ta-da! no thought to pattern matching

The back's a bit flattened from sitting at my desk, but all in all, I'm pretty damn happy with the result.

cardigan and gold BCBG shoes

I got quite a few positive comments while wearing this in Texas (and who doesn't love that?), and it was loads of fun to wear.  While on vacation, I wore this during a marathon dash to San Antonio, which included a drive-by of the Alamo and a quick 20 minute jaunt down a section of the river walk.

River walk selfie

Also, a blurry pic of the Alamo as we drove past (our flight was leaving Austin in a few hours).

"Look kids, Big Ben...Parliment"

And a gorgeous part of the river walk

So that's that, as they say.  Now I get the joy of dashing off to put new tires on my car (yay).  Last night was a fairly chill evening close to home, with a stop by one of my favorite breweries for an amazing chocolate coffee porter.

Mmmm, beer

And on that note, I'm outta here!  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Everyone's got to start somewhere...

My first dressmaking tale is one of two tragic projects that never quite lived up to their potential, later joined in a union of new dress bliss.  Let's begin....

A little over a year ago, I saw a new line of patterns emerge in Butterick's retro line - Patterns by Gertie.  B5882 immediately earned a place in my heart; I was enamored of the pleated, boned bust and multi-piece circle skirt.  It would be mine.  Oh, yes.

I decided to make this for my 40th birthday and proceeded to buy the obscene amount of fabric required (in progress shot below).  Much swearing later and ripping of stitches later.....

The instructions, like most of the Big 4, were a tad difficult to follow (to say the least).  I used plastic cable ties for the boning and twill tape for the casing, as this is what I used in the past in Renaissance gowns.  FAR superior to the store bought boning in its own casing.  Yuck.

The dress was fully lined, weighed a ton, and I was very pleased with myself.  Then I put it on.

Meh.  The bustline hits in the exact wrong place.  Rather than being cut beneath the bust like this dress (which I own), it cuts it in half, then the pleated insert takes up the rest.  Which, if you have any sort of bust at all, just perches on top of what should be lovely cleavage.  In my opinion, highly unflattering.  I also think the bias cut trim that creates the straps needs to be wider.  Not a total fail, but not a success by any means.  And so the dress was banished to the land of Don't Really Want to Wear Again.

I took the remaining fabric and whipped up a quick gathered skirt that I wore a few times, then grew bored.  It, too, was banished.

Then I saw a dress from the always fabulous Dolly Clackett (the link goes to her make-up), and inspiration struck.  Could these two sad, lonely projects be saved?

I used B5748 a few times before - I'm particularly smitten with the scooped back.  At a straight up pattern 10, I knew the gathered skirt had plenty of fabric.  I pulled the dress and boring skirt from exile and went to work.

 

Skirt and pattern.

 

 

Never-quite-reached-potential dress.

Then, I had to removed the bodice (this pic shows the zipper I smugly thought I could salvage, but was WRONG, so that had to be ripped out too).

Next, I had to deconstruct the gathered skirt.  In my infinite patience and mild mannered way, this meant taking my shears to the skirt and cutting off the waistband, then hem, and either side of the zipper. I left the lining in the skirt that came from the dress, but did not line the new bodice because the fabric didn't need it.

New bodice action shot.

As the new bodice wasn't lined, I needed to remove the excess fabric at the armscye and the neckline (the pattern is drafted to account for the now non-existent seam allowance).  I staystiched these areas at 5/8", then trimmed it down to almost the stitching line.  Then I used bias tape to finish the edges.  I used a normal zipper but inserted it using the method for an invisible zip, because in weird way it's my favorite method.

Don't judge me.  Or do.  It's fine.

Oh, that's right.  This is also a side-closing dress.  I despise side zippers, even in ready-to-wear (forever now known as RTW).  Sooooooo, I just moved the zip to the center back.  This was actually a cinch, because it already has a center back seam, which accounts for the seam allowance needed to install a zip, so there's no funky drafting involved (normally I would just add 5/8" to the center back to achieve this).

The whole project took about 4 hours from start to finish.  B5748 is one of my favorite bodice patterns, and I've paired it with several different skirt variations.  But the bias cut, 5 paneled skirt from B5882 is my favorite version.  Fully lined, it almost can get away without a petticoat.

Sassy.

Super sassy.

An ending fit for a fairy tale.  Happy new dress that will see loads of wear.  Paired with fantastic shoes from Miss L Fire (purchased on a screaming good sale).

So that's it, kids!  Post #1 is in the bag.  Now, it's time to have a slice of amazing chicken and pesto pizza and a tall, cold drink to combat our current heat wave.  But I'll leave you with an outtake for the road.

(yep, I'm in the middle of twirling...)

Cheers!