Falling for Cotton: Part Deux

Holy smokes, September has FLOWN by!  Between the Etsy shop, my PTA duties, my mom duties, and my kids' crazy schedules, I'm amazed I was able to finish this dress at all! Seeing as #fallforcotton ends on September 30th, I'm just squeaking in on the deadline.

Apparently, I'm a glutton for patterns of many pieces right now.  Here are the pieces for this dress:

Ack!  So many pieces!

Here are the edits I made to construct my dress:

First, I cut the back piece into two pieces just below the shirring lines and added 5/8" seam allowance on each new piece.

Marked

Cut

Due to the limited amount of skirt fabric I had, I also narrowed the front skirt pieces - the original has 3 pleats on each side, mine only has 2. 

I did end up using the floral fabric for the skirt, collar, and to do fabric covered buttons.  I read a great tutorial on doing fabric covered buttons without a kit here.

I have to say, this really is a comfy, do-anything kind of dress.  I wore it to church and received a compliment from a woman old enough to be my mother (or my mother's older sister), and then, when I wore it to pick up my son from school, received compliments from two 3rd grade girls, which pleased me to no end!

Front view selfie.

The back view.  I really need somebody to take my FO pics for me.

Behind every good dress is a good seamstress, and behind every great seamstress is a cat.

Pinkie Pink Pink - Oh, look! I made a jacket.

It's finally done!  The last installment (for now) of Pinkie Pink Pink is complete.  Admittedly, it's not quite as pink as I thought it was, really more into the burgundy tones, but that's okay - let's just go with it, shall we? 

Here it is, my new fall jacket, made of some lovely floral print velveteen:

I used the Simplicity 2057 pattern, which is part of their Project Runway line.  I omitted all the "extras" - welts, epaulets, tabs, etc. - since my print was so busy.  I opted for the pleated sleeves, which definitely give a nod to the 1940s.  Some people might say it's too much, but I disagree.  It is lined in an ivory flannel backed satin, which is so lovely.

Facing & lining.

The pattern itself was not very difficult, but cutting out the pieces took FOR-EV-ER!  At least a couple of hours.  I looked at the pattern reviews before starting this and while a couple of people suggested reducing the depth of the armholes, I didn't find a problem with the way they were on the original pattern. 

The back

I really couldn't be happier with this, and I anticipate getting a lot of use out of it.  Once the weather decides to cooperate, that is.  It's forecast to be 90 degrees for the next few days. C'mon autumn, get with the program!

See the shorts?  Clearly it isn't yet jacket weather.

Next garment up is the #fallforcotton dress. 

Etsy love and an Announcement

A few words on Etsy. 

First, I love Etsy - some of my favorite jewelry items and gifts have come from Etsy.  What a great expression of boundless creativity!

Second, I love that Tim-freaking-Make-It-Work-Gunn loves Etsy.  There's a great interview with him where he talks about the world of craft here.  As if I needed another reason to love the man!

Third, I am reopening my Etsy shop, Moon Star Adri.   Here's a peek at what you expect to find...

PLUS, I haven't even taken photos of the envelope clutches I'm working on, which will also be for sale.

I'll be unrolling the above items and more in the next few days.  

Exciting times around here, I'm telling ya. 

Falling for Cotton

I came across the blog Lucky Lucille this weekend while browsing 1930s and 1940s patterns, and discovered that is running a sewing challenge called "Fall for Cotton."  The details are here, but in a nutshell, the challenge is to create a vintage-style garment in the month of September using 100% cotton fabric. 

I scored this fabulous fabric at Jo-Ann's over the weekend - originally $13/yd, got it for $3/yd! - although the bolt only had 2-1/3 yds left on it.

So, so, so in love with this print!

I want to make Gertie's Shirtwaist dress, but that requires 4 yards of fabric.  Clearly, I don't have enough. 

I'm thinking about the version on the left.

So here's my thought for this challenge - make the skirt portion of the dress, and maybe the collar in the floral.  Make the shirt part of the dress out of a muslin and possibly do fabric-covered buttons.  What do you think?  Am I on to something? I think this would be so cute with a little coral or mustard colored cardigan.

Pinkie Pink Pink - The Serious Business Pencil Skirt

It's finished!  Well, almost.  Here's the second of my pink projects - the Serious Business Pencil Skirt.  This is the Pencil Skirt from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing. 

I still have to finish attaching the lining to the fashion fabric at the back slit and zipper opening and steam the whole garment, but I figured it was close enough to post pics.  What can I say, I'm impatient!

Please excuse the messy craft room.

I had some yardage of some medium weight stretch poly blend fabric I picked up years ago from a clearance table at Hancock Fabrics.  Originally, it was going to be a corset/miniskirt combo with tulle underneath, but I think this is a much better idea.

The back - a better picture of the fabric.  Please ignore the pins.

Somehow, when transferring the pattern markings onto my fabric I failed to notice that there are FOUR darts on skirt front, not two.  Oops.  I ended up having to take in the side seam allowances to make it fit (because I didn't realize the four-not-two error until after I had attached the waistband and I wasn't going to undo all that work).

One of my favorite things about this skirt is the hot pink lining.  I didn't have any pink thread, so when I hemmed it, I added a little black lace trim, which I think is a fun little detail.

Sassy!

I'll be sure to get some pic of it on me and post them.

My next pink project is a jacket from Simplicity's Project Runway collection.

Knit that WIP: My Secret Chemise

This weekend was kind of slow for me craft- and cooking-wise, so I thought I'd start this week by sharing a WIP (Work-in-Progress) knitting project.  Sometimes, it seems like my WIPs are more like Works-in-Purgatory.  I hope I'll finish them...eventually.  Right?  Right???

Last November, my mom bought me The Ladies of Mischief's book of Steampunk and Victoriana knits, Needles & Artifice, for my birthday.  All of the patterns in the book are awesome and I plan to make all of them.  One in particular looked like the perfect starting point toward that goal.  The pattern is called The Hush Chemise by designer Amanda Williams.  Look at these photos from the book - the model just exudes elegance and refinement.

I had a skein of Handmaiden Fine Yarn's Mini Maiden on hand that I knew would be perfect for this chemise, although the yardage is less than what's needed.  Mini Maiden is a 50/50 wool and silk blend and is the softest yarn I've worked with and my new fave.  It is perfect for really lush, delicate projects like this one.  The colorway I'm working with is called 'Apricot' - a subtle variegated yarn with shades of cream and rosy peach.   It is worked from the top down, in the round.

I started this project back in December 2012, I think.  I believe I was working on it during our annual holiday drive back to Michigan.  I made a couple of errors in the lace pattern and had to frog it a few times, but once I got to the armholes I felt like I was really making progress.  Then, the stockinette portion began...and it never ended...and I'm still working on it.  The logical part of my brain knows that I must be making some progress, but at 10 rows per inch, it's difficult to see.

My current progress - if you can call it that.

I haven't worked on this project continuously - I've done lots of other, smaller knitting projects along the way - but I think I still have 7 or 8 more inches to go.  I'd love to finish this before winter to wear underneath my sweaters - we'll see if that happens (I'm not holding my breath).  Maybe when I finish this I'll finish the leather underbust corset/waist cincher I have sitting in my project bag...

Do you have any projects that just seem to go on endlessly?

Conquering the Walkaway Dress

If you like mid-century fashion and you like sewing,  you've probably seen the Butterick 4790 pattern, also known as the Walkaway Dress and originally numbered as Butterick 6015.  A wrap dress in 3 pieces with only 3 seams this dress was originally released in 1952.  According the the Vintage Patterns Wiki,

"...[I]t was dubbed the 'walk-away' dress, because it was so easy you could "Start it after breakfast... walk-away in it for luncheon!".

It's simple yet flattering wrap design and easy construction were what made it so popular. Sales of the pattern were so great, that at one point manufacturing of all other patterns ceased, and only the 'walk-away' dress was produced until all back-orders for this dress could be filled."

 One look at the pattern's front illustration and you can understand why this dress was a phenomenon unto itself - it looks effortlessly elegant.

I mean, look at the girl in the blue version - she's like Elizabeth Taylor going to the farmer's market.   The girl in the black and white dress looks so chic and polished (and OMG the gloves!!)  To achieve that sort of glamour with a pattern billed as "Quick & Easy", well who wouldn't want to make this???

Unfortunately, the photo accompanying the reissue of this pattern isn't nearly as flattering...

This is either the world's fanciest hospital gown, or fluffiest apron.

Despite the questionable image above, I was determined to make this dress.  I read a lot of reviews from other home sewers and found all sorts of fit issues.   Luckily, I happened on a great tutorial on how to make a finished garment that looks like the pattern illustration on Edelweiss Patterns' blog.  I bought a fun cherry print fabric in a cotton/poly blend from Amazon - the black was not as saturated as I would've liked, but the fabric had a really nice, crisp hand, which worked very well for keeping the circle skirt flared without the aid of a petticoat. 

How retro!  How fun!

I made the modifications suggested by Edelweiss Patterns - turning all biases to the inside, redrawing the upper back piece to taper out in a diagonal line so that the front closure is less of a U-shape (as the above photograph shows) and stays true to the V-shape of the original drawing - and also made a number of modifications of my own. 

First, I took ~2 inches off the front piece at the waist.  I'm quite short waisted and found that when I wrapped the front piece, it closed below the narrowest part of my waist.  This resulted in a bizarre (and unflattering) shifting of the front up, so that the shoulder seams were actually sitting above my shoulders.  Speaking of shoulders, I also rounded the shoulder seams, taking in 1/2 inch at the collar side and increasing to 1 inch on the arm side.  I had read another review of this dress where the dress wearer complained that the dress kept pulling back, which the sewer contributed to the weight of the circle skirt being much heavier that the front sheath piece.  There may be some truth in this, although I found my alterations solved this problem.  Just to be sure, though, I finished the circle skirt with a very narrow hem, but the front with a deep hem, to give it a little extra weight. 

Here's the finished product on Colette, my dress form (please excuse the mess):

After taking the dress out for a test drive, I realized that even though I had added an extra snap to the front closure (bringing the total to 4 snaps), I still had a near wardrobe-malfunction when setting my toddler down.  Luckily, this was easily remedied by a hook-and-eye closure. 

Hook-and-eye and four snaps - do you think I'll set off a metal detector?

All in all, this is definitely a pattern I'd make again, and has garnered tons of compliments from strangers. 

Bow-tie Blouse Remixed

It is a well-known fact that I have a huge crafting crush on Gretchen Hirsch of Gertie's Blog for Better Sewing.  Recently, my mom bought me her book, Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing, which I think we are supposed to be "sharing."  Sure.  At any rate, I highly suspect that I will make every pattern in the book over the next year or so.  I've already done the Portrait Blouse - I may post it later, but it was a very straightforward pattern and a quick project.

This post, however, is about the Bow-tie Blouse.  For this project, I poached an old shirt from my husband's Give-to-the-Goodwill pile.  He bought this shirt at least eight years ago - he wore it on our honeymoon - from H&M.  I chose this shirt to upcycle because a) it's beautiful and b) it already has buttonholes done (what can I say, I hate doing buttonholes!)

Obligatory "before" pic.

I started by ripping apart the shirt at the side seams and removed the collar and sleeves from the body of the shirt.  In my enthusiasm to get to work  - and no, I did not do a muslin of this shirt, shame on me - I neglected to actually make sure the fabric was wide enough at the upper shoulder to accommodate the pattern width.  Newsflash: it wasn't.

I was a quarter circle short on each shoulder - both front and back.  You can see here where the fabric was missing (under the pins):

Oops!

To fix this, I cut out a new semicircle pattern piece, adding 5/8" seam allowance along the curved outer edge and removing the seam allowances at the shoulder seams on the original pieces.  Here's the new piece pinned:

And here it is from the right side. 

I think it gives a fun little cap/flutter sleeve effect and looks like an intentional design element instead of a screw up - at least, that's what I keep telling myself. 

The other modifications made were to trade out the standard men's oxford buttons for these nice black ones.  I know it doesn't scream "VINTAGE" quite like oversized fabric-covered ones, but it works.

 Also, I had to recut the collar band.  I've never thought of myself as being particularly stout in the neck, but the collar band cut to the pattern specs was a strangling me.  I lowered the neckline by about 1/2" all around and that fixed the issue.  I've read from other sewers that they've had the same issue. 

Here's the shirt in all it's refashioned glory...

My dress form, Colette, modeling for me.

...and here it is in action.

It's me!  And my duck friends!