Vogue 1382 and Me Made May 4

I employed the services of my 7-year-old photographer today.  I think he did pretty well.  :-)

Yesterday was rainy... all... day... long.  Of course, this filled me with glee since it meant a day of sewing!  I had a new dress for church today to show for it.

Vogue 1382 was very straightforward to make out of some crisp linen from JoAnn's.  I've had the blue in my stash for years, and I picked up the white recently when I decided to make this dress.  I think I quite like the combo.

 I like the easy shift shape.  It's a nice change of pace from my usual body-conscious silhouette.  I blended a size 10 in the bust and waist to a 12 in the hips and the fit is perfect - skims over the hips with a little extra room in the middle.  The pockets are a nice detail on this simple dress.

 Crazy photographer making me laugh...

 Of course, I had to show off the invisible zipper insertion across the colors. Not too shabby.

Princess Seam Dress

I'm not sure what to call this dress.  I can't find the pattern on any of the websites, so I assume it's out of print, and I've misplaced it here at home, so no pattern number.  It's just a princess-seam dress.  The pattern was for a strapless dress that was straight across the front.  I added straps, omitted the boning, and made a sweetheart neckline for some pizzazz.  The fabric is a linen/cotton from JoAnn's.  I can't find it at the online store, but I did see a bolt my local store the other day.    This is the dress I wore as a skirt with my new green top.

I didn't take a closeup pic, but I added a detail at the hem.  I hemmed as usual and then pleated a narrow bias strip and hand-sewed it peeking out the bottom.  It is a cute detail and gives the skirt some body.  

I'm just realizing these photos are quite old.  My hair is about 3 inches longer now!

Pleated skirt

When I showed some progress on a draped dress last week, Diana asked if I was taking a draping class.  Um, no, but that would have been a good idea.  :-)  I have a very general idea of how draping works (tape your shape, pin the grain straight and go from there.)  It's just a lot of work though (and maybe I'm not really doing it right) and takes a few muslins, and you know that just doesn't excite me. 

Here was  my dress when I abandoned it for a skirt.  I liked the topstitching I started, though, so I incorporated that into the skirt I salvaged, and I added some patch pockets cut from the bodice material.

 I added a side zipper and used the top stitching on the waistband, pockets, and hem.  The fabric is a linen/rayon blend from Sawyer Brook.

McCall's 6568

First, here is Me Made May day 9's outfit, another oldie.  (don't click on that link if you can't stand to see super adorable tiny babies who are now almost 4 years old.)

Next, Me Made may day 10, my new top and some brand new pants, which I will now review...
(by the way, I find it hilarious that my dog photo bombed almost every pic from here on out)

The pattern is McCall's 6568, some super lazy elastic waist pants with a decorative tie.  I didn't even put on the patch pockets, such is my laziness.  It doesn't change the fact that I love these pants for spring and will definitely use the pattern again.  The only altering I did was to finesse the leg shape after trying them on.

The fabric is Genoa from Sawyer Brook, which is almost out of stock.  It is a wool/silk/linen blend that works great for these trousers with no lining.

These pants aren't setting the world on fire stylistically, but they get the job done and are very versatile due to the fabric.

 

 

Butterick 5285

Here is my first Butterick 5285.  I don't think it will be my last.  This is the swishy, but unbulky skirt I've been looking for!  I like the recent trend to full skirts, but a gathered skirt just isn't my best look.  I'm a bit thick through the middle after two kids, and I like my tummy as streamlined as possible. 

I also like how the large pleats let you use a large panel of fabric, which is perfect for a large print like this.

The fabric is a linen from Sawyer Brook, but it's sold out now.

Showing you the waistband - it's just a narrow, straight band.

The pattern called for a big hook/bar closure at the waistband, but I couldn't find one and was impatient, as usual, so I popped on a nice button.  I LOVE how the pleats cover up the zipper area and match the front.

Did I mention I got a pretty serious hair chop? 

Gradations Bag from Modern Mix

I have a new project to show today... not the usual.  I made a little bag for summer.  Usually I prefer a leather, store-bought bag (with the exception of this, I hardly ever use bags I've made), but when i saw this pattern I fell in love.

The pattern is from Modern Mix, a quilting book by Jessica Levitt.  I found it on sale at Connecting Threads.  That's a great price - I paid quite a bit more at a local quilting fabric shop.  There's a review of the book on StashBooks here, which shows a bunch more projects.

ANYWAY, I really love the projects in this book.  They really are modern and "Mix" refers to mixing prints and solids.  I do think it makes for a cleaner, less-busy look than all prints.  The project I made is the Gradations Bag.  I love the graphic impact of the bold stripes.  I mixed them with a natural linen/cotton for summer instead of the dark color shown in the example.

The example from the book:

Magnet snap - love this.

The back:

Had to show off my decent matching at the bottom seam. :-)

Inside pocket - there's just one, but it's a fairly small bag, and it would be easy to add more if you prefer it that way.

Fabric covered cardboard bottom.

Ok, it's time for a revelation.  My mom was here when I bought the book and started working on this bag.  She didn't "get" it.  I think she thought it was an interesting design with the gradually changing color, but she was not a big fan of the bag.  I thought "ok - not everyone has the same taste - the world would be boring if we did, yadda yadda yadda."  Fast forward to having it finished and carrying it around, and I've gotten not one compliment.  A bit odd given I have friends who look for my new creations.  I'm wondering if I have very unique tastes and it's really just not an attractive bag.  My feelings aren't hurt - I still love it, but it just seems odd to me.  Such dramatic problems!  :-)

Button-front A-line skirt (Simplicity 2564)

I've finished my third skirt for the Sawyer Brook sew along.  I modified Simplicity 2564 (also used for my scalloped pencil skirt) to slightly A-line and button up the front.  To do this, I just eliminated the back zip and split the front piece in two, adding fabric for the overlap and folds of the button bands.

The fabric is Balsa Linen and the buttons are Kera. 

Lampshade Redo

So... I took photos of this whole process, but iPhoto ate them. Grrrrrr.

Anyway, it's not that complicated. This little project started when I saw a lovely linen lampshade for $30 or something like that. I bought the $7 plain white lampshade instead and brought it home. Then I found some coarse linen in my stash that was rougher than I expected it to be when I ordered it online. I rolled the lampshade along the linen and drew my "pattern, leaving about an inch on each side and extra for the seam. The resulting shape of fabric is kind of like a section of a big circle (this is where a photo would have been nice).

Then I used a good old glue stick to attach the fabric to the cheap lampshade. That's right - a plain old glue stick. It was really simple, not messy, and has held up for the month or so since I made this.

Here's the result:

Vogue 1174

I can't believe I finished this dress in a week! It was a lot of work, but I was excited about it from beginning to end (and truth be told, it still needs two hooks/eyes and hanging loops). I had some doubts about the fit and whether this style would flatter my (lack of) curves, but I'm thrilled with the result.

Here is my version of Vogue 1174:

I discussed in a previous post that I had to take in my usual size about 2 inches around the top. Other than that, fitting was ok.

I like the pockets, but forgot to really show them in the photos (working with a 4-year-old photographer here). I LOVE how the pleats on the skirt make it stand out swishily just enough to balance out the rigid top half. I think my body-ful linen/cotton fabric helps. It's from Gorgeous Fabrics, by the way, but long sold out.

Excuse the wrinkles, please. That's just life with linen.

I briefly considered attaching the skirt like any other dress pattern (right sides together) instead of this top-stitched on method, but then I decided that's just part of the interesting design and went with it. Sooooo glad I did that. It's just another interesting touch to the dress, like the "piping," which is actually just a strip of folded fabric - I don't think that is technically piping.

Here is my back zip, discussed at the end of this post.

Inside shots. This pattern has what looks to me to be very high-end construction methods with the foundation inside the lining with a waist stay. It's beautifully finished inside (again, just following the instructions).


Here it is, styled for Easter. I didn't plan to wear a belt with this dress, but once I put on the cardi, my waist disappeared, and I think the belt helps define it a bit.

Things are very classy here for photo shoots. I have a photographer AND a photography assistant to direct me.

Some photos of the man behind the lens.



Patter Review is here.