Marfy 2608

Well, I have finally taken the photos of Marfy 2608.

Where to begin?  I had planned to make Marfy 1776, my gown, first, but while at my favorite local fabric store, I found the skirt fabric (a nice, thick poly stretch satin) and knew I needed to use it for something!  I decided it would make a great skirt for this pattern and got the cooridnating navy for the bodice. 

I showed you a Marfy pattern here.  I basically just jumped in, starting with the easier parts.  I put the darts in the skirt and sewed the skirt together.  Ok, don't need directions for that... so far, so good.  The top was trickier.  I sewed the darts first and then just kind of thought through each step carefully.  I was afraid this would require tons of hand-sewing, but I guess I did the order of operations pretty well, because there was very little of it.

My one regret - should have used a navy zipper.  I was more concerned about a dark zipper showing on the light skirt, but I didn't think about the white zipper pull hanging down on the navy.  I left the scarf thingy free for now.  I'm on the lookout for a fabulous buckle or brooch to fasten it up like in the pattern drawing.

Note to self:  pull that skirt down!

Inside of the bodice.  The shininess on the upper left is a piece of fashion tape I use to keep that section affixed to my chest.  Cheating?  Perhaps.  At least it's not hot glue, a la Project Runway.

I was careful to match the fabric design at the center back seam.  It's distorted up higher, where the seam curves in for the sway of the back, but the bottom looks nice.  I used interfacing at the all the bodice opening edges to keep everything laying as flat against my skin as possible.

Inside detail. I lined the bodice but not the skirt, since that was quite heavy already.  I used bias tape to finish off the inside zipper nicely.

I'm very proud of this dress, both for me figuring out how to construct the interesting design with no directions, and also just because I think it's a pretty awesome dress!  I can't wait to wear it out to a nice dinner. 

Pattern input please?

On a totally different topic from gowns and cocktail dresses, I got this fabric from Sawyer Brook for a jacket.

Gorgeousness, amirite? 

Anyway, I need to pick the pattern since the Marfy I was going to use has gone AWOL from my pattern stash.  I've narrowed it down to these:

Since I took this photo of my options, I've rejected the one on the right, McCalls 5525.  I don't want it to be strictly outerwear.  So it's between the red version on the envelope of McCalls 5759 - collarless, asymmetrical and a bit edgy... and Vogue 7975, about as classic Chanel-esque as you can get.  I've been wanting to make a sweater jacket FOREVER and always put it off, but the McCalls is really speaking to me. 

Help!

Marfy 1776 complete!

Here's a first look at Marfy 1776, complete! 

Obviously, I have to finish the skirt to get the whole look. :-)  I originally tried a gathered skirt attatched under the top to make it all one piece, but I didn't like how it poofed out right under the top.  Way too "princess" for this almost-30-year-old.  I've settled on an A-line separate skirt, which just needs a lining and zipper to be complete.

Wow, was this a challenge!  I don't think I've ever resewn so many seams in my life, but I wanted this to be as close to perfect as possible.  I'll save the nitty gritty details until I have the whole look together.  This has been hanging up for a few days and could use another pressing.  I also plan to use that special garment tape to tape the cups to my skin.  I don't want my strapless bra to peek out, and you can probably tell this is quite plungeing.

The structure I used worked really well: fashion fabric underlined with cotton flannel to camoflague the boning.  The boning is underneath, on the interfaced lining.  This method of construction worked so well that I'm using the same on my blue lace dress (also almost complete).

Any ideas on a hairstyle?  I think I need an updo, but not sure what I'll do now that my hair is pretty short. 

T-Shirt Infinity Scarf

I whipped up this scarf today in 30 minutes and am quite pleased with myself.

 I bought this t-shirt last spring, and although I haven't had it more than 6 months, I have worn it a LOT, and it shows.  There are some small stains, the neckline is irreparably stretched out, and it has shrunken to a shape shorter and boxier than it was when I bought it.  I was going to get rid of it, but I LOVE it - the stripes, the sequined embellishment, the soft fabric!  So I hacked it up to make an infinitey scarf.

First, I cut out the embellishment section.  Then, I cut the front and back into 2 vertical strips each (sorry, no pic).  Next, I stitched the 4 strips together at the end to form a long loop.  Finally, I top-stitched the embelishment on using a zipper foot.

 Now, I can wear it doubled loosly with a t-shirt or sweater.

 Or triple it and wear it under a fabulous white jacket.

10 Minute Fix

When inserting the zipper in this dress (which I still haven't photographed on me... bad Jenny), I ended up with this, despite using my usual matching technique:

The match between top and botton was off by about 1/8". 

I tried to convince myself it was good enough, but I wasn't happy with it.  After a few hours of thinking about how much I didn't like it and how much time it would take to fix (hours, I was sure), I bit the bullet and ripped out a 3" section to adjust.  I timed myself.

10 minutes, including ripping, is the time it took to fix this zipper.

So go for those little fixes that will make you happier with your projects!  I'm pretty sure this applies to cleaning things in my house, too, but I'm not ready to make that leap yet.

Marfy notes

I wanted to address the comments on my post about Marfy patterns.


       Emily said "I would love to try a marfy...but I'm never sure where to start! Thanks for the post!"
       and Rachel said "Thank you so much for showing this. I have always been scared of Marfy because of having no instructions, but actually seeing one takes some of the fear away."

Yea!  That was my hope for that post.  I hope you give them a try.  I'll walk through my experience with this one.  I really think the confidence boost for your first Marfy is to find a similar pattern or patterns in your stash and use those instructions to guide you.

       Patsy said "Wow, I'd never seen those before. I followed your link and looked at some of them. They look 'interesting' and challenging. But since they require a bunch of measurements, they might fit (me) better than some of the other brands. I always end up altering them like crazy."
They do give lots of measurements to compare, and they do run true to their sizing (unlike some pattern companies, where I sew 1-2 sizes down from what my measurements would suggest).  One downside I didn't think to mention is that they offer a pretty limited size range for most of their patterns, and grading some of them down or up could be a REAL challenge. 

       Lois said "My goodness, Marfy patterns do just about everything they can to keep people from using them!"

I know!  That page always cracks me up.  I mean, yeah, they have no directions, but apart from that, they're not substantially different from a Vogue pattern. 


       Kaydee11 said "That's going to be a beautiful dress! I have a couple of questions about your pattern. It only has the bodice pieces, so where will you get the skirt pattern pieces? Did you know the skirt pieces were not included when you ordered it?"

Yes, I did know I would receive just the bodice.  Marfy always sells single garment patterns.  There are no separates patterns.  The skirt is 1777, but I didn't buy it.  It's $14.50 and a pretty simple skirt.  I'll either use another skirt pattern I have or just make a simple A-line or gathered-waist skirt.  I haven't decided yet.

Marfy 1776 - part 1

I've started sewing Marfy 1776.

First, I want to show you how I cut it out, since the pattern pieces have no seam allowances.  I showed you the pattern here.
I SHOULD trace the pieces onto large paper, add seam allowances, make a muslin, adjust the muslin, cut the muslin apart, and use the pieces to cut out my dress.

What I did:

 Oh yeah.  I'm a rebel, man.  I mentioned before that I've made just a few Marfys, but they've all fit pretty perfectly with no adjustment.  I also have a deadline, so I just went for it.  I'm using one-inch seam allowances in case I need to make some fitting adjustments.  I didn't even trace the pattern pieces, just laid them on the fabric, held them down with cans (sun-dried tomatoes and cream of mushroom soup optional) and used a ruler to guide my cutting.

I've assembled the lining with a lightweight woven fusible, and I just added the boning (one of my least favorite tasks for some reason).

Here is the side that will be against my body:

And here is the boning:

I made the lining first to check fit, which seems good.  Now, I need to cut out the flannel underlining (after cutting out the fashion fabric, lining, and interfacing, I stopped cutting) and assemble the outer layer.  More to come on this adventure...