BWOF 04-2009-102, Summer Happy Hour Dress

So as soon as it started getting warm all the girls of DC busted out their strappy sundresses. I was struck with jealousy and also amazement at the fact that I do not have a single strappy sundress in my closet. The closest I come is my goddess dress, which is not spaghetti straps. So I neeeeeeeded one.

When I found this fabric at G Street on the bargain table in April, I was thrilled. It's lace, it's tiered, it's stretch--perfect for a quick, easy wearing, fashionable summer happy hour dress. I snatched up enough for a dress and a super-easy elastic skirt (haven't made the skirt yet) and sewed it up within a few days.

When I got home I went through the BWOFs and decided on 04-2009-102. In the magazine, I thought the photo for the top version was a jersey (turns out it was a silk), but this pattern is in fact for wovens. Pfft. I treat that as a mere suggestion (not the other way, though; I would never attempt to turn a knit pattern into a woven one). Since the fit in the woven is intended to be very body conscious at the bodice, I didn't need to size down to use a knit. Well, I did have to size down because the smallest size was a 36, but I would have sized down to a 34 in the woven, too.

There is really not so much to say about this dress, other than it's easy but has a nice impact.

-In cutting the slinky underlining for the lower front piece, which has the drape/cascade/whatever you want to call it, I cut the underlining off along neckline to reduce the bulk.

-I used a heavy woven interfacing on the upper front bodice so the square neckline would stay square and stand up. It does those two things; however, it pulls/opens outward a little bit at the upper edges. I experiment with putting boning along the center front edges and it had no effect so I didn't end up adding any.

-In addition to the colored slinky underlining (the leftovers from my mom's Knip Mode gather front tee), I lined the bodice to get a clean finish. As you can see, I tacked down the drape/cascade by sewing the lining over it. I should probably trim off the excess but I haven't bothered to do so yet.

-I used elastic for the straps, which was actually kind of dumb. I don't know what I was thinking. It's too stretchy and I think the elastic isn't strong enough to hold up the dress for too many wearings (what with the slinky and all the volume it is quite heavy). I keep meaning to pick up some flat lace to sew on top for some stability. The good thing about elastic is that it doesn't fall off my shoulders.

-Left out the zipper.

-Even though part of the beauty of this dress is that it's shapeless and therefore you can eat as much as you want while wearing it, it was a little too sacky when completed. I added back darts to give it a tad more shape.




I am very pleased with my summer happy hour dress. It's cute, fashionable, comfortable, easy to wear, and a little bit sexy. I am always conflicted about making clothes I can't wear to work, because the number of occasions to dress for that don't involve work are rather embarrassingly small sometimes when I have gotten lazy about my social life, but I've already made several opportunities to wear this one and I think it has served its purpose well.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Stashoholism Confessional: Goodwill Edition

So I am always reading about other people finding awesome vintage fabric and huge caches of amazing patterns at the Goodwill. The Goodwills in the greater DC area are a little too fancy. They go for a "boutique" concept, so the prices are a little higher and there is a LOT less merchandise on the floor, and nothing out of date. I check every time I drop stuff off, but I have never seen any patterns or fabric.

So when I read in the paper that the Goodwill was doing a traveling trunk show 11 blocks from my house and the paper specifically mentioned vintage fabric and buttons, I was so there!



There wasn't much by way of fabric--this was actually the only large piece I saw. Tons and tons of old linens, doilies, tablecloths, placemats, etc, but I'm stocked up on those. I think the fabric would be cute as a shift dress. I don't have enough shank buttons so I chose all the cute shank buttons I could find. I also picked up a bag of ribbon. Unfortunately, they're fairly short lengths--not long enough to go around the hem, but sufficient for a waistband or belt. They're really gorgeous, though. I also got some elastic (not pictured) and an all-metal eyelet setter. I have a Dritz eyelet setter and it is pretty much crap, but seriously doubt the all-metal eyelet setter will be any kind of advantage. I think the issue is with the eyelets and not the setter.

I ended up waaaaay overpaying for this stuff. The girl ringing it up was very confused and didn't really pay attention to the pricing structure. Buttons were supposed to be 99 cents "per set" and beads $1.99. But I think she charged me $1.99 for the buttons, including the card that has only one button on it. The total came out to $46. But I didn't want to be that person who haggles with the Goodwill, ya know? The money goes to a good cause.



To make myself feel better, I checked out eBay to see how much my nicer buttons would go for. I particularly love the glass flowers. They are probably pressed glass rather than cut glass, but they're really beautiful. I searched for "vintage czech glass buttons." eBay did not make me feel better because all the listings for similar buttons were $0.99! Oh well.



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I other news, my Knip Mode arrived already! Postage was expensive because they don't have non-express mail as an option for overseas mail from the Netherlands anymore, but it got to me in just a few days. Thank you, Geertje!









(click on the photos to enlarge)

Knip Mode was celebrating 40 years with 40 dresses in this issue! There aren't really 40 dresses as many are variations, but there are lots of cute dresses! In addition to the Martin Grant dress, I LOVE the other designer copy (#14, in yellow on the bottom row of the photo page) and the yoked raglan sleeve slightly trench-ish design (#7). I love a good trench dress, but I cannot wear any variation of khaki because of my coloring. Cidell and I were discussing this and she suggested navy. I don't wear a lot of navy, but I am kind of intrigued by the idea of a navy trench dress. But would the details show up at all? Anyway, that dress might be cute in navy.

Of course I have a million projects ahead of it! I need to do another project list, although I've only finished one from the most recent collage and have two remaining from the one before that. I keep going rogue and making things that aren't on the list. I've made three projects from my NYC fabric haul and this weekend was an unscheduled blouse of fabric purchased in March. But all of them were soooooo cute and so insistent that they be made RIGHT NOW that I had to do it. Fabric addiction is a demanding mistress.

Odds and Ends

First of all, thank you for all the helpful responses to my request for the June Knip Mode! Geertje is sending it to me and I should have it within the next couple weeks! I'm so excited.

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So of all the fabric I *did* get in NYC of course I was lamenting what I didn't. I wanted some avocado jersey, and after working with some silk jersey was kicking myself for not getting anyone. That's when Elizabeth of eword10 said she had found silk jersey in avocado for $5.99/yd!!!!!! When she offered to pick some up and mail it to me, I couldn't say yes fast enough. It arrived yesterday. It is gorgeous. I've already made the dress I intended for avocado jersey out of the Spandex House print so now I've got to figure out what to do with it.... Thank you, Elizabeth!

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There were a few questions on my Butterick 5320 puffy collar wrap dress:

Linda said...

I hope you don't mind, but I have to ask about your shoes. They look like a perfect match for the green. Will you share information about them. Green is my favorite color.

Unfortunately, I am no help with these shoes. I got them on eBay around three years ago, so I'm guessing they are no longer available. The brand is Bamboo, and if it's any consolation they're so poorly made I've actually never worn them out of the house for fear that they absolutely chew up my ankles and leave me bloody.

Rachel said...

Since you posted that Laundry dress on your June 19 post, I have become obsessed with finding a pattern for it. A nice person at Stitcher's guild found one really close and I wanted to share it with you: http://www.voguepatterns.com/item/V2787.htm?tab=list/vintage_vogue&page=all


Well, obviously I have consistent taste, because I made Vogue 2787 a couple years ago (pattern review)! I brought it with me to Vietnam for dressy events. Here I'm wearing it in the Mekong Delta:



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And now I will abuse some scrapbooking supplies. My sister is an avid and talented papercrafter and I always like to see what she's got going on when I visit. Papercrafters have a lot of nifty tools, including a stylus-type hole punch you can use to make holes anywhere on the page. I thought this was brilliant and immediately bought one (with Joann coupon, of course) for making small holes for earrings in cardstock. It was only a few dollars and I have gotten a ton of use out of it.

Belts are always a problem. I buy most of mine at Ross, which isn't big on selection, so they rarely have my size. Even when belts are my size, they have for many years been designed to wear closer to the hip with low rise pants than at natural waist, and so I almost always have to add a few more holes. Once I figured this out it made everything easier. Perfect skinny patent leather belt for $3.99, but only available in
XXL? No problem! Just put in some new holes and cut off the excess. I wanted a gold belt and found one on Bluefly that reverses from gold to red. Perfect, because I've been wanting a red patent belt as well. It arrived and needed a few more holes. So I pulled out my trusty papercrafting hole punch and got to work.



Look for this belt accessorizing an upcoming project!

Butterick 5320, Elizabethan Collar Wrap Dress

Another of the Four Projects in Four Days! Ok, so the collar is not technically Elizabethan, but it's got a lot more volume than you normally see.



For a long time I never managed to get my schedule to match up with the Butterick sales at Joann, so I didn't buy any Buttericks for probably a year. Then I finally managed to catch a sale, and stocked up! Among my haul were the Maggy London B5243knit dress I wrote about last week and this one, B5320 also from the Maggy London line, designed by Suzi Chin. I like wrap dresses, and this one had a lot of great features with the flat front and gathered side and back skirts, princess seams in front, and what I thought was a ruffled collar.

The fabric for this dress is...an Ikea sheet! It's the Gaspa sheet and I was completely taken with the color, the weight, the sheen, the hand, everything. These are great for sewing! I bought this last year and washed it when I got home so I don't recall what size it was. I *think* a queen ($14), though possibly a king ($15). I remember being annoyed that they didn't have any twins or fulls, but in the end it turned out to be very fortuitous. This dress takes a huge amount of fabric, and I barely managed to squeeze it out. After making this dress, I bought the pink color the last time I was at Ikea. Unfortunately, they don't have the dark gray at my Ikea because it would be perfect for my kimono dress.

As I said, when I picked up the pattern I thought the collar was just a ruffle. But when I was cutting out the pattern pieces I was confused until I realized that it's a sort of a puffy bubble arrangement. The pattern photo really does not illustrate the drama potential of this collar! I didn't interface the outer collar, and now I wish I had to ensure that it will always remain puffy, as I did with my orchid collar big shirt.

Normally I would shorten a wrap dress between the waist and the shoulder for an SBA but I had no idea how to correspondingly alter the collar so I just had to make it and see what happened. It turned out quite low, but not gapey thank goodness! It's an easy fix to keep it in professional territory, just a hook and eye sewn in place where I wanted the crossover to be.

Because of my limited fabric, and how giant the pockets are, I had to cut the inner pockets out of batiste. To ensure that the flash of white would never show and the reinforce the pocket to keep it from bagging out I stitched ribbon over the pocket opening edge before sewing in place.

I got this ribbon from Joann several years ago and I'd never found the right project for it. I loved the way it looked in this dress so much that I used it to finish the front opening edge. The dress is designed to be fully lined, but my thick fabric didn't need it. I had thought to use bias strips, perhaps, but would have had to use a contrast fabric. The ribbon was so cute I had to use it. I got a little slapdash here because the ribbon doesn't really shape with an iron, and I had to stitch it down on the inside edge as well as the outside and there is a little bit of puckering in places, but I don't mind it one bit.

The only thing I don't like about this design is the back bodice. It has you gather the lower edge of the bodice and the skirt and sew them together with a stay.
Size 8 = 14 3/4 inch
Size 10 = 15 1/4 inch
Size 12 = 16 inch
Size 14 = 16 1/2 inch
I don't hate the blousy look here, but if I were to make it again I would definitely convert those back bodice gathers to darts for a sleeker look in the back.

The collar. It is a wrangle. The undercollar is a spiral, the upper collar is a giant rectangle with tapered ends (worm shape?). There are 28 pleats in the upper collar. While I cut the upper collar out with a sawtooth for each marked pleat, in the end I ended up sort of guesstimating so that the upper- and under-collars ended up the same length. I tucked each pleat downward, radiating from center back; you can sort of a little bit see how they change direction in this shot of the back. The upper collar is wider than the under collar so although I followed their instructions to understitch the outer edge seam allowance to the undercollar I don't know that it was necessary, and pressing that seam was terrible. I really felt like I was wrestling with the fabric for the collar, so I don't recommend it for early beginners, who I think will find it too exhausting and frustrating.

I was going to put sleeves on, but as I got close to that step I thought they might compete with the collar too much, and the collar covers a bit of the shoulder so the style is still office appropriate.

I LOVE this dress. It is so much fun to wear, and gets a lot of compliments when I do. As you can see, I wore it to the Smithsonian National Zoo on Sunday and had lots of fun. The cotton is very cool and comfortable to wear. It wrinkles as cotton does but not unduly. The color is sensational, and I don't feel drab wearing a solid as I often do. You know how much I love me some prints, so a solid is always a risk. I'm glad I took it with this dress!





All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Call for June Knip Mode

So, several people mentioned in response to my RTW Inspiration post that there is a dress in the June issue of Knip Mode that is similar to this Martin Grant:



I would LOVE to have this issue! I have been thinking about that dress for months and would really appreciate the opportunity to see how the pattern goes together. If it is still on newstands, is somebody in Europe (or elsewhere it's available) willing to pick this up and send it to me? I will of course pay for the issue and shipping! You can email me at t r e n a [dot] b at g m a i l [dot] c o m (taking out the spaces).

Thank you!