Show and Tell

Well, without further ado, I should show off my Mondrian Dress! It's Simplicity 2922 with the pockets from Simplicity 2927. I tried to be all groovy in the photos. I finished it on my long weekend and wore it to drinks that Friday and then last Friday to work (with matching red shrug) and a party after.



Now it is sad because at the party last Frieday a little kid threw a ball at me and joggled red wine all down the front. I got the red wine out, but the red and yellow twills both ran even though I prewashed them. Argh! The red I was able to deal with but the yellow is still a problem. I think I'm going to have to resort to a bleach pen.

This dress involved hours and hours of hand-sewing and I am so annoyed about the little kid. He threw the ball at us once without incident and we made it clear we weren't interested. At that point the parents should have gently told him to ask before throwing the ball at people. Had he joggled me with the first throw I wouldn't have been so angry because that kind of thing happens. It's that he threw it at us a second time that makes me mad, because the parents were not paying attention. Then they made the kid come apologize to us, but were too cowardly to apologize themselves. Gah! Hopefully I can restore the dress to good condition eventually.

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This is what I'm wearing today. The blouse is McCall 4922 and the skirt is a modified version of Simplicity 4881. I made the skirt of the leftover lining fabric from my green coat, BWOF 08-2007-115. Simplicity 4881 is just a simple elastic waist bias skirt. Unfortunately, with the limited fabric when I cut it out as is it was a little short. I was making it the night before my trip to Vietnam so I lived with it, but when I saw this picture I decided it was just too short. So I made a yoke and sewed it on. It's quite inelegant, but still serviceable and I love the colors.



There's a flickr pool called Wardrobe Remix, where people can post what they're wearing to offer fashion inspiration. The rules are that it has to be an outfit you actually wore outside the house. In the photo description, you list the source for everything you're wearing. I love the idea of it and there are some great outfits on display...but sometimes it seems more about shopping than about expressing yourself. There are other ways to show who you are than buying things. So I joined the pool to offer a little bit of an alternative to buying things--making them yourself. Not that sewing isn't consumerist in its way (my giant stash shows that up), I'm not trying to pretend I'm virtuous, but I just want to make sure people understand there's an alternative to buying the same sweatshop goods everyone else is wearing. It's fun to look through all the outfits I've posted. I see stuff in there I've forgotten about!

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Next pattern review will be the much-loved yoke front blouse, BWOF 01-2008-108. You can read the review here.



This was instantly my favorite blouse pattern from that issue but it took me a while to get around to it. I had the idea of using a plaid (?-is that what it's called in this kind of shirting?--not like a traditional plaid wool or flannel but small scale) or striped shirting and cutting the yoke on the bias. Cidell gave me the fabric; she ordered it from Kashi and he sent her the wrong one. I figured it would work for the blouse, although the plaid design is not square, which would have been best. This kind of traditional shirting is not exactly my style so I nearly didn't finish this blouse because I was finding it so ho hum. But Cidell was on the phone with me and made me finish it and once it was finally done I loved it.

I am always amused that in "how to make things less homemade looking" discussions one of the things that is often mentioned is that larger buttons make things look homemade. I assume this is because it is quicker to make small buttonholes and cheaper to buy small buttons and both time and money are of the essence in RTW factories, so the tinier buttons are used. One of the (many) things I love about sewing is that I can use outrageous buttons. I don't want bitty buttons that blend into the fabric and serve their utilitarian purpose; I want sensational statement buttons that proudly proclaim I'm not afraid to be a little kooky. The big navy buttons on this one add the necessary dose of whimsy so that I still feel like myself in it. Cidell took the photos of this one.

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Birthday dress is made according to original plan and adorable. I plan to wear it to work Thursday. Will try to take pictures then.