Tuesday, August 26, 2008

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your blouses! I am in a blouse making mood. I can't turn down the puffy sleeve look. I, also, think buttons are a wonderful accessory---then i don't have to wear jewelry. Can't wait to see your bday dress! happy pre-b.cindy

laura said...

Little kids who don't listen to their wimpy parents??? Welcome to my world of waitressing! How I love juggling coffee pots and heavy trays on my shoulder while dodging and stepping over out-of-control kids. Of course Mom and Dad don't notice or care but you can bet they'd notice if I dumped a pot of coffee over one of the brats! Sorry about the rant! On the other hand I love the dress and can see that I might like to try something similar myself as I love that 60's look!! How good it must have felt to have your idea turn out so well!

Meg said...

Dang that rotten kid and his even rottener parents! I love this dress and it must be saved!

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure you are not old enough to remember the "groovy" from the 60's, but you did a good job on your poses! :D

That's interesting about larger buttons making things look homemade. I had never even noticed that my RTW had tiny buttons, but I went and looked and sure enough. I have been known to change the buttons on my RTW just because and of course, bought buttons that fit the buttonholes. Never realized they were smaller than I would have probably used.

At any rate, your buttons are fabulous and match your equally fabulous dress. I hope you are able to save your dress.

loopylulu said...
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loopylulu said...

I think the first dress is totally groovy. Great YSL interpretation.

Sue said...

Love both the dress and the blouse. I hope you can rescue the dress - it is a wardrobe classic...

Anonymous said...

What a happy and fabulous dress! For the dress, I would first try a non-bleach fix. I've had success with "Color Run Remover" by Carbona; I hope it works for you too. The blouse and skirt are terrific too!

AllisonC said...

I love all these outfits and I also love how different they all are to each other. I hope you can save your dress, wow I would be so mad.

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to congratulate you on the most fabulous and original dres interpretation! You have done such a great job and pull off the whole look flawlessly.

I love seeing your blouses as well, for those in SBA territory they are inspiring. I'm always interested to see which ones work well for you. Just love all the puffy sleeves!

Natasha (from Australia)

kasizzle said...

Love the dress! Hope you get the color issue worked out. I have used the bleach pen on my husband's shirts as well as the rest of the family's clothes successfully. There is also stuff that's supposed to get out baby stains that works pretty well, also.
I really want to try that BWOF blouse now!

Claudine said...

Great interpretation of the Mondrian dress. If you do manage to save it, you might want to consider getting it dry cleaned in the future. Good luck.

Little Hunting Creek said...

I second the bleach pen idea, also there is some stuff that you can get that takes the excess run dye off of fabric, I think it is called Retayne. I hope it works because that dress is SO CUTE on you! Also the blouses are beautiful. I even have that simplicity pattern but have been busy with birthday present sewing for others to make it yet.

toy said...

I love the colorblock dress, that is seriously so MARC JACOBS

Little Hunting Creek said...

Have you thought about making a 60s style reto colorblocked purse? It would look so perfect with your dress.

Notamermaid said...

I LOVE that dress. and I can't believe you got the lines so straight! It looks absolutely fantastic. Harumph at poorly behaved, poorly monitored children.

Sew-4-Fun said...

Fabulous Mondrian dress! Groovy baby. :) I absolutely love it and seems so 'you'. Not that I really know you. :) Love the buttons too. You did a super job. I hope you wear it often.

Marji said...

Absolutely Fabulous Mondrian dress. I hope so much that you're able to get the white back to white.

Anonymous said...

Wow I love the 01-2008-108 puff sleeve blouse and attempting to make it myself, but I have a question about the buttonband on this shirt that i hope you can help me with.

The pattern says NOT to have seam allowance on the lengthwise edge of the front band. So that means BOTH sides do not have 5/8" seams? Mine seems to be coming out weirdly narrow on the front and wide on the wrong side.

Hope you can help.

Thanks

monique