Two Peas in a Pod

Cidell invited me to be her (platonic friend) date to a party for Artscape, a wonderful Baltimore street festival for art, food, and music. I wasn't sure what to wear so I sent her a list of about a dozen dresses to choose from and she felt that my Burda 06-2010-123 silk jersey sack dress best fit the vibe of the summer cocktail party.



In fact, she liked it so much for the party that she made her own! We discussed whether it would be weird to wear the same dress, but concluded that your average non-sewist would never know it was the same dress because the fabric is different. It is my guess that people would actually be more likely to think we were wearing matching dresses if we wore completely different dresses out of the same fabric than dresses from the same pattern in different fabric. Alas, I had already given my dress of the yellow and gray fan fabric (purchased together at Jomar) to the Goodwill; it never stopped feeling like a nightgown to me. So doing the real twinsie thing was not possible. This is probably a mercy.





When I finished this dress last year, I realized that it really needed a swayback adjustment. Not only do I have a fairly extreme swayback to begin with, but the weight of the elastic casing along the back shoulder pulls the dress down in back so that the front neckline comes up as high as possible. According to the line drawing, the dress is supposed to be a more balanced and hang from the shoulder rather than the front neck, but I don't know how to make that happen.

So the combination of my swayback and backward pull of the dress were resulting in major puddling over the booty. I opened out the shoulder/yoke seam and shortened the back by 2 inches at center back, as you can see on the left. It really could have used another inch and a half but that just seemed crazy so I stayed at two. it still has a little draping over the booty, but is much improved.




As predicted, nobody seemed to notice that we matched, just that we looked fabulous (heh). We spent the evening chilling on a rooftop, mingling, and watching fireworks before I headed back home on the Amtrak. I actually had not worn my silk jersey sack dress but once, because of the swayback problem. I'm glad Cidell prompted me to fix it so I can wear it for the rest of summer. I am loving the way it looks with my 06-2009-151 obi.

All the photos of this dress are here.

Stashoholism Confessional: I Have No Excuse

Yes, I have fallen. After I was getting all smug about it, too. However, I took to heart KBenco's comment on this post:

"My theory is that if you don't keep buying pretty fabric when you see it, the what-was-i-thinking fabric multiplies and takes over the stash."

Ha! I love that. I am blaming all of this on you, KBenco!!! I think what really happens is that you eventually skim off the cream of your stash, leaving only the serviceable but boring fabrics. However, I can't really pretend that I am in any danger of doing this, since I keep track of projects waiting for me in stash and there are more than 20 on the list. At the rate I have been sewing lately, I have the next 10 months or so set up for me.

But I think that's the key. I have been SO BUSY lately, uncharacteristically so, and haven't had time for a good sew since before I went on my trip. Even over the 4th of July, which was a 4 day weekend for me, I had about 3 hours to sew in total. Boo!!!! I have found that when I don't have time to sew, I am actually more likely to buy fabric because it's a way to stay connected to my hobby. I need to carve out some time for me and my sewing machine.

However, I did keep to my mindfulness goal and bought fabric only for which I could envision a specific project. On the far left in the photo is a sort of seersucker, sort of denim, stretch on grain (rather than crossgrain) fabric that immediately brought to mind McCall 6279. I just love this dress, even though I am not usually crazy about safari styles. I considered several fabrics in stash for it, but nothing worked quite right. This fabric, which probably looks like a plate of spaghetti on your monitor, is a dark off-white background with tiny pinstripes in chambray blue and red. Frankly, I don't know how it will look as a dress in real life, because it's the kind of fabric that if you look at it too long you kind of go into an acid trip; it must have to do with the colors creating illusions of shadow and depth. Sewing it will be interesting.

Next is the one fabric I meant to buy, a random knit for muslining my self-drafted version of McCall 6363. It was the only knit of suitable weight of which there was enough fabric, I hope. I was hoping for 2 yards but it is only 1 5/8 yard. I can make the muslin short.

The purple stretch sateen made me think of my mom. Purple is her favorite color and she asked me a couple of weeks ago if I thought someone her age could wear satin. She is making a passel of junior bridesmaid dresses for a friend out of blue satin and apparently anticipates having some left. I saw the purple sateen and just couldn't resist. I've ordered (oops) a black and white knit to make a top and will make a simple elastic waist A line skirt (per her preference) of the purple. I'd prefer a trumpet skirt, but I think she will be more comfortable in an A line.

I was so thrilled to see right after I bought Vogue 8706 that Amanda S. had made it, particularly her hints on the small bust situation. She used a double knit, which it hadn't occurred to me to choose for this pattern but it is nice to have a sturdier fabric in a very fitted dress. So here is my animal print. Not quite a double knit but a fairly sturdy knit. I don't know if it will "count" with the boyfriend--I think he is more into traditional leopard--but it is much more palatable to me!

The last fabric is a lightweight gray denim, again with the stretch on grain rather than crossgrain. I think G Street must have gotten offcuts from a denim manufacturer. I have been thinking of (*gasp*) shorts for this summer. They are very fashionable right now and there are lots of polished styles out there. My objection to shorts is their informality, but the styles I'm seeing now are not for athletics (do NOT get me started about people wearing athletic gear as real clothes) but are meant for nicer occasions. Burda has published several shorts patterns lately, including a couple with size zips so I don't have to deal with the whole fly front situation. I also got enough of this fabric to make a skirt as well. It's a nice color and weight.

If only I could buy sewing time at G Street, I'd be all set!

Let me live vicariously through you. What are you sewing?

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Bunny asked what I used to underline my gray voile flounce dress. I edited the blog post (sorry I didn't put it in the first place) to reflect that I used cotton batiste to underline the bodice. I almost always use cotton batiste as bodice lining for summer dresses, because it is very lightweight, breathes well, and sweat evaporates from it more quickly than traditional lining fabrics (the downside is all that sweat makes it start to look icky and yellowed after a while). I usually line the skirt with something more substantial and slippery.

I ordered my cotton batiste from Vogue Fabrics last year, after researching to find the best price. I am pleased with the quality and it has sewn up well.

Simplicity 4074, Knit Trumpet Skirt

One of the biking skirts I made for my trip to the Netherlands was the knit trumpet skirt from Simplicity 4074. This is one of those patterns with fairly ugly illustrations that turns out lovely garments. I made the mock wrap dress in 2007 and again in 2008. I still haven't made the V neck view but I'm sure I'll get around to it someday. The pattern is still in print.


Fear not, I didn't get Botox. (Not saying I haven't considered it.) The picture on the left was taken four years ago, when I made the gray skirt (if the date on my computer is to be believed the photo was taken on 1/27/2007). I made the rest of the gray fabric into an unsuccessful version of Vogue 8386 (the bust was too large and droopy). That dress is long gone but I still wear the skirt quite regularly. I have no idea what the fabric is--it's not a double knit but is very thick but still stretchy and has wonderful weight and flow and not a single pill in all these years. I wish I knew because I'd look for more of it. It is fantastic. From the $2.97/yd table at G Street, of course.

When I was planning my wardrobe I thought I would make a gored A line skirt out of my Spain fabric, but was not enthused about it as I don't find A lines very flattering on me. For most knit skirts I make a simple fitted tube as in this outfit, which is bikeable in a commuting situation but not comfortable enough on the bike for a full day. I don't know why it took me so long to hit upon the trumpet skirt as the perfect compromise between pencil and A line.

This is a simple skirt and I don't have much to say about it! As with Simplicity 5914, my TNT woven trumpet skirt, the front and back are cut from the same pieces. As my front and back are not shaped the same, I have to take in at the side back seams for swayback and general fitting. Unfortunately, I was in such a hurry when making this skirt that I did not take any photos to document the process, but it is intuitive once you have the skirt cut out and initially constructed. Just try it on and pin out the excess.

To make it easy on myself when getting dressed, I sew a button into the center back waist so I can tell which side goes where. You can use a length of ribbon as a faux tag (or a real tag, if you have them), but I have a glut of buttons due to Fabric Mart's 4 pound bags (alas, no longer available).



This is a great TNT to have in my pattern arsenal. It is a flattering shape for me--giving the idea of "curvy" rather than "wide"--but it has plenty of volume and movement at the hem for biking or other activities. I have been wearing my Spain fabric skirt a ton since I made it, as I love the colors and it goes with just about every top I made for the trip.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

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As for the Prison Matron dress, the random number generator has chosen... lsaspacey! I've sent her an email.

Burda 04-2010-105, Flounce Dress (or, I Don't Hate Gray, I Promise)

I bought this fabric from Vogue Fabrics last year; when I bought cotton batiste from them I figured I might as well throw in a fun fabric if I was paying shipping anyway, and it was only $3.99/yd. It's a beautiful cotton voile with a very subtle sheen and a texture I have decided is really large scale swiss dot. Amazingly, when I purchased it I had it in mind for Burda 04-2010-105 and did not change my mind in the intervening year. Well, in one sense I did--I meant to make this as the blouse but in the end couldn't resist making it a dress.

I raised the neckline by 1.75 inches, and correspondingly altered the ruffle piece according to Eugenia's helpful instructions. Raising the neckline is easy as the neckline is just a slit along the center front.

I made an SBA by narrowing the bust dart. I ended up adding vertical waist darts before sewing on the skirt, because it was just too big in front for my taste, but luckily the bust still fits well and is not too large. I also did a broad back adjustment. I thought I might want to sew the back dart up higher to control puffiness, but the loose fit of the dress doesn't require it. You can see the fullness I added in the back view, but it doesn't look terrible and I have plenty of movement.

I did not make a swayback adjustment to the pattern, as the bodice is cut off right at natural waist. I make my swayback adjustment just below natural waist, so I assumed I would need to make it on the skirt rather than the bodice. I basted (all right, I didn't baste, I just sewed) the skirt to the bodice and whoa! Horrifying swayback dip in the back bodice. You can see the line of pins there where I tried to mark a straight line (it's a little high). I took off the skirt and pinned it back in place with a larger and larger seam allowance in the bodice CB, tapering to nothing extra at the sides, until I got it right.

I checked the new position by tying a piece of elastic around my waist. The waist either still isn't straight or I have a tilted waist. I never understood what "tilted waist" meant but seeing the elastic I think I get it now. I ended up shortening the bodice by 1.5 inches at center back. That is some swayback!

The voile is very lightweight so it had to be lined or underlined anyway. Because there is a yoke I went with underlining, using cotton batiste from Vogue Fabrics. To finish/line the yoke, I used the burrito method from KBenco's blog again, and the yoke turned out gorgeous.

The rest of the bodice was underlined. So I would have lovely finished side seams, I used the faux Hong Kong finish method of cutting the underlining 5/8 inch wider than the fashion fabric at the vertical seams, serging along the vertical seams right sides together, then turning out and letting the excess underlining fold over the serged seam.

Burda wanted you to finish the armscyes with bias tape before putting on the zipper. That seemed like a missed opportunity to tuck the ends of the zipper tape into the bias tape finish, so I waited until the zip was in. I had been undecided what method to use to finish the armscyes, but in the end I like the binding. I used every little scrap of the fabric and each binding is made up on 3 very short bias lengths sewn together.

I got into a little trouble with the neckline. First, I really did try to be all neat and precise with the point at the bottom of the neckline, but in the end it's all held together with indiscriminate zigzagging and Fray Check. Thank goodness for flounces, which were easy-finished with a serger rolled hem; they cover a multitude of sins.

Second, when I went to sew on the collar, it was way too long. Like 3 inches too long. I did not cut any extra off the vertical slit of the neckline, though I did take a 1/2 inch seam allowance at the upper edges. Nobody else mentioned the collar not fitting onto the neckline, so it must have been some imprecision on my part. It was thoroughly annoying.

I drafted a back facing for the neckline. I wasn't going to like it with a front facing and then the back neckline finished only by turning under the seam allowance of my (now inexplicably shorter) collar. I did the Sunny Gal Studio method of finishing the edges of the facing: sew shoulder seams of facing and interfacing separately; serge facing to interfacing along outside edge, with non-glue side of interfacing to right side of facing; turn right side out and then fuse interfacing in place.

To get the facing to lay flat, I had to notch it. Does anyone else hate notching around curves? I feel like it is going to make the garment fall apart on the first wash. I notched around the collar, but fray checked every single cut.

I did a catch stitch by hand to stitch the facing to the underlining all around, so there was no chance of flopping.

For the skirt, I used rayon satin from Fabric.com's massive sale of Vera Wang fabrics last year. I wish I'd bought 20 yards of the satin, as it is lovely and luxurious as a lining. To reduce bulk, I pleated the skirt lining rather than gathering it as for the fashion fabric.

I had limited fabric left after cutting the bodice. I could either have a shorter-than-I'd-like skirt cut on grain, or a crossgrain skirt at a length I prefer. The "swiss dots" are ovals, and the ovals on the bodice are sideways (grain). I debated for a while, but decided I'd rather have a longer skirt and ovals in a different orientation; I figured it would be a rare person who would notice the orientation of the ovals.

I kept the full length of the fabric and took a very deep hem to give weight to the skirt. The hem is a full double fold, and I stitched the edge of the fabric in place right at the fold so that it couldn't crinkle up in there after washing. Then I did a machine blind stitch for the hem.




Love this dress! The gray is a sophisticated color that offsets the flounces. I happened to catch the famous Seinfeld "Puffy Shirt" episode recently and wanted to make sure I didn't go down that road! I purposely kept a bit of ease at the waist, even with the added vertical front darts, so on hot days I can wear it without it touching me and making me sweat.


All photos are here and the pattern review is here







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Some commenters accused me of being a gray-hating colorist (lol) with regard to my Simplicity 2615 Prison Matron Chic. But really, I don't hate gray! I think it's a great color, sophisticated and a blank slate for bright contrasts. Above you can see that I used this dress with orange and hot pink; it also looks great with red, lime green, yellow, teal...just about anything but brown. I also made this gray dress a couple years ago, which is still in my closet (though I admit I'm kind of over it, but only because I did a bad job on the neckline of the underlying bodice; it is kind of bulgy and too low).

Really the issue with that dress is that I know this is what it looks like in real life. It actually does not look as bad in the photo is it does in real life. Trust me, it is like two sad tiny little boobs and then a bigger belly punctuating a duct-tape expanse.

Now that I've made the voile dress, I am going to officially give up on the Prison Matron dress. A couple people mentioned they would like it on that post; leave me a comment letting me know how to get in touch with you and I'll send it on (I'll do a drawing if more than one want it). Keep in mind that it is hemmed fairly short for 5 foot tall me, with not a ton of allowance to let out. I'm keeping the sash, because I will wear it with other things, but will send you the leftover fabric so you can make your own.

Hitting the Pattern Sale

Joann had McCall patterns for 99 cents (rare--the sale is usually $1.99) and Vogues for $3.99 over the holiday weekend, so I undertook the epic journey by bus out to Seven Corners to stock up. My focus this year is on mindfulness when it comes to new fabric, which has cut my buying drastically (I am, however, hoping to lure Cidell into a visit to Fabric Mart's brick-and-mortar store eventually, at which point all bets are off.)

I am definitely happy with my restraint; looking at my over-full fabric shelves makes me feel a little panicky and the downward trend in their groaning overload must continue. However, I have never felt any such compunction when it comes to patterns, even though I have way WAY too many of those as well. Patterns are smaller, store more neatly, and are much easier to part with (I have a whole stack for Freecycle already pulled out). I don't feel weighed down by patterns as I do by fabric.

I love knits and I love knit patterns, so of course there were several of those in my basket. The Palmer/Pletsch basic tee on the upper right has a French dart. A friend with a large (to put it mildly) bust has asked me to help her come up with a basic tee pattern that she can make several of and I thought this might be a good place to start. I don't like that it's "semi-fitted" and neither will she (she is otherwise slim and if her clothes aren't fitted she looks much larger than she is due to her bust), but the marked lines on the pattern will help me with fitting.

If I ever find an animal print that I can stand (I have had several hints from the boyfriend that he would like to see me in animal print), the Vogue dress on the lower right will be the perfect pattern. I considered the ones that Fabric Mart just had on sale--I actually liked some of them--but I do not trust rayon knit and won't buy any that I can't feel first.

And the drapey, cowl-y top in the lower left is just fun.

I neither make nor wear jackets, but why should that stop me from buying jacket patterns? I do plan to make a suit at some point this year. My 12 year old interview suit is not cutting it anymore. It was sold as a suit, not separates, so the skirt was a wee bit tight to begin with (the ol' pear shape situation). It is now unbuttonable, and it's not comfortable to have it zipped all the way. This is fine if I don't take the jacket off, but come on.

And yet, that still doesn't explain me buying these patterns, because the replacement suit will be the conservative, plain, and uninteresting, unlike these jackets.

And of course, dresses. I really like the shape of the bodice on the vintage Vogue. I am very into the cut-on sleeve lately. This looks (of course, drawings can be very deceptive!) like it will have a nice shape over the shoulder.

The DKNY does not appeal to me much in the fancy satin fabric as shown, mostly because I do not need any more dress up dresses. However, when looking through the catalog I realized that it could be made in an everyday fabric for a flattering, sophisticated, but not fussy look. Must contemplate my stash.

I was drawn to the V neckline with collar on the Palmer/Pletsch shirtdress, though again the semi-fitted part of it gives me pause. I would want to tighten that up a bit. As it's a princess seam, it would be a cinch (do you see what I did there? har har).

I've been looking at the McCall with the drapey skirt for a while. It looks somewhat similar to my Drape Drape birthday dress, though actually looking at the pattern and instructions I saw that the drape skirt is actually an overlay, not the full skirt. I don't know that I have any plans for it, but I figured at 99 cents, it was less dangerous to my well-being than a candy bar.

I got obsessed with M6363, in the upper left corner, from the moment I saw it on Debbie Cook's blog, even though she determined that the pattern drafting was a bust. So it may be a blessing in disguise that this is only a plus size pattern and I'm going to have to use it as a model to draft my own. I bought it so that I could see how the front is drafted. It seems obvious that it's a slash and spread, but I don't know where exactly it is slashed and how much to spread.

I bought this silk jersey in 2007 from Mood Fabrics, along with an eyelet that I am sewing as we speak (well, not literally, but it is my current project). It is time to sew this Too Good to Use! I have been looking for the perfect pattern for over four years and it is time to decide. If I can get M6363 to work for me, it is exactly what I have been looking for. Doesn't break up the print too much, but has tummy disguise and some style.



Who knows when I will get to any of these projects, but there's nothing wrong with a little fantasy sewing, right? What are you fantasizing about?