Friday, November 2, 2012

Souvenier Dress!

I am going to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my friend and his family this year.  This is the perfect opportunity and reason to kick my butt in gear and start sewing up a new dress.  I bought the most gorgeous turquoise dupioni silk while I was on vacation in Savannah, GA in June.  I got it from a little shop called Measure.  I had so much fun browsing in that store.  She carries a wide variety of fabric including leather hydes, silk, linen, and rayon, and she even has Liberty of London prints.
Isn't it beautiful?  I'm in love with it.
I stumbled upon this Vogue pattern number 1192 and instantly decided it was absolutely perfect for this fabric and for me.  Vogue makes the worst fabric choices.  This dress has amazing detailing and it is lost in the cover photo.  You really have to look beyond the sample when you are selecting patterns to get a better idea of the pattern's potential. 

For only five pattern pieces, it sure is work.  I trace all my patterns out onto freezer paper to preserve the pattern's integrity and to allow myself more room for making the modifications I need to.  Since I will likely have to make several adjustments to get this pattern to fit my 4'11" body, I started a muslin in some cheap polyester dupioni I picked up at JoAnn's for about $5.  I'm not exactly sure how to make the mods I'll need with this pattern, but I will figure it out.  I think the waistline is going to have to come up an inch.  Well, wish me luck!  I have about 18 days to finish this up.  I can't wait to wear my souvenier. :) 

Do you sew?  What do you like to sew? I mostly just sew dresses because I live in Florida and I know the basic mods I need to do to get the right fit.  Pants are a little out of my comfort zone for the moment.  Leave me a comment or email me at ellelittleblog@gmail.com

(If you need a little enabling to blow the dust off your sewing machine, JoAnn's has McCall's patterns on sale for $1.29 through tomorrow and Simplicity patterns at 5 for $5 November 8-12.)
Posted by at
Labels: , , , ,

6 comments:

  1. kikiNovember 2, 2012 at 11:15 PM

    I agree. I think the pattern and that fabric were destined to be together.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LetitiaNovember 5, 2012 at 1:44 PM

      I bought the fabric not knowing what I would make with it. I knew it would be a fancy dress, but not one that is too fancy. This pattern is just perfect. I can see myself making it in lots of different fabrics too.

      Delete
  2. karenNovember 3, 2012 at 5:14 AM

    The colour of that silk is lovely. I used to sew a lot, but it's taken a back seat to knitting for the lst few years. When my daughter moves out (next week, woohoo!) I get my craft room back, so maybe I will let myself be inspired and dust off the old Singer. Good luck with your dress - it's a great pattern.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LetitiaNovember 5, 2012 at 1:43 PM

      I wish I had a craft room. Instead, I have a crap room that also holds my sewing machine. I hope all the moving goes well. :)

      Delete
  3. Rob KnitsNovember 5, 2012 at 1:15 PM

    That fabric is gorgeous. I have been staring at my ancient sewing machine, collecting fabric and dreaming about going back to sewing. I do wonder about the freezer paper thing -- do you tape sheets of it together to get it wide enough for a pattern piece?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LetitiaNovember 5, 2012 at 1:42 PM

      I can't wait to have the dress! I have it in my bag here at work for going thread-matching later on. I keep stealing glances at it--it makes me happy! Dust off that sewing machine. Cleaning it up and getting the tension back to normal will be the hardest part. After that, you and your machine will be happily purring along!

      What I like about the freezer paper is it has a plastic backing that I iron onto the fabric. It makes it really easy to cut the pattern out. It rarely happens I need to, but I do tape sheets of freezer paper together to trace larger pattern pieces. I also keep the bigger leftovers when I cut out the pattern pieces to use for tracing the facing pieces and other smaller pattern pieces.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)