FO: Garden Party Plaid Hazel

"Garden Party Plaid"

 

The Facts
Fabric:  Green, Pink, and White Plaid Quilter's Cotton - 3 yards $12.88 (It says I bought 2 yards on my receipt, but I'm sure I measured more fabric than that.  The fabric girl at Hancock must have put it in wrong.)
Notions:  Invisible zipper, cotton batiste, thread from stash - $3.00
Pattern:  Colette Hazel with a Colette Chantilly skirt

Year:  Modern
Time to Complete:  I'm guessing 12 hours.  I tried to match the plaid and spent some time hand basting
First worn:  September 15, 2013
Wear again?  YES!
Total Cost:  $16

 

 This is my third Hazel  and I wanted to do something a little different with this one.  I love the skirt on the two chantillys I made previously and I had enough fabric to make the bigger skirt this time.

Why does the self-timer hate me so much?  Here's the back anyway.

 

Sometimes I borrow my friend Ryan's yard for a change of scenery.  He lives in the "city." It's so bright at my house and hard to get good pictures.  I'm experimenting with that.  Ryan's cat could see me from the sliding glass door as I was taking pictures and she was desperate to be outside with me!

 

This skirt has the proper amount of twirl.  It's perfect!

 

A better view of the back and not taken with the self timer.  I took some pictures around 10am and some around 6pm to try to find the best light.  The afternoon pictures turned out much better!  The downside is I'm all wrinkly at the end of the day.

 

 This is a good picture to show the plaid mismatch.  I had a lot of fabric, but not quite enough to get all the skirt pieces on the fabric in the same direction.  I put the front side panels upside down to fit on the fabric.

 

But those upside down side panels totally get lost in the folds.

 

The other change I had to make for the Chantilly skirt was to move the invisible zipper to the side seam.

 

Look!  A prop!  I picked a few pears off the trees in my yard.  I will be making lots of pear foods in the coming months.  Pear pie, pear cookies, chicken and pears...and whatever else I can come up with.

 

These pears are so good.  They are way better than any I've ever bought from the store.

 

I hand-basted the dart line to make sure the stripes lined up how I wanted them to.  And a secret:  sometimes I use the selvedge when I'm cutting my fabric.  It ends up in the seam allowance anyway.  Ssshh.

 

It was worth it and they did line up just right.

 

I hand-basted the two back pieces together too.  They aren't perfect, but they look pretty darn close.  I ended up unpicking that left side seam you see here to put in the zipper on the left side.

 

Here's an even better view of the mismatched pattern placement.  I'm calling it a "design feature." It looks like it was intentional after all.

  

Fabric close-up!  I picked this up at Hancock fabrics in Savannah last year. I intended to make a strapless dress with it, but I decided I prefer dresses with straps as they are more work appropriate.

 

The Chantilly skirt pockets are smaller than the Hazel ones.  This is a good view of the invisible zipper with the pocket on the left side.  It's quite clever how that side seam pocket comes together.

 

Invisible zip.  I need to add a hook and eye because it is a bit lower than I prefer.  Also that white fabric. . . 

 

. . . I couldn't tolerate all that mess going on at the waist seam.  I made a bodice lining in white batiste and slip stitched it in place.

 

Magic happy lining to cover that crappy-looking seam allowance.  I zig-zag my seam allowances by the way.  I don't have a serger (or didn't until I bought one online yesterday! I hope to have it by the end of the week).

A new, fun dress to start the second half of September!  Enjoy your week everyone!

~elle