FO: Fancy Ball Dress

"Fancy Ball Dress"

(aka Vogue 1192)

 

Just the Facts:
Fabric: 2 yards each dupioni silk from Measure $50 and bemberg rayon from JoAnn's $10

Notions: Thread, zipper $3

Pattern: Vogue 1192
Year: 2010
Time to Complete:  about 2 years (seriously, lol. see here and here)

First Worn:  September 27, 2014
Wear Again:  yes, hopefully I'll have the opportunity soon!
Total Cost: $67.00

It's been a while since I had a finished thing to post.  I've had a lot of changes going on in my life.  The biggest one is that I just started a new job less than 2 weeks ago.  Doing interview prep and such took a lot of energy out of me and then having to work out my notice at my old job of over 7 years was draining as well.  I know I made the right decision, but I was constantly feeling Done.  Now that that's over, more time for sewing! (hopefully)

 

I had my 10-year high school reunion Saturday night.  I wasn't sure I wanted to go to it.  I mean, who actually goes to their 10-year reunion anyway?  I decided to go to the reunion and use it as motivation to finish up this gorgeous dress that's been hanging there taunting me for nearly 2 years.

  

All these night time pictures are terrible, though the fabric color is surprisingly accurate.  A touch less shiny and more green perhaps.  I left off with this dress very annoyed with the left front bodice piece.  The bust dart was in the way wrong place and I COULD NOT figure out how to fix it.  I guess a couple more years of sewing experience under my scissors helped a lot.  I looked at the pattern piece and knew exactly what I needed to do to fix my issue.  I marked my bust apex on the pattern piece. closed the dart on the tracing, and retraced the pattern piece to start fresh.  From there, I slashed the bust dart open and spread my pattern piece out, creating a much smaller and shorter dart.  The new pattern piece is almost perfect!

 

I could have done a better job with the hem.  It's a bit lower in the front than the back.   I lost a fair amount of fabric to unraveling over the years.  YEARS.  This dress was taunting me in the corner, you have no idea.

 

Glamor shot!

 

I was trying to show off the pleats and failing horribly.  Are they tucks or pleats?  I can never keep them straight.  According to this pop quiz, people have been getting them confused for a long time.  I like this description from that same link: "A tuck is secured it’s entire length, as in a pin-tuck. A tuck is fixed.  A pleat is only secured at one end (unless it is smocked) it is loose, it can fold and unfold. A pleat is malleable."  I'm thinking my shaping detail is a pleat because they lines aren't sewn for the entire length--only 2-3" per line.

 

 I started with the size 8 and made quite a few changes to this dress to get it to fit me properly.

    --shortened the dress front and back by 3"

    --took 1.5" off the shoulder seam at the neck tapering to match the pattern at the armhole

    --redrew the v-neck seam line, taking off anywhere from 3/4" to 1/4" 

    --moved the bust dart on the left front and made it 2.5" instead of 4.5"

    --hand-stitched a 3/4" hem instead of 2" hem (shouldn't have shortened so much!  I didn't make the shoulder seam adjustment on my muslin and that's where I lost a lot of the length.)

 

More about the reunion:  I was SHOCKED! by who married who, how much weight people gained (or lost), the jobs people held, and how many people I didn't recognize at all.  One guy in my class is a construction foreman-type who works for the State of Florida.  His dad is the local judge and everyone thought Andrew was going to be a lawyer for sure.  The party was held at the town country club (I went to school in a very small town).  There was some food, a cash bar, and a very bad DJ.  We opened the time capsule.  Someone put tarter sauce in it!  It was brown and gross after 10 years.  There were a lot of pictures in the time capsule too.  Someone put one in from the first day of senior year.  I don't even remember taking the photo that day.  My life has changed so many ways since graduating from high school, yet it feels like I haven't changed at all.

I didn't get any pictures at the event, so I had to get up on Sunday and take some semi-decent daytime ones.  This is bedhead and leftover mascara.  Wooo.  I'm also hiding my glasses behind my back.  Lazy Sunday FTW.

 

I had a really hard time with this back vent.  I was stumped for several days.  The lining pattern pieces are an inch or two narrower than the fashion fabric and the lining didn't seem to match up with the fashion fabric on the inside.  The left side looks like it's pulling.  That's actually the extension side and the directions had me tack that down, which only led to the dress riding up like crazy.  I opted to leave the extension open and iron a sharp crease instead.  It's marginally better, trust me.

 

Bonus butt shot!

 

I said it before--this dress is the result of a perfect pairing of fabric and pattern.  The pleats/tucks look perfect and the darts are sharp.  This dress is classically beautiful.  I think even the color is great.  I believe the details would be lost in a darker color.

 

There is one major stress point on this dress and that is where the right and left fronts meet just above the rightmost tuck.  The pattern instructions have you perform a certain form of sorcery to get these pieces joined.  You should probably backstitch this section more than you think you need to.

 

I did a lot of hand stitching on this dress.  The armscyes and necklines were understitched by hand.

 

As were the hems and tacking the lining to the shell.

 

Have a glimpse at this weird vent.

 

And a glimpse of the gorgeous slubbing on this fabric!

Did you go to any of your high school reunions?  What surprised you the most about the people you graduated with 10 (or 20 or 30) years later?

FO: Lady and the Hounds

   

Just the Facts:
Fabric: 1 yard of pink cotton interlock from JoAnn's $6.00

Notions: Thread, clear elastic from stash

Pattern: Lady Skater
Year: modern ~2013
Time to Complete:  about 2 hours

First Worn:  July 25, 2014
Wear Again:  yes
Total Cost: $6.00 not including the pattern

 

 

  After I finished my Moneta, I lost the sewing mojo.  I didn't feel like making anything.  No projects sounded exciting to me.  It was weird.

 

I was cleaning and organizing again and I found this remnant of fabric I bought at JoAnn's a while ago.  I could use the same thread color as what I used on the Moneta, so off I went making this dress.  I might do one more pink dress before I change my thread.  Call me lazy if you want.

 

It looks like I'm picking underwear out of my butt in this photo.  I'm not!

 

I love this fabric.  It's 100% cotton and has loads of stretch.  The only bad thing about it was that my pins left holes in the fabric and I use silk pins for everything!  I ended up not pinning much after the sleeves were sewn on.

 

I only had enough fabric for short sleeves on this dress (barely).  This dress is definitely less formal and the short sleeves work.

 

Not much twirl in this skirt.

 

I think the best part is the stealthy print. 

 

Houndstooth!

 

The only change I made on this dress from my other versions was to make the neckband in two pieces.  I didn't have enough fabric to cut one long piece, so I measured out what part was the back and what part was the front, added a seam allowance, and cut 2 parts.  I actually think this makes the bodice look much cleaner and I think I will put this change on future versions.  Win.

 

This dress went together really fast.  The part that took the longest was cutting out the fabric.  When you have just enough, you have to be really careful and deliberate with your pattern placement and cutting.  I like that I can be so thrifty and make it work with very little waste though.  

 

Annoying hair in face.

 

This is a very versatile dress.  I wore it to work, then to a beer tasting, then to play goofy golf, then to play pool/billiards, and it never got annoying like some of my other outfits do.  The sleeves stretched out a bit, but that isn't all bad.  My knit sleeves are usually really tight on my triceps and biceps.  It's nice to have some room to move.  That's part of the reason makers make things.

 This photo is very 1920s German lady to me.

I'm leaving for Las Vegas in 9 days!  OMG.  It's coming up so fast.  I have so many decisions to make.  Rent a car at the airport and head straight to the Grand Canyon or get a hotel room for the early morning before heading out?  Where to get a hotel for my other 3 nights?  Should I keep the cheap rental car for an extra day for further sight-seeing?  Decisions.  Decisions.

FO: Young Woman in a Pink Dress

"Young Woman in a Pink Dress"

 

"I feel the weight

Of Atlas' woes, my brother in the west

Shouldering the pillar that props heaven and earth,

No wieldy fardel for his arms to fold."

Prometheus Bound, by Aeschylus 347-50

Just the Facts:

Fabric: 2 yards of fuchsia knit $15

Notions:  Interfacing, serger cones (building up the stash) $8

Pattern: Colette Moneta, $7.50

Year: 2014
Time to Complete:  about 5 hours including tracing the paper pattern off

First Worn:  July 13, 2014
Wear Again:  yes!

Total Cost: $30.50

 

Bucket list item #204:  Take picture in front of a Matisse.  Check.

 

Realize you are standing in front of Back II and nobody can see it in the photo.  Move slightly to the left. And tighten that damn collar again.  Welcome to my tie collar Moneta and the Lillie and Hugh Roy Sculpture Garden in Houston, TX.

\

I used the small bodice and extra-small skirt for this dress.  I chose those sizes based on the measurements of my lady skaters.  I think this dress fits pretty well.  I could and should go back to the small for the skirt so it is more gathered if I make this dress again.  At this point, I'm not sure I will make this dress again.  It's nice, but it isn't as easy as the lady skater.  I prefer the shape of the lady skater skirt, the cuff and neck bands, and the overall construction method.  I do like that the Moneta has pockets and comes with a zillion collar options.  Maybe I'll try it again.  Maybe.

  

I wish I had a bunch to say about this dress, but I don't.  I made it in a cotton blend knit.  It took only a couple hours to sew up once I had everything cut out.  It probably could have been a one hour project if I didn't lollygag about so much while I'm sewing things.  I sewed most of this dress on my serger.  I needed to use my regular machine for attaching the elastic with the zig-zag stitch and hemming the hem and sleeves with the twin needle.  I only had cone thread in a color that mostly matched, so I filled up 2 bobbins for the regular machine and used 1 serger cone for my second top thread.  Too legit to quit.

  

I don't love the way the collar turned out because the seam line is totally visible.  I think the seam when you sew the two collar pieces together should be on the underside and that wasn't the case with my dress.  It might have turned out better if I sewed the the collar on with interfaced side on the bottom instead of the top (or whatever the opposite of what the instructions said).  I love the 3/4 sleeve length.  I think it makes me look polished and put-together without actually being polished and put-together IYKWIM.  That's why I <3 my lady skaters so much.

This is a terrible photo.  More on that in a minute.  I think the way the pattern has you sew the elastic in is a bit weird and cool.  You basically cut a length of elastic, mark a few key match points on it, and stretch the elastic to those match points while you sew it down.  Stretching the elastic is what creates the gathers.  Pretty cool, huh?  I ended up with a couple sections of fabric that wasn't gathered much.  I ended up doing a regular thread gather dealie on those sections to even everything out.

I originally wanted to take FO photos at the Water wall in Houston.  This is that thing you see in this photo.  It's a 64-foot tall curved wall with water cascading down on all sides.  There are always people around the wall taking engagement photos, wedding photos, dance troupe photos, fashion photos (all examples of what I saw while there), and more.  The wall is right near the Galleria and there is loads of free parking.

Do I look like a wet rat in this picture?  It's okay to say yes because I FEEL like one.  I was miserable.  I parked in the yellow parking lot at the Galleria--not that far from the water wall.  The problem with parking at the Galleria is that all the parking is in a garage and the safest way to get out of the garage without driving is through the mall.  So I walked into the mall and proceeded to walk to the nearest street-level exit to make my way to the water wall.  Sounds okay right?  How could this possibly go wrong?  ---It could go wrong in EVERY FREAKING POSSIBLE WAY.  First, the exit was the "designated smoking section."  Hack, cough, spit.  Gross.  Second, the exit was on the exact opposite side of the water wall.  The Galleria is massive people.  MASSIVE.  I can't find the acreage of the Galleria itself, but it must be near 400.  So, I'm on the wrong side of the mall and I need to walk all the way around in the sweltering Texas sun to get to this water wall and I walk the LONG way around.  I'm already at least a half mile away and I make it even longer on myself. 

But I made it!  Pit sweat.  Gross hair.  General disdain for life and everything in it.  The wind was on this side of the wall, so I had sweaty windblown hair and I was being annoyingly misted by water.  I took my photos and walked back to my car.  Not the long way this time.  Fortunately for me, parking in the parking garage meant my drink was still on the cold side when I got back and I savored every delicious gulp on my way to my next stop--

 

--which was the Lillie and Hugh Roy Sculpture Garden for those playing along at home.  I was only slightly less sweaty and slighly more hydrated when I got there; however, my attitude was at least an 7 on a scale of 1-10.  Huge improvement.  This place was so quiet and definitely less-frequented.  I thought it made a great location for photos.

It was kind of a choose-your-own adventure place.  There were several blank walls.  They reminded me of those blank inside cards.  You know the ones I'm talking about?  They have a photo on the front and no funny phrase or loving thought or whatever.  You are supposed to be creative/clever/witty/insightful/forlorn/insertotheradjectivehere enough to come up with your own crap.  (obvs I'm no good at blank insides.  Waste of money.)  That's how I felt about this blank wall.  I chose despondent.  It works.

Then I found this bench opposite of no sculptures and chose to scheme up my next move.

While I searched for birds' nests in this sculpted bush.

THE END.