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.

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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.



FO: Lisette

"Lisette"

Just the Facts:
Fabric:  2.5 yards each of blue floral lawn and navy poly/cotton from JoAnn's  $10

Notions:  Thread and zipper $2

Pattern:  Colette Chantilly
Year:  modern ~2009
Time to Complete:  15 hours maybe?  I don't keep track of time.  I focus on getting the details right rather than rushing to get it finished.

First Worn:  May 17, 2014
Wear Again:  yes and I have several times already
Total Cost:  $12 not including the pattern

 

It was really difficult to get photos of this dress.  It was always too sunny when I wore it (not that these photos are much better. . .).  I made Version 1, which is fully lined, and I added pockets like Version 2.  

 

 I love this dress mostly because I get to wear my blue shoes!  Satin, not suede.

 

Adding pockets to a fully-lined dress with a side zipper was quite the challenge.  I had to really think about how all the pieces would fit together.  I didn't want to sew the lining and the shell together at the skirt because that would take away some of the movement the two separate skirts provide.  I could have put the pockets on the lining and tacked the shell fabric pocket seam allowance down to the lining pocket seam allowance.  Ultimately, I decided to sew the three layers of fabric as one between the circles.  Then I stitched around the pocket bag as normal.   I will experiment with adding pockets on fully-lined garments in future projects.  I went through a lot of trial and error and there has to be a better, cleaner way to add pockets to a fully-lined garment.

 

I use a heavily modified bodice front D piece.  On this dress, it seems too modified.  :-/  The midriff front doesn't lay flat between the boobs.  When I first made the bodice muslin for this dress, I couldn't stand all the gaping fabric.  I took out about 5 inches of width and probably an inch of length to get a bodice I was happy with. 

 

I used the size 0 for this one.  I found I have to go up in size when the bodice has actual shoulders.  Here, you can see just how much extra fabric I took out.  I deleted my photos from my fitting session a couple years ago.  I think I'm due for a refitting though.  I feel like my underbust is bigger than it used to be. Perhaps lung expansion due to all the running?  Am I making stuff up here?

Look at all that skirt body!  My lining fabric is about twice the thickness of the cotton lawn, which I think works well for this dress.  My white chantilly is light swiss dot and light batiste and it just floats along.  This blue dress is a bit more stiff and stands away from my body more.  It's like a petticoat without the extra layer!

 

I have crazy hair!  When I do long runs at night, I take a shower after because I quite literally can't stand the smell of myself.  And showers are good.  I normally sleep in the next morning and skip the shower, leaving me with crazy bedhead.  Ugh.

 

This is my third one of these, so there isn't much for me to say.  It twirls really well!  Twirlability is my favorite feature.

 

Side zip like a boss!  I bought a bunch of invisible zippers from zipit on etsy.  Great seller.  I highly recommend her if you don't already use that seller.  I ordered my zippers on Thursday afternoon and received them Saturday.  I was having a really hard time finding a navy invisible zipper locally and I was stuck on the dress waiting for a stupid zipper. 

 

I ordered white and the assorted bunch of 22" zippers.  I loved the extras I got with my order.  The fortune teller fish was adorable.  

 

It says I am in love.  It said I was passionate right after I got out of the shower.  Wonder what my fortune would be if I put my hand in the freezer?  Cold as ice?

 

Look at the lining!

 

Also look at my pockets!  This picture was a great idea in my head.  So Much Leg.

 

I don't like these wrinkles in the back and I'm not really sure what to do about it.  It could be caused by the midriff front being too tight.  

  

I don't know if this is a serger mishap or a defect in the fabric I didn't notice.  I put a bit of fray check on it and am forgetting about.  OWN THE IMPERFECTIONS!

 

I could use a bit of hand-stitching here.  This is the innards of where the pocket is.  The pocket itself is fully closed, it just isn't 100% attached to the lining.

 

Here it is from the lining side.  I didn't serge this pocket.  I knew there was a reason you aren't supposed to feed the gremlins sew after midnight.

 

Oops.  I changed my serger thread already.  Boo.

 

Here's a close-up of the fabric.  It reminds me of something I made with a spirograph.  The pattern says to topstitch the midriff piece on top and bottom and I think that looks silly.  I don't do that for this dress.  I get the value in it--keeping all four layers of the shell's midriff together--but it's my dress.  I do what I want.

 

Another oops.  Didn't sew another fashion fabric to the wrong side of the bodice midriff.  I was supposed to cut 2 each fashion and lining fabrics.  I was running out of fold when I was laying everything out and I forgot to go back and cut it from the crossgrain on top.

 

This was a great project for me.  I got my pockets!  I wear this dress about once a week right now because it's so perfect for me.

Fashion Plate: Soiree Stunner Dress

I'm a huge Colette patterns fan if you haven't noticed and when I saw ModCloth's Soiree Stunner Dress, I knew I had to feature it as one of my Fashion Plates.  The pattern I chose is Colette's Macaron dress.  With a few simple changes (unlined bodice, delete sleeves, add bias tape arm and neck holes, add 1.5" strip of lace on the bottom), you can make a gorgeous dress that will be even better than the inspiration one.  A lot of people said in the reviews that the fabric ModCloth used for this dress was rough and slubby.  To "fix" that small problem with the inspiration, I chose to feature a blue pima cotton sateen.  Cotton sateen is a great fabric to work with.  It sews, presses, and wears incredibly well.  With the more fiddly details like sewing on bias tape (which is probably my least favorite sewing activity right now), you don't want to have to deal with difficult fabric at the same time.  I liked this plain black polyester lace for the bodice detail because it has no stretch and will submit to your every will.  Muah-ha-ha!  If machine washability is a factor for you, you may choose to use this gentle cycle lace fabric or this currently out of stock (sorry!) machine wash and dry-friendly lace fabric.  Fabric.com restocks regularly, so check back if that's what you want.


Macaron is one of the Colette patterns that didn't "speak" to me before I saw this inspiration dress.  It's funny how that happens, isn't it?

Sneak Peak! The Colette Guide to Sewing Knits

Avert your eyes if you don't want spoilers!
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My preordered copy of Colette & Alyson Clair's new book about sewing knits came in the mail today!  Along with the two patterns just for knits!  You have no idea how thrilled I am to have this book.  I bought a serger last year and I use it only for serging seams.  That's it.  I know it can do more than that, but I haven't been able to teach myself how.  This book has a chapter all about the serger (and it's the Brother 1034D--the same one I have and how to set it's tension and know if the tension is wonky, etc, etc.  This is seriously going to become my knits bible.  I wish I had more time to really delve into the book tonight.  Perhaps tomorrow.

 

The book draws comparisons between pattern pieces made for woven and knit fabrics.

 

The book goes into all things coverstitch.

 

There's my serger!  It shows how to thread the serger in detail.

 

Here's one of the patterns:  the Moneta.

 

And the other pattern designed for knits is Mabel.  (Sideways photo I will fix later)

 

The pattern looks exactly like what you would expect from Colette.

 

What's up with the sideways photos?  Ugh.  I wish I didn't have to go to bed in 5 minutes.

 

Do you see what I see?  A POCKET!  Just what my lady skaters have been missing!

 

I'm glad I spent my entire hobbies budget for the month on this packet.  I'm excited to have something new to work on after tax deadline day.  I'm exhausted from working so much.  :(

 

Another sideways photo!  I ordered a twin stretch needle too.  You guys!  It's like Christmas and my birthday all in one day!

 

Here's the fabric from my latest project.  I'm making another Colette Chantilly.  Oh.  And running half marathon number 5 in the morning.  Hence the 9pm bedtime.

Did you order Colette's new book and patterns?  What do you think about the book so far?