Fashion Plate: Splash Bash

Hi People Still Reading My Blog (or linking through from Pinterest or Tumblr!)  I keep thinking about how it's been so long since I made a Fashion Plate or wrote a blog post and I need to get on it. The longer I went without writing something, the easier it became.  So I'm kinda bored at work today and it's Tuesday and I decided it was TIME!

Today's Fashion Plate is the "Splash Bash" swimsuit from ModCloth.  It's so stinking cute and of course features some lingerie lace at the bodice because this is one of Betsey Johnson's designs.  While Gertie's swimsuit pattern B6067 isn't a perfect match, it's pretty darn close.  Spandex World has a plethora of polka dotted fabrics perfect for swimwear.  I chose to feature this turquoise/white combo for this Fashion Plate.

I hope to be back with another Fashion Plate next Tuesday!

Fashion Plate: Chalk of the Town in Streamers

 

I'm totally loving this dress.   This is ModCloth's Chalk of the Town dress in Streamers.  The fabric is I Like You Ric Rac in black by Amy Sedaris.  I selected Simplicity 1873 for the pattern.  This fabric is printed on the diagonal like this, so you wouldn't need to cut the pieces on the bias.

Fashion Plate: Capital Class Trench

It's come to my attention that some of you are getting cold.  I'm keeping warm in my insulated part of Florida and I wanted to post another swimsuit fashion plate this week, but I'm trying to be respectful to those of you that have already seen snow this season. 

This week's fashion plate is based on ModCloth's Capital Class Trench.  The Robson pattern from Sewaholic seems absolutely perfect for this look.  The line drawing is a bit misleading, as the collar is double just like the ModCloth one.  I chose a navy polka dot cotton duck fabric from fabric.com, but you can use any light to medium fabric, such as cotton twill or gabardine.

This is actually my one year(ish) anniversary of posting fashion plates.  I clicked "post" on the first one on 9/27 last year.  Yay!

Fashion Plate: Flair for the Fantastic in Poppy

 

On the quest to make more separates Fashion Plates again, I looked through the skirts offerings at ModCloth.  It seems like they same patterns all the time in different fabrics.  No surprise, this skirt is one I featured a couple months ago.  This is ModCloth's Flair for the Fantastic in Poppy.  I still suggest using Simplicity 1369 for the silhouette and adding the waistband from Colette's Ginger skirt pattern.  The fabric used for this skirt is another one from Timeless Treasure:  Flora Poppy Stems.

Fashion Plate: Cinnamon Coffee Bralette Set

 

I'm digging all this ModCloth lingerie lately.  This is ModCloth's Cinnamon Bralette & Undies set.  I chose OhhhLulu's Ginger bralette (which you will have to add a touch of length to) and Lola brazilian undies.  I like this Anais lace on fabric.com.  The beige showed up in the photos the best, but there are other colors available.  I also like this crimson lace from fabric.com and this red lace from spandex world.

Happy Tuesday!

Fashion Plate: Hooked on a Feline

 

This week's Fashion Plate is based on ModCloth's Hooked on a Feline dress.  The fabric is Packed Cats by Timeless Treasures.  If you are a dog-lover, they have you covered too.  My pattern selection is Butterick 6016.  This pattern is really quite the stretch, however.  The bodice of the ModCloth dress is a basic one.  It simply has diagonal bust darts, vertical darts on the v-back, and a gathered skirt cut on the bias.  Add cap sleeves and some facings and you are done.  Simple.  The pattern I linked to would require you to change out the skirt, add cap sleeves, and adjust the bodice front to omit the center seam allowance and cut that piece on the fold.

Fashion Plate: Perky in Polka Dots

 

I've had lingerie on the brain lately.  Making underwear is a thing on my bucket list.  It needs to happen.  I'm sure once I get the first pair under my belt (lol), it won't be a THING anymore.  I love and secretly covet all of ohhhlulu's patterns, which is why I chose the Grace hipster pattern for this week's fashion plate.  It's all about details, so you can tape the side pieces together and redraw the side seams.  You'll need one of the extra seam allowances from the side piece to give you enough fabric for the tucks. I went with this jewel jersey knit in red from fabric.com.  The lace detail on the leg bands is an afterthought detail.  You can see that it was sewn directly on top of the fabric before the crotch gusset was added.  Lingerie is amazing because you need basically no fabric.  You could probably make 2 pairs of underwear with 1/2 yard of fabric depending on your size.  An hour or so and a tiny bit of fabric and you can have your own version of ModCloth's Perky in Polka Dots undies!

Fashion Plate: Beauty and the Botanist

 

This week's Fashion Plate is ModCloth's Beauty and the Botanist skirt.  I chose Simplicity 1369 for the pattern.  The ModCloth skirt is basically a half circle skirt with a waistband and a zipper though and totally doable without a pattern.  It was hard for me to find 80s bed sheet fabric!  I went with this organic cotton by Cloud 9.

Fashion Plate: Twinkling at Twilight

 

I'm on my way to Vegas tomorrow!  I put this fashion plate together based on what I think I would wear on a fancy date (or something) in Las Vegas.  I love ModCloth's Twinkling at Twilight dress.  Mostly, I love the back cutout.  I think low backs look funny on me right now given all my weird tan lines from running, but that doesn't mean I can't dream!  The bodice shaping is weird on the ModCloth dress.  It doesn't use darts or princess seams at all.  Instead, the middle of the bodice has slight ruching for shaping.  I chose the Belledone pattern for this fashion plate.  I know it isn't a perfect match, but I'm playing off my favorite feature.  I found this gold brocade on Mood and I would totally make this dress in this fabric if money were no object.  Besides, "It's Vegas, Baby!" 

I'm looking forward to visiting Heddy's fabric while I have the rental car on Saturday.  I'm specifically going to look for swimwear and lingerie fabric.  I figure Heddy's outfits Vegas, so she'll have whatever I need in the stretchy fabrics department.  I don't think I mentioned my actual itinerary on the blog before?  I'm camping at the Grand Canyon on Thursday & Friday nights, hence the need for a rental car.  I'll be staying in Vegas Saturday through Tuesday-ish.  I'm still trying to determine what to fill my Vegas days with cost-benefit wise.  Everything seems so expensive.  :-/

Happy Tuesday and enjoy your week!

Fashion Plate: Flair for the Fantastic in Cameras

 

How perfect is this skirt for summer sight-seeing?  This is ModCloth's Flair for the Fantastic Skirt in Cameras.  The fabric is Michael Miller's Urbanista Cameras and I chose Simplicity 1369 for the gathered skirt.  The pattern has pockets!  Colette patterns Ginger has the perfect waistband for the ModCloth skirt, but the silhouette is wrong for the rest of the skirt.

Fashion Plate: Beacon of Charm Dress

 

Happy summertime!  Here's a fashion plate for you that's perfect for strolling along the boardwalk after dinner.  I found ModCloth's Beacon of Charm dress quite adorable.  The fabric is Timeless Treasure Seaside Lighthouses available on fabric.com.  I chose a retro reprint, Simplicity 1459, for the pattern.  The pattern includes a bow belt option that you can make.

I just realized my last several fashion plates in a row are blue fabrics.  Can you tell I like blue?  I'll have to get more diverse with my color selections.

Fashion Plate: Bathing Beauty

I acquired the bombshell swimsuit pattern as part of the latest perfect pattern parcel and I wanted to highlight the pattern in a fashion plate.  This Bathing Beauty swimsuit is blowing up all over ModCloth.  ModCloth has this suit in pretty much any color you can think up.  While the Bombshell pattern isn't a dead ringer (ModCloth's has a smooth back v. Bombshell's textured back), it's close enough!  I found flipping through FO pics of the Bombshell that even the skirt length looked different on each person.  Some people had a more traditional crotch look going on, while others had way more skirted thigh coverage.  Another pattern option (for a completely different vintage look) is Gertie's pattern put out by Butterick.  Swim fabric was kinda hard for me to source.  I like to find a place that has many colors in one fabric available.  I found Mood fabrics has a dozen colors available including this navy fabric.  

Have you ever gone through the old images on your computer?  I skimmed through today and I found this one.  I kind of love it.  I think I emailed it to my friend years ago.  She was having a terrible day.

Girl in Bed:  "I had a TERRIBLE day."

CrownHead:  "Then WHY are you SMILING?"

Girl in Bed:  "Because the day is OVER and I'm still HERE. . ."

Girl in Bed:  ". . . and that means I WON!"

CrownHead:  "YAY!"

Think about all the ways you are winning every day!  Happy  Tuesday!

Fashion Plate: Soaring Through the Day

 

I keep finding so many great fabrics I want to buy.  I'm supposed to be cold sheeping with my knitting group (though I have my own set of rules to not buy fabric) and loving what's in my stash now.  My willpower is waning.   This week's inspiration is ModCloth's Soaring Through the Day dress.  I chose Simplicity 1873 for the foundation.  I bought this pattern a couple years ago and haven't sewn it up yet.  So many patterns, so little time.  The fabric used for the dress is Andover's "Large Tossed Birds" in blue.  Weird fabric name, huh?

Fashion Plate: Heart and Solar System

Here's another notched-sweetheart neckline dress for you.  Modcloth's Heart and Solar System dress is the inspiration this week.  I found this solar system fabric by Timeless Treasures that I think is a great match for the pattern.  New Look 6020, blah, add pockets, blah, you know. 

I just traced off the pattern for New Look 6020 and I will do my absolute best to photograph and document the changes for everyone.  I will definitely be adding pockets at the very least.  I will possibly fully line the dress and move the zipper to the back.  This is going to be a July project for sure.

Fashion Plate: Tentacle-y Speaking

I'm going to double-up this week because I'm using the same silhouette for these dresses.  This one is ModCloth's SOLD OUT! Tentacle-y Speaking dress.  Fabric.com has the Sea Octopus fabric used for this look in stock.  I am using New Look 6020 again (my favorite pattern never made) for the dress.  I will make this pattern SOON.  Very soon.  I've been trying to figure out what to make with a houndstooth fabric I have and I think this dress pattern is exactly what I need.

Fashion Plate: Never Had a Swan Like You

 

You can tell this silhouette is big this year.  ModCloth has many iterations of this dress, most of which I have or will post on the blog soon.  This week is the Never Had a Swan Like You dress.  I'm using New Look 6020.  Don't forget to add side seam pockets, which you will need to borrow from another pattern.  I'm always reaching for my pockets in my dresses.  I say the dresses without pockets have a design flaw.  I'm adding pockets to whatever I can.  Back on topic, the fabric for this dress is Michael Miller's Midnite Gems Swan Dive in Teal.  The fabric is also available with navy or magenta waves.

Fashion Plate: Pretty, Pretty Picnic Dress

 

This week's look is ModCloth's Pretty, Pretty Picnic dress.  I thought this dress would be the perfect time to highlight Craftsy's bombshell dress class, since it's on sale for only $14.99 right now.  I chose a canary yellow kona cotton for the bodice and this blue and white gingham for the skirt.

Short and sweet!

Fashion Plate: I Think I Can

 

This week's Fashion Plate is based on ModCloth's I Think I Can dress.  I love the cut of this dress!  I think it is very classy.  The pattern I chose is Vogue 1192.  Admittedly, this pattern is made for wovens, not knits.  The lines are exactly the same, down to the darts.  In order to make this dress as based on the inspiration, you can omit the zipper and add simple cap sleeves.  You may also need to go down a size on the pattern..  Knits are fit-as-you-go, so start by sewing critical seams--  the shoulders and sides to start--and adjusting the fit as needed.  I chose this navy double knit fabric for the dress.

Fashion Plate: Citrus Garden Top

 

This week's Fashion Plate is based on ModCloth's Citrus Garden Top.  I selected this item for two reasons:  first, I feature so many dresses and I want to make my Fashion Plates match  fashion realities.  People wear separates.  And second, I want to feature indie patterns where I can.  The pattern I selected for this top is Archer by Grainline Studios.  There are many past sewalongs where you can get help if you have problems with the pattern if you need it.  Pattern support is one of the great things about indie patterns.  The designer is right there for you.  The ModCloth fabric looks like 1/4" gingham to me.  I couldn't find a multi-colored fabric that was right, so I selected this tartan tangerine by Joel Dewberry instead.  It comes in poppy and aquamarine too. 

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?