FO: Third Time's the Charm Dress

The "Third Time's the Charm" Dress

Just The Facts
Fabric:  Brown & Blue Floral Paisley Quilting Cotton - 2.5 yards $15.88
Notions:  Invisible zipper, interfacing, thread, 2 buttons - $4.50
Pantone Challenge colors:  Mykonos Blue, Linden Green, Koi, Carafe
Pattern:  Colette Parfait

Year:  modern
Time to complete: approximately 8 hours
First worn:  September 1, 2013
Wear again?  YES!
Total Cost:  $25

I desperately wanted to use stash for this project, but after my first failed attempt and a week out of town, I was in a pinch.  How is it that life always manages to get in the way of even the best laid plans?  I made this Parfait pattern a couple times before (see here and here) and I knew I would be able to churn one out fairly quickly.  I zipped over to JoAnn's after work and washed the fabric on the 29th, cut the pieces out on the 30th, and stitched like the wind on the 31st.  I'm actually really happy with how this turned out.  I think it's my best one as far as detailing goes.  I matched up all but one of my seams (not sure why the piece was wider on one side than the other!), which is always a huge issue for me.

I normally shy away from prints.  I don't know why--most all my wardrobe is solid shirts or a solid with a bit of detailing--other than it's just what I'm used to wearing as an adult.  I bought an orange paint splattered shirt from Fashion Bug in 1992.  That shirt was LOUD, but I paid for it and I loved it.  I was also 6.  Maybe that's why I shy away from prints--nothing can ever be as awesome as that orange t-shirt and, therefore, I don't want it.  LOL!

The Parfait has 6 skirt panels.  It is purely coincidental that I matched the front panels up perfectly.  I would have added the pockets anyway, but that light band of flowers looks crazy bad.

How did I do this?  I don't even. . .  

 I attempted to do some color correction.  The one on the hanger is the most accurate.  The sun was crazy-bright!

 I always keep my hands in my pockets.  I <3 pockets.  I think I'll draft borrow some side seam pocket thingies for a future Parfait.

 Look!  I wear shoes!  Those are from Aldo before the designers started taking LSD and the shoe designs went. . .um. . .weird.  They are the Letitia shoes, the last pair, and on sale.  It was meant to be.

 

See that crazy sun thing going on?  Ain't nobody got time to fix that.

I'm so happy with my pockets.  I wouldn't be able to tolerate that line of light flowers right in the middle. I didn't put button closures on my pockets.  My buttonholer can't handle that much fabric all at one time.  That's what I get for sewing on a 60-year old machine!  Seriously though, if buttonholes are my only issue, I'm doing well!  I love my grandmother's sewing machine.

There are a couple things I have to fix on the dress before I wear it again.  First, I put the right strap in the wrong place in the back and it's a full inch closer towards my arm than it should be.  This makes it not stay on my shoulder.  Second, my buttons are functional because of the giant shoulders.  My buttons usually go up on the buttonhole when fastened, so I sewed the buttons very high to compensate (1/4" from the tab upper edge).  The buttons decided they wanted to be at the bottom of the buttonhole this time.  Buttons are jerks. 

So there it is:  my Sew Weekly Reunion project, "Third Time's the Charm."  I can't wait to see everyone else's contributions on the blog next week!

~elle

FO: Lovebirds Dress

Here's the finished version of my second Colette Parfait.  I love this pattern so much.  In the near future, I am going to work on a plain top version and drafting something more like sleeves for another version.  This version uses a stiffer quilting cotton and it doesn't breathe as well as the last one I made.  That greenish one is made out of kona cotton I think.  It is a lighter 100% cotton fabric I picked up at JoAnn's.  So, I don't know how I feel about the feel of this dress.  I love it, but I don't know that I love it.  I really need a do-over on the pictures.  It was so bright and sunny out for round 1 and I look like a mess 8 hours later for round 2.  Here you go:

 

I look so displeased to be taking pictures.  I noticed my hairstylist parted my hair wrong and one side is way longer than the other.  My hair parts on the right!

 



What am I doing/



I'm gonna sneeze.  I'm trying not to laugh.  These pictures...



Selfie of the chest.  Fancy.



I have giant shoulders.  Wow.

Weird exposure picture.

I really need to get better at taking pictures of my FOs.  I notice in some of them that the camera angle is wrong and it cuts me off at the knees.  It's not something I think about until I save the pictures to my computer.  I'm working on it!

So what fabrics do you normally sew with?  Do you find that your taste in fabric matches your taste in actual finished garments?  Let me know!

~elle

FO: Colette Parfait

Long time, no post, huh?  I've been so busy the last several months.  There was a hockey game, a concert, a trip to South Florida, a few hikes, lots of cooking, and even a few finished dresses.  The first one I finished was the Colette Parfait I started back in November.  It took me long enough!  The thing that was holding me up was my buttonholer.  I have a really old sewing machine and it has a buttonholer attachment.  The way the fabric was going through the buttonhole process was causing the needles to catch the bobbin thread in the wrong position and bending my needles.  I ended up buying another buttonholer to finish the dress up.

I might have mentioned the modifications before, but here they are again.  I cut the 0 and left the length alone (CP are short I think, especially considering I'm 4'11").  I did a SBA and had to take 1.5" off the bodice pieces.  As a result, I had to redraft the facings to fit my new curves.  When I went to sew the bodice to the skirt, my pattern pieces were off about a half inch--the skirt was wider than the bodice.  I made this dress a second time (photos soon!) and had the same problem, so I don't think it was me.  To compensate, I am going to make a smaller seam allowance on the bodice pieces for my next version.  I could use a little extra room to take some pressure off the zipper anyway.  My buttons are all functional because I have giant shoulders and I wouldn't be able to get this on/off without them.  I'm beyond pleased with this dress and I will make this pattern again and again.  I'm trying to figure out how to add actual sleeves to make a wintery version. 

Here is some picspam:

Happy Monday and hopefully regular posting will resume.

~elle