Sunday Strategy 2/24/13

Last week recap:

1. Make my muslin for my Sew For Victory Dress.

• I got really far on my muslin and it fit really well. I decided to make it into an actual dress. I added a lining and some ric rac. I ran out before I was done so I have to pick up some more tomorrow so I can finish. 
2. Fitting adjustments made and transferred to pattern paper.
• Nothing much  to change. It fits really well. I might shorten the bodice at the waist 1/4 of an inch but I will decide that after wearing the dress for a day.
3. Choose fabric for my dress.
• I didn't get around to picking out my fabric. If my wearable muslin turns out as well as I think it will I don't have to pick out any more fabric anyway.

This week:

1. Finish up my wearable muslin for my Sew For Victory dress.
2. Finish putting trim on my Sweetheart Dress. I had this dress almost finished a few weeks ago. When I was putting the final strips of bias binding on the sleeves, it got all wrinkly and refused to lie flat. Turns out, the tape wasn't actually cut on the bias. I had to rip it all out. I got a new pack and should be able to finish in a few hours.

Sunday Strategy 2/17/13

Last week recap:

1. Find inspiration for the Sew For Victory Sew Along. I was originally just going to make the newly released Simplicity 1692. Then I saw all the Sew For Victory Inspiration posts popping up all over with glorious clothes. I think I want to try and make something a bit more exciting. If I have time and the inclination I can make the top too at a later time.
• Blogged here.
• Pinterest Sew for Victory Inspiration board here.
2. Start drafting up a pattern if I choose something that I don't have a pattern for. I really can't justify buying any new patterns and I have been reading a ton about pattern drafting lately. I should probably put that information to good use.
• Blogged here.

Next Week:

1. Make my muslin for my Sew For Victory Dress.
2. Fitting adjustments made and transferred to pattern paper.
3. Choose fabric for my dress.

       

Victorian Dress Complete!

No, the hat is not actually part of the costume...

I have finally finished my dress for Rose's Victorian birthday party. This is the most labor intensive project I have ever done but I definitely enjoyed every minute of it! I unintentionally picked a project that forced me to use many new techniques. I have never added trim to anything so that was an adventure, especially in the quantity that this dress required. I also had never made the bunched type overskirt and it to a bit of fiddling to get the folds to look nice. All in all I am pleased with the result.

For this dress I used a heavily modified Vogue 8615 bodice. I used McCall's 4090, View C for the skirt. I just made up the pattern for the bustle/apron thing (I am not really sure what to call the maroon part.) Sorry I don't have a better shot of the details and the apron in the back. I used the pink fabric with the floral print from my stash, so this one counts towards stash busting!

Sunday Strategy # 6

This week:

• The Thanksgiving dress. 

• I am using Vogue 8664 from my stash. 
• Both my main and lining fabrics are from my stash also! 
• Hooray for Stash Busting. 
• Also counts toward 52 Dresses Project. I am not sure what number it is, but I know I am not close to finished.

Last Week Recap:

1. Finish my dress for Rose's birthday party. 
• Blogged here.

       

Monday's Sunday Strategy

I need something to keep me focused so I decided to start doing a regular Sunday post titled "The Sunday Strategy." I would like to outline what I am going to do for the week. I can also recap what I did the previous week. I want to list just a couple things and then anything else I manage to do will just be great!

This week I plan to:

1. Make my Colette Peony muslin for the Colette 2.0 Sew Along.
2. Get my patterns and fabrics together for Kids Clothes Week Challenge for next week.
3. Finish fitting issues on Vogue 8615. I have already made this dress 3 times and still haven't gotten it quite right.

The 52 Dresses Project

The 52 Dresses Project. How could I resist? Of course I want to have 52 dresses in my wardrobe! At least this one gives me a very long time to participate. I will have to count up all my dresses and see where I stand. I have tons of patterns that I want to try. (And more that I want to buy and try but we don't really have to talk about that...)

Summer Spark Sew Along

Hosted by The Wardrobe, Reimagined

The Premise:

1 MONTH: 
In the month of June, sew one fabulous garment that you plan on strutting all summer.

1 GARMENT: 

Your choice! What's the most wonderful thing you'd like to wear again and again this summer? A pair of linen palazzo pants? A shoulder-bearing sundress? A swishy skirt? A floaty top? Why not make it now and flaunt it 'til the days get shorter?

1 GREAT LIST: 

We'll be posting photos of our finished garments in a Flickr group and, at the end of the month, we'll tally up all the fabulous patterns in a list to serve as inspiration to all. One person's amazing garment could spark another's summer sewing—in July, the season's still young, after all! 

1 FABULOUS PRIZE: 

All folks who have uploaded a photo of their finished garment by July 4 (a few extra days for good measure!) will be entered into a giveaway for ONE INDIE SEWING PATTERN OF THEIR CHOICE, to be shipped worldwide. Can't resist those Colette Iris Shorts? That Sewaholic Cambie? The Christine Haynes Derby Dress? It's a thank you for sewing along with us. 

I am going to make Vogue 8615 in a white cherry print cotton! I already have the pattern and the lining in my stash so this counts toward my Stash Busting Project. Also counts towards 13 by 13: using things from my stash!

The Thanksgiving Dress: Butterick 4790 Finally Posted

I made this dress for Thanksgiving 2011 and never got pics of it until now. I even had this post written and waiting.

I LOVE this dress. I saw this post on the Edelweiss Patterns Blog and absolutely had to make Butterick 4790. It is a gorgeous wrap dress pattern originally published in 1952. Perfectly retro. Luckily the pattern is one of their "very easy" patterns which means I actually had time to complete it in a couple days. Two bonuses: I already had  the pattern in my collection. I also already had this great, drapey, 100% cotton homespun fabric that I found on clearance for $1.50/yard at Joann's in my stash. Let the crafting begin!

I used Ms. Casey's advice on how to choose the correct pattern size by using your above bust measurements instead of your regular bust measurements. I measured 35" so I used the size 12 pattern. I did not alter the seam allowances for the rest of the pattern as suggested. There wasn't enough difference between my measurements and the rest of the pattern measurements to make it worthwhile. I used hook and eye closures at the waist because it was only about 1/2" to small. Instead of the bias tape overlapping, the 2 pieces are next to each other. She also suggests that the bias tape not be visible. I love the contrast so I decided to leave it on the right side. The instructions do not have you apply bias tape to the bottom edges of the dress. I hate hemming curves (probably because I stink at it) so I decided to use bias tape there also. It took almost exactly 2 whole packs to edge the bottom of the circle skirt part. I do not think there will be enough tape to finish the bottom of a larger size because there was only a couple inches left over. This does not include the binding at the bottom of the front panel. I sewed the bodice back to the skirt back with right sides together and then trimmed the edges to about 3/8". I used bias tape to encase the raw edges on the right side of the dress. I like how this helps define the waistline. I used almost 6 packs of 1/2" double fold bias tape to finish everything. I hate having raw edges open on projects and bias tape is my default method. I did not alter the bodice piece because it already came up high enough under the bust.

Planning My Spring Wardrobe

Since I took The Seamless Pledge I decided to make my wardrobe for spring. My goal is to use fabric from my stash for all my projects.  I want to make 1950's vintage inspired dresses, skirts. blouses etc.

STEP 1: Find what colors I want to use.

This floral fabric gave me my palette. Nice, springy, feminine and vintage inspired. I have 5 yards to work with.

From JoAnns

STEP 2: Make my Spring Wardrobe Inspiration Board on Pinterest.

I guess you probably could have just looked at Modcloth.com since most of my pins are from that site =) Some of my favorites are:

Pink Me Up Dress

Grass Court Dress

Soda Fountain Dress

Sundress Of My Life

I chose mostly solid colors on my inspiration board because I want my clothes to be coordinated with my accessories made from the floral print. Once I went through my stash, however, I found that I have mostly printed fabrics. Hopefully I can get enough coordinating pieces to make at least some of my items interchangeable. So far I have chosen the floral print, pink gingham, yellow gingham, a solid pink embroidered linen/rayon blend, white eyelet (I got green fabric dye for it since I have no green fabric) and a violet gingham eyelet.

STEP 3: Choose sewing patterns. 

• Pink Me Up Dress - Butterick 5209, view A. Just add some ricrac and some buttons.

B5209 View A

• Sundress Of My Life - New Look 6699, E + J + L

That is as far as I have gotten at the moment. I want to make some sketches and experiment with some pattern/fabric combinations. More soon!

The Exceptionally Festive Dress

This is the dress I made for Christmas this year. I used Simplicity 2176. I used 100% cotton Christmas fabric I found on clearance at Jo-Anns.  Instead of hemming the bottom I used white bias tape. 

I designed and crocheted my little white shrug.  

(I was dramatically eating chocolates while Mom was taking pics.)

Back view. Next time I will use an invisible zipper. On this dress it blended well with the main fabric, but really popped out at the contrast band.

I am very happy with the fit of the bodice. I was not so excited about the drape of the skirt. I think I need to use a more flowy fabric next time. Overall I am pleased with the finished product.

I am such a nerd =)

I was quite happy to have an excuse to wear a pair of cute shoes and show off my snowflake toenail polish!

Rose's "It's Not a Date" Dress

I drafted and sewed this dress for Rose to wear on her "not date" with her "not boyfriend." It is made from 100% cotton polka dots fabric from Hobby Lobby. It is actually Christmas fabric that was on clearance for $3.50/yard. The dress used 3 yards. It has a full circle skirt and a fitted bodice.

The bust is a wee bit big at the sides but it is not to bad. I will have to tweak it a but for the next version. Overall I am happy with it, considering it is the first pattern I have ever drafted.