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.

       

Sunday Strategy # 1

There is so much I want to do this week. Most of it revolves around various Sew Alongs.

1. This week is the fall Kids Clothes Week Challenge over at Elsie Marley. I want to make a coat for Billy. I am going to use McCalls 6385 or Simplicity 2526. If I manage to get the coat completed I would like to make him a vest (Simplicity 1923). If I have time after all that I would like to work on Billy's Halloween Costume.
2. I need to do the fitting on my Colette Peony muslin for the  Colette 2.0 Sew Along. This is going to be a doozie!

I think that is enough to keep me busy for the entire week.

Recap of last week (Monday's Sunday Strategy):

All in all I am pleased with the progress I made this week considering I did not have a sewing machine for 2 days. I like that the Sunday Strategy really helped me stay focused! Hopefully I can be consistent with posting them and then actually following my own plan.

1. Make my Colette Peony muslin for the Colette 2.0 Sew Along.
• Blogged here.
2. Get my patterns and fabrics together for Kids Clothes Week Challenge for next week.
• Ordered faux shearling from Hancock Fabrics.
• Chose Patterns
• McCalls 6385 - View B Coat. If my shearling doesn't arrive on time I will use Simplicity 2526.
• Simplicity 1923 - View C vest.
3. Finish fitting issues on Vogue 8615. I have already made this dress 3 times and still haven't gotten it quite right.
• I made up the pattern pieces with my adjustments but did not get to sew another dress since my machine died. I will try this one again in a couple weeks!

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.

Cherry and White Dress

I finished my dress for the Summer Spark Sew Along, Vogue 8615 a month ago but never got photos in time to post for the sew along. The construction didn't take long at all. I made the muslin in a day and the final dress in just 2 days (with many baby breaks.) This pattern is great because it comes with Custom Fit pattern pieces for A/B/C/D cup sizes. The only alteration I had to make to the pattern was to curve the darts a little at the apex to get rid of a bit of pointiness. Other than that, it fit perfectly right out of the envelope. I am so happy with this dress! It is a breeze to put together. Since it has french darts on the front, there are only 4 darts use to get this nice fitted bodice! (8 if you count the ones on the lining.)

The fabric is quilting cotton from JoAnn's. It drapes quite nicely. Since the fabric is just a tiny bit see through, I wear a nylon slip. I think I might buy a petticoat to give it more volume.

I lined the bodice but not the skirt as the pattern calls for. I don't want to use that much fabric =) I also   cut the front bodice pieces as 1 piece instead of 2 halves with a seam down the middle. They only drafted it that way to cut down on the length of fabric needed as the 2 half panels can be cut between all the skirt pieces. I finished the hem with bias tape instead of a regular hem because I wanted it to pop.

I bought the cherry print fabric specifically for this project. The white on white floral print lining fabric and the pattern were from my stash. The fabric I used for my muslin was also from my stash so this project definitely counts towards my Stash Busting Project. It also goes toward my 13 by 13 goal of using stuff from my stash. Apparently I really need to use stuff from my collection because I keep coming back to that...

Sewing Through The Decades

I have decided to join yet another sew along type thing. Now that I have finally discovered just how awesome they are, I just can't stop myself from joining in!

The premise as stated on Rhinestones and Telephones:

"The basic thought is to challenge yourself to explore different time periods (which can be three years in one decade—1943, 1944, 1945) or several patterns across several decades (50’s, 60’s, 70’s). You can sew blouses, skirts, dresses, trousers…whatever you want! It will be fun to share our experiences in sewing from different time periods. The patterns can span both vintage and modern years."

I want to work on some patterns from the 40's and 50's. I am going to use the vintage/retro reproduction patterns because they are already in my stash and that will help me with my Stash Busting Project and my 13 by 13 goal to use up lots of my stash. Here are my selections:

1. Vintage Vogue 8811
2. Vintage Vogue 8812
3. Retro Butterick 5209
4. Retro Butterick 5748

I haven't even looked at fabrics yet. I'll blog about that another day.

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!

Mash Up Circle Skirt

I used 2 patterns for this skirt. I used Vogue 8818 for the skirt panels. I added the waist band from McCalls 6403 because the original skirt pattern uses elastic. I hate elastic waist bands because they add bulk to my waist and I definitely don't need that. I don't suppose I really needed to use a pattern for the waistband because it is just a rectangle, but, ehhh. I had to gather the panels a bit to fit them into the waist band. I like it though; it gives the skirt a little more volume. I did not add the lining because I used quilters cotton and it was already bulky. I also didn't add pockets. I just don't like pockets in skirts or dresses. Again, they tend to add fluff where I don't need any. I also think I will shorten the waistband a 1/2 inch or so on the next version. Maybe put some lace or ricrac around the bottom? This one is a bit plain.

Skirt hanging to set the bias.