Vogue 8615

Vintage...i love vintage dresses.  I am especially fond of dresses from the hollywood movies in the 40's and 50's.  My most favorite dress is Audrey Hepburns dress in Sabrina.  If you recall Sabrina wore a circle skirt dress while sitting in the Tree watching David be the typical playboy.  Well Vogue 8615 reminds me of that dress.  I made the dress out Bridal Silk picked up from the Joann Fabrics Red Tag table last winter.  The $20.00per yard silk was only $1.50 Per Yard after a coupon so i grabbed about 7 yards.  I lined the dress with ambience lining in gold.  The color is not pink but more of a blush and in the store it looked nude.  I recived many compliments on this dress.  The pattern goes to size 24 has custom fitting for up to a D cup.  I still had to do a 2 " FBA and expand the waist by 2".  I eliminated the zipper because i ran out of time to finish the dress for my special event this saturday.  I wore the dress with a white cashmere sweater and a crystal pin.  Oh so vintage.  Excuse the wrinkles.  I wore the dress for about 12 hours on Saturday.

Butterick 5001

I have found my new favorite pattern.  Butterick 5001.  This is the most comfortable dress i own.  I made this version first....

Out of fabric i picked up  from joanns.  It's a rayon/Spandex knit that i purchased on the red tag table in the spring.  I had just enough to make this dress. No modifications were made although, i could have cut the top smaller.  I decided to cut the largest size the pattern comes in and i think it fits too big.  But that is ok becuase it's soooooo comfortable.

My second attempt was with a great matte jersey from Banach's fabrics here in Cincinnati.  Banach's is one of those stores you go to when you want a fine piece of fabric. Lambskin leather, Cashmere wool or even fine silk.  i LOVE that store.  So you can understand my excitement when i was able to pick up the fabric for the dress below.  Just before Banach's moved from Hyde Park to Madisonville they had a HUGE sale.  So i picked this beautiful matte jersey for like 75% off. LOVE IT

Here is my opinion.  THe rayon/spandex knit does not have enough stiffness to support the dress.  Notice how the gathers are not as noticable in the raspberry dress as they are in the black and white.  The only difference is the weight of the fabric.  Also the rayon/Spandex stretches so the dress sits almost at calf length.  But the Matte Jersey in black-n-white is much more flirty and sits right at the knee. 

Regardless i love this dress and plan on making more for the fall/Winter. 

It's the Fabric and not the pattern

Hello blog world. I know it's been a long time since i blogged but a lot has happened. So i won't go into details...LOL I have been sewing and the disasters are endless. Recently i was in Joann fabrics in a very posh part of Cincinnati attempting to find some knit to play with. I Purchased Hot Patterns Sunshine weekender pattern and i was anxious to try it. While waiting in line to have this cut.. A lady across the cutting table was being praised for how beautiful her outfit was. Her sewing was impeccable. The worker cutting asked her what pattern it was. I think she said See & Sew. The women in the store gasped..Literaly. So the woman said "it's not the pattern that makes the outfit it is the fabric." I swear you could hear the chimes ringing for each woman that finally came to the same conclusion right there in the store. Finally i get it....My success in sewing has not been as great i would like to believe..however the few pieces that have turned out beautiful have been because of the fabric. SO now it's time to think about what i want to sew instead of seeing it only with my imagination.