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.

Special Event - Next up

Next up on my sewing list is Burda Magazine 3/2010 Dress 132 and Coat 130. I have a special event to attend to Tuesday the 30th. This special event is so special that a new outfit is needed. I have already started working on the dress and hope to be able to post photos this upcoming sunday. The coat is a whole other story and i may not be able to finish in time for my tuesday event. But here goes the details.

The dress is simple a high waist skirt with a heart shape neckline with simple pleating. The muslin sewed up in 10 min without sleeves. The dress should take a few hours. At this point the neckline was way too low. look at the photo below, girlfriends cousins are hanging out a little too much and this special event requires modesty. So i have raised the neck line 3 inches and here is how i did it. I traced a copy of the right and left front straight to the muslin. At the lowest point of the copy i placed a dot three inches up. I placed a pin in the paper copy at the shoulder and then pivoted the paper copy untill the lowest point met the dot. traced the curve and neckline raised. I did this on both the left and right front pieces.

This top has princess seams. Using the nancy zieman method has proven successfull for my on pricess seams so i have increased the side front, right front, left front, and back by 1" each. Yes that seams like a lot but i need room from my cousins to fit into this slightly fitted dress. So far the adjustments seem to be OK. I am struggleing with the sleeves can't quite figure out how they go on.

The fabric for this dress was a steal from joann fabrics. I had purchased 2 yards of this bridal weight silk dupioni on sale at 40% off. I fel like i walked away with a major buy. about two months ago the stuff was on the red tag table 50% off the original price and then........Joann's was have a 50% red tag sale. Ladies i purchased this 24.99 silk duiponi, in the most luxrious nude/gold color for only .........$3.00 per yard. so i purchased 5 more yards. And guess what ladies it is 60" wide!!!! I tried to take a photo of the stuff but it doesn't show up well on my camera. I have to wait for daylight to take a photo. Progress pending...

Simplicity 2840

From 2010-03-02-0842-17

In my previous blog i wrote that i was sidetracked. I finished my sidetracked garment and just love it! Here is my review of this comfy frock.

Pattern Description: loose fitting knit dress

Pattern Sizing: 18W-32W I did the 28W and could have done a 24W

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? No, the photo of this dress on the package is rather ugly. You are unable to see the details in the bodice. I think my photo turned out better

Were the instructions easy to follow? The instructions were very easy. This is a weekender dress or maybe even a sewn in an afternoon dress.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?I selected this pattern becuase of the sleeve on view B. I just loved that flowing look. This pattern was a surprise in that it does fit very nicely and does not give the plus size girl that Pregnant look. I dislike the sizing. I had to reduce the shoulder by about 2 inches and it's still a little too big. I took the waist band in and waist in about 2.5 inches and that is after gathering. in summary the dress is a little big without alterations.

Fabric Used: A beautiful colbolt blue Matte Jersey from Fabric.com

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: had to reduce the shoulder by about 2 inches and it's still a little too big. I took the waist band in and waist in about 2.5 inches and that is after gathering. in summary the dress is a little big without alterations. THe hem is to be hand sewn but i will use a twin needle to sew in the hem. Before i did that i used Steam a Seam to attach the hem and this gave the hem some weight becuase this stuff curls badly. With the steam a seam the hem looks very professional

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes i will sew this again. This dress can be dressy or casual depending on which pattern option you choose.

Conclusion:
Overall this is a great casual dress or dressy dress. I would recommend it for those needing to find some mojo it's easy and will get your wheels spinning.

From 2010-03-02-0842-17

From 2010-03-02-0842-17

From 2010-03-02-0842-17