Pink Pink Pink

I love this pink striped jersey dress!

 I wore it to my New Year's Eve party and it was fabulous!

When I purchased this dress on etsy, it was modeled with a great pink hat also for sale in the shop and I just had to get both.

I didn't end up wearing it on New Year's Eve because my husband thought it was too much for a small party at home but yesterday I said tough luck to "too much" and wore it out to church.

Outfit:
Dress and Hat: FabGabs
Purse: belonged to a friend's mother
Belt: from a vintage skirt

I have a friend at church who also loves old stuff and she told me that I was wearing this hat backwards! Eeep! I had assumed that the beading went in the front. She said that the beading went back to show off your hair and that this kind of hat was often worn with the snood. I did try out wearing this hat the other way around and it fits much better. Guess you learn something new every day!

Promaballoona: Decision time

So, I'm making this dress for Costume College Gala and Promaballona:

I had originally wanted to do the black view with the giant bow in the back but I didn't have enough fabric! So now I need your help deciding what to do instead. I did some window shopping on etsy for inspiration.

This 50s black dress opts for a simple self fabric band just like the jumper view of my pattern.

This one is just a bit fancier with a bow. I probably wouldn't have enough self fabric to do any kind of bow but I could do something in a contrasting fabric. I was thinking silver.

This dress has some kind of pleated/gathered self trim.

I adore this one with the contrasting trim. So yummy. I think I'd stick to a simple band at the drop waist. I've sourced a couple of great sparkly trims (from most to least affordable).

Plain rhinestone trim. Very affordable and I could always do a couple of rows.

 A yummy vintage trim with rhinestones, pearls and sequins.

 A danglely pearl and bead trim. I'm not sure if I'm in love with the ivory color though.

 And last but not least, this scrumptious bead and rhinestone trim. My favorite and, of course, the most expensive option. At $37/yd, it's not the most expensive trim I looked at by far but it's definitely at the top of my budget.

I also spyed this adorable bow applique but I have no idea what I'd do with it.

My poor dress has no hanger appeal what so ever and it's kind of making me sad. I need to get the zipper in asap so I can try it on and stop thinking that I really do need that $100/yd Swarovski crystal trim.

Lavinia's Sweetheart Dress

So, I watched the entire season 2 of Downton Abbey yesterday and got inspired to get Dressing Downton back up and running again! Today's dress is a lovely black ensemble worn by Lavinia.

It features a sweetheart neckline and cute little shear sleeves.

It's fitted to the hips and has a gathered, layered skirt. In this shot, it looks like the fabric has some kind of metallic print on it. What a LBD!

While watching, I was struck by this dress' similarity to Sewaholic's latest pattern- The Cambie dress! The great thing about this pattern is that you could make it as fancy or simple as you like!

Lady Mary's Garden Party Dress

Happy Easter! Today I premiered my version of Lady Mary's garden party dress!

I used Vogue 8648 as a starting point and then drafted away. I really wanted to capture all of the different directions of the stripes so I changed a lot! Here's what I did:

• Raised the neckline of the front
• Drafted the waist band on to the skirt
• Lengthened the skirt
• Changed the shape of the skirt from pencil to more aline
• Drafted the back bodice from 4 pieces to 2
• Moved the zipper from the center back to the side
• Made the sleeves less poofy
• Raised the back neckline
• FBA
• Added some extra space by the hips
• Adjusted the cutting layout so that my stripes lined up with Mary's dress
• back-all cut on the bias
• center front bodice-horizontal
• sleeves-horizontal
• rest of front- vertical

The only pieces that I ended up cutting straight from the original were the bodice side front and the sleeves. But I really wanted mine just like Mary's so I put in the extra effort.

 

I also bought a cloche type hat and retrimmed it to be like hers! It will be getting it's own post later this week.

I was able to use a piece of my great-grandma's lace, which was really cool!  It's not in perfect condition but it was perfect for this dress.

A better shot of the hat.

It was very pretty out today and just lovely weather for this dress.

Hey look! Matching chevrons! :)

The dress came out a bit big in the waist has more ease at the waist to give a more period shape and is therefore very comfortable and good for days when I pig out get served lunch at 12 pm and then again at 2 pm. I just wish my Astorias were here! And I need a pair of crochet gloves. It would have been perfect then.

It's a Party Dress

  And here's my party dress!

Outfit:
Hat: The Vintage Hat Shop
Shoes: Macy's
Bling: vintage
Belt: vintage
Dress: me made

The Facts
Fabric:  taffeta with velvet print, $5/yd
Pattern: Butterick B5559 view a
Year: 1955 reprint
Notions: zipper ($3), lining ($3/yd), interfacing (stash)
Time to Complete: about 10 hours
First worn: Feburary 2012 Dinner and a Movie
Wear Again: Yes! Love this dress! I'll also be wearing it to see Tenderly (the Rosemary Clooney musical) later this month. I still have to make the self fabric belt. I wasn't going to but the waist came out a bit big (despite a muslin) so it needs a belt.
Total Price: ~$30 + $10 for belt (when I get that far)

So that's pretty awesome for a party dress! Everybody loved it last night. I felt so fabulous.

This pattern was very easy to make up. I was a bit nervous about fitting the kimono sleeves but they worked out ok. I can't do cartwheels or anything but I can move. The collar worked out great just make sure you use stiff interfacing. Best part: pockets! I adore dresses with pockets. I think this would look great as a top and I'd also love to make a more day version using view b.

Sew Grateful and the Magic of Jersey

The lovely Debi challenged people to use gifted patterns or fabric, nothing really came to mind that I could do (or have time to do), but when Oona posted this tutorial (and I remembered that Debi said you could be thankful for tutorials too!) that hit the spot!

And let me tell you, I am grateful for this awesome tutorial.

Who doesn't need a simple black cowl dress?

Or a slinky black dress?

Or an off the shoulder dress?

Or a one shoulder dress?

Or a back bearing dress?

And people, this is all the same dress! Through the magic of jersey and Oona's style genius, you too can have one of these lovely dresses! And it's ridiculously comfortable!

And because Oona asked, here's the beverage that helped me figure out this whole knit sewing thing.

HPNOTIQ and HPNOTIQ Harmonic!

I was really excited to learn that my machine had just as many stretch stitches as nonstretch stitiches! Woot! And I happened to have a double pointed needle to make the hem look all fancy.

Now, those of you who know Oona are probably thinking "How can you possibly do an Oona (aka the Queen of Prints) tutorial with *black* jersey?"

Don't worry. I also picked up this lovely print jersey and have whipped up Double Agent Dress #2 already! I even wore it out last night to see Les Miserables. I didn't get any pictures of me in the dress because yesterday was crazy busy. It's not a good idea to have two dresses to finish in one day (this rose dress for Les Mis and a Thanksgiving day dress) plus all that other getting ready for a holiday thing.

Happy Thanksgiving all! Eat some turkey for me since I can't stand the stuff!

Paris is always a good idea

I have always wanted to go to Paris. So when my stepmother was there and brought me back a t-shirt I was ecstatic.

Except that it didn't fit. The sleeves were an awkward bracelet length that just didn't work and my tummy peaked out unless I stood absolutely still. So it lived a sad life in the refashion pile until I found this tutorial and voila!

Introducing the "Paris is always a good idea" dress! Inspired by Paris and Audrey fabulousness.

Fabric: T-shirt: gift, ties: leftovers, skirt: leftovers
Pattern: self drafted via this tutorial
Notions: none!
Time to complete: 1 day
First worn: May 2011
Wear again? yups, but as I made this a couple weeks ago during a freak cold spell, it'll probs be retired until fall
Total Cost: $0

Things I'd do differently: Because my bust is so much bigger than my waist, the waist of this skirt is pretty big (hence the ties!). However, the waistband sags a lot in the back, which you can see because of the contrasting ties. So I think I'd add some loops to the back put the ties through. And I forgot to put pockets in! There wasn't enough plaid fabric left anyways but that's ok.

Sewing Projects for the New Year

Now that the Crepe dress is finished, I've been pondering what to sew next. Here are some of the patterns I've been wanting to do.

1. Wearing History Smooth Sailing Pattern


I've been dying to make this Wearing History pattern. I'm a bit nervous about the pants, but after seeing Casey's Elegant Musings make this pair a while back, I went ahead a bought the pattern. I'm definitly going to have to make a muslin for this one. My waist and hips are in way different sizes. :/



The cover picture makes the shirt look kind of boring but Lauren of Wearing History made these two shirts. They are super cute and I saved the pictures for inspiration. The second one is still available in her shop!

I particularly like the use of contrast, rick rack and fun buttons in the second one. I'd buy it if I didn't really want to make my own!

2. Vintage McCall Dress

I just got myself my first two vintage patterns, this one and the one below. I love the stripped one! There's no fabric suggestions, but I was thinking something medium weight. Suggestions on fabrics would be greatly appreciated!

3. Vintage McCall Faux button dress

Vintage pattern #2! I loved the buttons on here, but after looking at the pattern, I found they are just for show! It actually shuts with snaps! And since I've never made anything with buttons, that makes this pattern much more friendly for me. I think this would make a darling winter dress in navy with Casey's covered buttons, perhaps with contrasting fabric or white fabric with a navy print. Again, fabric suggestions would be appreciated as none are given.

4. McCalls Shirtwaist Dress

A simple shirtwaist dress that would look great with a novelty print!

Any thoughts on which I should tackle first?

After Christmas Special

I was able to complete my Gertie Sew-along Crepe dress before Christmas. yay! I wore it to my husband's family Christmas party on Sunday. It was quite a hit with everyone. So here it is:

There is me, and my little tree and my husband's Christmas present (the globe-it opens up to hold wine and wine glasses.).

Me again.

Here it is with out the sweater. I didn't make any changes to the pattern. I guess I lucked out with this pattern!

Here is the back!

Christmas Present #1: Serotonin molecule necklace (Can you tell I'm a huge nerd?)

Christmas Present #2: Tanzanite and diamond ring

Hope you all had a great Christmas!