WIP Wednesday: Regency Planning

I have been in full scale Regency sewing mode the past few weeks and things are progressing but also halting.

This weekend, I sewed up my chemise finally. I made my first ever underarm gussets - which as you can see took a lot of pins - and because of the illustrations in the instructions, I sewed my straps on backward :? So now I have to do some alterations to make it work, which is pretty annoying.

As soon as my chemise was wearable (but not yet hemmed), I decided to try the whole kit on for the first time. Friends - putting on a back lacing corset by your self is HARD. But I got it on, tightened it up ... and realized it was too big. The corset should have a 2 inch gap in the laces at the back, but the whole thing closes up completely. This was a pretty big bummer and I'm still at a bit of a loss as to what exactly to do since I followed all the fitting instructions in the pattern. I kept saying this was my mock up, but it seemed to fit me well so I finished the whole thing like it was the real one thinking I could wear it as well - maybe even use this as my corset instead of a white one for Halloween to take a bit of pressure off me needing to sew it again. Yeah ... Now I have to make it smaller in the body (can't decide if I do just the back pieces narrower or the whole thing) plus make the straps at least 1 inch longer, plus make the hip gussets bigger (which again were chosen by the pattern instructions). Ugh. 

The next piece to make (after I fix my chemise at the very least) is a bodice petticoat. I bought a bolt of white muslin, so this will be made in that. I figured that would make it very versatile. So this was my next officially planned piece until I tried to print it out this morning only to discover this only comes in large format printing. Ugh. See how this project just gets more and more complicated? 

I've been very torn about the dress itself. I went through my stash and at first it seemed like I didn't have any fabric suitable that I had enough of to make the dress. This lead me to looking into white muslin gowns, so I bought a bolt of huge white muslin thinking I would make that as a basic dress that I could jazz up with various accessories. BUT on closer inspection of "muslin" gowns everyone seems to make, none of them are made out of "muslin". They are made from swiss dot or cotton lawn or woven white striped fabric or just something much more sheer than what I now have, which is very frustrating. The whole reason for picking this era was because it would be inexpensive since I should have the things on hand I would need, and now I'm regretting my choices. The muslin was a great price, but still ... would I have bought it if I didn't think it would be immediately used? No. I think I'm still going with the original plan and I will just add some type of embroidery or something to the dress itself so it's not so plain and costumey looking.

But I also have this piece of fabric. It's a light quilting cotton, but it's definitely the best print for the time I have on hand. The only problem is I have 4 yards of 45" wide fabric, which is not enough according to the pattern instructions I'm looking at. So this is still a hard contender, but I will have to play pattern tetris to see if it's even a real possibility.

I'm planning to use Laughing Moon 126 for the dress because these are all front closing (which means I can easily put it on my byself). I'm torn as to what option I want, but it may come down to the fabric in the end. If I use the printed fabric, I will have to choose the option with the least required yardage, but if I choose the white fabric I can do anything shown here.

Next I plan to make a chemisette of some kind in linen gauze so it's nice and sheer. I haven't settled on what type of collar I want since I don't even know the dress I will pick yet, but I bought Laughing Moon 203 for this piece, so it will be one of the ones shown above.

While shopping my fabric stash, I also came across this striped number. This was definitely intended for a couch in the 90s because it's a decorator weight cotton that had been treated with scotch guard to make it shiny and waterproof. I washed the fabric, which removed the shine and made it much softer. I have 4 yards of this and it's 55 inches wide, but I don't think it drapes enough to make a full dress out of it. I DO think it would make a great jacket, so I started contemplating a spencer or a pelisse.

A friend gave me McCall's 7493 when I showed him this fabric and talked about making a spencer. The pattern includes both a spencer and a pelisse, so I should be able to do either one if I wanted. As much as ai like the drama of the pelisse, I think I would have to go with a spencer simply because of living in Florida and we are already talking about so many layers of clothing. This striped fabric would only work if I did the white gown, so it's making me lean a little more that way any. 

So as you can see, I have a lot of sewing to do, but a lot of decisions to make first. Ugh. It's crazy to go from thinking I had no options to suddenly being overwhelmed by too many choices. I need to get my rear in gear though because just typing this all out is making me worried about time. At the same time, I have so many practical everyday items I want to sew as well and with all this indecision for this Regency project, it just makes me want to grab one of those modern projects to sew up.

Do you have any big projects going? Do you tend to get decision fatigue? What do you think I should sew up for this?

FO: Mint Gingham Dress

So it's been a while since I blogged YET AGAIN. I thought I was going to be better about this since my absence is not due to lack of making things to show, which is very different than my reasoning for the past 2 years. I'm still avoiding sewing clothes in general, but about a month ago I came across a box full of my very old projects. This box has been hanging out in my spare room ever since I moved last April, and before that all the contents of the box were hanging out in a drawer anxiously awaiting me to give them my attention. This dress was among the projects and since Easter was coming up and this was a very springy dress, I decided to go ahead and finish it up. 

I started this dress during Me Made May in 2014. At the time, I had decided this pattern (Butterick 5982) was the perfect princess seam bodice block that I could do all the fitting work on and then produce ad nauseum in various adorable cotton prints à la Modcoth. So I made a few muslins, changed the pattern, got it to fit me, then cut into this adorable mint green gingham seersucker fabric I bought at a thrift store, which I loved, as well as my super fancy lining of a white poly cotton bed sheet from the Target clearance section. Everything looked good in bodice assembly, but when I added the lining it became too tight across the bust. I was soooo discouraged. Here I had put in all this work (which was a lot for me at the time) and thought I would be fine in the finished dress only to have it not turn out that way. I was new to fitting myself back then and I really didn't know what the problem was nor how to fix it. So I stuffed the dress, all the pieces still to be sewn, extra fabric, and pattern into a big ziplock bag and forgot about it until now. 

I remembered the problems when I first opened this project up back in March, but given that I have lost so much weight recently I knew the dress wouldn't fit my body now anyway so it wasn't as precious of a project anymore. I tried the dress on as it was, which was bizarre - word to the newer sewists: don't sew your skirt to the zipper and not to the bodice, please. My justification was that I wanted to try it on with the zipper but before fitting the skirt in order to make any bodice adjustments I needed. This was a terrible idea that caused a lot more work for me now. Anyway, the dress was too big, as I expected. I scooped a bit out of the princess seam under the bust and took the waist in about 2 inches. It looked a little roomy still, but it was no worse than a ready to wear dress might be and I didn't want to spend a ton of time working on it given that I am still trying to lose more weight. So I just decided to attach the skirt after that. This was a challenge - not only had I already attached the skirt to the zipper, but I also had never figured out the new pleat layout to make it match up to my bodice. Even if I had done the pleats back in the day, I would've had to change it now given my change in size. So I had to make up the pleats as I went and hope that they looked even enough in the finished dress. This was a big pain in the butt, and my mental state at the time didn't really help things. I found myself on the night before Easter in a big wave of depression but with this dress still unfinished. I knew I wanted to get it done, but I just wasn't feeling it at all. I muscled through, and I even cleaned up and made myself take blog pictures just after hemming the dress on Easter before taking my kids to hunt eggs, but these smiles are quite forced. Interesting how the context of our photos can change with how we are feeling. Anyway, it wasn't the best weekend overall, but sewing does help me when I'm down, so I got a mental boost knowing this project was finally finished 6 years after I started it.

That said, this is probably the most ill-fitting thing I've ever sewn to completion. After attaching the skirt it became clear that the bodice was too long. I have a long torso and I am always worried about things coming up too short at the waist, but back in 2014 I overcompensated for this. That is why I have all that bunching at the waist. It's not awful when worn just since most things will bunch a bit as you move around, but it does bug me. I just wasn't in the mental space to unpick that whole skirt and redo it 1/2" shorter. So it stays.

The upper bust looks pretty good though. There is a little bit of wrinkling at the sleeve seam but it wasn't anything I was willing to unpick them over. Also the sleeves are quite roomy, again not something I wanted to mess with. I do love the neckline of this dress. It's high enough to not feel like you're going to show much but still open enough to not feel strangled. A good combo :)

It's still pretty loose at the waist even with my alterations - I really should have taken in the princess seams as well as the side seams - but it made the dress quite comfy to wear on Easter. Here you can also see how wide the sleeves are. They are totally lined and enclosed - I was not going to unpick them now. 

I am happy with how the zipper itself turned out, and that was done back in 2014. I love a regular slot seam zipper. The long waist is pretty obvious in the back, but fortunately I don't have to look at my back when I wear it, lol.

I am also very happy with the lining. I've actually made very few lined items, mostly because it feels like I'm making the dress twice. I'd rather just pick a fabric that doesn't require a lining, generally speaking. Plus lining = extra layer = very hot in Florida. But I do love how they make everything so neat and tidy inside a finished garment. The last part of making this dress involved me hand sewing the lining to the zipper tape just to ensure a smooth finish, and I really like how it turned out.

So, that's my dress. 6 years in the making only to turn out as a cute but not great fitting item, lol. Sorry, dress. I do love mint and gingham and seersucker, and I still love this style of dress. The only thing it's missing are pockets, which I still can't believe I didn't include even way back when, but I just couldn't be bothered now. I'm glad it's done, and should things open up again soon I will certainly wear this to church while it still fits me. So yay for finishing old projects even if it's not a total win - done is better than perfect!

Summary:

Fabric: 3-ish? yards of mint green gingham seersucker - $3.00 (thrifted), white poly cotton bed sheet - $1.00

Pattern: Butterick 5982 - $2

Notions: 18" white zipper - $2, white thread - $1.00

Time: 6 years? and then 3 hours

Total Cost: $9.00

FO: Yaletown Dress

This post could also be called: The Dress That Almost Wasn't or I Should've Known Better. I'm not usually one for wrap dresses or tops because they always gape like crazy on me in ready to wear, so I thought maybe it was just that they were not sewn for my body and that I could possibly wear this previously sworn off style if I just got the right pattern. Now I'm thinking I was right in the beginning, lol. I managed to make this wearable, but it's certainly not the most flattering thing on my body (hate that word all you want - if I feel something is unflattering, I will never wear it). So let's delve into this, shall we?

This is the Yaletown Dress by Sewaholic patterns. I saw it around the sewing web when it was first released and it seemed kind of hit or miss even then with who liked it and who didn't. Some people had it turn out great for them and others were not very happy. I filed all that info away and a while later (quite a while, actually) I came across a kit during a Craftsy sale that included the Yaletown physical pattern and 4 yards of poly crepe to sew it with for $28.78. This wasn't dirt cheap, but it was certainly a good value for what I got and I was interested in the pattern anyway, so I bought it. And then it sat in my stash for a few years, lol. I put this dress on my official Make 9 in 2018 list, so I decided this would be the year I finally made it up. I was trying to decide if I wanted to make it up in this fabric or another poly crepe as a muslin, and in the end I decided to just use this fabric and go for broke. Technically that makes this my most expensive muslin to date, lol.

I decided to go ahead and make some of my usual pattern adjustments to this before cutting out the fabric. I lengthened the bodice by 1.5" for my long torso, and since I fell outside the waist on the size chart I added 2.5" to the front bodice pieces. That seems like nothing now, but I was so stressed about the adjustments at the time. Once I was cut out and committed, I just started sewing it together. I managed to get it completely made except for the sleeves - tried it on - and felt like a dumpy mess :/ It was way too big, way too blousey, and very unflattering. Like really. I was so bummed. I was still determined to finish this, so I added the sleeves before I set it aside to muster up the courage to undo the entire waist (which was a self enclosed elastic waist - so that's 3 seams to undo) and side seams. I just couldn't move on and sew something else while this waited, so after almost a month of it haunting me I finally cut it all apart. I took out all the width I added at the side seams (so 2.5") and sewed that back together, then redid the waist. It doesn't sound like much to type it, but just the unpicking took an hour. I had to shorten the bodice by 5/8" because I accidentally picked a hole in the fabric, but I think that was for the best. This made things much more acceptable looking overall - I just had to deal with the drape next.

The pattern tells you to put a single button at the cross point in the neckline for security, but I didn't love that you would see a button there. I decided to sew on some snaps instead, but figuring out where to put them was a lot of trial and error. I can see now that the neckline goes lower than I wanted it to anyway, so it doesn't really like to sit right on me after pulling it up to where I wanted it to be. I didn't trust just that one snap to hold everything, and the drape was hanging funny anyway, so I added another snap under my boob (I'm touching both snaps in the above photo). After wearing this out in public, I definitely need to change to the button - I had 2 wardrobe malfunctions in church with the top snap coming undone *whoops*. So this will change sometime. But it made things at least wearable and the drape didn't stick out so much that it looked like I was storing fruit in there.

The fabric is a very nice quality poly crepe with lots of drape. I was a little worried (as I am with all polyester fabrics) that it would be too warm for Florida, but this is so drapey that it wasn't a problem and I was not hot at all. In fact I almost have a little issue with it feeling too light in the skirt - it feels like nothing on my body which makes me nervous. I like to feel a solid cloth covering my butt at all times, lol. I think I'll have to finally make a slip just so I don't feel like I'm going to expose myself all the time in my lighter weight dresses.

The pattern also includes a waist tie - which I lengthened by about 10 inches after reading other reviews saying it was short. To be honest I almost didn't make the tie. I completely forgot about it, did all my other fixes to the dress, and then while putting the pattern away I saw the fabric still pinned with it. I'm pretty sure I said, "Aw man..." in a whine in my sewing room. So I sat down and made the tie. I even forgot about the tie again when taking these pictures - I took all the pictures I would need for this post, then saw the tie sitting in my sewing room after I had already changed and put the camera away. I was not happy, lol, but I put the dress back on an retook the photos - thus why you see the belt in some pictures and not in others. With this fabric I don't think the tie is a necessity for the design anyway, but I do feel a bit more secure with it tied at my waist. It kind of keeps everything in place since my elastic is not super firm. After taking these pictures, I was putting the dress away I noticed that I forgot to sew the hole in the tie I left to turn it right side out, lol. That poor, unloved tie.

Here are the snaps up close. It was really a challenge to figure out where to put them. I sewed on the one at the neckline once, tired it on, then realized I needed to make it a 1/4" lower. So I picked it off and tried again. It still doesn't sit perfectly, but it's passable, so I left it.

Now if you're wondering why I felt this was unflattering, these side photos will show you. It's not bad from the front and back, but the sides aren't doing me any favors with all the blousey-ness. You can see how the snaps close up the gap at the drape though. Before I redid it, that whole area under my boob stuck out like a hammock. Because of the interfacing in the facing, the drape wants to pull away from the body. It also adds weight to pull it downward - thus looking like your own personal handfree shopping bag at your waist. When I tightened things up it definitely helped, but that snap below the boobs really was the fix.

Not as bad from this side, but still not great. I always try to accentuate my waist to avoid feeling like a big lego brick, and I tend to avoid gathered skirts to not make my hips look larger, but I thought that this thin fabric and the elastic waist would help with that. I was really happy with my Mayberry Dress, so I figured this would be the same. I think I shouldn't have added that extra length and it might have made it a little more to my taste.

I do love that this has pockets though :) Everything should have pockets! I also like the sleeves. Normally I steer away from anything called a "flutter sleeve", but this is more subtle and just a little roomy - the perfect combo. Also it's really not bad without the tie - the channel for the elastic is narrow so I don't feel like it's unsightly or anything. So I will probably wear it both ways.

So that's my dress that almost wasn't, lol. This one really fought me, but I'm glad I stuck with it and now have something to show for my time. I have already worn it and I think it will be a nice summer dress - nice enough for church, yet overall a more casual look, plus breezy enough for the excruciating heat that is fast approaching. I don't know that I will make this pattern again, but it was a good learning experience and a test in my determination :) Also I've finally made something on my make 9 list during the year I first committed to it! Woo hoo!

Summary:
Fabric: 3 yards poly crepe - from Craftsy Kit
Pattern: Yaletown Dress by Sewaholic Patterns - $28.78 total from Craftsy Kit
Notions: Pellon SF101 interfacing - $0.50, navy thread - $2.00, 1 yard of 1/3" elastic - free,
Time: 12 hours
Total Cost: $ 31.28

FO: The Mayberry Dress

I'm interrupting my year end round ups and jumping my blog posting queue to show you my cute new dress :)

A few months ago, Jennifer Lauren of Jennifer Lauren Handmade (or Jennifer Lauren Vintage as it was called) put out a call for reviewers on her patterns. She offered the opportunity to receive a specific pattern and make it up within a certain timeline to review on social media. She has done this with a few patterns already, but she announced that the next would be the Mayberry Dress and that you could have 2 months (instead of the previous 1 month) to review it on your blog if chosen. Feeling that I could certainly make this happen over the course of 2 months, I signed up and was chosen as a reviewer :) I was thrilled and honored. I printed my pattern and got things ready, but then I had to make the 60s dress followed by lots of Christmas gift sewing. Before I knew it, it was the week of Christmas and I had yet to even assemble my pattern. The review had to be up by December 31st - yikes! Thankfully I finished all my gifts in time for Christmas, so immediately after I started work on this pattern. I put it together the 26th, made a muslin the 28th, cut out my fabric and began sewing the 29th, and finished sewing the 30th with just enough time for me to get blog photos and post this today, on the 31st. Phew! Talk about procrastination! I feel terrible that I let the project wait this long, but I'm still glad I was at least able to keep the deadline - and now I have a cute new dress :) Lesson learned - never take on any personal projects with deadlines around Christmas. You'd think I would know this by now. Anyway, Let's look at this cute dress.

The Mayberry dress is a shirtwaist dress with a vintage twist. It has an off center button placket that ends at the waist. There are 3 sleeve length options (short, 3/4/, and long). The neat twist with this design is the drawstring waist that allows you to gather it up as much as you would like at the waist. After deciding to make my dress with 3/4 sleeves, I assembled the pattern, traced off a size 18 C at the bust and arms grading to a 20 at the waist and hip (according to my measurements on the chart), and set to making a muslin. I made my muslin from a vintage poly cotton sheet and decided to add 2: to the length of the bodice as well as the skirt (normal alterations for me), but I made no other changes. The fit was very nice off the bat as this is a looser design - since the darts were in the right place I called it good and proceeded with my fashion fabric.

I feel like this dress is even flattering from the back, which is not usually the case with me. This pattern is very versatile with choice of fabric. The instructions list that you can use most any woven fabric "with some drape", giving examples of linen, lawn, voile or poplin for more structure or rayon, silk, or sheer fabric for a more summer dress. Seeing that I live in Florida and I wanted something I could wear most of the year, I went with this lovely floral rayon challis from my stash. I bought 4 yards of it at a Sewing Studio sale back in 2012 when I first started sewing clothes only to have no idea what I would make with it, so it's sat ever since. I thought it was just the thing for a design like this - slightly vintage pattern in a cooler color palette with a nice drape. The fabric was light enough for summer yet also opaque enough to not need a lining. It even has just the slightest mechanical stretch, which was nice when sewing around curved areas. It's bouncy and flowy and lovely. I'm glad that former me bought this even though I had no idea it was such nice fabric at the time, lol. I'm glad it's a dress at long last.

Construction wise, every thing went wonderfully smooth. The instructions are great, even adding in extra tips for beginners if you need that. I appreciated that the facing pattern pieces said "Cut in 1 interfacing with glue side up" as this acted as a good reminder without me having to check the pattern again before cutting. There are lots of thoughtful things like that. You construct the bodice first, even adding the button holes which was much easier without the added bulk of the skirt fabric to contend with. Next you add the sleeves and the 3/4 length has a cuff to finish it off. This part was a little fiddly, but the instructions were very thorough so it went together well. Next you make the skirt, though I had made buttonholes for the drawstring back when I made them on the bodice since the machine was already set up. This dress even has pockets! Love it. Next you sew the bodice and skirt together, creating the casing for the drawstring waist at the same time. I appreciate that this was all one step with no extra pieces - no skinny casing pieces to deal with and turn edges under - this was all accomplished with just the bodice and skirt pieces. Very clever. After a hem and button sewing, this baby was done :)

Since I was using this slinky rayon, I did use spray starch on the bust darts, which worked wonderfully. I had my starch at the ready in case other areas needed the stabilization, but there was no need. The fabric behaved very well overall, even on the cuffs and hem. I think I stretched the sleeve a bit with handling since I did not stay stitch the edge, but it was no problem since you ease the sleeve cap in anyway. This fabric took sleeve setting like a champ, by the way. This might be the nicest sleeve insertion I've ever done - the stretch in the fabric and the drape meant I have no puckers whatsoever. Woo hoo. For finishing the seams inside, I have a few seams that are pinked but most of them are trimmed and overcast. This rayon likes to fray, so I'm hoping this will be enough to keep it from getting too bad. Hopefully I keep my goal of getting a serger going and I can go back over this later on.

I  tried out several button colors before settling on these plain navy ones. I looked at other finished versions of this dress, and I liked it better when the button stood out from the fabric. This can be easier said that done on a patterned fabric like this, so I wanted something contrasting. The navy buttons tie into the darker blue dots in the abstract floral but definitely still stand out. This also influences my choice of a navy poly satin ribbon at the waist. I happened to have this 3/8" wide roll on hand that was given to me from a friend's friend's grandmother's stash and it was the perfect size and color. I originally thought I'd use cotton cord, but I love that the ribbon is so flat that there is no added bulk at the waist plus I could just melt the edges of the ribbon slightly to avoid fraying. A win win :)

As far as the fit, I'm really happy with it. I think maybe I added a bit too much length to the bodice though. This rayon definitely hangs heavier than the poly cotton I used in my muslin, so what hit me at the waist in the cotton is decidedly low in the rayon. If this didn't have that drawstring waist it would look pretty silly being that long, but thankfully I can just tie the waist where I want it and it's fine. I like that it's a bit blousey on top, though the button placket makes it stick out a bit far just in that one spot. These are small issues though, and they are all from my alterations I made to the pattern. I would probably only add 1" next time I make this. The only thing I feel is a bit big that was drafted that way is the sleeve cuff - I wouldn't want it tight against my arm, but this is big enough that it doesn't even touch my arm at all. This would be a simple adjustment, but I didn't think of it at the time. It doesn't bother me enough to unpick it though, so maybe this is just a me thing. Now that I see these photos it looks like a complete non-issue. Otherwise, I love everything about how this fits. While the button placket is fully functional, I don't even have to open it up to get this dress on - one of the benefits of a smaller bust I guess. I just slip it on over my head and tie the waist and I'm good to go. It's super comfy due to the fit plus the soft and drapey fabric. And I love that if I'm having a "large day", I can just tie the waist looser and no one would be the wiser. Plus pockets!

I'm very happy with this new dress! It's been so long since I made a dress at all since they tend to be more restrictive on my body type, but this one does not have that issue at all. Since this even has pockets I might even wear this one to work - which is a huge deal as I never wear dresses at work since I hate fiddling with them. Wearing this I feel comfortable, cute, and somewhat modern even. My husband said I looked slightly hipster, lol. I don't care because it's just so comfy and I love this fabric. I've also just seen a version where the button front is changed to just a standard bodice, which gives me even more ideas since I love the fit of this so much. I'm glad I was able to review this pattern, and I would definitely recommend it if you want an effortless yet cute dress to add to your wardrobe :)

And with that I wish you all a very Happy New Year! I'll talk to you in 2018!

Summary:
Fabric: 3 yards of floral print rayon challis, $12 (?) from The Sewing Studio
Pattern: Mayberry Dress by Jennifer Lauren Handmade
Notions: thread - $0.50, Pellon SF101 interfacing - $0.50, 5 navy blue buttons - $0.10, navy blue poly satin ribbon - $0.10
Time: 12 hours
Total Cost: $13.20

*I received the Mayberry Dress pattern at no charge in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and not influenced in any way. I just really like this dress :)*

FO: The 60s Dress

I know I've mentioned before on the blog about the singing groups I'm a part of, but every now and then these two hobbies of mine intersect because I need a costume for a singing event. Earlier this year we sang at a Madrigal Feast, and our fall show just took place on November 4th as a 60s music show. Well I could not let a sewing opportunity like the 1960s pass me by without making something up. I surely could've just used some things I already had, but this was an opportunity to make something that doesn't exactly translate into modern fashion if you know what I mean, lol. I dug through my vintage pattern stash as well as my fabric stash to pull out some actual from-the-era options. The resulting dress is so 60s I just can't even. So let's start with the dress itself:

How 60s is this baby? Our director kept saying to focus on things people would've worn in day to day life during the 60s, not something super costumey, and I really feel I nailed that prompt. The pattern came first, so we'll start there.

I went with vintage Simplicity 8660, a classic a-line shift dress with a bow neckline from 1969. Not only is this style quintessentially 60s, this pattern was also already in my exact size (I know!) which absolutely never happens with vintage patterns if you are over 36" bust. As an avid thrifted, and as someone who has dabbled in selling patterns online, I have an extensive collection of vintage patterns, and I can count the ones that are over a 36 or 38" bust on my hands. People were just smaller on average, and while I've always had good intentions and planned to grade some of them up I've just never taken the time to actually do the prep and make that happen. So the fact that this dress was already made for a 43" bust was a huge win. I had a handful of patterns to chose from and I showed them to a few people who are into these types of things and they both chose this dress, so I guess it was just meant to be.

The fabric is another fortuitous find. I snagged this piece of cotton poplin at a thrift store over a year ago for the sheer novelty of the print, plus it was a sizeable piece, for just $3. When I got it home (and washed it) I noticed that the selvage was printed "Fashion Set M.L.S. 1963", which I interpret as this fabric being printed in 1963. Perfect! Interestingly when I pulled out the fabric to sew with, it read more blue from the background, and I even used royal blue thread to stitch this up, but every photo reads so much more orangey gold. 

Since I have never actually worked with a vintage pattern before, and since I tend to have to make a lot of adjustments anyway, I made a full muslin of this dress. I had to lower the bust dart by 1" and take it in a few inches around the bust and waist, plus I had to shorten the hem and the sleeves, but other than that this dress fit extremely well - much better than modern Simplicity patterns tend to fit me off the bat. I also wanted to make the muslin to test out the methods used to make everything. The instructions were really good, not too concise as they are reputed to be, and aside from a little (undertstandable)  hand sewing at the neckline, this was a breeze to sew together. I'm liking the whole vintage pattern idea more and more now...

Another interesting twist of fate is in the zipper. I have a crazy vintage zipper stash that are most all from the 60s and 70s. I really am set when it comes to standard dress zippers thanks to these, but I must admit there are quite a few that are in what I consider to be pretty unattractive colors that I would very unlikely wear, meaning I have a nice stack of zips that may never be used except on muslins, for which they are used regularly. When gathering my supplies, I laid out this fabric and set various zips next to it to see which would be the best match. Wouldn't you know that all 3 of the colors I dislike the most - the ones I use on muslins because I never thought I would need them for an actual garment - matched this fabric perfectly. I was chosing between bright orange, medium brown, and Aztec Gold. I put a picture up on instagram and everyone helped me chose the Aztec gold and I am very happy with the result. 

I did a lapped zipper to keep with the time period, so the zip isn't exactly on display, but it all feels very legit to have this historically accurate zipper in there, lol. See how much more blue the fabric looks in these pictures? These were taken in morning sunlight. So weird. 

The instructions have you start the project by sewing a small square of bias cut fabric at the center of the neckline and flipping it to the inside. You are then to catch stitch this piece of fabric in place by hand before moving on. This makes for an interesting detail - definitely more of a homemade feel then we go for nowadays with finishing the insides. I just pick stitched around the piece so it is invisible outside, but it's kind of fun inside this way too. 

The bow has interfacing only at the widest part of the bottom, and the instructions have you sew it with a machine to a certain point and then enclose everything by hand around the neck, which is what I did. I top stitched the hem and sleeves with the machine since a) this is a costume and b) this fabric is so busy that you can't see it anyway. I altered the sleeves quite a bit but in the easiest way possible. The pattern is designed to have a long sleeve gathered into a placket, but I would die of heat stroke in a long sleeved dress in a show, so I just cut the sleeve piece at the lengthen/shorten line, then eyeballed where I wanted the sleeves to hit on my muslin and transferred the length to the real dress. I'm really happy with how they turned out and the fit is great :) I raided our Etsy jewelry at work and I think I accessorized pretty well, lol. My long necklace and earrings are a set by Sarah Coventry and my bracelet is Trifari - all 60s originals. I was actually pretty amazed I didn't think my ears were going to fall off after wearing clip-ons all night, lol. I also wore some Clarks mustard colored flats I have - these are just regular shoes I bought for work, lol. I'm glad they worked and looked pretty accurate to the period as well. 

My hair and makeup is a bit of a sore subject. First I tried to do winged eyeliner for the first time ever thinking it couldn't be that hard - yeah, I don't recommend you do that. I was trying to do my makeup quickly between customers at work too, so it was a stressful makeup fix to be sure. For my hair I had planned on it looking like a big teased helmet, but thanks to thin, oily hair and Florida humidity it looked just like it does every other day, lol. You would think that with as much teasing as we did (see photo above) that it would've at least looked a bit poofy, but sadly it did not at all during the show. We took the photos of my dress after the show, and you can see that it looks just like my usual hair. This is why I never do anything to my hair - it refuses to do anything. I just got to feel dirty all night with my unwashed hair, lol. 

Here's a very unflattering photo of me singing that night, lol. It was the only tolerable one, so I'm trying to just let it go. Location photos are super hard, guys. The lighting was weird everywhere, so I'm sorry the pics aren't up to my usual standard. I believe I was singing Can't Buy Me Love in this picture. My solos were Can't Buy Me Love, I Only Want To Be With You, and You Can't Hurry Love, but I sang back up or group numbers on lots of others too. 

Here is all of Soliloquy :) The 7 of us are the complete womens group I sing with and we have a lot of fun. We were chosen to sing at Disney again this year and this time we have 6 performances! Woo hoo, lol.

And here is the whole gang - this is Soliloquy, Broadstreet (the coed singing group) and out band. Our drummer said he had the collar piece since the 60s, lol. Love it. We had a lot of fun, and hopefully we will be performing this show again in January. Any local people - let me know if you're interested and I'll make sure you know the next performance! I mean how can you resist the opportunity to come see my dress in person?

This also means I've officially made my Vintage Pledge! This is my first time participating, and I now know it won't be the last :) I loved working with this 60s pattern and I know I have more that are tempting. So hooray for accomplishing small goals!

Summary:
Fabric: 3.5 yards vintage cotton poplin (36" wide) - $3.00 (thrifted)
Pattern: Simplicity 8660 from 1969 - $0.25 (thrifted)
Notions: interfacing -$0.50, blue thread - $0.50, gold 22" zipper - $0.10 (thrifted)
Time: 10 hours
Total Cost: $4.35

FO: Take A Seat Dress

This is an epic project - I actually used one of my "love it too much to risk messing it up" fabrics from my stash! And I LOVE IT!

I purchased this fabric last 4th of July from Fabric.com in the sale they had that weekend. The fabric is called Perfectly Perched Chairs in Steel designed by Laurie Wisbrun for Robert Kaufman. This line had several designs featuring chairs, but I liked this one best due to the colors - steel gray, white, and bright turquoise. I bought 3 yards with no specific pattern in mind, just knowing I wanted a simple dress. Then it sat... and waited... I didn't want to just chop into this awesomeness without knowing I would like the results, you know? I mean, those chairs needed their day to shine! I started off thinking Simplicity 2444 would work, but I didn't want to break up the lines of chairs with the angled bust darts on that pattern. So, I raided the pattern stash for a bodice with more simple, straight darts that could be used for all my lined novelty prints (seriously, I seem to be unknowingly drawn to lines and geometric patterns that need pattern matching - it's a dilemma). Simplicity 1419 seemed to be just the ticket, plus it had the fun option of the keyhole neckline and peter pan collar. So I muslined the daylights out of that pattern, and made my Skewed Flowers Dress first. Once I worked out my little kinks, I decided to take the plunge!

Now, I did make a few changes from my Skewed Flowers dress - most obviously the neckline. I love the keyhole and collar the pattern includes, but I think a cutesy collar on a dress covered in bright colored chairs would be a bit much. Just a personal judgement there. I actually just traced the Simplicity 2444 neckline onto my traced 1419 pattern piece - quick and easy change. I also really didn't want to have to figure out drafting a facing, plus I've had a problem with my dresses standing away from my back more than I like and I'm pretty sure it's due to the stiffness of the interfaced facing back there. This time, I decided to try bias tape on the neckline. I will admit it was a bit fiddly since I only had double fold bias tape on hand (and I was in to much a "quick satisfaction" mood to make any), but I made it there in the end. It's actually much easier than following all the directions for a traditional facing, plus I hate that facings always want to pop out, so I will certainly be employing the bias tape method on future makes :)

As you can see form the side view, I still have a bit too much fabric at the upper back. It drives me nuts. I hate that can't reach back there to pin everything in place just right, you know? My hunchback needs some assistance. Oh well - I'm going to look up how to address this before my next make. The back view ... I'm almost ashamed to show you because it shows the problem with the other change I made to the pattern. Honestly, the dress it too tight. I've worn it out now, and it did stretch out a bit so that it was more comfortable, but it tends to look a bit sausage-like in the back unless I'm standing just right (clearly I'm not standing just right in this photo). I also had just washed the dress and ironed it before taking these photos, so trust me it isn't always this tight. But good grief the zipper is actually stuck in a wonky position halfway down my back... and you can see the white line of the "invisible" zipper. Ugh. Maybe I'll lose weight someday, lol, just for this dress. My invisible zipper does look very good other than the tightness issue. The thing I changed was that last time around I had to add a tiny extra pleat to the front skirt to make my pieces match the bodice after all the alterations I had made, so this time I just figured I could cut the next size down in the skirt - apparently this was not a wise decision.

Not a lot of hanger-appeal to my dresses, lol.I think you can see the effort I made with pattern matching though. I knew I didn't have enough fabric to even try a seamless match up of the pattern, but I wanted to make sure the lines of chairs were consistent, and I paid particular attention to make the center front waist seam on the gray areas between the chairs. I think it came out really well :) This is my first official time pattern matching, so I'm pleased.

Close ups: I decided to use some chartreuse colored bias tape from my stash (left over from this Sorbetto) at the neckline just for fun. I love a little hidden pop of color and you don't see it from the outside at all. I followed the suggestion of a reader on my zipper and placed the top of the zipper tape just down from the seam edge - this caused a definite need for a hook and eye, but the zipper doesn't seem to make the dress want to pull away more, so that's a win :) My waistline seam is just ever so slightly off at the zipper, but it was so close that I couldn't be bothered to rip it out and try again. Also, my darts still don't line up from the bodice to skirt on the front due to all the changes I had to make to the pattern. One of these days I'll figure that one out.

Now for the other icky mistake - that picture above shows my side seam. Yeah, it totally doesn't line up from the bodice to the skirt. More than that, it's almost a full inch off! This is another issue I had from cutting the smaller skirt, so I will certainly not do that next time. When I ear the dress though, the print is so busy that no one has noticed this little flaw, plus let's be real I don't usually walk around waving my arms in the air, so I'm not that worried about it. It's just being documented for internet shaming purposes *sigh*.

So there you have it :) A new dress that I absolutely adore in spite of its issues. Seriously, how awesome is this fabric?! I just love it, and I know it will get lots of wear. Even The Gordo had to photobomb me so he could be seen near this dress, lol. Don't let that corgi smirk fool you. He loves the dress too.

Summary:
Fabric: 3 yards of Perfectly Perched Chairs fabric in Steel colorway by Laurie Wisbrun for Robert Kaufman - $13.32 from Fabric.com (no longer available)
Pattern: Simplicity 1419 with Simplicity 2444 neckline
Notions: 22" invisible zipper - $1.50, thread - stash, chartreuse bias tape - stash
Hours: Approx. 5