Category Archives: Dresses

Don’t you think this dress just begs to be made up for flirty spring and summer wear? So very coquette-ish, n’est-ce pas?

Designed for an experienced sewist, the challenging sew Anthea is described by Style Arc as “…the dress of the season, fitted bodice with a soft falling skirt, can be made with or without lining. This is the dress of the moment; wear it with your favourite belt, pop on the Hannah jacket for a complete look.”

I made up my version of this pretty, feminine dress from a piece of silky soft cotton shirting I bought last year, maybe at Sew Expo. Billie’s Designer Fabrics? Nancy’s Sewing Basket? I can’t remember for sure where my purchase was made, but I was saving this fabric for just the right garment. I think it was aging properly for the Anthea, don’t you? Ummm, those whimsical dark navy pinwheels on bright purple and off-white striped fabric are definitely fun and flirty, IMHO.

Obviously you can’t see, but I lined the dress in a very lightweight cotton batiste. No slip. No see-through. Win-win! I also had to lengthen the skirt about 3 inches. For some reason the Style Arc pants are super long and I never have to add length, but the skirts are way short for ummm, a woman of a certain age.

I made 4 fitting adjustments to this pattern: 1) petite’d (shortened) the bodice thru the armhole by almost 1/2 inch front and back; 2) added 3 inches to the skirt length; 3) added a forward shoulder adjustment, and 4) dropped the side front dart by 1/2 inch. I think the front fits perfectly! No complaints.

Grrrrr! What’s going on with that back armhole?

Hey! Where did this extra length come from? Am I shorter in my back bodice than my front bodice?

I guess I didn’t check the back view carefully enough with my bodice muslin. Sigh. Guess I will get to make friends with my seam ripper again. I am not sure I am up for putting the zipper in again, but I will definitely rip the shoulders apart and pull the back up a bit at the shoulder seam. Maybe that will make the back hang properly enough that I can live with it. Or I can always just throw a cardigan on, right? 😉

Just look at it from the front. With a little twirling it looks great! I am totally going to wear this dress with a smile on my face even if I can’t get the back fit perfected, and will just work on tweaking the fit on the next version. This dress is definitely a winner, and there will be more of them coming.

Happy sewing!

Maris

 

So are you as jazzed as I am about The Monthly Stitch June 2014 Challenge – Indie Patterns?

First up: the dresses contest! I searched around for quite a while to find a new pattern that spoke to my design aesthetic as well as being um, “age-appropriate” (hate even thinking like that!). I fell in love a little bit with Salme’s Sleeveless Pleat Front Dress pattern. Tailored but still feminine, and pleats! I love pleats!

I bought beautiful voile fabric I loved. I made sure it was light and drapey so the gathered waist would not create a Michelin-tire-man effect.  I printed out the pattern and glued it together. I did add a couple of inches to the skirt length, but did not bother with my normal “petite-ing the bodice” adjustment. The deliberate blousy style + elastic waist casing of the pattern should handle that issue, right? I forged ahead and cut out my pretty, pretty fabric. I also cut out gossamer-thin batiste lining so a slip would not be needed when wearing this dress. Very soon things started to go off the rails.

Failure # 1. Pattern marking fail. I did not cut the front bodice on the fold because the pattern piece did not specify “Cut 1 on Fold.” Sometimes sets of pleats have a center seam included, so it didn’t strike me as odd. Yes, the cutting diagram does show the bodice laid out on the fold, but I never look at those stoopid diagrams. I do however, pay close attention to the pattern piece markings. Since I had leftover fabric, I recut a second front bodice. Only this time in my haste I missed adding seam allowances to the bodice (no SA included in Salme patterns). My fault, not Salme’s. Soooo, I decided to get creative and see if I could salvage this hot mess. I played around with a few options available in my stash (it was about 10:30 pm, so stores were not an option), and decided that centering a grey ribbon down the center front was the best available choice. I finished the entire dress, including making a very nice job of the lining, if I do say so myself.

Failure # 2. Pattern drafting fail. Usually there is a curve at the waist edges and hems on women’s patterns, right? Salme drafted this bodice and skirt completely straight at the bodice waist, the skirt waist, and the skirt hem. No bueno.

Failure # 3. Pattern drafting fail. The front bust dart was waa-a-a-a-a-a-y too low. Like not-even-in-the-ballpark too low. I have honestly never had this problem in a pattern. And since saggy girls are usually more of a problem for us slightly older ladies, and this line is designed by a young gal, hmmm. I had to adjust the dart placement. More no bueno.

Failure # 4. Style fail. Wow. A bag tied in the middle came to mind when I tried it on. So.Very.Not.My.Style. I can envision that a more rectangular body shape might look better in this dress style than I do, but all I know is what I had thought/hoped would be an attractive dress was butt uglyvery unflattering. I also think a neckline change would help this pattern. As drafted it just is not really very pretty on the body. My two cents, of course.

Nope, no pix of me wearing the dress. As a matter of fact, I can’t even show you a pix of the dress on my dress form because we had a fit of cleaning and organizing this past weekend. Dress got tossed into box for Goodwill; box was delivered to donation center on Sunday. Uncharacteristically efficient of me, I know. You will have to trust me, this dress was just soooo sad on me. Time to chalk this up to a learning experience and move on, sista! Sorry Salme, I could definitely forgive a style fail due to my bad judgement/body shape, but pattern marking & drafting fails earn low marks with me.

Coming soon: the indie dress that DID work for me, and absolutely meets the requirements for The Monthly Stitch Indie Dress Pattern Contest! Wheee!

Happy sewing!

Maris

I can hardly think of a more practical addition to a young working woman’s wardrobe than a pretty and comfortable knit dress. You probably have a favorite knit dress pattern; mine is Simplicity 3775 (OOP). I know it is kind of lame that I am recommending a pattern that is not readily available, but it does show up on eBay and Etsy fairly regularly.

My favorite version includes the “ruched” panel in the front midsection, which definitely hides a multitude of sins. I have one crossover style (View D, E, F) and two scoop neck views (Views A, B, C) hanging in my closet right now, and they are without a doubt my go-to-super-easy dresses.

My youngest son’s girlfriend is graduating from Gonzaga Law School next Saturday, and starting work as an attorney later this summer in Spokane. Clothes! After years of schooling a professional woman needs a wardrobe update! I offered to make her a dress for a graduation present. What she doesn’t know is that she is getting two. And at least one scarf.

She picked out this red “spatter” print from an online retailer a while back, and it is turning out to be a really cute dress. Obviously it is still in process, but the basic dress is assembled with only the finishing details remaining. I am planning on binding the neckline and armholes with black velvet fold-over elastic trim, one of my favorite finishes for knit dresses and T’s. Throw on a black jacket + a necklace = instant workplace polish. BAM!

She also LOVES polka dots, so even though the two prints are similar the dresses will not look identical when finished. I am currently thinking I will bind the neckline and armholes for this version with the same polka dot print, but something else may occur to me tomorrow.

Look what I found in my stash this afternoon! It wanted to become a scarf, so I comlied, as every girl can use another scarf. Maybe not with these 2 dresses, but there has to be something in her closet that grey and black goes with, right? What do you bet I find another stash-lurker and make her at least one more scarf before I wrap up her present for the mail? Evidently I must sew multiples right now!

Happy sewing!

Maris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring is in the air, and soon enough cool and breezy cotton dresses will replace sweaters and warm pants. My DD requested this tailored shirt dress ages ago, and it has even been finished for quite some time. Why has it been hanging in my sewing studio closet instead of her clothes closet?

See that look? It is the “I can’t believe it took you so long, Mom” look. I get it a lot. My reputation for lots of promises and late delivery precedes me. It is the sewist’s equivalent of having eyes bigger than one’s stomach at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Whatever. How many dresses has she made ME? 😉

We bought the blue chambray shirting and red & white babycord fabric in Portland, I think at Mill Direct fabrics, tho I can’t swear to that. She wanted a classic shirt dress with side slits, a few buttons down the front, and roll-up sleeves. I already had Butterick 5218, so we just extended it to dress-length and I cut it narrower to suit her preference for a slimmer silhouette.

I had to do a fair bit of fiddling with the front facing piece to get the red & white baby cord visible as the facing. The original pattern was one gigunda pattern piece that folded to the underside, so I had to cut that whole thing apart, add seam allowances, blah, blah. But I love the red accents! And of course I couldn’t stop with just the facing. A little trim on the pockets. Tabs on the sleeves. Accents on the belt.

The belt! It was made by Pat’s Custom Buttons and Belts—a fantastically talented woman in Lodi, California. You send her a bit of fabric, and she sends you back a fabulous belt, exactly to your specifications. No, she doesn’t have a web site or email. You can call her at (209) 369-5410 to get a catalogue. Did I mention she might be in her 80’s?

Ooops! My favorite little photo-bomber wanted to get in on the fun, but refused to model the skirt I actually DID make her. Maybe I can encourage her to play dress up for Nana soon. It’s always dicey whether you will get photo-cooperation from a toddler. At least Mommy has a new spring dress she actually wants to wear!

Happy sewing!

Maris