Five yards of Liberty

So, as luck would have it, I stumbled upon something fantastic on ebay. I got five yards of Liberty of London Tana lawn for only $55.15 (including shipping---I love Buy it now or Best Offer). I'm not even sure I like the print. Pink and light blue aren't my usual color choices (but yellow makes it better):

Angelica Garla Tana Lawn

Thank you ebay. You complete me. Here, I will share my find as there is more available:  three different prints ranging from $13-$16 a yard (also, a US seller). Considering that Liberty Tana lawn can cost anywhere from $36-$50+ a yard, this is a steal. You're welcome.

When I wasn't knee-deep in moving boxes, I thought about what I could make with all this fabric. A sundress would be perfect. I really want something simple. Something that wouldn't cause a bunch of stress with fitting issues. So, I'm going with Vogue 8723, it has separate pieces for different cup sizes.

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This pattern isn't super popular and I'm not quite sure why. Every version I've come across has been super cute. I think the Liberty Lawn would be perfect for this pattern. If I wasn't so exhausted from moving, I would start on it.

Moving right along.

New York did not wow nor disappoint. It was the same as I left it in 2009. Except this time, I came back with a suitcase full of fabric. The Garment District made my life complete. I spent about $200 and came home with around 40 yards of fabric fun. Not all polyester either. I have lawn, sateen, rayon challis, gauze, shirting and a mystery cotton blend thrown in for good measure. I didn't pay over $6 a yard for any of it. Bless you Metro Textiles. Bless you.

During my usual online fabric window-shopping, I've stumbled upon at least three of my fabrics on various sites going for more than twice what I paid. Tsk tsk. I won't name names. People have to make a living somehow.

I'd post photos but my camera is packed away and my phone won't do the fabric justice. It's moving time for the next couple of weeks. Not a fan of moving, but the move means I'll finally get some sewing space.  At the moment, I occupy the dining table. It's messy in this little corner, let me tell you.

I seriously tried to start working on a dress despite the fact that I have to start moving stuff on Saturday. I couldn't help myself. I have a giant stack of fabric just begging to made into something beautiful. I bought the Angie dress pattern by Sis Boom. Really cute and really simple, my kind of pattern:

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The neck and arms are finished with bias tape. It has an elastic waist. Pockets! These are most important.

I've already made my muslin of the bodice. It fits with just a few tweaks. Nothing major. I can see myself modifying this bodice and using it again. It's the first bodice that has fit in a while without pissing me off to no end (I'm looking at you Darling Ranges and Colette Peony).

Speaking of Darling Ranges and Colette Peony, I've given up on both of these patterns. I can't make the huge f-ing dart on the Darling Ranges bodice work. With the Peony, I discovered that my shoulders are a size 16 while the rest of me hovers around 14 and I still have to do a FBA to make it work. It's too much work. Too many muslins. I quit for now.

I did make the Colette Hazel dress without a hitch. Again, once I find my camera, I'll post a picture.

That's it for now. I need to sleep. Did I mention that I'm also working over-time? Sigh.

Hypothetical Spring/Summer Palette

I wish that I had the time to participate in the Colette Patterns Spring/Summer Palette Challenge. I enjoyed the Fall Palette Challenge even thought I completely strayed from my plans. The Spring/Summer challenge would be easier as I already have a few dresses in mind. Ideally, I'd like to make 4 - 5 easy summer dresses (Spring is just a figment of Texas' imagination) that would be comfortable when the temperatures reach 100+ by July.

However, within the next 6 weeks, I'm going to NYC and moving to a new apartment. In fact, after I finish my Hazel dress (Thank you Colette Patterns for digital downloads), I will probably start packing my sewing supplies.

Side note: The Hazel dress has been super easy thus far. I made a muslin of the bodice and there were no fit issues. None. I'm so excited about this pattern, I can barely contain myself.

Hazel from Colette Patterns

Sigh. I won't let this stop me from planning along with everyone else although I can't participate in the actual sewing of my wardrobe. It's cool. Texas will be hot well into October, I'll have plenty of time to sew.

Anyway, here's my color palette. My goal is to make one dress for each color. Sounds simple enough.

Maybe tomorrow I'll post some of my pattern selections. My goal is to keep it simple, so I plan to use patterns I've sewn before. As far as fabric goes, I only have the green in my stash. I'd have to buy everything else, you know, if I were actually going to sew.

*Edit: I've made a board on Pinterest of my pattern ideas and inspiration.

Work in progress...

Honestly, this dress should be finished by now. I started it at the beginning of last month (perhaps the last week of February?) and I still have yet to finish the hem. Laziness has gotten the best of me.

Awkward pose

This is McCall's 6503, a dress that almost broke me. I could not stand the bagginess of the bust and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to get rid of it. It doesn't look that baggy on the model or the line drawings. However, I've seen quite a few versions pop up around the interwebs (feel free to google "McCall's 6503" for yourself) and all have the same issue. Not that they weren't cute, just a wee bit baggy in the bust.

Looks can be deceiving. For real.

I tried to reconcile the bagginess; ignore it and make the dress anyway. Nope. Couldn't do it. I tried a couple of suggestions: extend the gathering or make pleats in the shoulder. Neither really worked. Then one day, I looked at my pattern piece and folded it along gathering line/area (is that what's it called?).

Why didn't I think of this before?!

Genius. Simple. I could kick myself for not thinking of it sooner.  It worked! I loved not having to do some kind of serious bust adjustment to make the damn thing fit. I also had to shorten the waist (the long horizontal fold) as I'm short-waisted.

Everything else about the pattern was simple and relatively easy. I made View B but with the gathered skirt. For the fabric, I used Lecien cotton lawn purchased here. The dress is underlined in light blue cotton/poly batiste. Instead of the regular zipper, I used an invisible one. I really like invisible zippers. They are easier to install and aren't nearly as headache-inducing thanks to the purchase of the metal invisible zipper foot for my sewing machine.

If I hadn't spent the evening finishing the hem on my McCall's 5801 shirt dress, I would have finished this dress. The McCall's 5801 dress was another dress I almost finished two months ago except for the hem. A post on that dress will pop up later this week.

My Colette Crepe is lying in a crumpled heap, silently praying for the day when I pay attention to it once more. I have more than the hem to finish (under-stitching, tacking down facings, etc) and I probably won't get to it this month. Poor dress. It's so cute and polka-dotty. Quite a shame that laziness has once more gotten the best of me.

Next...

Next month, I'm going to New York for a little mini-vacation. I plan on visiting the Garment District. I will do some serious fabric shopping (I hope). In order to pay for this fabric-free-for-all, I have to cut back considerably. 

So, for the month of April, I will not purchase fabric or patterns. I'm only allowed to buy a pattern or two if Colette releases new patterns this month. Zippers or thread is allowed, but I have enough of that stuff too.

This is going to be so hard. 

I have a few projects that I'd like to complete before my NYC trip. I have the Emmaline bag, Simplicity 1882, and Vogue 8727: 

Vogue 8727

I'm kind of excited about the Vogue pattern as I'm using it to recreate a dress I saw on eShakti:

Golden Globes Dress

I'm not sure how I feel about the sleeves. I could use the sleeves from Simplicity 2501 (view D). They are fairly similar:

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I also plan on changing the skirt to a simple, gathered one instead of the circle skirt. Circle skirts do not look good on me. I have some brown lawn in my stash  that should work perfectly for this. 

Earlier today (after a much-needed nap), I worked on Muslin #2 for Simplicity 1801, the new Cynthia Rowley pattern that has the interwebs buzzing with excitement. Then, I quit. The muslin worked out well. I made a successful full-bust adjustment and the fit was fine. It just wasn't doing it for me anymore. Perhaps I'll find some fabric later that will inspire me. For now, it goes back into the pattern bin. 

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Kwik Sew 3856...thank you.

Not the best photo of me (minus my head), but here you go:

I love Kwik Sew 3856. It makes my heart dance. I used a polyester silky print from Joann. I usually abhor 100% polyester, but the print was so lively, I gave it a chance. It was much easier to work with than I imagined. Hardly any fraying, so swishing around (silky fabrics tend to do that), no puckering...nothing. If all the other silky prints at Joann weren't so atrocious, I would use them more often. 

I'm more of a solids kind of girl. It's rare that I'll find something besides a tiny floral print that I'll actually wear. To be honest, I'm shocked at this fabric choice. Bright colors, paisley and polyester? It's like I took a trip back to the 1970s. 

But I like this dress. I really, really like it.

Here are some pattern details, as I've never formally reviewed this pattern before:

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• I cut a size large. If you've never used a Kwik Sew pattern, you will notice that there are only five sizes: extra-small, small, medium, large and extra large. This is fine for the type of dress I made but is annoying if you try to make something more fitted. 
• It's pretty roomy in the bust area, so I didn't need to do a full-bust adjustment. However, the surplice front does gap like crazy. I plan on going back and stitching it down. 
• I made view A, the long version. I had to add 2 inches to the length as I am a wee bit tall. Not too tall, but tall enough. Even then, I had to make a super narrow hem, around 1/4" to get it to my ankles. 

Kwik Sew 3856 will probably find its way back to my sewing table in the future. I have a nice stash of some Anna Maria Horner voiles that would be perfect. This pattern has helped restore my dying sewing mojo and gave me a necessary confidence boost. 

My next project is a Cynthia Rowley pattern, Simplicity 1801. I have navy pique and moderately high hopes. We'll see how it goes.

Kwik Sew 3856 is still my hero

	Instead of having to underline the voile, as I originally planned, I purchased some poly silky print fabric from Joann. I'm not a fan of polyester, but I need a simple, quick and easy dress to make. Lining always complicates things.