Working on bits and pieces of this and that. So here is an update on some random projects I have been working on.
Costumes for Miss Adams Morgan Pageant, a drag queen show here in D.C. I made several outfits for one of the contestants, but stupidly only took one picture the whole time I was there. DOH! I'm the short one. :-P
I made my hat, loosely based on one of the Vintage Vogue hat patterns. My dress is the Decades of Style Button dress. I also made her dress, which was a mash up of draping and several different patterns. I wish I had a picture of the looooong skirt that also went with this dress. It had yards and yards and yards of ruffles trimming it. How much do I love my automatic ruffling foot--A LOT!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a little Dancing Buddha embroidered doorstop that I finished just in time for it to be too cold to open the doors. Yay Me!
And finally, now that it is getting dark so early, I needed some reflective patches to wear when I run at night. Aliens and robots make me happy. I think I will make a squirrel too.
So a while back I was jabbing about a pair of men's vintage pants that I was making for a local dancer, but I never showed any pictures of them. That is because I didn't take any. DOH!
But here they are in action. The couple that starts dancing second at around 1:45 is Bobby White and Carla Heiney (she is wearing a red dress). I made Bobby's pants. :-)
They placed second in the competition. I am not saying my pants had anything to do with that. But I am not saying they didn't either.... Ok, they didn't. Dammit. If I could make magic pants like that I would totally make them for MYSELF!
Bobby is an absolute sweetheart of a guy and a dancer, and I am taking a few private lessons from him in exchange for the sewing. I swear half of the D.C. swing dancing scene (and beyond) owes or has given me lessons in exchange for sewing (for any dancers out there familiar with The Jam Cellar, ask me sometime why I "own" it. Ha!). Nina...Jeff...Frida...Bobby...Meg....the list continues.
Bobby (and his gal Kate, who came over to me while I was dancing last week and stage whispered, Those pants are AWESOME!) must have liked them, because he asked me to make two other pairs, exactly like the ones I made. Being the crankypants about fit that I am though, I see a few problems with the pants in the video, so Pair Number Two will be even better (I hope).
ETA: The dance they are doing is called Balboa and it is kinda a form of swing dancing. I do Balboa and I also do Lindy Hop.
It is also worth noting that the above clip is the finals from a Jack and Jill contest--Jack and Jill competition is where you are randomly assigned rotating partners and have no idea who you will end up dancing with, although most J & Js are broken down by level so you are dancing with someone at approximately the same skill level. So Carla is from California and Bobby is a local here in DC, so while they know each other (the dance world is like that, particularly the upper levels), it isn't like they dance regularly. Everything you see in that clip is lead/follow, no choreography. J & J competitions are much closer to regular social dancing than some of the other competitions.
Been quilting up a storm and I am almost done with the Mod Sampler quilt top. I finally get my fancy machine Sven back from the spa today....so no more excuses about starting the actual quilting part of the quilt.
And of course, my scatterhead has started new quilts before the first one is finished. But this time it actually makes sense. The Husband and I between us have about a billion friends having babies in the next few months, so I am making several small baby quilts. These will be easier to machine quilt than the big lap quilt, so good to do them first for the practice. I'll take some photos of the fabrics and progress this weekend, but I think they will be really cute. Children's quilt fabric has come a long way from the cutesy stuff it used to be. Now you can get cute AND funky. YEAH! There was even some robot fabric that I had to buy for myself. :-)
Speaking of cute and funky, more toddler shirts, made several more for the many many toddlers of my acquaintance. Cause everybody wants some...I want some too! (sorry, Cusack flashback. it happens.)
I like what I did with the hippo--took off the bird, resized, and reversed so there is a momma and a baby. Designs, of course, from Urban Threads.
Before I do the quilting this weekend, I need to work on a commission piece. There is a REALLY good lead in our local swing community who wants some vintage style pants. He has a pattern that a tailor made him long ago, but no one to make the pants. It has been really interesting to work from someone else's hand-drafted pattern and it is a fun project. Plus I get paid with some private dance lessons, which is great!
Like seemingly everyone else who makes vintage clothes, I once made the Butterick "Walk Away" dress. I made it probably 8 or 9 years ago and used the original vintage pattern number 6015. I amazingly got this pattern in a huge lot of vintage patterns I bought off ebay for a dollar (shipping included!).
Jumping Jack Frogs, I was SKINNY then!
The back/over piece is black silk, bound with black silk bias strips. The front/underpiece is a black tapestry with a dark pink design woven in. The buttons (hard to see in the photo) are covered in the tapestry fabric, which I recall caused lots of cursing and stabbing.
This dress was made to coordinate with a suit I made for the fellow I was dating/dancing with at the time; the suit was black with very thin hot pink pin stripes. We entered a vintage costume contest and only won second place which cheesed me off because the winning entry was someone who bought a original vintage dress for about a billion dollars and I MADE mine along with a durned vintage suit for my partner. Lookng back now, the dress that won was gorgeous and totally deserved it. I guess. Maybe.
I must say, although I think it has been over done, I do love this pattern. No side seams, the front wraps and hooks in the back, while the back wraps and hooks in the front. And it was certainly terribly flattering to my hourglass figure.
My new weight loss goal....fit into this dress again. Without a Corset of Death. :-)
And like dear Ms. Spears, I never should have done it the first time.
Halloween 2008. Looking much like the failed attempt of Halloween 2007 only in different colors and with a very cool hat.
Once again, I wore my Sunburst Cocoon Coat from Folkware (that I am now retiring in order to make the newly released Poirot coat!!!). Once again, I made the Decades of Style zig zag dress and once again, through NO FAULT of the pattern but entirely because I am not suited to 1920s styles and not talented enough to make it look good anyways, I looked not so great in it.
The one favorable addition this year was the hat. I got the pattern from the Vintage Pattern Lending Library and it is called the 1920 Paris Cloche Hat. The VPLL was great to work with and I highly recommend them. The pattern was typical for a vintage pattern--not a lot of instruction, but not hard to figure out if you have some basic sewing skills in your arsenal. I really dig the hat.
Oh yes, and the other bright spot in this tragedy were my shoes. They are from Remix Vintage and I love them. :-)
Another addition this year was a punkin that I carved in an Art Deco style to thematically match my costume. It also did not turn out as gorgeous as it appeared in my head.
Next year, NO 1920s!!!! No matter how perfect my hair is!! NO NO NO!!! Maybe Elizabethan or Victorian. Or even if I insist on being more practical, something from the 1940s or 50s.
If I mention the 1920s again, you all have my permission to slap me into sense.
Why am I so drawn to the 1920s when the clothes from that era are completely wrong for me? Short round hourglass girls should look away from the 1920s.
Halloween looms next week. I have the cute 1920s bob haircut. My fingers are itching to make a cute 1920s outfit to go with it.
NO! I MUST NOT! I tried to do this last year and although the coat was fabulous, the Decades of Style ZigZag dress (through NO fault of the pattern, which is wonderful) did not look so good on me.
Oh Eva Dress, why must you issue this pattern in multisize, to tempt me into fashion disaster once again.
I hate you.
I love you.
Sigh.
p.s. Yes, there will be more wedding clothes posts. Many pictures of the suit and both dresses are to come. Patience, grasshoppers.
Here are the latest pics of the reception dress. With a regular bra and a bit of fiddling around the bust area, the fit was instantly better. I also cut some of the excess fabric out from under the arms. As you can see, the fit is MUCH better than before.
There are still some wrinkles that I can't seem to fix. Releasing the side seams didn't help at all. Maybe take more off the back underarm? I don't know if adding a bit of boning would help? Or if this is as good as it gets? I am a bit of a perfectionist, so I would love the fit to be PERFECT, but I think this is at least livable.
The reception dress is now mostly put together. And of course now I am seeing all kinds of problems.
Here are some pics as is. The facings are not in and the red bit at the top is just tucked in so I could see how it would look. The side pleats in the skirt are also not pressed. I am planning on hemming it just below the knee. And I will eventually have a petticoat to wear under it as well.
I obviously need to do a bit more pressing of the princess seams, but what is really bad is all those wrinkles/pulling all over the bodice, especially on the back. I am wondering what I did wrong, as the muslin did not do this. Maybe a waist stay would help some, keep the heavy skirts from dragging down the bodice so much? Any other suggestions out there? Particularly any thoughts on how to fix it WITHOUT starting over?
Sigh. One step forward, two steps back.
As far as the ceremony dress, here is a picture of the ginormous red train, inside and out. This is based on the back pieces of the Truly Victorian Fantail Skirt pattern, although I lengthened it a bit. The white strip on the inside is where the ties will be inserted to gather it in the back.
I dropped it off last weekend with a fellow costuming buddy who very kindly offered to do some beading on it as her wedding gift to me. I can't wait to see the results! Now I just need a dress to attach it to......
Parting shot: Fred has been getting all the attention lately, so I thought I would shine the spotlight on his brother George for once. George is missing his friend and consequently is very wild and crazy playful. Here he is in one of his rare moments of rest.
Front of reception dress is done! And the back is done too!! Now all I have to do is put the halves together and do the facings and I will actually have at least one dress to wear!
Yay!!!
One thing that is already bugging me is the invisible zipper pull that shows in the back. I should have moved the zipper to the side where it would be less noticeable. But I am certainly NOT going to change it now. Maybe I could come up with a way to emphasize it, since I can't hide it at this point. Add some red beads or something and make it a little feature. Hmmm.
Another thing that is bugging me is despite getting a heavier cotton to underline, you can still see the pleat folds through the skirt. The seam allowances are less noticable, but still somewhat visible. ARGH!!! No wonder I never sew with light colored fabrics!!!! This might be another thing to try to deal with if I have time, but for now I need to just let it go. I don't even know what I would do about it I had the time at this point, because I am absolutely not taking it apart and/or starting over, and short of that I don't know if there is any way to hide the show through in the ivory fabric.
These are things that probably only another sewing person would notice anyways. So maybe I need to just relax about it......Easier said than done!!
Work proceeds on the wedding clothes. I have settled on designs for and made muslins of everything. Some final tweaking for fit and I will start cutting the "real" fabric this weekend.
The Plan for the ceremony dress is a combination of these two patterns, an OOP Vogue pattern and the fantail skirt from Truly Victorian.
It will have red fabric around the neckline in the front and a loooong red train, which if I have time will be beaded. I have pictures of the muslin of this, I will try to post them tomorrow.
The reception dress is based on this vintage Vogue.
I am dropping the sleeves because they restrict movement too much and this dress is specifically for dancing. I could probably do something with a gusset if I was bent on keeping them, but frankly I don't have the time to mess with it at this point. Plus if it is sleeveless it connects back to the ceremony dress more, which is a nice bonus. The trim around the neckline is again the red fabric. And I have some fabulous red netting with a little bit of silver sparkles to make the petticoat.
I am also covering a pair of shoes in the red fabric. If I have time. :-)
The Boy's suit is moving along ok. I actually have the real fabric prepped and cut out for the pants. The jacket muslin has been approved so I can move forward on that. I still need to muslin and make the vest, but if it comes down to the line, he says I can drop the vest, so that might be the last thing I work on. I am also making him a tie out of the red fabric from my dress.
Shew!!
I love Summerset's Parting Shots, so here is one of my own. Orange kitty Fred with his leg in a cast. Awwwwww!
Another flashback friday wedding (I think I have weddings on the brain). About 7 years ago, my lovely friend Abi got married in July. Which is very warm here in VA. But her reception hall was very very very air conditioned, so she wanted a Jane Austen-ish coat to wear over her wedding dress to stay warm. There was a jacket that Kate Winslet wears in the Sense and Sensibility movie that she wanted to model it after--I paused my way through that scene about 20 times to see as much detail on it as I could. And here is the final result.
I started with the Spencer Jacket pattern from Sense and Sensibility Patterns's Regency collection. We made a few alterations--took out the poofyness of the sleeves and changed the front opening--to make it more like the movie jacket.
She chose a lovely blue and silver dragon brocade as her fabric, and we decided to line it in a blue cotton since the lining would show a bit. I love the way it turned out--I have always loved that style of jacket, and it really suits both Abi's figure and her personality perfectly.
I love the flashback fridays that Sharon does, so I am going to try to do them myself.
This flashback is from about 6 years ago, when I was talked into making the wedding dress for one of my swing dancing friends. Her wedding in general had a 1940s swing feel to it. She talked me into making zoot suits for the groom and best man. Then somehow her mom--who was supposed to make the bridesmaid dresses and hats--couldn't handle it, so I made them too. And then made an outfit and hat for myself as well. All over a period of two months. I never called in sick to work as much as I did during those two months---simply from pure exhaustion from staying up the night before and sewing. But it all turned out lovely. (I'm the one in red).
This week I am focusing on the hat and dress I made for myself--I will prolly talk about the other outfits in the pics (I made them ALL) some other week.
My dress is the now OOP vintage vogue pattern 2610. The fabric is a polyester with a really nice hand--I actually thought it was mismarked at the store because it didn't have that weird synthetic fabric feel. I made several alterations to the dress to make it fit me. I had to take it in a lot at the waist (oh how I wish I still needed to do this kind of alteration!), changed the snaps to a side zipper, and I attached the skirt in a different spot. I added back darts to the bodice and skirt for a more fitted look. I also made the skirt fuller for better twirlyness when dancing.
The hat was loosely based on a Vogue hat pattern--I can't find the number right now--but there were so many problems with the pattern that I ended up just fiddling with it and ignoring the pattern until it looked like the picture.
I dated the best man for a while and he was my dance partner. He is the one we all refer to as The Devil because he was eeeevvvviiillll. I am friends with him now and he makes a MUCH better friend than boyfriend. But then again, if he hadn't broken me and if The Boy hadn't been around to cuddle and console me through it, The Boy and I might never have broken that friendship barrier and be getting married ourselves in (GULP) nine months. Everything happens for a reason.
Warning to all ye snarkers: The following costumes include blatent decade mixing, willfull period-inappropriate alterations to perfectly good vintage patterns, and cheap synthetic fabrics. I know better, I swear. But as this was for an office Halloween party, I decided not to care. If such things bother you, read no further. The author will not be held responsible for the burning of eyes or inducing of gag reflexes for any and all readers of this material.
As previously described, my 2007 Halloween costume. I did not have pink hair when the original outfits were worn and I actually styled it all cute that day. But since the pictures from that day were lost, I couldn't be bothered to do it again just for a five minute photo shoot.
This is the Decades of Style Zig Zag Dress. I screwed up the neckline when I did it and had to add that little triangle dark teal piece to hide it, but I think it looks intentional as it matches the zigzaggyness of the skirt pieces. The skirt has piping made out of the lighter teal fabric between each panel.
Folkwear coat, made pretty much as the pattern states. I shortened it quite a bit, but that is the only alteration I made. It does run HUUUUGGEE though. I went down two sizes from what I usually do and it was still quite large. I know it is supposed to fit that way to some degree, but I think I could have gone even smaller and still maintained the look.
So if you were going to make this gorgeous dress from Decades of Style, what fabric would you make it in.....fiber type? print or solid?
(I am looking a little bit at you Gorgeous Things! You know you have something in stock that will make me drool....and then I have to get a couple more pieces too, you know, just to make the shipping worth it. :-) )
Keeping the following in mind:
-I can rarely afford more than 10 dollars a yard. I MIGHT make a slight exception for this, but less is more. -I will be swing dancing in this dress and it is hella hot in Virginia -White or light colored fabrics...not so good for dancing cause...um...I "glisten" a lot when I dance. :-)
New fabric arrived in the mail yesterday and all I can say is droooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!!
Backstory: I am making this suit for The Boy for our wedding next year.
And I bought this wool fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics (among others, but I took them out of the box and hid them before The Boy could see and fuss at me about it. teeheehee).
Ever since it arrived yesterday, I have been resisting the urge to continually pet it. I want to make a nest out of it and live in it forever and ever. It is some seriously nice fabric.
And such a relief because we have been searching for fabric FOREVER and this was the first one under 80 bucks a yard that meets his (dark grey) and my (high quality wool of appropriate weight for mens suit) requirements.
I just hope there is enought left over to make something for me!
