Hello Random

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.

There was a reason I bought those patterns in the first place....

I did an amazing thing. I actually looked through the patterns I already own and choose something from the pattern stash for the upcoming wedding. SHOCKER! I am using OOP Vogue 2784.



I don't think I have suitable fabric in the stash, so I still need to go shopping. I have it in my head that I want to wear these shoes, but I ALWAYS am trying to match these shoes and haven't managed successfully yet....



Is a purple dress with lime green accents too much, too out there? Probably....

Open to suggestions for fabrics. I tromped around Joann's but am too cranky about fabric quality to have much luck there anymore. I went to G Street but am WAY too cheap to buy most of their stuff.

Flashback Friday: Ye Olde Butterick Dress

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. :-)

Hot Patterns Almost Success

So I made the Hot Patterns Kimono dress to wear for The Husband's birthday....and he didn't like it! So I ended up wearing something else to the big dance. He very diplomatically said that it was a pretty dress, but maybe didn't show off my fabulousness quite as much as other things I have in my closet. I tend to agree. He also said it looks like a bathrobe, which I think is not the case.

Plus after I made it, I realized it is not a practical dress to wear swing dancing. I would be fiddling with that belt all night and it doesn't wrap quite enough for it to not expose all my goodies when I spin on the floor.

It is a pretty dress and I like the idea of it. But on me it doesn't quite work. Some of that is the fit--I should have done a FBA--, but some of that is also that there are very few things that I think are flattering to my current figure.

Fortunately, my current figure is changing for the better. Down 8 pounds (only 40 more to go, ha!) so far on the new workout/food plans, so yay! Maybe I will make this one again once I reach the goal weight. Or alter this one to fit, since I love the fabric combo.



Pattern Review

Pattern Description: An exotic twist on the classic wrap dress, this deliciously flattering style is designed for drapey, fluid knits like silk(y) jersey, rayon or lightweight cotton knits. Fitted wrap Dress has a shoulder-princess seamed bodice with V-neck front wrap and an optional button fastening, neatly hidden by the waist ties. Dress has 3/4 length sleeves and a below-knee length quarter-circle wrap skirt, and features contrast neckband and wide, extra-long waist ties. This great Dress is sure to become a staple of your HotPatterns wardrobe-it’s your go-to style for dressy daywear, or a low-key evening outfit. Try it with knee-high boots, a slouchy bag and a pashmina for a daytime diva look, or add your favorite heels and an exotic clutch for an easy after-5 ensemble.

Fabric Used: Scraps from the Jalie dress, originally from Gorgeous Fabrics.

How were the instructions? Fine. Like most Hot Patterns, they are skimpy if you are used to the Big Four, but more than enough for a somewhat experienced seamstress.

Construction Notes: When I did the ties, I thought they were ridiculously long. But once everything was put together, I liked being able to double wrap it. I did do the optional buttons, but it felt pretty secure for a wrap dress even without them. If I wasn't so full in the bust (and thus paranoid about wardrobe malfunctions) I doubt I would have bothered.

The dress was just the right length on me, so if you are even beginning to approach normal height, you would probably want to add a bit to be on the safe side.

Likes/Dislikes: I like the style. I didn't like the way it looked on my teapot body. This is an ongoing theme for me, so I am beginning to blame my self-image issues WAY more than the patterns.

Would you do it again? Would you recommend it? I would recommend it as it is a wrap dress that is different enough from the million other wrap dresses to stand out a bit. Plus it is a pretty easy sew and came together pretty quickly.

Conclusion: This is the closest I have come to a success with Hot Patterns. That said, it will probably languish in my closet for a while unworn until I alter it to fit a slimmer me or I give up on it and give it away.


ETA: Yes, my hair has blue streaks in it. And yes, it is intentional.

You can't always get what you want.

So when I first planned and cut this pattern (Vogue 8386), I had planned it to be all one color. I just enough of a beautiful deep chocolatey brown knit from Gorgeous Fabrics.

Very stupidly I didn't bother to muslin, or raise the neckline, or do a FBA, or any of the other things a smart careful seamstress might do. I basted it together and tried it on.....DANGER!!!! EXTREME INAPPROPRIATE CLEAVAGE SHOWING!!!! I can't even show a picture of how bad it was unless I want to launch a new career in seamstress porn. Let's just say if I happened to be nursing a child (or two), very little adjustment would have been necessary.

After pouting for a few hours, I went back to see what I could salvage.

The bodice was a total loss, but the skirt was great. I poked around the stash and VOILA!!!!!! Yet another knit from Gorgeous Fabrics. So the browns didn't completely match, but with the pattern on the fabric you couldn't really tell and it still looked good.

I made a better bodice with the new knit and then did a serged rolled hem with teal thread on the brown sash edges to tie it in to the top a little better (no pun intended).

For a dress that was nearly a wadder, it turned out pretty good! I'll write a real review of the pattern soon. But I loved loved loved working with both of these fabrics. Hopefully I have enough of the teal and brown fabric to make a top later as well.




ETA: I had to post this second picture because my fiance said "You look like a total tool in that picture. We need one of you smiling." He then told fart jokes until I started laughing and took the picture. Thus the second picture which shows little of the dress but makes the boy happy.