Tales from a Pattern Addict

Gah. I’d pysched myself into doing the SWAP I planned before Christmas. It featured a cool black/white/teal/yellow boucle for the jacket and a skirt. I’d even just figured out what my fourth top would be.
And then I made the first jumper/dress. This was the inspiration for the entire SWAP. I’d just cut it out when I decided I might actually be able to stomach a SWAP.
I hate it.
No, I mean it’s completely unflattering. Aside from the fact that I need to take a tapering 2in (or more) from the center back (starting from the top, tapering to the waist. And aside from the fact that I didn’t realize this until I had completely finished the center back seam (I’d tried the dress on before I’d inserted the zipper but not after and before finishing the seams). No, even if the upper back fit perfectly (I really need to remember to flat measure things–I’m guess that, while I chose the correct size for my full bust measurement, I forgot that I’m rather frontally-endowed rather than evenly.) Even if the upper back fit perfectly, it’s awful. I look, well, dumpy. I look like a big, lumpy, rectangle. And, oh, granted, I’ve put on a couple pounds from the holidays but this is ridiculous! I’m sure I can figure something out to make it redeemable (like taking that gapage out of the upper back and adding a belt or something)…I don’t know that I want it to be the centerpiece of the SWAP.
So? Back to the drawing board. My plan may not be a total loss; I picked up a piece of embroidered corduroy (brown with teal & red) that might work as my centerpiece. I have a chunk of black corduroy that would probably make a good jacket (if I use the brown corduroy, I could bind the seams in red satin. Oooo). The white charmeuse blouse and the black blouse would still work, as would the knit dress. The denim skirt would work and the teal corduroy. The black pants would be in the air as would the pre-made black skirt and I’d need another dress and two tops. I hadn’t decided what the brown embroidered corduroy would be–skirt and vest or dress. I’m waffling.
So…off to find a new wardrobe pattern (maybe). And a new plan.
Sigh.

I finished one project and nearly two others–and they’re not even on the project list here! Well, one might be.
Gah.
I just don’t spend the time.
Nor do I remember to take photos. Bleh.
Anyway, I had an “instant gratification” moment with a grey knit dress with cowl neck. The neck opening seems a touch wide and yet again I sewed the “this is the back” tag to the outside of the garment instead of the inside. Sigh.
Last week I nearly finished a sack dress from one of the new “Project Runway” patterns. It was very “meh.” It didn’t look bad per-se, but it wasn’t incredibly flattering. I’ll be finishing it off and giving it to my newly-pregnant co-worker. It will be far more flattering on her (actually, it’d be more flattering on her regardless; she doesn’t have the chest for the draping to hang from like I do). It might have been that it was in black; a lighter color might not be so bad. Regardless, it was a “free” dress–the georgette I’ve had for nigh 10yrs, I tend to stock up on black lining and I only used a touch of brocade I bought last year for the LBD redo. Still have plenty for a midriff/bodice.
Let’s see…oh I also cut out a muslin for a new pair of slacks, verified a couple other patterns are a reasonable length…nearly finished up another skirt; but I ran out of patience to whack 3″ off the bottom and hem it (so I left the pockets to be topstiched as well).
Let’s see…I have a ton of project cut, interfacing to cut on a couple more and patterns prep for several more. I’m trying to work on getting patterns and fabric cut out during the week so that I can sew sew sew on the weekends.
I do need more interfacing for my new purple shirt. I didn’t quite have enough shirting interfacing for the plackets, cuffs, collar and stand. I could have used regular fusible (or even sew-in; I have yards of that stuff) but I didn’t feel like it.
What’s upcoming? I still have the olive knit dress to finish, the purple shirt. Then there’s the brown plaid swing-pencil skirt with lace insets (also already cut) and the gray pencil skirt. And the tweedish princess-line jumper (and experiment in layering). I really ought to make myself a white button-down as well; I don’t have a good long-sleeved one.
Did I tell you? I’m planning a SWAP. Yay! I have all my patterns picked out, most of the material (I need to stash-dive for the yellow satin; I think I have enough for a top left from another project and I’m waiting for a better sale before I pick up the teal dupioni).
Oh and I cut out some homemade bias tape for Hong Kong finishes. One’s an obnoxiously bright batik/fish pattern; the other white with black scribbles and stars. I’ve got a multi-colored scribble print and a yellow tone-on-tone on deck. I need to pull out the wine label fabric that’s destined to be finishing on a jacket (pink satin left over from my prom dress).
Oh there’s so much more. And my husband and I are house-hunting. He’s already agreed I need my own dedicated sewing space. Yay! And he wants it very, very organized. Yay again! Everytime we walk through a house not only are we looking at “will this fit us and the kids?” but also “which would be the sewing room?”

I’ve made some definite forward progress on Ginger this weekend. Yay! Dave was depressed to find I estimated only 15% done…but there’s a lot of fiddly bits to this dress!

I have the bodice basted, thread embellishment done, and half the bead embellishment! Yay! I still need to cut out the skirt. I’m torn on how to do it…cut the organza and baste directly to the charmeuese? Will it grow too terribly much? I really need to underline it–if only because that’s a great way to hem it (the skirt will be technically unlined because I’m wearing gobs of petticoats).

To give my fingers a break on the hand-stitching I finally finished up Fiery. Yay for a new dress! And just in time–it’s supposed to be in the 90s all week. A nice, breezy, cotton dress for the heat! I did make a modification to the instructions: I omitted the zipper. I checked the finished measurements against mine and gaped at the amount of ease. I can’t recall the numbers right now but they’re big. As it was supposed to be a side zip, I figured I could add it in later if I needed. Trust me, I don’t. It slips quite easily overhead.

Thankfully, it shouldn’t be too much work if it does turn out to be an error.

See, I cut out the organza interlining separate from the charmeuse. Now I’ve just read of an idea to cut out the more stable fabric, lay it on the more moveable, baste and then cut. Maybe then my midriff section (cut on the bias) wouldn’t have grown…

Well, I’ll be basting hopefully tonight and then I’ve got a bit of embellishment (just the easy twin-stitching) before I’ll find out if the stitches pucker.

Gah. What a set-back if it doesn’t look good!

I did make some progress in the last week on Ginger. Unfortunately, not as much as I’d hoped. I got the main bodice cut out.

Yup. That’s it. Granted, it was two layers of fabric, each piece cut on the single, but yeah. That’s it.

To enumerate what (in general terms) is left:

1. cut skirt (charmeause and organza)
2. cut lining (entire dress) - still have to decide what I’m lining it in…
3. cut petticoat
4. decide and cut the red band for the hem
5. detailing on bodice
6. piping for bodice
7. new sash (cut and construction)
8. hand-baste all charmeuse/organza pieces (yes, that includes the gi-normous skirt)
9. dress construction

Oh and then there’s the junior bridesmaid, flower girl, and mini-flower girl dresses.

But, other than the lining for all and zippers, I have (I think) everything I need for the dresses. I picked up the thread for the detailing and any top-stitching last night, along with some satin piping/cording to use for the lacing…

I just need to get some momentum built up and I think I can finish this quickly. Real life (like oh, dishes, laundry, working out and oh, ya know, a little thing called work) keeps getting in the way!

Dave, don’t read this. :-D

Progress was made! The wedding is in 3 months and I’ve just really started. Eeep! But good progress was made. I don’t look forward to all the handbasting but I know it’s necessary (I saw just how much the charmeuse and organza slipped as I tested some stitches!! Yikes!) And I do need to underline the entire dress. There’s no way the skirt will look like I want without the organza to stiffen it. But I can see dying the charmeuse and making a lovely 30s/40s era dress. Yummy.
I digress.
I made a sash for the dress too. Not sure if I’m in love with it but it only took about a yard and a half (did I buy 4 or 6 yds of the red??). I need a rhinestone buckle to secure it…tying just doesn’t look right. But I love the red. The girls’ dress fabric…doesn’t necessarily look the best. But I only paid, what, $1 or 2 per yard for the red? I could stand to re-buy if necessary. I’ll take a few pictures of it.
Speaking of pictures, I do have some but I haven’t off-loaded them from the camera yet. :P I did some test stitches and bead layouts on the charmeuse. It’s going to be quite different than expected. The embroidery machine I ostensibly bought for this dress? Not going to be used. Why? I’m not spending hours trying to get the mix of interfacing and tension correct. I did a couple of tests yesterday and they looked simply awful. I’m not spending all that time lining everything up and have one set mess up and have to start all over! Oh well. It has it’s other uses. :-D
I’m still figuring out how to work a fleur or two into the dress…maybe I’ll test embroidering on the dupioni (the red). That may accept the embroidery better…
Oh and I’m toying with the idea of having the bottom red band as a pleated ruffle on an underskirt. A lot of work, I know. :P I think I’ll check prices on a pleater…I’m not sure I like the idea of a band on the skirt. Not to mention it’ll make shortening easier. :-D Maybe I’ll put it on a fully separate underskirt. And maybe hem the skirt with horsehair…
I want to test a new skirt too; one of my vintage reprints has a flat-front, gathered-back skirt that could be interesting. How would the ruffle work? Hrm.
The wedding prep is about to kick into high gear! Invitation supplies must still be ordered (and printed and assembled and all that jazz), the favors ordered…all sorts of things. I’ve been out of town for two weeks (Dave for most of that as well) and now he’s out of the country for two weeks. So guess who gets to do part of his list? Bah! Oh well. Life happens. It’ll all work out.
Oh yeah, gotta decide on centerpieces too. I have a neat idea, but I have to figure out how it’d stand. Not sure. Hrm.

Gathered empire waists look awful on me. Simply awful.

How do I know this? I finished Safaa last night. I even handstitched the bodice lining in place! I am so proud of myself.

Too bad I’ll never wear the dress in public. Le Sigh.

It’s…bad. It hangs off me like a sack. On top of that, the neckline reveals a ridiculous amount of cleavage. Booo!!! Well. I think I’ll chop a few inches off the hem and leave it as a housedress. For a while at least…then I really need to just get rid of it. Boo-hiss!

So…off to remove any and all gathered bodices from the line-up. Bah!

Just some updates on progress in the past couple of weeks. Not much to show, but I have been busy.

First off, here is the state of Fiery and Safaa. Cut out. Not even entirely. I’m missing the lining of Safaa and possibly[edit: That’s the solid red on the left] the lining for the straps on Fiery. But that’s quick cutting (I needed to wash some muslin before I could cut).

I also have what I think will be the final version of the sleeping mask for etsy. Well, the small version. I already had the larger version.

Oh and the LBD will have a new home/owner soon. It fits my best friend nearly perfectly. I’ll put in the zipper for her (although she sews, she has a fear of zips) and she’ll hem it. Phew. I am sooooo glad I don’t have to attempt to fit the thing! Mostly it works on her because she’s a solid cup-size or two bigger than me. Taking in a waist isn’t that big a deal in this dress, but the top half worried me on figuring out fit. :P I’m excited and she’s excited she’s getting a nice dress.
Parting shot: my in-your-face reminders of projects I have cooking. Sadly, it is not all-inclusive; it shows my top priorities. (Although what’s not on there is pretty much UFO status). I’ve already removed one item: Rosa is complete (well, but for a small tweak to the elastic).

I did manage to get a new dress (Suzanne) done for Easter. I hadn’t necessarily intended for this dress to be my Easter dress…but as the time drew nearer this was the dress closest to completion.
The dress fit decently. Personally, I think my chest is just a little big for the styling (there was some pulling below my chest that I couldn’t figure out how to remedy…maybe I’ll add some waist darts…) but over all there was the right amount of ease. The dress is incredibly girly. So much so I don’t know how often I’ll wear it. I did the little cap sleeves, but I made the mistake of adding white pre-gathered crochet lace to the sleeve hems–a mistake because the horsehair on the gathering causes the sleeves to stick out in a semi-circle. Also, if you make this dress, be sure to do the ties (or at least plan for a pin). The pan collar simply does not lay properly if the neck is not closed (this is another reason I won’t be wearing the dress often: I have major issues with clothing touching my collarbone. I don’t understand it I just know that crew-neck and turtleneck shirts bug the crap outta me).
As it was a measly 23 degrees when I left for church (at 6:30am!), I wore it with my cropped denim jacket (I couldn’t see wearing a black or grey jacket to Easter) and my floppy purple straw hat. I forgot to get a picture before I changed into jeans for the ride across the state but someday soon I hope to do something of a photo shoot with a bunch of my sewn garments. The picture shown is before hemming and zipper insertion. (and no, that’s not a white lining showing at the hem; that’s the muslin for Ginger).

Edit: I found whilst cleaning up the pattern, I had cut out little ties…and totally forgotten about them. Gah! I had intended to make a little pearl pin for this dress, but now I may make up the ties and stitch them to a pin back. Ah well.

That weekend I mentioned I got a lot done…I also got a near-full muslin done for Ginger. There’s a little tweaking left to do (I need to baste on a lacing mechanism to see if the back needs to be changed for fitting). The back needs to be cut at a slightly different path but it’s pretty close. Also, the skirt is too narrow for a wedding dress. But I think I can morph the skirt from Maude onto this bodice (I’ll need to cut a small size on that; I’m wearing Maude today and the waist has been pinned). Maude, with a petticoat, is just about the right fullness and length.
To use Maude, however, I’ll need to shorten the skirt by at least 3 inches (two for the lace petticoat edge, at least 1″ for a red band). I currently have a 1″ hem, which will have to be taken into account.
Then I have to decide on the sash, binding (on the neckline) and decoration. I see hot-fix crystals in my future. :-D Maybe I’ll even glue some to the frames. I’m still see-sawing on embroidery. I think maybe some. I’ll have to try printing a sample then stitching out the same design and see how they compare.