Finished Project: Simplicity 1314 Times TWO

When my sewing students told me they wanted to learn to make a dress, I knew finding a pattern would be a challenge. After all, they're a diverse bunch of ladies, each with her own style. How can you possibly pick a dress pattern to please more than one person? 

So first, we settled on some musts we could agree on: sleeves, a simple neckline (no collars or button plackets), and a zipper closure. I also wanted to include a few key techniques: how to sew princess seams and attach a separate bodice and skirt (Sorry, no shift dresses!). It also needed to be a Fall/Winter style. 

I searched and searched...and then one day I got an email: Simplicity had released a new Cynthia Rowley pattern — 1314, a Fall-friendly dress with elbow-length sleeves. It can be made in a woven or slightly stretchy knit like ponte (forgiving for the new sewer or the easily bloated!), and you can mix fabrics for a contrasting center front panel. It's simple, has slimming princess seams, and is classic — though you can make it really modern. I even love the styling on the pattern envelope. Look at her, she's wearing sneakers with a dress. I love sneakers with dresses. Always have. I also love faux leather:

I tested out the pattern twice — and I love it. LOVE. IT. I think it is so, so flattering. I love the neckline, wide-at-the-elbow sleeve and the cut of the skirt. I made it in black ponte (from Chic in NYC's Garment District):  

And in cream ponte (Metro Textiles) with quilted center front and center back panels:

The fabric I used for the contrast panel really is a thing of beauty. It's a cotton blend quilted sweatshirt fabric I found at Paron's on sale a few weeks ago. I may just go back and buy the rest of the bolt. Here's the detail shot you've been waiting for:

Texture!

Of course, the great thing about a princess seam is the fact that you can achieve a great fit through the bust.

I had intended to cut the above black dress with a contrast faux leather center front panel just like the Cynthia Rowley sample, but it turned out the piece of faux I had in my stash was not enough. It worked out though — now I actually have a basic black dress in my wardrobe:

I didn't make many changes to the pattern. I graded out to a larger size at the hip and reduced the back neckline and armscye (which I usually do because I have the back of a 90-pound weakling and the hips of a mother of six). I also ended up taking out some ease at the side seam, though if I had sewn a woven, I probably would have left that in. I think for many women, this pattern would fit great straight out of the envelope. 

I also trimmed a couple inches off the length of the skirt because I am 5 foot 3 and wanted to maintain the right proportions. 

I chose pretty conservative fabrics for my two versions of Simplicity 1314, but I think there's so much room for working with color, texture, and even print with this pattern. 

What fabrics would you choose? And how would you style this dress?

Finished Project: Belated Oonapalooza Rainbow Floral Dress!

Do not adjust your monitors....

This dress, my much belated entry into the Ooonapalooza challenge, is really this bright — no Instagram filters needed to make it pop, thanks to this Michael Miller "Floralicious" printed cotton (available at Hart's Fabrics — you're welcome). It has, I believe, ALL the colors.

Finished Project: Vogue Sundress Hack Attack Take 2

If I kept all my failures to myself, what kind of (virtual) sewing bee buddy would I be?

Because we all have them (right, people? Right?). And if my M.O. is anything, it's keepin' it real. So check out this, my second sundress sewn (partly) from Vogue 8766 — a scroll-down nightmare.

Try it. The bodice looks great...lovely fit...nice spaghetti halter straps....cute daisy print...sweet button placket detail...and then (scrolling down), oh dear, that skirt:

My husband tells me it's adorable. I think he likes that it's, er, defining through the bodice. I do love the daisies. I choose the print because it had a Sassy magazine-circa-1992 sweetness to it.

But that gathered skirt...I thought I swore those darn things off a few years ago? On a lady like me, they just look dumpy. And, if this dress looks shorter at center front, that's because it is. I was trying for something...but it just looks like a mistake. Also, that white eyelet trim is a little twee. (However, if I were a Sassy magazine stylist, I would pair this with combat boots and a beekeeper's hat and maybe it would look cool.)

I once again used shirring to gather the back bodice. This time I used a single large rectangle for the back bodice and skirt. Last time,  I cut the bodice and skirt separately, and it turned out much better. I think the fabric choice this time around had a lot to do with it:

Also, I should iron more

I like this dress just enough that saving it somehow is important to me (After all, it's a lot of work shirring all those rows!). But how? Swap out the skirt entirely? Chop the hem straight and use some other kind of trimming to add length? What would you do?

Finished Project: Vogue 8766 Hacked!

If I learned one thing from Me Made May, it's that I need more easy summer sundresses in my DIY wardrobe. And though it's my opinion that any dress that must be worn with a strapless bra does not actually qualify as "easy to wear," I do think my Vogue 8766 hack will gets lots of love from me this summer:  

I made quite a few changes: I smocked shirred the back bodice piece and created a button placket down the front; I added spaghetti straps and thread belt loops, plus side pockets. Here's Vogue's line drawing of 8766 to give you an idea of the original look. I used the strapless bodice variation with the circle skirt (bottom right):

Finished Project: LBJ Dress

Like the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Butterick 4029 took more time than expected. 

I started sewing this vintage 1960s pattern weeks ahead of a planned night out on Broadway with my husband to see "All the Way," the play about Lyndon Johnson's unscrupulous (but ultimately admirable) efforts to push anti-discrimation legislation through the United States Senate in his first year as president. My husband is fascinated by LBJ; he prays every night that Robert Caro lives long enough to write the next volume in his epic biography on LBJ. The play was incredible (but it closed last night so if you're interested, you'll have to wait for the revival).

The dress was also pretty incredible. My husband may be as obsessed with it as LBJ. He told me a dozen times it was his favorite thing I've ever sewn:

The Hunchback of Butterick 4029

Did women used to have far broader backs? In this modern era are we so weakened by our easy lives that our upper body muscles are practically atrophied in comparison to our 1960s sisters?   

I just don't know what to make of vintage Butterick 4029, which in its semi-finished state, fits me like this:

Seriously? I could stow a second set of boobs on my back in this thing.

I do remember from my patternmaking classes at FIT that the older dressforms had broad backs, and anything I made for class fit me poorly. Still, Butterick 4029 seems to have been drafted for a hunchback. Or maybe I need to start working out my trapezius muscles?

My five-year-old took these photos for me, hence the lack of focus, framing, and all the rest. The dress fits pretty well elsewhere:

Lying flat, it looks normal, I suppose.

I posted a pic of this dressmaking disaster on my Instagram account and got some very helpful suggestions (you, my sewing pals, are truly the best). Plenty of you have had the same issue with other patterns. My immediate thought was to add darts to the back neckline, which Diary of a Sewing Fanatic so nicely described:

I think, however, I may go with Lisa G.'s suggestion:

A deep V or a scoop would eliminate the excess and make this dress a little sexier. But I would have to draft a whole new facing and I only have scraps of fabric left. A V back seems more authentically '60s, to me (hey ladies who have had babies: does calling it a "V back" make you laugh too?). I'm also guessing double-scoops can be tricky; the whole thing could slide off my shoulders, right? (Note to self: work out deltoids too). I may need to do some engineering to make this work. Ugh. Want to see it again?

What in the??

Anyone else have this problem? How did you fix it?

Weekend sewing: LBJ Dress

It's not often that a man's disparate interests intersect in the way that the Broadway play "All The Way" brings together my husband's fascination with Lyndon Johnson and his love of theater.

So I bought tickets for the final week of the show (whose star Bryan Cranston just won the Tony Award for Best Actor). Set in 1963-64, All The Way starts with JFK's assassination and ends with the passing of the Civil Rights Act. It's not, as you may have guessed, a musical. The tickets are my husband's birthday gift and a major splurge; it's rare we get to go out like this together.

So I thought it appropos to make a dress for this very special occasion using a pattern I snatched from the swap table at Workroom Social's recent Manhattan meetup:

How very '60s, right? I choose View E for the neckline (it is a date, after all) and the 3/4 sleeves. I'm intrigued by the long dart that curves from the bust apex all the way to the hip:

I'm using this black and white printed cotton blend I bought last month at Mood:

The pattern's previous owner had already shortened it for me — and she apparently cut the same version too. Thank you, whoever you are!

Worried about how it would fit through the hips (and not sure how to take it in or let it out thanks to that weird long dart), I tested the pattern in a not-very-stretchy jersey I bought from Girl Charlee for just $3. I will be adjusting the pattern to bring it in at the waist — and then drop the armhole (and adjust the sleeve). Hopefully I can cut into my fabric before the weekend is through.

Moving on, earlier this week I also sewed three zipper clutch bags for my daughter's teachers, using the Bow Clutch Tutorial from Elm Street Life.



For the lining I used this "I Like You" fabric by comedian and crafter Amy Sedaris (I bought it at Hart's Fabrics here):

I made special sew-in tags for Lucy's teachers to remember her by using the DIY tag tutorial I posted last month:

My daughter helped with sewing the bags. She stitched the bows for all three on a Singer Featherweight on loan to me from Peter of Male Pattern Boldness. At one point she said, "Mom! I'm like a Pilgrim!" (because she was sewing on a vintage machine). Not quite the right era but I will take the enthusiasm. (Hopefully they teach History in Grade 1?).

So what's on your sewing table for the weekend?

Finished Projects: From a Frumpy Fail to a Fine Dress Indeed

Last night at Workroom Social's Sewing Swap & Party in New York's East Village, the talented Gingermakes kindly told me she enjoys my tales of parental failure — that it's entertaining (and refreshing?) to get the real dirt on raising a daughter (and sewing for her occasionally) — not the edited-for-maximum-Pinterest-appeal version.

I can relate. As much as I find Pinterest to be a useful tool for bookmarking, it also makes me yearn for a time when the word "tablescape" was not widely used. It makes most of us feel terrible for the fact that our mantles aren't currently decorated with Mason jars stuffed with seasonal flowers, that the light fixture over our dining table is the same one the super installed before we moved in (and not, in fact, made from reclaimed Mason jars), and that our salads are served on boring old plates rather than (you know where this is going) in Mason jars. 

So in the interest of my earnestness cred, I'm sharing with you two finished versions of the same dress pattern: Pattern Runway's Easy Short Sleeved Kimono Dress. But, as you can see, one is what the kids today call an epic fail:

My husband suggested I stand like that, with my hands clasped together, because apparently every other pose was so unflattering....I looked in the mirror. It wasn't the poses that were unflattering; it was the dress.

I am not amused

Two sizes too big (I cut a medium based on what the pattern's measurements suggested) and sewn in the wrong fabric, I look like a full bag of laundry. The pattern suggested shirting as one fabric option, but the stiffness widens me. I mourn the loss of this fabric. It was so nice and clearly should have been used in some other, more appropriate way. The armhole is halfway to my waist. Blergh.

I went back to the Pattern Runway website. I still like their version of the dress. So I sized down to a XS on top and graded out to a medium on the bottom (I also added flare to the skirt because their straight-up-and-down skirt did not fit over my hips nicely at all). I found the perfect fabric at Metro Textile — a striped poly that actually feels like a heavy silk: 

Happy now?

So much better. The armhole is a decent size. The shoulders don't stand at attention like a row of tinted Mason jars just ready to be filled up with your love and homemade yogurt:

And this fabric, I think, actually looks like it wanted to be this dress. 

(Did I manage to fool your eye with my stripe placement? Do I look taller than 5'3"? I made my husband stand on the bed for these photos. No rest for the husbands & boyfriends of sewing bloggers).

The covered button (and my stripe-matching) are pretty great: 

What about you — Have you ever given a pattern a second chance after a first fail? Does Pinterest make you want to smash all the Mason Jars?

Closer Look at Anouk

As a Canadian, I've got a lot of pride that some of the best indie pattern companies out there right now are from my Home and Native Land (proud, but not like,  jumping around with red and white body paint or anything —  that is not how we roll in Canada).

There's Sewaholic in Vancouver, Thread Theory in Victoria, B.C. (where I lived for five years while I went to university...yes, I took five years to do a bachelor's degree; if you lived in Victoria, you wouldn't want to leave either. It's the most beautiful little city in the country), and Toronto-based Victory Patterns. 

What I love about Victory Patterns in particular are a few things:

1) Many of designer Kristiann Boos' patterns feature a couple variations — which can be uncommon in the indie pattern world. (Having two different hemlines does not a variation make in my opinion, ahem). So when you have the option of adding sleeves or a different collar for example, you have more room to play when it comes to sewing several versions of one of her patterns.
 

2) Her designs are distinctive: in her current collection of 10 available patterns you would have a hard time finding similar options elsewhere. She's not just turning out yet another pencil skirt or peter pan collared T-shirt. The Anouk, for one, is unique with its pieced placket, yoke, pintucks and cleavage opening (I know that's not the technical term, but c'mon: it's like, sneakily sexy):

  

3) And finally, what I love about Victory Patterns' designs is that they all seem to have been created with fabric fiends in mind: the majority feature many pieces and unique design details, giving the maker room to create something unique by blending fabrics, prints and textures. Or, of course, you could keep it simple and let the design details stand out on their own. 

Now, for a closer look at Anouk, which I first made as a sleeveless dress, using yellow ponte (gifted to me by the lovely blog reader Nurse Bennett), some scraps of white stretch denim and the remaining Marimekko printed cotton from my Mommy Poppins bag. 

It's very sweet and flattering as a dress. I love those bodice details. Each Anouk is like a snowflake....totally unique and beautiful:

Recently I attempted to make the other version of Anouk — the beltless tunic with sleeves. However, my deltoids proved to be too much for the sleeve cap and I had to rip them off, resulting in yet another sleeveless version. If I were to attempt it again, I would grade to a couple sizes up for the armscye and sleeve. Without the belt, I think the tunic version is a little maternity style, but it's still cute: 

I happened to have blue and white striped cotton to match my chambray, so I made my placket in a similar fashion to the Victory Patterns sample version.

And I'm on a covered button kick right now, so I matched my placket. COVERED BUTTONS ON EVERYTHING ALWAYS AND FOREVER:

 Have you made an Anouk? Share links in the comments below. I'd love to see more versions of this great pattern.

Finished Object! LBD? No! LND!

How good are you at colors? I thought for sure this easy dress I made using a lovely ponte knit given to me by my virtual friend Gingermakes was black:

But then I wore when I met her in person (even though it was a Saturday afternoon and I had no good reason to dress up other than to prove I made something with the fabric she gifted me). She (and everyone else at hand) thought it was actually navy:

Which is great, because I have navy pumps. All dressed up like this, my daughter said I looked "as pretty as a Gangnam Style girl," whatever that means:   

(So of course I did the Gangnam Style dance)

I used McCall's 6319 to sew this dress. I didn't line it (the pattern calls for lining in tricot, which I couldn't pick out in a lineup nor pronounce properly, so I opted instead to wear a slip if need be):

I really love the pleated, drapey details at the shoulder and the waist. I think this would be a great dress to wear to a wedding, belted with something fancy. You would look put together but when it comes time to dance, watch out!

The exposed shoulder zip is another great detail. But it's not like you need it to get this thing on. It has alot of stretch. My only quibble is the armscye dips a little low. I don't mind (because I know will get sweaty in ponte knit and need the ventilation), but depending on your undergarments, it may be a problem for some wearers. I also think when I make this again (closer to Spring; it's freaking cold today in NYC!), I will turn the skirt into a slight A-line. I have wide hips, and I don't like when skirts pull at the hip because then they start to head north as I walk: bad news!

Classy. Simple. And in navy (instead of black): unexpected?

Woe is Me: UFO Coming In For A Landing

In sewing, as in life, there's nothing I hate more than backtracking. (I'd rather get off the bus one stop early to avoid overshooting a destination, and if you ask me to repeat myself, I think hard about whether what I said was in fact worth saying twice before complying).

And unpicking stitches is enough to make me abandon a project all together.

With that, I have to say: Really, Burda? REALLY?

Botched Burda 141 Top For Girls

Alright, the blame should really be on me. 

And the thought of unpicking an entire project is not enough to elicit a little sympathy this rainy Wednesday, take a look at my kitchen. I have less counter space now than I did at age 20 when I lived in a camper trailer:

Please note: no dishwasher

Pity party over. Check out the LBD I've been sewing from McCall's 6319. No mistakes, no backtracking (too bad I had to use a flash for the pics though; it's dark in NYC today!)

I used the black ponte knit that Gingermakes so generously gave to me. I love it. Sometimes something easy to sew is just as easy to wear. I'm still deciding on a hemline. I keep trying it on with different shoes, which each demand a different length. With heels: longer. Flats: short, obviously, am I right?

love the zip!

How about you people? Screwed anything up lately? Feeling down in the dumps thanks to mid-winter weather and incomplete pattern instructions?