Vogue 1228 - Vena Cava

I fell in love with this dress the minute I saw it. I'm a sucker for 1920's fashions and to me this has that vibe. However, that era was not designed for curvy girls. I still love it though.



I had planned on making it out of this yummy silk from FabricMart that I stashed away sometime last year.



However my concern was that despite the love I had for this design, it would be a travesty on my figure. So, I perused the Red Tag sale at Joann's which was 50% off this week and found this, surprisingly nice, floral rayon. I've been wanting to stretch myself in prints and florals definitely stretch me. Plus, they are "In" this season again. So I picked this up for a whopping $3 a yard and whipped it up. Seriously, this is a super quick, easy project.

There are only five pieces, two of which are the sleeve tabs and the neckline binding. I would say that a beginner could probably handle this dress. It teaches you how to do French Seams, which I had never done. It has some funky pleats in the front and back but they aren't hard. There is minimal marking for this. They want you to put in a zipper...puhlease...zipper??? Seriously??? Nothing cranks me more than erroneous zipper insertion. I'm super busty and did not in the least need a zipper to get this on.

I'm on the fence about whether I will make it in the silk or not. The silk wasn't very expensive, in fact, I don't think it was much more than my practice dress here. However, I do really like it and didn't want to waste it. I'll probably give this dress a run through and see how I like it after I wear it. That is one reason I don't do true muslins, I like to test it out. I'm not sure how to style this oh, and the neckline is VERY LOW!!! I read the one review and did remember to check it, but it is deceiving! I could easily take this up a full inch! There will definitely need to be a cami of some sort worn. I was considering some kind of a lace modesty panel...yeah, lace! Really, this is a stretch for me...I love my harder, biker chick look ;-)

All in all, I'm happily surprised by this dress. I really thought it was going to be a total downer. It has more shape than I thought and isn't a total box. It's not my ideal silouette for a dress but sometimes you just gotta say WTF and go for it.

Sorry you got me with no makeup after a day home alone with nowhere to go but up to my sewing room.



You can see the pleat just above the bust line. You fold it up from the bottom to get the interesting pleat for the sleeve. It's not pulling, that's the way it is supposed to be.





And this here is why I sometimes have a stupid look on my face while I'm taking pictures...the doofus Cattle Dog makes me laugh doing his silly little happy dance!

Another Vogue 8631

This pattern has turned out to be a favorite of mine. Vogue 8631. This is version 3. I actually sewed it awhile back but never got around to posting pics or a review. The last two times I've made this I used a knit. I wanted to try it in a woven this time. I originally purchased this fabric to make another Vogue wrap dress but used some of it in the lining of my Leather Coat so I didn't have quite enough for the one I had wanted to make.

I still have some fitting issues with this pattern. I cut out a 14 for the woven, which was still big in the shoulders. I had to take it up a good 2 inches because otherwise I get the droopy boobie effect which looks horrible. I am very short waisted though. On the bright side, there is no need for an FBA in this dress. Despite the adjustments, which are simple, I love the silouette of this dress. It's become my go to shape for my figure. It's very similar in shape to the Vogue 1220 dress, kind of tulip shaped.



I wore it yesterday to work and got many unsolicited comments from total strangers, including men, which is odd because they don't usually comment on things like someone's dress. Or maybe I'm just used to my oblivious husband who didn't utter a word about how I looked yesterday....grrrr...well that's a whole 'nother can o'worms!

Anyways, I love this dress and will definitely make more! And yes, I have on blue socks...I was feeling funky;-)

Under Construction

I've been a bad blogger the last two weeks. After the crazy sewing frenzy to complete my wardrobe I had to step away from the sewing area. I'd been neglecting my hubby, kids, dogs, housework, etc. Plus I was a bit burnt out. It was still pretty cold here and it's hard to get motivated to sew sundresses when it's stil 40 degrees out.

In the meantime, I had been toying with the idea of revamping my sewing area. Almost 2 years ago I moved myself from the basement up to our loft. I lost a lot of room but gained the omnipotent watcher status so I could see and monitor all that was going on in my domain! When you have an 8 year old boy and 8 dogs, being sequesterd in the basement is not a good idea. While I loved the quiet and solitude, the constant running upstairs to see what this crash or that commotion was, got tiresome.

When I moved upstairs, it was a test so I didn't buy a lot of things. I used an existing desk I had bought from Pottery Barn (which I will never do again) that was in my old house but didn't fit anywhere else. I did find a cool little cutting table on Craigslist for $40. But other than that I just got a couple things for organizing.

So this year, my back has decided it needs something better and taller to cut out patterns. I decided to go with two Expedit small bookcases from Ikea and put them on casters for added height and movement. Then DH cut me a piece of plywood to go under a bigger cutting board. I'm going from a 30 by 60 to a 40 by 72 which is the absolute biggest I could fit. At first, this was all I was going to do. I had a desk for sewing, a desk for a computer, and I didn't want to dump a bunch of money in it. Then, as I was sitting there, I realized, darnit, I'm going for it. In total, I think it will be about $500 worth of updates. That doesn't include the extras I bought at Ikea when I was there for other things. Ikea is like a drug....good thing I'm an hour away!

So, here's where I'm at. Here is a just one picture to give an idea. I snapped it really quick this am. Here is also a link of how it looked before in a post I did awhile back.




I'm waiting on the cutting board which is due to arrive tonight before I assemble the new cutting table. Although I do have the Expedit bookcases under the existing table. I have the tables all together and up. I will be purchasing some wall mounts for my computer monitors. I need to put up a thread holder (I think). I love the new pattern storage. Those plastic bins that fit into the bookcases hold a TON of patterns and make them easily accessible!

I still need to reconsider fabric storage. I've hit my absolute limit. I have another 2 by 4 Expedit bookcase being used as a behind the sofa table that I'm replacing with a real table. So that may get moved up to store more fabric. My jelly cupboard may or may not stay. I'd like to put that downstairs with all the other antiques since it is such a pretty piece.

I'm hoping to have it all done by this weekend. Just in time to have to spend every waking moment outside doing Springtime yard cleanup...oh, the irony! And on top of that Little League Baseball has started so lots of practice time which means no sewing time.

Old Sewing Area

Back in the day

I was driving home last night from work and had this realization about how much my Wardrobe reminded me of my 1988 prom dress. The idea that I have "recycled" is pretty scary.

This was a gorgeous dress if I don't say so myself. My Mom made it for me. I'm pretty sure it was a Vogue pattern but can't be certain. It had a huge pink bow on the back of it. I didn't have a chance to scan a picture of the back. I loved having something totally unique and I guess you can see my tastes haven't changed all that much from 20 plus years ago.

My poor Mom went through heck with this dress and fitting me. I'd been very sick the last couple months of the year and lost about 15-20 pounds. Everytime she tried to fit the muslin, it was too big because I kept losing weight. This was the thinnest I had ever been since hitting high school. I very nearly did not graduate from high school because I missed so much school that year.

Gotta love all that big hair too!

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on my wardrobe. It sure was fun to sew! I fixed the link to the full photo album of my wardrobe on the previous post. Oops!

The Wardrobe That Almost Wasn't

I started out with a plan, I got derailed and decided not to do the wardrobe. Then, this sort of evolved, first with a dress, then the jacket and I filled in with the shirt and skirt.

We have Vogue 1220.



Vogue 8714 aka Prison Break Jacket.



Add in Jalie 2921.



And last but not least Vogue 1020.



The final garment was a preexisting one in your closet. I chose a pair of designer jeans I splurged on.

And I think I ended up with a pretty fun and unique wardrobe. Some of the combinations are a bit ecclectic but I had a great time putting them together.



Photo Album

Prison Break!

Good followup to the did a bad thing post, dontcha think :-)

Prison Break jacket AKA Vogue 8714 is almost complete. I still have to topstitch just about everything and add buttons. I am on the fence about lining the sleeves. Turns out the only pieces that use lining are the backs, side fronts, and sleeves. Everything else is doubled with fabric. I did cut out the sleeves in lining and had them attached but they were too tight. I couldn't reach forward. I'm on the fence about doing a arm adjustment on them and redoing them or not. I don't see the need to line them personally. It's unlikely that I will wear this jacket with long sleeves and even if I did, it's rather smooth fabric. I may just slipstitch the lining to the armcyce at this point, wear it a bit, then decide. I could add them later if I wanted.

So far, it's exactly how I envisioned it...YEAH!

I played around with cutting out the pieces and decided on cutting the side fronts on the bias and the bottom peplum cross grain. I think it added some fun to it, not that a striped jacket by itself isn't fun though.

Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing...

I was going to link the video of Chris Isaak's "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing" video but seeing as some people look at this stuff at work I figured I better not. It's a bit risque ;-)

Well I did a bad thing and went off my fabric buying (sort of) fast. I was so angsted about not finding the fabric I wanted for that jacket that I fell off the wagon. I went to Gorgeous Fabrics and a bunch of stuff I wanted was on sale, plus I found that pinstriped double knit that I thought might work for the jacket. So, of course I had to make it worthwhile with shipping and bought some two tone pinstriped denim, and some cotton voile'ish type fabric with roses and pinstripes. See a pattern? I searched for stripes and this is what I ended up with.



I was a little disappointed with the pinstripe black and white double knit. I knew it was a polyester but it's really polyesterey. Otherwise, it's ok. The black roses was worth it all though. It's a gorgeous lightweight cotton, almost a voile, and is going to be amazing in a dress. It's going to the top of my must sew list! The denim is interesting and I'll see how it washes up.

Next then, FabricMart sent out a 20% off our whole site sale. I'd been pretty good but this just threw me for a loop when my defenses were down. I wanted to stock up on some of their pontes, but of course I found some other things too ;-)

The first is a cotton plaid madras. I love madras and purple! The next is a purple ponte, and last is a Marc Jacobs orange wool jersey knit in what they call paprika. It's so yummy! I love orange too and it's a deep red orange color.



This picture has a seriously delicious blood orange cotton stretch sateen. I was just looking at my most recent Lucky magazine and this is the "IN" color right now supposedly. I just love it. The middle is a heathered gray ponte. The last is a rayon jersey in a salmon color.



Now, last but not least, I did stop at my local indie on Monday. I've been too busy to post but I did score the fabric I had been wanting. I couldn't believe they had it. I missed it when I first walked in and asked a bit later after I walked around if they had any striped ponte and she said, "You mean like the stuff up front?" Sure enought they had it in cream/black and a black/cream. One had more black and one had more cream. I chose the one with the predominantly cream one for my jacket but I think I'm going back to get the other one too. It is so nice. It's a rayon doubleknit, no poly! And I added this fun striped cotton knit, in what else, orange!



I have it all cut out and about 60% done. It's coming along great and I'm hoping to have it done this weekend!!!