presserfoot propaganda: Simplicity

Simplicity

Showing posts with label Simplicity. Show all posts

I'm finally getting around to posting the last of my summer dressmaking! Now I have 4 or 5 "fall-ish" dresses I need to photograph and post. Yikes.

This is take 2 of Simplicity's 2250, yet another Cynthia Rowley pattern! I do love my Cynthia Rowley! I've already made this dress once, but something always felt a little off about that version of the dress. I think it had to do mainly with my fabric choice and the length. I used a really light weight broadcloth for my first dress and it always felt a little too wispy and young. Plus the bodice never looked totally right to me because the fabric didn't press well. I ended up giving the dress to my sister though, so I won't talk to much trash about it ;) Hi Allie!

This time I used a heavier weight teal cotton, which pressed much better and even though it might not look like it, the hem is a little longer. Those 2 things have made all the difference, this time around I really love this dress! (PS this has a weird pleated skirt like the dress in my last post. Seriously, check out the line drawings. Not normal...)

Alright, now I'm done with bad pictures and unseasonal clothes! My lovely boytoy has moved back to Texas officially so he can become my permanent photographer! Hopefully next week I'll have some better pictures of my fall sewing!

Happy Weekend!

I'm just going to come out and say it. I think I look like a child in this dress.

This is the dress I was originally going for(on the right), from the Spring/Summer Clarks advertisements...

Source: thestyleconfessions.com via Forrest on Pinterest

And here's what happened...

I used a white with pink polka dot quilting cotton I thrifted a few months back. I also used Simplicity 1873, a Cynthia Rowley pattern. Here's the good news. It fits really well in the bust and I think I did a pretty good job making it, if I do say so myself. It's fully lined with white cotton and I think that, combined with the thickness of the outer fabric and the pleated skirt, is my one problem with the construction. The skirt feels a little heavy and I think the pleats hang a little funny because of the weight. I probably should have just gathered the skirt, instead of using the typical, weird Cynthia Rowley pleated skirt. (is this just me? I feel like every dress I make with her patterns has a weird pleated skirt, either asymmetrical pleats, or just a lot of them. It's never just a gathered or simply pleated skirt. I'm not really complaining though, I usually think they're cute, just not with this fabric)

So, when I comes to the pattern, I will most likely be using it again. In fact I think I already have some fabric in mind for a fall version. I like the shape and I think it fits well. But with this specific dress, something (maybe the polka dots?) makes me look like a little girl. It just feels sort of juvenile, so I haven't actually worn it yet. I was hoping it would be a great work dress but, I'm already pretty young for my field and my position so I usually try to dress a bit older and I feel like this has the opposite effect. I can't figure out why it looks so cute in the advertisement but I don't love it in real life...

What do you think? Mid-20's working lady or 5 year old going to a birthday party?

I'm preparing for a social hibernation this fall which largely has to do with 2 estate sales I visited last weekend. The first I planned. I'm a frequent visitor to estatesales.net, always searching for a sale with sewing related paraphernalia. Like these 2 incredible ones last year... As much as I love my new job, it is a bummer to work Friday afternoons, which used to be my estate sale time. Now I worry that by the time I get there on Saturday morning, most of the good stuff is gone. Like at the first sale, I got a bunch of great stuff, but how much more great stuff was there on Thursday when they opened?

Anyway, the main score at the first estate sale was the piece of teal wool on the left side of the picture. You see, I've been dreaming of making a teal Lady Grey coat for at least a year but every time I think about buying the wool for it I stop myself. I've never seen it for below $15 a yard and I just can't bring myself to pull the trigger, especially since the pattern requires over 4 yards. I think this piece is around 4 1/4 and I got it for $1.50. AMAZING!!!! I also picked up a few lining fabrics and light cottons from this sale, one of which is a raspberry color that I think I'll use to line this coat. I'm planning on following Gertie's Lady Grey sew-a-long, complete with pad stitching and all!

Source: colettepatterns.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

The second estate sale I happened upon while driving home from the first. There I found several large pieces of a light grayish/blueish suede leather above. I've been wanting to make a motorcycle style jacket for awhile, like the one below but much more fitted and shorter, and I think this will be great material for it. I already have Simplicity 2056 and it will work pretty well for my purposes, unless I can find something better in the meantime.

Source: dealsfortherich.com via DFTR on Pinterest

I'm really excited to work on these projects, because up until now, the Minoru is the only outerwear piece I've made. Plus I'll really have an opportunity to learn some new techniques, traditional hand tailoring and working with leather, in the process. I'm hoping to start the Lady Grey in late September, so it will be ready when it gets cold in late November and the leather jacket in December because I think it will make a nice transitional piece in spring. Basically this means I won't be getting out much this fall/winter. I can't imagine that these jackets will be anything less than a TON of work, but it will be totally worth it...

Last but not least, I forgot to show you the gorgeous fabric I bought when I was out of town for the wedding last weekend! Such pretty colors right? Keep your eyes peeled, I'm cutting these up this weekend so hopefully they'll become dresses soon!

You may remember my post on Friday showing off my Lonsdale that I was planning to wear to a wedding this weekend. Many of you left super lovely comments. You are all fabulous and I love you for being such self esteem builders!

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Here's what happened and what I actually ended up wearing this weekend...

So the wedding was at 2pm on Saturday at a church in downtown San Angelo, TX. The fiancé was a groomsman, so he had to be there at 12:45 for pictures. Our hotel was a good 15-20 minutes away from the church and based on some strolling around before the rehearsal dinner the night before, the downtown seemed to have several cute shops, so I decided to get dressed with the fiancé, drop him off, park the car with my heels inside, don some flip-flops and spend an hour browsing before the wedding.

I hit up a cute dress shop and bought a fun necklace, then walked next door to a great old fashioned soda fountain, where one of the lovely ladies working there complimented my dress. Turns out she sews too so I told her all about Sewaholic patterns, so hopefully she'll become a new customer! Next, I headed to a cute antique store run by half a dozen ladies who reminded me of my grandmother. I was at the counter purchasing a great vintage tablecloth when one of the ladies complimented my dress. When I told her I made it, all the ladies came over to see it and asked me to show them the back with the cute bow.

I turned around and to my horror heard one of them say "honey that dress is really cute but its split up the back and I can see your pink underwear"! WHAT??? Oh, by the way, at this point it's 1:30, 30 minutes before the wedding. A few of the sweet women who worked there tried to help but it turned out the zipper had split open under the pull and it would not cooperate at all. I ran to the store's bathroom and tried to work with it to no avail. Luckily, the ladies had safety pins, so I pinned the dress back up and ran to my car, where I hightailed it to the hotel to change. Luckily I brought the following dress with me to wear to lunch with the fiancé’s parents on Sunday, so I didn't have to show up at the wedding in my jeans and I actually ended up only being 5 minutes late to the ceremony. In the end I think it was divine intervention. We danced the night away at the reception and the shoes I was planning to wear with the Lonsdale would have KILLED my feet. I went with a comfy pair of wedges to match this dress. Much better.
Anyway, on to the dress!

I only wonder how many people in San Angelo saw my underwear before that lady pointed it out!

This fabric came from Etsy sometime last year. It's a 1940's pink cotton lawn with tiny white flowers with navy stems. I love love love it but had a hard time figuring out what to do with it. It was only 36" inches wide and I had about 2.5 yards, so I figured it would have to be a short, strapless dress. I ended up using Simplicity 1876, from the Leanne Marshall line. I used the top from view B and the skirt from view A. It went together really easily and I even got to use some techniques from Gertie's Bombshell course (namely, inserting boning and using twill tape to shape the cups). The only problem is I cut a size 10, hoping it would fit snugly and it's a little too big. I took in the bust seams along the top about 1/4 of an inch each, which helped a little but the waistline is still too big and makes me look wider than I am.

I was hoping I would be able to wear it sans belt, but I think it makes up for the too-big waistline. Plus, looking at the pictures, I think it's necessary to break up all the pinkness.

Here's a shot of the inside with the lining and boning.

All in all I definitely like this dress and will make it again. The skirt has a cute gathering detail on the side seams that you can't really see with this print but I really like. But next time I make it I'll cut an 8 so I can avoid the lack of waist definition.

Ok, now that I've shared my visible underwear horror story with you, has anyone else had something similarly embarrassing happen to them?

A few weeks ago I showed you my huge stack projects that took a Game of Thrones season 2 marathon to get cut out and marked. I seem to have gotten my sewing mojo back because I've been powering through the pile of projects! I'm sewing like a maniac these days! Anyway, I have a ton of things to show you but not all of them are photographed because I'm lazy and the light hasn't been great in the apartment lately. Hopefully I'll get to have a photo shoot this week but in the meantime, here's one of the things I did manage to photograph.

I've had these two dresses on my Pinterest board for awhile and I found the perfect fabric on Fabricmart last year but never got around to getting the dress made until last week.

Source: corrico.com via Forrest on Pinterest

Source: brunchatsaks.blogspot.com via Forrest on Pinterest

So this is the final product. I really like the way it turned out and because it's sort of loose-fitting it's really comfortable. I used Simplicity 2054 , one of the Cynthia Rowley patterns, and pretty much followed the directions except for the neck band. I realized as I was sewing it that I cut the band in the wrong direction, so it wouldn't stretch enough and I didn't want to cut out another, so I just turned the edge and it worked out fine.

So here's the major problem, the back is crazy baggy. I thought about putting a seam down the back to control some of the extra fabric but it fits pretty well in the hips and butt and I don't want to make it any tighter in those areas. Also, I'm not sure if taking it in on the sides would do enough without warping the shape of the dress. And again, I like the loose fit and don't really want to lose that. Anybody have any suggestions?

It's not too awful looking from the side, and I've worn it twice since I made it with no "what is wrong with the back of your dress?" comments, so I might just live with it if I can't think of a good solution.

PS this is definitely one of those projects that was so fast and easy that I couldn't understand why the heck it took me so long to make it! This is going to be a great, easy, throw on dress on days I don't really want to think about what to wear...

Anyway, hope you all have a fabulous week! I'm starting my new job today so wish me luck!

So Sunni of a Fashionable Stitch just announced that she's hosting a sew-a-long for Simplicity 1880. Ironically I just cut out the shirt dress version of this pattern last weekend to replicate the dress worn by the lovely Kiera Knightley. I was planning on working on it this weekend but now I don't know if I should wait for Sunni's sew-a-long. She's super knowledgeable and I reference her site all the time when I'm working on complicated projects. But I want to wear this dress soon. So, to wait or not to wait?

It is ridiculously late for me to be posting about the Christmas presents I made ~~this~~ last year, but I have been a lazy blogger and a lazy seamstress of late and the cold rainy weather is not helping much.

So here, several weeks after Christmas, is the first of the (shamefully) few gifts I made...

I am relatively selfish when it comes to my sewing and rarely make things for other people, but I got it in my head I would make my sister clothes for Christmas. I'm not sure that either project turned out to be something she would actually wear, but she humoured me and said she thought they were cute, so I'm going to believe her for now...

This dress was based on this dress from Modcloth:

Source: modcloth.com via Forrest on Pinterest

The basic idea was strapless, dark floral fabric, elastic waist. I used Simplicity 2497 which I have used for it's original intended purpose and as a top. It's a great basic pattern and this is yet another example of an easy variation. I knew that my sis would want the dress on the shorter side (because she is on the shorter side), so I just eliminated the waist band and sewed the top and bottom together. Because the dress is supposed to be fairly blousy, I put elastic in the waistline and she's able to slip it over her head without a zippper (yay!).

I was an idiot and put the bias facing on the outside instead of the inside, but I decided it gives it a nice detail.

So here's the issue; my sister is a bit more busty than I am, so I re-drafted the pattern top piece that I already cut to my size and added 2 inches to the center and a half an inch to each side, so that it matched the "finished" measurements for her bust and kept the blousy look. Apparently however, this has made the neckline too big and it's gaping... Ugh. I think if I take it in a bit on the sides, it might tighten the bust up enough to stop the gaping but I'm not positive it will work. Any thoughts?

Sorry for the defective Christmas present sis!

Also, thanks for all the input on naming my dress form! You guys crack me up! I still haven't finalized a name yet but you certainly gave me things to think about!

Here's yet another top I've made with in the last few weeks to beef up my separates wardrobe...

It's a blouse version of Simplicity 2497, the pattern I made my cocktail dress from! I have to admit, modifying this pattern to a blouse was stolen from Sew Tessuti. It was a really easy modification, I just measured the length of a shirt I liked, then added the difference to the bottom of the bodice front and back pieces. I didn't even trace it on to new paper or anything, just pinned the original pattern piece to the fabric, measured down, drew a chalk line and cut.

I went back and forth on the details of it for a while. First I was going to make it sleeveless with the ruffle detail, like the Tessuti version, but then I decided I might want sleeves too. After going back and forth on using one or both elements, I finally ended up with just the sleeves because they have a really pretty detail, and I worried that with the ruffle it would be overkill...

Love the pleating! (even though it's crazy wrinkled!)

Here's a more color accurate picture on leopard-print me. The color is really pretty and vibrant. I think I look best in jewel tones, so I should probably make a few more like this!

Sorry for the wrinkles!

I really adore the fabric, which I bought from Fabricmart forever ago. It's a charmuese and it was so easy to work with! Suspiciously easy actually. Maybe it's made of rayon? I bought it a while back so I can't remember for sure...

Now back to my endless Christmas sewing that must be accomplished in the next two days! Ahhhhh!

I don't know if the boyfriend has ever really cared whether or not I sew for him until this pair of pj pants. We were visiting his aunt and uncle a few weeks ago in Fort Worth and we soon discovered our South Texas bodies were not prepared for the North Texas chill of early November. (I know if you live anywhere that gets actually cold you're rolling your eyes right now) The boyfriend borrowed a pair of wind suit pants from his uncle and finally discovered the joy and comfort of an elastic waisted pant. Because he didn't own any elastic waisted pants, including pajamas, I'm proud to say before this he would NEVER be the type to wear pj bottoms to the store, out to eat, etc.

Quick rant: I HATE when people wear pajama pants in public, yoga pants are only slightly better... The rest of us get out of bed and put on pants with a button and a zipper and you can too! I'm all about pjs for lounging around the house. In fact, they go on as soon as I get home from work, but when you're in public, join the rest of society and wear real clothes!

Anyway, I thought I should make him a pair to wear around the house in the chilly weather for his endless Saturday football watching. (unfortunately I got these finished a bit too late for Saturday college football... oops!) As soon as I told him he perked up (he hates the cold as much a s I do) and kept asking me when I was going to get them finished, which I finally did this afternoon. I used a teal and grey plaid flannel from JoAnns and I actually pre-washed it because it felt a little stiff. I know that's a big confession... I almost never pre-wash my fabric. I pretty much only do when it's from an estate sale and smells like mothballs. I should probably be kicked out of the sewing community for this offense, but so far (knock on wood) I haven't had any problems.

Post wash the fabric is lovely and soft and fuzzy like flannel is supposed to be. I used Simplicity 2317, a multi-sex pajama pattern. I cut a medium, which matched all his measurements, but they're still a little baggy in my opinion. I guess because they're lounge pants it's not too big of a deal. Also, I used the elastic guide in the pattern and the elastic turned out too big! Like falling off his hips too big. That's the second time that's happened to me with a Simplicity pattern. Ugh! I'll try to fix it if I can tear them away from him for a few minutes. Anyway, I took them over to his house this afternoon for a pj/movie watching party and after he tried them on he said "well if I was planning on getting any work done today, it's not going to happen after putting on these pants." I guess that's as good a review as I could get, saggy elastic and all!

PS You really should get this pattern. The pants are crazy easy to sew, and they have you attach the crotch seam first instead of assembling the legs and doing that mind bending right side out inside the inside out leg thing... Even with adding non-pattern sanctioned pockets I turned these things out in less than an hour and a half.

Hope you're staying warm wherever you are!

On Saturday I did something I've never done before... I made a muslin! The two day Louisiana trip planned for last weekend turned into a one day Austin trip, so I had most of Saturday and Sunday free to work on the cocktail dress.

Something you should know about me, I never make muslins. Ever. I know there's a million reasons why one should and I've had several dresses that could have benefited from a trial run muslin but I'm super stingy with my fabric and I always feel that since I have so many projects I want to make, sewing something twice is not very appealing. Having said all that, after all the weird sizing chart issues with this dress a few of you suggested I bite the bullet and make a muslin. What sealed the deal is the fact that I was thinking about making this dress in a navy cotton for day anyway, so I used a navy sheet I had lying around and figured I could finish this muslin out later and make it wearable. I cut a 10 for the bodice and waistband and a 12 for the skirt. It fit really well with a decent amount of ease. I probably could have gone down a size but I don't think it will be that big of a deal. On Sunday I cut the silk and started assembling the bodice and waist. Hoping to finish it up tonight!

No makeup + pale legs = yikes

Now to SSS days 16-18...

Day 16: Black & white striped pencil skirt; worn to Ikea and bumming around SoCo in Austin

Promise I'm not pregnant, nor do I have a beer belly, just a ridiculous slouch...

Day 17: Green polka dot Sorbetto; worn for a grocery store outing, the rest of the day was spent in pjs

Day 18: Assembly line skirt; worn for church

Also Day 18: The boyfriend's sister is an amazing photographer and is thinking about starting a business so she asked us to take some fake "engagement" pics so she could practice and have some for her portfolio. Of course I had to wear something "self stitched"...

We are dorks who love fake mustaches...

So I'm planning this big dinner benefit to raise money for the organization I work for on October 6th. I've been contemplating for a few weeks what exactly I'll wear. The dress code is cocktail attire and while I have a million cocktail dresses in my closet, most of them are strapless and/or revealing in some way. Since this is a work event, I feel like I need to be a touch more covered, plus I'll be running around all night so I don't want to worry about having to pull up my dress constantly. Plus most of my dresses are black and I want to wear something bright so I'm easy for volunteers, staff, etc. to spot if they need me for something. Plus, I of course just want an excuse to make something new!

Anyway, following all this criteria, I decided to make Simplicity 2497 view C, the popular Cynthia Rowley dress using bright blue duponi silk.

Humorously, this is one of the first patterns and pieces of fabric I bought when I learned to sew! However, because the silk was so expensive and pretty, for a long time I was too nervous about my skill level to attempt it. Then, when I got to the point where I would have felt confident making it, I kind of forgot about it! So now I'm finally pulling it out of the pile to work on. I was hoping to get it finished this weekend so it would be done in plenty of time. I'm trying to break my usual habit of sewing something the night before I want to wear it! However, a last minute road trip to Louisiana has come up and I won't be back until Sunday morning. Maybe I can get it done Sunday afternoon and evening? We shall see...

I started to cut out the pattern last night and I have a huge complaint already. According to the sizing chart, I should be cutting an 8 in the bust, a 12 in the waist and a 14 in the hips! I've never had the measurements off that much! I'm usually right in the range of 6-8! Is this dress only made for girls with big boobs and tiny waists and hips? I've made Cynthia Rowley patterns before I don't remember having this issue, but maybe I ignored the chart and just cut my regular size? I don't get it... I'm not super concerned about the bodice and skirt since they're both meant to have a lot ease, so I'll probably cut an 8 or 10 but I guess I'll have to measure the waist pattern pieces and figure out what weird size to cut since it's so fitted. Has anyone else made this dress and had this problem?

Also, I'm thinking about getting this feather thing to put on the waistband, maybe with a brooch or rhinestone glued to the tip? It's made for headbands but I think I could tack it on to waist, a little off center to glam it up a bit. Or I could always use it for it's original purpose and just make a headband to wear with the dress... Any thoughts?

Remember, less than 24 hours to enter the Studio P Vintage giveaway!

I have literally had this fabric since before I could sew. I think I bought it at a church garage sale way back in high school because I couldn't pass up a teal wavy fabric with goldfish. It's probably from the 80's and it was a NIGHTMARE to work with, slippery, strechy and horrible. I don't know what it is with me and difficult fabrics lately... Also, I used some shiny rayon thread that I bought for another project and it broke every 5 seconds. The pattern is Simplicity 3503, view B. It definitely had no instructions on exactly how to attach the two bodice pieces to the midriff. Literally, no instructions. I checked like 5 times... Whatever, it's not the best fit of my life (unless I get a boob job) but come on, the fabric is a crazy, shiny, disco, goldfish covered shenanigan so how can I go wrong?

Happy Tuesday my loves!

I actually made something! It's a red hot miracle... Ever since Zo announced Self Stitched September '11, I've been contemplating what I'll need to do to get ready. I participated in March but opted out in June because I figured I hadn't made enough new pieces. Now, however, I think I've made enough stuff that September should look pretty different than March. I've also been on a separates kick, due to the fact that I had pretty much only had dresses to wear for the March challenge. I found this pattern at an estate sale a while back and I adore it! I think it has great 30's feel despite being made in the 80's. I'm dying to make a pair of high waisted, black linen trousers to wear with it.

The material is a really loose weave cotton, almost like gauze. It's a vintage piece that I picked up at the same estate sale where I got the pattern. It was sort of difficult to work with but I loved the pattern and colors too much to give up. I have no tripod and no helper so this is my attempt at a self portrait in the shirt...

Close up of the sleeves...

Also, here's a picture of the third assembly line skirt in action. Not necessary but I really liked the shoes with it...

Finally, exciting things this week! Elaine at Selfish Seamstress is back! Her's is the first blog I really read when I started sewing, plus her Burda previews are hilarious! Glad to have her back. Also, Sarai at Collette announced her new book. I'll admit, I saw it on Amazon a few weeks ago and I'm definitely pre-ordering it! As well as these other books (and Gertie's when it comes out!)...