The final episode of the trilogy

So, back in May I did a couple of posts about how I was inspired to make a dress. Well, I did, in fact, finish that dress in time for my cousin's wedding in June, and I thought I should show off the final result. Ignore the squinty eyes, and concentrate on how pleased I am with the result of my labors!

I used the pattern pictured in this post, and of course used the fabrics featured in this and this post. Overall, these were excellent fabric choices. The polyester silky is actually cooler to wear than I had been anticipating, and once the teal stripes have some lightweight interfacing, they are also the correct weight. I did cut the Vneck a little higher than the pattern calls for, and I eliminated the back zipper (I detest center back zippers. I think they are so ugly). Because the pattern is meant to be loose, I actually just pull the dress on over my head. I even took in the side seams at the waist about 2 inches, and can still just pull it over my not-very-small bust. Once one understands the geometry of how the neck band fits into the front, this is a very easy pattern to sew. I will probably make another one in the future, maybe with winter fabrics. I do still need to add pockets to the side seam of this dress. Maybe next week.....

April showers bring May...dresses??

This is the story of the makings of a dress, according to LadyT:

First, one must start with the fabric. While not a hard and fast rule, in my world approximately 90% of my projects start with me buying fabric that makes me squee, putting it in my stash, and maybe about 2-5 years later finding a pattern that sufficiently compliments that fabric. It is best if the fabric is on a very good sale so that you can buy quite a few yards of it, as one may never know what sort of pattern is the mate for the fabric. Also, I like fuller skirts and dresses and coats, all of which require more fabric. Not only do sheath styles tend to emphasize my larger hips in a non-flattering way, but it is often hard to find truly full skirts in stores, as fullness=more fabric=higher costs that lower price margins. My rule of thumb is to try not to buy less than 3 yards if I think the fabric wants to be a skirt or dress, 1/2 yard to a yard if it wants to be a purse (usually the more expensive fabrics), and if it is on sale for less than $5 a yard and I really like it, buy no less than 5 yards so that I have lots of play room.

This fabric was purchased when a Joann's near me was moving across the street (I believe this was Fall 2005). For some reason, this meant that they had to sell ALL the fabric in their store (why they couldn't just move the fabric across the street is beyond me, but hey, whatever). In order to facilitate this, they had a HUGE sale. Everything was AT LEAST 70% off. The only catch was you had to buy whatever was left on the bolt, weather 2 yards or 20. That day I believe I ended up with over 80 yards of fabric for about $350 (including some amazing Bridal stuff that I normally would never be able to afford), which is not too bad. This particular fabric had 6 and a half yards on the bolt. It is 100% polyester silky, which means it has the perfect drape for a flowy dress or skirt. I absolutely love the combination of colors and the fun sunburst/swirlys pattern in the background. However, what really caught my eye about this fabric is the clear sparkles. It is a bit hard to see in the picture, but can you find the slightly darker dots scattered about the fabric that kind of looks like rain? Those are caused by clear circles that are fused to the fabric and catch the light to give the fabric a really fun shine. THAT is the reason I bought this fabric. The umbrellas are fun, as are the colors, but it's the shiny that made this fabric a must have!

I had originally envisioned a drawstring halter dress or cowl neck dress for this fabric. However (as you shall see at a later date) another pattern was to demand to be made first. To be continued...

Polka Dots, Part 2

This fabric is one the I saw at Joann's for the first time last week. It was on sale for 40% off (I think it was originally about $9 a yard). The dots on it are variegated in color and regularity, which I really like. The size of the bigger polka dots is about the size of a dime (sorry, it's hard to take a proper scale picture when you are taking the photos in the store). It's a fun lightweight silky fabric that would probably make a nice airy dress for the summer. It two big downfalls/reasons I didn't purchase it (besides being on a tight budget): 1. the white background. White backgrounds are hard for dresses for me, and the hand/feel of material wanted to be a dress, but the coloring on it wanted to be a skirt or a lining. It would make a great lining for a jacket. 2. It's 100%polyester. While that actually isn't really a deterrent for me personally, it would be for quite a few sewers I know. Mostly I can sit and admire this fabric for it lovely colors and uneven spacing, but don't feel the need to Make Anything out of it.

Velvet Fantasy

So, apparently Easter Triduum and a birthday means that I don't post for a full week. Whoops! Today's fabric is from a fitted jacket that was given to me by a friend's mom about 3 years ago. I adore the jacket, but the fabric plus the style makes it a bit fancy for most of my daily activities. I often wear it interviews and the like. I included so many photos this time because I think it is necessary to try to fully capture the impressiveness of this fabric over the internet. The first shot gives you a good idea of the scale of the design of the fabric. the coin in the corner is a quarter. The fabric is a 70% acetate/30% nylon burn-out velvet in rich deep jewel tones. It has a variegated abstract geometric design that has about a foot between repeats. One of my favorite things about this fabric is its texture. Not only is a velvet (which means Soft!), but the gold lines are actually a permanent glitter glue that rests on top of the velvety pile (which creates fun hard bumps, much like braille). If you look at the second and third pictures, you will notice two subtle images of flowers amongst the colors. Those are scattered liberally throughout the fabric, and are caused by the nap in the pile being reversed. This makes it a not-quite-true-burn-out-velvet, but I imagine that the method used to create this effect would be much the same (what exactly that method is, I am not sure. Any audience information would be much appreciated). In other terms, the flower images are created because the velvet has been shaped so that the light hits it differently in different parts. The fourth image is a bit blurry, but it shows almost the entirety of the the pattern in the fabric before it repeats.

Abstract Quadrangles!

Ok, so those who know me in person know that I have a...thing...for fabric. An I-do-so-love-it, an I-adore-the-fun-colors-and-feel-and-movement-and-daydreaming-
about-what-I-can-make-with-it sort of thing for fabric. Now, this is not uncommon among those who like to sew, or like fashion, or are heavily kinetic. But I do SO love fabric, and I thought it would be a great topic for a blog. So here goes!

This is a fabric that I bought back in Fall at Bolt Fabric Boutique in Portland. It was in their remnants sections for $5.67 a yard, and I believe I was able to purchase 2 yards of it. I was drawn to it by its use of slightly abstracted shapes and the layering of the colored squares and rectangles. I also happen to like pink and purple when they are together is such a way that is not TOO early nineties. The coin in the picture is a quarter, placed their to give you some concept of scale. Most of the inspiration for the projects that I make comes from the fabric. I paired this with some solid black and purple fabric to make some fun patchwork purses, and some solid black and bright pink fabric for similar projects. Both colorways seemed to work really well. I also paired it with some lighter pink to less success.