Fabric Shopping

The only way the olive color photographed properly
was to have it in a group shot with other colors.  When
photographed alone, it was a washed out green.  Weird!

Yesterday was a nice bit of fabric shopping in the Fabric District with friends.  I explored some new stores as well as hitting up my favorite haunts.  I like fabric shopping with friends as I have found that I don't pig out spend as much as I do when fabric shopping by myself.  I think it is like secret eating (which I don't do) but when fabric shopping by myself I tend to overindulge because no one is looking!

I was rather restrained and only made 2 purchases.

I bought the olive cotton at the Loft - 5 yards.


Then at another shop which is apparently in a former furniture store (since the only word on the outside of the shop name was Furniture) was 5 yards of white cotton and a lace collar.  Plan to use the collar on my civil war dress if I ever finish it.  The white cotton should be made into a chemise.

Not a bad haul for $10.13.

Current Sewing

A blouse pattern from the 1940s which is one of the first patterns I bought.

Making the short sleeve with the attached collar.

Due to reading comprehension failures, I ended up making 5 muslins of this blouse with the first 4 each getting respectfully bigger and bigger.  During this process I was befuddled as to why my usual FBA was not working.

Finally, it was pointed out to me my reading mistake that the facing was also a placket for the buttons/button holes.  Super duh moment.  Then I had to go back down to my second muslin which is the one that should have always been correct as I forgot to make a FBA in my first muslin (over anxious to dive right in).

Yummy silk

Loving this blouse.

Look at the glass buttons I plan to use.  Are they not sweet??










More soon....promise

Polka Dots On Parade

The next dress is going to be out of this white with black polka dot fabric.  This fabric is notable in that it was one of the first pieces of fabric I bought when I started sewing.  It is a cotton poly blend and was one of my $1 a yard finds. 

The dress will be this pattern.

It has a distinctly very late 30’s early 40’s look to it and very reminiscent of this one.

Off to trace the pattern.

Sewing Outside of My Comfort Zone

I have a serger and I would like to make something using my serger.  A lot of the blogs I read have sewists who use their sergers to construct garments.  I only use it to finish seams.

Soooooo….for something completely different I am going to make a dress with t-shirt material (I have no idea what it is called….jersey? knit?) and I am going to try to use the serger to construct it.

Here is the fabric…..ooooohhh pretty.  My favorite colors, blue and brown.  It seems this is a remnant of a designer fabric.  Note the seam allowance notes.

You might ask what pattern?  Well I do not have patterns for knit materials so I am going to try and use Vogue 8182,, View B which I do have in a size which is too big for me.  When checking out pattern review for this pattern, a number of people made it in a knit and omitted the zipper.  So, I am going to try and do that!

Ultra-Suede

Makes you think of the 70’s doesn’t it?  It is the fabric I choose for my fantasy outfit.  I have never sewn with such a beast before and let me tell you I will take slippery old silk over this any day of the week.

Mmmm yummy pretty mossy green

It is difficult to iron, impossible to mark and almost invincible when it comes to pins.  Sewing is ok due to the heavy duty denim needle I am using.  However, I am not looking forward to the miles of hand sewing which is coming my way!  I wonder where I put my thimble?

Another 1940s Dress

Whew…that was one busy Memorial Day Weekend.   Not a lot of resting going on here.

But I did decide on my next project….another 1940s dress, this one a shirtwaist style dress.

This pattern looks easy.

This is the summery fabric I plan to use.

I rather love this fabric.  So light and airy.  The dots look like poppy seeds, not a true black but a grey/black.

Tacos and Sewing for Cinco de Mayo

Back bodice with patch.

Any excuse to have Mexican food and margaritas..... and Cinco de Mayo is a good one IMHO.  Being full from my large meal, this will be a short post so I can go to sleep.  I didn’t actually have tacos but a plate of camerones de ajo….yum!

I decided to go with option number 2 to fix the back bodice – make a small patch.  Since I plan to pipe the waist, it should not be too noticeable.

Front.. but look over there....

Hey, wait...this is the back.  See the same!

I just noticed my back and front bodice are have the same pattern placement.

The One Where There is a Cutting Failure

After about another hour or so measuring my fabric, I determined that I had enough yardage to make the dress as patterned but only if I cut everything on the cross grain.  I would end up with a shorter skirt but since I am shorter than average, a shorter skirt was not something I was worried about.

I traced the front bodice onto the fabric in an effort to cut down on inappropriate flower placement.  I really did not want  a boob bull’s-eye!  I cut out the front bodice with no problem.

It is not even!

It was the back bodice that became the problem.  I do not know how or why this was a problem.  I tried to trace the pattern and I could never get it to line up.  So I folded over the fabric, no bull’s-eyes issues for the back and cut it out.

Whoops…….

Can you see the problem?  

One side is shorter than the other, not by a lot but enough to make back bodice not work.  

How did this happen?

I know it wouldn’t work because I tried.  I sewed it together and it twisted and was too short.  I tried reducing the seam allowance on the shoulders, no help.  Is the print off grain?  I really have no idea.

Having just enough fabric to cut out another back bodice, I was finding that I had the same problem.  I could not get it even.  So what to do???

After thinking about this for a long time, I figure I have only 2 options. 

1.  Move the zipper to a back zipper and slice the bodice up the back.  Keep the good side and get another side to work.

2.  Make a small patch for the problem area.

Changing Gears

Yum! Turquoise and brown - perfect
for a sun dress.

Because the 1940’s skirt was giving me a headache, I decided to work on something a little more fun.  I wanted to use this fabric.

But what pattern.   Trolling through my patterns and pulling out a few maybes, I finally went with View 2 of Simplicity 1620.  I only had a couple of yards of fabric and thought not only will I be able to get this dress out of the yardage I had but also it would show off this Hawaiian print.  As you have probably already noticed, I love a Hawaiian print.  Note, this is the FIRST Simplicity pattern I have attempted.

This scan if from the vintage
pattern wikia.  Mine has a
32 bust and a ripped envelope.

I traced off the pattern and then started measuring my yardage. I measured and measured and measured some more.  I had barely enough fabric to make this dress.  Granted, I could make the skirt less full but what is the fun in that?

So to be a little different and because of the lack of excess fabric, I made a muslin of the bodice….actually, I made 2 muslins of the bodice.  First muslin included a FBA.  It was HUGE!!  I showed sewing friends who confirmed it was way too big for me.  So, I quickly whipped up another muslin.  Second muslin did not have an FBA and it fit perfectly per the consensus of the group!

What is happening here?  This is the second mid-1950’s dress that did not require an FBA.  Hmmmm …..does this mean I should only wear clothes from this era?  Were patterns built for a C cup?  Interesting development and totally taking me by surprise.  Has anyone else found this to be true? 

Diving In

This really says Fall rather than
Spring with all the brown leaves

Still dithering over the princess seam FBA.

I did a pin fitting…definitely one of the pluses of using the soil separator for patterns.  I sewed it up and tried it on.  It seemed to fit.  Seriously not too tight  at all.

So I think I need to take a deep breath and just go for it.  The fabric was not expensive so why not?

I am still afraid of the princess seams.

Is It Spring Yet??

Tropical breezes, heat and a drink
with an umbrella are needed for this
fabric.

That’s what went through my mind when I found this fabric in the remnant bin a few days ago.  

Actually what happened is that I squealed and the guy in the store told me I was a naughty girl out shopping for fabric when most people were in watching what was happening in Japan.  Great, nice guilt trip dude!

But seriously, I scored almost 4 yards of this polished cotton, Robert Kaufman fabric.  I love the combination of turquoise and brown – really one of my favorites. 

Now I need a special dress pattern for this.  I am thinking 50’s but may have to go a little smaller on the skirt since I do only have almost 4 yards.

I do love remnant bins.  They can be overwhelming but the treasures.  With this purchase, I also picked up a teeny bit more than a yard of purple velvet and about 4 yards of a lavender cotton that I need for a lining material.  All this for $6.  This place charges by the pound.  Yes, gotta love those remnant bins.

Fabric Regrets?

Does anyone else have them?  I have to admit I don’t have a lot of them but the ones that exist are HUGE!!

Recently, I was going through the old bins o’fabric and found this:

It is really a richer darker olive green but scratchy!

I have had a lot of trouble photographing it.  It is a great olive green color and boy do I have tons of this fabric.  60 inches wide and 5 yards of it.  But what was I thinking?

It is a knit, a scratchy hard knit at that plus it has all those holes.  I don’t even sew with knits. What was I thinking????  How could I have thought I would be using this for anything?  Was I delusional that day?  Must have been because I can think of nothing…absolutely NOTHING…to do with this fabric!

Do you think washing it might soften it up?  Still, what to do with this?

I Never Thought My Next Outfit Would Be….

A Civil War dress.  

Seriously…this never crossed my mind.  In that brief period I was out of work, a few friends convinced me to attend a Civil War event in February during the long weekend.  At the time, I thought why not, even though this is not a time period I particularly like, the project would keep me busy while looking for work.  Little did I know that a few days after agreeing to this project, I would find a job and have no time to whip together a Civil War era outfit.

So now, here I am less than 2 weeks away and what do I have?

It is really a darker tan than what
shows up in this picture.

Well I bought yards and yards of this fabric for a whopping $10!  I was lucky: the burn test revealed it is all cotton.  Yay!

So what do I now need:

1.  A hoop

2.  Petticoat to cover the hoop

3.  Skirt to cover hoop and petticoat

4.  Bodice

Sure, this is doable….maybe with a few all-nighters.

Miscalculation

McCall 8086 is cut out and read to be sewn.  I thought there was plenty of fabric.  It looked that way when I eye-balled it.  However, I have a bad habit which gets you into trouble: I don’t trace the waistband or lay out a pattern piece.  Really, all you are talking about is a 4 inch wide rectangle….why use a pattern piece?

How do I get a waistband out of this mess?

Up until now, this has not been a problem, there was always sufficient left over fabric for the waistband. I prefer not to have a lot of fabric left over from a project because I tend to hold on to the fabric thinking it may come in handy for something….so I like it when I estimate just right.  Not so this time….take a look at what is left.  Bits and bobs really.

It looks like a lot of fabric but it isn’t.  I am going to have to piece together a waistband.  I am not sure how.   On the positive side, there certainly will not be left over fabric from this project!!

Looking Down on a Mountain of Fabric

Work has been too consuming this week.  I have not been getting out in time to sew.  So, all I have is a zipper 1/2 basted into the skirt.

Why oh why does work get in the way of the things I want to do?  Oh yeah, that’s just life.

In other news, some pictures of  only some of the fabric I purchased.  I had a lot of trouble with picture taking, especially with blues and greens.  I am leaving out the blues because not one picture showed the correct color.  I had a furry over-seer of all the fabric

The velvet is a stretch and a green and way nicer than this picture looks.  I think I ended up with 6 yards of this.  Though I will not be using it until probably next June.  I have a plan.

These plaids will make nice skirts.  I love the blue and yellow stripe in the one.

This is black and gold and shimmery but it looks like yick in this photo.  It really is much nicer.

Update on the Lining

First off, thank you all for commenting and providing guidance.  I sometimes get caught up in trying to do everything just right which causes me to spin my wheels endlessly.  The lining was one such issue.

I have cut out 1/2 of the lining and sewn it using essentially the same seam allowances because the fashion fabric is a nice crisp cotton and I really just want the skirt to hang properly.  If I do not like how it is hanging, well there is this wonderful tool called a seam ripper and I shall make adjustments.

In other news, I went fabric shopping on Saturday and boy did I buy fabric.  Lots and lots and lots of fabric.   I must have come home with over 30 yards.  I know 2 purchases were 8 yards each.  I had to go back to my car 3 times to dump off bags of fabric.  I even had one store put some fabric aside so I could come back later because I just could  not carry any more.

I was disappointed in one of my favorite stores for silk.  The have almost doubled the price for silk dupioni.  Yikes, I almost croaked when I was told the price.  Then they gave a song and dance how price of dupioni has increased in all the stores because the cost to make it has increased.

Well, the next store I went to and asked about the same color dupioni gave me the expected price!  So, count me disappointed.

Tomorrow, photos of fabric will be forthcoming.

Just a Taste

Here is the fabric for the skirt:

Actually, this picture does not do it justice but camera problems forced me to go with this one!

Also, here is another fabric that I am going to start cutting into this week.  It will be for the bodice of a gown for one of the upcoming balls.  It is an embroidered white silk dupioni.

This time of the year is known as ball season so a girl needs some options.  Unfortunately, this was just a remnant of maybe 3 yards.  I purchased this a long time ago for a ridiculously low price.  Now I need to get some plain white silk dupioni this weekend for the skirt.

If only work did not get in the way of sewing.

Fabric Alert

Amazing!  Did hell freeze over?  Were pigs flying?

Why?  Because for the month of October I purchased no fabric.  Nada, nope, nothing.  No money was spent buying fabric.  Just a few dollars on necessities such as thread or .75 on a zipper.

Seriously, miracles of miracles!  No money spent on fabric.  Not that it's bad thing; quite the contrary, it is fabulous since I saved money...kaaaaching!  Really, I have bins and bins of fabric because I have no self control when I go fabric shopping.  Even if I tried, I will never be able to use it all.  Perhaps it is time to try and sell some of it.

Besides, I know November will not be as kind.  I have white silk dupioni on the horizon and that will cost a pretty penny.

What about that Hawaii dress you ask.  Well, there is a bit of fine tuning going on adjusting side seams.  I am also adding another strip of bias binding.  This is what I love about sewing, making the adjustments that make it oh so special.  Now, I can wear the dress as is; but putting it on tonight, I just wanted to make a few oh so minute changes.  This means that I need another pair of buttons, but that’s okay and they can be added later.

Dithering and Decisions

Well, you would think that once I remade the sherbet dress, I would be able to move on to something else.  You would think so wouldn't you?

Not so much.

The past week has had me dithering right and left.  Persuing the stash for fabrics to go with the patterns on hand.  Dithering more on what to work on next.  This was not due to a lack of ideas...oh no, it was because I could come up with a fabulous idea for every pattern and fabric I saw.  I overloaded!  I could not make a decision.  I went back and forth every night with not one thing getting done or a decision being made.

Last night, I forced myself to make a decision.  I could no longer keep this indecision up.  So after even more dithering, I determined that this weekend I will work on this pattern:

It is only 4 pattern pieces.  Perfect to get moving on something!

I will use this fabric:

With the binding from some self-made brown bias binding made for this dress.

Tonight's goals: pattern tracing, fabric washing and ....maybe....fabric cutting.

Rainbow Sherbet

It’s the colors.  Even though not correct, this outfit is reminding me of Rainbow Sherbet.  The colors, except for that raspberry color, are not accurate and nevertheless, I think of Rainbow Sherbet.

The ruffles on the sleeve turned out exactly as I envisioned them.  Yet, I do not love the way the ruffles turned out.  Something seems off.  It is too heavy.  Maybe it is because the yellow is muted by the pinks beneath it.  I can’t put my finger on what is bothering.

The ruffles are also now on the skirt.  Whew….that sucked.  I do recommend the string method of gathering.  For me it is the quickest.  With a cording foot you zip along.  Also, the actual gathering is much quicker as well.  I think I may need to spread out the ruffles a little more.  Still, I am not loving this.

I picked up 2 greens and 2 pinks to coordinate with the stripes.  The stripes are 2 shades of green, the 2 shades of pink you see on the ruffles, the yellow and a neutral beige.  When I looked at the striped fabric, the raspberry pink always stood out the most and the olive green.  I decided not to use the olive green because the fabric, while an exact match, is thicker…less gauze like, than the other fabrics.  The same with the lighter green.  The pinks and the yellow are the same weight fabrics so I thought they would look better.

Now, I don’t like it.  The pinks receded and the greens are standing out.  I think that may be because the ruffle around the neck has none of the pinks in it….so the bodice becomes predominately yellow, green and the beige.

What to do?  I think I may have to change this up after I wear it.  Have to wear it to the event first, there is no time to change it now!