Vogue 2775



 Everyone needs a jumping off point, so for my little striped project I needed a bodice. Unfortunately this blurry photo is all I can come up with at the moment. The pattern is Vogue 2775, circa 1957. The bodice on this dress extends to the natural waistline.

Here's the  bodice front of this Little Dress. Notice if you will the waist dart used to shape the bodice. Of course a size 4 little girl wouldn't need a bust dart, but she does have a somewhat cylindrical chest. The dart is there to gently shape the bodice around her little chest. This is one of the things I love about vintage patterns.

I extended the side seams of the lower bodice to get a more squarish bottom. This is because I still don't know which highway I am on. Better to have that extra fabric than to wish for it later on after I've cut it off.

The strongest inclination I have for the bodice is for the stripes to be horizontal. So I drew off some straight lines perpendicular to the stripes and ran row after row of machine basting stitches, ending up with this. Just for good measure I narrow hemmed one edge of the fabric before the basting started.

After pulling up the gathering rows, I now have this:

Oh, hello, little darling, I might be in love with you.....



Stripes At Play

I'm still playing with these stripes. I pinned out another variety to get a different stripe pattern and started thinking about a bodice. At this point I've pretty much decided this wants to be a Little Dress. Here's one version:

And here is the same version with a nice black polka dot thrown in for good measure.

This raises all sorts of possibilities. The way I've tossed this on the Little Dress form raises the possibility of a bottom band on the bodice. It raises the possibility of a sort of drape overlay on one side of the bodice. It raises the possibility of a polka dot sleeve or two. It raises the possibility of more possibilities.

One note about the Little Dress form. This is too small (size 1-2) to actually fit any the little girls around here but it is highly useful for planning and pinning. Being able to drape it and walk away six or seven feet really helps me get an idea of proportions for design and fabric combinations. It's also very handy to just sit and stare at it and let the ideas just dance through my head while I drink coffee.

Several questions have come to mind. What should the back of the dress look like? I think the back of the dress should have some sort of interesting detail because I think the back of the dress should be cute enough that I want the child to turn around just so I can see the front of it. Also, what closure should it have? Buttons? Zipper? And does it need a collar?

The more I think about it all, the more things I have to think about.

Naughty Stripes

At first glance my striped fabric appeared to be an even stripe, meaning that the stripes were symmetrical. After a little study, I decided that it was in fact an uneven stripe. Of course I had to prove this to myself with the mitered fold test. Hopefully the blue stripe on my ironing board cover won't confuse this too badly.

First, I folded the stripe back on itself at a 45 degree angle to get a true bias fold:

Next I folded it up onto itself and looked carefully at the result.

 

You can see that the biggest stripe is symmetrical, but the smaller stripe is not. This is one of those things that can create absolute havoc if you don't discover it before cutting out your pattern. I use this same test on plaid fabrics also.

 

Ask me how I know.

 

In other news, I am still putting together ideas for the wardrobe and I bought Burda 7189 during my recent trip to Joann's.

 

This top has a neat folded effect in the upper bodice as well as a very interesting sleeve treatment in the cap sleeve version. It's also a cute dress (which I really have no need for) and a nice long sleeve version. The front button band has a great little detail also.

I'm going to work up a muslin of this top in the next couple of days. I want to see how the Burda armhole will work for me. I've been thinking a lot about armholes and sleeve caps lately. And crotch curves. And crotch depth. And princess seams.

And mostly, I've been thinking about stripes.

Fashion DO WEAR and DON'T DARE WEAR

No one has accused me yet of being a fashion maven, but I still like to look at the new designer offerings. Sometimes there are things I really like. And sometimes the things I really like would actually work in a normal life for a somewhat normal person, like me. So here goes.

As a person who sews, seeing new details, fabric mixes, unusual seaming, and dart manipulations can be very intriguing. Almost fascinating, at times. Here are a few runway looks that have caught my eye.

Here are some DO WEAR!

First up, from Carolina Herrera Spring RTW collection, I like this one.

The shape? A basic sheath with a slight boatneck. Fabric? A tad of color blocking in black and white. The eye catchers here are the color inserts on the cap sleeves and the front slit. Look a little closer and you will see the the sheath itself has seaming details (from her right shoulder down across the body to hip level, and also from her left mid-thigh curving back to her right side ending just below the fingertips. Nice. To wear this in real life you would need to make that slit into a deep box pleat. Add white topstitching, and voila! great simple little sheath dress for summer that looks like dynamite.

Here's another one from the same designer. I love the way the center panel is white and the side panels are black. Instant 20 pound weight loss! Basic princess seam shirtdress. This would be a good dress even without the belt. Notice how the squared neckline is repeated with the squared inset. Notice also that the squared off section of the white inset is wider ABOVE her waist, with the narrower white portion BELOW the waist, again making the hips look slimmer. I only spot one button at the top of the neck opening. If you've seen a backview of this dress, please leave me a comment. I can't help but wonder if the back has two colors or is just black.

 Next up is another sheath dress, this time from the Cynthia Rowley Spring 2012 RTW collection.

Notice how all the focus is on the bodice. Granted, there is a lot going on in the bodice. I'm not sure what the top yoke is--use sheer checks, woven ribbons, or woven fabrics. Use ribbon or braid for the bottom bodice. This one has regular underarm bust darts. You would need to be VERY careful with trim placement around the bust area. And of course you could raise the horizontal trims (the ones at her waistline) if you didn't want to accent your waistline. Just in case you have created a large waistline for yourself by constantly exercising your fork. Like me.

This one is Chado Ralph Rucci Spring RTW, in a beautiful textured fabric. Again, the sheath dress, this time with slightly cut in shoulders. Instead of side seam bust darts, there is a shaped yoke at the top. Yoke, neck, armholes, and wrap edges are bound with some gorgeous silky something or other.  The overskirt portion could be attached in the side seams. Notice how the edges of the overskirt are almost vertical, just slightly angled--makes her appear taller. Loving it.

 Here is a DON'T DARE WEAR.

Carolina Herrera Spring RTW. This model is approximately 6 foot 2. She weights 82 pounds. The shoes and belt account for 20 of those pounds. If SHE looks fat in those pants, so will I.

I have more of these, if yall are interested.

And yes, I got my little dress pleated. It was a horror. I don't even want to talk about it. Not yet, anyway.

Smocking has commenced.

Finally, I Get To Draft Something

Yes, I am finally getting set up to draft a bodice for myself. I was sidelined by helping out with baby girls who turned out to have what we are referring to as "Swamp Virus". Little did I know that not only would I end up sicker than a sick dog, I would also lose six pounds in the process.

Needless to say, I haven't been worth killing for a few days and now that I'm better I want to draft this darn thing. Oh yeah, and do a LOT of laundry. Yall all know how the virus thing goes....

So you can see here I'm all set up: wrapping paper, drafting tools, measurements, instruction book, and a giant bag of candy.


So I'm off to my little adventure! More later.

Pattern Design Puzzle

Still here, still knitting, still wishing it would stop raining. Also, still fighting off a nasty cold.


Instead of cooking supper, I'm puzzling over the pattern design of bodices. I wish I had the link to this for you, but alas, no dice. I'm referring to this:




In particular, the one on the bottom right that has the three button closure. Things that are running through my head while I try to decide what to cook with chicken tonight:

1. There are three buttons and either three buttonholes (or maybe snaps).
2. The buttonholes would be on the wearer's right side and the buttons would be on the left side.
3. The button plackets are pleated, pieced, separate, joined with seams, OR
4. This is simply a fancy pants yoke topstitched to look like it is pieced.
5. This whole thing is a well organized conspiracy in order to avoid cooking until the last possible moment.
6. This whole thing is a well organized conspiracy to give me a headache.

Gone to cook.

Collars

Of course, it will soon be time to go back to the J-O-B, and I still hate my clothes. All of them. Another massive closet clean-out will be executed soon. And when I say executed, I really do mean executed. I hate my current wardrobe just that much. Fire? Guillotine? But no hanging. They have been hanging too long already.

First up on the chopping block will be things that don't fit. They don't fit because they are not the same size as I am, they are too tight in certain areas, the armholes drive me crazy, they look like sacks, they are washed to death, and they all look like Grandma clothes. So what I'm really saying is that they don't fit the mental image of myself that I carry around in my head. To realize the mental image I need to lose about 40 pounds (that's a lot of biscuits, yall) and about 15 years.

The first thing may happen (40 pounds), but not in the next four weeks. The second thing? I wouldn't go back to that age. No, thank you. There's a lot to be said for growing into who you really are as a person, and time is the only thing that will get you there.

So although I haven't been 35 in a long time, most of the current fashions can still be worn by a person of a certain age. Modified for modesty, I think most things worn by a 35-year old can be worn by others. Anyone else out there agree with me on this?

Some really cute summer things have been out there on the internet and in the stores and many of them are halter backs. No, thanks. But why not use the cute front and add a regular back to it? That's what I mean by modifying for modesty and maturity. Just because we are aging does not mean we must be confined to square, shapeless blazer jackets and straight skirts. Or does it?

Thinking about all of this led me to Style for a look at the Fall 2008 collections. One of the lead articles is about collars. So I borrowed a few photos to talk about.




This one is by BCBG. Love this collar. It does what a collar is meant to do, that is, it frames the face. Soft, drapable fabrics for this one, preferably in a solid. But I can also see this in a silky print. So feminine. Did you notice the sleeves? They are a little longer, giving the entire top a sort of layered petal look. The length of those sleeves is critical to the look of the collar. Lengthen that jumper by one foot and I think this would work for me. And the model? She needs a biscuit.



This one has a detail you don't see very often. Look at the two collars-one squared, one rounded. A very interesting look. The sleeves have a soft rounded look also. Again, add length to the hemline and I really like this one, too. It's from Yigal Azrouel.




This one, from Allessandro Dell Acqua, has a straight cut across the neck instead of the normal curve. Very simple. The back neckline looks to be a funnel cut, and the sleeves are cut kimono-style. A classic look, to me anyway. The width across the shoulders will balance out a heavy bottom, too.



Next up is this one by Allegra Hicks. It's folded double back onto itself. I'm still trying to figure out how to cut this one. If you have an idea, just go ahead and shout it out.



Here's another one by BCBG. This is a circle collar (notice how it's not gathered into the neckband?) and it's cut of two contrasting fabrics with the bottom layer slightly longer than the top one. I have a pattern around here somewhere with this collar, and as soon as I dig it up I'll post it.



This shirtdress by Lanvin appears to be made of a jersey knit and what caught my eye here is just how minimal the collar actually is. I need a better and bigger photo of this one because there looks like something rolled going on here, but I can't tell what it is! If you find a better photo, please leave me a link to it. It's cut way too low (think camisole?) and I would lose the black eyeliner. But my hair looks just like that when I get out of the shower.



I like this jacket by Y & Kei. It has a military feel, doesn't it? Those look like angled front bands and the bottom band looks to be heavily topstitched, but look at that collar! It really softens the whole look up. I have a pattern here somewhere for that collar, too (I think it's a Vogue). Sigh. I need to dig for it. And did you notice the soft rolled collar on the tank under it?



And last but not least, look at this take on a shirtdress. It needs to be silk, of course, or a really good fake silk, and I actually found a pattern for this one:







Vogue 1017 by Sandra Betzina, the one that everyone seemed to laugh at. Just extend the ruffled collar down below the waist and continue it over to the opposite side. Use the short sleeve without the bottom band/ruffle to get the same effect on the sleeves.

I'm off. Do you feel a massive sew-a-thon coming in this space soon?

It's Kind Of Noisy Here Today

That's because the Tree Men have finally arrived. I don't know what happened to the "first thing Monday morning" scenario, but I'm just glad they came.

Here's either a very brave, or very stupid, Tree Man doing his thing with a huge chain saw:



Lucky me, I caught a picture of a huge hunk of tree just as it hit the ground. See?



That made a very loud "thump" sound. That is the sound of carefully laid centipede sod getting pounded to death. The children and I spent three steamy July days laying sod in the front and side yard many years ago, but the agony of that heat is still with me today. So of course, I decided to come back inside. And play with this, the haul from Joanne's yesterday:



Those are three silky/gauzy, chiffony prints, destined to become tops and blouses for the J-O-B. And also a brown/white burnout linen that will need to be underlined. You may notice that they are all browns. There is a reason for this. Over the past ten years I have taught at two different high schools, and the school colors were black/red and black/grey. Almost everything in my closet has gradually turned to black, or something that goes with black.

This year, brown will be my new black. That's my first goal for summer sewing. I'm steadily collecting fabrics and shoes and accessories in the brown/beige family. I intend to spice it up a bit with some red and dark yellows. We'll see how this develops. The force of a SWAP is compelling, let me tell you. I'm just about to succumb.

Which brings me to this purchase.



What can I say--it spoke to me. It said take me home with you, it doesn't matter that I match NOTHING you own. So I bought it. It's soft, crinkly, drapey polyester and I have two yards of it. If you have a pattern recommendation, just sing out. I need help with this one. It's turquoise with a bit of lime green and ivory.

Since I'm too frail to stand up to the heat of midday (it's currently only 95 degrees) I'm going to make a muslin of this pants pattern. It's Burda 8341. Basic two darts in front, two darts in back, fly front zipper, one button waistband.



What I'm doing here is comparing the back crotch curve to an absolutely favorite pair of jeans. Although the jeans are stretch denim, the crotch curve is not on the stretch part and it looks as though the crotch curve of the Burda pattern is identical to the jeans. At least I will have a really good jumping off point for a start.

Goal number two for summer sewing is to perfect the fit of a basic pants pattern. Then I will have a TNT to use as a basis for all future pants to come. I haven't made a pair of pants for myself in over 20 years, so this will probably be both interesting and highly comical. I just can't wait.

And just so you'll know, if you hate the Mom jeans (in my case it's Grandma jeans) with the saggy seat and the boggy bottom of the thigh, go try on a pair of these Bandolino jeans in the stretch denim. Love them, love them, love them. And when I turned them inside out I discovered they were made in Egypt. I had no idea Egyptians could sew.

Update and a Skirt

First off, I want to say thanks to all of you for your sweet comments on our new little babies. They are sweet and delightful already, and we can only wonder what joy they will bring us in the years to come. Today Little Pearl has her IVs out and is getting supplemental feeding (breast milk) through a gastro tube, since she's not quite strong enough to suckle well. And Little Ruby has graduated to a regular plastic isolette bed! She Who Was Pregnant With Twins continues to get better every day, and went out to eat supper at a real restaurant for the first time in months. She and The Daddy Of Little Girls are staying in-house in a hospital hotel room now that she has been promoted out of medical custody.

Here's another member of the family, Lulu, who joined us here last week:




She came from here. Although I ordered a size 1-2, she actually measures a 3-4 in the chest; so I can't dress her up in little stuff like I had hoped, but she will be really handy for draping, designing, and deciding on proportions. See?



This is the first part of the Festival skirt. I had put it together and then all these Fashion Critics that hang out over here decided it needed piping in the skirt seams. So I took it apart and added piping. As usual, they were right. Here's a close up of a seam:




The skirt will be gathered onto a bodice of some sort--still playing around with that part. The skirt will have three more pieces attached at the bottom-a flap, a band, and a ruffle. And yes, I had to take all of THAT apart, too. I just love me a seam ripper!

Again, thanks to all of you. Keep those happy thoughts coming our way, if you will.

Another Spring Break Project--Tomato!

Here is the latest project underway, which I am calling Tomato. Can you figure out where I got the name?




It's not done yet, but it's very close. I'm trying to decide on the bodice embellishment, and this is what I've come up with so far:

I would love some input on this. Let me hear you!

A Pink Little Flirt...

Although it's not hemmed or button-able (no buttons or buttonholes, yet), here is a little pink Flirt:




Detail of the front collar, pleating around the neck just so...



And the back:




And the back detail:

You might can see that I used bias piping made from the stripe at the waist, armhole, neck, and back opening edges.

I am quite pleased with this one. One of my goals while drafting this design was to have the pleats encircle the skirt, with no break in the pleating at the side seams. Although at the time it seemed to take forever, I think all the time I spent on the muslining process was worth it. Comments?

I have two Little Dresses cut out and calling out to me (come here! come here and sew me up!). Can you hear them, too?

Doritos, Version 2

We celebrated Easter Sunday on a beautiful day, and I hope you did, too. It was a day filled with sunshine, good food, family, an Easter Egg Hunt for the little ones, and flowers blooming everywhere. We gathered at the home of SWIPWT, since she's bed-bound, and the yard was filled with azaleas, bulbs, and dogwood trees. Just gorgeous.

Since she has been really good this week (she's hit the 32-weeks mark in the pregnancy), she was allowed to sit on the front porch in a rocker and watch the egg hunt. Of course, after the little ones found the eggs, we decided to have an EXTREME egg hunt for all the Random Teenagers. They found out quick that us old folks could really hide some eggs. It took them three times as long to find the eggs as it did the little folks. A joyful day.

I did most of the finish work on Doritos, Version 2. It still needs buttons and buttonholes, but I am currently out of white sewing thread. A person with a driver's license is currently getting in the shower and will soon be on his way to buy more thread. After having two daughters and three sons, I can tell you that it takes a male child just as long to get dressed as it does a female child. These guys spend more time on their hair than I do.




I'm thinking I will use covered buttons on this version of the dress, using white on black and black on white. Comments?

And for lynn in the comment section, I can't remember what size crochet thread I use for the piping. It's the regular Coats and Clark in the big ball from Wally World. I'll get the size for you the next time I go.

I also finished the pattern work on Flirt, and have it pretty much ready to go. I'm cutting out another Little Dress today, this time from a vintage pattern. More later!

Spring Break Is ON!

It has arrived at last--Spring Break! And to make things even sweeter, the fabric I ordered has also arrived. I'm hard at work already, making a new version of Doritos. Here are the fabrics I'm using (although I'm not sure I'll use the orange one yet):



Well, yes, indeed I did order full bolts. I'm going to enter the handmade clothes market and open an Etsy shop later this week. So it made good sense to order full bolts of fabrics.

My spring break will cover 10 days (today is day 2) and my goal is to make 10 Dresses in 10 Days. Wish me luck!

Here is the front bodice with part of the piping underway:



My helper, the Duke of Cute, came over to visit and spend the day with us yesterday. It took 5 people to keep an eye on one 3-year old. Here he is, sitting still for 30 seconds:





He is highly entertaining. One of the things he did was spray my bedroom, bathroom, and closet with a can of air freshener. And I'm talking about a CAN, an entire CAN. My clothes smell really nice!

Today I hope to finish the pattern draft on Flirt. It's almost done. On to the sewing!

I'll try and post an update tonight.

What A Weekend

It was the weekend of the Prom. Up at dark thirty on Saturday morning, drank half a gallon of strong coffee, and off to decorate (with about 30 other folks) for the annual shindig. It was great. The dresses were beautiful, and the refreshments were divine. And, oh yes, one of my Random Teenagers wore a tuxedo for the very first time. He likes to make his mama cry. It seems like just yesterday I pushed and shoved birthing that 9 pound baby.....

At any rate, I haven't done any sewing at all. But I did manage to get rid of the Really Loud Music Headache from last night and work on this pleat pattern problem I've been having.

In case you've been reading the comments, here's a photo of what patsjean was describing (well, I'm pretty sure it was patsjean, but I'm really too pooped at the moment to verify it-thanks!).

You take a piece of paper and pleat it, like so:






Then you cut the desired angle, like so:





And when you open it up, you have a pattern, like so:




Mine's not even (too tired at this point to pick up the ruler), but you get the idea. And that's exactly the technique I'm going to use on my pattern.

It looks like an awful mess at this point, doesn't it?




I just wish I had stock in the 3M Company, those wonderful folks who manufacture Scotch tape. I'd be a millionaire, instead of just being out of tape.

Back to the Inherent Design Problem with the pattern. There are three problems, actually.

One, of course, is the bottom hem shape. By the time I got to that point the other day, I knew the thing wasn't going to work out right and I simply didn't care enough to perfect it.

Two is the pleats aren't vertical. Now why couldn't I see that to begin with? I am such a dumb bunny sometimes. And I just know that there are at least a hundred REAL patternmakers laughing their heads off and telling their friends about this stupid woman down South with her paper and Scotch tape....

Three is the shape of the bottom section, which nobody pointed out. The problem is that I based this on an A-line shape but you can't evenly pleat an A-line shape so that the pleats are consistent around the body. If you go look at the last post pictures you'll see what I'm talking about. There is a little angled "wing" piece that is unpleated on the right side of the front (and there would be the same thing going on in the back).

My solution? I have redrafted this on a straight sheath style. I've gotton the front pieces pretty much done and I'm way too tired to do any more tonight, so I'm off to bed.

My question is, Will This Work?

Gee, That Was Fast

Okay, so I cheated a little. I only made a front this time. No back. Because I had an enlightening thought.

Here is the little front pinned to a chair, since it refuses to hang on a hanger. There is an inherent design flaw here:




Can any of you spot it?

And as for the puzzle picture I posted last night, here's a little hint: it has something to do with Jillian. Yall do know who that is, don't you?

The People Have Spoken....

Yes, you have. LOTS of you have spoken. And the amazing thing is that yall have put into words my same exact feelings about Flirt.

The top ruffle is not "pleaty" enough. It is not asymmetrical enough. And the bottom ruffle may need to be tossed entirely.

But I do love that little pleated collar so much.....

Back to the pattern paper and the cutting table it is. Another muslin is about to begin.

Thanks to you all for the comments and suggestions. It's really nice to have a group to offer advice and encouragement!

And the fabric shopping yesterday? Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. A very large box will arrive here sometime next week.

Just A Little Flirt

Flirt

Well, last night I pleated up all these huge panels and sewed them together, and now I have a little Flirt. Here's the front, hanging all cattywhompus on a hanger:




You will notice, I'm sure, that the overskirt band is bright purple. That's on purpose. I wanted to visually check the proportion of the band to the overskirt length, and the best way to do that was to use a high contrast fabric. That purple was over in the corner, up to no good, so I used it for something good before it started playing with matches, or something. You know, sometimes fabric just goes all BAD on you, doesn't it? So there.

Here's the back--no buttonholes, just a huge straight pin for a closure:




Throw those comments at me, yall. In particular, what I want to know is this: Is the asymmetrical part asymmetrical enough? Or should it be more angled?

From the Comments

Nancy left a comment about a pleat puzzle. She wanted the magic formula for figuring out pleats.

Unfortunately I don't have a magic formula. In the case of Flirt, I knew the width of the panel I started with, and I knew how deep I wanted each pleat to be. So I just split the panel and added the pleat width. I did it a million times, and used a million pieces of tape.

Nancy has the reverse problem. She wants to pleat up 70 inches of skirt down to 26 inches. Here's what I would do:

70 minus 26 equals 44, so Nancy needs to remove 44 inches of fabric from the skirt waistband. I like the number 44 because it is nice and even. Thank you, Nancy, for picking such a fun number.

Since she has a skirt front and a skirt back, I would divide the 44 inches into two parts--22 inches for the front and 22 inches for the back. Find the center front/back, and put 11 pleats on each side of the center. You'll have to play with it a bit, but if you then divide each front half in two again, you will have 5 1/2 pleats, and 5 1/2 pleats on each side front/back. That should help you to even them out.

The main thing is that you want each pleat to be the same depth for a balanced look.

If anyone out there has a better method for Nancy, please share it in the comments or send me an email and I'll post it.

A Puzzle of My Own

Can anyone figure out what I'm trying to draft here? I know how yall love a little challenge!





And one last thing--hopefully tomorrow I will get to shop for fabric! Wish me luck.