NPRINS

Dear readers, Since having minor foot surgery and staying home for two weeks - this second week I have been sewing my head off - I've completed this reproduction dress, a pair of knitted fingerless mitts, and a quick shirt. First, my completed Decades of Style  1944 House Dress.  I bought the fabric online from Gorgeous Fabrics  last year .  (Note to self:  I am going to start attaching tags to my fabric with date and source).  The colors of this dress were inspired by a Rose Bowl game here in Pasadena - actually the BCS Championship in Pasadena (Univ. of Alabama v. Univ. of Texas).  I thought I am going to make a dress to wear with my brother to the next Alabama championship - it's only taken me over three years. Please note I couldn't get the color quite right . I tried to lighten then darken it.   I also chose not to attach black pockets - J. thought it would drive the dress into costume territory (not that this is necessarily a bad thing). I u...

Dear Readers, Ok, I'm only two weeks late on the publishing of this finished dress.  My second, and it's a much better fit.  I worked hard on the bodice with the princess seams. Here's the back view - which is a better fit than what this picture suggests. '' Whew!  Boy I need a haircut.   I've reviewed this pattern before so, here we go: What I liked:  Fun, easy, princess-seam pattern with retro good looks in a variety of styles.  I love the two-tone - which Eugenia ingeniously concocted in one of her dresses.  Great fit.  I added the selvage flowers and pockets which match the bodice. . .  Peek-a-boo  Flowers - my big design element. My challenges:  The bodice fit - which I blogged about last post.  I wish I could add the collar to this version - I ran out of tropical material.  I lined it - which was challenging considering the double knit material I used on the skirt and somewhat skewed the absolutely perfect fit I had...

Dear readers, I've almost finished Vogue 8667 version 2.  The dress is pictured below - it needs some finishing - which I will do upon my return from a trip east later this week: First, I must thank (profusely) Eugenia from Eugenia's (Fabulous) World of Fashion , who gave me the idea of the two tone ensemble when my fabric selection for the bodice was insufficient in terms of amount of material. She constructed the same dress in this method and its a knock out. I have also constructed two deconstructed flowers to attach to the dress - in the shoulder/bodice area, I think. .  I will model the dress next weekend  - however, I did two processes I may not choose to do again on this dress.  First, I lined the dress with cotton voile - I think that affected the fit a bit - although it's a great fit so far - it actually felt better without the lining (I'll explain that in the next post). Second, I added pockets and looking at the silhouette I believe this changed the lines ...

Dear Readers, Whilst I was taking my class - I did have a chance to shop and here is my bounty - I can't wait to make these up: Two Decades of Style patterns that I have been waiting to buy for awhile (apparently Decades of Style had a trunk show with all the designs sewn up that I missed two weeks ago (of course). Decades of Style 1940s House Dress Decades of Style 1940s New England Dress: Also, I bought three yards of this cotton lawn, which does have some cross-stretch - it is NOT a liberty print - but does remind me of the type of prints Liberty is famous for.  I was thinking of making Vogue 8667 in this print but after trying on my muslin - I think I will save it for another project.  I also got this thick canvas Japanese robot print to make a Green Pepper messenger bag for J.  Unfortunately, he doesn't think the material is substantial enough for his books (it is - especially if reinforced) But, hey, I'm not going to argue - so yeah!! I can use this somehow for a pr...

Hello Readers! I've finally finished the Colette Macaron - despite a blunder with my blind stitch hem this morning. I'm fairly pleased with it.  I made it out of Echino Fabric (from the fabulous  Sew-LA ). . . which is a very thin cotton linen blend.  I took my time to make the dress - and I think the two mistakes I made were:  (1)  the upper band isn't totally straight (I'm thinking of re-attaching), and (2) the side with the invisible zipper doesn't match! (Update:  Late morning day of post - the pictures on this blog convinced me to re-sew/re-attach the upper midriff band - it looks a lot better now!!). I've posted the pix below: I did some new techniques on this dress - I stabilized the neck with silk ribbon and did the armholes the same way.  I lined the dress with a very thin high quality cotton - although I've had a hard time getting the lining perfect. I topstitched both the neckline and sleeves because of the light weight quality of the fabric...