Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Birthday Dress

Birthday Torture, really.
This was a "fairly simple" remake of the Cambie, which I absolutely love. As far as sizing goes, I made it a straight 10 this time, since last time I ended up taking up the difference where I graded it to a size 12. This worked pretty well. This didn't take care of the issue of the bodice being too long or that the bust was a little big, but that is an easy fix by adjusting the front sleeves into the bodice. (maybe next time I'll try an 8 in the bust? Or try shortening it?)
The smile doesn't capture the torture very well
The torture was actually associated with the fabric. I love how the fabric looks. love love love it. It's some kind of woven natural fiber. Maybe wool. I bought it at Betty's, it was on clearance so it doesn't have any real info on it. I got it several months ago and all along I knew I wanted to make the Cambie with it, but it took me awhile to get up the nerve. See, I pretty much only ever sew with cotton. Predictable, predictable cotton. Oh how much easier it probably is to match plaids with cotton.
Anyway. I did it. I only had to re-cut the front bodice, one side of the back bodice, a pocket (twice) and one sleeve front. Thank goodness I bought a ton of the fabric.
I'd like to take the full blame on this being an epic struggle, but I'm going to have to hold the fabric itself partially accountable. It really didn't resemble 90 degree angles. As much as I tugged on it, I really couldn't get it to behave. But, you know what? It's done. I'm not looking back. Plus I got to watch hours and hours and hours of Charmed on Netflix (don't judge me. or do. whatever.).
The idea here is that I wanted to make a nice Fall dress for myself to wear on my birthday. Which is at the end of September. THE FALL. But San Luis Obispo doesn't understand what Fall means and insists on being 91 degrees. I don't care. I'm wore it anyway. It's about 65 degrees in my office anyway. And the evenings are cool enough.
It doesn't line up? I'm kinda over it
Oh! also, my sister sent me a fantastic king size 100% pima cotton sheet. You know what feels really nice on skin? Sheets! I lined this dress with it.



boob shot!
In my mind, I was going to make this dress without the sweetheart neckline, but I'm glad I made it the way I did. I think the darts+neckline make a really nice shape.

This is now my favorite work dress and I think I wear it once a week, so I guess it was worth the torture.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Mid-Century Luau

It's kind of nice to go out on the town one more time before all the college students come back, so a friend organized a pub crawl. The theme was mid-century luau. I was inspired by this post on Coletterie. I was also inspired by this gorgeous jewelry box that I inherited from my Grandma last winter.
This picture does not do it justice. It is gorgeous.

Because I wanted a simple project, I went with the Amy Butler "cabo halter" (which I just tried to link to but it's not on the Amy Butler website, maybe it's not being made anymore?), I've made it so many times now it only takes a few hours. I wanted more of the full skirt style of the era, so I used the Sewaholic "cambie" full skirt, which is just lovely. It has some really nice fullness in it! And pockets of course. I'm still loving the orange and navy blue combo that I used for the Bike Fashion Show, so I lined the top of the halter with navy blue something (probably cotton/poly cheapy fabric). The orange is just a quilting cotton, though maybe extra heavy. I think it contributes positively to the skirt's fullness.
Here it is:
And another picture that my mom took while we were wine tasting:
I wanted to make this little bolero before the pub crawl and had my mom send it to me (because she owned it already!), but it got lost for something like 3 weeks in the mail and didn't arrive in time:

While I was sick last week it was on my mind. When I was finally well, I made it. Mostly as a wearable muslin, but I suppose my future may hold other occasions on which to wear a Hawaiian print sundress and matching bolero.


It does have nice drape, see?

It turned out pretty good. I made the size 14. Next time I'll do a narrow shoulder adjustment, or just make the shoulder pleats bigger. This little jacket went insanely quick, one evening and a Saturday morning (still too sick to ride bikes). I lined it instead of using facings, though I did not line the sleeves. I hate inset sleeves so much, I wasn't about to torture myself like that.
Oh, and this is funny: I didn't have enough of the print I used on the dress. Can you tell? It turns out I had another orangy Hawaiian print cotton in my stash. Who doesn't? Yep! The outer fabric is a rayon. I'm going to guess I've had it since high school, so lets just say it's probably close to 20 years old.

The details:


  • Amy Butler Halter top, size medium
  • Cambie skirt, size 10
  • Vogue Vintage (V8812) size 14


The End