Vogue 1250 in a Woven Cotton (for Carolyn)

I promised Carolyn some photos of the front of this dress when I got them taken.  I think these aren't too bad, and so here they are.

 You can see that I used a 'belt' at centerfront, with covered buttons to attach it, to control the fullness that I had to add to be able to wear this dress in a woven, totally non-stretch fabric rather than the knit it was designed for.  There's also a zipper on the side seam for ease of getting it on.  You still have to pull it over your head, but this helps.

 

Photo Day

As some of you know, I'm going to be the Presenter at the Kearney, Nebraska Sewing Expo September 21 and 22, 2018.  It's put on each year by the Bishop Method Clothing Group of Nebraska, and the Kearney-Area ASG chapter.  It's always a wonderful weekend, and I'm so excited to have been asked to present this year!  Their flyer will be out this month, and I will put it here in case anyone is interested who hasn't gotten it before.

So as you can imagine, I'm madly getting ready for my classes.  I've been working on this for quite some time, and it's getting down to the wire. 

One of the things I will be doing is a Trunk Show with many items from my wardrobe.  It will be mainly Marfy pattern garments, since that's what I sew most, and like best, but of course, there are others too.  When you come across something great, you have to go for it.  There will be 4 classes altogether including

Wardrobe Planning & Perfect Proportions

Marfy + Trunk Show

Project Planning for Sewing Success

Saran Wrap Fitting Techniques

I am so lucky to have a sister who's a whiz with a camera.  She came over today and we took quite a few long-delayed photos of my projects.  Here are a few teasers.

This is Marfy dress 2330 and jacket 3828. The fabric is from Barcelona, Spain when I shopped with the legendary Paco Peralta and Cristina.

 

Marfy caftan 3924 in silk charmeuse with lace motifs at the neckline.  This was made to wear at a destination wedding in Cozumel.

Vogue dress 1250 in a woven cotton print.  The dress is designed for knits only, but it worked out well with a side zipper and a sightly larger size.  I also added the double collar with applique.  This was made to attend a summer wedding, and it's one of my favorite summer dresses.

FSG Tunic 1960, Marfy Tank 9829, Marfy pants 0913.  The tank and tunic are in a semi-sheer knit, so two layers give opacity.  The pants are in a pleather-type fabric from one of my New York garment district shopping trips.

Sequin Dress Finished (with Photos!)

This is my New Year's Eve gown.  I was rather pleased with how it turned out, especially since I didn't cut it out until about 3pm on the 30th.  It was all done but the hem by about 9:30.

This is good old Vogue 1250 lengthened and with a baby train.  Very similar to a tan knit gown I made and have loved.  This is however, the first time I've worked with a sequined fabric.  Nancy and Sharon found this for me in Santa Fe and insisted that it was 'me'.  It was also a fantastic bargain, and I was an easy sell. 

I think I was very lucky in the construction of the fabric itself, as it's a 2-way stretch knit (widthwise, which is the usual), and I didn't have a lot of trouble with sequins coming loose when I cut the fabric.  A lot of the information I read talked about taping the cut edges, etc., and I was really hoping I wouldn't have to do that.  I did end up doing almost all of the sewing by hand, with a backstitch.  The end result was much more attractive that way.  The way the sequins were applied, they 'lined up', and I could sew between them, and then  pull them out onto the face of the fabric from the allowances where I needed to.  The holes in the sequins were very near one edge, and so if you happened to stitch through one, or close it into the allowance when it really needed to be on the right side, you'd have a fairly large gap.  You can see that the face is not perfectly even, and so a little variation isn't noticeable, but I didn't want 'bald' seams.

One 'exciting' revelation (to me anyway) was how very uncomfortable sitting in such a gown can be.  I think this is a fabric which is made for standing and just looking decorative.  It's also kind of 'noisy' when you walk.  It's not so heavy when you're wearing it, but there's noticeable weight when you handle it, or put it on or take it off.  I would caution others with a similar plan to watch out.  I kept shoving sequins under a fingernail when I was trying it on, and I actually bled.  Very painful, too.

You can't see much of the train, but there isn't much of a train, really.  That's why it's a baby train.  The top photo especially has the skirt in a strange position at the hem.  It really does hang nicely though, and I think you can see it better in the back view.  It reads mostly as a column, which is my kind of thing anyway.  The 'train' is just a little extra fun, swishiness.

I wore this for a New Year's Eve party, and will wear it again Saturday for another.  I'm sure it will be a handy thing to be able to pull out of my wardrobe.  The color, a very dark navy which sometimes seems to aim toward purple and sometimes toward gunmetal, will be appropriate for any number of occasions, I think.

The Gown - Details on Vogue 1250

From 2011Gown

From 2011Gown

Finally, photos of the Gala Gown made from Vogue 1250,lengthened and with a train added. This is the gown I wore to the Lyric Opera opening night.


Carolyn was interested in how I did the train. I thought I would probably want to add a godet at CB, but didn't know if I should put it in the seam, or cut it onto the main skirt, which was what I had hoped would work, since with the ribbed knit fabric, the fewer seams the better. I looked in all my books, and found just about nothing on the subject.

I asked, and got good suggestions from my friend Jane, who gave me several patterns from her 'permanent collection' to look at, including the one I finally decided was just what I wanted, (OOP) Vogue 9400, which has a very similar skirt, with a cut-on godet train.

I laid it over my pattern, but only used it as a guide, since it had side seams, and my skirt was one piece from the CF fold to the CB seam, necessitating a narrower godet, even though my fabric was quite wide.

For general informational purposes, Jane says that a train will usually start where the top of a slit would be in a skirt, but I thought that since this was a knit, I could preserve the columnar effect of the skirt a little more by starting lower, and still have plenty of walking room, which proved to be the case. I started angling out at about the knee, and made an angle that brought me to the edge of the fabric at the length I wanted. Not very technical, but it worked perfectly.

From 2011Gown

She pinned the hem for me too, and used her standard 'bridesmaid length' which finishes 1 1/2" above the floor, giving plenty of room to walk, and looks floor-length to viewers. I worried a little about it being that far off the floor, but I have to admit, it worked perfectly, and I had no trouble walking, although one must 'manage' one's train when backing up, etc.

I did a hand stitched hem, using a supported catchstitch, and very fine silk thread. I started it with regular sewing thread, and it showed a lot. The fine thread made a great difference. You can see both the inside and outside of the hem in the photo below.

From 2011Gown

The shoes are slightly visible in some of the photos, but here's a better picture.

From MuPhiConvention

They are the ones I had to put 4 coats of ModPodge on to keep them from 'adhering' to the dress. I had no problems walking in them, quite a few blocks total in downtown Chicago, and wore them for about 6 hours total that night. As I'd thought, they were quite comfortable, although going down steps in them is not my favorite thing.

You can see all the photos in the slideshow above, but I'll leave you with a back view showing the train a little better, and a better view of the wrap I made to wear with the dress.

From 2011Gown

Vogue 1250 Twice

From Vogue1250

From Vogue1250

Everyone's been making this design with great success, and it looked like my kind of style, so I had to do it too. I am pleased with both versions. I made the print one first, with no alterations, although I cut a 14 at the hip and shoulder, moving to a 20 at the bust. I didn't do an FBA since the style is pretty forgiving, with a lot of ease where I need it. I shortened the back waist before making the print version, then shortened it some more, and shortened the front above the bust on the next version. I think on the second (lavender) version it looks very much as it should. The print version hides the excess folds in its busy print, so it's not a problem.

The lavender is a slinky-type knit, although it's not really a true slinky, and it had its ribs and its greatest stretch running on the crossgrain so that's how I cut it. One side had a little more variation in color, so I made that the right side.

Here are side-back photos of both dresses, and you can see the folds, such as they are. I suppose if I want to get rid of more of them, I'll have to shorten some more above the bust point. I'm not sure it's a problem at this point.

From Vogue1250

From Vogue1250

I got a lot of compliments on the lavender dress at the Mu Phi convention, which was nice. I thought it looked good, too. I wore it as you see it here, and also put on a little shrug about halfway through the evening. It's a new Marfy pattern, and I will be posting about it next.

The Fall Vogue Knitting is Here

I got the new VK the other day, and it has more tempting patterns than I've seen for quite a few issues. There are more than a few that I would never actually knit for one reason or another, but there are several that I could be fairly serious about.

The really interesting shell above is not one of the editorial patterns, but is from the Tahki S. Charles Collezione ad. It has a look of old stucco or brick, with a vine running up it, and I would make it about as shown, except I would begin the patterned section a little higher I think.

The very oversized vest above is done in Koigu yarn, and it calls to me, although I'm not sure it's really my style. It looks like it would be wonderfully cozy to pull on over whatever else one had on in the winter.

I have never knitted a pair of mittens, and I doubt I'd wear these even if I knitted them, but I like the way the pattern ends with bobbles at the side instead of being completed on the back of the hand.

This is just a cute, cabled sweater with I-cord ties, but it's very nicely done, and would be a classic and wearable for years, unlike the wild vest above. I like cables, but I'm not sure the neckline is really me.

There were several other cardigans and some wonderful opera-length gloves, and I recommend this issue to anyone. They just did a really good job getting great designs this time.

I haven't cut out my cashmere yet, although I got it back from the cleaners all steamed and ready to go. I ordered silk charmeuse for the lining from Thai Silks and that came on Friday and is a fantastic color match, as I'd hoped. So, I need to just start. I feel like I'm teetering on the brink, but I'm sure I'll soon start in. It's been a very busy week here, and I need to just settle down and work.

Wild Stripes

Photo Link

Here's another version of Vogue 2719. The fabric is a cotton stripe, meant for quilting. I fell in love with the colors and the unusual striping. It looks a little like the rainbow of colors you get off a grease puddle. One interesting thing was that no matter how hard I tried, I could not distinguish a right and wrong side. They aren't exactly alike, but one is not paler than the other, and I like both, and honestly, I couldn't really tell the difference, so I was just careful to make sure I ended up with a right and left sleeve and front, etc. While I managed that alright, I made a crazy mistake I've never made before. I laid out the fabric and the pattern and cut it out as if the selvedge were the fold. So, I have a tiny seam at CB. No problem, and this has tiny, tiny selvedges, so I didn't lose much width. I honestly didn't notice until I was ready to mark the darts on the back, and wondered why I had 2 pieces instead of 1. Ah well, I shouldn't cut at night.

This is basically the same as the Wisteria Blouse, except I cut the pattern on the princess lines, and so this is an actual princess seam pattern.

I've been thinking about it all day as I wore this, and I think the reason I'm somewhat uncomfortable with princess lines on myself is that I have kind of a hollow chest above the bust, and so there seems to be sort of a swooping effect to get from one contour to the other, and it's more obvious with a princess line. Also, I think it emphasizes the fact that I'm very short-waisted. So, it's okay, but I still don't think it's my favorite. My actual favorite dart position is a vertical dart with a horizontal dart. You would think that would be close enough to work out the same, but it seems to be easier to get the body-skimming fit I like than the princess line is.

Wisteria Blouse

Photo Link

This is the blended pattern I ended up with from Burda WOF #105 5/2008 and Vogue 2719
Photo Link

I first did a muslin of the basic blend, and it looked pretty good, but needed more room in the bust. Some of the bust ease in the Vogue was in the kimono sleeve, and with a fitted raglan, I lost all of that, and it was enough to make it pretty snug. So, I did an FBA and tried again. This time the tucks at the neck stood out in an extremely weird way, so I ditched them and turned them into a dart instead. This worked pretty well, but I thought as long as I was doing 2 vertical darts, I might as well let them meet, and so it has the effect of a princess seam, although the front was cut as one piece. I also ended up doing the part of the vertical dart below the waist as a straight tuck since after the FBA it was way too flared. I also ended up with a wider placket than I really needed, and I decided to just leave the closure slightly off-center. It's just a casual blouse, and I like the way the 'lapels' turn back. I used a ribbon instead of a facing to cover the collar seam, and I think it's kind of cute.

I bought this fabric at least last summer if not the summer before, and I just love the wisteria print. I got it at a local quilt shop called The Cosmic Cow. Here's a side view of the blouse.


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I'm nervously awaiting the return of my gorgeous cashmere from the cleaners where it's being steam pressed and shrunk. Tuesday after noon is my mantra.

I want to thank everyone who commented on my last post, Perfect Isn't Perfect Anymore. I'm so glad to know that I'm not just a cranky whiner. I knew most of you might agree with me but may not have seen the photos already, and so I'm really glad I posted. It was especially gratifying to find that several of you had come to the same conclusion I did independently. I agree that it might be a disconnect between the designer and the workroom, but it seems like a really big problem they're going to have to solve before the next show. I guess we'll all be watching, won't we?

2-Piece Floral Dress

Photo Link

I finally finished this dress, and I'm glad to be done with it. Not that I didn't enjoy working on it, but I've been able to spend almost zero time sewing in the last couple weeks, and I was so close to done it was just killing me not to finish. So, here it is.

The fabric is a silk/cotton blend with an interesting weave that makes effective use of the fact that silk and cotton will take dyes differently. It makes the print look almost like a woven design, and gives it a watercolor effect. Yes, it's a really, really, really large scale print, but it's so large it almost reads as an abstract, and I like that. The fabric is from Nancy Erickson, and I borrowed her idea of making a 2-piece dress. I did not use the suggested princess-seam top however, preferring a darted, cut-on-sleeve top that I've made before. The original pattern is Vogue 2719 which is a Vintage Vogue dress that's OOP. I used the bodice as a blouse previously and it's a real favorite. I redrew the neckline for this to make it a little dressier than a shirt collar.

When I ordered this fabric, I assumed I was going to be using a princess-seam sheath style top pattern, and planned accordingly. As I mentioned before, I really had a hard time getting this top out of the fabric I had. I didn't have really any choice in print placement because there was one, and only one way this fit on the layout. After stitching the top, I really didn't like the look of the CF seam with the print. I came up with my triangular appliqué idea, and like it, then decided that adding a bow would be even better. How can you go wrong with a bow?


Photo Link

I underlined the entire thing in silk organza, which gave this a lot of body. This fabric has body of its own, and the result is almost a spongy feel, and I think it holds the style very nicely, especially the skirt. I was a little hesitant about lining this as well as underlining, because of the thickness of the fabric and underlining even before lining, as well as the fact that it's a Spring/Summer outfit, and I didn't want to add warmth. And, I'm just not a "line everything" kind of girl. I like to go on a case-by-case basis, and I rarely line tops. Because this top pattern was altered with my saran wrap block, it has a really nice fit in the neck and shoulders, so I knew I could get away with just piping the edges and hand overcasting the piping to the wrong side. There's no peek-a-boo problems with the inside showing here and there, and it makes a really nice clean finish. Here's the top inside-out. You can get a better look by clicking on the photo link and viewing the Original size. This is true of all of the photos.


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The skirt is drafted from my favorite straight skirt, and is the same as the green skirt I did as a trial. It looks quite different, but it's all in the different properties of the fabrics, not the pattern.


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And here's a side-front view.


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I did contemplate a belt with this. I took photos with and without, and although I like the belt, it just makes me look awfully short-waisted, and I think this is a more graceful look. It's amazing how much easier it is to make a style decision while looking at photos rather than when looking in the mirror. Everyone says this, and it's really true.

Inspiration!

 

I was so thrilled to get my copy of the new Vogue Patterns magazine on Tuesday. I am a real fan of Ralph Rucci, and besides his first 2 patterns for Vogue being showcased, including this one on the cover, there are 2 articles about Rucci and his techniques and how to accomplish them, or at least how to attempt them. It seems quite early to get the June/July issue, but of course if we begin sewing now, we may be done by June or July.

We've been battling a bad run of bronchitis or something here, and I've been very occupied with being a not very satisfactory stand-in for a nurse. Needless to say, I've gotten almost no sewing done, and only a little knitting. I really hope we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel though, as it's been a long siege. I am determined not to get sick too, and I've got my fingers crossed. Maybe that's why I'm not getting any sewing done.

And last, but not in the least least, Happy Birthday to my dear sister!

Trial and Error

 

I've been working on getting a nice fitted top that I can use to do a 2-piece dress with and have been through 3 muslins, one wearable, which you see above. After the wearable one, I realized that if I wanted better results, I ought to start with something different as a base. I was using a very fitted Marfy jacket pattern with nice princess seams plus a dart. It was working somewhat, but I realized that no matter how nice princess seams work for everyone else, they've never been my best style. So, I decided to start with a darted pullover Vogue blouse pattern that I had altered using my saran block. I consider the two blouses I've made from it in the past to be some of the best-fitting and most comfortable ones I have, so why not start there? This seemed to work very well. and I'm very pleased with what I whipped up tonight. I made a nice wide scoop neckline and it has small sleeves which I think improve over a sleeveless top for me. I think I'm going to use facings on it instead of lining it completely like I did here, although I do want to underline it.

I will start tweaking my skirt pattern tomorrow and I don't anticipate much trouble there. If I have enough fabric to do it, I want to do a fairly deep pleat on each side of the center and put pockets there.

I ordered a very large scale floral print for this, and I think it's going to be nice. It probably would have been nice to have it done for Easter, except that it's going to be so cold Sunday that I may have to wear my winter coat.

I've also been knitting on a new project. It's the Cropped Cardigan from the big anniversary issue of Vogue Knitting from last fall? I didn't think much of it when I saw the magazine, but Elann had someone knit it up in one of their yarns, and it look so much better than the original. I like the pattern stitch very much. They just call it Textured Stitch, but I realized it looks kind of like crocheted Afghan Stitch to me, although with extra diagonals. It's kind of fun to knit, too. The right side has you slip a stitch, knit a stitch, yarn over, and then pass the slipped stitch over the other two. You just purl back on the wrong side.

 

Which Glasses? Opinions, please.

Well, I'm looking for new glasses. I've been going through various kinds of things ever since the need for bifocals arrived, and I'm pretty much settled on wearing one contact lens most of the time. I've always been extremely nearsighted, and I can wear a multi-focal lens in one eye, and nothing in the other so that I can see close work, like sewing or knitting where I have to really be able to focus on on stitch or thread. But, I have never had bifocal glasses and have just been using my last pair of glasses for emergency purposes. I decided the time had come, and so of course I'm looking at frames. We've narrowed it down to two frames. I got to bring them home and see which one is more comfortable, etc. They both seem equally comfortable, so naturally it's down to looks.

Sorry for the somewhat blurry photos. They looked pretty good until I cropped them. Anyway, there are front and side views of both frames. The more rounded frame is first, and the more squared frame is second, so let's call them 1 and 2. One is a little more rounded and has frame all around the lens while 2 is a little more squared, and is rimless on the bottom. Please ignore the writing on the lenses.

Leave a comment to let me know what you think. I am going back and forth, so I'm really interested in what the consensus is.

 

 

 

 

I also got the new Vogue Knitting today, and the KnitNStyle came last week.

 

I've been doing some knitting, but more sewing lately. A muslin of a sleeveless, princess-seamed top that I made using a well-fitting Marfy jacket pattern. I'm pretty pleased so far, but haven't finished the test garment from the muslin pattern. It's been interesting, though, and I may take a photo of my pattern pieces. They certainly are not standard looking in several ways.

I'm Back

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. I've been dealing with family medical stuff, and then suddenly it was me being the "sickie." I'm sure most of you are familiar with the reality that whether one is ill or just recovering from a small procedure, the basic work of keeping the household running must continue anyway, and we know how that works. It would really be a luxury to just get to let everything go for a while, and I must say I did my best to let that happen, but all I achieved was letting some of my favorite things go by the wayside for a while, including my blog. I also seemed to lose my will to create for a time, but it's slowly returning as well, and I have been knitting anyway. Maybe not really the will to create, but there was just no decision-making happening, and what is the creative process if not a string of decisions?

I will also admit that I had no idea that I would really, really need to take it easy for as long as I did, even thought I had been told. As my nearest and dearest often says, I think I know it all, and I just don't listen. I do have to admit, he was pretty much correct there, as he often is. I do want to say a great big thank you to all of you who have sent such kind wishes. I really appreciate it, and I hope to be back to normal (?) very soon, if not right now.

Since it's cold again, I naturally have had the urge to make some warm things to wear. The zebra print knit top I made was such a yucky knit fabric mitigated only by its really great print, but I liked the pattern blend I used of FSG#1960 with a cut-on very long funnel neck, and I repeated it in another, beefier knit, and I've been wearing it with great pleasure. Now getting a picture of it that pleases me is another thing altogether, but I finally decided that it just isn't going to get any better than this. So, we will all suffer together.

I bought some interesting knit fabric a while back that is a very deep plum, and fairly sheer. I decided it would make a very nice overblouse, and used an older Vogue pattern for the basic shape. I decided it needed something, and tried a tie collar, which was dowdy in the extreme, so I thought the time had come for an unusual approach, so I took some HugSnug rayon seam binding that I got on a 100 yd. roll from the Pendleton outlet, and which just happens to match the lace fabric, and started making loops along the collar. It's definitely different, and I like the way it turned out. I'm using the former tie collar as a belt. I edged the sleeves with the seam binding as well, using it almost like a flat piping. You can see a close up below, and the colors are pretty true, at least on my monitor.

Here's the overblouse, over the blue top, which is NOT what I plan to wear it with, but it needs something with a collar, and I have nothing the right color and style, and it's too see-through to wear alone. The pants are another pair from my favorite Burda pattern, and the fabric is not what I had hoped. It's a polyester microfiber, but it's not nearly as nice as the fabric I bought a few years ago that I thought was very similar. This is drapier, and it's horribly staticky, and nothing seems to help. It doesn't actually crawl up your legs when worn, but it attracts every cat hair and dust mote within a 3-block region, and it seems unwilling to shed wrinkles. Now if polyester wants to wrinkle, what is the point?

I have been knitting away on my nephew's Xmas sweater, which will match his Dad's in style, but in a different color, and I'm getting close to dividing for the armscyes. It's going faster since it's smaller, but I'm making it a little large so he can wear it for at least a few years.