sewing |

Another selfish sew! Look at that face! That’s someone who was super excited about some more new clothes.

I found this snake fabric on Etsy a month ago and loved it. Only in hindsight I’m sure it’s kids fabric but still I love the colors and and how the design was. I love the weight of the jersey fabric too – generally jersey is pretty see-thru but this was so thick and not see-thru. Since it was sturdy material I didn’t even use my serger as there was no tension issue.

This was less than an hour project as I almost got thru 1 hour of the Roosevelt’s Doc from PBS. I love that documentary – I’ve seen it probably 4 times all together. I think I love it because it so radically changed my perspective on so much about that family. I especially love watching it now since our political climate has changed so severely.

I used this Pattern from McCall’s:

Specs on Time/Cost

Total Time: < 1 hour
Total Cost: $1.99 Pattern + $24 for 2 yards of jersey fabric on Etsy

Supplies List

2 yards jersey fabric from Raspberry Creek Fabric on Etsy
McCalls M6886 Dress Pattern
Gütermann Polyester Thread

Random Comments about pattern:

Have you ever bought the wrong sized pattern? I did here lol whoops! But i just shorted the smallest size by 2inches and aimed for 10-12. I didn’t want this one to be skin tight since I wanted to wear it to work, so I think it worked out perfectly.
Pattern was super easy.
I’ll be making the V-neck and the long sleeves for sure.
I only used 1 3/4 yards of fabric.

I did a little selfish sewing last week. Finally caught a tiny respite from the great baby making of 2017 😉 JK I love that all of you are having babies because baby stuff is my favorite kind of crafts to make. However, I had another 1940s ball to attend so instead of buying my dress this year I decided to make one that was more traditional (less ‘retro’ stereotypical). This is the Original 1947 Design of Vogue V9126 Dress Pattern. Available at Vogue Patterns or Joanns. I picked up this pattern for $5 on one of the ‘sale days’ at Joanns.

I know that Joann’s is sort of the anti-craft movement for a lot of people. I happen to find it really convenient, affordable and they do have a pretty nice selection of fabric, yarn, supplies. Plus and this is why it’s so hard to say no to Joann’s they always have a coupon(s) to use.

But I digress. I found the pattern and the Fabric (50% off that) at Joanns and decided to make this for the ball.

Specs on Time/Cost

Total Time: 7 hours including finishing
Toal cost: $45

Supplies List:

Gütermann Polyester Thread – CA 02776
Bright Red Tropical Hawaiian Chiffon Fabric (4 yards)
Fusible Interfacing
V9126 Pattern from Vogue Reproductions Collection

Random Comments about pattern:

The collar took quite some mulling over. It was not easy to create shape for that just from ‘folding it over.’ I ended up hand sewing the lapels to each other in the front to give it the shape I wanted.
The waist was too small for only a short bodice zipper – I had to let out the waist by 3 inches to get the waist over my shoulders (I’m not that big there). If I make this again I will put in a zipper that extends down thru the waist so that I can just zip it up and keep the shape once on.
Bust was taken in considerably. I used the 36in bust – (I’m a 34in) and it was like a burlap sack – I ended up taking in the pleats so significantly it was starting to distort the shape on the bodice. If I make this again I will use smaller bodice all together and then gather skirt in back if necessary.

Anyways enough of my bemoaning about having a small bust and big shoulders 😉