Winter is Coming Dress

     Let me apologize in advance for the craptastic photos. I'm stuck using my iphone at the moment.

  If you saw my last post, you know I was worried about "topping" my Macaron muslin. I'm glad that I chose to use a winter suiting because I feel this dress really isn't comparable to the last one. They are definitely made for two different seasons. Try to ignore the lush green foliage. Imagine it's almost winter, the trees are barren and it's very cold outside.

 I'm not sure why I chose the fabric that I did. I was in a funk and something about it jumped out at me. I normally don't wear pink and I'm not sure the pink/blue combo is the best for my skin tone but I went with it anyway. The colors seem very winter to me. I got a kind of  60's vibe from it and so intended to try to draft/add a peter pan collar using the facings from the beginning.

 I really pushed myself with this dress. Along with modifying the facings for the the collar, I also lined the waist/skirt part of the dress. It was not easy and it made me stop and think a couple of times... I definitely had a couple of Tim Gunn "make it work" moments. I'm glad I made myself stick to the plan. I'm pleased with the outcome.

Crappy photo of lining

As you can see I added two buttons to the top. You might remember me doing this for my Hazel...this was not part of the original plan for this dress buuuuut.....I didn't draft my peter pan collar perfectly so there was a larger gap between the lapels (right word?) than I hoped for. I considered a bow but decided on the buttons as a way of filling up that gap. I'm pleased with the way they look, though. Hopefully I don't get branded as the "two button chick" because of it, ha.

Not sure why the back is bunching up like that but I think it's the way I was standing.

 The dress is genuinely warm. It was pretty hot outside when I took these pics, but I wanted to style the dress as I intended to wear it this winter. Even before I added the tights, I was sweating while indoors. The lining keeps in the heat and made the dress slide over the tights easily. This is the perfect cold weather dress, even with the short sleeves.

   I have to be honest, I'm not sure I'll make this particular pattern again, and if I do it won't be for some time. But, I'm glad I made the two that I did because I love them. I can't wait to see what the next pattern will be for Sew Colette 2.0!

  While taking pictures, my daughters decided to get in on the action. I also have two boys but they are always off doing...ya know...boy stuff. HA! They aren't interested in Mommy's photo shoots.  I thought these pics were too cute not to share. ;)

Romy copying my poses.

She's a cuddle bug

My oldest daughter, Delaney

The Better Than Expected Dress

 Well, I am impressed. Honestly, I never really liked Colette Patterns' Macaron. I liked some of the versions I saw on the interwebs but I didn't always like the way it looked/fit. When it voted as the next pattern for Sew Colette 2.0, I secretly thought "oh-nooooo!" BUT being all excited about my successful Hazel, I thought, "I can *own that Macaron! I'm going to sew it and it's going to be AMAZING." After that high, I crashed. I sulked about the fabric store, unable to find anything that inspired me. I had this idea that I wanted to make it out of a houndstooth but when I couldn't find anything suitable, I pouted like a baby. I ended up buying some fabric that I felt so-so about , threw it to the back of my sewing cabinet and forgot all about it.  I don't know what made me decide to make it, but last week I ordered the pattern and when it came this week, I was all fired up about making it again.

Of course I wanted a cheap muslin. I chose this blue floral-polka dotted cotton fabric from my stash. I got about 4 yards of it for less than $4 at a thrift store. I had just enough cotton batiste to cut the yoke and I didn't even have interfacing for the facings. I was in the mindset that this was going to be going in the trash when I was done with it and I was quite careless constructing it. Which only made it harder on myself. I'm not going to lie and say this was easy. It *should have been easy but I made everything hard on myself by not really paying attention. I was just kind of throwing it together until I basted the side up to try it on. Then I stood in front of the mirror in shock. It fit. And looked good. I LOVED it. Suddenly I had to go back and do everything the right way. I took my time for the rest of it and here it is.

 I cut a size 8, tapering out to a 10 at the waist and back down to an 8 at the hips. Otherwise, I did everything as instructed. I was going to use the pink lace at the hem as hem tape. After I sewed it on to the raw edge, I decided I liked the way it looked too much to turn it up and so I left it down. I still may turn it up someday, but for now, it stays.

Look at those vinegar pleats.

 This morning I read this tip about pressing with vinegar on a paper bag.  I decided to give it a go on these pleats and let me tell you, it works. I love vinegar. I use it for everything. Cleaning, cooking, etc..I probably always smell like pickles but there's worse things than that, I think. Like wrinkles and soft pleats. So I may smell funny but my dress is pressed beautifully. Another tip...I used rubbing alcohol to get some ink pen that I had accidentally gotten on the bodice. What would I do without rubbing alcohol? And vinegar. It smells like a pickle in a hospital in here.

Those sleeves! I love them.

 So that's it. This dress is so flattering. I like this so much that I joked that my next one can't be any better. But, I'm going to go ahead and give it a go because the fabric I bought will make it more cooler weather appropriate. Plus, hopefully this dress pushes me to be more creative on the next one.

Finished: Simpilcity 1803 and other stuff

 

My love affair for this pattern began when I spotted it featured on Sew Weekly's Make This Look. I had been obsessed with the dress from ModCloth that inspired the dupe for some time. I just wasn't willing to pay $80 for it. Plus, not only am I thirty, I've also had 4 kids. I was worried not only how the dress would look on me but also how I could pull it off.  I filed the pattern away on my Pinterest inspiration board and waited for the next Simplicity .99 sale. When I finally got my hands on the pattern, I sat on it for months waiting for fabric inspiration. In the meantime, several (now nearly famous) renditions of this pattern popped onto the blogosphere. Swoon. Even though I planned on making an alternated view for the bodice, my love affair became an obsession and I finally decided to cut into a pretty swiss dot rose print cotton I had been holding onto.

This dress was surprisingly easy to put together. I took other blogger's advice and cut based on the finished garment measurements. This pattern has 4 inches of ease built into it! wow. I cut a straight sz 12. The fabric was incredibly sheer so I underlined it in a white cotton batiste for the bodice. I didn't have enough batiste for the skirt so I have to wear a slip with it but it works out. I made no alterations aside from reducing side seam allowances to .5 inches at the waist and tapering in to almost an inch at the under arms. I topstitched the yoke to prevent puckering, something else I had read about.Unfortunately it still pouches out and if I could I would have cut the whole yoke a size smaller. Since I bought the larger set of size, 12 was the smallest I had.





I also chose to randomly pleat the skirt instead of gather it. Sometimes gathering is too puffy around my waist and I think the pleats are a bit more flattering.

 When it came time to install the zipper, I managed to find a perfect match from a lot of vintage zips I just thrifted. Huge, cheap ($3) lot, all still in packing from early 50's to late 70's. It is a shade of pink that matches the roses. Awesome. I thought about sewing an exposed zipper and decided against it at the last minute. I should have gone with the exposed, I think. I won't show you a close up of this lapped zip because in all honesty...it's a bit of a mess. But it looks ok from far away so I'm good with it.

Scrunchy Face, Scrunchy Yoke

  So that's it. Easy peasy pattern and I super love the results.

 In other EXCITING news, last week I opened up my reader for my daily dose of blogs and was presented with a lovely surprise. I was included in Sew Colette 2.0's Hazel Parade on Rochelle's blog Lucky Lucille (and how super sweet and awesome is she? Lucille's pretty darn adorable, too!). This was a huge honor, because as I told her on Instagram (are you following me? I love sharing pics! I'm everfive),  I was inspired by  her creations specifically when I made that dress. Oh, and small side note- I wear that Hazel at least once a week and I complimented every.single.time. yay! So anyhoo, I get this fantastic new button on my sidebar (woohoooo!) and I actually shared my blog with my personal friends through facebook. Something I hadn't been doing..I'm not sure why.


So now for a couple of thing completely not sewing related but still big to me so I thought I would share. Early this month I got my first tattoo. I've been wanting a tattoo since forever but never got one for different reasons. Earlier this year, when my best friend and I turned 30 and I celebrated my 10 year wedding anniversary all in the span of 4 months, I promised myself I would immortilize this time of my life with a tattoo. I picked a lyric from my favorite song by my favorite band The Graveyard Near the House by The Airborne Toxic Event. I love it, it means so much to me and my life. Now I have 4 more planned. I'm hooked.



 On top of that,  2 weeks ago my sister and I traveled down to Richmond to see The Killers (a very very very close second on the favorite band scale. Can I just have 2 favorite bands? I say yes.).It was in a very small venue and honestly it was a once in a lifetime sold out show that we were lucky enough to snag tickets for. We had so much fun waiting in line for 7 hours (!!). We met awesome people, got right up front and experienced an amazing show. Then afterwards....we met Brandon Flowers. No big deal.