Crafting Chavs

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Speed Skirting

Burda 8155
Fabric from Estate Sale
Look! I made a muslin!Since I have been having fitting issues with straight skirts, I thought it would be smart to actually take the time to make a muslin. And guess what? It fit perfectly, so it really wasn't necessary. It only took an hour, though, and the actual skirt didn't take much longer. It's a green wool (or wool blend, hard to tell with estate sale fabric) and I love it. I'm making a blouse to go with it next. Stay tuned!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Teal with Black Detail







Anna gave me this material last year and I finally finished the dress. I started it less than a month ago and finished it today - just in time to wear out to dinner on Valentine's Day (also my 28th wedding anniversary). When I finished the bodice, I tried it on and found the neckline to be way too plunging for me! So, I came up with the insert (see detail picture). At first, I was going to just use the same black material as the cuffs and midriff; then, I remembered the black lace Anna gave to me. I used a piece of that on top of the teal of the dress, and I am quite pleased with the result. I did use snaps to attach it to the dress in case I want to swap it out with plain black, but I may never do that



The pattern is Butterick B5242.

Blue Circles




This dress was the first one I have felt like actually crumpling up in a ball and tossing. There were two reasons I persevered: (1) the fabric - I love it and spent more than I usually do; and, (2) the fabric - Anna chose it first and decided not to buy it; I felt I owed it to her to finish the dress just so we both would know the fabric was actually put to good use. I had so much trouble with the sleeves! The rest of the dress fit me fine but the sleeves were too tight. I had to rip them out at least twice and expand the cuff, in order to be able to button the sleeve without cutting off my circulation (see detail picture). When all was done, I love the way it turned out.




The pattern is Simplicity 3620, without the little bow in front. I actually would like to try the long sleeve version.

Friday, February 05, 2010

Suck It, Michael Kors, I'll Make It Myself

Fabric from estate

I'll admit it, I'm one of those people that tears pages out of magazines for "inspiration". I've had a page ripped out of Glamour in my pile featuring this Michael Kors dress, and hoped I might one day find a similar pattern. Turns out I already owned one! I bought this Simplicity pattern for the full-skirted version (which I still have not made), and a few months ago I was looking at it, and as I looked past the ugly pink floral Simplicity used, I had a flashback to the Michael Kors dress. It's times like these that encourage my desire to own every sewing pattern in existence.

If you look at the technical drawing of the pattern, the front has some cute pleats that you'll have to take note of in person.

One thing that this dress has that Michael Kors's version does not is a cute V in the back...

And yes, I did use an invisible zipper.
Trying to learn from my fitting issues with the Swedish Dress, I made the bodice and waist a 10 and the skirt a 12. The bodice fits great, but I had to sew the skirt allowances at 3/8" to fit and it's still a little hip-hugging (or more like butt-hugging). If I could start over, I probably would have made a 10 in the top, 12 in the waist and 14 in the skirt. I always thought my boobs were too big to be considered pear shape, but maybe I'm wrong.
Anyway...


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