Sketching and photos

I'm modifying a dress I've made before. The original dress is one I made 5 years ago, based on one made in the fifties and the most finished(think guts) dress I have ever made. I tried it on and it fits! One step down. It fits pretty well, but with modifications I plan to make, I'm going to muslin the whole thing just to make sure, with absolute certainty, that I will have he best possible fit on my wedding day.  I'm making fewer changes in different ways than I thought I would after trying on dresses, and more in other ways.

The original dress was made in the fifties, and I chronicled a good chunk of the taking apart and grading up and altering the line in a series of posts, tagged Sunset. (Click here to see those.)

Here's the original in a selfie (taken a couple of weeks ago after 3 years... It still fits! Hallelujah!!): 

And here are my sketches. 

I'll be changing the straps so they are their own pieces, keeping all the volume, and adding length and a train. Pearl buttons and maybe some pearls at the neckline and shoulders.  Lace at the shoulders and along the hem if there's any at all. Dupioni silk. A pop of color in the petticoat. 

Now, to go through a bolt of muslin for the mock-ups. 

Are you ready? I'm ready. 

oooh chilly chilly!

We are in the midst of an ice storm... Can I tell you how much fun it was walking to class today, sliding all over the place?

My school is notorious for NEVER cancelling class, but, the University closed at 1:30 today. And were hesitant, I hear, to have classes tomorrow. I feel like the world is one big icicle. This is outside of my front door:
The power is out on half of campus, and the lines are covered in icicles... Makes me want to make beef pot pies with my leftover pot roast, then curl up with a book and not move. If classes are cancelled tomorrow, I will spend a portion of the evening doing just that. But with a cup of tea, because it's too late to bake.

Kay, so my thoughts on the dress... Last post for Sunset Spun, Pattern Review style.

Pattern Description:
Self-made... I used an old dress with great lines and loved it
Pattern Sizing:
The original was teeniny. I had to add 4 inches from the waist up. Drafting the underlayers first would have made for better sizing all around... The hem was crazy too. I would have measured and leveled more in the first fitting of the muslin.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
I started out with a concept drawing which the finished project did look lots like. I made some changes along the way, but I made the pattern so I am entitled.
Were the instructions easy to follow?
Um. About that. I was flying by the seat of my pants. My "instructions" were pieced together from prior knowlege, formalwear and bridal sewing books, SG suggestions, and some nifty blogs. But if I wrote them down, they would probably be really simple.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
The lines, the lines... LOVED the line. Changed the lines up top, but there is NOTHING to beat a full 50s line in the skirt and waist sometimes.
Fabric Used:
red taffeta for the outside, rust sheerish from scrap bin in shop for contrast, poly lining for lining, red tuelle, glod tuelle, red crinoline, red cotton for undrelining, and grosgrain ribbon for boning channels. Boning and cups don't count, but I thought they felt lonely.
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
It's mine. I'm allowed. It was as much about making it work as it was about changing, and I think the biggest thing was the underlining and the zipper placement. I moved it to the side. I'd also test opacity.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Well, sewing the exact same thing would be difficult... I didn't realy make lining pieces. If I did it again, I'd end up playing and changing things, but isn't that how we grow?

The Dress. Complete.

Here it is... In sihlouette... The only full picture of the dress. Sorry! But it was full and fun, and the ruffle peeked out just enough, and I may try to convince a friend to do a shoot for me.

Once the lining was together, the dress came together farly quickly till I got to the straps... They were a PITA! There were some nervous minutes where I didn't know if the dress would fit once everything was together, but it did, if being a little tighter than I remembered... Looked pretty great though.

I finished the dress at 4:15 that day, and then got back to my room to do hair and makeup only to see that one of the straps was twisted! So I did my hair and makeup in 15 minutes, (Ben Nye stage cake makeup is a Godsend... the key to skipping concealer and worth every penny) and then ran back to the shop, did a messy quickfix that was necessary but I already regret... I had to be at rehearsal 10 minutes from when I got to the shop.

During warmups I made a flower out of tuelle to cloak my messy quickfix, which added rather than detracted, and after rehearsal I made very instant teardrop earrings and necklace using clear thread, and was on my way!

Formal was fun. The Boy treated me to an AMAZING dinner at Malone's, which is one of the top 10 steakhouses in the US. It was yummy... I had bacon-wrapped filet medallions and asparagus. YUM! We followed that up with lots of fun-filled dancing, including some twirls... I love to spin in dresses like this... And it was a good night! I think we are going to try to take some dance classes since we both had fun.

I will do a Pattern-review type post soonish on this. After I have time to let it simmer.

I am also in the process of beginning to catalog the stash... not as big an endeavor for me as for some, but big enough, what with classes and the homework I should be doing now.

Sewing on Air

The lining is done. Last night, after 3 tries and a lesson in how to use a hem tool, I leveled a sadly uneven hem... And as a result, I got the right length, and a funky circle. Over 10 yards of tuelle had been stitched together to make it easier to work with since they were 2 different lengths and colors, and 190 pins later, were ready to be attatched. I did the math... the skirt is about 170 inches around... so close to 2 inches of tuelle to one inch of lining. That's a LOT of tuelle, and my boss comented that it was like sewing air.

At least it was pretty air.


But wait! There's MORE pretty air... I also completed the petticoat this morning, and ALL of the lining parts have now been stitched! They are on the mannequin, waiting for me to come see them right now and take their picture and finish the pretty covering for them... Which just needs a zipper before attatchment and a hem....

So less blogging, more sewing... AND making jewelry.

progress and a complication

Okay progress:
-Petticoat started- top 2 layers are attached, pinning the 3rd tonight... attaching tomorrow
-bodice and dress attached
-3 gores that were screwy are ripped and repinned
-bottom ruffle for lining is halfway stitched together. A step I forgot to mention, but is well worth the time.

Still WAY not as far ahead as I wanted to be, due to some very impromptu complications that resulted in losing a night of sewing to re-arranging my room... And a trip to go snowtubing! I had never even been sledding, so it was LOTS of fun... I am pretty excited about the whole idea at the moment.

Off to finish cleanup, and the necklace/earring set I am hoping will match the dress... No buying accessories! Wardrobe Refashion says so... And I don't generally wear a lot of gold/amber tones, and my red stuff is the wrong red. Still got quite a bit to do! But Midnight was finished in the eleventh hour too. Maybe it's just these dresses named after times of day...

stash and hair

No more buying fabric till I know what I have...

I am afraid I have a stash. And I know every sewer(sewist?) has one, but I'm only 20... and kinda afraid a lot of mine is junk, or pieces too small to really be of use. And I don't know what I have, or how to organize it. Any ideas?

And more fun: These are the bobby pin hair doodahs actually against my hair... excuse the poor picture quality. It's not easy to photograph the back of your head!

What do you think? Would these work tucked in an updo?

My life this week:

I just posted that with no words... Note to self: Don't push enter on a title in Blogger.

Kay, here goes...

Wednesday:
Sewed some... The main pieces(read: the body, not the gores)went together Wednesday, and I wound up tuelle to make the hem ruffle...
Thursday:
Didn't sew. It was a crazy day and I was sleepy. But I did pin the top and middle layers of crinoline for the petticoat. I am probly going to do the ribbon treatment for all of the seams in the crinoline, not because it's next to my skin, but just because the devil is in the details and I want the devil all over this dress.
Friday:
I was exhausted, and found a streak of masochism in myself, because I put all 8 gores in in one sitting... The first one was rough, but they went in better and better with each one. I have to move 2 or 3 down, and this is where I wish I had done some type of marking on the muslin to transfer to the dress. They didn't all go in at the same place in the seam, so a few are wonky. Dots or tacks at the same distance from the waist on every piece would have helped a great deal.
I also added to the stash to the tune of 7 patterns and 6 yards of fabric...Hancock's has a great sale on patterns right now. But more on that to come.
Today:
Didn't sew, but did pull some knitting out. It was fun.
And I am going to count and see how many yards of fabric I have so I can do a yards in/garments out type of thing from now on. This'll (hopefully)help me get better with the sewing journals!

And the week till next Wednesday:

Tomorrow:
Church nursery, some cleanup/sewing time, youth group, MLK community service at church, dinner with the boy, maybe a movie... Studying has to happen. So does(sigh) pressing the seams. I hate pressing sometimes...
Monday:
No class so I will sew, and hopefully have it put-on-able to do the nasty task of leveling the hem, at least for the lining. I am going to do a tiny hem in the taffeta, by machine(I know, I know...that's cheating), and the lining hem will be finished with 2 colors of netting.
Tuesday:
Insert petticoat. Level top hem.
Wednesday:
Put in top hem, finish hair thingies... Still don't know if I like them. What do you think?
Thursday:
steam, check everything, bead, if I am on schedule
Friday:
Wear the dress to formal. Take lots of pictures. Finalize a name.

Now I leave you with a question:
do these accessories work? Would you wear a necklace? Earrings are gonna for sure happen... Do I bother with a clutch or make the boy be pockets?

We go together...

...Like rama-lama-lama di-dinkity-dinky dong...

Can I tell you how much I love sewing with fifties lines in fun fabrics? I mean, it's amazing how much more optomistic I have been once I started putting the Taffeta together. Funny how I guessed I'd need a boost in sewing mojo right about now and I do.

However, I have no fun, new pictures to show you of the process... You aren't missing much though. No pretty stuff yet, and I am AWFUL at photographing fabric.

However, I will take a walk down memory lane and show you a picture of the last dress I made... I am thinking about making a 3-or-4 piece series with these dresses. This one is called Midnight Swept.
It is darker without a flash on, and there is a post to come of construction techniques(ha ha), what I liked, and what I didn't.
I entered it into a school art show, and while it didn't win a prize, compliments resounded. And it was an honor to get into the show. I am thinking that the red dress will be known as Sunset Dance, but I am still thinking. I know it is Sunset, but the second half of the name eludes me. I was SO excited when I thought of a name for Midnight. I feel like something that is as big a part of my life and my calendar as this was deserves a name. I admit, I got attatched.

Have you ever gotten attatched to something you made?

bones, bows, and toes!

You all are patient people... It has its reward!

Pictures from adventures in the land of boning:

The green lines are where I put bones after I tried it on and then took it off and took the picture.
I was hoping it would make for more of a smooth line, and not have me sacrificing too much comfort, and I have to say !
I still move and bend, and I feel like nothing is going to go where it shouldn't, so I am probably more comfortable with the bones than I would be without them.
And I talked about it in a previous post, but I really don't feel them. Like it's comfortable.

.....I must be an anachronism. Bones are comfortable?? Or I can think of it as having all of the curving and filing ends as being the reason... That suits my vanity just fine.

You all have given me much food for thought on the business of accessories as well. One of my favorite ways to accessorize is using my hair. I know it sounds strange, but for special occasions I will make bobby pins that are adorned to go with the dress. Here is one thought for this dress. I used some of the gold tuelle to make florets, and attatched beads to one... the other two are a bit more floaty. They'll be right at home in my curls, and if the tuelle is together enough, will actually show up. I also remembered a pair of shoes I bought to wear with a dress I borrowed from a friend last year. They are by Chinese Laundry, and the heel measures just under 4 inches,and in my mind qualifies as a stiletto with a width under 1/2 an inch on one side. which would put me pretty close to taller than the boy, but I don't think he'll mind:
He'll be pretty excited... And speak of the devil, he's 3 minutes away, and I havn't seen him in almost a month, so bye!

dem bones, dem bones...

There are 11.

That's no lie. 11.

I used grosgrain ribbon channels, and cut and shaped 11 bones. 6 in back and 5 in front. Then I put the underlining on...
And it didn't bother me at all. The bones were plastic, and because I rounded them and placed them where they were, it just felt good. Supported.

The dress is going well, despite life's craziness... I am done with the lining till I put the whole thing together, and the real fabric is laying on the ginormous table, pattern on it, to be cut. I'm excited about how good the underlining feels though! The bones are SO nice, and it feels GOOD.

Or I'm crazy. This is life since Wednesday:

W: Class, sewing, running errands, auditions, baking, white elephant exchange, a glass of wine/conversation to get rid of excess cookies etc., homework, bed.
T: Class, sewing, waiting for callback list, sewing, brief food moment, sewing, callbacks, decorating, homework, sleep.
F: workout, class, sewing, waiting for cast list, cast meeting, sewing, shower, decorating, Dance of the Decades, fun with friends, cleanup time, and I am headed for dreamland now!

Tomorrow I am cutting the taffeta! And I have no Stage Manager duties so I should have time to sew!

An actual sewing post.

There are red things cut and even sewn together... See that on the left?? It's the muslin. Cut apart. After 6 fittings. Now I am cutting things out. And even sewing! It seems like sometimes I never get to the sewing. Here's how it's gone:

Thursday: Fitting at home. Bust is a problem.
Friday: Packing and laundry meant no-sew... Boo.
Saturday: Driving for 10 hours and spending the night with the boy's sister meant no-sew...
Sunday: Church, unpacking, and helping with youth group meant no-sew...
Monday: Cutting and class... Lots of futzing with layout, a circle skirt for lining(which I think I am going to end up cutting down somehow... Starts getting full too fast.
Tuesday: A trip to Hancock's for boning, horsehair, underlining, and netting. SEWING!! I cut out AND stitched the underlining, and fitted it before adding the cups.

I feel like such a tease. This is not the real deal, but the underlining of the bodice and the skirt lining... Note, I am using sew-in cups... a bit of a copout, but at the same time not really. It took a long time to make it this far, and a million and one fittings weren't making it look right without them... So today I bought them and in they went.

I am thinking of including something to add more support to the girls... thus eliminating a big fitting problem. the solution may end up being this bra that Victoria Secret makes. I am doing the back-and-forth thing... Maybe a fitting tomorrow will be the determinant.
Who am I kidding? Time will be too. I already have the cups. They need to go in sooner rather than later. I am starting to feel the crunch a bit... only 18 days!

My last shot for the day will show you the contrast, which is to the right, and the tuelle for my peekaboo ruffles on the petticoat! I am going to layer the gold and the red for a 4" ruffle as the "hem" on the lining. The rest will be stiffer stuff, but this is too fun to miss. I want to carry those gorgeous tones through to the bottom of the dress and maybe bead a bit to really set them off... I am getting pretty excited!

The formal is on the 24th, and the boy doesn;t read the blog so he has no idea what the dress looks like... It'll be fun to surprise him.

My parting question:

What color shoes does one wear with such a dress? Silver or gold jewelry?

yay! Picture time!

It fits.
On my body.
Whew!

Not gonna lie, there are fitting problems... like those ripples on the bodice. I don't think that's just because I used a relatively cheap muslin, so boo...
The dress is as fitted as I want for it to be, meaning it is not too tight or too loose. And that's on the first shot at drafting, so I am pretty pleased with myself. But there are things I need to fix on the muslin...

• those ripples! urgh...
• A lining. The pictures you see are unlined. I will have to take the dress apart for a lining pattern, so yeah....
• room for cups maybe? The back means no conventional bra, strapless or otherwise, so I am trying to decide if I want to mess with an unconventional one... Right now I am leaning towards no. If I already had one I'd do it...
• the straps

See anything else?

Pictures- A little later than the wee small hours

Yeah... I went to bed...

But here it is. The mannequin, whose name is Esmerelda, is not my size anywhere, but she totally did an amazing job as a stand-in. The wrinkles are filled in on me, for the most part. I actually have to add a bit thru the ribs and bust because I underestimated.

The dress falls around mid-calf, if not a little above it, and I'll be adding at least an inch to the bottom of everything when I cut it out.

Okay, the back.



Only one side has the flap that will be done in an accent fabric you havn't seen yet... But it will be symmetric, I promise. The back detail is making me think more and more about putting the zipper in the side, especially after reading a set of posts about side zippers on Pins and Needles.

The skirt is pretty fun too... it has 8 godets, one at each seam... They are each twelve inches at the bottom, so I'm pretty excited about that.... I'd still have a full circle in the skirt if I took 2 out, so this will definately be a fun dress to twirl in.

Which may or may not clarify my lining questions... I am pretty sure I am going to line, but do I need to do a lining with 8 gores or would a circle work?

If I did a circle for the bottom, attatching a petticoat ruffle would be a snap... I could do something fun in a contrast, or even mix colors of tuelle, add to the swish of Taffeta...

Okay. Really, that paper is not gonna write itself! Thanks for all of the advice so far! I can't wait to hear what your reccomendations are.

The Dress...

You know, writing the title like that makes it seem like I am talking about my wedding gown... which, if I still blog in a few years, you'll hear plenty about, as I think I'll make it... But I am 20 years old, and the BF and I have only been dating for around 7 months.
but I am talking about my red dress. Due to NaBloPoMo, I do need to go ahead and post before I outline yet another paper... and I forgot to bring my camera and cord with me to the study lounge. So pictures will come somewhere in the wee small hours of the AM.
Still debating on a few things, and I would love advice from the more experienced garment makers out there, so pretty please feel free to comment! I know pictures will help immensely with you being able to answer, but I figured I'd go ahead and ask.

Do I need lining and bones?
Do I need to move the zipper to the side seam?
What do you think of a petticoat?

On a last note, I am SO thrilled I found my copy of Bridal Couture by Susan Khalje... While the styles may be a bit dated, these are still good techniques. And it's good things to know for any cocktail attire, not just wedding gowns...

Okay, really leaving this time!

A dress, a play, and a paper.

So my Muslin is complete! All of the pieces are together, and I slipped it on for a first fitting, and you know what I forgot? My camera. But it'll be okay, y'all will see it soon enough. Right now you can see my poppy red taffeta... It is lightweight and I think it'll drape beautifully for the dress.... Oh I am so excited... The skirt is a circle and then some, and I really can't wait to spin and spin and spin! Good thing since December 5 is getting close...

In other news, we closed our production of the Crucible last night, after 5 out of 6 performances being SOLD OUT!!! It was SO cool. The cast did an amazing job with it, the costumes were very effective, and I think everyone was punch-proud, even if they were ready for it to be over.

And now off to write a paper. And think about how I'll make it through the rest of this semester... sigh...

Some pictures!!!

First of all.... I hope you GO VOTE!!!

And second... Pictures of the dress muslin.
I know, I know, it's incredibly wrinkled... That's because I transport it back and forth between my dorm room and the sewing shop to work on it. I think you generally get the idea though.... Progress is being made! It's cut out and stitched together partially.... I am SOO glad I can see a difference... It's VERY close to a first fitting so I'm getting excited!

On the left is a picture of the pieces of the original dress... Sadly I didn't think to take one before I took it apart... I didn't know I would be blogging all of this! But I was glad to give new life to an old piece. It makes me happy to think that I can recycle the material in this dress to make something new but old... It was a really cool thought and it gave purpose to something that might not have one otherwise. I'm going to leave you with some more pictures later when I can make them behave, but now it's off to homework!

long days

I love theatre, but sometimes..... Sigh. spending 6 and a half hours there is a lot in one day.

A little more about the awesome dress... I finished the muslin today, minus the facings... and lost my camera so I can't show you the wonderfulness that it is so far...

Off to clean my room and do homework, and try not to be distracted by all of the awesome sewing blogs I am encountering! I had no idea there were so many out there... I joined the forum at Sew, Mama, Sew and I love it! Discovering all of the sewing bloggers out there has been nifty.

A new project

Yesterday, I cut out pieces for the pattern of a dress I am making based on a late 1950's, early 1960's piece that was absolutely falling apart, and about 2 inches shy of fitting me in both waist and bust.
I decided to pay homage to this vintage wonderfullness by taking the dress and making it my own... I am adding gores at every seam and shaping the back and front to be more unique. I am pretty excited about taking something peachy and sweet and making it racy and red.

I took some awesome pictures, and then, being myself, left them... but it's NaBloPoMo so I'll get em up soon.