Dress Refashion

I've had a few items of clothing in my closet lately that haven't been working for me.  I had two dresses in particular that I really liked various aspects of, but as a whole, they weren't flattering.  One was too big, but had a great skirt.  One was too clingly, but had a fantastic neckline.  My solution?  Make them into one great dress.  My problem was that I knew that I wanted to make "J" style pockets on the skirt of the new dress but I wasn't sure how.  I also couldn't find a dress pattern that had these style pockets that I liked.  I ended up just fiddling with a ready made dress from Target that I already had that had the "J" pockets until I got it figured out for my dress.  Now, as I am writing this post, I googled a pocket tutorial that I wish I would have found several hours ago so I'll share that with you, blog readers!

Anyway, here is the before of one of my dresses.

And here is the new and improved after!

I love how this dress looks and it is super comfy.  I'll think I'll be wearing this a lot this summer.

My quilt is featured!

I am so excited!  My zig zag quilt that I made with fabrics from my visit to Cool Cottons in Portland, OR is featured on the Cool Cottons blog!  Check it out!

I'm also working on some pillows for my couch with the same fabrics that I bought at Cool Cottons along with some Denyse Schmidt Daisy Mae.

I'm also really excited about my stack of fat quarters of Flea Market Fancy.  I'm thinking this will be my next project.

Echino Modern Quilt by birdylegs

With these fabrics and some linen.  Summer vacation needs to come sooner so I can get started.

Photo from Sleepy Cat Hollow

Colette Macaron Dress

I finally finished my dress today!  This dress seemed like it had something against me and didn't want to be finished.  I made two muslins from the Colette Macaron pattern before I decided to cut into my Mood fabric.  My first muslin was too small, my second muslin was all over the place and I played around with that one a lot.  I finally got the fit the way that I wanted it on the muslin, but knew that I wanted to cut the dress a little larger through the waist.  I was so careful cutting it out, diligently pinning and using my tailors chalk because I wanted it to be perfect.  The other thing I wanted to do was use chiffon for the yoke and sleeves because I was inspired by this dress.  I read some tutorials on cutting and sewing chiffon to help prepare me for my new endeavor.

The cutting took forever and so did the marking of all the darts and pleats.  Next came the sewing.  I started on the bodice and it was really coming together nicely.  I was using a single layer of chiffon for the yoke and a double layer for the sleeves, as was written in the pattern.  I planned to use bias binding on the neckline instead of the facing that was in the pattern.  After I sewed the bodice, I tried it on for fit.  It was awful!  It was loose and droopy and the chiffon was more shear than I had hoped for.  I was so unhappy that the fit was so wrong especially because the sewing looked really good.  I ripped it all apart and tried to figure out what to do.  I thought about doing a double layer of chiffon for the yoke but was really uncertain and discouraged at that point.  I hadn't found any other fabrics in town that I had liked for the yoke so I decided to order some navy cotton voile on-line.  I thought it would be much easier to work with and should have the right amount of drape and shear-ness.  I wanted this dress to be done for Easter so I was going to put a rush on the fabric... only that wasn't an option.  I impatiently waited for my email confirmation only to find out that the fabric would be delivered after Easter.  I was bummed, but I had a back up dress that I really liked so that got me through the let down.  I then altered and sewed the bodice and skirt sans yoke and sleeves.

The fabric arrived yesterday while I was at a Bunco.  Phil texted me to let me know.  I was so excited to see it when I got home.  Much to my dismay, the navy was purplish and not what I was going for.  Again, I was at a stand still.  This morning, I got out the chiffon, ready to tackle it.  I had decided to go for the double layer of it for the yoke and sleeves.  Chiffon is difficult in single layers but to get it to behave one layer on top of the other, super hard!  I had already sewn together the bodice minus the yoke and sleeves, and the skirt.  I thought I didn't have many hours of sewing left.  Wrong!  Everything was so tedious because the chiffon was so fussy.  I finally got the bodice together fully and went to try it on and it fit really well.  I then pinned the skirt to the bodice, only to find that the seams didn't match up.  More ripping and reworking.  Next was the invisible zipper.  Since I don't do these very often, I always google a tutorial.  Even though I did this, I put one side of the zipper in backwards. More ripping.  I finally got it in right.  It's the best invisible zipper I've ever put in.  I went to try it on and was really pleased.  Upon taking it off to hem it, I ripped it.  Right under the arm.  NOT in the seam.  I was so mad at this point.  I got out the interfacing and zig zagged a repair and redid the zipper, this time reinforcing it.  Finally the hem.  I had trouble with this too, but it was minor.

I put it on at long last and was so happy with it.  Now I just need somewhere to wear it.  Here is a picture for now.  I plan on taking some more pictures later and putting them up on the blog.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!  I took pictures of the boys early this morning before they had a chance to get their cute little Easter outfits dirty.  Ryan was so sweet.  He remembered where I took their picture last year and took Jack by the hand and led him right to that spot and posed.  While we didn't get "the perfect shot" I think these are all pretty funny so I'm going to let you see.

I am in love with Ryan wearing that little hat.  Jack wouldn't cooperate, but I'll settle for one boy in a hat.  As far as my Easter attire went, I had some snafus with my dress that I was making and ended up ordering some fabric for it online.  It should be here tomorrow.  I'll post pictures whenever my dress gets finished.  Here is my dress in its current state minus the fabric for the yoke and sleeves.

I hope you all had a great day with friends and family.

Mood Fabric Shirt

Yesterday and today, I spent my free moments sewing.  I was able to finish a shirt made from one of my fabrics.

Mood Fabric shirt

I used a Cynthia Rowley pattern that I had used before.  It was Simplicity 2593.  This pattern is really simple to make and really showcases the print of the shirt.  The fabric that I got from Mood was a silk/cotton blend and it feels amazing, but it was very slippery and flimsy to work with.  I had a hard time with it, but I am so happy with the final product and how well it drapes.

Old version of shirt

The last time I made this shirt, I was super unhappy with the neckband.  It did not look like the pattern envelope.  I messed with it and redid it several times, but never ended up liking it so I took it off.  This time, I added a lot more twists to the band and then added gathered areas where I stitched the band to the shirt.  After I took this picture, I also tacked the neckband in place to secure the detail a little more.  I'm so much happier with it this time around.  I think I'll get a lot of wear out of this blouse this spring and summer.

Castle

As I mentioned in my Mood Fabric post, our reason for coming to L.A. was to go to the Saban Theater to see a panel discussion with the actors and writers of Castle. Phil and I love this murder mystery show and look forward to watching it each week.


Phil and I first went to Mood where we were greeted by


Oscar the dog. After Mood, we went to lunch at the King's Road cafe, which is a favorite spot for coffee and breakfast or lunch. The food is outstanding and their coffee is roasted and brewed on site. We love it. After lunch, we did a little shopping, then checked into the Redbury Hotel.


Each floor had a sitting area like this.


And I saw this print a few places in the hotel. I loved that it had an MG like my dad is restoring and the marquee had some of his favorite bands on it.


I loved the sitting area in our room. It was separated from the bedroom by a credenza where the TV sat.


The TV swiveled to be viewed in bed or on the couch. The room also had a record player and the hotel had stocked the room with some vinyl that we had requested (CSNY and John Coltrane). The whole hotel had the eclectic design aesthetic of Emily Henderson.





After relaxing in the hotel, we headed to the Saban to see the show. Parking was a mess so I was really worried about getting there on time. We ended up parking several blocks away and it felt like quite a trek in my 3 inch heels. We made it just minutes before the show started.



The show began with the actress who plays Lanie singing the song from the "Blue Butterfly" episode. Next, we got to see the next episode of Castle even though the post production work wasn't finished yet. I loved sitting in a theater full of fans and watching the episode together. The mutual laughter and excitement for the show brought more life to the episode.


Finally, they brought the actors out. I got butterflies when I saw Nathan Fillion and had to remind myself to breathe. He was as charming last night as he is on the show. I was not disappointed.


Lastly, we went back to the hotel's bar called, "The Library" and had a drink. Phil and I were a little starstruck as we reminisced about the day. A very memorable day indeed.

Mood Fabric

For Christmas, Phil bought me a gift certificate to Mood Fabric in L.A. because of my love for sewing and Project Runway. We journeyed to L.A. yesterday to see a panel discussion with the cast and writers from Castle, which was an amazing experience and another blog post in itself.
We got to L.A. early enough to go to Mood. It's a fabulous store with designer fabrics galore. Beautiful. And there is a cute chihuahua named Oscar that greets visitors at the entrance. I took my time perusing the fabrics and finally settled on two.




I'm planning on making a top with the first fabric. It's a silk/cotton blend that feels divine. I think I'm going to make this Cynthia Rowley Simplicity top.



I'm planning on making a dress with the second fabric. I like the Collette Macaron dress for that fabric.



I'm so glad to have a sewing inspiration again and I can't wait to get started.