Another Cosmopolitan Dress!

As I posted yesterday, I needed a dress to wear to a banquet I am attending with my boyfriend tomorrow night. I absolutely fell in love with this polyester/spandex knit print over at Gorgeous Fabrics and thought it would be perfect for yet another rendition of my favorite dress. All I have left to do is the hem which I will get to later tonight or tomorrow afternoon. With my blindstitch machine it will take me longer to pin the hem than it will to sew it!

I changed the pattern’s scarf sleeve around a bit, which you can see here at the Sewing Divas. This is a super-easy sleeve to draft and is different yet simple.

I’m undecided about which bag to carry: the celery/beige Goldenbleu Emerson crinkled patent clutch or the black python clutch. BTW, the black python was the first expensive bag I bought with my own money right after I graduated high school. In the 28 years since it’s seen a lot of action!

Shoes were easy! I chose these black patent platformw from ABS:

Mother’s Day Week is over - back to sewing!

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day yesterday (actually, I think I celebrated it all of last week!) and collapsed into bed last night too full to move from the delicious Cuban lunch (with Mojitos!) that I had with my sister-in-law and her family and the mouth-watering filet mignon with grilled asparagus (with Margaritas!) that my boyfriend cooked last night. I’m sure I felt a little more junk in my trunk when I went for my morning run today.

Now it’s back to my Hot Patterns Cosmopolitan Dress in this beautiful Flashback Floral Knit from Gorgeous Fabrics.

I’ve been working on this here and there for an entire week and must get it done now as my boyfriend and I have a banquet to attend on Wednesday night. This only leaves me with a few hours today and tomorrow - usually a piece of cake but I still don’t quite have my Sewing Mojo back…

Banded Surplice Neckline Tutorial

The banded surplice neckline tutorial for the HP Cosmopolitan Dress is up at The Sewing Divas! Here’s the LINK.

HP Cosmopolitan Dress with scarf sleeves

The first piece of my professional wardrobe is finally finished! I am just not back up to speed yet but I should be cranking things out at top speed pretty soon.

I plan on wearing the dress with these comfortable, conservative Via Spiga pumps. Luckily, I already have four pair of conservative pumps that are office-appropriate (brown, black, burgundy and hot pink). They are always good to have around in the event that I am called for jury duty or must attend a funeral or other somber event - or go job hunting! As much as I love shoe shopping I’m glad I can concentrate on the clothes for now.

Of course, I had to rock it out just a little bit with a mabe pearl pendant on a leather choker!

This weekend I will be posting a quick tutorial at The Sewing Divas blog on how to finish the neckline with bands. It’s so easy and a nice way to use a contrasting fabric. You can also see how I’ve finished the scarf sleeve hems with a quick and easy mitering method!

Speaking of fabric, both fabrics used here are from Gorgeous Fabrics! The main fabric is Modern Dots Knit and the contrast is Dainty Dots Jersey. I’ll tell you, living here in the steamy tropics I resisted polyester fabrics for many years but these are so wonderful that I have been reformed! Plus, Ann’s collection of fabulous knit prints is truly TDF and the prices are easy on the wallet.

I’m a loser…

Even with repeated renewal reminders, I forgot to renew my Burda WOF in time to receive the April 2008 issue which is now, naturally, SOLD OUT!

I’ve already checked Ebay only to come up empty, boohoo. If you are reading this and have one you’d like to sell me please contact me at sewingbunny at hotmail dot com. Heaven forbid I should have a gap in my collection!

You can see a copy of it HERE

UPDATE 4/22/08 5:50 p.m.: Thank you all my wonderfully helpful sewing sisters! I have a copy winging it’s way to me as I type! Whew! I’d better check to make sure I renewed my Threads!

Donna Karan Spring ‘08: Serious lust

I already have shirtdress on the brain so imagine my reaction upon seeing this shirtdress from Donna Karan at Saks Fifth Avenue. I am head over heels over this dress! Yeah, I know I’d have to be wear one of those uncomfortable convertible bras but it would be sooo worth it! In my ideal world, Hot Patterns would already be working on a pattern inspired by this dress. In the meantime, I’m going to be working on adapting a commercial pattern.

Available at Saks.com for $2895.

Build the outfit #1

As I was getting ready to go out on Saturday night I really wanted to wear these fabulous sandals (which my boyfriend calls stripper shoes - I don’t care, I’ll wear them anyway) and realized that I had only one garment that really went with them - a dress I’d worn last Saturday! How did this happen? So, inspired by Manolo The Shoeblogger’s build the outfit contests I am going to start from the ground up for a change and make a few things to go with the shoes.

My thought is that these are pretty sexy shoes and need something clean, simple and not too bare to keep me from looking like a working girl. What I’ve come up with so far:

Item #1 - White shirtdress: The first one is perfect, the second needs to be a few inches longer

A great pattern to start with is this Threads for Simplicity pattern that I had forgotten was in my stash!

Item #2 - White knee length skirt: LOVE!

Item #3 - White skinny bermuda shorts: LOVE! A definite must-have!

Item #4 - Sundress: the first one would be perfect if it were a few inches longer, the second one has a nice shape but I wouldn’t add the girly details

This forgotten New Look pattern is the perfect base for a sundress! I’ll probably use the strapless version and add tiny spaghetti straps for wearing ease.

Another style that I think is absolutely perfect for these shoes is this Hot Patterns Plain & Simple Iconic Shirtdress. I think this would look fabulous in red because a clingy white knit dress is certainly out of the question!

What do you think? I welcome any and all input!

Burda WOF 4/07 #107B Dress

Here are some photos of the finished dress. I love it but you can see that the skirt is much straighter than the illustrations would have you believe. The little cap sleeves are adorable and so easy. I love the fact that they are cut on the fold and therefore require no hemming.

I thought I’d copy Phyllis and actually style my photos for a change. I’m wearing this today with some high-heeled black boots. Yes, it’s warm outside but it is still February and I’m talking myself into believing that it’s still winter plus I have an appointment today that requires the strut and I-mean-business attitude only high-heeled boots can give you!

Here’s a better shot of the dress itself:

As you can see, I did not use the elastic finish on the neckline. Instead, I serged some plain lingerie elastic to the wrong side of the neckline and turned it under. The neckline could then be topstitched but I often use my blindstitch machine instead because it gives me a dressier finish. On a print like this you can’t even see the tiny little stitches! Hmm, maybe I should do a quick little tutorial so you can see how easy it is.

The fabric is a fantastic rayon/lycra that I bought last year from Ebay seller Bestonlinefabrics. I’ve purchased a few things from this seller and it’s all been really nice.

UPDATE 2/26/08: The tutorial is up! Here’s a link: TSD tutorial.

Christian Louboutin for the soul

I recently decided that I would treat myself to something ridiculously extravagant once my divorce is final. I already have enough fabric and sewing supplies (although I did consider buying an industrial straight stitch!) so I think I’ve narrowed it down to a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes:

Don’t these look like they belong on the feet of some super-fantastic woman? I love the color! They are different enough to be extravangant yet not so different as to be impractical. I can see myself wearing them with a dress, pants or jeans for years to come. Sold!

On the sewing front, I just finished the dress version of the Burda pattern and will post a photo tomorrow. The only issue I had with it was that I found it a little snug around the hip/thigh area. It’s not as much of an a-line as I thought. I’m pretty narrow through the hip so you might want to allow some “insurance” room there if you make it. Nothing adds 10 lbs. faster than a knit dress clinging to your butt and thighs! I usually change the seam allowances to 1/4″ on knit patterns and did here as well but I left the 5/8″ at the side seams (just in case) so I was able to let it out a little bit below the waist. I will probably flare the skirt out a bit more when I make it again. Still, I am very happy with it - it turned out really cute.

Déjà vu all over again

As many of you know, in addition to being a fabriholic, patternaholic and shoeaholic I am also a purseaholic! What can I say? I am just a little bit compulsive! As I was reading one of my favorite purse blogs this morning, I came across this:

It’s a lovely bag from Moe Bags. Look familiar? Let me refresh your memory:
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1940s Vogue Pattern

Sewing Workshop Obi Bag Pattern

I had originally thought to make this bag in velvet but I think the leather is fabulous and better suited for an everyday bag.