Blech

Apparently, this beautiful black fabric

plus this adorable dress pattern

equals the most dowdy thing I’ve ever made!

Granted, the pairing of fabric and pattern was a huge misstep for me. But, really the overall shape of it is nothing short of tragic. Even my Hunny – who tells me I look beautiful in everything – made a terrible face when I tried it on. Apparently, he loves me enough not to let me go out in this.

Butterick 5077

I really wanted something new to wear to dinner tonight but I am so horrible at sewing under pressure and I really wanted to cut out my silk tunic today! Then I remembered that this dress was finished but for the hems. I knew I wanted to wear black high-heeled boots tonight so I tried everything on and it looks great together – what luck!

It took me a lot longer than expected to finish it up as the fabric did not take very well to the blindstitch machine. No amount of adjusting the bite helped – yuck!

So, I hemmed the skirt by hand which was quite relaxing as I was watching Elizabeth: The Golden Age. But the sleeves are snug over the forearm and needed to stretch. Really, the blindstitch machine would have been perfect but the final result was unsatisfactory. Handstitches would pop and I didn’t want to use a twin needle since there was no other topstitching on the dress. What to do? Well, I am a great big cheater! I finished the sleeve hems (just to fool anyone who might look at them!) and then fused them with Steam-A-Seam Lite for an invisible, stretchy hem. Don’t tell anyone!

Coming attraction: Burda WOF and Milly silk!

Woohoo, I found the silk I was looking for! I made this tunic from Burda WOF back in 2005. At the time, I wasn’t so sure I liked it on me but last summer I wore it all the time (blame it on the Magic Closet!) with shorts and wished I’d had a couple more. When Ann described the silk to me I knew it would be perfect for this pattern.

Ann found this at Metro last summer and knew I would love it. She is very good at picking fabric for me! The printed border will look beautiful along the opening edge and for the ties.

Last week when Ann had her 2-year anniversary sale, I also bought this beautiful cotton lawn for yet a 3rd version.

Do over.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to make another quick version of Jalie 2449. Here I’ve used a really pretty knit that I think came from Gorgeous Fabrics but I’m not 100% sure. I’m going to save the leftovers because this print would be really pretty for binding a black solid, don’t you think?

I didn’t feel like coverstitching so I just used my blindstitch machine to finish the hems. Many people don’t realize that a blindstitch has built-in stretch – perfect for knits!

I had some nice hairpipe beads in my stash that I wanted to use on the cord ends but the holes were much too small so I decided to simply knot the ends this time.

I already have my next project planned out – if only I could find the fabric! I know it’s here somewhere… It’s a beautiful silk piece that Ann picked up for me at Kashi’s last summer. If I don’t find it I will just use one of the new pieces I bought from Gorgeous Fabrics last week.

As an aside, I think this new sewing system of mine is going to work out pretty well. I will alter and cut out my projects on the weekend so that I can sew a little whenever I have time during the week. It’s just too overwhelming to start a project at night when I am tired but quite relaxing to do the actual sewing for an hour or two. This is how I sewed when Jess was little (I was very productive then!) – wish I’d gone back to it sooner. My goal is to make one garment every week.

Did I do that?

I’m trying hard to MAKE TIME to fit sewing back into my life and get my sewing mojo back. So, this afternoon I thought it would be great to cut out a TNT pattern (Jalie 2449) and whip up a top to wear to dinner tonight. I even went the extra mile and modified the sleeve a bit. Everything went well, I was having a ball, watching a chick flick (Steel Magnolias!), drinking a Corona Light, sewing away. A Perfect Day! Then I saw IT:

I am ALWAYS very careful about print placement – ALWAYS. I don’t what the heck happened but I seem to have an island right on my boob. I am obviously horribly out of practice. But, I. Will. Soldier. On. I will cut out another top tomorrow so that I may end the weekend on a good note. 🙂 Luckily, my friends buy RTW so they won’t even notice this horrible mistake. I can’t even blame the Corona since I’d cut the top out before I started on those…

Here is a closeup of the gathered sleeve that I shamelessy copied from a Roberto Cavalli top:

I always like to finish off my cord ends with a little extra something.

Fiddle dee dee, tomorrow is another day…