Chartreuse Sorbetto Dress

Following on from the success of my Pointer Sisters Dress, I decided to make another, this time with sleeves, some embellishment and in a solid color.

 

Here is my 'teaser' pic!

And here are a few photos!  I know it does not look like it, but I had showered and brushed my hair . . . . . but onto the dress!  I used a very lightweight crepe and a charcoal Bemberg lining.  I bound the neckline with some black cotton/lycra home made biased binding.  I did not insert a zipper as I was able to pull the dress on over my head without any issues (perhaps that is why I am having hair issues?!)

The pattern was very simple.  I used my Simplicity 7740 dress pattern and 'Sorbetto'd' it!  I sewed the black ric-rac down either side of front pleat (I copies this idea from someone - if it is you please let me know so that I can give you credit), holding it in place and added three buttons to the front.

It would appear that due to the lightness of the fabric, I could have made a few more tucks in the back to enable it to sit better, however, when I am actually wearing it, that excess does get used as I move about.  Despite this excess, I still like the shaping that it gives.  There is not so much shaping at the front, and Mr. SDSC tried very diplomatically to tell me that it was not his favorite because of (a) the color) and (b) the shaping - he said it looked sack like.  I am a little disappointed that he does not like it, but appreciate the feedback.  He preferred some separates that we also photographed during this session.

So, where to go from here?  I have to say that I love this dress, and will most likely wear it to work with a little black cardi that I have made (oops, forgot to take a photo of that!)  That will also take care of the spare fabric round the back!!  I have pinned a lot of inspirational dress photos on Pinterest and have bought some fabrics to try out some of the color blocking.  Maybe by introducing some shaping with color, I may gain some positive feedback from Mr. SDSC!

In the meantime, I need to work on a collection for my Antipodean Adventure in September.  Yep, I am lucky enough to be going to Australia for a month, and want to make some clothes to take with me.  Whadaya mean 'it's only two months away'????  Well, if I get some clothes made, all well and good.  And if I don't - I'll just have to use what I already have in the wardrobe!

Pointer Sisters Dress

Oh yes, 'I'm So Excited, and I Just Can't Hide It', etc, etc, etc!!

After posting a muslin that really did me no favours at all, I received some great suggestions and comments from my lovely readers - thank-you so much!  And then we moved house, and I made some other garments and all the time felt terribly guilty that I did not follow up on these suggestions.  So here we are!  Based (very loosely) upon Simplicity 7740, I made a wearable muslin and I am toltally thrilled with the results:

Pretty cute huh?!  OK, so you can't really see much here - but that was the point of using a busy print!  So here are a few more photos:

Just look how short it is - you can almost see my underwears!!  I cut off about 6" (thanks gMarie) which is huge for me!  I am an 'ankle skimming' kinda-girl, but this length is certainly much more fashion-forward with this style and a lot less frumpy!

I had to add darts on the back neckline and make an adjustment to the back centre back seam to account for my promising dowagers hump (sigh), my parents were right - stand up straight and stop hunching your shoulders, they kept telling me as I was growing up . . . . .

I really like the way it fits round my waist and butt - I took loads in on the side seams and there is a sway back adjustment as well.

Apologies for the headless shots - either my hair was not behaving or Mr. SDSC managed to catch a less than flattering expression (obviously not my fault!!)

I know that there is still lots of room for improvement, but I am so pleased with this.  I ended up with just bust darts in the front (thanks Carolyn!) but added a very long vertical dart from my hips almost up to my shoulder blades in the back.  I bound the arms and neckline with bias binding, used an invisible zip and lined the dress (with a rather cheap lining - it is a wearable muslin after all!) and I feel very summery in it!

Here are a few close up photos:

I do like to add something in the inside of a vent like a button, or the eye of a 'hook and eye', as this helps stabilize the vent and prevent it tearing during wear.  I had a small shell button that fit the bill perfectly here!  I also like to sew down the lining either side of the vent to hold it all in place - elsewhere it just hangs free!

It is likely that I will wear a cardigan with this - I am not totally comfortable with flashing my upper arms:

So, what do you think?  I am ready to try another dress - in a solid color, and it will interesting to see how that works out.  This is what I have chosen:

Finally - thanks for the comments,past, present and future!  I learn so much from what you all say :)

Flirty Skirts!

I love skirts, I really do - long calf length ones, short flirty ones, pretty summer cotton ones, formal suit ones - yep, I love skirts.

So I made a couple more.  Even, if I am on the RTW fast, I still need to dress.  Right?

The first is a simple straight skirt made out of a poly/lycra suiting in a gorgeous crimson red.  I used Simplicity 7740 (OOP):

The skirt is a simple pull on design with a centre split at the back.  It is lined with a lovely red bemberg fabric and finished off with red lace.  I sewed the lining to the sides of the split and added the 'eye' of a 'hook and eye' to the top of the split to prevent it ripping.

This is my 'Frocks and Frou Frou' pose - I have shamelessly copied it from the lovely Lilli.  I know the skirt 'bags' a bit at the front, but I am really not the size or age to wear skin tight skirts anymore - and this is soooo comfy to wear!

I also copied Ms. Carolyn and stitched two rows of top stitching down each side of the centre split - it finished it off rather nicely - the color is a bit off in this photo, sorry about that!

My second skirt is view 'B' of Kwik Sew 3256.  I made a summer skirt using this pattern and I loved how the frill makes the skirt all 'flirty', so I made it again!

This time I used a grey poly/lycra suiting with a diagonal weave that you cannot really see here.  It is lovely and soft and drapes beautifully

I have made a Haider Ackerman inspired 'Jones' coat with the rest of this fabric - post to follow!)

The only thing of note with this skirt is the lining.  The body of the skirt is lined with some stretchy, knitted, lingerie lining, and the frill is a lovely, soft, embossed fabric so when I sit down and the lining pokes out, it looks very cute!  Oh, and I hand stitched the hem - it just didn't look right when it was machine sewn.

I find it very interesting to study the photographs to see what suits and what does not.  I would say that these skirts (on me) are 'short', but looking at the photos they are actually a rather nice length!

RTW Fast

The gauntlet has been thrown down and the challenge accepted . . . . oh yes . . . and it is all because of the lovely Sarah over at Goodbye Valentino.  Her challenge is to forgo buying RTW (ready to wear) clothing for a year . . . and make your own clothes.  What a fabulous idea!  Fortunately we will be able to purchase underwear - but I do plan to sew some as well!

image courtesy of Goodbye Valentino

Sarah has a marvelous sense of style and is a very accomplished dressmaker - I think that with her support and that of my fellow 'fasters' it will be a fun and challenging year!  In reality, I don't think that I spend much on clothes, but I am going to look back over the last year of bank statements and check!  I think it will then be interesting to see how much I spend on fabric, patterns etc.  I do not think that this will save me money - but that is not a bad thing at all.  I think that this challenge will focus my time and skills and at the end I am hoping to have a classy, well fitting wardrobe that makes the most of my body shape.  I dream of choosing a week's worth of garments as per Carolyn - I could probably write a whole blog on how fantastic her sewing/style/skills etc are - so feel free to take a look yourselves!  I love her idea of developing TNT (tried and true or tried and tested) patterns, and then being able to enjoy the process of sewing.

So, where do I go from here?  I am going to record all my sewing related expenses - starting with the lining, zips and seam binding that I bought today.  The lining is Bemberg (a rayon fabric that breathes and can be washed and dried by machine) lining that is three times the price of my usual nylon/polyester.  It does feel very silky though and I am going to use it to make a simple knee-ish length straight skirt out of some red woven poly/lycra fabric that I purchased last week.  The pattern is Simplicity 7740 and I have also cut out the dress - I should have enough red fabric to also make a jacket.

I thought it would be fun to have some labels made up for my new, sooper dooper garments, and so that I know when they were made, I plan to order two lots . . .

 and

Or something similar!

Could you manage a RTW fast?  Tell, me, I'd love to know!