I've been on strike for three weeks now, and for the first time in ages the house is clean, the dinner is homemade every night, my paperwork is all up to date and I'm getting some sewing done.
Exhibit A is a hit:
It's a basic bodice made from the Sorbetto pattern, but the bodice was shortened by about 12cm, the front was cut as two pieces and sewn half-way up to make a slit front, the armholes were lowered a bit.......(well, it was once the Sorbetto pattern). I added a gathered rectangle skirt and a simple neck tie. It's pretty see-through, so I probably should have lined it, but I have a summer dress with a slippery synthetic lining and I never wear it because it's too clammy in the 99% humidity of Montreal summers, so I say let the sun shine in.
I sewed french seams on the bodice, bias strips for the armholes and enclosed the waistband. I was so pleased to have enclosed all the seams so well, when I noticed that I had forgotten to finish the back skirt seam. D'oh.
Exhibit B is a bit of a miss:
It's a shift dress pattern from 1970, but I didn't want to interrupt the pattern by sewing a seam down the front, and I only had 2m of very narrow linen, so I couldn't cut to match the pattern. I also left out the darts in the back for the same reason. Result: a shapeless shift that is a little too close to skin tone. Maybe with some dark purple tights and a yellow cardigan for the winter, but as a summer dress it's a bit of a flop. It's also crazy itchy. Is linen usually this itchy?
I did bind all the seams with bias tape because this linen fabric had a thread count of about, oh, 5 per inch. I may be exaggerating slightly, but you get my drift. Every time I pulled it over my head to fit it, threads would fly left and right. I also had just exactly the right length of 50-year-old hem tape hanging around. Score one for hanging on to every scrap.
I've also been catching up on a lot of thrift store alterations and mending, but they aren't incredibly exciting, so I'll skip it. In other news, I'm planning on going to NYC next week to meet up with Mena, Oona, Debi and Meg. Woohoo! Nothing like planning a trip when I'm completely out of money, Air Canada is on strike and I can't find a cheap hotel to book, but I can't miss the fun.
Well, I'm in love with exhibit A but that's a given.
ReplyDeleteAs for lining summer dresses, I'm very happy with cotton batiste. It's thin, smooth, breathable and has more drape than voile (don't confuse the two, voile is stiffer)
This might sound shockingly old fashioned but I made a bias slip (see my blog or PR) from CB and I have absolutely NO REGRETS!!!
I love the first one, (Ikea fabric, right?) I really need to make a sorbetto dress.
ReplyDelete@lakaribane: Merci! I don't know why RTW dresses are lined with such nasty stuff; too hot in the summer and too static-y in the winter. I do have a slip that I'll wear now that it's fall, but I'll give the batiste a try next time I make a white dress.
ReplyDelete@Farah: Yeah, it's that cecelia fabric that I think you used too for one of the Sew Weekly challenges. (I started sewing again last year when I was still constantly breastfeeding, so what used to fit me no longer does (haha), and I needed to find a new darted bodice block. I'm going to sew a Pendrell tomorrow, so maybe with a little alteration, that will be my new princess seamed bodice block.)
Pretty! I love the first dress, and the second is cute and awfully comfy looking.
ReplyDeleteOH MY GOD
ReplyDeleteyou oughta submit this to karen's ugly amnesty. she can be the sister to my rainbow brite shift dress. erm, not that it's ugly, umerumuh, no i really like the swirly olympic ribbon dance pattern.... oh i think i hear ruggy calling me gotta go!