Project #4 - red sheath dress - part 3

My husband played the reluctant photographer this evening. Excuse the lack of make-up and hosiery. I'm thinking the next dress should cover the knee. Or am I just being overly self-critical?

Inspired or copied?

I really, really, wanted to make a jacket to go with the red dress. But I won’t. Not yet anyway. First, I’m going to make another red dress. A sleeveless jewel neck sheath that will look like the Barrie Pace dress. Prompted by Carolyn who asked about the first dress: ”is it inspired by the Barrie Pace dress or have you gone in a different direction?”, I started thinking. And decided that the answer is yes to both. Yes, it was inspired by the Barrie Pace dress, and yes, I went off in a different direction.

After further reflection, I realized that I rarely, if ever, copy anything exactly. That’s because I rarely, if ever, like the garment as is. Usually I like certain features that I duplicate and then change the rest. I have always admired those sewing fashionistas who look at a designer garment and duplicate it almost stitch for stitch, in a similar fabric, so that it’s hard to tell the difference.

For me, the process goes something like this: Oooh, I like this safari jacket, I’m going to copy it. I want one exactly like that… Beige makes me look half dead so I’ll make it in dark gray… I don’t have any dark gray cotton so I’ll use wool… I’m not too crazy about the single waist dart, I prefer the side and waist dart combo, so I’ll have to work that in… Those epaulets will make my square shoulders look weird so I’ll leave them off… I have the perfect pewter buttons for it, too. The horn ones on the original are nice but they wouldn’t work with this wool…

The result: “inspired by ___, not at all like it”.

It’s almost like free-associating, really. Or maybe I’m weird.

Back to the dress, though. I’m working on the pattern now. Hopefully, I’ll have time to sew it up this weekend. And maybe, just maybe, it will look a lot more like the dress that inspired it.

Project #4 - red sheath dress - part 2

The red dress is finished!
Here's a brief review: The dress that inspired me was sleeveless and had a jewel neckline. I made some changes. I used PatternMaster Boutique to draft a simple sheath with 3/4 sleeves and a curved V-neckline. I modified the PMB pattern by hand from double darts (both front and back) to single, and taking in a little at the side seam. This left me the right amount of ease in the waist.

I did some serious thinking and made a checklist before I got started. I am trying to figure out the most efficient way to sew. Until now, I would make a essentially two dresses, one in the fashion fabric, the other in lining, then sew them together. This time, I decided to try something different. My sewing sequence went like this:
1) cut out fabric, lining, and interfacing; fuse and mark; thread machines with red thread
2) make darts on shell and lining; sew lining pieces to facing pieces
3) serge shell edges except neckline and armhole (serge sleeve edges, too)
4) press darts; lightly press up hem on shell and lining (sleeves, too)
5) set in invisible zipper
6) sew shoulder seams on shell and lining/facing
7) finish neckline and zipper opening; sew on hook & eye
8) sew all side seams and sleeve underarm seams; serge lining seam allowances together
9) set in sleeves; finish seam allowance at armhole if sleeve unlined
10) hem

I don't know how efficient it was but it flowed well, and having a checklist made it much easier. I didn't have to worry about what's next. I think I'm going to do that for every project from now on.

I like this pattern a lot, I plan to use it again with different necklines and sleeves. Wool crepe is such a lovely, forgiving fabric, a real joy to sew. This red one came from Michael's Fabrics - I ordered it the morning of my NCLEX to calm my nerves.

And now I need to start thinking about the jacket for this dress. It will be another PMB pattern, I just need to make some decisions. Darts or princess seams? Collar - yes or no? Hmmm...

A forgotten capelet

Kathryn posted her newest creation - a swing jacket made of a dark red faux persian lamb. As I was looking at it, I remembered this capelet. I made it about two years ago. The fabric is heavenly soft and easy to handle. The pattern is from an old Burda WOF (10/95, mod. 108). Lined with Ambiance, the capelet is easy to slip on and off. I don't know why I never even took a picture of it. I'm going to have to find a reason to wear it soon. Well, as soon as it gets warm enough around here.

Project #4 - red sheath dress - part 1

Inspiration for this project has taken a long time. The hat started it when I bought it last July. It just whispered little nothings in my ear about the red dress it should accompany. In November, the skinny belt caught my eye at the BX (military version of a shopping mall). It too has been softly talking about the dress it wants to cinch in. The last drop in the inspiration bucket was the Barrie Pace catalog cover. I have looked at it at least a hundred times this week.
I pulled out the red wool crepe and steamed it well. The Ambiance went into the washer and dryer for preshrinking. I have precut the interfacing strips for the zipper area and hem. The pattern is ready. All I have to do is cut, fuse, and sew.

I wanted to do it this weekend, but can't because of school. Research takes a lot of time. Too much, really. Mostly because I can't find half of the articles I need - they're not online. But I digress. I am hoping to finish all school-related stuff on Sunday so that I can at least cut and fuse on Monday.

Inspiration flows

As I was reading other people's blogs this morning, I was inspired by many.
MaryBeth's silk lounging PJs. I love the idea, and the fabric, and the pattern.
Carolyn posted a picture of one of the outfits in the Barrie Pace catalog that caught my eye yesterday. I dreamed about it all night. Right now I'm thinking red wool crepe but that may change later to a charcoal tropical wool. We'll see.
Marji's storyboard for her sister's SWAP and the garments. She is really generous, sewing a SWAP for her sister. Maybe one day, when school is over, I'll have enough time to sew for my sister, too. I sure have plenty of fabric for her.
Elaray asked on Stitcher's Guild about the right weight of denim for a shirtdress. I didn't know much about denim weights so I have learned a lot by reading that discussion. More importantly, though, the little wheels of inspiration in my head started spinning. There may be a denim shirtdress in my near future.

And now I need to hop off because I have to take a test this morning. The course is called Advanced Research in Nursing. While the topic is interesting, of course, because the progress in nursing and medicine (and related fields) is so fast, things change almost daily, and we need to stay current on the new developments, the books are really slow reading. I really wish somebody would write a textbook like a novel. Lots of dialog, some plot to follow, interesting character development, etc.

Side-tracked

I've been moping around the sewing studio lately without accomplishing much. I've drafted a portrait collar on a PMB sheath but I don't have any muslin to try it out. None unless I count the two pieces I use as press cloths. So I sucked it up and ordered a 50yd. bolt from Jo-Ann's. It may take a while, APO shipping isn't the fastest. Until then, I'll have to find something else to do...

... like bead crochet. I learned to do that at the knitters' meet earlier this month, promptly ordered beads from Fire Mountain, and a few patterns (some free) from Bead-Patterns.com. At left is my first attempt at a real project. The whole rope is basically a simple spiral of beaded slip stitches. This one is 7 beads around, the pattern is a 60-bead repeat. It was a lot of fun stringing the beads - 6 yards of them. I may not need all that but I wasn't sure and I figured better safe than sorry. The colors are not anything that I would wear so it's okay if I make a mistake. This is my learning piece. After that, I'd like to make a few pieces to go with my clothes. Maybe a dark gray and pale blue necklace for my (planned but not yet started) SWAP.

On another note, the tunic from MyLabel is still sitting here, waiting for me to have enough time and energy to go downtown to my Bernina dealer. The owners both smoke and it takes a lot out of me to be in such environment. Hence the wait until I'm in the right mood.

I am really inspired by the clothes at Barrie Pace. The catalog came in today, there's a lot of eye candy in it. And surprisingly, a lot of it is made in the USA. Quite a few things I'd like to wear, too. Must find that mojo, must find that mojo, must find that mojo...

Project #3 - GPS bag

Not much going on here lately - school tends to get in the way. So I took today off to sew. Nice thing about online learning: you can take a day off here and there, and it's OK.

I made a little bag for all our GPS accessories and a small protective sleeve for the screen unit. It'll be nice to grab the bag on the way out knowing everything we need is in it. I wish we could just leave the whole shebang in the car but there's too much theft around here, and cars with US license plates are especially vulnerable. It's sad, really. But now we have a bag for easy in, easy out.

The inspiration for this duo came from a Bernina club class where we made similar sleeves for quilting rulers and rotary cutters. I used the same process, only with the bigger bag, I squared off the corners at the bottom and added the drawstring pouch that doubles as lining.

Project #2 - dark brown pencil skirt

Another UFO finished! Same pattern as the black skirt, this one is made of a medium-weight wool crepe and lined with Ambiance.

Yesterday, I finished reading Kathleen Fasanella's book The Entrepreneur's Guide To Sewn Product Manufacturing - it is a fascinating read. Some of the information I had already gleaned from her very informative blog, the rest was cool news to me - as in "oh wow, how cool". I enjoyed the book immensely; Kathleen's style feels very alive as if she were right there talking to me. I learned a lot from the book, though I probably missed a lot more than I learned, lacking appropriate frame of reference that only comes from experience. Unit 5 (Improving Product Quality) alone was worth the price of the book. It has sections on how to make templates, draft linings, fit the torso, make a production pattern, etc. All of these will be of immediate use to any home sewer. I'm always looking for ways to improve accuracy and make the sewing process more efficient. I found them in the book.
The most important revelation was that my armholes are correct. They always look funny on my patterns and I thought maybe I was crooked or something so I never really talked about it. Page 168 (right side of fig. 5.59) shows how my patterns' armholes look. Kathleen gives an excellent explanation with pictures for why this is correct. I'm not crooked!

Project #1 - black pencil skirt

I rarely make New Year resolutions. I tend to set goals year-round. So I don't have a list of new goals to share here. What I can share is my dirty little secret - sometime during the last year, my sewing mojo left the building. Now, I'm going to find it and bring it back, even if I have to drag it in here screaming.

And so I start off this year finishing a UFO. This poor almost-finished skirt was languishing in my UFO pile. I decided to make it whole. It really didn't need much - just the hem and topstitching along the upper edge. I wore it today (outfit on the left) and found it very comfortable. It's made of a lightweight wool crepe, lined with Ambiance. As a departure from my usual preferences (skirts that taper to the hem and have a vent in the back), I omitted the vent and kept the side seams straight from the hips down. So far, I like the look though I reserve the right to change my mind later.

I think I am going to number my projects from now on, so that I can better keep track of how much I sew and knit. We'll see if I can remember to do that.