Love-in-idleness

First of all, thank you to everyone for your suggestions on how to navigate Facebook – I feel so very “liked”!  And thank you for making me feel a little less silly about my coffee making inadequacy, not to mention once again reminding me that there are quite a few kindred spirits in the world!

I have finally finished my latest project - a summery shirt and skirt combo.  The look is a bit 1950s waitress, all that is missing is a pair of roller skates and apron. 

This outfit started with some very old quilting cotton with a lovely pansy motif and an idea.  I thought that Butterick 5882 would make a lovely skirt, and the shirt portion of Butterick 5895 was just too cute to pass by.  Put them together, and this is what you get!

The original plan was foiled when I did not have quite enough fabric.  Aargh! 

This is not the first time I have assumed that a cute little blouse will require next to nothing in the way of yardage.  And once again, I was wrong.  When am I going to learn?  Large pattern pieces do not fit on leftover scraps!

One thing I will say:  this shirt is short.  Yes, I generally add a bit to a pattern’s torso length, but without a high-waisted skirt or pair of pants this is going to show the midriff, even on a petite frame.

Not to be deterred, I set out to find a contrasting fabric.  Those massive facing pieces would just have to play along.

Of course, once I had my contrast, I decided that the multi-fabric choice was going to look utterly ridiculous.  But since I already had cut almost everything out, I kept going.

Turns out, I love the contrasting collar and ties!  The solid color actually breaks up the busy cotton print quite nicely.  So much for first impressions!  I added a bit of piping to the skirt's waist seam to make the two pieces more of an outfit.

And there was a bit of twirling . . .

Blouse:  Made by me, Butterick 5895

Skirt:  Made by me, Butterick 5882

Shoes:  Hinge

Bracelet:  Borrowed from mom

The Pastoral Life

Spring has finally arrived for my wardrobe!

And everywhere I look, I see toile!  

This always happens to me.  Start driving a different make and model of car and suddenly I see them everywhere.  Now that I found my new favorite show, I see vintage cars everywhere.  Buy a new pair of shoes, and they pop up in editorials and on the feet of neighbors and strangers walking down the street.  And I am suddenly noticing lovely toile fabric online, on blogs, and in magazines.  What the heck?!

I am so pleased with my new dress, and grateful that I waited for the perfect project to use my leftover upholstery fabric!

It is still a bit chilly to wear a sleeveless dress, so I added one of my favorite cardigans. 

This was one of my first experiences knitting with beads.  Yes, there are actually beads on there, although they are almost invisible until you get really close.  

So it was a learning experience – make sure to use contrasting beads to ensure they will be visible!  But I still love the sweater, so it was a very rewarding lesson, which is the best kind.

Years ago, I wore flowers in my hair all the time, and I thought this was the perfect outfit to reincorporate them into my wardrobe.

This is a really wonderful pattern, and I am sure that I will using it again.  I think that sleeves would be fun, or perhaps using the bodice design with a slim skirt.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend and enjoying some sunshine!  Happy Spring!

Dress:  Made by me, Butterick 5882

Sweater:  Made by me, “Chicago” from Rowan Magazine

Shoes:  Sacha London

Necklace:  Banana Republic

Purse:  Harvey’s Seatbelt Bags

Toile de Jouy

As you may have noticed in my previous post, I was debating whether or not to add sleeves to Butterick 5882.  In the end, the question was moot because I did not have enough fabric.  Oh well, I will save that for the next one!

All of those cotton prints that I pulled out to match back to the toile gave me an idea – quilting cotton would make the perfect lining fabric.  And when adding boning to a lining, it is so much easier to work with a stable fabric.  That is what I call a win-win!

I did not have any matching green thread for the cotton print, so I decided to go with a contrasting pink.  This is not a detail that anyone else will ever see, but it makes me happy.

The pattern also calls for a skirt lining.  I decided to finish my seams with seam binding and omit the skirt lining since I did not have anything suitable on hand.  Because this dress is going to be worn with a petticoat, it is not really necessary. 

Of course, I added a strip of silk organza to the back opening, and used a lapped application for the zipper. 

I should also mention that this particular pattern gives a bit more ease through the waist than most Butterick fitted waist silhouettes.  But with all of those seams, it was easy to take it in.

The one thing I am a bit iffy on is the straps.  They are cut in one continuous bias cut piece.  Obviously the bias is necessary for the fold down section at the front bust, but bias straps are just asking for trouble.  And they make hanger loops an absolute necessity.

When I use this pattern again, I believe I will interface the two ends of the straps for added stability.

Gertie mentioned that the photos on the Butterick website do not show the underbust strap folded down as she intended.  I could not get that portion of the strap to stay down on its own, so I folded and hand stitched it in place at the bodice edges.

And just an FYI – this dress would work as a strapless – just shorten the straps!  The bodice pieces are already boned, so why not?!

Spring Colors

In the Bay Area, warm weather generally shows up rather early in the year as a tease, only to disappear into a gray and rainy Spring.

As soon as the sunshine appears, I love to begin cutting into pastels and sewing up sun dresses, even though it might be February and I know that the cold and rain is bound to show up once again.  This year, however, I keep choosing projects with a decidedly Fall color palette.  I cannot say why, but it keeps happening.

And once again, that wool sheath and matching coat project that I have been meaning to tackle for YEARS is going to have to wait for the seasons to change.  The fabric, lining, zipper, and everything else needed is in the sewing room, but somehow, the darn thing never gets started.  Still, I cannot make myself work on yet another cold weather dress.

So I have finally turned the corner. 

This upholstery fabric was originally intended as a slip cover for a chair.  Well, that project never happened, although I have used some of the yardage as small home décor and craft projects, here and there.  What remained sat in the corner, on its roll.  

At some point, I came across this image of Dita von Teese, and immediately knew that a dress was going to be the perfect thing to use up some of that upholstery fabric.  

Dita's dress is more 18^th century with the flat front corseted look and pannier silhouette (which may or may not have been a part of the original design when I look at that hemline) than Gertie’s new shelf bust dress pattern with its 1950s style, but I love it!  That being said, if anyone has an old Vivienne Westwood design just laying around and in need of a new home, please feel free to send it on over!

My first thought was to use some contrasting cotton for the pleated bust inserts and another print for the straps.  Goodness knows I have enough quilting cotton remnants that would have worked beautifully.  But on second thought, the additional prints made me think of a quilt (gee, I wonder why . . .) - which is lovely, but not the look I am going for.

Turns out, I just scraped by with the yardage.  I guess it was meant to be!  And while the design does not lend itself to pattern matching, those large skirt pieces made any attempt futile.  One less thing to worry about, right?!  But as I am putting the dress together, I quite like how the mismatched toile motifs look.

We shall see how it all turns out . . .