Polka Dotted Fancy

Last week I welcomed another polka dotted dress into my wardrobe!  I even managed to finish the outfit a whole twenty-four hours before the Marin Symphony fundraiser at which it made its debut.

Which is a welcome change from the usual last minute rush!

My Sewing Indie Month projects were put aside to accomplish this, but I have not forgotten about them.  I am busy beading and my Spearmint coat is currently on the sewing table.

Since there were leftover pearl beads from making my double stranded necklace, I went ahead and used them for a matching bracelet.  Because pearls are the perfect accessory for polka dots!

I intended to wear a pair of gloves with the ensemble, however, the morning of the event, I managed to get a nasty tear in one of my nails which made getting them on and off a rather painful procedure.

They would not have stayed on for long anyway, since I was signing people in for the evening.

With or without the gloves, I am very pleased with the dress.  Dropped-waist garments are supposedly unflattering on long-waisted individuals such as myself, but I think they actually camouflage the problem.  Yet another reason to ignore fashion "rules."

Best of all, the dress was the perfect excuse to wear a crinoline (which has been neglected as of late)!  I am going to need to move the hook & eye on this one because it keeps slipping below my waist.

I may even make another version of the dress in wool (with sleeves & without the capelet) once the weather turns. 

This dress has only furthered my obsession with capelets, and I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for another pattern that includes this design element!  

Dress:  Made by me, McCalls 9245

Belt:  Made by me

Necklace & Bracelet:  Made by me

Fascinator:  Made by me

Shoes:  Halogen

[The fabric for this project was received in exchange for my contributions as a Britex Guest Blogger.]

The Perfect Pearl

An ivory and navy polka dotted dress definitely needs a strand of pearls!  I have come across quite a few vintage images, but have never been able to find a double strands of pearls of my own.

The simple solution was to make one!

I rescued a clasp from an old strand of costume jewelry in terrible condition, added a bit of silk thread, and this is the result.

I also knew that I wanted to make a hat or some sort of hair ornament for this dress.  I purchased some Russian veiling with the thought that I would need a suitable navy for my hat.  And while stringing the pearls, I realized that I should continue the theme.

Out came my stash of glass pearls.  They do not match the necklace, but I had plenty of them in varying sizes.  And it went so much more quickly than beading with tiny seed beads!

I started with a piece of felt, but decided the weight of the pearls needed more oomph, and added a scrap of cotton before I started stitching everything down.  The 6mm beads were stitched first, followed by some 4mm beads to fill in the spaces, and then I added a few seed beads for more coverage.

A circle of buckram was added to the back, along with another layer of felt to keep the thread nest contained!

The edges were trimmed, tucked under, and that last layer of felt stitched in place.

I really wanted to use the veiling as an actual veil . . . but I just could not make it look the way I wanted for this project.

Instead, I added it as an embellishment to the pearl base. 

The final step was to add a couple of clips to the back for obvious reasons.

It is a bit heavy (anything encrusted with beads is going to be), but the two clips kept it in place for the entire evening, so I would call this one a success!

Buckled Belts

This dress design does not include a belt, but the View B illustration is styled with one, and I really like the look.

I love the idea of a belt added to a dropped waist silhouette.  Since there was enough fabric leftovers, I decided to make myself one.

The neckline has a center front point which I decided was a good reason to use a centered point on the end of the belt (not my standard belt construction, but worth the extra time).  

For this particular belt, I interfaced the fabric with a fusible, added a layer of thick interfacing (it was described as belting when I purchased it years ago, but is rather pliable), and wrapped the raw edges around one more layer of stabilization (it is called crinoline hovotex and says it is suitable for supporting skirts and why I purchased it, but in reality it is rather papery, and I think it would get bent out of shape rather easily in a skirt hem).

The two belt layers were then sandwiched together and stitched along the edges.

My original intention was to use the center front bodice piece as a guide for the belt width.  But since I wanted to use a covered buckle, I was limited in my options. 

This is one of three Prims Buckle Kits I picked up at Exclusive Buttons.  This dress is absolutely worth the sacrifice of using one of these precious kits, but I always feel a tinge when I do.  They are far superior to the kits currently made with an adhesive covering, and are rather difficult to find.  Why, oh why, did they stop making these kits?!  I would love to find some of the oval versions someday.  Dritz/Prym Inc. still makes button kits with the teeth and back plate that snaps into place, so I am not sure why they stopped manufacturing these.   

Turns out, the width of this particular belt buckle matches back perfectly with the center front bodice band.  Which is fabulous!  Now I just need to find a contact at Prym Inc. so I can harass them until they promise to start making these useful notions again!

Dotted Deadlines

The Marin Symphony is having their annual Wine Auction & Dinner next week, so it is time to finish a new dress!  (There is really nothing like a deadline to motivate the creative process.)

I added a cotton lining to the skirt which helps with the vintage silhouette.  A petticoat will be worn with the finished dress, but I decided to add some extra swing to the hemline.

Horsehair braid was stitched to the cotton lining since the rayon fabric is far too lightweight to handle the braid.

Since I have polka dots on the brain, this fabulous vintage advertisement jumped out at me while I was perusing Pinterest.  The two frocks have a similar flavor, right?!

My dress is almost finished - I just need to make a matching belt . . . and decide on accessories!

And remember that Sew Indie Month is almost over, so make sure to link your finished Dressed to the Nines project to this post by June 4th!  Happy sewing, everyone!

Structured Underlining

This pattern presents a certain challenge when it comes to fabric choice. 

The bodice and skirt require a certain amount of structure, but the capelet needs to drape.

One solution is to add underlining where structure is needed.  I went with a stable cotton.  (It makes me laugh that both of these fabrics were labeled "navy" - I wonder which classification Pantone would agree with?)

The cotton gives body to the rayon fabric.

I mentioned that the armhole facing was missing from this pattern.  My first thought was to use a bias binding for the armholes and the neckline.  

But with that funny jog at the center front, it was going to be much easier to use a facing.  

With the underlining, I can invisibly tack the entire facing down which will keep it securely in place.  

I did, however, draft armhole facings narrower than the original – this is just a matter of preference.  I will probably stitch the entire circumference down instead of tacking at the seamlines just as I will with the neckline facing.

My favorite part of the process is when the garment begins to look like more than random pattern pieces.

There is still a lot of work to be done, but it definitely is starting to look like a dress!

 [The fabric for this project was received in exchange for my contributions as a Britex Guest Blogger.]

The year was 1953 . . .

I am back in sewing mode and feeling very inspired!  There are a couple of projects I am currently working on, but today all the focus has been on vintage and polka dots.

McCalls 9245 is from 1953 (thank you McCalls for including copyrights on your printed patterns from the 50s!) and I love it!!  And yes, I am clearly obsessed with capelets.  

This vintage pattern has seen better days.  There are quite a few rips and tears, some of which are due to ten or so rusted pins that were used to shorten the skirt pieces; the pattern instructions are disintegrating before my eyes; and the tissue itself feels much more brittle than other McCall patterns from the era.  

I used a gift certificate I received a few years ago to purchase the pattern which was listed for a lot more than I am comfortable spending in real money.  The website stated that the pattern was complete and in good condition, however, it turns out that there are a few facing pieces missing.  

The missing facing pieces are not a huge deal, but I do find it odd that the pins were not removed – it is clear that the seller never opened the envelope to check that all the pieces were accounted for because they would have had to remove the pins to do so. 

While the design seems to be rather rare, the condition is not worthy of the $75 price tag, and definitely should not have been described as in good condition.  I am not going to name the storefront here because I am assuming this is not something they make a habit of doing, and just needed to rant a bit.  I feel lucky that this has only happened to me a handful of times, but it still bothers me.  

If I was not completely in love with the design, I probably would have set the pattern aside.

But I found this perfect polka dot rayon fabric from Britex (unfortunately, it seems to have sold out – which does not surprise me – because there can never be enough high quality dotted fabric in the world!) and I knew it would be perfect for the dress.  I had the fabric in hand when I discovered the issues with the pattern and at that point it was too late - I did not have the heart to give up on this project.

One muslin of the bodice pieces, and it was time to cut into the most amazing rayon I have ever had the pleasure to work with!  Polka dots forever!!

 [The fabric for this project was received in exchange for my contributions as a Britex Guest Blogger.]