My first zippered bag with boxed corners.
Before I agreed to move to Richmond, I made sure I’d be able to take sewing classes nearby. Well, this Introduction to Sewing class at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond isn’t ideal (note the title), but it is a great facility, I like my instructor, and I get to spend three hours per week surrounded by people learning to sew. Yes, please!
Well, I’ll probably never be accused of being afraid to use color!
Long sleeves, just in time for the warmer temps…
This isn’t true piping. It’s flat cotton bias tape cut 1/8″ wider than my seam allowance.
Pattern: Closet Case Files’ Carolyn Pajamas, long-sleeve
Fabric: Bright watermelon pink stretch cotton that’s been in the ‘toss’ pile at least once
Buttons: white plastic from my growing button stash
Confession: I’m not done making pajamas yet despite having a brand-new-to-me beautiful vintage cocktail dress up next in my queue.
I am not a fan of fast, cheap, it’ll-last-for-a-year-before-getting-tossed fashion for a variety of reasons that I won’t bore you with here (or at least not right now). One of the hardest items of said clothing for me to stop buying has been PJs from Target. They’re normally surprisingly well designed and *so* cheap. They keep sucking me in. Well, never again.
I had originally planned to do the collar & pocket top in solid orange, but it looked a bit like a bowling shirt.
My first notched collar with piping, a fairly well-hidden pocket, and perfectly matched buttons!
I can’t believe I found vintage buttons that match so perfectly online.
Pattern: Closet Case Files’ Carolyn Pajamas
Fabric: 100% cotton ‘Metro Tile in Orange’ by Robert Kaufman (which I purchased 10+ yards of for a long-forgotten home project years ago) with scraps of orange Kettle Cloth gifted to me by my mum for the cuffs and piping.
Buttons: Vintage, glass, and hand-painted in the perfect color
Confession: Despite a large pile of different sewing projects in my queue, I’m almost finished cutting my second pair of these and have my fabric prepped for a third.
Me and Julia, the woman who taught me everything I know about sewing. If you ever want to learn how, find her, trust me.
Plus, two of my recent makes – my McCall’s 7279 and vintage Vogue 2934 out & about.
Just an ordinary dress for work on the outside; not so much on the inside.
Perfect for a job in financial services…
My first dress collar, I think.
A close to perfectly inserted invisible zipper. I’m loving my Bernina foot 25.
A burst of color
McCall’s 7279 (by Palmer/Pletsch) in grey herringbone wool with a black cotton collar. I have no idea what the lining fabric is made of. And frankly, with colors and a pattern like that, I don’t care.
I spent a weekend earlier this month at Workroom Social sewing camp learning a new-to-me fitting method. (You modify the tissue pattern to fit your body and then skip the muslin phase.) It worked quite well for this dress, which fits better than many other dresses I’ve made. Added bonus, I was fitted by the lovely Melissa Watson, one of the women who designed the pattern.
Vintage Vogue 2934: a joy to sew from the muslin that showed no alterations to the pattern were needed (the first time that’s ever happened) all the way through to the stress-free button and buttonhole that I finished just before kick-off of the Patriots/Jets game.
Made from vintage slate-blue wool lined with turquoise satin. Shown with a basic skirt I made years ago from inside-out home decor fabric.
This is Simplicity 1301 in a floral Cotton/Lycra blend with short Ambiance rayon lining. I will definitely make this pattern again. I love the bateau neckline, slim fitting bodice, lack of a waist seam, and the slits on each side at the hem.
This dress has just two primary pieces – the front and back – which would make you think it’d be super-fast and easy to make, but it’s fitted with fourteen (!) darts: one on the front and back of each shoulder, two bust darts, and eight contour darts around the waist.
The wide bateau neckline makes the waist look smaller and balances the hips a bit.
❤️
Unfortunately, due to a minor cutting mishap (I moved the zip from the side to the back and initially forgot to add a seam allowance), I didn’t have enough fabric to attempt matching the pattern.
I love the invisible zipper foot on my Bernina.
I used fabric remnants from my last dress (my second Deer & Doe Belladone) as facings that I hand stitched to the lining.
I had to improvise a bit on the inside along the slits since I was unhappy with the pattern design. I chose to use bright yellow bias tape to conceal the overlooked (aka: ugly) fabric edge.
Pattern (Size 16; Bust 34) mods that I remember:
Meet Taylorski, my second Deer & Doe Belladone dress, made specifically for a very special event this weekend – the celebration of the wedding of my wonderful friends Mike Taylor and Scott Jarworski.
There’s a 50/50 chance that, like most wedding dresses, this will only get worn once: It’s mostly white; I’m a light weight; I’m told there will be not one, but two signature cocktails; there will be gobs of tasty food to balance on small plates while sipping said cocktails; and did I mention I’m a light weight? Oh well. It’ll be worth it.
I added that band at the bottom to tie in with the waist. It was more difficult to do than you’d think.
Stripes are tough to photograph. Sorry for all the wrinkles.
Pocket and side seam matching.
Bottom band and side seam matching.
The prettiest hem tape ever!
Pattern: Deer & Doe Belladone dress
Fabric: Vintage cotton, only 34″ wide (which forced me to add a center seam in the front skirt)
Cheers! And congratulations, again, Mike & Scott.
When I started this dress last Saturday, I had no idea that two old Cynthia Rowley shower curtains (gifted to me by my sister, Emilie) plus my favorite dress pattern (modified Simplicity 5996) would turn out looking a bit like a vintage Lilly Pulitzer dress, but I’m glad it did. I’m not a huge fan of her style, but I’m very happy with how this dress turned out.
I love the stripe down the center front. I don’t love the placement of the ferns just below the waist line or that the pattern at the shoulders is off a bit, but it was unavoidable and I’ll get over it.
A very invisible back zip and perfectly matched pattern at the waist seam.
Pattern matching at the front waist seam — not too bad.
Pattern matching on the front bodice princess seam.
There’s just one problem: I tore a few holes in the lining when it got caught in the zipper earlier today. The result is not pretty, and if I wear this before I come up with a way to fix the issue, there’s a decent chance the zip will get stuck again and I’ll need to be cut out of it.
Imagine - Make - Wear - Repeat
Imagine - Make - Wear - Repeat
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