It's a skill building kind of weekend!

Not every idea is a winner. In this case, I think my concept was good, but I ran into some issues with execution.

The idea was to make a happy sparkly dress for my trip to Las Vegas next month (woo!). I found some beautiful feline-esque sequin mesh at Gorgeous Fabrics that I decided I needed to have. After much deliberation, I had a vision of a cowl neck and a straight skirt. So I combined two patterns that I have successfully made in the past (my mashup plan is pictured above): the Vogue 1351 bodice (for the cowl and the full lining) and the McCall's 6612 skirt (short and straight with no waist seam). What I did not take into consideration was the drape of the fabric (or rather, lack thereof). It should have been obvious, I guess-- but I had a vision and was blinded to anything else. Anyway:

Yeah. It just looks weird!

My first thought was it looked kind of space-age the way it just kind of sticks straight up/out. Ha! (Gah-- I should have sucked in my belly more too... keeping it real here at the Crafty Musings! :P)

I did attempt to mitigate by cutting off the cowl and working to finagle it into a tank-style neckline without undoing everything else. That was a fail too (no pictures of that). So I went nuclear and took it all apart.

Unsewing sequin mesh fabric is about about as much fun as it sounds. But it is done. On the bright side, I have definitely learned some things that (hopefully!) will help me make some better choices. Skill building!

Now to figure out Plan B.

V1351: Hemmed and done!

I finally got some pictures of me wearing my new dress, Vogue 1351!

I sewed a size 16 with no alterations. The dress is designed for flowy wovens, but I opted for a knit-- a ITY jersey knit (92% poly/8% lycra) purchased from Fabric.com in 2011. For the lining, I used a lightweight swimsuit knit (since it had 4-way stretch like my main fabric). I found that others were able to successfully use knits based on a number of reviews posted on PatternReview.com, so I figured I could work it out. But I have to tell you: I stressed!

I knew I could forgo the zipper, but then I wasn't sure exactly what other instructions I should or should not disregard or otherwise adapt. This meant I had to fend for myself, which was kind of scary. But I think it came out alright in the end, so I guess I was successful.

One of the issues I was most worried about was stabilization in the shoulder, neck and waist areas. After trolling about for information, I finally decided to stabilize the neckline with fusible tricot interfacing. I traced the neckline shape and then cut it out along that edge, making it about 1/2" wide. Then I fused it to the neckline such that it was just into the seamline (I think my picture above better shows what I'm talking about). I did this on the lining front and back necklines as well as the outer back neckline.

I also stabilized the shoulder seam (pictured above). For this, I used a nylon stay tape. In the end, I decided against any waistline stabilization (I have read in a number of places a suggestion to use clear elastic) and opted instead to just follow the directions to handstitch the lining to the outer along the waist seam followed by a regular topstitch. The only issue with this is that I have to be careful when putting the dress on and taking it off so I don't pop the stitches.

I love that this dress is lined! And I think it is beautifully finished. The instructions were a bit labor-intensive, and involved some of handwork, but they were effective. As I couldn't think of an easier way to approach it, I went with it. The lining allows for a perfect finish to the draped neckline as well and everything stays in place-- nothing untoward is gonna be popping out of there! I really wanted an invisible hem, but I could not figure out how to execute it with such a lightweight knit (I tried a blindhem and it was completely ineffective). So the hem was finished with my coverstitch machine.

I envisioned this as a happy, summery sundress. But it almost feels too fancy for that! Almost. I'm totally going to be wearing this one out and about.

The last week has involved zero sewing while my machine made its annual visit the Bernina spa. But-- it is back home, and I'm ready to start stitching again! Huzzah!!!

Last weekend...

I did some sewing! First up, the last-minute birthday gift for a super-awesome 1-year-old:

It is the "Child's Coloring Wallet" by JCasa Handmade-- my go-to toddler gift! This little dude is apparently into turtles, so I went with it. Because of its white background, I went ahead and interfaced to give it some additional opacity. As a bonus, it got a little more heft, too! Going forward, I'll probably adding interfacing to the outer every time.

The inside features a fun Michael Miller bug-in-jars print with some random stash stripes.

I also finished up a dress:

Here is Vogue 1351 hanging prior to hemming. There will be pics showing it in all of its hemmed glory soon!

With the dress complete, I was feeling the quilting mojo return:

It's a big one, so it is going to take me awhile (quality quilting time is at a premium right now as we're getting ready for back-to-school). But at least it is started. That seems like a big part of the battle for me, just getting the quilting process going.

Prepping patterns

Inspired by my recent dress success, I'm finding I want to sew some more clothes (and use more stash!). I've prepped some patterns and am hoping to cut fabric for these projects today:

• StyleArc Ann-T. I am so excited to try a StyleArc pattern and this one looks like it could potentially be a wardrobe staple (and it is available for free right now if you sign up for their mailing list)! This is going to be a (hopefully) wearable muslin to test it out before I go and buy the fabric I really want. Here's hopin' it works!





• Vogue 1351-- a pretty cowl-neck dress. I bought this fabric from fabric.com in 2011 kind of on a whim, and am finally feeling inspired to use it. But, I have to admit, I am also feeling a bit intimidated by this one. It is a pattern designed for a woven, but I'm using a knit (which seems fine-- I've looked at many reviews and it seems that is kind of the norm on this one)-- and I'm concerned about making sure I stabilize everything the right way. Clear elastic? Stay tape? Knit stay tape? Applying said stabilizers? Neckline. Shoulders. Waistline??? It is a rabbit hole, I tell you! Sigh... totally overthinking it. I just need to get in there and do it.





• Kwik Sew 3513-- I've been wanting a flowy knit skirt for quite some time. I ran across this pattern over the weekend and decided I needed to give it a go.

It is a random collection to be sure (no "Sewing With A Plan" here!), but they are all pieces I'm feelin' at the moment. So maybe that means I'll actually get them made.