The Olivia Dress, Part 1

I have to sing for a dinner/dance next weekend and was toldby my band mate that the function is formal and I have to wear all black.  For this, a new dress was in order as mydresses tend to be on the more colorful side. I first went to Fabric Warehouse a couple of weeks ago.  They were having a 50% off sale on fabric andI stocked up on a few nicer pieces of black fabric with this dress in mind asinspiration that I saw on Sown Brooklyn’s blog.  

I then changed my mind last week and decided to go the easyway out and just sew a dress straight from a pattern and decided on Gertie’spattern that came out through Butterick, B5814. I even cut the pattern pieces apart.   

Last weekend I was doing some online surfing and cameacross this picture of Olivia Thirlby wearing this dress in the August 2012issue of Vanity Fair and fell in love.  I don't have a picture of the whole dress, but I figure if I can at least get the top of this dress as close as possible and pull it off, it will be a winner.

Plus it gives me a chance to see how my skills are at trying to do a re-creation/replica.  I did not have any black lace in stash with ascalloped edge so I went to Joann Fabrics on a whim hoping that they would havewhat I was looking for.  To my delightthey had lace on sale in every color I needed with a scalloped edge except forblack.  I pulled the white lace off ofthe shelf proceeded to the cutting counter and had the woman cut 4 yards of thepolyester lace.  I then proceeded to thedying section and picked up iDye for polyester fabric. 

An hour later and a little bit of stirring, this is what I got.

  

 I went to my stash of Burdas and looked through them to seeif there was anything I could use to help me re-create this dress.  I decided to work with the bodice of BWOF 7-2011 #140. 

 I plan onincorporating my TNT McCall skirtpattern 3830 with the top portion of this dress. 

 I should hopefully be able tomatch the darts up from the skirt with the princess seams of the bodice.  That's all I have for now, but I can tell you I got quite a bit done this weekend.  Two muslins and some pattern altering, I have the bodice pretty much done and it looks fantastic  I have to cut the skirt pieces out and attach everything.  I'm trying to make sure I document with pictures my progress as I'm going along.  I'll check in during the week with another post so you can see the progress.  Mr. D saw me checking the fit of my bodice and likes it a lot.  I hope you do too.

I'm So Warm!!!!

 In my new coat.  I started this coat (Burda 9/2009 #122) back in January of last year and for the life of me I don’t know why I didn’t finish it. 

 I guess it was procrastination or fear of it not coming out right.  Either way, it has been a labor of love from start to finish.  I first saw this jacket made up on Tany’s wardrobe blog back in November of 2011 and knew I had to have it.  I had never done a coat before so I was a little apprehensive. 

The original coat is unlined and it comes with a nice HUGE collar.  I think this is what attracted me to the coat in the first place.  

 My first challenge was to draft the lining which was pretty much straight forward.  The lining fabric is from Jomar that I had in stash.  Is it not amazing?  I LOVVVVVE it.  The actual coat fabric I purchased from Joann Fabrics.  I originally saw it and fell in love but did not feel like paying the original price.  I went back a couple of weeks later and it was like 50% or 60% off.  I knew it was a sign that I had to buy it.

 I only had to cut each coat piece in the lining fabric.  The only change I made was on the back piece (sorry I don't have a construction picture of this.  I don't know why).  I added about 2 ½ inched to the center back which was cut on the fold.  I then placed a pleat in the center back at the top to put the neckline back to where it belonged but the 2 ½ inches added some extra ease in the body of the back for extra movement in the coat.

I underlined  the coat with a gray cotton flannel that I picked up at Jomar.  If you ever see it in the store, grab it.  This stuff is awesome. 

I worked on the lining when a group of the PR ladies got together for a sewing day last year.  After that I didn’t touch it again.  This coat has been a learning process and I’m loving it. 

The original coat has ¾ sleeves as you can see from the picture above and in tracing the pattern out I added about 4 inches to make the sleeve longer.  I wasn’t really thinking about it then, but now I guess I could have added a couple more inches as I want my arms covered.  To rectify this I added bands to the ends of both sleeves, and I LOVE the look.   

 You never know how the slightest change can totally alter the look of the coat. 

I originally wanted a short car coat, but now wish it was longer with all of these cold days we’ve been having.  I figure I’ll rectify that with just making another coat, but this time I’ll make sure it’s much longer and warm enough for these cold days.

Anyway, here is my coat in all of its glory. 

Here is a break down of what I got accomplished last week to get this puppy done before the end of January.

Monday when I felt up to it I added the lining sleeves, finished the sleeves off with a band and then sewed front edges of the coat up. 

Tuesday night got the clapper out and gave the coat edges a really good press and steam. 

Made four large covered buttons (OMG the teeth of those buttons are brutal, especially when you’re working with a heavier weight fabric.  Dang button drew blood.)  

Wednesday night I bagged the lining and did the final stitching through the opening I left in the sleeve lining, which you can see above.  This give the coat more of a ready ot wear finish.  I then finished sewing the sleeve lining up. 

Thursday night I sewed the buttons on and added the snaps.   

As I said before, I don't know why this took me so long to finish, but I'm so glad I finally did it.

All in all this was a great project and I learned to work with shoulder pads and sleeve heads, and I did my first interlining or is it underlining installation.  

Before I sign off I want to thank everyone who has stayed with me and left comments on my last posts.  I appreciate every single one.  You guys are awesome.

Have you been to Yalta

I have been meaning to get this post up since last week, but have been feeling a little under the weather.  It has been freezing cold here and it doesn't help when the building you work in tends to run on the colder side.  I was fighting a sore throat that finally turned into a full blown cold today and I have a pulled muscle in my lower back.  Let's just say Motrin is a wonderful thing when you finally take it.  A heating pad doesn't hurt either.  Anyway, I would like to talk to you about Lena Merrin and her blog, The Sewing Space.


I had the honor of being selected with 9 other lovely ladies to test sew Lena Merrin’s Yalta top.  

It is a downloadable pattern consisting of two pattern pieces.  I have worked with downloadable patterns before and I will add that this one does have a few pages to tape together, but it is so worth it.  

This top is very well drafted.

The fit is spot on, and from looking at the pictures of the other testers, there is not one body type this top does not flatter. The fabric used is a 4-way stretch rayon knit I purchased from Walmart a year or so ago.  There is nothing like stash busting.

I plan on making a few more of these.  

Check it out for yourself.

Soup for a Dreary Day and a Knitting Review

There is nothing like soup for the soul and on a dreary day like today, I thought a bowl of soup was in order.  I wanted it to be hearty, so I went with a chicken and kidney bean soup with kale.

I wasn't sure what it would taste like as I was winging it, but I can now say two bowls later, it was pretty good and I would make it again.  If you're interested in the recipe, let me know.

In my year end round-up for 2012 I showed a picture of the Lace Caplet I knitted from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2010.

I first saw this pattern when a friend of mine loaned it to another friend and she was giving it back.

I thought it was a lovely caplet that would be great for a cold day to keep the chill off.

 I had not been doing any serious knitting, and it was a great project to get the fingers moving and it refreshed my love of knitting.

I'm now working on the Rib and Cable Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Fall 2009 and I'm loving it.  I'll have pictures to show soon.

The One Seam Rectangle Skirt by Rhonda Buss

For the past year I have enjoyed reading Rhonda Buss’ blog, Rhonda's Creative Life.  She is one sweet lady for sharing her talents with us every week. Her hobbies range from sewing to knitting; cooking to piloting a plane (Amazing!!!).  If you have not had a chance to check her out, please do.  And did I mention she even gives out cooking recipes on Sundays?  Hello!!  Anyway, every Friday she gives you Fabulous Free Pattern Friday.  For the longest time I’ve wanted to try one of her patterns and the list is getting longer with every Friday that passes.  

There was no time like the present, so I decided to start with her One Seam Rectangle Skirt.

                                                       This picture is courtesy of her blog.

Rhonda’s patterns are very simple to put together and she explains and gives directions in a way that it's easy to follow and you can’t go wrong.  

I enjoyed making this skirt up and when I tell you, I think it only took an hour tops from cut to finish.  Did I mention I made this whole outfit with 1 5/8 yards of fabric which I purchased from Fabric Warehouse I think a year or year and a half ago.  It's a sweater knit. 

I have paired the skirt here with McCall 4517 (OOP).  

 I definitely see a few more of these skirts in my future, especially during the summer months as it can be worn as a coverup and/or with a tank to keep cool.  

If you've been thinking about trying one of her patterns, please do.  You will not be disappointed.  I wasn't.  I know for a fact I am going to try a few of her other patterns in the near future.

Burda 9/2012, #107/109

With the biting, cold weather that has been coming our way lately, I thought a few new sweater dresses or rather garments were in order. The office I work in tends to be very cold on Mondays. I’m assuming it is from the building turning down the heat on the weekends, so I wanted something other an your usual sweater and slack/pants to wear.

When I went through my Burda Magazine back in September, I knew that I would eventually sew Burda 9/2012 #107/109 up.

Fast forward to last week when I was looking through my fabric stash and thinking this dress would be perfect for it, now, "what issue was that dress in again?  Well after spending an evening going through a few magazine, I found what I was looking for only to realize, hello Renee made the dress, I could have just gone to her blog and gotten the information I needed as to where to find the pattern.  Oh well, I got to look through a few magazines and add a few more patterns to the ever growing list of things I want to make so it was a win, win all around. 

Now I gave you pattern numbers 107 and 109 because the dresses are basically the same except that 107 has leather patch pockets on the front and the neckline is also made out of leather. When I first decided to make this dress I actually was going to go with the leather pockets and neckline but Mr. D and my mother chimed in that it would give the dress a different look and take away from the fabric and they preferred it without, so I left the leather off. It wasn’t until after making the dress I realized that I could have still done the neckline and maybe trimmed the sleeves in the leather. Oh well, next time. Here’s my review.

Pattern Description

Shift Dress with front darts below the chest area
　
Pattern Sizing:

36 through 44.  I made the 40 which is a Size 14 in American sizing.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once
you were done sewing with it?

Yes, but I omitted the zipper and did the v-neckline in the back.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Yes, the directions were very easy to follow.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I liked the simplicity of this tunic dress. It has two princess seams/darts in the front from some shaping but that’s it.

Fabric Used:
Sweater knit purchased from Joann Fabrics last year.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I lengthened the dress by 3 inches.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I do intend on making this dress again and already have the fabric prepped. This time maybe I’ll add the leather trim to distinguish the two dress apart a little. I would recommend this dress to others. I think a few people including Renee have already made it up.

Conclusion:

This one is a keeper. It’s simplistic, very easy to make, and only takes a couple of hours or less to make. Depending on your fabric choice, and accessory choices, you can dress this baby up or wear is very casual.  It's up to you.