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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

February Winner!

I had  a lovely birthday, thank for all the well wishes!

There were ten entries for the patterns and the winner is... Natasha from South Africa! Natasha, email me at mollysewsblog@gmail [dot]com with your mailing address!


Friday, February 22, 2013

February Giveaway!

Here is February's slightly late giveaway, but just in time for my birthday tomorrow! In honor of the illustrious day of my birth, I present to you:

Butterick 2137, a 1960's pencil dress with sleeve and collar variations in a 36 bust!

McCalls 3240, a 70s pattern for a yoked tunic/dress with or without giant ruffle and crisscross ties! (36 bust)

McCalls 4085, a 70s A-line dress for a maxi or mini. Mmm, just look at that mini with a slit! So fun cause you get to wear tiny shorts under it (wat?). Lady in blue looks like she stepped of the set of Star Trek. 34 bust.
 And finally, Simplicity 8820 in a 36 bust! A 70s sailor wardrobe pattern makes all the garments you will ever need: a bra top that looks like a sports bra, wide leg pants, an actually cute sailor dress and a costumey sailor coat, which it seems you can also wear sans pants. Who needs pants anyways?
Winner receives all four patterns and I will mail them anywhere! Leave a comment to enter by Monday, Feb 25 at midnight and I will choose a winner next week! If you want, link to an even funnier 70s pattern! Just to get you started:
Image from here, and there's more!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Pottery Class- Part I

My five week pottery class learning to use the wheel is now over. I plan on taking the 10 week beginner class in the spring, which starts after the wedding. Then I will have the free time to go in outside of class and practice. 

I took ceramics my senior year of high school and loved it and again my senior year of college. Those classes were all hand-building projects and I have never before tried to use the wheel. I made a variety of hideous and misshapen items to share with y'all!

Mine, Andrew's, Luke's
 We were trying to make cylinders, which then becomes mugs. Mine are all about the size of 2 shot glasses, so I didn't even put handles on them. The glazing turned out really cool and like I expected: light teal with brown over the top.
 We learned how to shape the base on these when the clay is leather hard. I did manage to put a rim on one. (far left). Andrew is taking his to work to use for espresso, I don't know what to do with the other two. Besides giant shots, obvi.

Our last project was to handbuild trays to use up the rest of our clay. However, "trays" was a project in my college ceramics class and I have five, I repeat five, useless trays around the house. I might post about them, just you you don't think I am horrible at clay.

Point being, I made coasters instead because I didn't have much clay left. I used a roller to give it a "wood" texture. I thought the glaze combination was going to be different and they ended up looking like tiny Earths. That's cool.
 However, the bowed up in the kiln and are also very smooth, so glasses kind of want to slip off of them. Lol. The BEST coasters!
I also made five bowls, but I am waiting on two to be glaze fired. I'll post the bowls later.

PS, you can see my wedding skirt and a bunch of wedding loot in the background!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Finally got the wedding dress fabric!

So, I finally worked out my skirt issues (more on that tomorrow) and could finally buy my underlining fabric! Yay! So, I fought afternoon traffic to go to Fishman's and bought 4 yards of white china silk lining to line the dress. 
 I bought 4 yards of silk charmeuse as my underlining fabric, but turned inside out so the shine does not detract from the lace.!
 My lace is from Mood and I bought it several months ago. I never found any other fabric I liked to the same degree and I am really happy with it; I think it is really pretty!
Close-up with scalloped edges.

From a distance
 I layered them over each other to get the final combination!
Yay! I am a giant procrastinator, but I will finish my dress in the next 2 weeks no problem! Figuring out the pattern was the problem!

Woot, woot!


Saturday, February 16, 2013

A slip Dress- Advance 6333

 Here is my pattern, Advance 6333 from the 40s or 50s I am guessing. I thought I would be a genius (!?) and make it into a dress with some navy polka dot fabric I bought when my mom was here at Xmas. It is cheap polyester from Vogue Fabrics. I think you can see where this is headed...
 Ok, I was also delusionally thinking I could maybe wear this to the rehearsal dinner if it turned out nicely. First off, look how the polka dots photograph! Like I am trying to hypnotize you guys.
 Also it is an unprinted pattern, and had really minimal direction. I messed up the bands, so they got sewn to the inside like facings. Oops. It has no closure, so I really have to monkey this over my head with some serious squirming, to the detriment of my sock bun.
 It's okay, but the fabric pulls and ripples weirdly around my waist, probably because it is so thin and cheap and polyester. The under-boob gather do have the benefit of inflating the chest area, at least from a distance...
This is no Rehearsal Dinner Dress, but it might get some use as a sundress in the summer, or a nightgown. It is a nice nightgown!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Wedding Skirt: Getting ANGRIER, but not closer


I wasted half of today making two more attempts at this skirt and I am getting really angry. It looks shitty and nothing like the picture on the envelope. It doesn't hang right and looks so weird. 

Here is version 2:

 Pretty ugly right, and not just because of the fabric? This was my attempt to make the upper skirt more like the envelope, which I did. However I like the other upper skirt I made better, since both it and the bodice have princess seams. This time I made the skirt in three wider segments, hoping to give it more drape, especially in the front. It still looks super stupid and ugly. It's like "here is a boring flat front skirt, but oh loook, with a random seam over the knees! How stylish!" So version 2 can suck it.

Here is version 3:

I took the upper skirt from version 1 (with the princess seams) and then made some pattern pieces on the bias. I made an effort for them to all have the same flare, which I thought would magically solve my problem. Then I was happy until I sewed it all together and put it on the dummy. Gack! Now it's ew-tacular from all angles! 

And on that note, I refrained from smashing something on the floor, left my heaps of fabric everywhere and left the room. Version 3 can suck it too. 

Sooooo...any thoughts? 

I think I'm about done with my "vision" and need to make some other type of skirt. Something simple. At least the bodice looks good. 

Grr.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Bridesmaid's Dress: 62% Complete

I realized I never posted the fabric I ended up choosing. It was the silk dupioni in the Spring Green color. That was the darkest of the choices, but its still quite pale. This is the photo that best shows the color and texture of the fabric:
I lined it with Bemberg rayon in "nude, " which should blend in with their skin if it shows at all. There were no green linings that were even close to the main fabric, so I went neutral. 
 It is 62% complete. I need to hem it by hand, but I have to go to work in a little bit. It will require 1 episode of Downton Abbey, I expect. Maybe longer. I am going to sew down the straps in the front and put in the zipper in New Orleans before the wedding. That will be my chance to have Stephanie try it on and then do a little adjusting, as needed.

So far so good, and I'm finally making progress despite working 6 days a week!