Wedding Dress Bodice Version 1

That title makes it sounds better than it is. I originally was making the test bodice from my self drafter and tweaked pattern in late October. I had plans to wear it to my friend Amy's wedding in mid November. I almost finished it in time, but I sewed on the skirt and was just absolutely flabbergasted at how terrible my fabric was. I don't know what I was thinking!

 I wanted something slightly sparkly and I put the skirt and was like "OMG I just made a witch Halloween costume!" So I quit and wore another dress.

It did serve the purpose of making me absolutely certain that I do NOT want a basque waist and the points are supremely unflattering. You can click on any of them to embiggen them, and if you open it in a new window you can make it even bigger.

Later, I cut the skirt and the basque points off and just made a random skirt to finish it. It turned out obscenly short, so it looks a bit like a figure skating costume now. Try (and it will be hard) to just look at the BODICE and picture it in white lace, one that has a scalloped border.

Front:
Straps are sheer and will look slightly different based on the lace/scallops.

 The bodice fits really well. I plan on lowering the neckline a bit over the boobs, as it goes too high and too close to my armpits. I hate the bra cups from Jo-Ann, so I went on a vision-quest to TJ Maxx and Marshalls to buy super cheap bras to cut apart and use instead. So they all have nice shaped foam padding connected to each other with the underwire. However, I took the wire out and left the tube and shaping, if that makes any sense? Eh? Haha no bra needed, it's part of the dress! Bam!

This is the gist of what the back will look like. It will have that upper piece, which stablises the whole dress and prevents it from falling off. The shape will be a bit different after I play around with the scallops to see what looks best. It will be sheer though, that will be the same.

 Maybe I will add scallops to the bottom for symmetry? What  do you think?

 Side:

So lessons learned:

Good:
Bodice fit and shape.
Like sheer back panel and sheer straps.
Like using bra to give me fake boobs.

Bad:
Basque points at waist!
Hideous fabric. (not really relevant for wedding dress)

To tweak:
Neckline too high.
Shaping with scallops on straps and back.

Anyways, tell me what you think so far....

PS I bought a kit on Amazon of tools for making hair styles, like donuts for giant buns and twists to make chignons and all kinds of stuff. Prepare for some crazy hairstyles!

Wedding Dress Skirt Version 1.5

At least I have gotten started and tried, but I am far from satisfied. I want the skirt to look like this vintage McCalls pattern from the 1940s. I am sort of on the right track, but it needs some work.

So feel free to make any comments you like and tell me what makes this look so "off"!

The back is sort of on the right track, it has the fitted part and the drape. Now that I compare the two, though, it looks like the sides should fall closer to my knees on the upper skirt? Or what?

The front looks truly god awful. Granted, this fabric has some drape, but probably not enough. But still! It has no flow to it at all!

 The side is okay, try to ignore y uneven seam matching. This is just basted together. But you can see how the back has drape and the front has ZERO!

Gross. This is why you make muslins, so your wedding dress doesn't make you cry! 

Advice, please?

Anna's Baby Outfit- Simplicity 6072

I bought these on a whim last time I was at Target, they are so tiny and cute and really cheap! Look at the cute feet!

 Regardless of how cheap children's clothes can be, I had promised Anna, and myself, that I would make something for the baby. I chose Simplicity 6072 from my stash after I learned that she was having a boy (the vast majority of my patterns are for girls). It's size newborn and I made the onesie, the bonnet and the little coat.

 The fabric is also from a different estate sale, it was a crib mattress cover. It has tiny stuffed bunnies pretending to be Indians, I think, and shooting bows and arrows.

Here is the bonnet and the little coat. It buttons down the front and the bonnets ties with bias tape. The ties also match the binding on the inside collar and the binding on the onesie's sleeves. 

 Here's the adorable onesie:

 It buttons on the back yoke to fit a giant baby head inside and at the crotch, as well. I just used white buttons from a jar that I acquired somewhere.

 The whole outfit:

 I thought I was being all prompt and not procrastinating like usual when I started this last week. However, it turns out Anna had her baby a bit early this weekend, so little Grayson has already entered the world!! Yay, congrats to Anna!

It was fun to make and pretty easy. The elastic casings for the legs made absolutely no sense they way they wanted it, so I made facings and put the elastic in them. It should be super cute when he's big enough to fit in it! Also, that counts as three items of my 52 for the year... hee hee.

Congrats to Anna and Chris!

Vogue 1183- Sexy Winter Suit Set

This is my pattern, Vogue 1183 for a fitted, lined dress with an interesting waist seam detail. I made it out of leftover beige wool from Mood, which I used for my cape and the same extra cape lining, a pale pink Bemberg rayon. 

I cut out a 6, which I really need to stop doing. My ass does NOT fit in a 6. It does not. So it's a little snug through the hips. The waist and top is fine. My V on the neck does NOT look like the lady on the envelope, but I lined up the marks where I was supposed to...

Close-up of the front. I forgot to put on makeup, but my skin looks so much better than Xmas, when I was having the breakout to top all breakouts. My mommy bought me one of those Clairisonic face scrubbers and poof, I no longer look like a troll!

 The back is nice. The zipper is a smidge darker than the fabric, but it was the only one I had that was long enough. Oh well, I can live with it!

 From the side:

Now, it makes the perfect outfit with my cape. It's like sexy, retro business lady off to be important in my wool suit!

Open, to show the lining a little. Light pink for cape and dress.

Back looks good, with my cool sideways braid I made.

Pretending to be a T-Rex with my tiny armholes on the cape.

I found my car key in the pocket of the cape I wear rarely. So dumb, that would have been a screamingly frantic search before work...

 So, I am pretty happy with this outfit. I think I might wear it to school on Monday and see if the kids are feeling nice or mean.

I am going to revise my one item a week for the whole year to 52 items for the year and not be rigid about when they actually happen. I am getting married in less than two months and need to make that a priority. Making one item a week just won't happen sometimes. Though this fully lined dress did take longer than most things. Plus, I am taking a pottery class for the next five weeks learning how to use the wheel, so that will also take up some time. We shall see, but I am going to try!

January giveaway winner!

The winner of January's giveaway is Elenya Gomez! Elenya, send me your address at mollysewsblog at gmail dot com! Thanks!

Happy Friday to all!

January Giveaway!

For January, one person will win all five patterns! Leave you name and a comment by Monday, January 7th at midnight. I will mail them anywhere in the world!

I chose one from the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s, plus an extra bonus 60s pattern as I have an overabundance of them. These are all for a 32 bust. 

 Left to right: McCalls 3247, a 1970s tunic pattern in two lengths. I know you always wanted a big old caftan.
Next, Simplicity 6594, a 1960s A-line skirt pattern with optional suspenders! Oh la la!
McCalls 9049 is the extra bonus 60s pattern for a little A-line dress with a notched neckline.

On the left is Vogue Special Designs 4097 for a 1940s suit with a jacket and long, slim skirt.

For the 1950s, you have Simplicity 4330 for a simple button-down shirtwaist dress with tiny waist pleats. 

Leave a comment to enter! Thanks!

Help me choose bridesmaid fabric!!

As the time crunch to the wedding begins, I need to buy the fabric for the two bridesmaid dresses. If you recall, I am making one for Stephanie and my mom is going to make Vicky's, as they live in the same town. I have made a muslin and fitted it on Stephanie (oh of the Cambie dress pattern). I had just been putting off finding and buying fabric. Finally making time to go to Fishman's (which took no time at all due to little traffic) I was ablle to go and gawk and rub all of the fancy and delightful fabrics there. They are a little pricey, but some of the fabrics were outstanding. 

The colors are really my problem; it is a spring wedding and I chose light green and lavender as my colors. I think my level of coordination piddles out after invites and flowers, but you get the idea. I was just having a terrible time finding nice fabric in light green anywhere. I scoffed at my mom's suggestion of looking at silk dupioni two weeks ago (sorry, Mom! ) but then Fishman's had the best selection of colors that I wanted in dupioni. I think it might actually be nice. It has a little form, some texture and just a little sheen without being shiny and awful. 

I got an employee, who couldn't give two shits about me and was very cranky, to cut me some swatches. Apparently you can get 8 for free. Here are the four I chose for finalists. They are all silk dupioni in various pastels. 

 Left to right: light celery, lavender, spring green, seafoam green (on the table)

 Left to right: seafoam, spring green, lavender, celery (on white muslin for color contrast)

Left to right: celery, lavender, spring green and seafoam. (close-up)

I need to buy the fabric soon and finish the dress by the end of January, plus mail the fabric to my mom for Vicky's dress.

Help me decide, please!!!!

40/70s Split blouse

My pattern was a 1940s blouse pattern from some estate sale or another. I made the view in the center, with long sleeves and the pointy collar. This is Simplicity 4762, from the 40s it seems to me. I can't find any examples online of anyone else making it up. 

I used what was left of the crazy 70s fabric that I used for my Lonsdale maxi dress. One goal for 2013 will be making a real effort to use up all the fabric in my three drawers of the built in cabinet. I have a lot of fabric in there!

So, here is my blouse:

It is very "bold" with the crazy print. I guess I'll wear it to substitute and see if the high schoolers have any cutting remarks, since they are arbiters of fashion. I genuinely have noticed that when I wear a dress/cuter/ or more trendy outfit there are always a few students that are snottier than usual. It's weird. When I wear my black pants/ generic blouse uniform, fewer kids give me attitude. Not that this is at all scientific since I see different students every day...

Back looks like any other blouse. The waist is fitted but without pinching me like a sausage.

Derrrrrr de durr durr!

I went with the orange plastic buttons. The are so domes that I had to make giant 1" buttonholes so that they would fit. To be honest, the top buttonhole is crooked. Oops.

Overall:
1.5 yards of stash fabric
6 stash vintage buttons
1 stash pattern

I would estimate this blouse cost less than 2 dollars to make, since all of those things came from estate sales and I used a fraction of a spool of thread.

I'm hoping to sew one item a week, ending the year with about 50 new things. This counts as one, and obviously that wedding dress needs to done soon! Oh, such a procrastinator...