Primar[il]y Hideous- Simplicity 8133

I made this hideous creature using Simplicity 8133, a pattern from the 60s or 70s. Vintage pattern wiki says 1969.  I thought it would work because it was a somewhat shapeless jumper, with a sort of A-line shape. It is for a 34 bust. 

Horrifically low cut? check. Front panel curling out? check.

 The fabric is some vintage polyester I bought at an estate sale a few months ago. I don't know why I thought large, primary colors (and grey) diagonal swirls would be flattering? Yikes.

Gaping armholes? check.

 I absolutely did not have enough to match the fabric either, so the back looks awful. It was about 2 yards of 60 inch wide fabric, but one third of the way across there was a big snag that ran the ENTIRE length of the fabric. That made cutting difficult. The snag is featured on the front flap that buttons under.

LOL a facing is poking out, but could you even notice because you are blind from the print???

 It's shockingly unflattering. So gross.

This dress makes the babby sad.

Um, so that has never been worn and will be disposed of shortly. It deserves to be burned, but I don't want to smell its polyester fumes!

Disco Dress Pictures!

Andrew is back from frolicking in NY, so here are pictures of the dress on. I made the version with darts that won the poll, and it was the best choice. Thanks for your help, everyone who voted! I did an excellent job matching the stripes. It is meant to be a jumper, so it is somewhat loose. I compensated for that by hemming it into a miniskirt.

Outside a masonic cemetery by the house.
Back. It has the magical double effect of making my butt flat and my shoulders look super broad. Gee, how cute.

It is really scratchy fabric. I guess I could wear it in the fall/winter with leggings and a long sleeve black shirt under it. That would be funny.

**GIVEAWAY!!***

So, in conclusion, I am giving away the leftover fabric!! It is still a big piece, 29" by 64" and has one big stripe of hearts and one of the flowers. Probably good for a skirt or top of some kind. Polyester, somewhat stretchy, pretty scratchy. If you want it, send me an email with a suitable sob story on why you deserve it the most to mollysewsblog (at) gmail (dot) com

Last Day of School!

Today was the last day of school for the students. I survived my first year of teaching! Yay! I took some pictures, in case I feel nostalgic in the future, but for now I am just ready for summer.

The state also released their test scores yesterday, and they all did SO WELL!! I am so proud of them. 17 percent of them scored "Advanced" which is the highest ranking. That is wonderful! 89% got Basic or higher, which is what the state expects as a minimum. I am happy about that.

I have been sewing a bit too, but I'll save the pictures for the finished project. Right now they are just strewn across the table.

Here's my finished disco dress, since I never did post one!

A real photo shoot will take place when Andrew comes back from NYC...

Holy Moly!

I've made some progress on my polyester dress. Having never attempted to match stripes, I am quite pleased with my work. The off part under the armpit is because of the side-boob dart.

The pattern pieces for the facings were gone, so I made them myself. At one point I sewed one on backwards, put the other on correctly, the sat down to watch tv while picking out the wrong one. I stood up, looked at it, and realized I picked out the one that was on right. Yeah, girl!
I bought some Butterick patterns on sale at JO-Ann. Omg, I had no idea patterns cost 14-18.95 each! Jeez, who would even pay full price for that? They are all "super easy" and "easy." I could draft them myself, but these were on sale for 1.99.
I like all of these styles. The red blouse up top will be made up first in a light, white cotton. Somehow, I am going to make it button up the back. That should be easy enough.

Andrew has gone to visit his family for a week (aka abandoned me) so I bet I will get a lot of sewing done. Plus, it's the last week of school, so all I need to do is show up! Yay! Free time, how I have missed you.

French Twist

In the morning:

Last time I wore this blouse, I had my hair down and maybe 2 people commented on it. This time, I pulled it up and about a million people commented. The cute detail like the collar and ruffles are more obvious with my hair up. One of the 7th grade boys said "you look like an old-fashioned person," which is somewhat insightful for a 7th grade boy.

After school. It held up all day! What a miracle. Thanks to Elnett, the greatest hairspray on the planet. It came out in the US about a year ago and all of my magazines were raving about its magical wonders. I wanted to see if it was true, and it was! I love it! In the US, you can only buy it at Target.

It gave me curls again!


And I even got a picture of the back this time!

Anyways, sorry to be boring. I used to try to do this with my hair all the time when it was longer, and I always failed, so this is new and exciting.


Parting note:
(6th grade students of mine talking about my hair)
First one: Look, she has a French twist.
Second one: It's because she speaks French!

LOL!

Sorry about the underlining, I don't know how it did that, so I can't fix it. This weekend I am going to slap together the 70's dress. So far the darts are a go.

The public has spoken!

Well, ladies, I guess we are going with the blue version.

The plus side is the blue and grey are the same pattern, which I opened and pressed. Since they are the same piece with and without darts, I will be able to baste the darts, see if it screws up the stripes, and then go from there.

It also has a pattern for a 3/4 length blouse, which I think I will make at some later date.

Since the fabric is so stretchy, so you think I could omit a zipper and just pull it over my head?

This is OUR dress now, so feel free to chime in with advice and judgement! :)

Also, Andrew and I just made a new raised bed in the back yard and planted green beans. It's now pouring, so maybe I'll have pictures tomorrow!