An “Enjoying Life Moment”

Posted on Mar 19, 2013 | 0 comments

Today’s post is going to be about nothing!  Well – not nothing, but instead of the usual sewing  discussions or the occasional rant, I decided to get off the merry-go-round and take a moment to talk about what I like to do when I choose to just enjoy life.  I would like to think that this activity is very French and so I think appropriate for this little blog site sitting in the middle of  a big blog world!

On the menu today…

Yes, you got it.  Cheese, crackers, grapes, macadamia nuts AND wine!  Wine that I made.  So there…also shared a little something more about myself – besides being a sewing artist, I am also a winemaker!

It’s been a wonderful day.  Have not cleaned my house like I should have but instead spent quality time with my daughter.  I could be sewing the buttons on the sweater, McCalls 6708, that I just finished or start sewing together the pieces that have been cut for the Simplicity 1797 dress, but hey… I need to take a brief time out, sip my glass of wine, snack on my cheese plate and just chill-lax!

Since I am writing about enjoying the moment, this may be a good time to mention the book that my son Jared surprised me with several days ago…

No…no major gift giving event.  He got it for me because he knows I love books, especially when they are about Coco Chanel.  I have had such a fascination with this woman.  Within the pages are some gorgeous pictures as well as some more tidbits that I didn’t know.

There are several dresses shown in the book that were done in the 50’s and 60’s that I love and have attempted to take pictures of to share with you.

The bodice fits the body like a glove and the full skirt flares out dramatically from the hips with horizontal layers of ruffles.

A cocktail dress made in black lace. It is boned and strapless with a trumpet-shaped skirt and triple flounce.

Coca said “Dress women in black or white at a ball.  They will catch the eye”.   Hmm.. maybe I better quit enjoying life, try to find a ball to attend and start sewing a gown!  First I need to finish my cheese and wine though!

Salut!  Jessica

The Do-Over Liberation Dress

Posted on Mar 14, 2013 | 0 comments

The “Save-your-Derriere Tool”

Have you ever decided to sew yourself something, lets say… a new spring-time looking cocktail dress that you can just imagine yourself wearing.  You then decide it would look spectacular made of this fantastic silk that just happens to cost almost $30 dollars a yard, but it’s not very often that you  buy fabric this expensive and so…you tell yourself you deserve it and BUY it!  You then hurry home and dive into the project like the world is going to end tomorrow.   As you are nearing the finish line, having sewn all the pieces together, you try it on before doing the final touches and discover that… IT DOESN’T FIT!  It turns out your butt is bigger than you thought.  You become concerned that maybe you are shaped weird in the shoulders because the neck of the bodice back looks more like a vampire collar.  AND…you discover that your boobs are actually bigger than you thought because the bodice fits more like a corset!

Okay…yes, I am talking about something I did!  I know; you are asking…why didn’t you make a muslin first.  Well…does previously making another style of dress from the same pattern count as a muslin?  I thought it did but I was WRONG.  After a number of  different tactics, I finally admitted defeat, lovingly folded the partly dismantled dress into a small square and put it away because I couldn’t bring myself to throwing away the almost $30 dollar fabric it was made out of.

That was over a year ago…my life has changed a lot since then, more than just the usual changes that life brings.  There were broken friendships, the death of a friend, end of a marriage, that feeling of ickiness  that comes when we think we may have failed.  But time has passed, healing has occurred and it now feels like it’s time to take on new challenges.  This includes that little folded up square of partly dismantled dress that is in bad need of a re-do.

My sewing courage has certainly been re-vitalized through the learning of pattern drafting that I have undertaken the last few months.  With the seam ripper in hand, and a deep breath, I set to work.

The pattern that I used was S2588, the multicolored dress on the right except with a slim fitting skirt rather than the fuller one shown.  The slim skirt is also included in the pattern and drawings of it can be seen on the lower part of the pattern envelope.

The original dress I made had side-seam pockets but they are now gone for good! The approximate 3 inches of pleats that were suppose to be in the top front of the skirt found a new home.  The side seam also moved away from the bodice side seam.  This all was done to make room for my big butt!

After making the Silhouette top with the 3/8″ seams, doing the same with this dress was a no-brainer.  I  managed to get plenty of circumference!

As for the vampire collar, I cut 5/8″ from the top of the bodice-back  which brought the neck band more in-line with my neck.

There are lots of angles and curves in the pieces that make up this dress, which makes it a bit tricky when it comes to fitting, but I took my time, did lots of hand basting with lots of  FITTINGS and I did what I set out to do.  It felt liberating to move seams, create darts and tear out unnecessary interfacing.  Here it is from the back…

Still doing some finish work, but almost done.

Buttons still need to be sewn on the tabs at the waist.

And here it is all finished!

The back…

Close-up of the side

I have named it my “Liberation” dress.  Why?  Because I felt both a sense of relief and a sense of freedom when I was making it conform to what I wanted, rather than the other way around.  No pattern instructions, just me, my creative nature and a handy-dandy seam ripper!   The side-seams are not where they usually are, but why should that matter.  Maybe the darts are not located in the correct places, but my butt has enough room so who cares!  And thank you thank you Peggy Sagers for 3/8″ seams; without them, this might not have been possible!   Yes…if we set our minds to it, there is almost always a chance for a successful red-do!

I forgot to tell you – when I saw myself wearing this dress, it was while drinking some of my favorite wine so with that, catch later, gotta go enjoy the rest of my glass of Chardonnay!

Salut!  Jessica