DKNY Vogue 1160 as Little Black Dress

Posted on Oct 19, 2014 | 3 comments

It looks like summer is about over here in Oregon. How do we know this… it’s raining! And when it starts, it seems like it never stops. But the good news… this is when I find myself sitting at my sewing machine quite regularly, forgetting the cold wet dreary weather outside and focusing on what I can create to wear that will pick-up my mood through the winter months.  I think bears have it made! They just hunker-down in a cave and sleep until the sun comes back out.  However, it’s hard for me to to picture myself hunkering down in a cave… well I do love to sleep, but I’m a social creature who loves to spend time with family and friends, love my wine drinking activities and don’t want to miss out on any fun stuff! Hmm… Better re-think the hibernation business.  One thing for sure though, I will definitely continue to cling to my Little Black Dress mode because the LBD makes me think of the warm summer evenings, sipping wine or champagne, laughing, eating and dancing the night away!

This is where the sound of a needle dragging across a vinyl record is heard…..and a voice in the distance crying out “BACK to EARTH JESS!  Ahem…. So — the point to my ramblings is that I am ready to share my new LBD I made using the DKNY Vogue 1160 pattern.  I had fun making it!  Well… most of it was fun… except for all the “n-a-r-r-0-w” hems… especially on the slip that is cut on the bias.  But this too I eventually conquered and I think will not be as big a deal with future projects.  Most of the seams are “french seams” so plan to use lots of thread!

Recommended fabrics are Chiffon or Georgette for the dress and Silk Twill or Charmeuse for the slip.  Definitely jumped ship at this point.  For the dress, I used a rather stretchy mesh. Why?! Well because it’s polka dots, it’s sheer enough to see the slip underneath, it’s black… and because it’s just plain cool!

The dots are not much larger than a dime!

The sleeves are an interesting design, but unfortunately my picture could not really capture what’s going on. Nonetheless, here it is.

The bodice midriff piece is suppose to be lined with the same fabric as the dress, but I chose to use China Silk because I didn’t want all the seams to show.

There is a side zipper which fortunately isn’t real long, 7 ” inches to be exact!  Kind of a pain because of the fabric I used.

So I was zipping along, making good progress, though all the while thinking… there’s a LOT of skirt to hem… in a “n-a-r-r-0-w” hem.  Don’t get me wrong, the skirt is really neat.  It’s a little shorter in the front than the back… but there is a lot of gathered fabric that creates it!  I never measured it, didn’t want to know!  When I finally made it to the hemming step, I had concluded there was only one way to take on this bad girl!  I was gonna do a “rolled” hem!  Do I know how to do this.  NO!  Not really!  But one of my ASG (American Sewing Guild) friends, Suzanne, shared a most awesome link with our group that was gonna save my butt!

What’s a hand sewn rolled hem?  Watch this video and you will see!  This is a gem done by Ami Simms, who is a quilter, teacher, author and fellow blogger, who has most graciously allowed me to share it with you.

Pretty nifty huh!  And here is a picture of my “rolled” hem.  I know you can’t really see the stitching, but truthfully, I couldn’t either!  That’s mesh for you!

Yes, I did use Silk Charmeuse for the slip and overall, it went smoothly.  Admittedly there was a wee bit of hair pulling but I persevered!

The straps which I call “spaghetti” straps (cuz that’s what I learned growing up) were really really really easy to do with Charmeuse!  This fabric has lots of “slippage capability”!   Yes, it slips when cutting it, it slips when sewing it, it slips when “n-a-r-r-0-w” hemming it! But don’t be afraid.  We must dive into pits of horror to learn that we CAN get out!  And it makes us better sewers!

I contemplated not doing a photo shoot with me as the model and using Phoebe instead.  She’s so easy to work with.  Just hangs around and doesn’t talk back!  Phoebe is my full bodied dress form for anyone wondering what in the world I’m talking about.  I sometimes wonder if I come across as narcissistic, with all the pictures of myself.  Truly I’m not, I am actually quite camera shy and so it usually takes a glass of wine to put my mind at ease.  Okay… you figured me out.  I guess photo shoots are wine drinking opportunities!   Well, on with the show!

Moi in my LBD!

See how the back is a little longer than the front.

The back of course!

Cheers to another photo shoot!

Right around the corner is one of my favorite times of year… Halloween!  To everyone sewing costume(s)… I raise my glass to you.  This is when the artist in each of us gets to really shine!  I am presently working on mine like a mad fool in order to get it done pre-Halloween and posted to share with you.  Be back soon!

Salut!  Jessica

Butterick 5919 with Petticoat

Posted on Sep 19, 2014 | 2 comments

The photo above is me during a hockey game I was playing in last week.  Mind you, at the moment it was taken, I wasn’t sure if I was going to skate off the ice when the game was over, or have to be carried off on a stretcher from total exhaustion.  I took a break from hockey for a few months so being in game shape I am not!  My options are to either adjust or bail and since I’m not a quitter, somehow I will endure!

So what’s the point of this image?  Please note the orange jersey over the 10 lbs. of gear.  First of all, the orange is a horrid shade, is not my color and I did not choose it! My apologies to whom it may concern.  And good-by to any idea that I might be a female! Feeling like I look pretty?  NOT!   After an hour and half on the ice sweating profusely with a bunch of guys also doing the same, when I leave the smelly locker room, I mentally return to my pink fluffy unicorns and glitter mind palace,  envisioning myself wearing a dress! Truly, I do love to play hockey but this is one reason why I like to sew dresses for myself.  So that being said, now I want to share with you a really cute one that I’ve finally finished.

I first saw it last year on a Burda Style web page and no where could I find who the pattern maker was.  Then on a pattern shopping day this last spring, you know, when you can buy 5 for $5.00, there it was, Butterick 5919 in their book and I knew I had to make it. It looks a little retro with the boat-neck and large peter pan type collar with a poofy skirt.  Being short like I am, it’s maybe not the best style for me to wear but… I really liked it, it was pretty and so I was making it!

This was a design that definitely required a muslin.  There was no way I was going to start chopping on the very beautiful fine cotton that I discovered at Mill Ends nor the silk that I chose to line it with until I did a practice run. Below is a picture of the fabric.  I choose it from a selection the fabric store called the Downton Abbey collection.  Get this… my choice of print was one of those thought characteristic of  “granny” played by Maggie Smith.  Hmm… I’m not talking anymore about this!

I ended up making 3 muslins of just the bodice before I was ready to make the dress.  Why three?  Well, it started off the way it should. I made the usual fitting adjustments and discovered when putting it on that the gathered bustline (see in picture below) didn’t feel right nor look right on me.  It felt way too high!  At least that was my opinion and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Just to clarify, I have made so many dresses for myself that much of the time I don’t make a complete muslin because I have the feel for knowing what I need in circumference for my waist and hips and find it easy to adjust the bodice to those measurements.  Plus, it’s less work!  However, if I was sewing something really special, I would make a full muslin.

So Anyhoos, I’m pretty sure I was having a “derp” moment when I started making my 2nd muslin.  I tweaked and adjusted the pattern pieces in order to drop the bustline and that’s when it happened!  Thank goodness it was a muslin.  I got to looking at my 2nd set of pattern pieces that I traced from the originals which included my new pattern changes and that’s when I saw the boo boos!  Feeling totally frustrated, I quit working on the dress for several weeks… or more!  When I once again felt the wind back in my sails, I broke out the tracing paper and then created muslin number three.  Yeah!  this time it worked and feeling happy and pleased, I was ready to make my dress!

Since I’ve already shared with you the “Happy” song by Pharrell Williams to express my happiness, I decided this time I would share this lovely postcard.

Postcards from Marseille, https://www.flickr.com/photos/jok22

It was fun sewing this dress because it had such a neat design.  I did discover however that when sewing the bodice to the bodice lining, sewing the armholes first before the neck, opposite of the pattern instructions, made it easier to check that the sleeves didn’t need any fixing!  For me, one sleeve was error free and the other I needed to fix a tiny imperfection that I didn’t like.  This would have been harder to do if the neck had already been sewn.  If you make this dress, you will totally understand what I’m talking about!  Here is a view of the collar and one sleeve on the finished bodice.

The upper back opening at the neckline closes with a single button and thread loop.  An afterthought… maybe an elastic loop?

Of course, the back has the center cut-out which is why I thought this design was so cool!

This is the front of the bodice.  You can see the collar but unfortunately the gathers at the bustline are not easily seen due to the type of print on the fabric.

It is printed on the Butterick 5919 pattern envelope that the model in the picture is wearing a petticoat with the dress.   This got me to thinking. I had just bought a McCall’s skirt pattern recently that included a petticoat, option  F.

McCall’s 6706

Before making it up, I wasn’t so certain that it was worth the trouble.  Gathering petticoat netting!  Yuck!  It was actually not too bad though.  I used black tricot and black petticoat netting and for some pretty, I chose this pink lingerie elastic.

I did discover a minor problem with the construction.  The instructions have you sew the seam that connects the gathered netting to the upper section on the inside.  I think it should have been on the outside.  Why do I know this?  Because when I wear it inside out… it doesn’t scratch!

Well, here’s my black petticoat, right-side out for the moment.  It’s really not much to look at…

But when I wear it under my dress… it makes a difference!

The back is a lot of why I wanted to make this dress.

This is without the petticoat and there is a difference in how the skirt hangs!

Go Petticoat!

Yes… it’s champagne, not wine!  What am I celebrating?  Well… I think being alive, feeling pretty, and happy that I get to write about my wacky sewing adventures with you!

Salut!  Jessica