Restricting the bask to directly under the heat lamp.Filed under: Fixed it, Gifted it, Sewed it | Tags: binding, button, dress, Hong Kong finish, skirt, tiered, tutorial, twirl
The top of the twirliest, pinkest Christmas dress is done! According to pattern, too.
Look at those bound seams. Topstitching. Pintucks. Mmm hmm. I went nice and slow, with only the pressure last weekend of finishing the top. Now to add a twirly twirly skirt, with help from this tutorial.
And a button from the old button box.
I wanted to use a stray, if there was a good one, instead of breaking up a set. Here’s the stray bag emptied out onto the little bodice.
And the finalists. I think the little red one with the eye on the back’s going to win. Though the orange on with the circles makes me want to start something it could go on.
Filed under: Love it, Sewed it | Tags: company, movie, Rosalind Russell, sewing, UHF
I finished the top of my niece’s fuschia(!) Christmas dress, according to pattern. I took forever and a lot of care, binding the seam allowances and carefully topstitching. Since I always want to finish(!) projects(!) already(!), I promised myself I would only do the top last weekend.
Even better, I didn’t print out the tiered skirt tutorial so there’d be no temptations.
EVEN better, a kooky movie starring Rosalind Russell as Mother Superior was on the old UHF — Where Angels Go, Troubles Follow.
Hip shindigs, mod dresses, nuns looking fabulous and learning about modernity…
How is Rosalind *so* glam in a black habit?
No se. Has to be the sunglasses?
I love mindless movies to sew by — Svengoolie’s selections being my favorite. A good radio story works, too. A little Sewing By Nancy on PBS? Music’s ok sometimes, but I prefer a story.
Does anybody else sew to anything in particular? Songs, movies, TV? Silence?
Filed under: Gifted it, Sewed it | Tags: Christmas, corduroy, cotton, dress, fabric, Gaffney's, niece, pink
Sigh. The reason I started selling clothes online at all was precisely to sell off all the pink vintage clothing I found. Stuff that was so beautiful, but pink. No sir, I don’t like it.
So of course, my niece, whose Christmas dress I make every year, chose p-i-n-k this time. In my favorite fabric store ever, during our special trip, just girls, she swept past teal velour, purple velvet, silvery knit and plunked her finger squarely on a hot pink baby corduroy.
With glitter, see?.
Efforts to push the dusty rose (and gray) taffeta were promptly denied.
So this dress will be hot pink. And super twirly.
Since Gaffney’s is amazing, I grabbed up out of the quarter bin (not the yardage, the price) a chunk of this cotton that might make the bindings.
Close enough? I know it hardly screams “holiday”. But neither does pink.
Filed under: Fixed it, Refashioned it, Sewed it, Thrifted it | Tags: blouse, dart, Hong Kong finish, purple, refashion, silk, thrifted
My purple obsession is bordering on…obsessive. I am heeding advice to stock up while everyone thinks purple’s all fresh and trendy, for the days when my love is finally left alone.
Grabbed up a size 22 shell at the thrifts for $2. It’s a beautiful purple color and it’s pure silky silk.
The neck has some great details, too. There used to be an invisible zipper up the side — no more. I thought this was going to be a simple fix – pull in the sides, pin, baste, sew. And you know I love refitting giant tops to fit me because of the resulting long length and the de facto cap sleeves.
Alas, some pesky darts got in the way. My refashions are sometimes lazy. I didn’t want to rehem anything or refinish any edges. So I ended up making darts on my own to pull up the slack so the front matched the back at the armhole and hem.
Took three tries to get it right. Here’s one of the mistakes
I kept trying very long darts that went along the bias and were hard to sew. Unclear why – had some impression from a vintage pattern it was the way to go.
In the end, wide, straight darts ended up working right.
Tried out a Hong Kong finish on the edges to keep it all smart looking, cutting the tape from the side scraps. So little waste!
And now I have a new silk blouse.
That’s so ready for a stretchy purple sequined belt.
Filed under: Fixed it, Gifted it, Love it, Sewed it | Tags: Christmas, dress, pattern, present, tiers, tutorial, twirl
The same little girl who got these dresses for her and her mom gets a custom Christmas dress every year made by her faraway aunt. I figure if I can’t spend time with her, I’ll spend time on her. And twirly dresses are super fun. Best part of all: We’ll get to take a trip to Gaffney’s together next weekend where she’ll get to pick whatever fabric she wants.
Kiddo wants something like this, the Love To Twirl. In green. I haven’t yet seen an exact pattern, with tiers starting right under your shoulders, but I found these two Simplicity patterns on sale at the JoJo that I think could work. How don’t I already have anything close?
So 2711 is for wovens and 2943 (Project Runway for kids now?!) for knits.
I think the trick’s going to be getting the upper body to fit her, then to chop the bodice high and start adding tiers. This tutorial should come in handy.
