Sew Chic Tia Dress

To brighten up this dreary day, a sunny floral dress!

I absolutely fell in love when I saw this version of the Tia Dress Pattern from Sew Chic. 

Look how bright she looks in all that fog!  It's like a ray of flowery sunshine!

The pattern back from Sew Chic

I loved everything, the vintage cut, the large florals, the sweetheart neckline.  So, of course, I had to make my own version!  I already had some lovely, similar cotton floral in my stash from Fabric.com with bias tape from JoAnn Fabric.  I did decide to slightly stray from my inspiration, so instead of using red as the contrast, I used turqoise.

Here's my version!

The Front of the Dress.

I learned a little too late that Sew Chic's sizing includes very little, if any, wearing ease!  I cut out the size I measured out to, which was about a 4.  I ended up having to take out both side seams at least a quarter of an inch.  It still looks darling on, but now I know to pay attention next time I sew a Sew Chic pattern!

The Back of the Dress

Detail of the Front

Interestingly, even though the dress as a whole was a bit too small, the bust pieces had to be taken in.  What I mean is the two seams that split each boob in half had to be taken in.  It was fairly easy to do and not completely unexpected for my endearingly boyish figure.  

Pocket Detail

 I really enjoy the pockets, but putting on the blue bias tape absolutely mystified me.  I don't know if I was just having a blonde moment or what, but I could not figure it out for the life of me.  I ended up doing one pocket and then finally realized what I did wrong.  Oh well!

Detail of sleeve

 The the sleeves were a little too small, too.  Once again, if I had made a larger size...

Detail of the zipper

I have to admit, this zipper has brought me no honor.  Obviously, not my finest work.  To be fair, I'm pretty sure both my sewing machine and fabric had a vendetta against me the day I tried to put it in.  Nothing was cooperating!  And I hate regular zippers (INVISIBLE ZIPPERS FOR LYFE, YO). And my fabric was probably a little too thick (it was almost canvas weight).  What can I say, I lived, I learned.

Overall, I would still recommend this pattern for those of us who actually read directions (unlike my lovely, direction-skipping self).  It turned out beautifully despite all the errors on my part.  Make sure to take into account the amount of ease you have and don't use fabric that's too thick!

Until next time!

The Gretchen

Burda 6969 - Summer Dress

In honor of throw-back Thursday, a blog post dedicated to my stellar skillz in procrastination!

But actually.  If there was a procrastination olympics I'd be a gold medalist.  But that can wait until later.

Anyways, a while back I started AND finished Burda 6969.  I apologize, the link doesn't go to the Simplicity site where I originally found it, it goes to PatternReview.com (but it can also be purchased there, if you so choose).  As a side note, I've been having some problems accessing Simplicity Pattern's new website.  I can't seem to open in it google chrome on either my computer or phone.  It seems weird, but maybe my electronics are finally revolting against me and this is their first step towards taking over the world.  Who knows.

But I digress.  Here is a picture of the pattern:



And here is my version!

I am SO proud of how I got the black dots centered!!

I will say that I am not entirely pleased with how it turned out from the side.  I felt that maybe it was a bit too wide in the waist.  It floats away from my midsection, making me look a tad bit like a cocoon.  The times I have worn this dress, I added a black belt to give it more shape.

The back.  Also very proud of centering the dots here!

LOOK AT HOW MATCHED UP THEY ARE.  If pride is a sin, I apologize, but LORD look at that!

Detail of the front keyhole.

 I do find the keyhole very endearing, but I wish it wasn't quite as low on my bust.  Actually, the whole neckline sits very low.  I have to be very careful with how I lean forward in this dress!  I attempted to shorten the straps, but I also didn't want to unduly restrict my arm movement (gotta be free if If want to retain my status as an honorary pterodactyl).

A zoomed out shot of the front.  Just in case you forgot what it looks like.

Overall, this pattern was not very difficult.  I didn't bother making any adjustments or muslins because I knew it wouldn't be very fitted.  If I were to make it again, I think I would make a muslin to fix the low cut nature and the bubbly-ness of the waist.  But it's great if you want a quick project and are cool with belting it!

The fabric I used is a silk from Hancock Fabrics.  It was not quite opaque enough to retain my modesty and the eyelets were little peep-holes, so I ended up lining the whole dress.  The pattern doesn't call for it, but it was easy to add (just to the front and the back, no need to do the straps).

Until next time!

The Gretchen

Burda 7057 Dirndl/Halloween/Sound of Music Madness!

FALL FALL FALL FALL FALL!!!

Can you tell I'm a wee bit excited for the season?  There's just so much to enjoy about it!  In addition to all the pumpkin flavored everythings and the excuse to wear every sweater I own simultaneously, sewing's favorite holiday is just around the corner - Halloween!

When else do I get to make completely impractical clothing I'll only wear once?  Well, I actually do that on a regular basis, but now I can acknowledge it and have fun with it!!  And this year I decided to take a little inspiration from one of my favorite musicals, The Sound of Music.

Having short blonde hair, I naturally thought I should dress up as Maria Von Trapp.  But on closer examination, I realized that my favorite singing nun's movie portrayal had a less than glamorous wardrobe.  I wasn't exactly keen on making exact reproductions of such costumes as this:

Iconic? Yes. Glamorous? No.

I know it may seem a little silly, but I decided if I was going to sew a whole costume it should at least be a bit more... well, more!  But there are some costumes I love, such as the ones Maria made out of the drapes for the children.

I always wondered why Maria didn't make one for herself... they're just so cute!

I was also inspired by the made-for-tv movie version of The Sound of Music and the dirndl-style dresses Carrie Underwood wore as Maria.  The original will forever be my favorite, but dang were her costumes cute!

So, I decided to create the hypothetical situation in which Maria did create her own "curtain dress" but in the style of a dirndl because... well, because I can!  

I chose Burda 7057 to create my Maria/dirndl/curtain:

Specifically, view B,D,F

I then went on a hunt online to find some accurate-ish drapery fabric, but to no avail.  I found some cottons that were almost passable but they didn't have large enough patterns for my taste.  In the end I decided to choose a completely different fabric that was drapery weight.  This was my final choice, purchased from Hancock Fabrics:

I was extremely please with the quality of the fabric, plus it's got a lovely sheen!

My mother purchase the white cotton I used, so I am not altogether sure where it is from (JoAnn's perhaps?)  but I greatly enjoy how soft and flowing it is.  I did end up lining the undershirt bodice due to its sheer nature, but that was easy enough to accomplish.

This is my final product:

The Front of the Dress

Detailing of the front bodice

 I used some brown ribbon I had lying around for the laces. I may change it later, but they serve well for now.

Burda 7057 Front Detail

 I chose not to use stabilizer on the bodice as the fabric was already quite stiff; if you were to use a lighter-weight fabric I would definitely use it, though!

Just in case you forgot what the front looked like...

 I omitted the detailing around the collar of the dirndl because I thought my fabric was too heavy to make it.  That, and I'm lazy, haha.

Back of the dress; note that the neckline of the dirndl is lower than that of the blouse in the back.

 If you're new to dirndls, you might want to know that the under-shirt is usually only half a shirt, meaning that it comes down just below the bust and not to the waist.

Detail of the back

Since I was using a symmetrical damask, I spent a bit of time making sure that the panels of the front and back mirrored each other (As in, the right panels all mirrored the left panels).  If you do use a one way designed fabric, make sure to note that you will be cutting half of it upside-down if you follow the suggested pattern layout.

I'm also not exactly sure where the hooks I used were purchased from, but I know someone on Etsy sells them.  They were a bit hard to find at my normal fabric stores, so I'll be sure to figure out where I got them!

*FITTING*
For me, fitting this pattern was really easy.  I cut it out the size I measured out to (10 in Burda) and didn't have to alter anything!  I have found that Burda fits me really well, so I normally have very few fitting issues and this pattern was not exception.  The only thing I might say is that I could have maybe made it wider in the shoulders, but my shoulders are pretty broad and the puffiness of the sleeves makes up for the space I would need anyways.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed making this pattern.  It looks and fits wonderfully and wasn't too difficult to put together!  It took me approximately 2 complete days of work to piece it all together (which translates to 2 whole seasons of Downton Abbey, or approximately 15 hours)  and it took me about 2-3 hours to cut out (I cut out slowly!).  In total, the whole process was about 18 hours long.  Keeping that in mind, I would recommend this pattern for an intermediate sewer as it is a bit of a time commitment and there is some fiddley hand-sewing.

If you're interested in seeing a more faithful interpretation of Sound of Music costumes, I would highly recommend Edelweiss Patterns!  She made an absolutely lovely version of Liesl's curtain dress that also served as inspiration for my creation.

I cannot wait to wear my dress on Halloween and I hope you have an impractically fun (and sewing) filled fall!

But first, ME in the dress!

Until next time!

-The Gretchen

Burda 7056 - Lilly Pulitzer Inspired

Ever heard of Lilly Pulitzer?  Haha, well, I'm sure it has run across many people's radar, especially when Target started carrying its limited edition Lilly Pulitzer line that sold out within hours.  Needless to say, the brand's bright and cheery aesthetic are quite popular!

I don't know if I could pull of such a sun-shiney look everyday, but I was inspired by the summery feel it embodies.  So, instead of pinching my pennies to save up for one of the iconic frocks, I decided to make my own!  

I was inspired specifically by vintage Lilly Pulitzer:

From Pink Clouds blog

Modern Lilly Pulitzer maxi dresses:

From Neiman Marcus

From the Lilly Pulitzer website

And exposed zippers!

I love the subtle hint of gold!  This is the Lilly Pulitzer Penelope Shift Dress (no longer available online).

I already owned Burda 7056, and I loved thought the maxi dress in view C would work perfectly:

I actually love all the views in this pattern, it was hard to just pick one!

So I got to work, and this is what I came up with:

The front

The dress turned out less form-fitting than I thought it would be, giving a very column-like shape.  But I have to say, the simplicity of it grew on me!  I appreciate how the simple design balances out the colorful, busy pattern of the fabric.

The back zipper

There are a couple ways to put in an exposed zipper, but I chose Keightly Studio's tutorial.  Their version exposes only a bit of the sides (rather than laying the zipper completely on the outside) and includes top-stitching.

I truly wish I could put an exposed zipper on everything I make, but they can be quite pricey!  I bought this zipper from Hancock Fabrics and it is normally sold for $20, although I purchase it with a coupon :-P

And for funsies, more of my zipper (I'm so in love with it!):

Close up of the top of the zipper.

Close up of the bottom of the zipper

 This pattern was extraordinarily easy to sew and I would highly recommend it to any sewist, beginning or otherwise.  Truly, the hardest part was installing the exposed zipper and I elected to do that myself!

I chose to do the dress in a lovely cotton by Tina Givens (unfortunately not sold online! But you can occassionally find her fabric listed on Fabric.com and Etsy).  The cotton was easy to work with but has ended up driving me a little crazy with wrinkling (especially after sitting in the dress)!  If I made it again, I would use a more wrinkle-resistant material and with perhaps a little less structure.

As a fitting note, I ended up taking in the sides near my hips, making that area 1 to 2 sizes smaller than was originally cut out.  The dress was a bit too tent-like for my taste at first, but I believe part of that was how it was designed.  Either way, altering it is easy as the seams are quite simple!

Well, that's all I have!  If you have any questions, input, or comments, let me know!

Until next time,

-The Gretchen

Simplicity 1250 Finished at last!

It. Is. Finished.

Well, actually, it's been finished... but I've also been lazy.

My planning post is here and my constructing post is here, both from waay back when, but there's no time in the internet, right?

And, as a reminder, here is the original pattern (which you can also find online here):

Simplicity 1250 Pattern

But putting procrastination in the past, I present to you, my 2014 CHRISTMAS DRESS!!! YAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

The front w/jacket, not too shabby, eh?

Dress w/jacket detail

Dress w/jacket back

Ta-Da!  The front of the dress.

As you can see the peplum is attached to the dress itself, not the jacket.

The Back!

I did wear a petticoat under this dress (but not too floofy!).  I fioud it looked a bit more complete with it and balanced out my top half better.

Dress Bust Detail

The bust is pleated... yeah, that's all you really need to know.

Jacket Front

SO MANY BUTTONS.  I actually did not finish the buttons in time for the Christmas service I was singing at, so I ended up wearing the jacket without any.  I don't think anyone noticed, haha.  But I did go back since I had already bought all of them, and put every stinkin' shiny gold button on.  I love it, but it was a lot of labor (a labor of love?).

Jacket Back

Jacket Detailing

And for funsies, here is my inspiration and my finished product:

McQueen lookin' mean...

...versus fifties flirty fluff!

Mine is pretty tame, haha, but I'm also pretty proud of it!

Anyways, on to the nitty gritty (or what I can remember of it).  I covered most of this in my fitting/cutting out post, but there was at least one thing I wanted to add.  Match up the plaid on the sides.  Do it.  Not what I did (I forgot?).  I was very naughty.  Do as I say, not as I do, right?

As an overall review of the pattern, I really do love how it turned out.  However, I recollect that it was quite a bit of work and kind of fussy (BUTTONS, button loops, bias facings, boning, plaid - although the plaid mayy have been my fault...).  I cannot say I recommend the pattern for a beginning sewer, but maybe an average/mid skilled sewer who won't mind a little extra fiddley-ness.  And someone with a bit of time; it's definitely no walk-away dress!

Well, that's all I can think to say about it, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Until next time,

-The Gretchen