80s Summer Dress!

The 80s dress! I first made this dress in 1987 out of dusty pink cotton fabric (remember dusty pink and country blue?) and I remember wearing the dress to get my driver’s license renewed. I couldn’t believe how old I was. Heh.

This time around, I changed the sleeves. I wanted an 80s style dress, but I have to be careful of some cuts of sleeves that simply do not look good on my shoulders. I raised the arm hole and drafted a new sleeve pattern for a simple short sleeve rather than the straight bands that acted as sleeves in the original.

I had in my possession exactly twelve burgundy buttons—the perfect amount for this dress--and they complimented the fabric.

I had to re-mark the buttonholes because I lowered the neckline, so I was very glad I didn't make said buttonholes prior to discovering I had to lower the neckline.

Maybe it’s the painter coming out in me, but I love this fabric. It’s a rayon challis called Van Gogh. I like the colors, the splashes, the way it feels. 

Confession—I tried to put in shoulder pads to get that 80s feel,  however, the shoulders were too narrow. So I’m padless.

Surprise!

I asked my husband why he kept this shot, which is kind of funky and he said he thought it showed the dress off well. And so it does. And now my attempt at the pattern pose.

I think I hurt myself.

Revisions: No End in Sight

The Writing

I should get my editor's notes soon and that will probably send me in a different direction than I'm going right now. It's amazing what another pair of eyes can do for the process. Meanwhile, I'm writing away, raising the stakes, increasing tension, generally torturing my characters and having a good time.

The Sewing

I'm still working on the 80s summer dress, which is fine, since the weather has taken a turn for the worse and I don't think I'll wear it until next week at the earliest. I was hoping the apricot blossoms would be on the tree for the photos, but they've been deeply offended by cold. Maybe there'll still be few this weekend.

I’m a silk organza underlining newbie, so I wasn’t certain what to do about the organza feeling all prickly and itchy at the unfinished edges of the sleeve and where I trimmed the darts. I decided to try to encase the seams in bias tape. I was concerned that it might add bulk to the sleeve area, but it didn’t. If anything it seemed to support the area.  I also enclosed the trimmed darts and, violà, no more itchy edges. I've probably broken some sewing rule, but it works.

I hung my dress for 48 hours so that the bias part of the skirt would stretch before hemming (rather than after). As you can see the bias stretched almost three inches.

I did, however, run into one small problem while hemming *sigh*. Do you see where the pink lace hem tape ends? And guess who didn't have another package?

Talk about a rookie error. For the record, even though 3 yards of hem tape sounds like enough to hem one summer dress, check measurements before starting to sew. 

This hemming cloud turned out to have a silver lining, however.  My local variety store didn't have this color of hem tape, so I ordered the tape online. To justify the cost of postage (which was more than the cost of the tape) I had to add additional items to my cart. I so love adding additional items to my cart. I bought covered button kits and a zipper and four yards of daffodil yellow Bemberg to line the 60’s coat and shift I plan to make next. 

Since the coat fabric is nectarine, one of the Pantone Spring 2013 colors, I now have to enter the Sewing Pattern Review Pantetone Color Contest, right?  I hadn't planned to enter because I had no lining. Problem solved thanks to not checking the length of my hem tape before starting to sew.

The contest deadline is April 30^th, but I think I can get a coat and a shift done by that time.  Wish me luck. Another deadline. Yay!

Revisions: Sewing and Writing

The Writing/Sewing
It's revision time. Revisions are my favorite part of writing and my least favorite part of sewing. I think that's because in sewing, there's a chance of getting it right the first time. That rarely happens in writing.

As I think about it, though, people who design patterns go through the same process as writers--they come up with an idea, attempt to execute it, analyze, tweak--or in some cases throw the entire project out and start over--then analyze, tweak again, etc, until it's right. I guess the pattern drafters and designers take care of that first draft and it's up to us to revise to fit our personal situation.

One thing I've learned about writing is to not get too carried away with details in the first draft because there is an excellent chance that I'll have to toss all those details out when I change or cut scenes. I have yet to learn that lesson in sewing. When I made the 80s summer dress this week, I was so happy with the muslin that I decided to do some of the finishing work before trying on the final draft. I neglected to think about soft drapy rayon challis being a wee bit different than crisp ironed muslin. So I confidently under stitched facings and tacked them down as I went. I even sewed the back neck facing to the organza underlining. Thank goodness I didn't put in the twelve buttonholes.

When I tried on the dress and realized that I had to take in the sides a good half inch and that the neckline was awkwardly high (I still don't know how that happened) I really wished I'd saved those finishing details for later, like I do when I write. I also really wish I'd taken photos, but it was 10 pm and I was in the Ack! Must fix immediately! phase of my process. I got out the quick unpick--I just learned that term from Sewaholic and love it--and started unpicking.the stitching on the facings. One thing led to another and I finished fixing the sides and the neckline around 11 pm. Then I thought about photos. Maybe that's the writer coming out in me. I rarely let anyone see my struggles on paper. I fix them and then let people read my words.

So that's where I am--revising the book and redoing the finishing details that I shouldn't have done in the first place on my dress. I'll post photos soon.