New Housedress for Mama R

Stash busting 2014:  Style 4666

Fabric:  2 metres 

Zipper:  55 cm (22 inch) invisible zipper

This pattern has been part of Mama R's pattern stash since I was a wee little lass. It is cut so I'm sure that she had stitch this up back in the day. The pattern, Style 4666 (circa 1974), has a slightly lowered neckline, curved front darts, back invisible zipper and short sleeves with sleeve bands in contrasting fabric.  

I did have to alter the pattern for more ease in the mid-section. It worked but I could add a bit more ease. Something to note for next time. I could also have lowered the finished height of the dart. The lowered neckline, neck and sleeve bands are my favourite features of this dress. The neck band and facing remind me of the detail found in the Sybil Connolly dress I recently made. I'll admit that the more time I spend sewing patterns from the seventies the more in awe I am with the attention to detail that is found in what seems to be simple patterns.  

The yellow and blue print fabric has been in my stash for a few years. It is a 100% cotton and I picked it up while it was on sale with no specific project in mind. The blue contrasting fabric is another 100% cotton fabric that I picked up as a contrasting fabric for the Sybil Connolly dress. I can't believe that I was able to squeeze the band and facing pieces out of the left-over piece. I was just barely able to do this!

Mama R requested pockets of course. I just wish that I had enough contrasting blue fabric left to add to the pockets in some way. Even without the contrasting trim I'm pleased with the result. And more importantly, Mama R is please with her new housedress.   

The invisible zipper was also stash busted. I pressed the zipper coils open before I taped it to the dress with basting tape and sewed it in place. It makes a world of difference in the final result.

I'll try to snap a photo of Mama R in her new dress this week. She looks great in the yellow and blue floral print. Until then, happy sewing!  

Finally!

It finally made it onto the bookstore shelves!

And I picked up a copy after work. I'm thrilled that folks at Vogue interviewed and wrote an article on historian Professor Linda Przybyszewski. I first heard about her when CBS ran a story on a course she was teaching at Norte Dame. She's an astute observer of changing trends. She has a new book, The Lost Art of Dress that came out late last month. How did I miss this? No worries since I have a few books on the go right now.  

I mentioned that I'm reading The Coat Route and some folks have asked about the book. I'm not yet finished it but I promise to write a book review when I'm done. I will tell you that Tim Gunn gave it a glowing review on the back cover, "[t]his book educates and inspires. I couldn't put it down!" I have to agree, it is a tough book to put down. It is about the creation of a "bespoke" coat and how it came to be. I don't want to say too much just yet because my opinion this far might be premature. So far it is full of details that I just want to re-read to make sure I didn't miss anything. At this point in the book, I'm quite enjoying the read.

Too much I think. You see, Mama R's dress, Style 4666, is sitting on the dress form waiting for facings and sleeves and instead I want to save some time this evening for a few more pages of The Coat Route. My bad. I hope to have the dress finished by the end of the week.  

Well, on that note, good evening and Happy Sewing!

In Sewing News Today...

Do you remember the spring coat that I made last year? The one that took forever to sew with all those bound seams and mind-bending shoulder pleats. 

I wore that coat on Friday while I was out and about when a woman stopped me. She was a complete stranger.  

"I want to tell you that's a fabulous coat," she said.  

That has never happened to me before. It took me off-guard as I thanked her. And as quickly as she stopped to speak to me, she disappeared into the crowd of mall shoppers. With the short exchange of words, she totally made my day with her compliment.  

Now before you think I was at the mall falling off the RTW Faster band-wagon, I wasn't. I didn't even look at ready-to-wear clothing. I actually stopped at the mall to see if the bookstore had the latest issue (June/July) of the Vogue Pattern magazine. 

My disappointment that it still is not available in stores was fixed with a charity book sale in the mall. There I found two sewing books to fill the void, Slacks Fitting Book by Nancy Zieman and Designer Techniques Couture Tips for Home Sewing by Kenneth D. King.

I'm thrilled to have these in my sewing library. I picked them up for a song and they are in perfect condition. As matter of fact, the Slacks Fitting Book even comes with an uncut pattern. It was a great start to the weekend.

Sewing-wise I'm sticking to my Me-Made-May challenge to sew items for other people with a vintage dress pattern for Mama R. This pattern, Style 4666, is from Mama R's pattern stash, circa 1974. I love the curved darts in the front. If it turns out, I might enter it in the vintage contest over at Pattern Review. It is in the pattern alteration and cutting stage at the moment.

I did stop off at the fabric store in search of lining fabric for the white printed and embroidered linen wrap dress that I want to make in this fabric.

There was supposed to be a 40% off sale. The sale did not include lining fabrics. And I can't believe the price of lining fabric so I picked up a white lightweight satin instead. Much easier on the wallet. I tell you the sacrifices you have to make by picking up a gorgeous satin fabric for lining.

My sewing machine is taking a bit of a break as I have found it difficult to put this book down. Yup, Mama R's dress should be half way done but this is a really interesting book.

And yes, The Kite Runner is also on the back-burner right now.

Well, that is all in sewing news today. Happy Sewing!

Me-Made-May '14: End of the Week Re-cap

Thursday, May 1st

Me-made items:  1
Grey wool and cashmere pants, Vogue 1325

Store bought items: 8
Grey turtleneck sweater, black jacket, black spring coat, grey socks undergarments, pj bottoms and pj top.

Footwear and Accessories:
Navy rubber boots (outdoor footwear), black and grey all-rounders (work shoes) and black birkenstocks (around the house shoes), red leather handbag.  

Friday, May 2nd

Me-made items:  4
Blue dress Advance 8436, Butterick 6031 knickers, cream coloured spring coat Burda 7305 and nightshirt McCall's 8525.

Store bought items:  3
Blue tights, bra, pj bottoms.

Footwear and Accessories:
Yellow and brown shoes (outdoor and work shoes), black birkenstocks (around the house shoes), red leather handbag.  

Saturday, May 3rd

Me-made items:  2 

Animal print skirt, McCall's 7870 and nightshirt, McCall's 8525.

Store bought items:  5

Black sleeveless sweater, grey with white specs shawl-collared sweater, undergarments, back-seam pantyhose.

Footwear and Accessories:  

Red Groundhog (outdoor shoes) and black birkenstocks (indoor shoes), red leather handbag. 

Summer-time Baby Dress

Stash-busting 2014:  Baby Dress

Fabric:  0.8 metre 100% cotton

Buttons:  6 clear small buttons

Interfacing:  0.3 metre

I made this dress a while ago but I couldn't post it here until I delivered it. This is the second dress I made with this pattern, Burda 9752. The first time I made this dress I made it in a knit fabric. This one is made in a light-weight printed cotton.

This fabric has been in my fabric stash for a couple of years now. I picked it up two metres of this print with thoughts of making a shirt but I think it is adorable in this dress. It will be perfect for those hot summer days (when they finally get here). There is still enough of this fabric to make another dress just like this one. But if I did that, it wouldn't be a one-of-a-kind dress. Hmmm, what to do with the other metre?  

I think the pattern is great. Although, I'm not a huge fan of the pattern instructions. Luckily, this is not a complicated pattern. It is a multi-sized pattern. The dress is sewn in a 12 month size. 

There is no trim on the collar. I wish I had some pretty trim in my stash but I didn't and the selection of trim in the fabric stores are pretty sad. I left the elastic off the sleeve finish since the pattern does not give you a guide as to the length to cut the elastic. Instead, it recommends measuring from the model. This was not possible in this case. The sleeve and skirt hems are finished with a narrow hem.  

I would totally recommend this pattern.   

Happy Sewing!  

Butterick New Releases

Did you see the new Butterick summer release?  There is a new kAtheRine Tilton pattern on the scene.

Butterick 6064

That's the only pattern that I wouldn't mind getting my hands on. How about you, any new summer patterns that caught your eye?

Happy Sewing!

Me-Made-May 2014

Ah, the start of Me-Made-May '14.  

Last year I failed at documenting my me-made wardrobe. So this year I plan on keeping it simple. Maybe an end-of-the-week recap will be more manageable. Wearing me-made items is not really a challenge for me because I basically wear me-made items every day.  

Sew, my challenge for the month is to focus on someone other than me. For the month of May my sewing projects will be for others. I still have the baby onsies to finish that I wanted to complete as my Lenten sewing project. There is a shirt for my brother that is cut out waiting in my sewing drawer to be stitched together. And Mama R has some items on her wish list too. 

That's my Me-Made-May '14 challenge, to finish off all the projects for others. How about you? Are you planning on participating on this year's Me-Made-May festivities?  

I, Graca of Sew Essentially Sew http://sewessentiallysew.blogspot.ca, sign up to participate in Me-Made-May '14. I endeavour to wear me-made items each day. I can't promise that I will post photographic evidence of every me-made item I wear, you'll just have to take my word for it. And to make me feel less selfish or guilty about my me-made wardrobe I will challenge myself to focus on sewing for others. 

Happy Sewing!