New Look 6145, Completed

Finally finished my Mad Men Dress.  It's been a bit busy at work, and by the time I get home and do various things it's too late to sew.  It just needed sleeve setting, hemming, and some seam finishing.  Altogether this took about twenty five hours to complete. Nice blurry picture, sorry about that. Brooch and calico not included.

Blanket dress, no pattern

The blanket dress was (and still is) made by sewing two lengths of woven rug together, which is why it's sometimes called a rug dress.  It's a traditional garment for many tribes, though I'm only familiar with the Navajo version.  I'm not Navajo, but my husband is.  My sister in law was here a few weeks ago, and we went shopping to get material to make her a pseudo blanket dress.  Genuine Navajo rugs are exquisite and expensive works of art, and not something I'd want to screw up in any way, a distinct possibility since this was my first time making a dress like this.  So we went for something reminiscent of a rug pattern.  She wanted something to wear for various events but it didn't have to be authentic, which is good because she would have to have someone other than her Italian-Irish-German-English-European mutt sister in law to make it. You know, like a Navajo seamstress.

I apparently didn't take a picture of the raw materials as I usually do, so you'll have to take my word for it when I tell you I got three yards of a knit fabric, rayon acetate for lining and thread.  I think it all came to $30.  There is no pattern, because it basically consists of sewing two rectangles together.  I interlined the knit with the rayon acetate, even though knits usually aren't treated that way. However this knit had minimal stretch and I wanted to give it more weight and body so it would hang the same way a genuine blanket dress does. It also served to create facing for the armscyes and neck. Start to finish it took about four hours.  I started it at 10 PM the night before sister in law was leaving to go back home and finished it up at 3 AM.  I'm getting too old to stay up that late anymore.  But when she woke up, she had this waiting for her:

Sister in law has a traditional woven belt to wear with it, but I don't happen to have one so I used my husband's scarf instead.  Lilly the Calico was a bit miffed there were no pattern pieces to lay on with this project, but she did seem interested in the scarf tassels.

I just got fabric to make a similar dress for my mom. I'll post pictures of it after it's done and I've sent it to her, because I want her to be surprised!

Semi Formal Dress, New Look 6145

I scored some really good fabric deals a few weeks ago from the aunt of a co-worker (she used to report to me but now works in another department.  Hi J, hope you're not reading this at work!).  The aunt used to work in a fabric store and when it closed bought out what must have been all of the inventory.  Among my new stash was a couple yards of a beautiful royal blue polyester Dupioni-esque shantung which looks and feels like real silk.  I had to take a match to a few threads to tell for sure. I decided it should become a semi formal dress.  Although this is the Southwest, so for here it's practically a ball gown.

I love the look of mid fifties and early sixties dresses, so I searched for a pattern reminiscent of that time. New Look 6145 fit the general look I wanted (except for the stupid collar, more on that in a bit) and seemed like it would sew up easy.  Here are the raw materials:

The shantung cost about $20.  The pattern didn't call for lining but I decided to underline it so it would hang better.  Between sales and coupons the black rayon acetate, thread, hem binding, bias tape and invisible zipper cost about $20.

I mentioned the stupid collar.  Here's how it's supposed to look:

What the heck IS that and who thought it would be flattering to anyone?  I used my Jedi sewing skills and cleverly fixed it using a little known technique called "folding the collar down".  Don't feel bad if you can't do this yet.  We were all beginners once, it will come with practice.

Voila. Not stupid!

I should add that the collar as specified in the pattern looks even stupider in my picture than it probably should because the pattern specifically calls for it to be cut on the bias.  I knew I wanted it folded, and for it to maintain a crisp fold so I deliberately did not cut it on the bias.  I also slightly changed its placement; the pattern called for cutting down to the stay stitching and attaching the collar there.  I put it up a bit higher.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through.  I need to set the sleeves, finish the seams with bias tape (because this stuff frays like a booger, what is it with me and fraying fabric?) and I suppose a hem would be a nice touch.  The sleeves and hem are pinned in/up but here is what it looks like so far:

Ed the Cat approves.

The collar aside, this is a really nice design, and the pattern is very easy to follow.  I hope to get it finished this weekend.

Baby Bunting, Simplicity 1565

I recently made a bunting as a gift for a co-worker who's expecting a little boy any day now.  I usually ask my mom to crochet something, but she's busy hand sewing a quilt, and I wanted to sew something myself. Mom said baby buntings were easy, and since she sewed many of my baby clothes, I figured she knew what she was talking about..  I picked out some no pill fleece, iron on monkeys, a zipper,  thread and, of course, a pattern (I made the view the baby in the picture is wearing).  Here are the raw materials:  

This was so easy I was tempted to make nothing but baby clothes from now on, but I don't know that many babies.  I made the six months size because every infant I've ever known never fit into their clothing size in months.  Even if this baby is the exception, it won't get really cold here until he's almost six months anyway, so win-win.

I had some feline assistance, as I usually do:

Once Slinky helped me check the hat seams, I sewed on the band, which Slinky was wearing as a stole.  Ed looks jealous.

The finished product:

This sewed up very fast, it took about four hours altogether.  The most challenging part was sewing in the zipper, and that wasn't all that hard.  The baby shower is on Friday. I'm going to print out Slinky's picture and include it with the gift. Along with assurances that I washed everything after I let my cat model it.  And it was just the hat. Not the bunting.  I did not put any of the cats in the bunting.  I'm not that far gone.

Winter Coat, Vogue 1083

This was finished a few weeks ago, though I may tart it up with some buttons.  The pattern was Vogue 1083 which is given an average sewing rating.  I'd say that's about right.  The material was a brown-and-white checked wool blend (which frayed like hell), the lining was rayon acetate and the interlining a lightweight flannel.

Overall it was much easier and went much faster than I thought it would.  I was certainly helped by the fact that I had a dressform which my enabling mother talked me into buying (Hi Mom!) which I'd strongly recommend getting if you're going to do this kind of sewing.

According to the Vogue size charts I should have made this four sizes larger than I ended up using thanks to my chest measurements.  However, for an exterior garment, particularly one that is supposed to be loose-fitting (as this one is), I had a feeling I would be swimming in fabric if I used the listed size (which was an eighteen -- patterns don't vanity size).  So, I took a chance and bought the AA rather than the EE, and made it in a twelve.  I've tried it on with clothes I would wear in the winter time and it fits just fine.

I got the wool on Fabric.com at $2.95 a yard.  I bought 8 yards figuring I'd screw something up and need to re-cut, but I didn't and ended up using the approximately 5 yards called for by the pattern.  I got the lining and interlining at Jo-Ann Fabrics on sale -- I think the lining ended up being $2.99/yard and the interlining also $2.99/yard, 4 yards each.  Then there was thread, interfacing, and the pattern (also got that on sale at $4.99).  Altogether I think I spent around $50 to make this, including thread etc.

For future projects I'll show things as they're being constructed, but here is the finished product:

 

The image quality is kind of crappy, but there it is.  It fits well, is nice and warm and should last for a few years.  Total time, start to finish, about 3 weeks.

Welcome

I've started this blog in order to share my sewing projects with family and friends.  This way mom won't be startled out of a sound sleep when I text her pictures at midnight, I guess.  I'm still a bit of a novice when it comes to sewing, though I hope to gain enough expertise to sew most of my own clothes.

I am helped in these efforts by my husband, who will be known as Sweetie since that's what I call him, and our six cats.  Sweetie is not an artsy-crafty kind of guy, though he does show some interest in the technical aspects of sewing and appreciates what I've made for him (which as of right now consists of one windbreaker).  The cats adore sewing, particularly Lilly who is a calico and will take a running leap onto any pattern piece mamacat has ever so carefully pinned to thread-perfect fabric.

I started with pajama pants (I've made about twenty), casual pants and shirts.  I've since progressed to more advanced sewing and trying to incorporate couture finishes and construction.  I've made my winter coat and am now working on a formal dress for myself.

Enjoy!