Friday, December 2, 2011

A Little of This, A Little of That

Okay, I did do some Black Friday shopping. I'm so excited that my very own Collette patterns will be arriving in the mail any day now! Super excited!

AND I took advantage of Fabric.com, of course, and I am the proud owner of the goods to make an Amy Butler Weekender Travel Bag.



Charlotte, a long time and most observant reader, left a comment about my last Anthro-inspired top…the fact that  it’s about the third one that I’ve made this year so far of the same style.
Charlotte,you are correct! Indeed it is! And why?
I think I’m drawn to this type of sillouette because of the v-neck and the way it can fit, but not be too fitted.  

And here we go again…a dress with a v neck and defined empire waist:  The Vogue DKNY knit dress 1257.

And here we go again, I have to make some crazy modifications with this pattern.

After carefully reading the reviews on Pattern Review, I decided, since I already had the pattern and I already had the fabric, to plunge forward, even though brave seamstresses before me advised against it. But I had the pattern, and I had the fabric.

This dress has a very interesting construction, and had I known that, I probably would have never gotten the pattern.  The bodice/sleeve are all one piece, but only in the front. It’s the wonkiest thing I’ve ever seen, but what this means is that the sleeve, because it’s cut across the grain, ends up being very, very, very tight.

The instructions also clearly state that this is intended for a 2-way knit. I had gray ponte. So there you go. Ponte is NOT a two way knit.

AB Canada decided to cut the bodice/sleeve cross grain, which would give the sleeve more stretch. I tried that, and it was still waaaaaaaay too tight, and I didn’t have the energy or desire to figure out how to add a very substantial sleeve gusset like another reviewer did.  I thought about that sleeve all night, and then it hit me…

Duh…just cut the dang thing off and draft a  new, normal sleeve.




So that’s just what I did.  I used another dress pattern which had a similar bodice and a long sleeve option. I lined up that pattern on my existing bodice pieces and cut out a new arm hole,  and then cut a new separate sleeve. Easy peasy.


The dress then becomes a pretty basic piece to construct, and a great basic for my wardrobe!  So, there will be one more project off the list!

I really need to do some Christmas decorating, and I’m just not feeling in the groove. I need some Christmas Spirit, and I need it in a hurry! Yesterday, I picked up some paper mache' letters to do a faux zinc treatment that I saw on one of my favorite home inspiration blogs, From Gardeners to Bergers.


Perhaps this  will turn out to be the spark that I need to haul all those boxes up the stairs!

4 comments:

  1. I've gotten a tad of decorating done, but it was just the easy stuff, the fabric items that are not packed away in the depths of the basement. It's looking pretty festive around here and I'm feeling pretty good, but you know what that means... I'll be lulled into a false sense of accomplishment and one day I'll realize I'm way behind schedule!

    Love the letters! I need to try my hand at those.

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  2. Thanks for the blog link,it looks like a fabulous blog for decorating ideas. If I don't get any sewing done tonight, I hold you responsible :).

    Good luck with your dress and decorating. I finished an AB Weekender last night, now 2 more to go. Ssshhh, don't tell the twins, part of their Christmas

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  3. I'm glad you mentioned the problems with the sleeve. I bought this pattern too, but have put it aside until the weather cools down again. Hope it comes together for you.

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  4. I just finished a muslin of the Vogue pattern last night in a awful print knit from a free fabric bundle. I did read the reviews and addressed the sleeve problem. My problem was the dress was too big in the front bodice and skirt - unusual because I made the Vogue pattern size I always make. Did your recut sleeve fit well in the front under arm area? It is such an attractive style dress. It just amazes me that it has so many fit issues.

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