Monarch Dress

Today I finished my summer sewing!  This is the Monarch Dress (Vogue 8813).  Not finished as in completely done, of course.  I need to snip threads, tweak the neckline and find some light weight buttons for the pockets.  But I'm happy with it.  And glad to be done.

 

 

I kind of like the way the hem scallops in the front, although I don't think that's intentional.  I have to say that the smocking did not work well on this fabric -- it was impossible to mark, and the zigzagging puckered up so tightly that the pearl cotton couldn't be pulled.  So I faked it.

 

And here is a picture of my birthday present from my friend Pam, Heddie the Hedgehog!

 

 

This morning David got out our wedding album, so I decided to put up one of the pictures.  I can't believe how much hair we used to have!

 

 

 

 

 

Summer sewing

The last sewing I did was working on a pegged skirt. Then I got distracted, and suddenly it was summer! Or what passes for summer around here. Anyway, I just had to start making summer clothes, and last week I had a cutting out marathon.  I cut out three projects in a row and was so tired I had to take to my comfy chair and play Skyrim.  Anyway, here they are:

Subtle Twist

The first is a blouse, using Louise Cutting's Subtle Twist and a beautiful fabric (silk/cotton?) which I bought years ago from Emma One Sock.

As you can see the fabric has extra folds of fabric woven in to it to make heavy stripes. Heavy raw edged stripes, on what I assume is the intended right side. Now, and I know this is going to offend a lot of people, but I don't think it is "creative" to leave hems raw and raggedy, or stick your serged seams on the outside, or wear your underwear on top of your clothes. Don't agree? Bite my garters, it just looks lazy. Whew, sorry, I got a bit carried away there. At any rate, I am going to use the smooth and possibly wrong side -- it is so lustrous and beautiful.  The picture doesn't do just to the color which is "natural" with a beautiful golden cast to it.

Vogue 8813

Next I cut out this Marcy Tilton dress (Vogue 8813), using a piece of polyester (!) fabric from Nancy's in Seattle. I haven't sewn with polyester since some time well back in the last century, but this is so lovely. It's a light, floaty piece of cloth with a pleasing crinkly texture.

The problem with the fabric is that at some point (before it reached Nancy's) someone cut the selvedges off.  This meant I had to establish the grain using the torn end, since I knew that to be true.  Not a big deal, just kind of a stretch.

Vogue 1234

The final piece is Sandra Betzina's intriguing dress.

I am using a gorgeous German rayon knit I bought from Emma One Sock.  After consulting with Sis I decided to cut the center panel from a black knit -- the black and white on its own would be overwhelming.

Well, there it is.  If any of them fails, you will never see or hear of it again.