Fashion Challenge Day 9: Gray Dress

I have a love hate relationship with this dress. I like the color. I like the beaded dragonflies on it. But I feel like an elephant when I wear it.

Gray Dress: Gifted
Black ballet flats: Payless Shoe Source
Baseball jersey style top: unknown

McCalls Dress Patterns

McCalls 6694

McCalls 6697

I got over to Hobby Lobby for the first time ever. I wanted to buy something to celebrate the occassion but I only had a few dollars with me. And I knew my boyfriend wouldn't want to stay long. He left me in the sewing department and then I saw the McCalls patterns were on sale for .99.  So I grabbed two new dress patterns.

My sewing machine is having issues though, and it's snowing outside so I don't know when I'll get back to sewing things. I did manage to sew 3 Christmas stockings but my machine was sewing super slowly, so I think the motor is about dead.

I think both dresses would be so much fun to go dancing in. I love maxi dresses too.

Vintage Pattern and Bad Memories

When I was in 5th of 6th grade (11 or 12 years old) I went to the local drugstore and bought a sewing pattern I just adored.  It was like one of those 50's dresses with the nipped in waist and a full skirt. I wasn't quite skilled enough to handle sewing it by myself and my aunt was going to sew a dress for me.  Well, she took one look at my dream pattern, decided I was too chubby, and coerced me into settling for another pattern.  I think I picked the fabric (kelly green with some sort of flowers) and she made the dress.  I loathed it.  It was stiff and tent-like. Imagine my surprise when I saw a pattern pop up on my facebook stream that jogged my memory.  It was a vintage pattern from 1969.  I would have been 11 when it came out and I remembered the pattern.  I didn't think I was capable of sewing dresses at that time.  Then I remembered!  That was the dress my aunt made for me. The dreaded tent dress. I think I wore it once and it haunted my closet for years.

Nowadays most fashion experts tell you that even chubby girls need a waist with a belt or something to define it. My aunt used to call me chubby checkers which was very hurtful. To get stuck with that stigma as a child definitely changed the person I was. I am still self-conscious.

Update: As fate would have it my daughter just bought a vintage dress in the style I wanted my aunt to make for me when I was a kid.  So you can see exactly the type of dress I was talking about if you couldn't picture it before.  Her's has a side zipper.

Turning a Peasant Blouse Into a Dress

Saturday I ran into a woman that was wearing the Folkwear pattern Afghan Nomad Dress. I bought that pattern years ago and never got around to making it. So last night I'm trying to find one on line for less than $18.00 or so.

This morning I get up and log on and realize the pattern for a peasant blouse sitting on my desk that I just bought from Yardsellr is very much like that Afghan dress silhouette. (McCall's M808). I can lengthen it either by adding tiers, or just draw it longer into a maxi version.

Cutting out B5100

I got the dress cut out from B5100. As I was studying the envelope and cutting out the c shaped back neck facing I thought, 'wait a minute'. In one of the photos the V is on the front and the other photo shows the V neck on the back.  So the only way to do that is to wear the dress backwards.  I don't mind doing that, but shouldn't they have noted it somewhere in the description?  Or if they did I can't find it.

The pattern does mention you can use a purchased belt or a self fabric belt. Since I had to add width to the side seams I also made sure to make the belt longer.  The reason I went ahead and cut out the belt is it will come in handy in tying all the colors together in my 3 color wardrobe system.  It can also be worn in my hair as a headscarf.

My boyfriend took the table I have been cutting out patterns on with him to the SCA event.  So I used a lower table and my back and shoulders and neck are killing me now.  To add the cherry on top, my cat tried to jet out the door as I was cleaning up and I lunged for him and now I have a cramp in my right shoulder.  Gads.  I don't remember sewing being this painful when I was younger.

My neighbor came over to see what I was making.  I said, "Oh I'm sewing a dress."  She shook her head and said, "I tried that once.  It didn't turn out well.  Good luck." Haha. I guess I'm just too stubborn to give up.  I was going to sew today too, but it took forever to do all the alterations and I'm too stiff and sore to sit at the sewing machine. Tomorrow is another day.  I did want to finish before my boyfriend gets hom on Monday though.

Sewing a Dress Today

This morning I'm ready to work on Butterick B5100, view C.  I have a feeling I'm going to have to make it a little bigger or maybe a lot bigger. It's a sheath dress and I don't want it to be too tight. And I need to layer things over and under it. Remember, more than likely you cannot sew any pattern straight out of the envelope and have it fit you.  You will always need to make some changes in arm length or where the darts point or how short the waist is or something.  I read in an alterations book only 6% of women can fit into a pattern made straight out of the envelope. So take the extra time to measure yourself and compare it to the pattern specs.

Dress in Burgundy Knit

As soon as I get done sewing these two shirts for my partner, I'm going to sew the first piece in my fall wardrobe. It's a jumper style dress and I got the fabric for it a few days ago. I liked the gray but it was just too thin for the pattern. So I went with the deep maroon or burgundy with a little more weight to it.  I also saw two more fabrics there I want. One is a t-shirt weight gray with black stars and the other is some dark pink corduroy.  But I'm short on cash thanks to my business license being due Oct. 10. That one sure snuck up on me. So unless I sell something on Etsy or book a reading or something, purchasing more fabric will have to wait. If I can make the dress in the 7 days that my boyfriend is at Great Western War I'll feel pretty darn excited.  The pattern says its a 'one hour' pattern.  That must be sewing time.  Cutting out the shirt took me an hour, so the dress is going to take at least 30 minutes just to cut it all out.

I purposely picked a pattern that was plain so I can wear many accessories with it.