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Appliquéd Fish dress

4/12/2018

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The next UFO checked off my list!  A friend whom I described this project to waxed poetic about it, trying to decide if it was a "melusine dress" or "ondine gown".  "Mermaid rag, haddock frock," I quipped back.  Though it's watery, fishy, and beautiful, there are no sprites or fairies on this garment, so "fish dress" is fine by me.  My poetry is in the dress, not the name. 
The whole thing started in a vintage shop dressing room, with an interesting wrap dress that closed with an overlap in the back, not the front.  The back, consequently, had a v-neck.  Alas, it was a dreadful khaki color and too small for me, so I didn't like it; but I liked the idea of it, and came home to try my own version, using (yet again) Simplicity 3631's bodice.

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Quilted Jumps - Finished!

4/9/2018

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Time to get the first thing off my UFO pile!  I started these quilted jumps, a kind of casual 18th Century substitute for stays, back in 2015, using an older sewing machine.  I re-found them in 2017, and put them in my working pile again, and now I am finally done!  (Just as Spring arrives and I have no reason to wear them for months!)

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Denim Blazer: Alteration

3/15/2018

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So!  The denim blazer saga concludes!  It began with Simplicity 7954, made up in charcoal denim, requiring some changes to the paper pattern to make it fit my sister, but I couldn't be sure of the changes because my sister was far away.  The result looked really cool on a manikin, less well-fitted in person.  But not bad for sewing long distance...

But recently I visited my sister, and decided to make the darn thing fit properly!  So I armed myself with seam ripper and went, once more, unto the breach...
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Red Raglan Top (Butterick 6134)

3/8/2018

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I selected this pattern for my sister because it has everything I love for her body: the raglan sleeves and princess seams are highly recommended for the inverted triangle shape, and I love the way princess seams allow me to shape the garment under her bust, avoiding the whole tent/curtain problem I've already covered.  View D is my favorite, and I want to make it in a woven. 

(It's also, oddly, easier to fit a complex seamed garment than a supposedly "simple" one!)
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Blue Tunic Top (McCall's 4968)

3/1/2018

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Since my sister likes lightweight, flowy tops, with fabrics like chiffon, I want to make her a basic tunic pattern that I can use to whip up a top whenever I find a good fabric for her!  I start with McCall's 4968 (Woman's Day Collection), which is a long-sleeved, loose fitting top that pulls on over the head.  There are two V neck options and side vents.  The shirt has quite a lot of design ease, and looks oversized and boxy.  But for my sister, I decide to make a slightly more fitted tunic, using bust darts in front and shaped panels in back. 

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A Child's Nightcap

2/22/2018

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It seems I am not the only one who likes nightcaps!  While visiting my family recently, I was wakened by my five-year-old niece.  She asked me what was on my head, and I groggily explained that my nightcap kept my head warm, my hair neat, and spiders out of my ears.  So she decided she wanted one!  Knowing the transience of a child's desires, I didn't jump to make her one... until she'd asked over and over for a week and a half. 

All right, then!  Into her mom's stash we went, and she selected raspberry-colored satin and blue-green sari fabric.  Knowing the cap would need more body than those flimsy fabrics provided, I fetched out the same white fabric I'd used last year for my cap, and decided to use it for the interior. 

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Blackwork Ruffle

2/12/2018

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My first essay into my Elizabethan-inspired ensemble is a blackwork ruffle, mainly because a ruffle can be used anywhere, so I could make it even when I didn't have any clothing patterns.  It seemed a good way to get started on the project and see how I liked blackwork. 

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Anne Adams 4882 - vintage sewing pattern

2/1/2018

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Remember the stash-fabric/vintage-pattern trade I did a while back?  One of the vintage patterns in the trade has been on my to-sew list ever since!  I love the simple silhouette combined with interesting seam lines and built-in belt.  The illustration with checkered fabric cut on grain for the dress and on bias for the belt is so smart!  ("Smart" in the British sense of the word--stylish, nice-looking.)  It made me want to buy checked fabric and make it up just like the picture! 
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And, as luck would have it, I found just such a fabric at Goodwill one day!  Actually, they had a ton of it, so I bought it all!  The fabric is a woven (not printed) check in dark green.  Very nice drape to it, and nice hand.  I want to make the long-sleeved version of the dress for winter. 

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Rose on Snow - An Embellished Gown

1/4/2018

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​A friend (B.) found a lovely wedding dress at a thrift store.  Check out the pricing history: originally $3,000, marked down to $350, then marked down to $19.99!  The tags were all still on, so the dress has never been worn for a wedding.  But it's clearly been tried on... a lot.  I suspect it was a floor model at a bridal salon, and when it got shop-worn, they discounted it.  Eventually it landed at Goodwill, where B. bought it. 

B. has a vision for the dress, though.  She planned to attend a Leukemia survivors' ball, and wanted to wear this wedding dress, but embellished with flowers to look less bridal, more fairy-like. 

Now, as Mark Twain put it in The Prince and the Pauper, "Let us change the tense for convenience".  (If he could do it halfway through a novel, I can do it in a blog post!)  Present tense for the project diary...
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A Practice Shirt (Simplicity 5339)

11/23/2017

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The inherited stash strikes again!  In the same boxes where I found the three A-line skirts (light gray, dark gray, and white), I also found this shirt, Simplicity 5339 in size 16, all cut out.  Even the sew-in interfacing was there.  Oddly, some pieces had the tissue pattern still pinned on, but others didn't.  So I hoped I had a complete set of fabric pieces, but certainly didn't have a complete pattern, and there were no directions.  It was a puzzle!

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    Karen Roy

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