Marimekko Dress - The Vintage Edition

Vintage dresses; no matter how much I love my modern fashion, sewing classic styles feels like home to me.

Here's one of my latest dresses that takes me back to my roots. The pencil shaped skirt and fitted bodice makes me think 'Mad Men' and answers my daily inner questions of WWJW? (What Would Joan Wear?)

The Pattern
I pulled out one of my all time favourites and most used patterns; Butterick 5603. I used the bodice of this pattern in version B, and added a pencil skirt instead of the full skirt like I have done many times in the past.

How many times have I used this pattern now? Oh, just a lazy SIX times. No biggie.

 the first step is admitting you have a problem

 

Fabric
Oh. Em. Gee. This. Fabric.
This gorgeous fabric is by the designer Marimekko and printed onto a heavy weight cotton.

It's from Yulki's Home Decor which is a beautiful site dedicated to designer fabrics and they have a wide range of Marimekko fabrics. Sadly the site will be closing down soon but a lot of fabrics will still be available in their etsy store.

Julie from Yulki's Home Decor has offered my readers an 18% discount store wide on all available fabrics before the website closes down. Just enter the code "special" at checkout.

Details
I love the little ties on this bodice. It adds such a sweetness to the dress, and the heavy cotton fabric gives shape to the ties without the need to interface.

So BOW-tiful

I highlighted the beautiful panelled design of branches and magenta berries by placing the pattern in the centre, with the top and bottom of the dress being white. This meant I had to cut my pattern pieces across the grain line, rather than along the grain line.

The bodice has a V shaped front and back and an invisible zipper down the centre back.h

Thanks to the sturdiness of this heavy cotton fabric, I went the easy option and didn't line it. It breathes easy and feels very structured so is very comfortable to wear!

The dress has an empire bodice cut just under the bust, and the skirt has four darts at the front, and two at the back, all perfectly hidden amongst the beautiful fabric design.

Conclusion

Here in the Southern Hemisphere us gals are packing up our summer gear and pulling out the knitting needles as we say goodbye to Summer *sniff* and hello to Autumn.

This cheery spring dress seems like a poetic goodbye to our warm weather as we hold onto these last few warm weeks.

I love how this dress turned out and feel happy to have finally made my very own Marimekko dress! Don't forget about the 18% discount code 'special' at Yulki's Home Decor if you are wanting to get your hands on your own Marimekko.

Hope you all have a fabric filled week! xx

The Hay Fever Dress - Project Sewn Week 3

Thanks a gah-zillion to everyone who voted for me last week on Project Sewn. I made it through to the next round!! Wah-to the-hoo!

For Week 3 the theme is 'Graphic Print' and here's my bright florally entry. Makes my nose itchy just looking at it! It's Spring in Australia and that means hay fever time. Goodbye jumpers and cardigans, hello tissues.

Once again, check out the fabulous entries and VOTE for your favourite!

I learnt something about myself with this challenge. I realised that even though I love prints and they are well represented in my gigantic fabric stash(es), I rarely actually sew with a print! Turns out when I go into a fabric store without a project in mind I buy up on prints, but when I go in with a pattern or a design in my head first, I lean towards solid colours. Curious-er and curious-er.

In fact, three quarters of my garments in my past projects are with solid colours. I need an intervention.

I loved this challenge for breaking me out of my design cycle and letting the design be inspired by the fabric first.

So here's the nitty gritty:

Pattern

I used the bodice of Vogue 8280 for this dress with some heavy modifications. You can check my original review of this pattern here to see the changes I made.

I drafted my own skirt and sleeves.

Fabric and Construction

For the shell of the dress I used a beautiful cotton sateen that I bought on sale from Spotlight for $4 a metre. This.never.happens.to.me. Cue high-five-ing strangers.

The dress is fully lined, and closed with an invisible zipper down the centre back.

The feature of this dress is a row of pleats along the hem of the skirt and the sleeves.

This took foooorreeeevvvveeerrrrr! Each pleat was individually sewn down and took a total of 4 metres of fabric and four hours to complete. I love the effect though so it was worth it.

I cut the pleats on the straight grain to make them more rigid and less stretchy. This gives the pleats a nice little kick out at the edges which I love.

I love the heart shape of the bodice and the galaxy dress shape of the shoulders. It just feels so freaking feminine!

Styling

Flower crown from Sportsgirl
Red leather bow belt from JigSaw
Patchuli Floc shoes from Melissa Shoes
Chanel lipstick #98 - This is my new absolute favourite red. Not too dark, not too bright, not too shiny, not too matt. Just perfection!

Special Mentions

Today, the 15th of October is mine and my husbands second wedding anniversary and the first with our baby boy. Don't want to gross you guys out too much but I really love this guy. More than sewing. And fabric. That's a lot.

Don't forget to check out the other entries and VOTE for your favourite! Voting closes Thursday at 8pm MDT.

Thanks again for all your support! :))

Pink Lace dress - McCall 6322

Fact: I am scared of spiders. Seriously.

Within two seconds of seeing a spider I go from being cool, calm and collected to a 'Price is Right' contestant on crack who's coming down from a bad trip.

I'm certain that spider is looking at me through it's eight dirty little eyes thinking 'Damn, that bitch is cray-cray.'

The other night I came home to discover a big huntsman spread eagled on the front door. I back flipped away from that front door so fast it was like I was Neo from 'The Matrix'.

I stared at that spider (from a safe distance) and started to analyse myself. I tried to think logically about my fear. I mean, the spider is not out to get me (or is it ...), it's smaller than me, why do I let this massive  small little monster creature freak me out so much?

And COME ON, can any one blame me for being scared of something that is called a 'Hunts-MAN'. For the love of all that's holy, it HUNTS ... MEN!  I don't think this is an irrational reaction!

After fruitlessly throwing leaves at the spider from 20 metres away like a crazy person, I did what all rational, mentally healthy women would do. I waited outside for twenty minutes, in the cold and dark for my husband to come home.

Turns out, we are hard wired to fear spiders according to a British Psychology professor.  People tend to dislike angular shapes and have bad associations with dark colours. We like curved shapes and bright colours. Hence, why we don't start shrieking at the sight of a lady-bug. Read the article at DailyMail

One of the places that I do like angular shapes and dark colours is sewing, though my recent dress is very 'anti-spider' with its many curves and friendly colours.

Introducing my latest number:

Look at my belly grow! It looks like a small family is growing in there.

My wonderful cousin Anthony married his beautiful bride Katherine in a moving ceremony three weeks ago.  I knew I wanted to make a dress for the occasion, and I thought it would be a great way to really break me back into my sewing rhythm. This is the dress that I made and wore to the wedding.

My husband took these photos of me in the dress a few days ago with my 23 week pregnant belly already bigger than it was three weeks ago at the wedding!

My inspiration for this dress came from the fabulous Betty from Mad Men who rocked a very pretty dress in Season 3 Episode 3 of Mad Men. Photos curtesy of Tom and Lorenzo.

I remember seeing this episode for the first time and falling in love with this dress. I thought Betty looked so fresh and innocent. Which is ironic as this is the occasion where she meets the man she would leave her husband for. Awkward.

I thought this would be exactly the sort of fancy pantsy dress I would like to wear when I was pregnant one day. One fertilised egg later and this dress jumped back into my consciousness. And you all know I have a wee soft spot for Mad Men fashion.

To make my version of this dress I used McCall pattern 6322

As you can see, my version looks quite a bit different from the picture on the packet, but the shape and silhouette has not been changed.

To compensate for my fast expanding stomach and, let's be honest, my ever growing bosom (sorry dad!) I cut the dress in a pattern size 16.

Pattern Alternations

I lowered the neckline by 1.5cm

And shortened the bodice at the shoulders by 2 cm.

I removed 4cm excess around the circumference of the empire waistline by enlarging the darts below the bust. I slightly gathered the top of the skirt so that the skirt fit the narrower bodice, while also giving extra room for the belly.

I made my own sleeves to go with the dress for a more evening look.

I purchased this stunning french lace at Stitches to Style and had to do some serious deep breathing before I cut into it at home.

I made the EPIC mistake of telling my husband how much the lace cost per metre. What.Was.I.Thinking??!!! I blame this lack of secrecy on my new pregnant brain. What woman, chooses to disclose the price of LACE fabric for Petes sake! Every good fabric-holic understands that what their partner doesn't know won't hurt them.
After my dear husband re-assembled his jaw (which has smashed unceremoniously as it had hit the floor) he recovered and was able to appreciate the beauty and value of the fabric, in an abstract sort of way. Look! It has shiny bits in it!

Detailing

I underlined the lace in a beautiful silk dupion from Clegs. See my blog post here on how to underline lace. The dress is also fully lined and closed down the centre back with an invisible zipper.

I spent hours matching up the patterns on the lace so that everything was centered and the scallop on the hem of the skirt and sleeves matched.

My apologies for the lack of hook-and-eye, it has been fixed since these photos!

Instead of putting a centre back seam in the skirt of the lace, I removed the seam allowance and cut it as one big piece. This meant that the pattern on the back of the lace wasn't interrupted by a big seam line. I made a placket at the top of the centre back seam on the skirt so that I'd still be able to get into the dress. I was really pleased with how it turned out, and my first ever placket!

  

I made a cute little belt with a bow out of left over silk dupion. I cut the belt fabric on the bias and interlined it to strengthen it. The belt closes with two hook-and-eyes.

My main accessory for the dress? Red lipstick (of course!) I had lots of lovely comments on the night, which made all my hard work worth it! Every time I sew with lace, I just want to make another ten more!

 Hope you're all having a fabulous sewing week xxx