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

    

Sewing for TWO ... (Burda 7739)

Hello young lovers!

You may or may not have noticed that I have been a little absent from the blogging world as of late.

There's a reason.

I've been spending the bulk of my sewing time sleeping, eating for Australia, fighting nausea, growing pimples (apparently I'm going through puberty at 30) and feeling a bit fuzzy in the head.

No I'm not sick ... (or going through puberty)

I'm pregnant!

That's right, Robin and I are high-fiving each other (and strangers - awkward) on a daily basis  and we're ridiculously excited. Though I think Robin's convinced that I'm going to give birth to a sewing machine instead of a human.

I'm currently 19 weeks pregnant and I'm finally starting to get my energy and creative drive back.

I think that Ms. Oona Balloona was onto something with her theory that our creativity peak correlates to when we ovulate. A fabulously interesting blog post. Seeing as my ovaries have gone into hibernation for nine months and my bossy hormones have kicked in, my creative quality was about level with a kindergartener doing finger painting. With their eyes closed. Without any fingers.

But as the draining first trimester is fading away in the distance, I am finding my back up reserve in creative skills and getting back into the sewing room. Oh Lordy!

And so here is my latest dress with the assistance of Butterick 7739.

The shapes and dresses that I usually make are made to accentuate my small waist. Now that my waist is expanding on a daily basis I am faced with a bit of a problem. What the #$% am I going to make?

Hello empire waist lines! This Burda pattern is not a maternity pattern but works perfectly for a tummy that is starting to resemble a house. In fact I've made a dress with this pattern before. Remember this dress?

This time I made the dress in a thick wool crepe that I purchased from Mood Fabrics on my recent trip to New York. I love sewing with wool crepe. It's like crack cocaine for my sewing machine; Janome just loves it.

I love the simple vintage signatures of this dress with the peter pan collar.

I added a rick-rack trim to the border of the collar and the skirt hem for a little bit of cutesy-ness. And let's be honest, who doesn't love blue and white together. It adds a bit of the nautical to the look. I added a gorgeous brooch to the dress, given to me by the wonderful Ruemiraldi store which compliments the vintage look nicely.

Sewing a garment again is like a breath of fresh air for me. It's so nice to be back in the sewing room! This dress also gives me confidence that just because I am cooking a sweet little baby in my belly, I don't have to compromise on my vintage style.

 

    

Coloured Glass - Vogue 1207

 

FACT:  I currently have no nose hairs in my nostrils.

**Serious gross out alert**

That's right, I recently had the insides of my nostrils waxed and it was one of the most bizarre and oddly satisfying experiences I've gone through, and more than a little bit gross. If you all just vomited a little bit in your mouth I apologize. Let's do this.

It's always a little bit awkward when you first bring up the idea of nose waxing to your long term waxer-lady and in a heart beat she responds with over-enthusiasm that I should give it a shot. Good God, how long as she been doing my waxing and staring at my nose like it's an overgrown garden?

Initially I was a little bit nervous. I've plucked a hair out of my nose before and it felt like it was rooted all the way to the back of my brain, such was the sharp, tear-inducing pain that I felt. And secondly, how the heck do you wax something in a small little space like your nostril?

Here's how: she put a ball of hot wax on the end of an ice-cream stick (I kid you not) and then jammed it in my nose, twisting it around so that it covered the walls of my nostril. Then she just let it hang out there. To further ridicule me perhaps, or maybe just so the wax could dry. Whatever. That could have been my most un-sexy moment to date. I felt some distorted version of lady Ga-Ga and not in a good way. Having ice-cream sticks hanging out of your nose is not exactly high fashion.

Then in a moment of truth, the ice-cream stick is yanked (gasp) out of my violated nostril, which I can only imagine is what it must feel like to have your brains yanked out of your head mummification style. You should have seen the amount of hair that was stuck to that gloop of wax. It was like looking at a hair brush. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt. Maybe I was in too much shock to feel any pain. I have to admit, I'm really liking the hair free result, and I feel like I can breathe so much easier!
Any one else done this before?


And aren't you all glad you know that little bit more about me now? **cough**


Right, now I will get back to the actual subject of this blog post, which is the dress I made with Vogue pattern 1207.

 

                                      

I made this dress over a year ago out of beautiful silk twill from Tessuti Fabrics The fabric was very appropriately named 'Coloured Glass' and it looks like the beautiful stained glass windows of Churches.

 

I love the wide front neckline of this pattern and the soft pleated detail on the sleeves.

 

It also has a lovely low V shaped back, which I've always been a fan of.

I'm happy with the overall look of this finished dress but I had some serious issues with it.
Oh boy.

I made this dress in a 12 without doing my usual adjustments (shortening the bodice) and boy was that a mistake. The back was so gapey with the low V that I couldn't walk a few steps without the top falling down and indecently exposing myself! Yikes.
I ended up shortening the back by putting in some not so perfect darts on the back V near the waist, a total of seven cm's taken in on each side. I have a shorter torso, but that was a pretty big chunk off the back. Lucky for me the print is very busy so you really can't see the darts.
I strongly recommend you make a draft of the torso first before cutting up your fabulous fabric. It is very likely if you are short on the torso that you will need to take it in.


I also took issue with the pleats around the waist on the bodice and skirt. Even in this flowy fabric, the pleats really stuck out which made the dress look a bit frumpy side on. The dress looks a lot better with a belt, like in the pictures, which pulls it in a bit more on the waist.

 

Overall I'm happy with the dress, but it did require quite a few adjustments, so if you're thinking of giving it a go, make sure you make a muslin first!

I hope you and your nostrils have a wonderful July 4th!