A quick quilt

Is there such a thing as a quick quilt?  Turns out there is.

I haven't been doing much sewing for my local theater lately, because their performance schedule usually conflicts with my show schedule.  The shows that have occurred in the late winter/early spring didn't require any help, so when the costumer asked if I could make something for their upcoming show, The Cripple of Inishmaan, I agreed.

Then she said, "It's a quilt."

I think I stopped breathing, because then she said, "Just a quick quilt.  It doesn't have to be tiny pieces, or even quilted.  It's a bedspread for Mammy's bed."

I said okay, although I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into.

When she arrived with a trashbag full of fabric and another one full of batting, I just took them.  She reiterated her instructions, and added, "The squares don't have to be small.  Maybe 10 inches.  How does that sound?"

That sounded better, thank you very much.

Production photo by Rebecca Gudelunas

When I looked at the fabrics, they were an interesting blend of suiting and plaids, mostly muted colors with some pops of red.  The play takes place in a poor Irish village in the 1930s, so you can imagine that this quilt was made by Mammy from repurposed clothing and remnants from better days.

It went together quickly.  I turned the fabrics into piles of 10" squares, and sewed them into strips of the required length.  Once all the strips were stitched together, I took everything into the bedroom (the largest clear floor space in the house), laid out the backing fabric, added the batting, and then placed my quilt on top of it.  The backing fabric was cut 2" wider all around than the quilt, folded in and pinned.  Binding a quilt with its own backing fabric may not be recommended, but it worked.  And looked finished.

Instead of quilting, I grabbed a skein of dark blue yarn and tied the quilt at each intersection of squares.  The yarn wasn't visible against the backing fabric, and I knew that the quilt was only going to be seen from the top anyway.

I was happy with the result, and pleased to see how good it looked on stage.  The play, by the way, was fabulous.  Their first review -- overwhelmingly positive -- is here.

** edited to say, I guess "recommended" might not be the right word to use regarding the self-binding, since the first two comments have mentioned seeing it before.  I've mostly seen bias-bound quilts, and have been told by those who "know" these things that binding is the proper way to go.  Nice to know that my quick-and-dirty method is perfectly acceptable.

Supporting Other People's Art

One of the best things in my vibrant West Philadelphia community is Curio Theatre Company, a small neighborhood company based in a decommissioned Methodist church.  The building has the most gorgeous Tiffany windows I've ever been able to visit in person.

I've helped out with costuming for Curio's productions for the last six or seven seasons, doing everything from Renaissance doublets (poor Mario!), straitjackets (poor Mario!), pirate shirts for the Tempest (Mario again, but playing along this time), gowns for the Queen of Hearts and the Duchess for a production of Alice in Wonderland, and costumes for a steampunk Twelfth Night and a more traditionally-garbed Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead.

This season, Curio is doing a series of plays exploring gender - from their opening show, a controversial (and very, very good) adaptation of Romeo & Juliet as two teenage girls, to their current show, Dancing at Lughnasa.

I bring this up because in the middle of the storm that the play caused, Curio filmed one of their exceptional performances and there's a Kickstarter afoot right now to try to get up the money to do the editing and produce DVDs of the production.  For a $25 donation, you get to help a great theater company that does a lot of good in the community, you get to poke a finger in the eye of the kind of people who actually sent death threats to them for putting on the play at all, and you get a DVD of the production.

I call that a win/win/win.

Theater Costumes and the Aftermath

This project took a bit longer than expected, and absolutely kicked my ass.  To be accurate, it kicked my back.

One of the best things about sewing, at least according to my body, is the fact that I have to get up every few minutes to press a seam, and therefore don't sit in the exact same position for hours at a time, until I try to stand up and realize I can't.

The problem with this pattern: poly velvet and poly satin, neither of which took nicely to pressing.  Actually, they took terribly to pressing - I tried a couple of test swatches and the velvet scorched and left indelible creases and the satin just melted into stiff black ridges.

So this project didn't get much pressing, just some light heat, some topstitching that sunk into the velvet and quite a bit of profanity.  Which I think worked best of all.

All in all, though, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  As everyone assured me on Facebook, and which I know when I think about it straight, theater costuming is a whole different animal from the way I usually sew.  It's not going to get looked at from mere inches away, and hopefully no one is going to do the sewist's greeting and take her sleeve in their fingers to touch the fabric.

Even if they do, it feels nice.  It was just a bear to sew.

Oh, the other fun part of this project that I mentioned on FB - this was one of those cursed projects that didn't show its problems until thought I was done.  Then I put it on the dress form to get some pictures and the hem looked a little uneven.  I trued up the waist seam and smoothed the skirt with my hand and it looked . . . more uneven.

I took it off the dress form and measured the distance from the waist seam to the bottom of the hem band.  38" on the left side, okay.  And . . . 35" on the right?  WTF?  I've been uneven before, cut things slightly off or had the fabric grow a bit, but THREE inches?  The only part of this that was cut on the bias was the satin trim band, so that didn't cause the growth.

I have no idea what happened, and after a few minutes of hyperventilation (I had, after all, just sent a text saying "dress will be done tonight"), I carefully cut the hem band off, since it seemed to be the same width from end to end, leveled off the skirt so that it was the same length all the way around (what a concept) and stitched the band back on.

It doesn't look quite as pretty on the inside as it did first time around, but it worked, and it's done, and it went merrily off to tech rehearsal today for a trial run.

S

Since I haven't heard anything, I'm going to assume rehearsal went off okay and there are no tweaks to be done.  If there are, they should be minor.  I'm waiting until tomorrow to be sure, and then I'm going to have a serious cleaning of the sewing room.  And of the machine.  Velvet, yech.  It looks like someone slaughtered a burgundy teddy bear inside my sewing machine.

The room isn't much better.  Between velvet fluffs, shreds of satin and the self-inflicted mess of me dumping the remnant bin upside down while looking for something and not picking it up yet, my workroom is a soft sculpture.

This needs to stop, I'm losing things in there.  I've managed to misplace a manila folder full of embroidery transfers (almost an inch thick), a measuring tape, two seam rippers (or was it three?) and two yards of RED denim for Mario's jeans, along with the matching zipper, button and rivets, all of which were in a neat little bag with the fabric.

Which is nowhere to be seen.  Work tomorrow, then I'm coming home, having a glass of wine and going in after it.  If I don't post for a few days, you might want to send out a search party.

Sideways

No, this isn't V1250.  What gave it away?

It's Butterick 5544, one of their Wearing History patterns (though the envelope and website give you no clue as to what exact era of history it is you're wearing).

This is the time of year I generally do theater sewing, but I turned it down this year, thinking (erroneously) that I might be busy with my embroidery class.  Turns out it was a good thing I did.  An actress friend, the one I usually make costumes for, is in a different company's play this year and the costume she got wasn't going to work.

She needed a nightgown and dressing gown, circa 1850.  Since it's close to deadline, she found a nightgown online, and I'm making the dressing gown.  The pattern pictured here isn't exactly historically accurate, but on the other hand, it no longer looks exactly like the drawing anyway.

I've made the bodice a tad more fitted and lengthened it so that the seam lands on her bottom rib, rather than just below the bust.  Instead of lovely white cotton with quilted contrast, the bodice, sleeve and front and hem bands are maroon velvet, and the gathered skirt is matching maroon satin.  I have a yard of 3/8" cording for the waistband and we're experimenting with several options for the center front closure.

Oh, right.  It no longer overlaps and closes with a cutesy ribbon flower.  I've cut it at center front and it's closed with either a frog or a flower, both of which were home dec pieces, much more suited to something this substantial.

Deadline is Sunday, so I'll be sewing like a fiend and covering the sewing room with velvet fuzz.  No kitties allowed until the velvet is under control and off the table.  This will make for cranky kitties.

A good and patient man

He must be, or would I ever have these photos of Butterick 5008, the latest creation for the upcoming production of the Tempest? 

Here's the review, but I think the pictures really tell the story.

Pattern Description: Loose-fitting shirt has collar, long sleeves with cuffs, tie ends and narrow hem. B: neck and sleeve ruffles. C: sleeve ruffles. D: front flounce and sleeve ruffles. I made View B, without the ties.

Pattern Sizing: S-M-L in this envelope, XL-XX-XXL in the other. I made a medium.  Very handythat almost all the actors are in Mario's general size range.  I think that's why she's been giving me the men's costumes.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, remarkably so. All the reviews I've seen for this pattern say that it's very accurate to the drawings, and it is. I'm just surprised when it happens. I think I've sewn too many Burdas.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Very clear and easy. "Easy and great for beginners" is definitely the rating for this pattern. It looks much more complicated than it is.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I'm doing a few costumes for our local theater company's production of the Tempest, and I was asked to do this one for the king. I think it looks sufficiently regal. (Although Mario was apparently channeling Hamlet in his poses here - I'm not going to argue, I got him to pose in a ruffled satin shirt. If he wants to pose with a skull, who am I to criticize?)

I really liked the collar band on the shirt, which snugs up close against his neck and holds the ruffles well. The costumer said not to bother with interfacing, but I couldn't . . . I just didn't use the good stuff. Still, this seemed to work with just cheap interfacing. I'll probably be seeing this in performances for the next few years. Certain costume pieces seem to live forever.

Fabric Used: Poly satin. A nice look, but slippery to work with and a bear to iron. Every hem had to be pinned before pressing, because unless I used scalding steam, I couldn't get this stuff to hold a crease. And after steam-scalding my fingers once, I decided that a few pin holes weren't going to be the end of the world.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: None other than leaving off the ties, which aren't conducive to quick costume changes. The costumer said she was probably going to use a hook and eye at the throat, and I left it up to her whether she wanted a button at the cuff, velcro or a hook.

If I was making this for my own purposes, I would have doubled the neck and sleeve ruffles so that there were no visible hems. From the stage it won't be noticeable, but I hated hemming them when a folded ruffle would have been so much nicer.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I have no need to sew it again, but I'd recommend it. It's well drafted, clearly explained and went together very quickly.

Conclusion: I think this time I owe him more than dinner.  We may have ventured into the realm of "very special jacket that I have been promising and procrastinating about making since before we were dating."  Yikes.

Too many projects

Right now I'm suffering from an overabundance of sewing projects. 

I handed off the pirate shirt to the costumer and she asked me if I could manage to make a second one by the weekend.  I can . . . but I'd rather sew for me.

I want to finish my poppy dress, which I'm really excited about.  Since spring won't stay sprung, I want another pair of work pants, and there's some charcoal gray RPL on the work table just waiting to be cut up.  (Plus I have a skirt idea marinating that would use up every scrap of the leftover fabric - how economical). 

And I just received the 0189 Mantle from the 1912 Project, and I'm surprisingly into that pattern.  I found two perfect fabrics for it, an embroidered/sequined brown crinkled taffeta-ish fabric from our Paris vacation in 2008 and a coordinating copper fabric for the trim and the lining.  I'd like to start working on it yesterday, because this is something that doesn't even need updating - I can see wearing that jacket, as drafted, in a variety of ways.  And it's 2 whole pattern pieces - a front/sleeve/back combo (cut 2) and an underarm gusset. 



Bottom left - the poppy dress!

 I took the second costume pattern to work today, and got the pieces cut out at lunch (different but similar pattern).  I was going to cut the fabric tonight, really, I was.  It's the poppies' fault, they called to me with their poppyish siren song and I looked up from my machine a few hours later to think, "Pirate shirt?  Ivory poly satin?  Was there something I was supposed to do tonight?"

Maybe I'll take the fabric and some pins to work tomorrow and I'll cut fabric on the conference room table.  Most of them already think I'm crazy; I may as well convince them once and for all.

Pirate Shirts - the next big thing?

It's that time again - theater sewing.  Our local group is doing the Tempest in April, and I was asked to take on a project or two. 

Here's the first, Simplicity 3758, modeled by a man who has apparently overcome (at least temporarily) his Seinfeld-induced pirate shirt trauma.

Full patternreview here.

Pattern Description: Misses, mens and teens poet/pirate shirt with choice of lace up neck, front ruffles, ruffled cuffs, etc. I made view B, with the plain neck and no ruffles.


Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? It did, other than the color (the view that I made, view B, is the one shown in black on the envelope, and is almost invisible. Of course).

Were the instructions easy to follow? Very easy. I've made a lot of "standard" men's shirts, but because of the neckline and enormous amounts of gathering on this, I referred back to the instructions a few times to make sure I didn't get lost.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I didn't pick it out - it was given to me by the costumer for my local theater company, but I can't object to her choice. It's a great pattern, it will last them for many shows if no one destroys it, and it didn't take long at all to work up.

Fabric Used: White cotton, also provided by the costumer. I'd have liked something with a touch more drape, but there's so much fabric here it drapes whether it wants to or not.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: None. She said that View B (without ruffles) was what they needed, so that's what I made. Since the actor is playing 2 different parts, she has a detachable ruffle and elasticated ruffle cuffs to swap off and on depending on which character he plays. 

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I'd definitely recommend it if you need a poet/pirate or other pouffy shirt. I doubt there's a reason for one in my house - when I showed it to DH, he muttered something about a traumatic Seinfeld episode and left the room. He's posing here under great duress and the promise of a special dinner.

Conclusion: I think doing all the gathering took longer than constructing the actual shirt. A pretty impressive result for not a lot of work.

Fit for a Queen

The dress is done! And just in time, since I have to hand it off tomorrow morning.

This was one of those projects that shouldn't have turned out as well as it did. Despite doing the fabric shopping myself, I still ended up with insufficient yardage - the pattern called for 6 yards of black brocade at the purchased width, but Jomar only had 4.5, and I decided to make it work. Tim Gunn would have been proud.

I'm grateful for non-directional prints, because I cut that floral brocade every which way to get it done, and in the end I only had to narrow the flare at the bottom of the skirt, and I think there's still enough skirt to get the job done. I literally had a handful of scraps left at the end.

The same went for the white brocade for the front panels and the white matte satin for the sleeves - one yard, and scraps left over. The rest of the underskirt is made of white muslin and will work just fine.

I used up almost all 4 yards of the trim as well. The costumer requested a "restrained" trim, something gray or dark. The character wearing this gown is Queen Gertrude (of Hamlet fame), though the play is Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead. Okay, so Gertrude is in mourning, but she went from her husband's deathbed to her husband's brother's very live bed, so I think her mourning goes only so deep. A restrained floral should be just fine.

One of the design changes from the pattern was to eliminate the back lacing, and add some to the front. I was just going to do it for show, but I decided that it might actually help with the fit of the costume, so instead of using eyelets, I made buttonholes and laced the front of the dress up with black twill tape. They can always change colors but I thought that worked well enough.

I have to say that despite the challenge of working with too-little fabric (something I couldn't really gripe about because I did it to myself; we could have gone to another store after all), I enjoyed constructing this gown. The ginormous sleeves are almost too much, but they'll look great on stage.

The one thing I got out of it for myself was a new appreciation for a good square neckline, something that we don't see all that often, and certainly easy enough to do well if it's built into a princess-seamed bodice. Aren't princess seams the best thing ever invented? I know they're not historically accurate, but neither are invisible zippers, and no one's going to complain.

The play opens in a couple of weeks, and I'm looking forward to seeing this one onstage - both the costume and the play.

There's a full patternreview here, if you want more details. I'm off to sew something spring-like for myself now. Enough sewing for others for a bit.

There's no business like show business

Ah, the theater. The fantasy, the excitement . . . the challenge of making costumes out of thin air when the budget runs dry.

Some of my theater sewing experiences have been just that, but not this time around. The design for my friend's gown for the upcoming production is lovely, and the pattern I was given (Butterick 4571) isn't that far off, but once again, funds were lacking. So my friend came up with an idea - what if she supplied the fabric? And then got to keep the costume at the end of the run?

I thought it was a fabulous idea. I've made a lot of costumes that looked great on her but (a) weren't of a fabric that would last for long beyond its intended use, and (b) they went into the theater's costume stash and she couldn't have them anyway.

This plan would give me better fabric to work with, she'd be costumed for the production (to the designer's specifications), and she'd get the gown at the end. Win-win.

We went to the South Philly Jomar on Thursday night - two Jomar runs in less than a week! be still my heart! - and found what we needed. The body of the dress is an off-black brocade, with a nice visible texture. It won't look dead black onstage, and it will photograph well. The contrast is an ivory brocade. I'm doing a separate underskirt, instead of just a contrast panel, but because the ivory brocade was more expensive, we went with a yard of that for the visible panel and the rest will be made out of a high-grade white muslin that they had for $1.99 per yard.

There are only 2 major changes to the pattern. The designer eliminated the back lacing (thank you!) but added a curve to the overdress in the front that laces, or at least appears to lace, at the waist. For the back, I can get away with an invisible zipper. For the front, I didn't want to do any drastic re-drafting, and because of the color I can get away with what I've come up with. I drafted an extension piece that fits into the princess seam from below the bust to the waist.

I know there's nothing historically accurate about princess seams, but they do get the job done.

We also picked up a dull-finish ivory satin for the lining of the sleeves, and several yards of an embroidered ribbon trim.

Tonight I put the muslin together. It went smoothly, and I have hopes that when we do the fitting on Sunday, there will be minimal changes to transfer to the fabric. She's a good bit narrower than me through the back and a bit smaller in the waist, so this should work. I cut a 12, which more or less matches her measurements, but I've always had to take her costumes in before. I'm so used to Burda and their more minimal wearing ease; Big 4 patterns with their spacious drafting don't make sense after a long stretch of Burda.

Can I get an amen?

The dress is done. And miracle of miracles, I think I like it.

It's getting handed off tomorrow night, so I won't see it again until the show opens, but after all the twists and turns of this particular journey, I think the result is better than anticipated.

Tonight I got the last of the lining sewn in. The lining isn't completely fitted - I just didn't have the time and energy to cut a bodice lining that exactly fit - but it fits along the top edge and it's tacked to the zipper and at the side seam, and the minimal excess fabric won't take up any extra room inside the dress.

Good enough is, indeed, good enough.

I realized today that it's the 3rd of the month and I haven't done my month-end review for January yet. I was going to put off doing it, but I like the reviews just because it keeps in front of me how much (or how little) I accomplish each month.

I have been a bit unfaithful to the dress. Whenever I need a change of fabric, I've been working on the BWOF 12/09 #120 hooded tunic made from a toast-colored stretch velvet. I got it almost finished tonight, just need hems and buttons on the placket to call it done.

It was supposed to be the last project for January, but I think not. There are actually a few UFOs for January, which I need to take care of soon. I don't like to keep UFOs around anymore. I won the UFO Contest on Patternreview in 2006, and I haven't recovered from the shame of it yet. You should never have so many UFOs that you can win a contest with them.

I have 3 dress UFOs - the BWOF dress that was too small and that I'm finishing for a friend; the dress I started to wear to the wedding the other week and lost interest in; and another dress that I started based on pattern I drafted, that just isn't exciting me right now.

First up I'll finish the dress that I wanted to wear to the wedding. It's a pattern I've made before; I just got h ung up on the sleeves and got distracted. Easy fix.

The BWOF dress is easy, too, but after working on the costume, I'm done with sewing for others for at least a week.

The third dress may well be a wadder, or it may be a successful top, if I can bring myself to chop it off at waist length (it was an attempt to lengthen a favorite top into a dress, and maybe there's a reason it's a good top).

Coming soon: I stopped in at the thrift store after work today and found an absolutely beautiful navy blue wool pea coat for $18. The wool is very good quality, and it has all its buttons, plus the extras. The only problem is that the lining is frayed around the hips. But on the plus side, the lining is still intact, so it'll be easy enough to remove and duplicate. The sleeve linings are still perfect, so I may just make a new lining and attach it to them, then bag it around the jacket. I do some navy floral poly charmeuse in the lining stash. I hate re-lining, but not so much that I'll pay someone else to do it, and certainly not enough to leave a jacket that fits that well hanging on the rack.

Notes on the dress photos here: top, dress without flash; next, closeup of the pieced bodice; third, bodice from the side, showing the invisible zip; fourth, dress with flash (shiny); and last, the unfitted lining.

I'm tired now.

We're almost there

Is there anything better than a sewing epiphany?

Right now, I'm not feeling like there is. It's reached the stage where it's no longer the Blue Atrocity. It's the blue something "that's not really so bad after all," which is one giant leap forward.

Last night we watched Project Runway and she tried on the dress with the pieces pinned to the bodice. The bodice still fit with the pins in, so that was good. After she left, I put the dress on Evelyn - it's remarkably too small for her, as I think I've said before - and I stared at it for a while.

The slightly dropped waist was beginning to bother me, but not enough that I was going to pick out the invisible zipper and move the waistline up. No, no, no. It's a costume. Repeat after me: it's a costume. Stop obsessing. It just has to last out the run. Which is blessedly short.

I took down the lightweight netting and fiddled with it again. I had one strip left over that I didn't use on the bodice, and I turned it into a waistband so I could put the net under it. Hmm.

Maybe we're on to something here? Dulls the shine, makes it look less bridesmaidy. Okay, keep going.


Tonight while watching the repeat of the President's question-and-answer session on MSNBC - a sad comment on the state of television in this country that politics is almost always more interesting than what's on the networks or cable - I did all the hand-sewing on the bodice.

Once that was done with, I made up an actual waistband. Then I took the 2 yards of netting, folded it in half and cut it, then gathered it and sewed it to the waistband. I sewed up the side seam as invisibly as I could, which was not very since the thread shows right through. Hopefully it's an active role.

Now all I have left to do is try the dress on her one last time so I can mark the hem, trim the netting, if necessary, and tack the waistband / overskirt to the dress.

Here's where it is right now, on the sewing table. Honestly, it's nowhere near as bad as I thought it was.

This project has taken way too much thought. Every time I lay hands on the fabric, I have another idea of how it might be able to work.

It's a good thing I'm at the end of the project, because I'm almost at the end of my supplies. I still have the lining fabric left, because I haven't lined the dress yet. There's 1.5 yards of blue crinoline net, which I'm not sure will get used at this point.

I can't wait to sew something for ME.

A little attitude goes a long way

It's still a blue atrocity, but there's a little hope on the horizon.

Having its intended wearer put it on and strike a few Norma Desmond-type poses, made me feel a lot better.

It's still a shiny, unattractive, wrong-colored mess, but this I can work with.

Since I was building the bustier portion of the dress without having her around to try the dress on, I didn't actually realize that I was pinning the skirt lower on the waist than I actually wanted to, and I could technically unpick the skirt from the zip and move it up a ways, but we decided, staring into the mirror and at the drawing and at each other, to leave it where it is.

Earlier tonight, I took the pins out of the skirt and sewed it to the bodice and ironed it down. It looked more or less okay, so that was good enough for that step.

We're also going for a narrower skirt, more like the original design than the pattern. I think that she can muster up an attitude that rustles without actually having a full petticoat to back her up.

I think she's ready for her closeup, don't you?

Now that the structure is finished, I'm playing with the leftover fabric to figure out how I'm going to make the petals/ strips/ whatever they are that overlap on the bodice. I'm going to wrap them down to the waist and drape over the hip, which will also disguise the dropped waist seam.

I'm also thinking - and I may be wrong - that the more places I can break up the flat shiny surface, the less egregious it will look. Yes?

I'm also still planning to alternate the bodice piecing with shiny and matte. Aside from the designer's request, I couldn't use as much of the reverse as I would like, because there were scuff marks on it (how long did Joann's have this stuff around, anyway?) and the perma-crease is more obvious on that side. But some of it will work.

As for the back, it will fit better than it does in the photo. First off, she was only in the house for 5 minutes and I didn't have the heat on, so there are jeans with pocket flaps under that skirt. Yes, in a perfect world I think she could have used a swayback adjustment, but I didn't know that and without street clothes underneath, everything will sit better.

Fingers crossed.

She'll be back tomorrow night to watch Project Runway - is everybody as happy with this season as I am? Compared to last year's crap? - and I want to have something for her to try on that's worth actually taking off her street clothes. That's not too much to ask.

Right now I'm doing laundry, watching the State of the Union, catching up on blog reading and checking in to see how the PR Weekend planning is coming along.

Curses! Foiled Again

Or, the underside of the fabric is marked upa nd I'm going ot have to use the shiny side of the satin.

Drats.

So here we have the basic structure. I constructed the satin bodice, basted it to the denim, and installed the invisible zip on the left side. Which of course meant that I had to cut out the skirt from that crappy, shiny satin. Which has a permanent fold mark in it (thanks, Joann!) that I can't get completely pressed out.

The skirt isn't as full as the pattern drawing, but that's actually okay because big, gathered and shiny is just too nightmarish. The skirt is actually only attached right now on either side of the zipper - the rest is just loosely pinned to the bodice, which is still open on the right side in case I need to do any further fitting/tweaking next time I see the intended wearer / victim.

My dilemma now is what to do about the bodice. I can still do the petals or whatever it was that I was doing. I can even do them in the reverse of the fabric if I want - she okayed that - but I'm having a small reconsider. Being thwarted does that to a person.

One thing I'm thinking right now is instead of the petal effect, do something similar to the pattern drawing bodice, in the reverse side. The shiny will still show on the back and a bit in the center, and of course in all that skirt. Thankfully it will get hemmed and be considerably shorter, though still abominably shiny.

Another thought I had was to use the gauzy net (it looks almost like organza) and somehow envelop the whole dress in that. Overskirt, use it on the petals, the whole works. It's an interesting effect over the satin; it does at least minimize the worst of the shine and make it look a little less prom-ish.

You don't have to tell me - right now, it looks like a hot mess on Evelyn. The fact that I can't zip it up on her doesn't help. Neither does the shine, which emphasizes every crease I haven't flattened yet, and every ripple that will go away once there's a body in the dress.

I know it'll work, and I know whatever I decide to do with it will be an improvement, but I'm going to be really glad to send this one on its way.

Light Bulb Moment

The other night my friend wondered why we couldn't use the lining fabric for the outside of the dress, and while I liked the color, the quality and texture weren't really any better than the satin.

Friday night I was out to dinner with Mario, grousing about working on this dress, and all of a sudden I had an almost-idea - you know, that foggy feeling in your head that you know, if it clears, the answer might. just. be. behind. it.

I went home and stared at the fabric for a while, and then I had it.

Use the reverse of the satin. It's not flat; it's a matte finish, and has a bit of the nubby texture of the satin without the godawful glare.

I had already cut out all the pieces, so I pinned the front of the bodice on and looked at it. It still has some sheen, but without the extra shine, the color didn't look as drab.

I had the designer's sketch handy, and I started folding the other bodice pieces, alternating right and wrong sides, to see if I could somehow create the scalloped effect of the original design.

Obviously these pieces are just folded and pinned in place, but I think I might have something here. The alternating matte-to-shiny at least adds some variation to what would otherwise be a dismal, shiny dress. Once I get the bodice fitted on Jen and calculate how much fabric I need for the skirt, I can start playing with the leftover pieces and see if I can salvage something from this mess.

I'm beginning to feel just slightly hopeful.

Doing it My Way

If I have to make a dress out of crappy fabric, I'm going to make the dress I want to make and not use the pattern that the designer picked out. Yes, it's probably harder than just following the pattern instructions, but isn't the fun of sewing in the challenge?

The other night, prior to ranting here, I traced off a BWOF strapless bodice and pinned it together. Last night, my friend came over to watch Project Runway, and I pinned her into it. With only minor tweaking, it fit well enough that I felt comfortable going forward - and she felt comfortable with the idea of using this design instead of that McCall's pattern, which just doesn't look stable enough for a 2 hour performance.

I also felt better when she saw the dress fabrics on my table and wrinkled her nose. Her question was, "Can you use the nice blue fabric on the outside and line the dress with the satin?" That might be taking doing it my way a little far, but I would prefer it - at least for the color. That ice blue is really dreary.

After she left, I took the pinned bodice pieces apart and made the changes. Obviously I needed some kind of stiffening for the bodice, but (a) the designer didn't provide me with any interfacing and I'm running low, and (b) it needed way more than interfacing. I rummaged in the scrap bin and came up with a half yard of denim and traced around my pattern pieces onto that. With the dark side facing in so the color doesn't show through, I can sew the boning to the inside to add structure, and build the satin bodice and lay it right over this inner construction.

I sewed it all together, pressed it, and added a temporary side zipper. Once I get the satin on the outside and hang a skirt off the whole assembly, I'll add an invisible zip, but for now I just wanted to see the shape.

She's coming over again tomorrow to check the fit of the denim, and I'll either tweak it again or just start building the satin on top of it. Making it look better - and hopefully more like the original design - will come later. Right now, I'm concentrating on fit and keeping the dress up.

Silk Purse from a Sow's Ear

At least that's what I'm hoping for. Fingers crossed, everyone!

Tonight the costumer dropped off the fabrics for my friend's costume for the upcoming play. Her design is at right. The only change she decided on was a fuller skirt, so it would make nice swishy noises while onstage. Okay. And I liked the nice vivid blue, though she said the final version might be a bit lighter. A bit.

At left are the supplies she dropped off. I was trepidatious even before I opened the bag, since the bag was from JoAnn's. I know they can have nice stuff, but the nice stuff is not in the budget for a local theater company. Their budget is polyester all the way. And she didn't disappoint.

When I first saw the pattern, I flinched. McCalls 5382 looks nothing like the sketch above, and not much like what I feel like making. I looked it up on Patternreview, though, and it got overall good reviews, and there were some cute dresses, so I'm not feeling too negative.

My problem: the costumer saw my expression when she showed me the pattern. I said that it was pretty, but I really preferred the original design. She said she did, too, but you work with what's out there. "Unless," she said, "you feel like making it your way."

Do I feel like making it my way? I've got 2.5 yards of ice blue cheapy satin, 2 yards of blue lining (also cheapy), a yard (a yard!!) of boning, some crinoline net and about 1.5 yards of very faux organza. Which is actually the prettiest fabric in the bunch.

Should I do it? Should I wing it and try to make something that looks like the original design, which all of us - designer, actress and seamstress - all like better? It's the straplessness and the fit that are the issues, really, not either of the designs. If I can get a good fit on a strapless bodice on Jen, the rest will do itself.

I looked through the BWOF archive, and came up with a basic strapless bodice on a wedding gown. I could still use the McCalls skirt, which is the fullness that the designer wants. I traced off the bodice onto Swedish tracing paper, pinned it together and pressed the seams.

Then I called my frien dand told her that when she comes over for Project Runway after rehearsal tomorrow, to make sure that she's wearing her strapless bra because we're going to spend the commercials building a bodice on her. If I can get the tracing paper bodice to fit her, I'll use it as the interfacing which the costumer failed to get.

Oh, and did I mention, they need it next week. Let's see, office happy hour tomorrow, Project Runway tomorrow night post-happy hour, family wedding on Saturday, meeting with my aunt's realtor on Sunday . . . yeah, I can knock out a strapless dress by next Wednesday or Thursday.

A strapless dress out of soft poly satin, with no interfacing at all and only one yard of boning? When pigs fly.