And now for something . . .

Completely different. Every once in a while, you just have to make something practical.

I've been trying to get to the gym on a regular basis. I still have gym clothes that are wearable, but I don't have much to wear OVER the gym clothes on my way there. The gym's only two blocks away, so I don't need a heavy something, but I don't really want to wear one of my nice jackets over my sweaty gym clothes.

So I made a hoodie. I'd never thought about making one before - I've never even owned one - but that's because they're generally either oversized, gray and shlumpy, or petite, shiny and expensive. I wanted fitted but practical - and washable. This is Ottobre 5/2007 #19.

The worst thing that has come out of this project is a budding addiction to Ottobre. The pattern drafting on this was immaculate, the sizing was right (I made a 38, which is my normal BWOF size, and the jacket was fitted, which was what I wanted; if I wanted a more classic hoodie fit, I would have gone up a size) and the instructions put BWOF to shame. The only down side was their pattern sheets are a little harder to trace, but not all that bad.

There were a few nice details - cuffs and bands were fabric rather than ribknit, and the inside seam joining hood to neck was faced with a strip to keep the seam from rubbing. It's the little things.

This morning I went on Ebay and picked up a few more issues of Ottobre. When I got that last issue, I thought it was cool that the clothes were on real people, but then again, being accustomed to the sexy, fashion magazine style of BWOF and Patrones, none of the clothes drew me. Once I traced off this jacket, it struck me that Ottobre actually makes real clothes for real people, and that's what most of us wear most of the time.

A new reason to wait for USPS to mis-deliver my mail to my next-door neighbor. I'm just thankful she doesn't sew.

A Vest and some Recycling

I just finished Burdastyle's new Franzi vest, and I think I need to make more of these. It was a really fast project, took only about 3/4 yard of fabric, and is a good excuse to use buttons and scraps that otherwise would just gather dust in a corner of my workroom.

Actually body fabric wasn't scrap - it was a dollar remnant from last Friday's trip to Jomar with Elizabeth and Kisha - but the lining and the gray stretch velvet for the lapels have been in the scrap bin for a while. The velvet was leftover from the pajamas I made for PR Weekend 2006, if that gives you an idea. The buttons are antique and have been in the jar for probably 15 years.

I love the construction of the vest. For the longest time I didn't get how things like this were made - sewing it all together, lining and vest, inside out and leaving only the shoulder seams open just didn't translate in my head. I guess finally learning how to bag a jacket lining turned on a few lightbulbs in my personal darkness.

Normally in BWOF and Burdastyle, I make a 38. For some reason when cutting this out I decided to cut a 40 and then taper it in if need be. No need - this seems to run a bit small. It's exactly the right length, though, just touching the small of my back and then ending in points in the front. Though that would be easy enough to adjust if I wanted to change the shape in the future.

Princess seams are wonderful, we're all agreed on that, but for this vest it made refining the fit a breeze. The whole thing, start to finish, including buttonholes (adjusted slightly lower because my machine looked at 3 layers of fabric, one being velvet, and said, "Nothing doing") took only about 3 or so hours.

Saving, printing and taping the free pattern together and then cutting it out probably took nearly as much time.

This is so going to be my favorite Christmas gift this year.

Vogue 8280 - The Galaxy Dress

Pattern Description: Fitted dress, lined bodice, back zipper closing with front flange. A, B, E, F: back slit opening. C, D: pleated lower section. Armhole and sleeve variations. A: sash with hook and eye closing.

Pattern Sizing: 6-22. I made my standard Vogue size 12.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, pretty much. I really wanted to make the version with the sleeves, but alas, it was not to be - unless maybe the Philadelphia Eagles needed a new linebacker.

Were the instructions easy to follow? As I think all other reviewers have noted, this was one of those hopscotch patterns that has you running back and forth between View A, View B, View E and the back side of the front page on the left corner. I did actually make my way, rat-like, through the maze, but it would have been easier if I'd remembered to take the instructions to work, copy them and play cut and paste. Much easier. Highly recommended that you do that, as a matter of fact. There were a few places where I got a little confused, and I think it was the illustrations more than the instructions. Sometimes an extreme closeup isn't all that helpful when you can't see how it fits into the larger picture. But staring and/or walking away and thinking about it worked, and all came out well in the end.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I love this dress. When Roland Mouret's Galaxy dress first came out, I snagged every picture of it I could find online, and I was thrilled when Vogue came out with this more-or-less knockoff. I love the shape of the bodice.

Fabric Used: Well, I'm not exactly sure. I got it last year at Jomar in Philadelphia, and it was on the wool shelf. Since it was only $4, it's a wool blend (besides which, it doesn't make me itch), and it has some lycra in it because there's just enough stretch that this fitted dress doesn't keep me from breathing. Gray with a shadowy aqua plaid, yet another part of the slow-moving gray wardrobe.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: Nothing major. I did start out making Version E, the straight neckline with sleeves, but after I constructed the sleeves and basted them in, I hated how they looked on me. They were huge 1980s puffy sleeves, I don't care how interesting the pleating/folding construction was. Off they came, and the dress looked much better. Of course since the dress was already constructed, I had to then bring the armholes and lining together without visible mess. That was accomplished with some strategic ironing, iron-on bias tape, and finally topstitching the neckline, flanges and armholes. The topstitching didn't happen beacuse of the lack-of-sleeve issue, but because the flanges kept wiggling around and I wanted them to stay PUT. I really hadn't wanted to topstitch this dress, but it's subtle and I don't think it detracts from the look.

I used an invisible zipper in the back instead of the regular zipper Vogue recommended. I was pleased that the plaid lined up perfectly on the first try. I didn't do the sash with hook and eye recommended by the pattern. I wanted a proper belt, and on my original NY shopping list for last Saturday was belting. Which I forgot to buy in G&H, though I did get some webbing for tote bag straps. Since it was 1" wide, when I realized I didn't have the belting I reached for that and it actually worked out well - the thickness of the webbing keeps the belt from shifting in the buckle. The oval mother-of-pearl buckle, by the way, did come from the PR shopping day - Pacific Trims is a wonderful place, and if you get to New York I highly recommend them. It's like a candy store for trim, buttons, zippers, buckles, you name it.

One difficulty with this dress - thus far, I haven't found a bra that doesn't show in the corners of the neckline, and I don't really want to go out and invest in a strapless. Today I tried it on without a bra, and surprisingly the dress is snug enough - and structured enough, especially with those topstitched flanges - that it can be worn without risk of spillage. Actually, nothing moved at all, and I can't think of the last time THAT happened.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I don't know if I'll sew it again, but that's only because it's such a recognizable look. On the other hand, I am planning to make a jacket or capelet to wear over this, so maybe I could work up to doing another one for summer, and attach a fuller skirt.

Conclusion: Gorgeous, feminine, sexy dress that is much more comfortable to wear than expected. Not a difficult pattern so long as you're paying attention and willing to tweak the fit on those flanges.

The Galaxy Dress: Revisited

I've been moving right along on the Galaxy dress - the bodice finished, the skirt has been attached, the invisible zipper is in - and hey, the plaids matched on either side of the zipper on the first shot. On Saturday night, after a day of shopping, I was too tired to risk messing something up by actually sewing in the workroom, so I decided to bring the sleeves out to the couch and finish the pleating and baste them into the dress. All seemed well, and I got them basted in and the ease gathers pretty well distributed.

On Sunday I tried the dress on with the sleeves. So glad I did that before I sewed them in, because those cute little sleeves made me look like a freaking linebacker. Huge, overpowering 1980s puffiness.

They don't look like that on the pattern envelope.

And my shoulders aren't that big - but apparently they are just big enough to really not work with this pattern. So off came the sleeves. Since I'd already put everything together I couldn't sew the armholes properly, so I ended up ironing a 5/8" allowance in on both sides and sewing it from the lining side. A little bias interfacing tape ironed along the seam made it sturdy enough and it doesn't look like the sleeveless option was an afterthought. And then, because the flanges just don't lay completely right once there's a body in the dress, I decided to topstitch the neckline, flanges and armholes anyway, so now nothing's going to go anywhere.

Thinking about it now, sleeveless is probably better for whatever capelet or jacket I make for overtop, because those uber-puffs would have definitely messed up the line of whatever I want to wear over the dress.

But damn those sleeves were cute until I saw them on me.

A few notes on this dress: Vogue seems to think it's a fairly easy pattern. I take issue with this. It's not a difficult pattern, but it's a challenging one. It's not a project to tackle when you're tired, or thinking about something else. And it's definitely not a project to tackle unless you've marked all your dots and notches and squares - accurately. Or you're in a bad place.

And then there are just the weird things. I don't know if I somehow mis-marked the skirt darts or the bodice darts (I'm assuming it wasn't Vogue's fault since none of the reviews mention it) but when I pinned the darts and held the skirt up to the bodice, the darts didn't line up. By a good inch they didn't line up.


They line up on the drawing, and I'm assuming in a perfect world they should line up on the dress. So I shifted the darts slightly, but that took my plaid slightly out of alignment. Still, I'd rather have that, especially since I'm going to wear the dress with a belt.

Up there at the top I did mention shopping, didn't I? There was a two-day fabric safari on Friday and Saturday, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I'm sorry to say that my camera died after one picture in Metro Textiles on Saturday. But here it is, Kashi and a small mob, happily lost among the fabrics:

What I want for Christmas

ETA: Santa said yes!

Now I just have to convince himself that yes, what I really want (need) for Christmas is another sewing machine.

I'm tired of either not hemming my knit dresses or having tops with ratty looking hems. It's time for a new toy. And Christmas is for new toys. I remember that much.

This time I mean business

We all know there are easy ways to do things (which still generally work), and then there are the long, drawn-out, absolutely right ways to do them. That's how I went about Vogue 8280, the Galaxy dress knockoff.

I cut the dress out on Thursday night. Over the weekend, I thread-traced all the pattern markings onto the fabric, and cut out the lining fabric.

Tonight, after spending way too much of the weekend doing other things (including seeing Bruce Springsteen perform at a voter registration rally on the Parkway, so not all bad), I finally got to putting the dress together. First I hand-basted the darts, checked the fit, and then sewed and pressed them. Then I did the linings and attached the bodice to its lining. I was really impressed with how pretty the bodice piece was even before I attached the flanges. Good darts are a beautiful thing.

The flanges were cut on the bias, and attached at the shoulder seams to the back pieces. The back and its lining were sewn together, and then the flanges were pinned, basted and sewn to the front. Vogue lost me there for a while - their instructions had me confused to the point where I was yearning for BWOF's brand of incomprehensibility - and then the fog cleared and I put the lining and bodice right sides together and got the underarm seam done.

All this took way longer than expected, so when I knocked off the bodice was on Evelyn, fronts and backs and flanges sewn, just not attached to each other. But tomorrow is another day, right?

And on a different note, thanks much to Cennetta, who nominated me for a Brillant Weblog Premio - 2008 award. Part of the rules is that I have to pass this on to 6-10 other bloggers, so I'm going to finish this off in a few days when I'm able to find 6-10 other bloggers who haven't already been given this award. In the meantime, thanks again, Cennetta - it means a lot that people read my meanderings on sewing, cats, my old house, and everything else that wanders into my head.

Vogue 8280 - The Galaxy Dress Knockoff

Okay, so who doesn't want to look like this? Anybody out there? Vogue knocking off Roland Mouret's Galaxy dress was probably one of their best moves ever because it saved a ton of people from trying to draft this one on their own.

The Galaxy wasn't the first Mouret I saw and liked - I have various photos saved of his clothes - but it's probably the most flattering and wearable. It looks like everyone's vision of the 40s, but without the killer shoulder pads.

I've had the pattern for a while, and I've had the fabric for longer. The fabric, a gray-with-aqua-plaid mystery blend from Jomar, has been in stash for about 1.5 years, and it was originally purchased to be pants and a jacket. Or a skirt and jacket. Or possibly pants and a skirt. But as soon as I got this pattern, that plan changed.

And then changed again, because when BWOF came out with the adorable retro jumper pattern last month, I envisioned it in this fabric. Then I thought long and hard about (a) the full bust adjustment I didn't feel like doing to that pattern, and (b) if I did decide to do the pattern, I would want to do the front section on the bias and this just wasn't the plaid that called to me for that. So back to the semi-original idea, and the Galaxy dress.

Most reviews I read on this pattern said that it ran big, especially in the back, so even though this is fitted I didn't go up from my usual 12, and I'm probably going to have to go down a bit. I had enough fabric that I could lay it out on the living room floor during the VP debate the other night and make sure that all my plaids matched. I cut the shoulder flanges on the bias for a little extra interest, but if they don't do it for me when I start sewing, I have enough fabric left to recut them on the straight grain.

I also have enough fabric left that I can make something to wear over the dress. Short sleeves heading into fall/winter wasn't a bright idea, but I just don't see this dress with long sleeves. Doesn't matter that they gave me the option of sleeves with the pattern; it's a short-sleeved or sleeveless dress (in my case, short sleeves) and that's it.

The latest issue of Patrones had three capelets in it. And Melissa over at Fehr Trade made an adorable tweed capelet recently. I thought they were all cute, but where would I ever wear one? And with what? Several weeks later, I discover that I'm about to make the perfect dress to justify the making of a matching capelet. They'll be rolling on the floor in my office, but that's nothing unusual.