Good Idea : Me-Made-May!!!

While procrastinating and reading all the sewing tips and ideas and articles on the Interweb, I stumbled accross this great idea that Zoe had over at So Zo : wear a garment you have made every day in May. The idea is soooo fab, that the Flickr Group now has 43 members.

I chose to do the lite version, where I'll wear one thing I have made everyday.

I dusted up my Flickr account in preparation, downloaded the iPhone app for instant 'in situ' updates and might even put up a widget on here if I don't procrastinate too much about it!

I am psyched!

Vogue Couturier Jean Muir 2883

I have a thing for Jean Muir patterns, I really like making them. They are very complicated, beautifully drafted, very feminine and when I made this one, in 2003, Jojovich-Hawk was the new fashion house and I thought they were heavily borrowing.

The only change I made to the pattern is that I put in an invisible zipper but, this was before I got the wonderful plastic invisible zipper foot, so it's a little askew.

I love this dress, I made it out of a really soft rayon knit that feels really good on the skin, but I hardly ever wear it, it makes me look like a grieving widow.

I wore it yesterday though, for yesterday I went to Noëlle's funeral. Noëlle was a fine woman, one of the first person to be very nice to me when I moved here and I will forever be thankful for her warm welcome.

Sewing in Paris

PHOTO DE LAURENCE TARQUIN VON THOMAS

So you are in Paris, France. You've just spent a whole day in Marché St-Pierre and your stash is this much higher and you want to start sewing right away? Go to Canal St-Martin and drop by The Sweat Shop, a "couture café", a cybercafé for seamstresses. It's got a cutting table, 10 Singer workstations you can rent by the hour, coffee and cake. What else do you need?

Finished : Oscar De La Renta

Here it is! Finished! I wore it on Sunday and the fabric is still a little too stiff for this everyday dress to fall properly, but give it a couple of wash, and it should look just right. All the work I did on the muslin payed off but I worked on the lining pattern which ends at the waist, the hips ended up a little too tight! That's a beginner muslim mistake I will not repeat!

The straps look really good because I had a total sewing epiphany using Deb Thompson's tutorial on How to Attach Facings in a Sleeveless Garment and this is one piece of information I'll be using forever and ever, because it involves absolutely no hand sewing! As you know I am one lazy seamstress!

The insides look just as good as the outside, which I love and this was thanks to another invaluable piece of information found on Sew-4-fun on Attaching a Partial Lining to a Bodice.

It's a little scary to tell you the truth, but if you've done your homework and made a muslin, I recommand this method as the result looks great. (The trained sewing eye will see immediately that I was too chicken to take out a whole seam allowance worth of fabric there, but next time, I'll really go for it!) No hand stitching there either, that's all good.

It really is a joy to construct, it's a pattern with only 3 main pieces and I think you actually could spare the bodice work and finish it 'Burda Style' with bias tape and overstitch and it would look just as good, come to think of it, I might just do that to the Stunt Dresses as they might not get as much wear.

Please note that the dress actually fits me better.

Jewelry

I don't wear a lot of jewelry, but if I did, I would wear this. It's lovely and it reminds me of my first sewing projects, dolls clothes, which I did on my Mom's ancient Singer on which they had added an electric motor. Look for it here.

Sidetracks

I just got sidetracked, so the Oscar De La Renta is not finished.

I was casually looking up fabric on the web and saw this : Alexander Henry's Thunder Flower. I thought OMG and then sent the picture to my niece who's really into Mangas and she said OMFG and I just spent most of my free time looking for this fabric because I realized it was from the 2009 collection, it's all kind of back order everywhere and we might not ever see it again. Etsy sellers, a good place to look for funky fabrics, once again came through with some yardage which I added to my US fabric stash.

I got 3 yards of the pink one, 2 of the red one and 3 of the blue one. I have lots of nieces and sisters so I need the yardage. I am thrilled.

Oooh! Meanwhile my brother, not wanting to be left out got me Wranglers for pyjama pants.

Happiness

Happiness is 3 meters of Dutch Java print drying on the clothes line and a very nice personnal message from Yoshimi who's feather skirt is to die for!

Stunt Dress

I am the kind of girl who has several stashes. Yes several!

I have one at my Mom's, stuff I bought when a teenager, one at home here and when I find good stuff I can't pass on the net and the seller doesn't ship to Europe, I have it shipped in the US at my brother's or in Canada at my sister's. When I visit, I fill my suitcases with it and come home.

Last summer, I got really inspired by this African wax we bought in Gabon something like 20 years ago. It's just screaming "Stunt Dress!", the kind my stunt dress mentor, Erin of A Dress A Day pulls off all the time. She sews Darth Vader, Crosswords dresses for special occasions and looks good in all of them!

I love her blog, it's funny, well written and full of really cool information. RSS it if you like sewing and dresses.

Once I have the dress, I'll have to find a place where journalists gather!

ps Erin once thought I was worthy of a post which I thought was really cool. Thank you!

Sewing For Two : Kenzo Butterick 4969

Here is last year's installment of Sewing For Two (I have tons of those as my sister and I have been doing this for years). This time with a 70's Kenzo pattern. I love bias tape, I use it a lot! The thought of finishing an entire garment with it was way too good to pass up.

Happiness

Happiness for a sewer is to have enough bias tape to finish a project.