May 12th aka The Prom Dress Revisited

So bear with me...as I go back in time to my first prom dress.

My first prom invitation came when I was 14. This created a big "I-have-nothing-to-wear" crisis around the house (thinking about it, it probably was an every day occurence) and I lived 500 miles away from ANY civilisation, Montreal, "where everyone is, no doubt, stylish and fashionable as it IS the center of the world", an idea debunked in about 5 seconds when I went to Concordia U which was full of people from Ontario wearing Sears mail-order polyester (another pre-conceived idea of mine, but not so far from the truth as they wore a poly/cotton blend ordered from Eaton's).

My very wise Mom did the sensible thing and sent me to the family's dressmaker (I was sewing already but not that well!). She'd already made this beauty for me, so there was trust between us : 

I chose Butterick 4043, a black and white cotton print and having no breast to speak of, the impending slipping dress during the slow song crisis (Aerosmith's Dream On, probably) was averted by putting in straps, forgetting about the whole wrap around idea and inserting a back zipper. Retrospectivly, you can only nod in agreement as dancing a slow still means I have to raise my arms to reach anyone's shoulders and it would have had a very unwanted effect. 

The only remaining evidence of the existence of this dress is in this picture. This is my best friend Hélène, with her 'beau Denis', who had nothing to wear and avoided a major crisis the year after.

My second prom dress was a red hawaïan dress with a surfer print refashion, in 1979!

May 11th Happiness in spite of...

The Me-Made-May challenge is getting difficult. Not because there is not enough clothes to wear, it's because I am dying to show you all my neat summer stuff and it's not happening because it's winter here! So, today I offer you one of my sweaters. It's self-drafted, me-made and the best piece of knitting I've ever done. 

Anyhow, to feel better, I just went to the corner quilting shop and marvelled at all the little tools, gizmos and doodads that help you sew along (I want that pocket placket turner whatever template and I am looking for a reason/project to go buy it!), picked up some thread and some fabric for a refashion and I forgot about the cold.

The shop is called O'Ma, it's in Auray, Brittany, France. They are really nice people, they can repair your machine, they have a wall full of nifty stuff plus haberdashery, notions, buttons, interfacing and they do carry the marker that Gertie's Better Sewing just talked about and, if she says they are wonderful, then I'll go pick one in every colour ASAP.

May 10th : Sewing For Two

Years ago, right after my sister gave birth, she was lamenting that she had nothing to wear and wanted a uniform because she didn't want to have to think about clothes. So I toyed with the idea of making a bunch of wardrobe essentials for a little while. This is the result of that. It's pretty boring and the idea just went away as it came, in a jiffy! 

The Two Year Old Pair of Pants

My only 2010 resolution was to finish these pants.

I'm not good with pants, let me rephrase this, I am excellent at wearing pants, but not good at making them. I don't understand them, I can't see them in my head. Every attempt at making them has been fraught with hair pulling, teeth grinding and seam ripper madness. I can never get a good enough fit. There is a scrap heap of abandoned pant muslims hidden in a corner of the house. Once in a while though, I go throught this phase where I think maybe I should give it another try.

I must have been very depressed when I bought this pattern, thinking that view A would make excellent slim pants and I know I didn't read the description because it's got 17 pattern pieces!

Anyhow, I started on them, and against my better judgement and instinct, I followed the instructions in a fit of I'll-certainly-learn-some-more-if-I-do-it-like-they-tell-me-to. After a while, my instinct whispering abaited and was replaced by screaming : "This is wrong, It doesn't make sense, You'll get into trouble, You fool! Now go get your seam ripper and last, I told you so!"

So just in case, before cutting these, you should take a look at Sandra Betzina's video about the Flat Fly-Front which specifically tell you NOT to follow pattern instructions and Kathleen Fasanella tutorials on Welt Pockets which also tell you the same thing. 

Maybe I should trust myself a little more, I am sure I'd get better results than this : 

Seam ripper where art thou!