The Skirt That Was In My Head

HAH. Got it done!
You know, the musing I was doing in that earlier post? About what I want to be wearing now?
Well for the last AGE I've had a skirt in my head.
A high-waisted, a-line, red one. Made of soft corduroy. With a Lily Tomlin in Nine to Five vibe (in my head that's cool).
Kind of like this one, Anthro's Hop, Skip and Jump skirt $78 - which is not too crazy expensive.

Or this one the Finishing School Skirt , also by Anthro also $78

But you know what's cheaper than $78? A meter of red corduroy I picked up at Goodwill last year for $1.98. And a pattern I already happened to have, McCalls 4783.
Here's my version:

I extended the waist UP an inch and a half (using the "meh, looks close enough" method of pattern adaptation).
I made the skirt less froofy and more gentle-a-liney.
And I added kind of off-center line thing (yah it IS a technical term) by folding over a little pleat and topstitching it down.

While I was making it the skirt tried to kill me a couple of times (I have pin-related WOUNDS!) but it came together fairly easily and now I LOVE it. Love Love it. I want to hold it's hand at a midnight showing of Pulp Fiction and make it mix tapes. Here's it in action today:

I had to wear thick tights, but it's super comfy and I managed to wear heels all day. Which is a win for me!

More thrift store karma, and some musing

This might just be me, but there is totally something about this time of year that makes me want to scour thrift stores. (Not like clean them, just look around in them, scour is a weird word...)

I think maybe it's because autumn makes me want to dress like my Auntie M or my ma in the late 70's. Which, doesn't mean a lot to you guys, so um, think west coast, granola, feminist, whip-smart, potty mouth'd, sexy. With paisley. And good boots.
Still not clear?
Like this:

Germain Greer, 1974, Tuscany( image)

And this:

Margret Atwood, 19??, but she STILL dresses with enviable badassery, (image)

And lookit these suckers:

Ms. Atwood's shoes. Swoon. (Image)

So, thrift stores is where I'm shopping (H&M also has a few things but I'm still off the buying new - WR4life baby!).
A few weeks ago I had a couple of bear-free hours, a giant vat of sugary coffee beverage, comfy shoes, pointy elbows and some steely-eyed determination. Prerequisites for a successful thrift store haul.
But I also reckoned I'd hedge my karmic bets. That is, I figured out what we'd been buying for the bear most urgently, (footie jammies, sweaters) grabbed some of his old ones and took them with me to drop off. I was mostly thinking how crappy it would be to need warm fuzzy jammies for your baby and to not be able to afford them; pretty crappy I imagine. We really are lucky.

Anyway, apparently the thrift store dryads were happy enough with the trade, 'cause I scored these
(badly photographed) goodies:


The first one looks way better in person, I've worn it a BUNCH already. The second dress is kind of a tough one for me, I love it, and it kind of makes me feel like a Shieldmaiden of Rohan (heh, ubernerdy!); but it's tough to find the right situation to wear it.
Got any tips for Good Thrift Karma?

OWNED! The Lilly Pulitzer Knock-off Rematch!

'Member the giant fail Lilly Pulitzer knock off dress I made earlier this week? This one? With the boob distortion and the shortness?
WELL.
I've just finished the rematch and... SUCCESS! (It's not quite as cute as Suzanne's but I'm OK with that)


I hacked the dickens out of the pattern. Did a bit of swearing. Put the zipper in the side. Kind of fell in love with double layered facings (so tidy!). Did a bit more swearing. Wished fervently for a dress form. Realised I'd cut my lace too short. Did some SERIOUSLY filthy swearing (the lace actually cost three times what the fabric did. It wasn't SUPER expensive but you know... I'm cheap.) Pieced some sodding ggrrrr rashen-frashen lace together. Finished that sucker, then accessorized it with the cutest/weirdest dog I know.
And voila. I don't know it I'll be making this again in a big hurry. But I think I'll be wearing THIS one a bunch.

Oh and hey, Ian and Kate? I'm going to be dressing your dog up in a frock and making him have a tea party with me.
No. Really. I am.

Not Needles...

See that dress? Doesn't EXACTLY look like a pack of ballpoint sewing machine needles does it?
nooooo.
I SWEAR I just went into Fabricland for the needles. But there was a sale. and I am the world's biggest sucker for a glazed cotton print.
Turns out I should just hand over all the cash in my pocket as I go in the door of Fabricland. Or maybe just pay them directly at the beginning of the month?

Anyway, I hacked the dickens out of New Look 6805; I added a sweetheart neckline and halter ties (it's pretty cute strapless too) and twitched the skirt pleats a bit. I'm fairly happy with it.

Do excuse the soft focus all over the picture. Yesterday was a VERY soft focus kind of day.
Like when I came in from rainy-rainy-rain-boot-puddle-stomping with Teddy and realised that EVERY SINGLE LICK of my mascara was smooshed over my cheeks and not one of the 6 or 7 people I had been talking to had mentioned that I looked like Baby Jane and Marilyn Manson's mutant love child. Le sigh. Well it's a look.
x
p.s.
oopsies, forgot to say that these two Anthro dresses were the inspiration

Invisible Extras

More dresses MORE AND MORE AND MORE. I seriously don't want to wear anything but dresses these days. Maybe because the winters here are so anti-dress. Or maybe 'cause dresses make me feel like dancing a bit? Or because I'm lazy enough to like the one-item-and-I'm-dressed routine?
Either way. I am on a dress kick. My only requirement is that they be long enough. I'm 5'9" and my leggies are... let just call them a "problem area". They get me from place to place (good job with that guys) but my thighs are the first place that cake goes to. Also flashing my undies has never really been my favorite thing.

So that's the back story. This is the dress/tunic in question:


Do excuse the blur and weird pose. Teddy and I were playing the giant squid game with the waist ties. (You know, where you wobble something fabric on your kids' head and go "OH NO. The Giant Squid got you! NOT THE GIANT SQUID!" Just me? really?)

Anyhoo, I'm wearing it with jeans because it was those vital 2 inches too short. BUT it did happen to have those (giant squid) waist ties.
SO I whipped the ties off. Unpicked the seams, ironed them flat, then added them to the bottom of the dress. Like so:


I'm pretty pleased with it. It is, of course, a compromise; I love the border pattern but adding the lenght above it was just WAY more complex. and I'm lazy. My real point here is that I'll be keeping an eye out for the "invisible" extra fabric in ties and straps to make stuff longer from now on.

Serendipity Strikes!

You guys! You guys! Today I got smooched FULL ON THE MOUTH but the sparkly unicorn of serendipitous shopping. I did, I did.
(Today was a much better day than yesterday!)

And here's why; for the last two months I've been eyeballing a pair of sketchers sandals. These fella's here (only in dark brown):


They're cute, they have enough of a heel to look like lady shoes, they're as comfy as a pair of Merrel's, they go with lots of things, and they're cute.
I didn't instantly get them because, well, $70 plus tax. And I thought maybe I should hold out for something in a neutral.

This morning Teddy and I were strolling around and decided on a whim to pop into the Winners on the corner (something we never usually do) and...
There they were. In my size, in a lighter colourway than the ones I'd been looking at. And the best part? They were 39 squee - inducing bucks.
I pounced on them like a... something that pounces on shoes? (A Puma maybe?)
I came home and called my sweetie.

Me: SWEETIE Igotnewshoes FOR CHEAP they were right there and the ones I wanted and everything.

My sweetie (bemused): That's good.

Me: No you don't understand. THEY WERE RIGHT THERE! IN MY SIZE! And I got them! MINE MINE MINE!

My sweetie: Ohhhh-kay?

Me: mine mine mine...

My sweetie doesn't appear to understand about The Sparky Unicorn of Shopping Serendipity. (See him carefully place the bargains in just the right spot to be found by just the right person? With his sparkly unicorn horn? and sparkles? and maybe rainbows?)
So I'm telling you guys. This is them and I heart them AND the unicorn who delivered them unto my feeties.



x

To Mangle a Mockingbird

What a brill weekend. Really. Started Friday with a dash of inspiration and a spot of mad refashioning. (And got another-post's-worth of awesome from there).

The inspiration part came in the form of THIS tute from Grosgrain (Kathleen is all about the inspirational stuff; have you seen her sew-alongs? So awesome).
She calls her's The Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird Dress, and as I have a tiny fraction of her sewing skills mine is the To Mangle a Mockingbird dress.
I love the embroidery on her shirt but I don't happen to own anything half as cute. But I did happen to own this fellow:


It's... wrinkly. And WAY too big. I bought it from the Gap ages ago (two years maybe?) and it had this little 'lasticy waist thing going on. It was... "puffy" on me, and totally unflattering so I unpicked the 'lastic and wore it as is. A lot.
It's now too big but I love that ruffle so I planned on doing SOMETHING to it.
I did this:

Kathleen's tute is really easy to follow (and holy cats is her baby ever the sweetiest!)
However, I didn't do a circle skirt like she suggested; mostly because I hadn't enough of the blue print left over from the Sundae Frock. In fact I had to use some piecing together and swearing to get the skirt out of what I had left.
I also put my zipper in at the side rather than the back. (I always do that, even if it means hacking the pattern a bit. I just prefer side zips).
This would have gone together about a squillion times more easily if I had a dress form. I think maybe it's time to try making another one. yeesh. scary.
Anyway, here it is as I'm wearing it today. I'm pretty happy with it.


I shared over at Melissa's place. (And have you seen what those clever girls are sewing up next month? Eeep! Upciting!)

The Swimwear Tute (that might make you dumber)

Ok before we start out I should say that I have NO expertise here. I've made a grand total of three wearable swimsuits in my entire life. And this "method" consists entirely of my own hacking and would probably send ACTUAL swimwear designers into paroxysms of horror. In fact there's a good chance that this tutorial is going to make you a worse seamstress. Or maybe dumber? Or possibly cause giant asteroids to crash into the earth?
So, fair warning. And if you want some info on making swimwear that will actually make you smarter then check out this site.

AND onward!

The first thing I did was score my fabric.
I used a Nylon/Spandex (Lycra) mix with 4 way stretch. My closest fabric shop (Farbicland at Bloor) carries solid colours of it all the time and occasionally gets ends of SUPER cute prints in too. There's some good info HERE on just what is up with swimwear fabric.
I also use a lining fabric, the best description I could get out of the scary Fabricland ladies was

*YAWN*. "A swimwear lining. For lining swimwear. No." *eye roll* "That IS what it's called. SWIMWEAR LINING."

Pah. Turns out it's made of Nylon too and has two way stretch.
I buy 50 cms of the fabric (unless there's a direction to the print, then I buy a meter) and a meter of lining fabric. I also buy 3 or so meters of pre-cut lycra binding. But it turns out that it's cheaper to cut your own and super easy too. You're also going to need a ball point or knit needle for your sewing machine.


Once I'd gotten my goodies together I needed a pattern. The first suit I made I just eyeballed a pattern based on my current suit. There is some info about making a pattern from an existing item HERE . This method took a bunch of trying on and hacking down.
For the second suit I took apart a swimsuit that fit fairly well but had that weird see-through bum thing. and voila. a muslin:



Then I laid the bits out on the fabric and pinned. I wanted a the neckline a bit higher and the bum and bit more covery so I marked that out.

Once all the pieces were cut out I made duplicates in the lining fabric. The lining I use has a two way stretch and I like to have the stretch go from side to side as opposed to up and down.

You don't HAVE to line the back of your suit. I do anyway though. This time I cut out the lining a bit smaller than the body of the suit. Which, it turns out, is not a super great idea.

Then it was time to do some piecing together. This is the stitch I used for sewing everything
(both piecing together and sewing on the binding) it's a small zigzag.

The most complex part is the back; and really, it not complex at all, you just sew the two bottom pieces separately (lining and fabric), then place them wrong sides together and sew on the crossy back thing. Easy.

Next I sammiched all the layers together.. The sammich goes lining- fabric- (good sides together) -fabric- lining.
Then it gets sewn together at the sides, crotch (heh the word crotch makes me giggle) and top straps. I used the same zigzag as before and was careful to include all the layers.


Then I flipped it right side out. And you guys! It kind of looks like a swimsuit! Exciting!

Except for the gappy bum issue; that needs to be fixed for sure. And that's where the binding comes in. For this suit I made a self binding. On account of the pre-made binding colours all looked terrible with this print.
I folded the width of the fabric in half. Folded it again. Then snipped 1.5 inch strips.

=

Then it was time to bind the exposed edges and fix the gappy bum problem all in one go.
This is what I do with the binding, fold it over like this:

Then encase all the layers like this:

Then sew it down with my zigzag stitch.
I don't worry about the raw edge, it doesn't fray and I chop it away once the binding is in place anyway. The tricky bit about binding the legs is that you have to pull the binding taunt and sew at the same time, making sure to catch up all the layers. Pulling the binding taunt should give this effect:


(Don't worry it doesn't look like a diaper cover when it's ON!)
And you only really want this for the back of your suit, not the front; so you give the binding some slack for the front.
When I get to the end I tuck the raw bit under and backstitch.
I repeat the binding process on the armholes, neckline and back hole bit and because there's no need to pull the binding tight I just pin it on and whip around. Which you can actually see better in this picture:
Once the binding is on I trim it close to the stitching. Like this:

And that's it. Gots myself a swimsuit. Of course you might NEED ruffles (really, who doesn't?) and to add those you just ruffle up a bit of you binding (or fabric) and sew it on with the same zigzig stich. I do this step before I even piece the suit together. And I only sew the ruffles onto the actual fabric, not the lining.
If you've read this far, (good job with that, this was a LONG post) then here comes the big reveal.
And I'm cringing RIGHT NOW. But here we go. Me in a swimsuit. On the internets, which is practically like PUBLIC. yeesh. OK. Just getting it over with. Look away now if you're easily offended.


See what I did with the ruffle there? and the neglecting to brush my hair?




Oh hey, and I shared here:

And here too:

Le Boutique Dollaire Couture

You know when you get struck by an idea and it pesters you until you do something about it?
Well yesterday I was doing a bit of spring cleaning. OK fine. "Cleaning" is a bit of a stretch, I was poking around in my stash and daydreaming. I noticed a package jammed down the side of Big Brown Box (the big brown box where some of my fabric lives), I fished it out and closer examination revealed a $2 Dollar Store tablecloth, bought a while ago with the intention of making it into a cape for the bear.
I opened the package and discovered that there was far more material than I had imagined. And that it didn't actually feel too horrible to the touch.
Huh. I thought.

I wonder if a person could make a passable cocktail/evening dress from a dollar store tablecloth?

It turns out that the answer is yah? kind of?



Like lot's of things this looks better on the hanger than it does on me (also, the skirt is kind of puffier than it looks here).
I'd like to think if I was ACTUALLY going somewhere that required a cocktail dress I might put a little makeup on or maybe get all crazy and run a brush through my hair... but in all honesty... who knows, it's been a while, and I don't get invited to a lot of formal dos.

Anyhoo, I drafted the pattern myself (for "drafted" read "eyeballed, cut, swore, cut then eyeballed some more") and I don't think that the straight top loves me back. The scalloped edges went all the way around the tablecloth and I though it was too cute not to include, so I did.
I was kind of (and I mean SUPER loosely here people) inspired by this Jim Hjelm bridesmaid's dress (jh5804).


And of course the devil is in the details. It would require some ridiculously high strappy shoes, a bit of costume bling and a floaty goodwill flamenco scarf.

Et, Voila. Cocktail dress.
Now. I'll have a Dirty Martini, frogs in the pond, just scare it with the vermouth.
x

The Self Portrait Bean Bag

OK. Hands up if you're a tiny bit uncomfortable in front of a camera? I TOTALLY am. In fact there is only one picture of me between 14 and 16 years old in EXISTENCE. I had a shaved head. And a sneer. It was not my best look ever.

I'm trying to get less crazy about pictures and doing WR has helped, because I don't have a dress form (tiny jealous sigh at the folks that do... ) I end up "modeling" my befores and afters.

Which has made me mighty familiar with the self-timer mode on my camera. I don't have a tripod and I totally can't justify one (I don't have enough camera really, and I KNOW that I wouldn't take it anywhere). So I made myself a little something to make propping my camera in weird places safer and more stable.
See?

(That's technically NOT a camera. It's a rabbit. I know this. But I don't have a spare camera.)

It's a bean bag. Only with rice and not beans. And while I feel a bit silly calling this a tutorial, here goes:

1. Grab a spot of fabric of some type. I used a bit of toddler t-shirt sleeve. Because it was RIGHT THERE. But you could use anything at all.


2. Sew around 3 (or 4) sides of your fabric leaving a hole to jam your chosen filling into. I wanted my beanbag to be fit-in-a-pocketable so I made it roughly 5" by 3".

3. Turn it right side out



4. Fill'er Up. I used an icing bag. A funnel, rolled up bit of paper or your paws would work just as well. And that's basmati going in... mmm basmati. Careful not to overfill, you want there to be some space to allow your camera to nestle in.

5. Sew Up the hole. And go crazy with the posing. Work it baby! Eyes and teeth! The camera loves ya!

Oh, and I almost forgot, 'cause the camera has someplace stable and non jiggly to rest, I turn off the flash and up the exposure time (with that little +/_ button).
x