Getting an obsession is like getting a cold, only over a longer time period. First there's that little tickle in the back of your throat, and then you feel a little achy, and it's harder to get up in the morning, and the next thing you know you're sneezing at a Gatling-gun pace and getting carded when you try to buy Dayquil.
Sewing obsessions have the same progression … first you start to notice something you've never noticed before, and then you start thinking "huh … maybe I could make that," and pretty soon you have fifty browser tabs open, you're abusing Pinterest, and you're thinking about the shoes you're going to wear with a dress you haven't even made yet.
I'm a little bit worried that I'm at the tickly-throat stage of an obsession with guipure lace, which is just FLAT OUT DUMB. First of all, the number of occasions where I could wear a guipure lace dress in a single year is measured in the average number of fingers in obscene gestures. (And that's in a year where I decide to get married. Again.) Secondly, I've never, ever sewn with lace, and thirdly, it's ungodly expensive, and fourthly, well, fourthly, I already have a curio cabinet of previous sewing obsessions, which, like all good obsessions, are only dormant, not dead. (Shirtdresses: I am talking about you.)
But: isn't it pretty?
So: is there any kind of zinc lozenge you can take to ward off a new sewing obsession? Please send help.
A Dress A Day 
I’m in the middle of a guipure lace obsession, too. I gave in. It started with lace edgings on skirt linings, then progressed to “outside the garment” trims, and now I have a plan to use some wildly expensive (but bought on sale..) guipure as a yoke on a vintage-style shirt…. I figure I can get away with it, since it’s the kind of thing people expect from me.
In fact, I rather think when I “dress down” (ie- when I dont dress like I’m living in a weird depression era-fluffy skirts fantasy. which is seldom.) my friends and family are a little disappointed..
I think you could get away with it if you wanted to.
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No help. Do it. Do it for me. I love that fabric, didn’t know what it was called so thank you, and I think you’re worth it. And who says you can’t wear it whenever you want?
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do it! do it with a bright clear color underneath and a very plain pattern then you can wear it for more occassiones then a wedding. and wear a tweed-tailleur over it instead of a cardi…….
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Sorry but I have a short white lace shift dress (lace is layered over cotton) that comes out alot in summer and also looks cool layered up with coloured tights and long sleeves. You can make it work!
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You could try vaccination: a small dose to build up your immunity, like trim on a clutch purse to carry with a non-lace dress, rather than a whole dress.
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Gorgeous. I’ve always wanted to try it myself, but am currently too cheap and too much of a sewing chicken. But someday. Someday.
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When you marry your mistress, you create a vacancy.
When you bought all the shirtdress stuff, you needed a new obsession. Enter guipure. But I still think you need to get some. And make a whole dress.
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I’d totally get it and make a dress, but I’d make the dress without a lining, so I could wear any color dress underneath it as the lining. It would make it a whole lot more versatile that way, and then you could wear it every week! Alternatively, Erin’s idea to vaccinate with a small dose would definitely help. 🙂
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Haha, I’m with the ‘indulge yourself a little’ camp. There isn’t ant reason that you couldn’t do some trimming and accessorizing and not go so far over the top that you couldn’t actually wear it for something less than formal.
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Why not make a tank top and either line it or follow the other commenter’s suggestion of making liners in different colors? Wearing it under a jacket or sweater will placate your obsession and give you an new, interesting wardrobe addition.
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Yes it’s beautiful. But I can’t even figure out how to say the name. Somehow that turns me off. And think of all the trouble and fiddley-bits you have to go through to sew it! Think of the hem. Think of the bulk it will add to the seams. I would probably stop as soon as I got to the zipper. And even if you got it finished, it would probably catch on everything whenever you wore it. It would snag and pull, and then all your work would be wasted because you’d have a shaggy derriere. Ugh!
Did that help? I’m not usually such a wet blanket, really!
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I think I’ve assumed your obsession with shirtdresses. Somehow, a shirtdress project even wandered into my Christmas pile (although, I’m sure I’ll have to move it onto a siding by tomorrow when I’m knee-deep in flannel pants).
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Make one and show it to us. It will be beautiful. You’ll then want to make another. You’ll think of occasions to wear it – maybe some studio will option your book, it will get made into a hit movie and you’ll get invited to the Oscars! And if you make the lace dress, that COULD happen 🙂
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Go for it! I’m in Paris right now, and let me tell you, there is lace everywhere. Shown with tweeds, and denim, and leather. My absolute favorite, so far, is a gray flannel t-shirt with a lace overlay. Then gray flannel bands at the neck and sleeves, and get this: an exposed heavy duty zipper in the back. I loved it. Not all of the lace is guipure, but it is all super. There was also this caramel colored lace overlay on a caramel cardigan. Oh, my!
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My obsession this year has been sewing little quilted wallhangings for my office. I have made it to where I have made 2 a month for the entire year- they each coordinate to the month (ie- winter sports for January, Valentines for February, etc).
I am so glad that my year is almost up- my mind is overly full of new ideas and projects I want to get to…
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Thanks for spreading that disease of yours with the photos of that amazing lace! Who wouldn’t be obsessed?
How about a big detachable collar – a Peter Pan or a long pointy one – and cuffs? Line with contrasting fabric to make the lace pop and to make them reversible if that floats your boat.
It will only take a few hours, will accessorise loads of outfits and will give you a feel for how much you like fiddling with all those chunky little bits of lace.
(I’m an inveterate project starter and not much of a finisher, so I need to make stuff quickly before I lose interest. And MY new obsession is collars!)
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PS. ‘Amazing Lace’ is my new favourite hymn.
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Use it a yoke of a summer dress. Unlined. It will make you happy to have it next to your skin. Grade the seams, and cover the seam inside with bias tape. Lace has an unjust reputation as ‘difficult’…..it’s not.
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Amazing Lace! Ha!
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Well, unlike some of your other friends, I think that you should just collect images of lace. The two you shared are pretty amazing, just a taste of what there might be out there. When the rush is coming on, you could just scroll through the pictures.
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I vote for the tank top suggestion, and I’d also suggest you try a bolero in black guipure as a topper for semi-dressy evening occasions.
With the tank top, you could make several in different laces, you’d use a fairly small amount, and there wouldn’t be a lot of seams to interrupt the pattern of the lace.
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Remember your fauxlero period? a.) it passed, and b.) you could make a fauxlero with just a bit of that lovely lace. Or follow fidelio’s suggestion for a bolero.
And what shoes are you going to wear with it?
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Beautiful. I had a drop waist dress I made in school and my Nan suggested a heavy lace trim. It was a well worn dress !
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Saw a Carolina Herrera dress out of this stuff for some serious bucks! I’m recalling perhaps $3K or better. Was a simple sheath style in a medium gray. Gorgeous!!!
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Very humorous post! Lace is definitely trending this year! Love the patterns, but wow..how do you sew that?
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Oh, tell me about it! I indulged a few years ago in the Prada guipure lace collection (Fall 2008) and I JUST bought an Elie Tahari guipure lace blouse for far less $. So beautiful!
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I have a lined black lace sleeveless top(a shell, basically) that I wear constantly. With jeans and pants, with casual skirts, with dressy skirts, summer and winter. I wish I had it in ten colors, and I may well try sewing one even though I’m terrible at linings. So I say go for it!
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hmmm how should I bring it.. resistance is futile 🙂 obsession is an obession – and one with lace cannot end bad! You’ll make a dress the whole internet sewing universe will envy you for 🙂 and maybe you’ll make few tutorials on the way? I would love to hear how to sew that stuff, don’t even know where to start. good luck!
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