Month: May 2012

Running Up A Tab

Erin10 Comments

Butterick 3931

It may be hard to see in this semi-fuzzy picture, but there are little tabs here at the neckline. I am such a sucker for little tabs, which I think I have actually sewn only once.

I think this would be cute sewn up in a silk print, because of the drapey neckline and the panel-y skirt, although maybe it would also work in Liberty cotton (easier to put pockets in the panels in cotton)  … I bought this awesome orange silk a while back and it keeps whispering to me. Or actually, shouting: “Make me … NOW!” It’s getting hard to ignore, and to explain to my family why I’m having calm and reasoned discussions (“You need more attention than I can give you right now, you’ll just have to be patient …”) with pieces of fabric.

The expression on the face of Blue Dress tickles me, too; it’s something like “I’m going to just rest my unfocused eyes somewhere up there until Daisy there stops doing whatever embarrassing thing she’s doing right now.”

Partial view of a Simplicity 5723, with bonus authors!

Erin15 Comments

DARE_conference_May2012

Thanks to @PeterSokolowski, here’s a photo of another Simplicity 5723 — this one was taken at a lovely event for the Dictionary of American Regional English earlier this month in Madison, Wisconsin. The two spiffy gents in the photo are Simon Winchester and Jesse Sheidlower — so you get some bonus wordsmith-candy  in your (ir)regularly-scheduled dress post today.

The dress is in this fabric:
rose hash print

I’ve had this fabric since November, 2008, or at least, that’s the datestamp on the file on my hard drive. Could have been earlier, but this looks suspiciously like a saved-it-from-the-eBay-listing photo. It’s a nice heavy linen-y fabric, without actually (I think) being linen, which is my favorite way for fabric to be linen-y.

When I have a minute and the dress is not in the wash (I’ve worn it every week since I’ve made it, I’m pretty sure) I will take a picture of it on the dressform, so you can see how nicely I matched the (broken, which makes it easier) plaid across the skirt panels. Until then, you will have to take my word for it.

My only problem with this dress is that I don’t (yet) have a cardigan to match it. It’s not any of the various pinks and maroons I have in my Cardiganary (that’s my new word for “cardigan library”), and I haven’t started my ambitious new project of carrying around a swatchbook of all the fabrics of dresses I have made so that I can match cardigans anytime, anywhere. (My current process is to just say “eh, maybe it matches?” and buy the cardigan. Which has not yet ended happily, especially in the very tricky “teal” family of colors.)

You also can’t see in the photo that this dress looks nice with a very skinny black patent belt. Belts are my new cardigans, I’m now trying to amass them in every color. (This can only end in tears.)

Olive Drab Simplicity 5723

Erin5 Comments

I have a couple more Simplicity 5723 exemplars to post — here’s one, in a dim and fuzzy photo:
Simplicity 5723

The pockets on this one are lined in camouflage:

Simplicity 5723

Ignore the unclipped threads, if you please. They’re gone now …

Simplicity 5723

That’s more what the color looks like — it’s green denim from my trusty friends at FabricMart Fabrics.

I’ve been wearing this one with a bright orange sweater and belt — that’s my idea of fun. This dress in denim is a dream to wear, very comfortable yet stiff enough to hold its shape. I have some maroon denim that will soon find an incarnation in this pattern, and I’m really, really toying with the idea of a white denim dress. I don’t think I’ve had an all-white dress since high school graduation. I’m completely sure that after ten minutes on my person, it would no longer be an all-white dress, yet still I persist in this fantasy of a white denim dress. Talk me out of it?

Too Much Fabric Never Hurt Anyone

Erin11 Comments

Here are some recent additions to my stash:

browndottedswiss

More dotted swiss! Remember the pink dress of last year? Well, it will soon have a cousin (oh, and here’s me wearing it). I also bought some bright green, but it’s sold out now … I love dotted swiss. Not sure why — part of it is that I love the texture, but that can’t explain this level of devotion. Perhaps because I didn’t get enough party dresses as a child? I’m making up for lost time now, in any case.

On a completely different tack is this chambray (which also comes in brown, click any image to go to the store page at Fabric Mart)

graychambrayfabric

I love this fabric so much I’ve been dreaming about it. I’m pretty sure this is going to be my favorite dress of this summer, if I can just decide what pattern it wants to be! It is so lovely and crisp, but it’s also lightweight. It may have to be a shirtdress like this one … maybe with a deep, topstitched hem to weigh it down? Still thinking.

This next fabric was a total splurge. Way more expensive than I usually am comfortable with (although it’s plenty wide, so that’s a plus).

MJcottonlinenstripe

It’s a linen-cotten blend from Marc Jacobs, pretty heavy, I think. This is going to be a horizontally-striped dress, with the fullest skirt I can manage with the yardage I bought. Really. I saw it and thought YES THAT’S WHAT IT WILL BE. YES. I cannot wait.

I’m trying to remember to add fabric that I buy (or just like) to Pinterest, if you keep a fabric board too, let me know!