Month: June 2013

The Hundred Dresses: Day 28

Erin10 Comments

This is the last Simplicity 1577 (for a while, not the LAST ONE EVER), but this one? Is my absolute favorite. I never get tired of this dress:
seersucker Simplicity 1577

BLACK SEERSUCKER. It’s the best fabric ever. I wish I’d bought all of this there ever was. This collar has a little bit of bad roll to it. (Oh! I tried Kathleen’s super collar instructions and it worked beautifully. Sneak peek picture here.)

seersucker Simplicity 1577

The zipper is just, eh. A C:

seersucker Simplicity 1577 zipper

The pockets and the collar are lined with black batiste — here’s the pocket:

seersucker Simplicity 1577 pocket

And the collar (you can see the ripples from the seersucker):

seersucker Simplicity 1577 back collar

And the back view:

seersucker Simplicity 1577 back

I wear this either with black Justin boots or with these European grandma shoes that I searched for FOREVER and finally found on Etsy. (That’s the seller’s picture I pinned.) I wore them a couple of times and then the ancient glue holding the soles together gave up the ghost, so I had to have them resoled. (TOTALLY WORTH IT.) And sometimes I wear this dress with these ancient J. Crew ankle boots for maximum Dickensian glamour.

I wore this dress in Paris way back in 2011 and got stopped on the Champs Élysées by someone who asked me directions … in French. (NB: I do not speak French.) I figure that’s probably the best endorsement this dress could ever get. (I was actually able to give directions … they were asking where the Georges V was, and I’d just passed it and thought, “Oh hey, that’s the Georges V, that I always read about in novels!” I answered with some “straight on thataway” gestures and I think I was understood.)

The Hundred Dresses: Day 27

Erin4 Comments

Got a little bit of a late start today … but I bet you know what’s coming: another Simplicity 1577! And it’s a rare solid-fabric example of Erin-sewing, too:

chambray Simplicity 1577 bodice

You know how the camera adds ten pounds? Mine adds ten wrinkles.
Chambray Simplicity 1577 front

This zipper is … not great.
chambray Simplicity 1577 zipper

Here’s the back:
chambray Simplicity 1577 back

And, of course, solid fabric means patterned pocket lining! This is Liberty:
chambray Simplicity 1577 pocket 1

I posted this one about a year ago, so if you want to see it on me, well, here you go.

The Hundred Dresses: Day 26

Erin8 Comments

Oh so guess what pattern I used to make today’s dress?
Liberty Lemonia Simplicity 1577 front

Yep, another Simplicity 1577. (That 1577 is still just the pattern number, not the grand total of versions I have made. Yet.)

Here’s a closer look at the bodice:
Liberty Lemonia Simplicity 1577 bodice

And in natural light:
Liberty Lemonia Simplicity 1577 bodice 2

This is Liberty Lemonia in the cotton poplin, which I can’t find extant anywhere anymore, although I did find this luscious (and expensive, of course!) silk chiffon version at Truro Fabrics. Has anyone ordered from them before? They have some really yummy stuff … but they don’t ship to the US.

This zipper, again, is no better than a C:
Liberty Lemonia Simplicity 1577 zipper

And here’s the back …
Liberty Lemonia Simplicity 1577 back

I haven’t worn this 1577 as much as it deserves, mostly because I’m always stumped by what shoes to wear with it. These are my favorite, but I don’t really wear heels on a daily (or weekly, or honestly, even monthly) basis any more … Ideally I would find the perfectly-pale-blue Keds to wear with this, but they don’t seem to exist. (Dear Keds, Y U NO have a custom-Keds site? Take that money you’re paying T-Swift and team up with Pantone instead. I would spend all my money there so I could have matching Keds for everything.)

 

 

The Hundred Dresses: Day 25

Erin9 Comments

Hey, did everyone see the super-nice slideshow Elle.com did of The Hundred Dresses? Check it out!

Here’s another Simplicity 1577 (they keep going, and going …). This one is in Liberty city poplin:
Liberty poplin Simplicity 1577

I love this weight of Liberty, I wish they would make MUCH MUCH MORE of it. Here’s a closer view:
Liberty poplin Simplicity 1577

It’s a smooth, tight, silky weave, and heavier than Tana lawn. Here, look EVEN CLOSER:
Liberty poplin Simplicity 1577

The zipper on this one, though, is a C-. And that’s generous.
Liberty poplin Simplicity 1577

Here, you can see where I had to do a little bit of “there, I fixed it!” at the top:
Liberty poplin Simplicity 1577

Here’s the back view, for completeness’ sake:
Liberty poplin Simplicity 1577

And since y’all were so helpful with my collar question of yesterday (check out this FashionIncubator post), new question: how would you put a fuller skirt on this pattern? I don’t know whether it would be better to Frankenstein a skirt from another pattern, or whether I should suck it up and redraft this skirt (with its PERFECT POCKETS) to be fuller … and if the latter, how? Suggestions welcome!

 

The Hundred Dresses: Day 24

Erin13 Comments

I said there would be a lot of Simplicity 1577s this week, didn’t I? Here’s another one:

scissor Simplicity 1577 bodice

It’s from this Yuwa fabric that I bought back in 2009.I probably held on to it for at least two years before it became this dress.

I’m not happy with the collar. I know there’s some kind of undercutting trick you can do to keep this from happening, but I can never seem to find it. Does anyone have a link?

Scissors Simplicity 1577 collar

Here’s a fairly fuzzy view of the front:

scissors Simplicity 1577 front

And the side zip, this is a strong B, I think:

scissors Simplicity 1577 zipper

Back view, inadequate pressing:

scissors Simplicity 1577 back

And closeup back view … I almost got those stripes matched! (Actually, I am pretty sure this was inadvertent.)

scissors Simplicity 1577 back closeup

I love this dress but man oh man, are those colors hard to match. They’re all slightly off from any cardigans I actually have, so I end up wearing this dress only when it’s warm enough to go sans cardigan. (I do have one beige cardigan that matches, but … eh, beige.)

The scissors print still makes me happy … I’d love to have another scissors-print dress, maybe one with a more scattered layout? Haven’t seen any scissors fabric that I like as much as this, though.

The Hundred Dresses: Day 23

Erin15 Comments

I think this was the first Simplicity 1577 I made — I can’t be absolutely sure, but I’m within a reasonable margin of error.
cityscape Simplicity 1577 front
The reason I’m fairly sure that this was the first 1577 is that this fabric is pretty much my “ideal first try for a new pattern” fabric. First off, it’s quilting cotton, so it’s easy to sew and medium weight. Also, with most quilting cottons, if I make the dress within a year or so after buying the fabric and end up *really* screwing up, I can generally buy more on Etsy or Ebay, even if the stores are sold out.
cityscape Simplicity 1577 collar
Also, it’s really busy, so any weird seam bobbles or fitting issues tend to get lost in the print. And if I end up having to do some repairs, as I did here, they blend in a little better, too:
cityscape Simplicity 1577 zipper
The perfect fabric for a “wearable muslin” is something where, if the dress is a success, I will be happy to wear it, but if it ends up in a tear-stained wad on the sewing room floor, I’m not inconsolable.
Occasionally I try out two new things at once with a new pattern, like this pocket piping — it’s called the “What the Hell Effect“: I’m already trying something new, what the hell, let’s try two things!
cityscape Simplicity 1577 pocket piping
I would say my wearable muslins have about a 60-70% success rate, in terms of ending up with a wearable garment. My “I’m just going to jump right in with some fabric that I really love and see what happens” first tries have about a 40-50% success rate. So I do try to make up a new pattern in a less-dear fabric first. Ideally, it’s a fabric I like, but that I bought for $1/yard and have ten yards of … that’s perfect, since I can get two or three muslins out of something like that.

This one turned out to be really wearable — I’ve worn it a LOT.
cityscape Simplicity 1577 back

Do you have a “wearable muslin” strategy?

The Hundred Dresses: Day 22

Erin9 Comments

This is one of my very favorite dresses, in that it’s a very cheerful dress to wear. I mean, how could it not be, it’s covered in bicycles!

bicycle print Simplicity 1577 front

Here’s a better view of the fabric (Michael Miller It’s A Boy Thing Bicycles) which, by the way, is still available in several colors:
bicycle Simplicity 1577 bodice

I have no idea why “It’s A Boy Thing,” but I do know that when I wear this dress while actually riding a bicycle, I get lots of friendly waves from little kids. (And if you do not wave back to small children who wave at you when you are riding a bicycle, well, that’s between you and your total lack of joie de vivre.)

The zipper on this one is a strong B:
bicycle Simplicity 1577 zipper

And the back:
bicycle Simplicity 1577 back

This is another Simplicity 1577, of course, and I hope you’re not tired of these yet as there’s a whole bunch more a’comin. I didn’t remember until I started sorting out dresses for photographing 1) how many of these I’ve made and 2) how nicely it works in quilting cotton. There may be some stashbusting sewing coming up, now that this has been brought forcefully to mind.

 

 

The Hundred Dresses: Day 21

Erin9 Comments

Have you all picked up yet on the fact that I will basically make the same pattern over and over again until we both drop from exhaustion? Here is another Simplicity 5723, which needs a bit more pressing than it got:

stripey Simplicity 5723

This is in a nice slightly-heavier-than-usual shirting stripe. I had really high hopes for this fabric, and then this happened:
stripey Simplicity 5723

No matter what I tried, I just could not get those stripes to match up. I probably took it apart four or five times. I may take it apart one more time and use some fabric tape to stave off presser-foot creep, which is what I’m blaming for the mismatch. (Well, presser foot creep and my slightly off cutting out.)

The zipper is a C:
stripey Simplicity 5723

I have no idea why I had any navy bias binding at all. My guess is that I bought it in a big lot at a yard sale:
stripey Simplicity 5723

And what happened here? Your guess is as good as mine:
stripey Simplicity 5723

This is my favorite part of this dress … I really like the chevron effect:
stripey Simplicity 5723

 

I’m not sure where I bought this … it might have been on the remnant table at Britex. It has that slick expensive-Italian-cotton feel. (And hey, when did Britex start selling online? Ooooooh! And like I NEED more places to buy fabric online … )

The Hundred Dresses: Day 20

Erin11 Comments

Wow, I can’t believe we’re a fifth of the way to the end …

Here is another dress from the same pattern as yesterday’s (Simplicity 5723):

Camo Simplicity 5723

(I blogged about this one last year, with worse pictures.)

Here’s the pocket, self-lined:

Camo Simplicity 5723

The back (Simplicity 5723 has a center back seam, which is a little bit of a pain):
Camo Simplicity 5723

The bodice/neck (I really love this fabric):
Camo Simplicity 5723

And the zipper, which is a definite C- minus on the McKean Scale of Zipper Eptness:
Camo Simplicity 5723

I generally end up wearing this dress with a cardigan (in teal, brown, or that mustardy-gold), a mustard-colored belt, and brown ballet flats.

(Today’s rollovers from Camopedia, which may be my new favorite website …)

I keep forgetting to add that there are several spreads from The Hundred Dresses up on “Inside the Book” at Amazon, if you’re looking for a sneak peek!

The Hundred Dresses: Day 19

Erin6 Comments

Today’s dress is one of my favorites:

brick pink Simplicity 5723

I blogged about it last  year (there’s a picture of me in it at that post, with bonus surprise lexicographers!) It’s from this pattern, whichI really like:
Simplicity 5723

Even though the finished skirt is nowhere near as full as the pattern envelope would suggest. And anyway, I put pockets in it (copying those of Simplicity 1577, natch):

brick pink Simplicity 5723

I’m very happy with how the print matched at the waistline:
brick pink Simplicity 5723

The zipper here is about a C+. I have come up with an invisible zipper grading scale, would you like to hear it? After the picture:
brick pink Simplicity 5723

Zipper Grading System:

A zipper: can’t see it, truly invisible except for the pull, waist seam perfectly matched;

B zipper: puckering or  indication that zipper exists (besides the pull); no zipper tape visible;

C zipper: zipper tape visible;

D zipper: unwearable, must be ripped out and redone;

F zipper: makes entire dress unfixable, might as well cut the thing up for quilt squares.

Here’s the sleeve, finished with bias binding:
brick pink Simplicity 5723

And the back. I’m just going to believe that I don’t look from the back what my dresses look like from the back — my dress form is very persnickety and always catches the material across the back:
brick pink Simplicity 5723

Here’s a picture of the fabric scale, just because I found it in my Flickr set:
rose/brick hash print

 

I really like this dress because: it fits well (dress form back view notwithstanding); it’s formal enough to give a talk in but comfortable enough to enjoy myself in; and also, I like that brick.jpgnk AND broken plaids. A twofer! I usually wear it with a black cardigan and penny loafers.

And in The-Hundred-Dresses-The-Book news — if you’ve already read it, would you consider leaving a review somewhere? (Maybe Amazon?) It’s definitely one of the things that people use to decide whether they will choose The Hundred Dresses over, say, this one.