Month: January 2015

Another winter dress

Erin7 Comments

Here’s another January-appropriate dress, although I made this back in October, to wear to talk at Pop!Tech. (That there is a video link.)

galaxy dress

Specifics: it’s Liberty Lantana, but I don’t remember the pattern name — if you search for Liberty Lantana on eBay this one always comes up. (Lantana is the winter-perfect cotton/wool blend. Super soft, nicely warm, and wrinkle-resistant. Probably my favorite Liberty fabric type.) It’s the Simplicity 2389 bodice with the (heavily modified) Burdastyle Heidi skirt.

galaxy dress bodice

For colder weather I’ve been wearing this with a long-sleeved black t-shirt under it. And by “colder weather,” (sorry non-Californians) I mean around low 50s F. Below you can see the colorway — it’s mostly black, with a bunch of blue-y grays and a little warm taupe.

galaxy dress shoulder piping

I used the extra-fat piping cord to make this piping. It’s very satisfying.

galaxy dress zipper

Here’s the zipper & pocket (also piped) in a washed out photo. (Honestly, #nofilter, my phone is just not that great.)

galaxy dress back, at a jaunty angle

And the back, with my dress form at a jaunty (not to say off-kilter) angle.

I’ve taken a little break from this pattern but it’s calling to me again. The bodice is probably one of the most comfortable I’ve ever worn, and even those tricky-looking shoulders sew up easily. I’m thinking the next version will probably have a longer skirt (this one is knee length) and we’ll see how that proportion looks. I have some more Lantana …

Progress Report: Slow

Erin3 Comments

Not a lot of sewing going on in my atelier lately. Holidays, and a huge press of work*. You know, the usual.

One dress has been hanging on the hook where I keep the in-progress projects for more than a month. Okay, it’s not really a hook, it’s one of those orange spring clamps that photographers use for backdrops, clamped to the worn Ikea Ivar shelf of the bookcases I’ve had since Ivar was invented (fun fact: ‘Ivar’ means “you have too many effing books” in Swedish).

The fabric is some really beautiful army green twilled wool/cotton blend. I mean, totally gorgeous, and sure to be warm and comfy. (It did smell a little like wet sheep when I washed it, though.)

It’s supposed to be another version of this dress. The two others I’ve made from this pattern are really comfortable and great for layering and just the right length for winter so I really want to get this off the hook and onto my back. (When will this happen?  ¯_(ツ)_/¯)

Here’s a quick glimpse so you can see what I’m talking about. Of course the facings are Liberty: new McCalls 6726 w/Liberty facing

That pattern is Liberty “Mike” — it first appeared on this blog as this dress. I also made this dress in the gray colorway but I’m not sure if I ever blogged it. (It also comes in pink and a very 70s green combo that I really want.)

So: first new year’s resolution: finish this darn dress. Then we can get to the other ones, like “create a better system for keeping track of my patterns” and “only purchase one piece of fabric a month”. (I already bought January’s fabric. On January 1.)

What’s on your in-progress hook?

* The work stuff: Wordnik.com is becoming a non-profit, and to support the site we’ve started an “adopt-a-word” program! You can adopt your favorite word here.