Tag: Vogue_9929

Autumn 9929

Erin12 Comments

Autumn 9929

So the Vogue 9929s are continuing into the autumn, despite their sleeveless nature. I used to think sleeveless dresses in wintertime were really weird … and then I moved to California, where I am sitting sans this cardigan at my desk right now, after a warmish 30-minute bike ride into the office.

I figured I’d try a Vogue 9929 in a less-summery fabric when I saw a piece of this Liberty babycord on sale on eBay. I love Liberty babycord, and I love this pattern (which I believe is called Robin). But since there was just a little less than 2 yards of it, the 9929 was the only pattern I knew would work …

Liberty babycord is super, super soft but still hangs nicely. And the pile/wales of this corduroy are not so deep that you have to use a needleboard when pressing (which is good since I have no idea where mine is). I didn’t want to do self-fabric binding at the neck, because I thought the corduroy, as fine as it is, would still be too bulky, so it’s plain old Wrights bias tape, in olive green. The flags in this pattern are a purple-y mauve, marron, tan, pumpkin, and mustard, and a kind of smokey teal green (or greenish gray).

In keeping with the autumnal theme, I’m wearing this with mustard knee socks, oxblood Justin roper boots (a new purchase from Etsy!) and a kind of reddish-maroon-y J. Crew sweater. The socks are a bit weird in this picture — it looks like I’m wearing tights labeled “jaundice suntan” but in Real Life they are more mustard-y, I swear. Tights in a brighter yellow-mustard probably would have been a better choice, but I really don’t like wearing tights while biking. (My skirt gets all hung up on the tights and I spend the whole ride pulling it down, instead of watching out for oblivious minivans pulling out of driveways.)

I’m also wearing an olive-drab Swatch, which you can’t see because my hands are shoved deep into my pockets, as always.

This dress is so comfortable it looks like I’ll be wearing it (and making it) year-round! Hmmm, maybe a wool gabardine version …

As promised: the fox dress

Erin26 Comments

Untitled

As promised, here is the fox dress. The fabric is “A Walk in the Woods — Fox Frolic” by Aneela Hoey for Moda, and I bought mine at equilter.com (although they may be out).  I love the expressions on their little foxy faces:

The sweater is from Lands End in a color called “Bittersweet” and matches the little foxes PERFECTLY. You don’t know the downright visceral pleasure it gives me to have colors match perfectly, people. There’s a hierarchy of color-matching thrill, with the lowest level being 1) things bought online from wildly disparate sources, but in the same general timeframe; progressing to 2) things sewn from two different fabrics that pivot around a shared accent; and (best of all) 3 ) combinations assembled  from stuff already in my wardrobe, with bonus points if one of the colors is way, way off, like a weird orange or a green not found in nature. I will hoard belts, scarves, sneakers, tights, and cardigans for years, just to have the chance to  connect them with something else. (It goes without saying that items sold together and designed to match perfectly DO NOT COUNT. Even Garanimals. The idea is to make your own Garanimals!)

This dress is a lot of fun to wear — it just feels playful. It got a lot of love last week when I was in Portland, too, especially from the gentlemen. And Portland being Portland, it didn’t feel skeevy. Not sure why, but guys dressed in a style I like to call “scholar-lumberjack” (plaid shirt, skinny pants, and sneakers, topped off with heavy glasses and a heavy beard, especially if their physiques are such that I could probably out-bench-press them), saying “Oh, that’s a [effing] awesome dress!” are more adorable than offputting. (Even better if they are making me a delicious iced coffee at the same time.) Of course, I was at a conference that was All About The Love, so perhaps I should have expected it.

I also got an epic head cold while I was in Portland, so it all balances out.

Hard to See

Erin12 Comments

Vogue 9929

Sorry for the dark photo; it was actually rainy in California last Friday, when I browbeat my son into taking this photo.

This is another Vogue 9929; I finished it before my trip to Florida. It’s the Echino Glasses fabric that you see everywhere. I bought four yards of it when in came out and even made a skirt out of it but I ended up not wearing the skirt very often … the glasses are natural-colored and the black is a rusty one, so my sartorial OCD never was satisfied with any of the possible color combinations to wear with it (I usually settled on an olive-green t-shirt, oatmeal-colored cardigan, and black shoes).

Luckily I had juuuuuuust enough left for a 9929 — not quite enough for self-fabric bias trim to finish the neck and sleeves, but double-fold regular Wrights bias tape worked just fine — actually, the double-fold tape is nicer for this heavy fabric because it makes such a neat narrow finish. I made the pockets of black batiste, too — Echino fabric is fairly rough and ravelly, so it’s not great for pockets.

I’ve only worn this a couple of times, but so far it is an overwhelming crowd favorite. I got three compliments on it before I even made it to my desk that morning! (I went with one of my co-workers to get coffee and it started to get a little embarrassing … especially because he released v1 of an amazing new websocket framework last week, and there I was getting compliments on a dress.)

I wore it with a short-sleeved red cardigan (not shown), a black men’s Swatch, a black leather bracelet, and a pair of shoes I hardly ever wear because they have a prominent logo (on the SOLES, so not all that visible) that drives me nuts. (I’m like Cayce Pollard about logos.) I waffle about what glasses to wear with it — red ones, these heavy black ones, transparent ones, or no glasses at all? There is a case to be made for each option. Last time I chose red, this time black, and perhaps next time I will bust out the transparent ones (which I haven’t worn yet because they’re huge, and I’m not yet reconciled to the return of 1980s-style giant dork frames, since I rocked them last time).

I also have this fabric in the bright green … my first instinct was to make another 9929 right away, but I think I will continue hoarding it against another rainy day.

Next up on the 9929 parade: one made from this fabric. (Sneak preview here).

Another 9929, Florida-Style

Erin17 Comments

Vogue 9929, Liberty Mim

This is the second Liberty 9929 I’ve made — this is Liberty Mim, one of my favorite prints. This print just makes me SO HAPPY, although I’m not sure if I look happy in this photo … probably the fault of my contact lenses. They’re so much more convenient than glasses when I know I’ll be in and out of the pool and the ocean all day, but hopping in and out of the pool and the ocean means lots of chlorine and salt in my eyes, too, which is not so convenient.

Anyway. The yellow sandals are from Topshop, from my trip to the UK in May 2011 (they have bows across the top which I don’t think you can see); same old Swatch, and the orange bracelet is one of those RoadID thingums that has your name and your ICE phone number and what your blood type is. I wear it running and also when there’s any chance at all of a lifeguard having to pull my unconscious body out of the surf.

As usual for this trip, even when I think I’m packing the bare minimum, I’ve packed too much. I brought three dresses and two shirt/skirt combos for seven days, but could have done with two fewer changes of clothes (the place we stay has a washing machine). I also brought one more bathing suit than I absolutely needed, but I really hate getting back into a still-damp suit. (I’m loving the new high-waisted two.jpgece trend; I think this is first summer I’ve worn a non-tankini two.jpgece suit since before my son was born …)

It’s been a great trip but I’m looking forward to being home tomorrow … and not just because that’s where my sewing machine is!

Vogue 9929 is My New Jam

Erin36 Comments

So I posted about this new-to-me pattern a couple weeks ago, and haven’t posted since because I am just too busy making more of them. I’ve made (mumble-mumble, counting on fingers) five? since that first one, and I have another one cut out on the sewing table. Yeah. It’s that kind of dress — so easy to make, and best of all, in the new (shorter) skirt length, it can be made up in just under two yards of fabric, two and a half if it’s 44″ or under. Which means there’s SO MANY pieces of fabric in my stash that were too small for my shirtdress phase that are all jumping up and down shouting “make me! make me!”

Like this one:

New Vogue 9929

This is an old piece of seersucker that I’ve had *forever*. Every couple of years I’d haul it out, thinking “surely there’s enough for THIS project” only to be sadly disappointed — until now.

Likewise this piece of lovely heavy cotton — I think it was bought from the Britex remnant table in a spasm of hope:

Untitled

Here it is a little closer:
Untitled

I didn’t do the self-bias trim on this version, since the fabric was so heavy and stiff — this is finished (by machine, even!) with plain ol’ white bias tape.

This dress is great for biking to work; the skirt is easy to pedal in, and being sleeveless, it’s nice and cool on the bike, but I can cover up with a cardigan in the office. And it’s easy to dress down with sneakers, or make fancier with a belt and nicer shoes.

More pictures this week as I wear more of the new versions …

 

New Dress

Erin32 Comments

So this pattern was stuck in the back of a box and I unearthed it a while back:

Vogue 9929

It’s a really pretty dress, isn’t it? Although it looks as if pink dress is suffering from unrequited love for Blue Jacket. And the leprechaun version is a bit unusual. But I digress.

I looked at this pattern and thought, “Huh, I bet this would be fast to make, and it would fit.” And lo and behold:

Vogue 9929 in the flesh

I bought the fabric yonks ago on eBay — it’s cotton satin, and if it weren’t so lightweight, I’d say it was supposed to be upholstery fabric, or that maybe it’s from Ikea. Either way, I don’t care, because it’s really, really pretty.

This dress is definitely going to be made again — I have to make the pockets a little deeper (you can see how they stick out slightly here, with the bulk of my wallet, phone, pocket notebook, lipstick, etc. in them) and the skirt should be about two-three inches shorter. I may even take this hem out and re-do it, this length is a little dowdy. I think this pattern is perfect for Liberty Tana Lawn, especially with a very deep hem to give it some weight, so that’s what I’ll probably try next.

The only tricky part was getting enough bias tape to finish the neck and armholes out of the limited yardage I had — so it’s pieced in several places. Luckily, you can’t really tell. I also had to cheat a bit on the waist of the bodice … those side seams are 1/4″, instead of 5/8″, because I didn’t exactly check what the wearing ease was before I made it. The nice thing about a gathered skirt is that it’s very forgiving of this kind of math error. But this sucker fits pretty closely, now …

The flowers look red in some lights and pink in others, but it’s a true deep raspberry, and (I think) really pretty. The background is a taupe-y gray, so my gray Keds aren’t the best match, but I’m riding my bike in this dress today, and Keds are safer & more comfortable. Skinny belt is from H&M, watch is a silver-taupe Swatch that *does* match (unlike the Keds), and I’m wearing a black leather bracelet (which you can’t really see). I also put a black cotton cardigan on top of this, for work.

I will have an update and the winners of the Book Subtitle Contest early next week … I may be looking for beta readers, too, if you are interested drop me an email! Many eyes make light typos.