The Dress that Broke Me

So a couple of months ago, I was sewing along with the Project Sewn themes, and rocked my Twiggy dress.  And by "rocked it", I'm really saying, "I finished it."  Then came the pink project, and I faltered.

Pink and I, well, don't get along.

It's not pink, it's me. 

Don't get me wrong, pink's a lovely color.  On someone else.  Anyone else.

In anycase, I decided to TRY it, in the spirit of a challenge.
This is actually my second attempt.  I had one piece of pinkish/orchid-y fabric, and turned it into quite a brilliant pink wadder.

In a moment of interpretation, I decided that pink didn't mean 'all pink', and dug this out.  I had originally purchased this fabric with this dress in mind.

Amazingly, I had matching bias tape in my stash!

(Warning: notion porn ahead)

100% cotton!

Does your child sew?  How cute is that!

What is that?  If my bias tape fails, they'll reimburse me the cost of my materials AND labor?

*sigh*

I miss old notions.

And just in case you weren't tickled by the thread count information, they sneak in a free pattern for a bridge table cover on the back of the label.  You know, for when you play bridge.  As you do.

(Notion porn complete.  Remaining contents are notion-free)

When I could tell I wasn't getting it done for pink, I thought I'd just post it for shoes.  But when I realized I had no shoes for it, I was sunk.  

And then, the kicker:

I realized that I had added room at the waist, but moronically had added too much room at the waist.  

The thought of having to take out an absolutely perfectly installed lapped side zipper pissed me off.  

And so it sat, unhemmed, in time out, for about two months.

Until about 20 minutes before leaving for Easter lunch at my mom's, when I decided that was what I wanted to wear.

And hemmed it in my bra and underwear while everyone else waited.

Take that, stupid pink dress.

(That needs a belt.  And a different bra.)

The Details:

Pattern: Simplicity 2209--Lisette Passport Dress, with a gathered skirt

Fabric: Anna Maria Horner Mixed Signals voile, navy voile to underline bodice

Notions: bias trim, navy zipper

Time to complete: long enough

Pendralma the Second and Alma Part 2

Okay, so I made these over a month ago, and due to severe Hate-My-Current-Project-Itis, sadly never blogged these.  Enjoy!

Pendralma the Second

  

Details:

Pattern: Sewaholic Pendrell + Sewaholic Alma neckline and collar

Fabric: 1 1/2 yards of cotton voile; Palos Verdes Albalone Cove grey/orange (sez Fabric.com)

Notions: none.  well, thread. and pro-sheer light interfacing in the collar

Notes: Not my first rodeo on this one: see here.  Also, possibly the fastest completed garment ever...how many is too many for 1 wardrobe?

Alma Part 2

Details:

Pattern: Sewaholic Alma, retraced and amended, with plain collar and cap sleeves
Fabric: 1 1/2 yards of cotton voile: Palos Verdes La Venta green/gray
Notions: invisible zipper, uh, and thread
Notes: Not my first rodeo on this one, either: see here. Except dumb-butt-me complained last time about shortening the front waist darts, but brilliant-me realized I could just not sew them.  Problem solved!

With both blouses, I used sorcery to save fabric.  Okay, not really.  On the Alma, I cheated by tracing out a complete front and back so I didn't have to cut them on the fold.  That way I could squeeze more pieces on the the flat fabric.  With the Pendrell, I cut a good 3 inches off the length of the pattern, so I could squeeze those pieces together on the fabric.  In both cases, I pieced the bias neck tape for the neck and arm facings.

I have one more piece of Palos Verdes cotton voile.  Should I wait for the new Sewaholic Belcarra blouse? Or veer off for parts unknown?

Worse than Curtains

Warning: I've discovered something worse than curtains.

Not to say that curtains are not useful, or are harmful, they're just...boring.  

Sewing curtains is boring.  

They are big, dumb rectangles of boring.  And then you go and do something stupid in your boredom, and they become big, dumb, stupid, f&9a&% curtains.  

This is why I buy curtains.

Sometimes, though, you can't buy what you want.  You look and look and look, and there are just no replacement seat cushions for your porch chairs.  Anywhere.  Not the right color, not the right fabric, not even the right size.  And the fabric on your current ones are rotting away in the sunlight.

Nothing says, "Welcome to our home!" quite like rotten porch chairs.  It makes the accidentally forgotten-to-water-and-now-dead mums look intentional.  Grisly.  Adams Family-y.

Hmm.

So I sucked it up, and recovered my porch chair cushions.

And the weather promptly turned cold and snowy, go figure.

To be fair, the first one wasn't boring, the second one was okay, the third one took a while to get going on, and the fourth was still sitting on my ironing board cut out, as of last night.  I powered through, telling myself I couldn't move on until it was done.

I powered through after these pictures, and finished. 

Chairs are summer popsicle ready, whenever it decides to come.  I'm still planning on re-painting the front door, but honestly, it might be June before warmth and time collide.  

The Details: 

Fabric: Sunbrella outdoor canvas, Capri blue: 4 yards

Notions: Coats and Clark UV resistant thread, poly foam fillers from previous cushions, 

sew-in velcro for loops, motivating beverages

Time to complete: Not unlike childbirth, I've forgotten the specifics

Pendralma

Pendralma

or

It's Late, and That's the Best I've Got

Today was a long day back at work after a wonderful warm and sunny vacation.  Sunshine, Floridian beaches, shorts, night swimming, and bare toes digging in the sand were all a wonderful respite from the loooonnng winter. But spring had come here, too, while we were gone: my tulips and irises had started  bursting forth--sure signs that winter won't last forever.

Sand Angels

It's late, and I've worn this all day, so you're getting wrinkly kitchen photos.  

I love sewing hard things.  I like the challenge of new things.

But I also love quick and easy things.

Enter: Pendrell blouse + Alma collar + bias binding for neckline.

Not hard; just right.

There's not a whole lot to say here; I traced the Alma neckline onto the Pendrell bodice pieces.

And I used bias binding on the neckline rather than facing.

I hate facings.

Close-up of collar, because it turned out well.

This photo probably is the best depiction of the colors in the shirt.  

About the only thing I messed up here is the width of the bias binding on the neckline. I  trimmed the seam allowances down before attaching the binding, and it ended up really wide.  BUT, the top-stitching is covered by the collar, and I'm pretty sure most people will never know.

I also stuck a tag over the ugliest part where the seam binding meets. 

Because it's late.

Details, in the briefest way possible:

Pattern: Sewaholic Pendrell + Sewaholic Alma neckline and collar

Fabric: Tula Pink The Bees Knees cotton voile

Notions: Pro-sheer interfacing for collar

Alternations: took 3 inches off length of blouse.

And, I'm off to sit on the couch with a drink, and avoid thinking about argumentative essays.

For as long as I can.