The Sew Weekly

The "Chevron Bandito" Dress

The Facts
Fabric: Heavyweight cotton - $5 for ~7 yards
Pattern: McCall's 6224
Notions: Vintage zipper - $.005
Year: c. 1962
Time to complete: About 15 hours
First worn: November 2010
Wear again? Yes, when it warms up.

When I buy fabric, I almost always have no idea how I will end up using it. This fabric was the exception: the moment I saw it I knew exactly what the finished dress would look like. It would have a definite Mexican vibe and a full skirt. McCall's 6224 immediately came to mind (I previously used it for The "I Will Never Wear a Batik Print" Batik Print Dress). And that's just what happened -- only with a lot more work than I expected.

I wanted the skirt to have a border print of some sort. Originally, I thought that I could cut the fabric so that only one grouping of stripes would be at the bottom of the skirt. The problem? The skirt was way too short. So I decided to cut orange-stripes-orange. Still too short. I then cut the stripes into vertical strips and then stitched them to form one longer piece. I attached that bottom piece to the main skirt piece and voila, a longer skirt with a bottom border of some kind. 

And then the bodice. Oh, the bodice. Matching the pieces to form a chevron was actually quite simple. The real problem arose when I realized that my pattern was not suitable for a chevron. The darts at the chest and the waist would completely ruin any sort of matching I had accomplished. I had already cut the bodice, and though I had more fabric, I was not willing to abandon the chevron. I decided to look online at vintage patterns until I found a dress that had a chevron bodice. Upon closer examination I saw that the solution for a chevron-darted bodice was diagonal darts. Abandoning McCall's, I created darts in that manner and all seemed to be right with the world.

But that was just the front bodice! I then had to match the chevrons at the sides and at the back (where I would have to insert a dreaded zipper.) The sewing gods were on my side and it all managed to turn out quite okay.

The only disappointment of the dress turned out to be the bodice lining. Because I modified the bodice darts, I had to modify the lining in the same manner. I wasn't so precise doing that and as a result, the insides look sloppy. 

That said, the dress turned out just like I hoped! Now I just need to attend a fiesta. ¡Olé!

The "Third Time's a Charm" Dress

The Facts
Fabric: Blue Gingham - $5 for a bolt; Floral stripped cotton - $3 from estate sale; Rust cotton print from Stone Mountain & Daughter - $12
Pattern: McCall 6511
Year: c. 1946
Notions: None
Time to complete: 4, 3 & 2 hours
First worn: November 2010
Wear again? Yes. Definitely!

Total Cost for all three dresses: ~$20

After my sewing drought, I'm happy to say that I produced not one, but three dresses in the past two weeks that are all perfectly wearable. 

The pattern has been in my stash for quite some time, and though I really love the illustration on the envelope, I've put it aside because it just seemed like it wouldn't look as good once sewn.

This dress has certainly been a tale of the three bears. The first version I made -- the blue gingham -- was just a bit too long. The second -- the blue floral stripe -- was a bit too short. It's the third one -- the rust color dress -- that seemed to be right length. Along the way, I dressed up the neckline with a bow.

The skirt of the dress is gathered only in the front, and surprisingly, calls for more fabric than you'd think. Because the front pieces are so wide, they need to be cut on a crosswise fold and in all I've needed about 3 yards for each dress. The shortest dress ended up being the shortest dress because I just didn't have enough fabric.

The pattern is so so simple. There are darts in the back of the bodice, gathering at the front shoulders and just the general construction. By the third dress, I'm was able to finish in about two hours.

I've been looking for a dress that would be super easy to teach women who want to learn how to make a dress in less than a day. I think that I might have a contender with this one. 

By far the biggest compliment about the rust version of the dress: One of the places I buy fabric is staffed by folks who really really seem to hate the customers. One of the staff members who has never even acknowledged me said it was a "great dress." Mission Accomplished.

The "Where's Your Other Sleeve, Mom?" Dress

The Facts
Fabric: Cotton from best Estate Sale ever - $.30
Pattern: Qwik Sew 470
Year: c. 1970s
Notions: None
Time to complete: 2 hours
First worn: October 2010
Wear again? Yes. For tropical affairs.

Total Cost: ~$.30

The last in the Qwik Sew 470 Hawaiian series, this is a modified version the sleeveless view of the dress. Same as with the other two dresses, this was done with a non-stretch fabric and turned out just fine.

The name comes from my daughter's preoccupation with the missing sleeve. To her, the one arm style is just not right. Every time she sees this dress she says "oh, that's the one missing the sleeve," as if she's the only one who knows how badly I've messed up on this dress.

While the missing sleeve is deliberate, it's a hard look to pull off, especially if your breasts don't really cooperate with strapless bras. There's just something to be said about that extra support that two dress straps give you.

Perhaps Penelope is right, after all.

For those who have grown weary of of Qwik Sew 470, I'll be posting another Weekly Creation later this week.

The "Tropical Twiggy Dress"

The Facts
Fabric: Silk (or silk-like) vintage fabric from East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse - $8
Pattern: Qwik Sew 470
Year: c. 1970s
Notions: None
Time to complete: 3 hours
First worn: October 2010
Wear again? Yes. For fancy tropical affairs.

Total Cost: ~$8.00

It's been a bad two weeks of sewing around The Sew Weekly headquarters. I've ended up with a 1940s dress that looked like a sack, a peasant blouse that just looked all wrong and a animal print coat that looked like a pimp's bathrobe. 

I took this as a sign to take a little break from making anything new and instead post all those outfits that turned out well but I never documented on the The Sew Weekly. For example, the three other dresses I made in October for my Hawaii trip.

Without further ado, here's the second variation of Kwik Sew 470 -- the other being the last Weekly Creation -- that I made for my Hawaiian trip. Once again, I opted out of using the suggested knit fabric and once again, it turned out just fine. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about the fabric used to make this dress. At the time of writing that post, I didn't think I'd make a dress similar to Twiggy's dress. However, when I started looking at the amazingly flowy fabric again, I realized that there was absolutely no way I could resist making a floor-length dress.

The dress was constructed in the the exact same way as my last dress with #470. The fabric itself wasn't wide enough to cut the skirt pieces on the fold so I ended up joining two pieces together. That was fine, however, since it's such a busy pattern. 

Everybody Loves a Parade

At the very last minute (like literally as my husband was walking out of the house and off to work), I suggested that we try to check out the victory parade for World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. The standard orange blouse I wear to all Giants games had been worn over the weekend and I had absolutely nothing to wear.

Last week I bought some the most perfect fabric for a Giants dress for about $.50. I never got to making a dress in time for the series and since I hadn't planned on going to the parade, it sat unused on my sewing table -- most likely until next season.

From the time I decided to go, it took about twenty minutes to make this skirt. Thankfully it was a strip of fabric that was already the right dimensions. All I needed to do was stitch up side seam and -- because of lack of time -- make an elastic waist band. The shirt was a store-bought tee from forever ago that escaped the purge.

Elizabeth Bennet, Ladybug Girl and a Pirate Walk into a Bar...

You would think that considering how much I love dressing up in period clothing and sewing, I would have had created some wildly ambitious costume for Halloween 2010. You'd think that. A lack of any real Halloween plans other than Trick-or-Treating with Pen and her friends and watching some baseball dictated a boring old costume of my everyday clothes. Penelope and her friends looked adorable, however. And I did manage to make a little pelisse to match Pen's dress.

On Friday, however, I did manage to dress up for our office Halloween party. I wore the World War II - era Red Cross nurses aide uniform I purchased in Gloucester, MA earlier this year. 

  

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!