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well.
this past week, new york had an earthquake. as i write this, a category three hurricane is on the way. and, as these sort of earth shattering events do tend to come in threes: i'm still in black and white.
WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO.
irene is on her mad and screeching way into town, and she has thwarted my weekend plans. they included a birthday barbeque party, a dinner out, and a picnic at one of the last concerts of the summer. a certain couple will recognize that last engagement from their list of challenges:
10. Outfit inspired by one of the artists playing in the park this summer
i didn't mean to pull a debi & david twice in a row, but as it's the end of the summer i was running out of time for this one! and i do loves me a summer outdoor concert. oh, and this one was jazz. a charlie parker festival, godsakes. RATS ON IRENE.
as we began to hoist our belongings up off the floor in a precautionary measure for the impending (possible) floods, i spied ruggy's guitar under the bed. it's not a saxophone, but it'll do.
for this number, i was inspired to finish a UFO that had gone very wrong. the top half is burdastyle's cap sleeve dress that many of us used for mena's "kiss the cook" challenge, and the bottom half is the UFO in question: a self drafted pattern, born of my super secret double agent spy top (do i have a yearning to be a government operative?) from mena's "ugly pattern" challenge.
oh, did you notice my skirt length haz magically changed? like jazz, this little ditty can be played many ways, so i thought it the perfect fit for this challenge! in fact, the upside to the rainout was showing you the changes, as i couldn't possibly have riffed this much in an outdoor shoot without getting arrested. i changed eight times here, and there's still much more improv possible. it's a skirt! it's a dress! it's black and white!
what's that you say? the burda pattern is playing solo as the top? well then. for your listening pleasure, the changeups possible, sans burda top. this is just the bottom half, peeps! let the music play:
it's just two long rectangles, open at either end, and two armholes. a bit of simple math gets you the goods. if you like it and want a chameleon of your own, keep an eye out over at my blog! i'll be writing up a tutorial soon.
but now i must cut into some COLOR, really, if i present another solid and/or neutral next week, i do believe you can count on the apocalypse.
The Facts
Fabric: 1.5 metres white cotton from stash $4.50 and 1.5 metres purple/ black/ white/ teal wool blend diagonal plaid fabric from emmaonesock sale $10.50
Pattern: Simplicity 3719
Year: c. 1940s
Notions: Invisible zipper and 4 white buttons from stash
Time to complete: 4 hours each
First worn: August 2011, I have already worn the skirt twice!
Wear again? Skirt definitely, blouse unsure ???
Total Cost: ~$15
I didn't plan to sew a skirt and blouse this week. My original plan of sewing a blouse and jumper from Du Barry 5475 using this brown and raspberry plaid fabric went down the drain when the fabric became wonky after a hand wash. That has never happened to me before and I am not sure if it is possible to savage the fabric. Those unsightly "waves" on the fabric became untamable and return shortly after ironing. There goes Plan A.
The only plaid fabric left in my stash was a diagonal plaid I bought recently. It was a wool blend fabric and I had planned to use it for outerwear but upon receiving the fabric, I realized that though it had wool content, it was very light weight. I searched my pattern collection (how that has grown since the start of Sew Weekly challenge!) and decided to sew the skirt and blouse from Simplicity 3719 for two reasons. I was undecided between sewing a skirt or jumper and using this pattern bought me some extra decision-making time while work was in progress. Secondly, the pattern came with two back pieces and three front pieces with pleats that overlaps. This meant I didn't have to line the skirt despite the fabric being a little sheer on its own. What I love most about this fabric is it is seriously crinkle free!
Its my first time working with diagonal plaids and I find it more challenging to match these compared to straight forward normal plaids. In order to match the front, back and sides, I cut the fabric pieces one by one and lined them up as I went along. Instead of matching the plaids, I decided from the start that I wanted to match the white dashes as they stood out the most on the fabric. The front centre came as one piece on the pattern and in order to match the dashes, I cut the centre pieces as two pieces and added seam allowance to them which worked well. The front piece has pleated front centre pieces and two side front pieces with a zig zag chevron white dash design while the back (in photo below) also comes with a centre pleat, two darts and a single chevron white dash design.
I love the feel and design of this skirt so much I told myself I have to make more of them! And I am not even that into skirts.
The 40s blouse pattern is lovely. My favourite parts are the sleeves which are shaped by three pleats at the bottom and three darts on top (instead of the usual gathers), gathered front and back under the yoke and the dart shaping which creates a flattering bloused effect at the back.
My only complain is its length, I find it a little too short to be comfortably tucked in. I will need to lengthen from waist down when I sew from this pattern again.
Here's how the skirt looks with a tee tucked in. Despite it being wool blend, I am utterly surprised that it is so wearable in Singapore's humid weather. I would have totally written off anything with wool previously but this light weight fabric is just fabulous to wear!
Did I hear the bell? Now, off to the tennis court!
Fabric: 2 yards of gingham plaid from my stash (~$4 a yard; similar on fabric.com)
Pattern: Simplicity 2245
Year: c. 2010
Notions: vintage bias tape from stash
Time to complete: about 3 hours
First worn: August 2011
Wear again? Yes!
Total Cost: ~$8
It's hot in Houston y'all. "Yes Sarah - we know this," you may be thinking. "You talk about this all the time." But seriously - SERIOUSLY Sew Weeklies! - it's seriously hot. For serious. It has been over 100 degrees every single day this month. I'm over it in a big way!
What this has to do with this week's challenge: all my local fabric shops, which I assume have national buyers, are only stocking A) very heavy plaids, B) suiting plaids made of wool (no thanks!) and C) novelty plaids. No thank you, all three of those options - I'm going rogue! Because gingham has squares and crosses at certain points, I'm declaring it a plaid.
Oddly enough, my old school uniform (from kindergarden) included a gingham shirt and dark blue shorts! So this is my grown up take on almost exactly what I would have worn to school in the late 1980s.
I decided to try a brand new pattern from my stash, a Lisette multiple-view pattern with a cool shirt option. Emphasis was on temperature cool and looking cool - I like the way it turned out! Super easy to make, though I did amend the pattern to include bias tape on the neckline and omitted the banded sleeves.
Truth be told, I would wear this everyday just like a uniform if I could. But it would probably make me miss recess (and nap time!) too much...
While I made the decision to restore, the dress had other plans for me. It was far more delicate and fragile than I had initially thought and all restoration had to be abandoned. Working with this dress was like working with the Ark from Indiana Jones -- all I have to do is look at it for it to dissolve right in front of my eyes. Actually, it wasn't the Ark that dissolved, it was the Nazis. Either way, the fabric was fragile.
I'll be posting more about the dress closer to the date.
But now, more importantly, let's talk about the picnic itself. Our fabulous Debi will be flying all the way out from Scotland to make the picnic! I'm so terribly excited! It will be a perfect place for us to have a Sew Weekly meetup. So, if you're planning to attend, please let me know in the comments. Or, if you're a bit shy, send me an email via the contact form. We'll talk about the logistics of meeting up and all that great stuff.
For the first time ever, a limited number of Sew Weekly readers can buy the same exact fabric I used in my weekly creation. I've been wanting to offer affordable fabric packages for quite some time as a way to earn a little bit of revenue, as well as share the deals I find out and about. If you've read The Sew Weekly for any amount of time, you'll know that I'm all about bargains. Almost all of my weekly creations are created for less than $20. I would love the less-than-$20 price point to guide this and future "Shop Sew Weekly" offerings.
For $18 (including domestic priority shipping and handling - BE SURE TO USE THE "SEWWEEKLY" CODE AT CHECKOUT!), you'll receive 2 yards of this 60" wide acrylic/wool blend plaid fabric. I'm not 100% sure of the percentage of the blend, but from my burn tests it seems to match that blend profile. When unwashed, the fabric is a bit scratchy. I washed my fabric for my Sew Rejuvenated dress in cold water with a fabric softener and then dried it at a cool setting with a dryer sheet. That seemed to do the trick and made it totally wearable.
Because I'm all about practical packaging, you'll receive the fabric wrapped in 2 yards of red piping. I'll also include a set of four buttons that coordinate with the fabric. These buttons will vary.
I'm quite excited to start expanding the Sew Weekly world to include commerce! Once all these packages are sold, send me a photo/post of your completed creation. I'll gather them together on their own page and build a little community around this common fabric.
Buy the Mad for Plaid Bundle Now!
Do you have any special tricks when it comes to sewing with plaids?
Whether you call it "plaid" or "tartan," this week we're heading into Fall and back to school with the fabric that originated in the British Isles back in 400 to 100 BC. And, from the learn-something-every-day category, did you know that there are official tartans for the US States?
Fabric: Thrifted Acrylic/Wool blend (I believe), $8
Pattern: Simplicity 2013, $1.25 from Alameda Antique Fair
Year: 1957
Notions: vintage zipper, $.05
Time to complete: 5 hours
First worn: August 2011
Wear again? Yes!!
Total Cost: ~$9.25
After my disappointment with last week's creation, I knew I had to kick my sewing up a notch this week. That meant no practical separates. That meant something that requires a petticoat. That meant something from the 1950s (it is a crowd pleaser, you know). So for this week's creation I pulled out Simplicity 2013 and made a very impractical (for daily life, that is) full-skirted dress in a glorious plaid!
Construction of this dress was a non-event. The only annoying thing is that it requires not one, by two zippers. One at the side and one at the neck. I thought I could skip the neck zipper and instead use snaps, but that didn't work quite well. So, I'm going to have to go back and actually insert a zipper. Or, at least, try the snaps again in a better configuration.
I have to say that the 10 day break I took from sewing did wonders for my sewing enthusiasm. I was quite refreshed when sewing this dress and all those feelings about loving to sew came rushing back to my heart and hands. Yay breaks!
The photo shoot plans originally called for me to take these shots at Berkeley. However, when we got over the bridge I realized I forgot my camera. Not all was lost, though. Since we were in the East Bay, we headed to the GBACG Costumers Bazaar where I did a little shopping and received the nicest compliments about my ensemble.
Shopping at the bazaar was so pleasant since the folks there weren't just vendors, they were costumers and members. The prices were super reasonable, but more importantly, they were being sold by people who either made or shopped for the items personally. Not only was there knowledge being shared, but a general appreciation for the goods.
Even though I've been on the GBACG mailing list for years (almost 10, I believe!), I've never been a member or attended a costumed event. Maybe one day -- when I get enough nerve to go to something by myself. I did have the pleasure of meeting Kendra from Démodé at the bazaar. Even though I had read about the bazaar on her blog, I didn't recognize her since I'm used to seeing pictures of her looking like this. If you truly want to be inspired by some serious sewing, check out her blog!
One more thing: I have tons of this fabric which I'll be selling later today. If you like this plaid, be sure to keep an eye out for the post!
I've been looking for a vintage tooled leather purse for quite some time so this Southwest find for $17 was quite a pleasant surprise. I have no idea when or where it's from since there are no labels, marks, dates, etc... I'm just going to assume it's from the 1970s or 1980s since that's probably the safest bet based on the shape of the bag and its hardware.
I'm totally amazed that I can't find anything online about dating these purses. Isn't the Internet supposed to have *everything*? Does anyone know anything about dating these bags?
