30!

Hi Guys! As you can see, the sun has decided to come out and play, and I've basically been walking around like this in a sun-drunk haze. It gets very awkward when you're constantly running into things, but Igottasoakupdatsun!

But, hey! Yesterday was my birthday! I haven't done a proper birthday post in... gosh... years. Not since I turned 27 (I still love that dress, btw. So pretty). But seeing as I turned 30, some fanfare seemed in order. 

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be feeling existential or what, but I'm actually quite happy to see the back of my 20's! Don't get me wrong, a lot of wonderful things happened in my 20's - I got my BFA and MFA in Painting, I met Nick, got married, taught myself how to sew, started this here blog, and got to know all of you wonderful people. But it was also a decade of a lot of uncertainty and, well, growing up. I'd be perfectly fine if my 30's were a little less momentous! I know a lot of people have anxiety about getting older, but I think with each passing year I get closer to my internal age. You know how some people are 'young at heart'? Well, I'm the opposite of that.  I'm not joking when I say my true age is, oh, somewhere between 65 and 85, but firmly planted in the senior citizen zone. Which is good! I've got awhile before I peak!

But enough navel-gazing! I don't care how old you are, birthdays should always be at least a little bit about having fun and feeling great, and nothing makes me feel better than a new dress. After the sewing extravaganza that was my jacket I needed a palate cleanser.  So for my March contribution to the Mood Sewing Network I turned to some of my sewing favorites - my comfort food of sewing.  In this case it was a combination of gorgeous silk crepe de chine, a tried-and-tested pattern for the bodice, a circle skirt, and straightforward construction. From start to finish this dress took me two days, which is about as instant gratification as my sewing gets!

A few months ago I snatched up this Ralph Lauren Dark Blue Polka Dotted Silk Crepe from Mood Fabrics online with the intention of turning it into a sundress as soon as the weather warmed up.  As any fabric enthusiast knows, a good polka dot is hard to find! So when I spot one, I jump! And this is a good one.  The blue is one of my favorite shades to wear – a brilliant deep cobalt – and the scale of the polka dot is perfect.  Plus, silk crepe is one of my all-time favorite fabrics to sew with.  If you’ve ever been intimidated by silk, do yourself a favor and pick up some silk crepe de chine.  It has all the luxuriousness of silk with none of the finicky handling.

This silk is pretty lightweight, but still very opaque, which might mean it's, like, the unicorn of silk fabric. It also meant that I decided to skip the lining on this one, making this the simplest, slinkiest little slip of a dress in the history of dresses. I did use a one-inch strip of fusible interfacing to reinforce the opening for the invisible zipper, which makes inserting a zip into lightweight fabric like this much more manageable. But other than that, when I'm wearing this dress, there's nothing between me and the world besides a little shimmy of brilliant blue, polka-dotted silk! Just the way I like it!

I wanted to pair this fabric with a pattern that would be simple, timeless, feminine, and flirty.  For the bodice I used By Hand London’s Holly jumpsuit bodice, variation 2, which I made once before. I love the disco-vibe of the cowl neck paired with the skinny strap. For the skirt I just used a half-circle skirt, my favorite of all the circle skirts.  I think it has the perfect balance of volume and swish and   also body-skimming sensualness (can skirts be sensual? I think half-circle skirts can). After letting the skirt hang overnight I hemmed this skirt at my preferred midi-length using a narrow folded hem.  Overall I think the look is classic, and slightly retro without being overt.

For such a fast sew, I actually did a surprising amount of hand stitching on this dress.  The entire neckline and all the bias-binding was slipstitched in place (just ignore that bit of staystitching that you can see peeking out near the straps... Ignore it I say!). I happen to really hate sewing bias-binding by machine, I can never get it to look neat! So this time I didn’t even attempt it, I just stitched the binding to the bodice right sides together, then folded over and slipstitched to the wrong side, including the straps.  It was way more time-consuming than tackling it by machine, but it was also much less of a headache. And I don't know, there's something about hand stitching that always feels very zen to me.  And in the end I actually really love how it turned out! So much neater than my awkward attempts at the machine.

And speaking of those straps – the original Holly bodice has a regular spaghetti strap, attached at the back bodice.  I had intended to do this, but when I put the dress on mid-construction to do a test fit I just quickly tied them around my neck to keep them out of the way.  I ended up really loving the way the neckline looked as a halter so I decided to keep it like that. I can always tack them down later if I change my mind.  For now though I just folded over the raw ends of the bias binding and stitched them in place.

I wore my new dress all day yesterday on my birthday and it really helped me feel great, like a modern day Sophia Loren. And really, what more can a girl ask for on her 30th birthday? Of course I also ended up enjoying so many sweets and drinks and decadent meals that by the end of the day I was more than ready to unzip and give up all pretense of any sort of ladylike or sensual airs. And my birthday ended as all good birthdays should - by washing my face, dotting myself with zit cream, putting on my ratty robe, popping a couple of ibuprofen and heading to bed!

So here's to new decades, new dresses, and sewing something that makes you feel great! Hope you're all having a great March! And if you're not, try sewing yourself something you love. 

I'll be back in the next couple of weeks with a tutorial for the Minoru pattern, so stay tuned!

xx

you make me feel like dancing

Hey Gang! I hope life has been treating you good over the last few weeks! Goodness, has it been that long? After coming down from the last crazy show install at work I have been trying to spend some time on 'me' the past month. Trying to find that life balance again of work/play/home/food/exercise/friends/family/hobbies... you know, the never-ending list that makes up a 'life'! And I've also been trying to soak up as much of the summer as I still can. September and October are my favorite months here in Galveston because the tourist season has ended, I get the beaches to myself (little known fact, fall is the best time for the beach here, the water is totally clear, slightly cooler than it's normal 'bathtub' or 'urine' temperatures, and there's no seaweed) and the weather is still summery perfection. I always feel like this time of year is sort of a brand new start - perhaps a bit of that lingering 'back to school' mentality - a great time to make goals, take stock, perhaps slow down a bit, and renew priorities. So that's been my focus these past few weeks.

And of course I've been sewing! Because 'life' would not be 'life' without the feel of fun new fabrics and the whir of my little machines. I've mostly been focusing on my latest make for the Mood Sewing Network - this fabulous Holly Jumpsuit made up in a bubblegum pink, vintage-y Marc Jacobs viscose print (no longer available online). I originally fell in love with the sister color-way of this fabric (coral and yellow flowers on a deep blueish-purple background) but sadly my 'buy now' fingers were not fast enough and it was sold out in the blink of an eye. Devastated, I consoled myself with this, slightly odd, pink, blue and green yardage you see here. Pink and green seems like a bit of a peculiar color combination to me, but I think that's precisely why I ended up loving this fabric. The green tones down the overall Barbie vibe of this pink and takes into a more unique, even modern, territory. 

The pattern is of course non other than By Hand London's newest pattern release, the Holly Jumpsuit. I was pretty smitten with the cowl-necked, disco fabulous version of this pattern as soon as I saw it. Many of the versions I've been seeing pop up in the ol' blog feed since the release have been from pattern testers who either tested an earlier version of this pattern, or Variation 1, featuring a cute button-up bodice. Don't get me wrong, those versions are fabulous, but it was this 'Bianca Jagger goes to Studio 54' view that really stole my heart. I wasn't completely sold on using this Marc Jacobs print to make this pattern at first (I had visions of 40's inspired fall dresses) but after a quick consultation with my pal Heather Lou (always a good idea to keep sewing friends on speed dial - or in this case, email - in the event of just such a conundrum) I decided a head-to-toe pepto-pink-and-green look was exactly what I needed in my life!

Crazy eyes!!

I actually made two - count them, two! muslins of this pattern because I wasn't completely confident about the fit - jumpsuits are kinda tricky like that. I went with a size US8 and the first muslin (here and here) seemed to have a lot of excess fabric pooling above the waistline of the back bodice and some horizontal pulling at the bust. I pinched out the excess fabric at the back and then performed a small 1/4" FBA (full bust adjustment) - not something I usually have to do - to the front bodice, rotating the dart into the pleats of the cowl neck. I felt like these were pretty big pattern changes to make so I went ahead and made another muslin to check fit again, but decided to check the FBA changes before adjusting the back bodice, because I had read somewhere that you should only make one fitting adjustment at a time. Well, my second muslin (here and here) had a nice, neat looking back without any fabric pooling, but my horizontal lines at the bust were still there! Not to mention that the FBA had added width to the side seams (as it's supposed to do) which in the second muslin I felt like I could do without. But I was muslin-ed out and deemed my second go around 'good enough' and decided to cut into my fabric. Also, my deadline for my post was fast approaching... decisions had to be made. 

As I was cutting out my fabric I gave absolutely zero thought in regards to print placement. Like less than zero. Seriously, it didn't occur to me at all. Which means that the fact that those green flowers are so evenly placed down the front of my legs leaves me pleasantly baffled! However, not all my cut pieces were quite so serendipitous... my original front bodice piece (which is cut on the bias) featured two big ol' green and blue flowers right over each breast! Yep. Way to go, Sal. Luckily I had just enough fabric left to cut myself another bodice with less suspicious flower placement. 

HOWEVER!! After I cut bodice numero uno (the one with the FBA, remember?) I noticed that it grew considerably due to the bias cut in my fabric. Turns out this Marc Jacobs viscose/poly silky, crepe-y, magical fabric is quite susceptible to shiftiness and stretching on the bias! Which means... when I cut out my second bodice I decided I didn't need the extra room after all and went with the originally drafted bodice straight out of the packaging. Yes, that means what you think it means: THOSE TWO MUSLINS WERE FOR NOTHING!

So my final thoughts on fitting this pattern are: 1) a drape-y fabric can hide a multitude of fitting sins 2) strap length can also make a huge difference with this pattern (in my case, it got rid of all that mysterious back bodice excess fabric I mentioned way back in muslin #1) and 3) The BHL gang are currently executing a Holly Jumpsuit sewalong with a myriad of fitting posts!

Putting this jumpsuit together was really quite straight forward. Those BHL ladies wrote some fine instructions, and, remember, I had already sewn it twice before (no, I'm not still bitter...) I decided to give my pants a deep, 3" hem, and I hemmed them to wear with my clogs. For reference, I'm about 5'6" and my clogs have about a 3" heel. I didn't have to add any length to the legs because these suckers are loooong as drafted.

But just because the instructions and process was straight forward doesn't mean that I didn't muck it up. I ended up cursing my way through attaching the bias binding along the back, armholes, and extending into the shoulder straps. You guys. I. hate. bias. binding. I glued that shit down and used about a thousand pins per inch and still it somehow managed to shift out of place under my presser foot. I think in the future I'm just going to hand sew it in place. It will probably take less time overall once you consider all the unpicking I have to do! But it turned out fine in the end *deeep sigh*.

The other place I made a major cock-up of things was with the zipper. In my sewing haste I did not stop to consider that my bias cut front bodice may have continued to grow as I was working on it and therefore when I went to attach my zipper my waist seam was way off. If you squint you can see it in the photo above. And I left it like that... because.... pink jumpsuit. More of the 'frosting' type of garment than the 'cake', wouldn't you say? In other words, as much as I love my finished jumpsuit, it probably won't be a wardrobe staple, more of 'special occasion' getup. And on those 'special occasions' no one will be looking at my waist seam.

Especially after I stun them with my sweet sweet dance moves!!

Ah HAH! You thought my title for this post was completely arbitrary, didn't you!?!? No no! There is always a method to my madness! In this case, I took those disco vibes I was getting from this pattern very literally.

Now I would like you to imagine me pulling out my worst best dance moves in front of my tripod, with a self timer, on this residential sidewalk, in front of some stranger's home, at around 5pm when everyone is driving home from work.  Picture it in your mind...

YOU'RE WELCOME!



And on that note, I'll sign off! Until next time, my friends, Happy trails!

xx

*The fabric for this post was provided to me free of charge by Mood Fabrics*

flower power

Well guys, spring has definitely sprung around these parts! And I for one could not be happier about it! This week also marks the end of what was a really busy couple of months for me at work, and I finally seem to have shaken off the respiratory infection that had been plaguing me (thanks antibiotics!) Yay!! So all in all, we're in high spirits around these parts!

What with the warming weather and more free time to actually enjoy it, I seem to have one thing and one thing only on my mind - silk dresses. Making them. Wearing them. Living in them for the next nine months... That and long, lazy, bike rides. Preferably paired together. At sunset. Sigh... paints quite a picture, doesn't it?

For this months Mood Sewing Network make I was irresistibly drawn to this gorgeous floral crepe de chine from Mood Fabrics online. Silk crepe de chine is one of my all-time favorite fabrics to sew with, and to wear. It has a bit more 'grip' than many of it's slippery silk counterparts, making it easy to handle, but it still has that lovely, fluid drape that you want from lighter weight silks.  And it's breathable, which is an absolute must in my hot and humid climate.

I absolutely adored the floral print of this fabric! It's so bright and playful, it made me instantly happy! I find the color palette to be sort of unusual and unexpected (magenta and poppy red, royal purple and inky black, viridian green and chartreuse... all on a soft, off-white background). It also reminded me a bit of vintage prints, but I couldn't decide what decade - 30's? 40's? 70's?? Maybe 70's-does-40's? (The consensus on the Mood blog was 70's-does-40's, which incidentally, is one of my favorite time period mash-ups!)  I don't normally go for a vintage look, but there was something so timelessly feminine about this print that was just calling me.

I thought it would be nice to pair this fabric with a pattern that also had a bit of a vintage vibe, without going totally overt, and felt like By Hand London's Anna dress totally fit the bill. I love this pattern - it's like all the best parts of being a woman rolled into one dress! This is my second time making the Anna dress (here's my first). For this version I opted for the v-neck and the shorter hem. However, rather than just chopping the pattern off at the knees, I kept the hem width of the maxi-version and adjusted the skirt panel pieces to compensate. This way I maintained maximum skirt swing-y-ness (very important for those warm breezes!)

Trust me on this one, this pattern hack sounds way more complicated than it actually was. I'm not saying that what I did was the right way to go about this - but, hell, it worked. Which is really all I care about. What I did was lay tracing paper over the skirt panel pieces, trace off the waist seam and grainline, and make a mark along the grainline the length that I wanted my new skirt pieces to be (I did 27 inches). Then I slid the tracing paper down, along the grainline, until my new hem mark lined up with the original maxi hem line, traced the maxi hem line and connected that to the waist seam, ignoring the original side seams. Done and done! 

One of the reasons I went with this silhouette and skirt length is because it's reminiscent of one of my all-time favorite handmade dresses, my purple linen Simplicity 1880. I love that dress. It's the dress I grab when I want to look pretty, and it's been my go-to dress for such a variety of occasions - weddings, parties, holidays, work events, and just regular old work days. That dress is a work horse. So I felt like it was time that I listen to my own closet and try to get more dresses like that in there! As I was sewing this dress up I could tell that it was definitely going to be giving my purple dress a run for it's money as my new go-to dress! I've already worn it to an opening at my gallery this past weekend and it was, as I suspected, perfect. It took me all the way through prepping for the opening (which entails buying assloads of beer, wine and ice, lugging it around and filling coolers, climbing up ladders to adjust lights, cleaning, hauling trash, etc. etc. etc...) to the opening itself, where I'm greeting people, serving wine, making chit-chat, and generally playing hostess. And you know what, I got so many compliments on this dress! She's a winner!!

I reinforced the v-neck with silk organza strips, which helped a little with gape-age, however there is still more gape than I would like. Perhaps I should have eased the v-neck to the silk organza a bit? Ah well - ya live, ya learn.

I also lined the entire dress with silk habotai, because the floral fabric was ever-so-slightly sheer. Silk habotai (or china silk) is a wonderful lining fabric, especially if you're like me and like to keep your silk dresses silky - inside and out! The habotai I used was from my stash, but Mood has an awesome collection online in, like, every color imaginable. And I don't know about the fabric stores where you live, but silk habotai at my local fabric store is sooo much more expensive than what they sell it for at Mood - that's including shipping, and there is much less variety. But probably the most economical source for silk habotai (and, really, any silk fabric) is Dharma Trading. Of course everything there comes in either white or black, but if you feel like getting crafty with some dye, you can make it any color your heart desires!

And because I always like to learn new tricks, even on patterns that I've made before, I decided to try my hand at using my machine's blind hem foot for the floral silk. Can you believe I've never used that little gadget before?! That's one of the reasons I love sewing - there's always something new to learn! I'm not totally sure if this type of hem was ideal for this type of skirt and fabric, but eh... it worked (moral of this post). Anyway, I love how clean the hem turned out, and it saved me so much more time than if I had hand-picked it myself. For the skirt lining I just used my serger's rolled hem function. I always feel like I'm cheating when I do this, but it's just so quick and easy, it's hard to resist!

Let's talk real quick about caring for silk garments. I feel like this is something (or maybe one of many things?) that always intimidates people from buying, sewing and wearing silk. You guys may have noticed that I sew with silk a lot, and, as I said, silk crepe de chine is my number one favorite fabric of all time. I wouldn't be sewing all these silk clothes if I wasn't actually wearing them, and with wearing your clothes, comes washing your clothes (unless, of course, that's not your thing, in which case, you do you...) For the record - I never go to the dry cleaners. I can't afford it, and I don't like all the icky chemicals. I wash all my silks at home. In the washing machine. The key is to prewash your silks the same way you intend to care for the finished garment. So I usually wash on cold and hang dry. Occasionally I'll throw my silk in the dryer (I did that for the habotai lining of this garment) and it works out just fine, but typically I won't continue to care for my finished silk garment this way. Although every so often one of my silkies accidentally ends up in the dryer, and it usually fares okay. In her recent post about silk jersey, Lauren noted that the color and sheen can dull a bit when you wash and dry your silks. This definitely can happen, though it's not too dramatic, and in my experience, this mostly occurs in the dryer, which is why I usually hang dry. But I'm all for throwing your silks in the dryer if that's more convenient for you, just make sure to do that when you prewash too!

And for any of you non-sewers out there, this is also how I care for store bought silk clothes as well - machine wash cold and hang dry. Silk is an amazing fiber, and not nearly as delicate as people think.

Well, there you have it! I can't wait to wear this dress on the balmy summer nights that I know are right around the corner! What sort of fabrics have you thinking of warm weather?

summery separates

Hi everyone! Wow, I can't believe it's April already... time is really flying by! I had a very busy March - both at work and in the sewing sphere, and, perhaps most importantly, I had a birthday! I am now the ripe old age of 29! 

This month's make for the  Mood Sewing Network was a bit of a challenge. Literally. We were given the task to choose a designer and make a completely unique look inspired by their 2014 spring runway collection. I was pretty psyched about the concept - and also a little nervous! It felt a bit like being back in school and having to problem solve my way through an assignment. How do you make a look that hearkens to a designer, yet doesn't directly copy them, and also maintains a sense of your own individual style? Tricky stuff indeed, my friends. However, choosing a designer was a total no-brainer for me. Rachel Comey is probably the only designer who I continue to keep tabs on, no matter what, and I've had a long standing girl-crush on her for, literally, years. I love her collections, I love her shoes, I loved her patterns for Vogue (hint hint... could we get more of those please??) Like this one... and this one...

Comey's spring collection was really all over the place. Above are a few of my favorite looks from it (you can view the whole collection here). Crazy, tattered denim culottes? Check! Lace getups that are both seductive and frumpy? Check! Velvet slip dresses reminiscent of the 90's? Check! Psychedelic swirly printed sweatshirts? Check, check, and more check!! Really, it was hard to come away with a cohesive statement from this collection, but that's also what made it so great to work with - it allowed for a lot of freedom of interpretation.

In the end I decided to create a look that was maybe a bit more feminine than what Comey was showing, but I think it would still fit into her collection with ease.  I tried to focus in on a few key elements from a few different looks - the fabric of a piece here, the midriff baring there, skirt lengths, layering and accessories...

I used this white cotton brocade from Mood Fabrics online store to create this crop-top and pencil skirt.  As soon as this fabric arrived I knew I had made a good choice. It was almost identical to this textured, white fabric that appeared in Comey's collection:

This cotton is more ivory than white and has an almost slub-like texture to it, and a very pretty, subtle sheen.  It's 100% cotton, but has a generous amount of width-wise give, which made it perfect for this sort of curve-hugging silhouette.  It was super easy to work with, as cottons often are, but it did fray something awful, so I was very careful not to handle the cut pieces more than necessary and definitely made sure to enclose all my raw edges.  I fully lined both the skirt and the top with white cotton batiste, which I love as a lining for warm weather clothing.  It gave a nice sturdiness to both of these pieces, while also adding much needed opacity.

Please excuse that attention-whore of a bra strap... always trying to steal the show...

I used the top portion of By Hand London's Georgia dress for the crop-top, simply adding a back button placket so I could get it on and off. This was a really great way to test the fit of this pattern, without committing to the whole dress. I simply lopped the pattern off at the waist notch, then added an additional inch for a hem.  I did have to make a few adjustments to the bust cups - mainly taking out some of the volume from the bust apex. Now that I've got the fit figured out (mostly at least... I could still tweak away...) you can bet that I'm dreaming up other versions of this dress! 

The skirt is Burda 117 which I liked because it has the perfect mix of high-waisted, long-hemmed, body-hugging silhouette, and includes a back vent (an absolute must for this type of skirt). Of course I still had to take it in some sort of ridiculous amount through the side seams to get the kind of fit I wanted, but all in all that's an easy adjustment to make.

You can see the texture of the fabric a bit better in these close ups

 

One thing that is definitely for certain - Sonja and I have totally been drinking from the same crop-top + pencil skirt kool-aid this spring! If that's not a sign that this trend has arrived, than I don't know what is!  You heard it here first folks - crop-tops and pencil skirts are so. right. now. If I'm being completely honest, I kind of can't believe I not only decided to make a crop-top, but then photographed  myself wearing it and posted it on the internet!! I can honestly say that I have never worn a crop-top before in my life! Not being blessed with abs of steel (more like abs of marshmallow) I always thought it was a look that I couldn't pull off, but I think the proportions of these pieces really help make this outfit more flattering.

Also (true confessions) I actually had the best of intentions of making another Tessuti Tokyo jacket in denim to go along with this outfit. I was even planning on distressing the hems and pockets, like my girl Rachel Comey. However my plans were utterly foiled when I was struck ill mid-month with... well I'm not quite sure, but I've been calling it consumption which pleases the Victorian Gothic in me, and also the plague, which suits the Medieval Mystic in me. In fact, I can still be found hacking out my lungs most nights! So, alas, the denim Tokyo jacket got put off and instead I donned my beloved shibori dyed Tokyo jacket, since I thought Rachel (yeah, we're on a first name basis... in my head) would approve. 

Also, how do you like my new clogs?? I'm in looooovvveeeeee!!!!!

Happy spring everyone!

xx

last gasp

I want to thank you all, so much, for your kind words on my last fabric post! I'm having such a wonderful time experimenting with dyes and seeing where I can push them and how I might make them my own, and it's been such a joy getting to share that process with you! And you've certainly given me a ton to think about in terms of where all this fabric dyeing might lead...

I also have to acknowledge all the crazy good suggestions you guys had for what this fabric should become! You guys seriously have amazing vision, and I wish I could have taken every. single. one of your suggestions (wouldn't that have been an awesome post!?) 

But, as you can see, I ended up sticking to the original plan and making an Anna.  One of the main reasons for this being that Heather Lou sent me this pattern as part of our hand-dyed-silk-maxi-dress-love-fest earlier this summer, and it just seemed to complete the karmic circle of good-feelings too perfectly to use this pattern with this fabric. And if there is one thing I believe in, it's karmic circles. And silk. Yes, I am a fervent member of the Church of Karma & Silk... any other believers out there?

I also really wanted to make my Anna before our weather turned too cold for me to enjoy it, because if ever there was a pattern for Summer 2013, I believe it is the Anna.  This pattern just feels so very now (yes, I realize that for most of you in the northern hemi summer is already a distant memory, clouded over by wafts of pumpkin spice everything, but in my little corner of the world I'm still enjoying the last few gasps of warmish temps before fall finally decides to settle on us). When I was in NYC I had the wonderful privilege of getting to eyeball not one, not two, but five Anna's in the course of three days! That, my friends, is an excellent example of a pattern going viral.  And, yeah, I wanted in. So consider this my late entry onto the Anna train.

And, boyohboyohboy am I glad I boarded that train! I was actually nervous about this dress - if you can believe it.  I worried that the tummy-hugging silhouette wouldn't be particularly flattering on me, since I generally try to drape myself in volume around those middle parts. I actually made two muslins of the bodice before I cut into my silk, something I haven't done in quite awhile.  I couldn't quite make my mind up between two sizes - a US6 or a US8.  Both, technically, fit. And looked fine. But the 6... well... it left no one in doubt about where I store my chicken and waffles ifyaknowwhati'msayin... So I went with the 8, and I'm very pleased that I did.  I think the dress is still miraculously flattering and feminine and sexy while still allowing me to breathe and, ya know, have organs. 

So let's talk about some of the nitty-gritty, shall we? One of the benefits of being the last person in the blogosphere to make a pattern is that you get to learn from everyone else's experience.  So even before I made my muslins I was aware that this pattern had some issues with gaping at the back neck, and I was able to use Ginger's clever little adjustment to take out excess fabric there (though the back neck still gapes a bit if I stand up 'yoga-straight'...) I also took Oona's advice and skipped the pattern facings and instead used a bias strip facing to finish the neckline.  I had also heard everyone bemoan the miles of french seams and hand finishing that this dress called for. I heard it. And I chose to ignore it. Instead I serged my edges (I know... such a rebel) and....!!! Get this... I topstitched my thigh-split! Say What?!?! It's true. And before you all come at me with pitchforks and buckets of tar, lemme just say: It. Works. Fine. I would especially recommend this if you are making your Anna out of a solid colored fabric. Total time saver. Perhaps not the invisible finish some might desire, but dudes, I finished this dress in a day. 

Cue the horrible construction shots in heinous indoor lighting... 

The one area where I did go a bit overboard on was the zipper.  I hate the feel of zipper tape against my skin, so I debated drafting a facing for the back opening, but I felt like that would really only work neatly if I included all the facings, and I had already decided to go the bias route. So instead I cut strips of my silk and bound the zipper tape in those before I inserted it into the dress. Now, no scratchy zipper tape ruining the delicious feeling of all that silk against my skin! As for my invisible zipper experience as a whole? I have no complaints. Inserting zippers into super lightweight fabrics like this silk is always a bit funky. But I interfaced the seam allowances around the zipper and it went in like a charm, and, I think, looks just about as neat and clean as can be expected.

Nick took these pictures for me, which is always a bit of an adventure.  I usually end up with some absolutely stunning shots, and then I get some funny ones like the shot above. I can only assume he was getting bored with my posing and preening and the distraction of a really big boat was just too tempting! (P.S. Thank you, Nick! You're such a good sport! I love you!) 

Well, since finishing this dress I've already worn it to two events and plan to wear it to another this week. It's actually pretty amazing how this dress can go super fancy or more daytime-casual with just the slightest change of shoes and accessories. Love it! But now I think it's time for me to focus on some fall weather sewing... sigh. It's time. Goodbye summer!

xx