let's give them something to talk about

Hello there! My goodness it's almost the end of June.  I can't believe it's taken me so long to photograph this dress and write a blog post about it.  I had been saving it to do a Mood post, but kept pushing it back because I was having trouble getting it photographed. Between battling the weather (rain, rain, and more rain) and camera batteries I thought I'd never get this thing documented! But finally I decided I was going to get a photoshoot done, no matter what the weather, and I'd just have to pretend I'm cute with my umbrella as a prop and the rain was all part of my plan from the start. Spoiler alert: I didn't need the umbrella after all and managed to sneak these photos in during a couple dry moments between passing clouds.  But the insane greenery of the background is proof that, indeed, it's been a rainy June!

I've shown this dress a few times on my Instagram account. I made it quite awhile ago now, while I was taking my blogging break this past spring. And I've worn it quite a bit also, which is actually kind of nice because I can really give an honest review of how this dress and fabric works for me.

But the inspiration for this dress goes back even further -- to the beginning of the year.  It was such an unusually warm and pleasant winter here, even by Texas standards.  The sun always seemed to be shining and there were long stretches with low humidity and just the most pleasant spring weather you can imagine. Everything seemed to stay green and go on blooming. It was really almost magical. This also coincided with a stretch of time that I was without my trusty steed -- my bike, and so rather than biking the 2 miles to and from work each day, I went by foot.  I've never been a fast walker (or really, fast anything -- one of my husband's earliest nicknames for me was Tortuga Sal) and walking upwards of 4 miles a day brought out the daydreamer in me, big time. And of course I was daydreaming about sewing -- because, obviously.

Specifically, I was daydreaming about the kind of outfit I wished I was wearing to saunter down sidewalks in a crumbling southern city in the U.S.A., shaded by drooping live oaks and palm trees, heavy hibiscus bushes, oleanders, and fragrant jasmine and gardenia.  It doesn't take much for my brain to meander off to the romantic, the literary, and cinematic, and so I cast my leading lady for the movie in my head.  She was someone who owned few nice dresses, or shoes, or hats, but each item was her dress, or her shoes, or her hat.  The kind of objects that are as much a part of her identity and expression as her eyes, or nose, or hands.  She was effortlessly feminine, and sensual, and she took her time walking across the uneven pavement, relishing the heavy scent of the southern greenery.

I'd like to say she was me, but really, she was the version of me I aim to be on my most 'put together' days! So really, not me at all! Ha! But this is the magic of clothes, you guys.  I imagined this alternate reality "me" (as seen through a soft focus lens, of course) and I imagined her dress, and her shoes and her hat, and then I made her dress (and found her shoes on Etsy, and her hat from an online store) and when I put it all on, I felt like that character I had created in my mind. This is not to say that I'm using clothes to hide my authentic self, rather that my authentic self likes to play dress-up! It's a fun little game I like to play with myself -- "He he he... they all THINK they're talking to normal Sallie, but what they don't know is they are ACTUALLY talking to Future Sallie!" (Or Desert Sallie, or International Spy Sallie, or Witch Sallie, or...)

A much simpler way to say all this is that I like to have fun with my clothes, guys, and I think you should too. 

But you're not just here for the inner ramblings of a 30-something woman whose inner world is far more colorful than her reality! So let me tell you about this dress. This is Simplicity 1880 - an OOP pattern, but one that I'm sure many of you have in your stash, if, like me, you bought it way back in 2012 when Sunni did her sewalong of this pattern (so long ago that there aren't even images on her blog posts about it anymore! Yikes! Have I been sewing and blogging that long??) Perhaps, also like me, you haven't pulled it out or thought about it since! Well pull it out again guys, because it's a trooper of a pattern!

The first version of this dress I made was in a purple linen blend and featured the faux-wrap bodice (also, I used to have boobs... awww! Memories...) I loved that dress then, and I still love that dress. It's one I still reach for on the odd occasion. At the time I made that dress I remember being supremely disinterested in this version, the faux-shirtdress variation with notched collar and button-opening that ends at the waist. Funny how things change!

When I was imagining this dress I had this sort of mish-mash of 40's and 70's styles in my head, but any searching for vintage shirtdress patterns from either of those eras turned up looks that I was definitely not into.  In frustration I rummaged through my pattern stash and turned up this beauty -- with it's released pleats at the waist, gathering at the yoke, cap sleeve, flat collar, and swishy bias skirt it was exactly what I was looking for -- vaguely, but indefinably vintage inspired.  I especially love the skirt on this pattern - it's cut in 4 pieces and just utilizes the bias in the most flattering way. Both this dress and my purple dress have a way of skimming my tummy and hips, making me feel very womanly.  The dress has an invisible zip on the side, for ease of getting on and off, since those buttons only open to the waist.

The fabric is also a major player in my love for this dress. This is the American Beauty, Nightshadow Blue and Tinsel Digital Flowers Printed on a Viscose Woven  from Mood Fabrics online. I love that this floral print is pixelated, making it look like a needlepoint cushion, or cross-stitch sampler.  It's a nice nod to hand craft. It's also kind of grandma-ish, but in a really fun way, and I think it works really well with this pattern.

This viscose woven is very similar to a rayon challis - lightweight, breathable and drapey.  It also frays easily like rayon challis so any seam that wasn't concealed in the pattern construction was either bound with bias binding (the front facings) or run through the serger (sleeves, waist and skirt seams). 

I agonized a bit over the button choice for this dress. Originally I was planning on covered buttons in self-fabric, but the plethora of covered button kits I thought I had in my stash was a total fantasy.  I made a few attempts to go to the Houston fabric stores -- one of which has an extensive and really fantastic button selection -- to see if I could find something really special, however I kept getting the hours wrong, and after an hour drive I'd show up to find them closed (no no! Not still salty about that wasted gas at all *eye roll*). In the end I only scuttled up the highway a little bit to go to Joann's where I was just going to buy the covered button kits and call it a day, but I came across these dark fuschia and black beauties that were just such a perfect match I would have felt like an idiot not to use them!

I can report, with full confidence, that I love this dress. I actually reach for this exact look about once a week these days. It also happens to be the kind of dress that, when I'm wearing it, I get a lot of compliments (always a nice confidence boost) -- but not necessarily on the dress itself. More just... on me. And that's a thing I love - when clothes reveal the person who's wearing them, rather than hiding her. And that's the magic that I was talking about earlier.

I'm going to end this post by encouraging you to play a little game of fantasy with your clothes and see how it works out for you! Life is so full of the mundane, and I'm actually very grateful for this, but it's a nice balance when you can find small, personal joys in things like getting dressed.

Happy sewing, and dressing, my friends!

xx

P.S. If you want to see this fabric in action in absolute glorious fashion - go check out Oona's make over on the MSN! I love when this happens -- two sewists working with the same (or similar) fabric and even a similar idea (shirtdresses) and having the outcomes be so different and so uniquely them. This is one of the things I love most about this community!!

indigo days

Hey guys! It's been a hot minute. Or maybe more than a hot minute? Lately I've definitely fallen prey to the instant gratification of Instagram over the longer format of a blog post, but I'm trying to make myself sit down and actually blog, because, quite honestly, I've got a lot to say, and there's only so much one can put into an Instagram caption!

I took a break from blogging for the Mood Sewing Network for a couple of months this past spring to get my "life" into some semblance of "order"... whatever that means.  And if I'm being completely honest, to find my way back to enjoying fashion again.  My love for sewing and creating hadn't really waned, but my interest in clothes was just... not there. I've felt a bit off in my personal style, and really meh about current trends.  I feel like my body has changed, and keeps changing, and day in and day out it was just so much easier to wear gym clothes than try to come to terms with what looked the best, and (more importantly) felt the best on my body.

Honestly, I feel like what's finally kicked my butt back into gear has been participating in Me Made May! There's been a lot of Me Made May action happening over on Instagram, and I've felt very inspired by what many of my online girl crushes have been putting together for their daily outfits. In particular, I've been getting major wardrobe envy from Ebony H and Sophie of Adaspragg.  If you don't already follow those two, go and follow and let me know if you similarly want to wear everything in their closet!

The other really great benefit of Me Made May has been documenting my own outfits.  It's no challenge for me to wear handmade everyday, at this point, and so the past few years my participation in Me Made May has been very half-hearted, at best.  But this year -- perhaps because it hit during a time that I was feeling some major wardrobe doldrums -- seeing my own outfits has really helped me to get a handle on what I like wearing, and where my personal style might be going. In my mind, this is really the benefit of doing these online challenges.

And so, as we're rounding out May, I'd like to introduce you to one of the things I've made recently that just felt so so right for me at the moment.  This is the Kalle shirtdress from Closet Case Patterns, sewn up in a tencel denim from Mood Fabrics.

Many many many moons ago, when I still used Pinterest, I pinned an image of a woman wearing an oversized denim shirtdress.  Apparently it was in another lifetime, because for the life of me I can't find that image anymore, or login to Pinterest, but that's another issue! But trust me - this woman was the definition of chic. It's funny the things that stick with us. I hadn't thought about that image for years, but when Heather released her Kalle pattern, and I started nosing around in my stash looking for a fabric to make it out of, that image came back to me and I knew that this pattern, and this tencel denim that I had bought for an entirely different project, had to come together to make my very own oversized denim shirtdress.

It's not exactly a novel idea.  Denim shirtdresses are classics, and can be found, in varying silhouettes, pretty much every season in RTW.  Still, it felt like a total eureka moment to this humble sewist, alone in her sewing room, in her crappy apartment, in her broken down beach town, on a spit of land in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. I'll take my props where I can, okay?

The tencel denim was perfect for this pattern.  A pure denim, or even chambray, wouldn't have had the drape that the tencel provides, which I think is key in making this oversized silhouette feel effortless. Sewing it was pretty drama-free.  I enjoyed the fact that it was basically just a large shirt, with many of the fun shirtmaking techniques - like button plackets, collars, pockets, topstitching, burrito-method back yokes... you know the ones. But the drop-shoulder, kimono sleeve meant that fitting was basically a non-issue, and the construction stopped just short of that point in making a shirt (sleeve cuffs and tower plackets...) where I start to feel like it's getting a bit tedious.

The only time I started cursing was while doing the bias binding on the hem.  This mostly had to do with my blood sugar being low (you can ask my husband, my boss, my mom... strangers on the street... I turn into a monster when I'm hungry) sewing non-stop for too many hours on end, the fact that this fabric didn't like to hold a crisp press on the bias (has anyone else ever experienced this? It pressed fine on the straight grain, but on the bias it just kind of wanted to bounce back...) and just my ongoing feud with bias binding (curse you bias binding... curse you!). However, it really provided a nice finish for the hem in the end, so it was worth it. 

Some of my favorite features of this dress are the dropped shoulder, the topstitched sleeve cuff, and that deep box-pleat at the back, which billows out when the wind catches it. I also love the exaggerated curve of the hem (even if I am still a bit sore about that bias binding...) 

I kept all my topstitching subtle by using a navy thread.  It's a touch darker than the beautiful indigo blue of the fabric, so it gives a hint of definition, but still keeps everything in the blue family so there isn't much contrast going on.  

I'm pretty obsessed with this dress right now. I actually sent Heather a text after wearing it for a day that went something like "DUDETHEKALLEDRESSOMG" (I may or may not have been drinking, and Heather may or may not be my friend that I drunk-text.  Mind your own beeswax, people. Sheesh). It's so incredibly wearable, and it makes me feel put together, yet relaxed. Perfect for my very casual lifestyle. Also, it's a godsend to have dresses like this when, for whatever reason (you've lost weight, you've gained weight, you're on your period, you're sick, you've put on muscle, you've aged, you're hormones are shifting... the list goes on and on...) you're body is changing and you can't quite get a handle on how to dress it.  This dress just works, and yet I don't feel like I'm wearing a sack. 

I feel fairly refreshed from my sewing and blogging break, and I'm hoping that some of my renewed enthusiasm for clothing will stick with me through the summer.  Summer is always the most difficult month for me to get excited about clothes in because wearing clothes is, basically, disgusting. Ha! But I'm feeling optimistic! I got big plans, people! Big plans! 

...

Okay. Medium sized plans.

...

Small plans? Look, we're just gonna try to keep trucking!  Thanks, as always, for following along. Love you guys!

xx

cat lady

Hellooooo friends!!  Please excuse my frizzy hair and general unkempt-ness in these photos.  The week I took these photos the weather was truly the worst - mild, but sticky, overcast, and permanently threatening rain, but never delivering – like living inside a cloud. Good for the plants, but not so great for looking polished and put-together! Of course since then the sun has decided to come back out and I feel like all is right with the world again! I don't know how you northeners do it, my tolerance for lack of sunshine has definitely gotten worse since living in Texas! A few weeks of cloudy weather and I'm alternately whining and throwing a tantrum, shaking my fists at the sky, or else despondent and unable to move, because what's the point of moving if you can't see your own shadow?

I was actually half tempted to re-shoot these photos in this glorious, sparkly sunshine, but then I figured I'd probably never get this post up and you'd all think I had abandoned this space, and no one wants that! So you'll have to deal with Soggy Sallie. And anyway, frizzy hair and melting makeup can’t put a damper on my enthusiasm for this new dress! Those of you that follow me on Instagram have probably seen sneak peeks of this buddy coming slowly together this past month. March is my birthday month and I always like to work on something a little extra special as a bit of a gift to myself. So this month for the Mood Sewing Network I put together this little puzzle of a dress in Mood Fabric’s Famous Designer Yellow/Green Kitty Cat Border Printed Bamboo Twill Panel. That’s right, there are fat little kitty cats marching all over this dress!

This fabric was pretty much too cute for me to resist (there’s even a purple colorway that I’m thinking of snatching up so I can make an identical twin dress!) But I have to confess that when it arrived I really had to give it some thought as to what I could turn this fabric into.  I don’t really have any experience working with border prints, so that alone was a bit of a headscratcher. However this print is also a panel print, with the printed areas being fairly narrow rectangles.  It’s not a whole lot of real-estate, print-wise, to work with, so I knew whatever I decided to make would have to have lots of pieces.

Sometimes when I’m feeling really stumped about one of these designer prints I like to try to hunt down the fabric online and see how the designer originally intended to use it.  Luckily for me, I knew the designer – Anna Sui – because the name is printed all along the selvedge. Some quick googling gave me a few clues, most notably this:

this...

and perhaps most intriguing to me...

It was the last image which gave me the idea for a shirtdress.  I had bought 4 yards of this fabric, so I had a decent amount to play around with, which was good, because I certainly made some mistakes along the way! This was one of those projects where cutting took almost twice as long as sewing! Not only did I have to consider print placement, and how best to utilize all the parts of the print – the small, closely spaced cats, the larger border cats, and the solid stripes of color – but I also had to attempt to print match as best as I could, which was no easy feat! See, these kitties like to change direction throughout the print, making something as simple as cutting out a left and right bodice front a brain tease! And, just to really up the ante, the bamboo twill is deliciously lightweight, and devilishly shifty, not to mention it wrinkles up if you simply look at it! So it’s no exaggeration when I say that I spent three separate weekends simply cutting and puzzle-piecing this dress together!

For the pattern I used McCall’s 6696 – a most beloved pattern among the sewing community.  I’ve had this in my stash for awhile and was glad to have a reason to finally pull it out and give it a go.  I ended up cutting my size based on the finished garment measurements rather than the size chart, because as we all know, Big 4 patterns loooove their excess ease! So I cut a 10 (with a B cup) at the shoulders and bust, tapering to an 8 at the waist, and a 12 at the hips. Having sewn my fair number of shirts, and, for that matter, dresses, I didn’t really follow the instructions, but rather used my own method of construction.  I’m very happy with how the dress fits, however if I do make the dress again I might make a few small adjustments. The biggest thing I would change is how full the back is.  I’ve read this about this pattern before, but thought I’d try sewing it up as is to see the results, and, sure enough, the back is indeed poofy! So I’d probably try to either reduce the gathering at the waist or convert it to darts.


It was pretty much inevitable that I would need to do some creative piecing somewhere on this dress, and the back of the skirt ended up getting the treatment, but more as the result of a mistake than actual planning and consideration! See the back skirt is supposed to be cut on the fold, but the print panels are much too narrow to allow for that, so I intended to add a center back seam.  Of course once it came time to cut the back I completely forgot to add a seam allowance and decided to make up for it by sewing a strip of plain yellow down the center to make up for the missing width.  The sad thing is, I actually made this mistake twice! I cut one skirt panel, realized I forgot to add a seam allowance, then proceeded to cut another skirt panel, and promptly forgot again to add the seam allowance! *head slap* Such a waste of good fabric! But of course, it all worked out in the end.


Another change I made was to round the collar, simply because I thought these kitties suited a rounded collar more than a pointed one!

Apologies for the bad indoor lighting (my apartment has the worst light for photos!) but I had to get a shot of the innards because I lined the bodice and skirt in ivory silk habotai which is, in my opinion, one of the loveliest fabrics to wear next to the skin. It’s truly like having an air conditioner installed inside your dress! Which is important when your climate is akin to a damp dishrag.  This was also necessary for modesty, as the kitty cat print was a bit on the sheer side.

Because this fabric is so lightweight and shifty I made sure to interface areas that I felt would need a little help in order to hold their shape, like the pocket openings.  This really helps them from stretching out and looking droopy.

I’m really happy with my new shirtdress! The kitty cats are such a cute surprise when you notice what they are, and I’m really happy with the way I used all areas of this tricky border print panel throughout the dress to enhance the design elements. Do you guys have any tips for working with border prints?

xx