after the storm

An aptly named post (if I do say so myself) referencing both the fact that these photos were, literally, taken after an entire day of thunderstorms, and also that this is my first post after my self-imposed hiatus during the month of August - a month which was quite the emotional roller-coaster (hence the likening to a storm...) Aaaand now you know the secret behind my enigmatic blog-post-titles... I'm sure you've been waiting with bated breath for that little nugget of Sallie gold... (sarcasm).

It feels wonderful to be back in this space again after the month I've had! Not that it was all bad, it truly wasn't. For instance, my parents came to visit for a nice long weekend, which was absolutely lovely (miss you guys!!) and I discovered the joys of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple on Netflix (laugh all you want... that shit is tight). But I did have more on my plate than I'm generally used to, which usually turns me into an emotional wreck - or, as my husband so shrewdly noted - I just don't handle extra stress well. Too true, my friends. Too. True.

Early on, in the beginning of last month, I started working on this dress.  I was making excellent progress, but then I had to set it aside to work on the project for my friend I mentioned in my last post. I picked it up again last weekend and was utterly thrilled to be working on sewing clothes again.  I guess that elation was a bit premature since I ended up making a pretty major snafu on this pretty little number.  But let's not jump right into the negatives... why don't we relish the good stuff for a bit, eh?

This is Victory Patterns' Chloe dress, made out of some absolutely delightful metallic coated linen from Tessuti fabrics, and entirely lined in rayon bemberg. This is basically the same stuff I used to make my moss mini skirt (here) except in a different color-way.  The linen has a very subtle, 'natural linen' color with a pretty silver sheen.  It's probably best suited for when I have a bit of a summer 'glow', otherwise I might look like a zombie, and I promised to put my brain-eating ways behind me for good (this time). 

I really wanted to use a pattern that would just let this fabric shine (pun intended). Despite the fact that this may not be my most flattering color, I still wanted a whole garment made out of it.  I thought the Chloe dress, with it's 60's, modish look, might compliment the fabric well (even give it a slightly space-y vibe... much nicer than zombies...) And so I went with it! Plus, I really don't have anything like this in my closet, to date, and I'm always looking to diversify my stock (p.s. I had to ask my husband what that meant, that's how much I know about owning stock!) In the end, I don't know if I ended up with quite the mod/space-y look I had in my head, or more of a ladies-who-lunch type thing, but either way, I'm digging it.

I cut Version 1 of this dress in a straight size 6, but then had to take it in at the underarms by about 5/8 of an inch on either side, tapering to nothing at the waist.  In retrospect, I probably could have gotten away with making a size down, but I was feeling a bit big when I measured myself for this.  Does anyone else make this mistake when you begin a project right before your period? I always end up being a bit generous with my sizing when I do that! Regardless, even if it isn't the most form-fitting (and I don't think this dress is supposed to be) I'm really happy with the overall look.  I chose to use the button placement of Version 2 to add some visual interest to what would otherwise be a very plain dress. The faux welt-pocket-button magic that's going on there is pretty clever, with a little snap hid underneath the button to keep that flap closed. 

So perhaps at this point you are wondering to yourself, "what is this snafu she mentioned..." well feast your eyes on this!!!

GAH!!! Horror of horrors! What is that THING??!?! 

That, my friends, is an exquisitely inserted invisible zipper - from the outside - and some serious gnashing of teeth on the inside! You see, since there was such a long gap of time between when I started this dress and when I finished it, I mistakenly skipped the clever instructions for machine stitching the lining to the zipper tape.  As a consequence I was forced to slip stitch the lining to the zipper. No biggee, I've done this before. The first side went in beautifully (as you can see) but the second side - egads! The zipper just wanted to eat that shit up. As you can see, chaos ensued, I had to rip out all my sweet little hand stitches and since then it's just been hanging out like that. Really, it works just fine as it is, and since the center back seam of the lining was cut on the selvedge I'm not terribly worried about fraying. I'm usually a huge subscriber to the 'beautiful inside and out' line of sewing thought... but this time... I might just let it go. At least until my rage passes...

And with that, friends, I leave you! May you all have a lovely start to your weeks!

xo