Red Knit Dress

My skills working with knits are pathetically underdeveloped.  I basically just try to stay away from everything with some sort of stretch.  Yes, it is very limiting.  Yes, it is a little bit silly.  I bought this pattern, Vogue 1027 a long time ago.  Before I thought about having a Tulip Lu.  Circa, 2008 perhaps.  This weekend I decided enough was enough.  I bought some jersey knit on sale from Joanns ($17.00) and cut this baby out.  While there are a lot of things I think I could do better now, or would do differently—wonky ties.  It is for sure wearable.  I want to make another to refine the process a bit.  Here is the red knit dress before hemming—setting the bias.  I’ll post a picture of it on perhaps one day.

Koleshi Doll

I have been overwhelmed by annoying life-stuff.  Water heater leaking not once but twice in a week, no hot water, insect bites, baby with bacterial pneumonia, dirty laundry, stinky hair, broken internet, broken fan, weeds.  When I think about all the practical stuff I need to accomplish, I panic and all I can think about is what I would like to sew.  It is occasionally how I cope.  My friend Alli said today it is cheaper than shopping and more Mormon than drinking.  I took her comments as encouragement.

After putting the littles to bed tonight, I decided to just cut out this little dress.  I’ve had the fabric stashed for years.  It is the Koleshi Doll Dress from Ottobre 3/2012 (I’m going to say this is my favorite issue!) in size 86cm.  After I cut out I thought I would just place the pleats while my laundry was finishing because you know, pleats can be tedious sometimes and can occasionally delay a project.  Then I thought the same thing about the sleeves, you know all those casings can be tedious too.  Then I read the instructions and realized how clever the construction was and couldn’t stop.  I love a project that is clean and clever.  I originally wasn’t going to make this because it seemed like a lot of work for a raglan dress but the cuteness of the pleats slowly overtook my reasoning.  I’m so glad I did because it was a surprise to sew.  It is one of those projects you can sit at one machine the whole time.  No need for a serger at all.  Pretty interior. 

And that is how it came to be 1:00 am. 

PS I’ll try to get a picture of this on Tulip-Lu and post a few Hollywood Cerise dresses I’ve made in the last week from this same issue.

Summer Dress

 

 

This is a summer play dress for Bird.  The pattern is in the current issue of Ottobre (3/2012) #27 Edgar Degas Rose Dress.  The material was a lovely cotton lawn I picked up at a local sewing shop.  I made a size 122 and I’m pleased to announce that it fits.  Most things I’ve made from Ottobre without adjustments turn out wide.  I don’t know if their patterns are slimmer in the bigger sizes or if my little Bird is growing out of her birdiness.  The pattern goes together beautifully.  I omitted the interfacings, added binding around the neck and placed my tucks using a double needle instead of the fold and stitch method it tells you to.  I wish I would have marked the bottom of the tucks before I began sewing because I noticed that while it seemed like I was ending at the same place—I clearly didn’t. 

This issue of Ottobre may be my very favorite.  There are several more little dresses I want to make from it.  Next up the Hollywood Cerise Linen dress for either Lu or Bird, or maybe even both.