Simplicity 2648 Goes Casual

I wore this dress last Friday and loved it.

 

I was tired when I got home and too lazy to buckle my shoes.  But I got pictures.

 

This dress is comfortable and easy to wear.

When I was making it - Carolyn asked what I was going to do at the waist.

I thought about adding ribbon, but the belt is a good choice.

 

Look - better side arms.  You can actually see the sides!

This time - I left the walking pleat out - I didn't need it.

I got a TON of compliments on this dress.

And - believe it or not - it's not too casual for everyday work wear.

 

Are you as shocked to hear that as I was?

Butterick 5794

This was another quick dress. I barely had enough fabric to make the dress.

The pattern is B5794 (Duh, G - you said that in the title!).   The fabric was some mid-weight jersey that was in the cupboard. 

I made view D.  I have plenty of cross over bodices and wrap dresses - so I really didn't need another dress with that look. 

You will notice that my version is different that the modeled version.  Well I didn't have enough fabric to make the ties as long as they were called for in the pattern.  And then I didn't love how they looked tied.  I'm thinking my fabric was a bit thicker than the drawing photo. 

Then - I got it mostly done without finishing the hems. And left it sit on the ironing board for a week.  Also - I decided that since I wasn't going to tie it I would make a 'knot.'  But then a week ago Tuesday I went down to grab the garbage from the sewing room and scooped up all the scraps and put them out with the trash.  UGH.  No extra fabric for the knot.  The sleeves were originally going to be 3/4 length.  I'm not sure about how I feel about the finished length.  They were comfortable enough all day - but they look a bit awkward in these photos.  What do you think?

I think I will make this dress up again - but most likely in a more stable knit. 

The side view?  Yea JB said - do you need a side shot?  And I said yes, what do I do with my arms?  What *DO* you do with your arms for a side view? 

First Wool Dress

This is what I wore my first day in the new office.   I'm not positive the cardigan works with it and I probably should have grabbed a belt to emphasize my waist - because I do actually have one. 

I felt much butter wearing this than I feel looking at these pictures.  But enough about that.   Not sure if you can tell, but I did actually fix my hair and put make up on and JB took these pictures before I went to work because I didn't have to be there until 10.

Enough about that.  You wanna hear about the dress, right?  Well this was a piece of red wool that I bought at the Pendelton booth during Expo 2011.  It was very lightweight and there was only 2 yards.  I paid $20 for the length of wool. 

The pattern is Simplicity 2648 - the same pattern I used for the interview Suit Dress.

I worked with a friend to get the fit down.  So this time, I just cut and sewed and held my breath a bit because - well it's wool and I have slobbery dogs. 

I can see some drag lines in the photos that I don't notice in real life, so I'm not sure what's up there.  I need to find some more wool in spring colors and make up a few more dresses with different necklines and short sleeves. 


I fully lined the dress and included the walking pleat, although I don't need it to walk in this dress. 

I pressed while sewing and before wearing so I'm not sure what the puckers at the neckline are all about. 

That's about all I have to say about this dress.  If I look at these pictures too much more I will never wear it again. 

Happy Mid - Week everyone. 

My Easter Dress

 I had a week or so off between jobs and spent a fair amount of that time making new clothes which I believe can only be worn to the office on Fridays.  I'm sure I'll get a better sense of whether that is true or not as time goes by. 

I had a small amount of this knit that I most likely bought to make a version of the oh so popular Vogue 1250.  Instead of that dress, I made McCalls 5974 the Perfect Knit Dress (as labelled by the pattern).

Previously I had made Version A, the non wrap version.  This time, I made View D - the longer length wrap with the short sleeves.  I took a scrap of the fabric to Macy's and found a nice, bright navy cardigan that looks lovely with this but I didn't wear it at all on Easter - nor did I put shoes on.  :(

There was some talk on Instagram about doing a sew along for this pattern - but I went along without the others. 

The pattern is straight forward and easy to put together.  I used clear elastic to stabilize the shoulder seams and keep the neckline from gaping - but it does just a tiny bit still. 

This dress - even in this bright pattern - was easy to wear.  Hopefully, I'll get a bit more wear out of it in the future.

Winner!

I have been busy and distracted - for that I'm sorry.

I do have new stuff to show you.

I've been making clothes and even wearing them.

JB has taken some lovely photos.

But - you'll have to wait to see some of them.

 

 

Today - I need to tell you who I'm sending the patterns to.

I had 5 comments on the give away post.

One person specifically said - don't pick me.

that left 4.

I used the very scientific method of asking JB to pick a number.

Between 0 and 5 - because sometimes he's very literal.

He picked 3 - that's Sue!

So Sue - watch your mailbox.