Work Dress Vogue 8489

This dress had some potential but I made it into a disaster.

First I cut a size 8 since I'd been sewing 14 or 16 and taking out huge amounts of fabric.  Clearly I went a little far the other way.  The waste band and neck bands are interfaced with a rigid interfacing and therefore have none of the stretch you would expect- which is why there is a center back zipper in the garment.

However being of superior brain and knowledge I had read the pattern reviews and some commented that they took out the center back zipper, so I did that too- tragic error.   Inexplicably, I added a strip down the center back hoping for some stretchiness to get the thing over my head.

        I was going to finish off the odd neck chunk with an added facing and hope it didn't look weird.  Although I can get it on, I have to wriggle and smash the girls to get into it.  Once it's on it's snug but not in a bad way.  The whole thing could be very nice but the neckline is low so you would need a cami underneath and then my fabric choice and the length kind of give it a funeral or sunday school attitude.  Or, lack there of.
       So I abandoned the project in favor of something else.  I might go back and unpick the pieces and make new bands w/out interfacing but at this point I'm piling up fabric from my trip to New York and patterns from the last pattern sale, so I'm on to the next thing.
      I went to the famous Mood Fabrics in New York and spent half a day sifting through all the fabrics.  I ended up with some beautiful pieces that I hope to work on soon.
      The best thing I got in New York was at Paron Fabrics.  First of fall they were hilarious.  I went there to buy the latest Burda Magazine and the guy behind the counter told me that it would be $50.00.  I said "That's quite a bit more than I pay in Oregon." and they were off talking about the UofO Ducks and I told them I was a Beaver and then the heckling began.  I found a beautiful herringbone 25% Cashmere 75% Wool for $45.00 a yard.  I decided to go for it- I think the bolt said Diane VonFurstenburg on it.  The woman that cut my fabric gave it to me for $35.00 a yard and gave me the rest of the fabric on the bolt.  So I got almost 3 yards for the price of much less.  It's really nice fabric however might be light for a coat.  I'm working on if i can line it and layer it with Thinsulate or something.

Hope everyone had a good Turkey Day.  I ate my weight in cheese..... didn't get a good dose of stuffing, think i'll make some for myself to have with the leftovers I brought home.

Little Black Dress- Guy Laroche V2899

I've been completely absorbed in my new job.  So much so that I cannot sleep at night and I'm exhausted when I get home.   But, I've just completed week three and am calming down and settling in.  I made it to the gym a few times and even the company gym (BONUS!!!).  Getting into a routine is so helpful.

After my last day of my old job I went nuts at the fabric store locally and bought fabric for dresses that I can wear to work.  I wanted to step it up for my new job. With 5 people reporting to me the ripped jeans and sloppy sweaters with UGGs just doesn't instill confidence in leadership.

But before I made work dresses I needed to bang out a dress for my brother-in-law's wedding.  I purchased this pattern at the last pattern sale and then wasn't sure it wouldn't be too over the top for a wedding.  Then Erica B's pattern review popped up and it was settled.  I can do this- no prob!

I purchased black matte jersey from the Mill End Store.  I looked through the matte jersey and the only non weird color is black.  I remembered a time in 90's when matte jersey was very prevalent but had forgotten the huge benefit- you can ball it up and throw it in the corner, then pick it up, put it on and it's like you just bought it- Perfect.

This pattern is beautifully drafted and not very challenging to sew.  Erica's pattern review is perfectly correct (and thorough)- it's easy but not fast.  There are many parts that need to be hand basted or finished and there's a bunch of gathering and it all takes a lot of time. But really for such a stunning dress it went together well.  My pattern review is here.

There is one thing about matte jersey and that is that the front and back look the same.  So, if you get the pieces turned around you might get in trouble.  I did this one time while sewing the little side gathered panels.  I attached the gathered part to the wrong side of one of the panels and so I ended up with two left sides.  So I had to take out the basting but it wasn't a tragic error or difficult to redo.  There are a lot of pieces and the whole thing is self lined and the cool thing about the matte jersey double layer stretchiness is that it acts like a total body girdle. yay- who doesn't love that?

I love the lines of the dress and the longer length.  There is something kind of demure but sexy about a slim skirt that goes over the knees.  Kinda keeping the imagination alive I guess.

Here's me in the dress at the reception with my two handsome escorts: Henry 4, Gray 6.

I did feel a bit like I needed to pull the whole thing down all night.  You can see it's riding up under my arms.  I think it's a tad snug and so slipped up.  My undergarments for a backless bra situation need to be revised as they contributed to the situation.  I have a too big merry-widow thing that is long and has a foamy layer that didn't do me favors in the stomach.  Made it look like I might be concealing a baby bulge.  I'd happily flaunt a baby bulge but, alas, do not have one.  Note to self- buy new undergarment situation.