Hope you all had a great weekend! My weekend had some highs as well as lows, unfortunately.
The Highs:
Met up with Tasha and her partner, Mel and went to the Vintage Garage to shop around. We also went to other local Antique malls where we both had good luck finding vintage garments. I came home with a 50’s lace dress and Tasha walked away with a gorgeous pajama set from the 40’s. (Sorry guys, I got too busy shopping to take any pictures.)
I worked up my McCalls 9792 pattern (the dressy one for the cruise) and it’s nearly a perfect fit! I have to do a bit of alterations to the bodice, but nothing major. I’m not even doing a second muslin, it looks that good!
The Lows:
The first low was on Friday night when I got to the point of trying on my 3rd attempt at the Thurlow trouser pattern. I thought I’d worked most of the kinks out but I was wrong; I continue to have a wrinkled butt despite making some crotch seam adjustments. I’d gotten 85% completed with these and now I have to recycle them which stinks since I love the fabric I choose. (A brown tweedy wool that looks very 30’s/40’s.)
But the good that came out of this is that I think I finally know what I need to do to get them to fit (or at least I think I do…. again.) Ahh well, no one said pants are easy. Well, they are easy to sew, just not easy to fit!
What this all means is that I’m hung up making my cruise capri’s until I mock up another Thurlow trouser, but I need more fabric to do so. *So this project is on hold for the moment.*
The second low, isn’t really a “low” but more of a conundrum I have. My muslin bodice of the McCalls 9792 looks great, but I’m now second guessing my fabric choice.
First: I don’t have enough of the floral organza fabric. I’m at least 1-2 yards short still, although I believe my local fabric store still has some in stock. (Well, they did last time I was in the shop.)
Secondly: I’m not sure this is the appropriate fabric for the dress anymore. :| I think it could work up lovely, I’m just having doubts about it.
The only other fabric I have in my stash that is a “dressy” fabric is this silk green shantung:
But again with this one, I don’t have enough yardage!
I feel like I’m at a cross-roads. I can either:
- Search for more floral organza fabric and make my original idea up
- Search for more green shantung fabric and make this one up
- Or start from scratch and go fabric shopping to see if I can’t find something else that excites me (which is quite easy to do.)
The reason why I’m not crazy about the floral organza anymore is:
- I don’t want to end up looking too cutesy. This is a risk with the white & floral print and me being so short.
- I’m not sure how dressy it’s going to look for a cruise vs. looking like I’m going to a 50’s prom.
- I tried on my fur stole and it doesn’t match like I’d hoped.
I want to look chic & pretty but I don’t want to look cutesy, do you know what I mean? I know the green organza would be lovely, but I also don’t want to look like I’m wearing a Christmas dress in January.
Thoughts???
Am I just being silly?? Will the floral organza look great for this dress? Or if it were you, would you go in a different direction: If so what fabric &/or color would you use?
In: Sewing
I’m thinking white polka dots on a dark (blue) ground with white piping. Simple and tasteful, and should be relatively easy to find. They have a nice one here: http://www.fabric.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=3727417b-f00c-4fa4-92da-feea04ccf268. If that’s too sober for a cruise, red and white?
I made FIVE Thurlow muslins before I was able to get the fit right. Pants are hard. Good luck!
I think as long as you keep the green away from any red you won’t look Christmasy. Green is gorgeous. If it were me, I’d probably look for more green fabric and if it can’t be done, go for something new altogether. The floral fabric is pretty, but I think your concerns are legitimate, and it would be sad to spend the time on the dress only to dislike it for the reasons you’ve stated.
I think that you should go and find new fabric altogether. At the end of the day you shouldn’t waste so much time and effort making something that you don’t think you will LOVE. If you want to wear your fur stole (and why wouldn’t you?) then I think you should take that shopping with you and find something you adore. Stash busting is great and all your fabric is always so beautiful, but you will turn the other fabric into something fantastic another time – now its time to be excited and giddy and just recklessy abandon all plans and see what the fabric store has to offer. Good luck, I am excited to read about what you decide to do!
I think that now, no matter what anyone says, you’ve got those ideas lurking in the back of your head and they won’t go away. Hop online and order something pretty but different to the other two. That way, if you really like the pattern once its made up you can always make it again in one of the original fabrics and it won’t look like you’ve got doubles in you’re wardrobe, or else you still have them to make something else. You don’t want to waste any time before the cruise making something that isn’t quite right.
I agree with Rebecca that if you have those worries over the fabric, you may never NOT have them. I admit when you first showed the gorgeous green, I -did- think “Christmasy”. Which makes no sense because it’s just a color, but for some reason at this time of the year I think of Christmas with anything fancy and in that color.
You’ll get your pants fitting right soon I bet, and just think how awesome it will feel once you know for sure you’re happy with it and then can duplicate it to your heart’s content!
They are both beautiful fabrics, but I would pick something new. The green is lovely, but if you’re going to wear it with the white fur I think it would look a little too holiday.
I could see it in a medium blue. I always associate blue with winter and think you would look great in that color and a solid would show off the details of this dress.
When I think of ships, the sea and sailing I always think of whites, reds and blues. I would make the dress in a nice dark blue with a white collar and matching brims. You could pair it with a white belt later on.
Or sew it up all in blue and you could wear it whenever you want no matter what time of the year.
I love to see your floral fabric as a shear vintage evening coat so I vote for buying new dress fabric
I can see your floral fabric as a vintage evening coat so I am voting for fabric shopping
I vote with fabric shopping since I can’t see the floral fabric working. If you have doubts now you will always have them. Take the stole with you when you go fabric shopping and see what looks good with it. I agree with Natalie and Shari that a blue would look lovely and not be Christmasy at all. It’s a colour that I’d wear all year round to be honest. ..but green with a fur stole around Christmas time is a bit much and you above all must feel good in your dress.