Monday, March 03, 2008

I put my toe in...

Well I dipped my toes back into the sewing pool...

The Menswear Lace Dress has been hanging and patiently waiting its turn since January 22nd. Y'know back when we all agreed that those decidedly unattractive sleeves sucked. At the time I received some great suggestions on how I could fix the sleeves and I was very intrigued with the possibilities.

But you know how it is, something hangs around long enough and it is no longer intriguing it is just something hanging over your head waiting to be finished. So I kept looking at it yesterday evening and it really started to bug me...because the dress is basically finished. It is just lounging around not pulling its weight in my closet and I needed something new to wear.

The weather was suppose to be decent today (in the mid to upper 50's) and I really want to wear some dresses before the next artic wind blows through so this dress had to come off the wall! The fastest and easiest solution was to dump the sleeves...so that's what I did! They weren't working and I didn't want to lose the dress to more hang time, so I serged the lining and fashion fabric together, turned them down 5/8", pressed and topstitched.

Wow! The dress was getting closer to wearable by the minute! Some hemtape to finish off the hemline, a couple of hand stitches to secure the lining to the vent and four hours and two TV movies after I got the bright idea to finish the dress, I was stitching the hem down by hand.


So this is how I looked after 13 hours of wearing it!


Not bad right?! One more of the front pleat:


Let me give you a few stats:

Pattern:
TNT Dress Pattern
Fabric:
Tropical wool blend menswear plaid from Metro Textiles & brown lace from Fabric Mart, lining fabric from stash
Notions:
22" taupe zipper
Rayon Hem tape

I made this one exactly like the grey version that I made earlier this year. The difference is the lace panel on the front. The panel was made by cutting a piece of lace slightly larger than the pleat. Then I tucked the lace under the pleat prior to sewing the pleat down. I used a triple stretch stitch to secure it and to allow the topstitching to show through. Though I think no one noticed the topstitching but me! At the bottom of the dress where the pleat falls open, I cut the lace close to the seam and left it alone...lace being lace, it doesn't need any finishing.

I wore it all day and the only thing I noticed was that the lining was sticking to my pantyhose...not something I would have been aware of during construction and nothing that a little Static Guard couldn't cure. Otherwise, it was a perfectly comfortable dress. Especially since I spent most of the afternoon bending and stretching as I located and moved files.

Now that I've finished a UFO, and gotten my toes wet, maybe I will sew something else! Stay Tuned because there is alot of fabric inspiration winging its way to me...hopefully something will beg me to morph it from its original shape into something new!

23 comments:

  1. Carolyn, the dress looks fantastic. And those shoes are fabulous.

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  2. Carolyn, It looks great, and even better, YOU look great! That's one nice dress on you. Can't wait to see what you do next, and how nice that you are finally feeling better.

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  3. It looks so lovely on you! Just be carefull taking pics with your back so close to the steps :-)

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  4. Gorgeous! I love YOUR solution best of all. To quote Goldilocks, "And this one is Just Right!" Congratulations on finishing a wonderful, beautiful garment that compliments you.

    Welcome back and I'm glad you are feeling better as well as sewing again.

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  5. That works well, even after an all day wearing.
    Remind us, did you underline it? or is the fabric just that resistant to the wrinkles of all-day wear?

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  6. You look fantastic Carolyn! Your dress is fab!

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  7. It looks great on you. There is nothing like a strong vertical line to make anything more flattering. The contrast of lace against menswear fabric is striking.

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  8. Cute dress! I like the lace with the menswear fabric. This one's a classic.

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  9. Great dress! Absolutely fabulous! You ditched the sleeves completely - good for you.

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  10. Beautiful dress! I love the menswear fabric paired with lace (I'm a sucker for this type of contrast, I find it very feminine in a subtle way) and the way you "disguised" the pleat under the lace.

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  11. Good girl! And it looks fab too! And I had to go back and check out the shoes...nice!!

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  12. Why were we all so hung up on sleeves when it is absolutely perfect without them.

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  13. Great dress and a great design decision! I'm also sure that grabbing success out of the jaws of something that was bothering you a whole heckuva lot did great things for you as well. Looks great on you and I have to say, I never would have thought of putting lace with menswear fabric. Just a superfab design idea and you brought it off stupendously. Love the look.

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  14. You look fabulous! Nice to see you back sewing.

    Regarding the JO patterns - I'm percolating another project, for this summer. I'm thinking it will be the Advance, due to your helpful comment. I need to do a bit of research for my color scheme. I've got a few things in mind.

    Oh and before I forget, Ward was June's husband.

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  15. Ah, now this looks wonderful! Chic and elegant. Probably more comfortable under a jacket too.

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  16. Carolyn,
    You look great!

    Way to go on getting some mojo back.

    Lisa

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  17. You look wonderful in your new outfit :)I love the sleeve design change. Excellent decision :)

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  18. The dress looks fantastic, the lace is such a pretty colour. Great fix and it will be probably be easier to wear with jackets and cardigans with no sleeves.

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  19. Great dress and I love what you did "without" the sleeves. It looks like a dress that I bet is even much prettier up close in person.

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  20. Carolyn, this dress is a vision! Fabulous! I think you won't get tired of wearing this one for a very long time! It's classic and classy! And you look stunning in it!

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  21. Let the record show, i liked the sleeves! But, I loooove it with the lace even better. I'd love to see a blog post about the different trims you've used. Or have stashed. Maybe I should go and see if you've already done that...

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  22. I had been wondering what you decided to do with this dress!! Great save. Looks great with the cardigan.

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