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Sunday, August 11, 2013

August Mood Project

After vegging in front of the TV all day yesterday, because I was caught up in the Scandal marathon, I realized that I probably needed to work on my August Mood Project next instead of the Burda dress.  I'm on a deadline with the AMP whereas the Burda dress can be sewn at my leisure.

So after the marathon concluded for this week, I pulled out my fabrics and patterns to work on my next designer interpretation.  Of course the starting point for my version of this look is a variation of my TNT pattern.  

I looked for the pattern pieces that I used to make my CK Dress.  I'm sure they're here, just not where I remember putting them since the room redo. Instead I found pattern pieces from this dress, which were acceptable for my purposes.  I made two new dress front pattern pieces - by employing the pattern sandwich - and I was ready to begin laying out the pattern. 

Pattern Layout is vital to this dress.  Even though the plaid is large and faint, I still want it to match at the side and center back seams. To make this work, I chose to single cut the pattern pieces for the dress. I only need a side front and the two back pieces so it's not like it would be a complicated cut.  But matching the plaid pieces was important to me, so important that I hand basted the side seam AND the center back seam after inserting the invisible zipper.

Basting in the center back of the dress

Ltwt fusible interfacing for the zipper
and the hand basting for the plaid match

Hand basting the side seams together prior to machine stitching

After matching the plaids, it was an easy sew.  I've made this dress quite a few times so assembling the shell wasn't a problem.  It's just when I hung up the dress, it looked plain. 

Can you see how the solid blue wool crepe pulls
the blue plaid out of the gray suiting

I know I picked a more subtle plaid than the bolder plaid used in the designer original ~ in my opinion, this plaid is what really made the designer dress pop. Every time I look at my version I know I picked the right fabric for my work environment...just what to do to give this dress some zing!

After dinner out with the family, I decided that this is no longer an interpretation, it's more of "An Inspired By" piece.  That allowed me to go my own way so I'm adding short sleeves and piping to the dress.

I spent the evening making piping...

Bias binding pressed in half

Stitching the filler into the bias binding

Finished piping - notice how the bias is striping


...it's a little print vs. print but since it's a small dose and doesn't fight with the base fabric I'm going with it.  So that's where I am with my August Mood Project.  I'll finish it up next weekend.

...as always more later!




13 comments:

  1. I think it looks very nice as is but I'm excited to see how the embellishments turn out.

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  2. Love the dress for the inspiration- but I really love the plaid sweater! Wish I could knit well enough to pull that off. Like you, I work in an air conditioned office and I always have a cardigan handy. But I love ones that look different. Your blue is sharp and it does pull out the color in the plaid. I think the piping will really set it off. I just bought binding like that at the ASG conference. We both must have good taste!

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  3. Love the start you got on this dress. I await to see the finished dress. I know it will be fabulous.

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  4. I love the blue contrast on this dress. It already looks great. But I have to admit, I have been a little stalker like since the begining of the Burda dress. I just can't wait to see how it looks when it's all done.

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  5. Lovely - great use of contrast.

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  6. I always enjoy reading the process you go through to a finished garment. it is very inspiring and this is one of the best. I love it plain and can not wait to see final dress.

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  7. It is going to be great. I cannot wait to see how it looks w/ the piping.

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  8. Carolyn I got to have me some of that...COPYING I will be doing ;)

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  9. I guess I saw the inspiration dress differently and started thinking color block--like the plaid would be center front and back panels and the solid color would be side panels (kinda princess seam style). I had that idea in mind for myself. You always create a winner, Carolyn. I know this one will be a beautiful interpretation.

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  10. Your blog is so inspirational! A while ago, you posted about your new Janome sewing machine 8900. Will you be giving a review sometime in the future? Specifically the alphabet/number capability? I own a Janome 3160, I might upgrade to a 8200 or 8900 within the next 8 months.

    Thank you,

    Happy sewing!

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  11. Love to follow your thought process! It's looking great so far.

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  12. I always love seeing what fabrics you'll put together - you always pull out fabrics that are just made for each other that I would not have imagined would work. Looking forward to seeing the final version

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  13. That dress is gorgeous. I haven't done any color blocking in a couple of years. This is inspiring me to go ahead and get busy on that color block dress I've been talking about making since the spring. Got fabric and I have decided which color goes where. There's nothing standing in my way. Just need to stop procrastinating and get busy!!!

    Happy stitching.

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