Florida Party Dress: Butterick 5486

How was your weekend?  We flew down to southern Florida for a quick 3 day weekend trip for my husband's grandmother's 90th birthday party.  The weather was amazing: 85-90 degrees, no humidity.  I actually laid out by the hotel pool for a few hours and swam a bit.  It was pure heaven after departing from a chilly 27 degree Boston Saturday morning.

I wore Butterick 5486 to the party:

I had to wear a jacket (Old Navy) and scarf (Saks) inside because of the AC!  I accessorized the dress with my great-grandmonther's Chinese turquoise necklace, Ann Taylor silver heels of  a few years' vintage, and a Banana Republic clutch.  And a coral pedicure - yay spring colors!

I think this pattern is one of those releases that flies under the radar.  Because of the busy floral print, the main pattern envelope shot doesn't show off the dress's lovely lines.  But look at the drawing: isn't the shape great? 

Butterick 5486, View A

The fabric is a pink linen (-esque?) material from WinMil Fabrics in Boston, a purchase from last year (stashbustin'!).  I made the version without the wrap, view A. 

I like that the top isn't too spare, and the full straps provide more support and coverage than spaghetti straps (and allow for a bra).  The gathered waist skirt is perfect: floaty and girly, but not at all bulky.  The back and front skirt patterns are rectangles, so the skirt isn't A-lined, but hangs straight down.  I think it's a flattering, modern skirt shape.  The bodice is lined, the skirt isn't; I took my time with the interior of this one and finished the linen and pink lining fabric with french seams.

While this is a more casual dress, I think I could get away with wearing it to work by topping it with a long cardi, cinched with a belt and heels.

Try this pattern out!  I think you'll love it, too.

Spring Blouse and Skirt (w/ bamboo embellishment!)

I made another version of Simplicity 2599 using the green silk/cotton print recently purchased from Emmaonesock. I can't get over how much I love this material: the saturated colors, the faint sheen, the crispness combined with a magical failure to wrinkle.  I decided to make a simple top with cap sleeves, because I felt the fabric stood so well by itself.  I finished the back with a cream button culled from a Banana Republic shirt.

Simplicity 2599

To go with the simple shape of the top, I decided to embellish this yellow cotton version of McCalls 3830. The fabric is a thick, textured cotton by the designer Philip Lim, purchased at Parons Fabrics last March (stashbustin'!).  The bamboo rings are from Pacific Trimming in the Garment District, and the gold studs were purchased at Daytona Braids and Trimming (also in the Garment District) for a long since-forgotten project.  They hide the attaching stitches well.

The idea is from a skirt by the designer Milly; I saved this image back in 2009 after seeing the skirt in Saks.  So this skirt is not only stashbustin', but ideabustin' as well. 

Milly, Raffia cotton jacquard skirt, net-a-porter.com

To make the tabs, I meausured the ring's width and determined that tabs should be about 1 3/4" wide.  I cut strips of spare fabric in that width, and played around with the different lengths on the finished skirt on my dressform.  When I determined the right length, I made "patterns" out of the fabric strips (using cut-off pattern scraps). 

I added 1/4" seam allowances, lined the tabs in a lightweight yellow quilting cotton to enclose the edges, and attached the tabs to the rings with the zipper foot. 

It only took a few extra hours' of "designing" work, and it was really fun.  The weather is supposed to be lovely at the end of the week, so perhaps I'll get a chance to wear this colorful spring skirt.

* * *

I really appreciated your comments and thoughts on sewing pants.  I'm inspired to try them now.  Many of you commented that Burda pants have the best fit, so I actually... ordered a Burda magazine.  I've never sewn with Burda magazine patterns.  The March 2011 edition had a pair of fly front-free pants that have great lines (images accesible on the Burda Russian site, which I translated by posting the page's link into Google translator):

Burda #116a 3/2011

Burda #116b, 3/2011 (same pants, but with cuffs)

I'm intimidated by having to trace the patterns and the lack of clear instructions that Burda is infamous for, but I'm impressed by your positive thoughts on Burda pants' fit, so I'm going to try it out.  I'm really, really excited.  Stay tuned...

Pondering Pants: Working up the Nerve to Attempt Trousers

I was on a mission to buy pants this weekend.  I own only 3 pair of trousers, and they are years old.  Despite going in about a dozen stores, I could not find a pair that fit.  They were either too big, too small, too tight in the back, whiskering at the front... backed into a corner, I finally faced that perhaps I should try to make my own.

I've been sewing for 2 years - and I feel that I've sewn a lot - but I'm still terribly intimidated by trousers.  The thought of sewing a fly front gives me heart palpitations, but even worse, how are they altered?  What if they don't fit in the rise?  Or pull and whisker at the crotch?  How is that fixed?!  I have 2 fit books: Fit For Real People and Fitting & Pattern Aleration.  I find the latter to be too technical to be helpful, and FFRP doesn't address pants.  Isn't that a bad sign?

I spoke to my Mom and Mr. Lappin over the weekend, who both tried to assure me that pants are, in fact, easy.  My stash contains a very simple pant pattern, Vogue 8679, and.... I might give it a go.  I love a bold, wide leg pant, but it can be a hard style to find.  What if I could sew my own?

Vogue 8679

Vogue 8679 is essentially 2 pieces of fabric with side zip.  Really, how hard could it be??  Right?  Right??

My dream would be to one day sew these:

Alice + Olivia, Vogue 1051

Do you remember your first pair of trousers?  How did it go?  Do you avoid them like the plague?  Or are sewn pants the only ones that fit you?  New sewers, do you have the same (hopefully irrational and unfounded) fear that I do? 

A Bevy of Blouses

I'm lacking in tops to wear to work under jackets and cardis, so I'm going to make a slew of them for spring, and have made a few blouse fabric purchses recently:

WinMil Fabrics in Boston had a rainbow of colors of silk charmeuse: I picked up a cream (goes with everything!) and a super-happy bright yellow.

L - cream silk charmeuse, M - Milly silk, R - yellow silk charmeuse

I've never worked with silk charmeuse, and may have to underline so they're not too slick to work with.  Though it'd be such a luxury to have these against my skin...

The middle fabric is a 100% silk by the designer Milly from Metro Textiles in New York.  I just love the equestrian-esque print, and in my favorite colors - neutrals.

I've finally decided to become a big girl sewer and begin using "real" (i.e. non-JoAnn Fabrics) interfacing.  I purchased a few yards from Emma One Sock - Linda advised that this is interfacing that designers work with.  I'm excited to use it.  While at the (online) store, I couldn't resist throwing a few bolts into my (online) cart.  The fabric on the left is a crosshatch print silk/cotton in lovely olivey-tones (now sold out, but looks like new colors in this print were added yesterday).  I thought the colors were rather unusual and not often seen in RTW.  The fabric on the right is a sheer rose print silk by designer Thakoon.

L - silk/cotton print, R- silk Thakoon rose print, both from Emma One Sock

Both of these will need to be underlined because they are rather sheer, especially the Thakoon silk.

I have a few shell patterns in my stash: Simplicity 2599, McCall 5977, and McCall 5661. 

Simplicity 2599

McCalls 5661

McCalls 5977

I planned to use all 3, but Joanne recently indicated that M5977 had to be taken in significantly for it to have shape.  Interestingly, I compared both patterns, and S2599 is much wider!  Perhaps I'll use the details of M5977 on S2599, which I know fits well since I made it last spring.  This is by far my most-worn sewn wardrobe piece - I wear it constantly. It's made from a cheap cut of silk dupioni from JoAnn's: I don't think the top cost more than $10 to make.  Cost per wear is into the pennies at this point.