My belated ball gown

I can't believe Opera Ball was almost a month ago! I got my dress finished in time, but didn't get a photo taken that night. It was just too crazy! I should have though, on the grand staircase of the majestic San Francisco City Hall where the event was held. That week was pretty insane. I work in education, not events, so my workload was totally unrelated to the ball and we had a couple issues pop up at the end of the week. Dealing with that while being pulled in the other direction for my added event responsibilities left me little time to care about how I actually looked. Besides, I was just scurrying around checking attendees in, folding napkins, checking place cards and seating charts, trying in vain to get people to sit down for dinner, cleaning up volunteer meals, schlepping boxes back to the office at 2am, and so on. It's hard work!

I ended up making Vogue 1176, an OOP Michael Kors pattern. I added a gathered skirt with big pockets to store my phone, badge, and keys, and these pockets were the envy of every one of my coworkers. Seriously, you could see the look of longing appear on their faces as they noticed me whipping my phone out! The dress served its purpose, but I don't feel very sophisticated. I think the combination of the too-short skirt, the wide straps, and, well, maybe the pockets too make it feel a little frumpy.

I also had some trouble making this dress. First, I ran out of fabric! I had bought four yards, which seemed like an infinite amount. I usually make a dress using no more than two yards of fabric, since I'm short and on the smaller side, and I really didn't think that a long, full skirt would take that much extra fabric. I wanted the skirt to be cut in an A-line shape with gathering at the top, so that it would have a pretty full skirt by my shoes to keep them hidden. That was absolutely not going to happen, and this skirt not only isn't full enough to not show my shoes, but it's also too short. I didn't want to step on it, but I think it needs another couple inches at least.

Then the bodice... it was fun to put together, and for a 100% polyester fabric it was pressing pretty well. But then I tried it on and realized it was really big. Too big to just take in at the side seams. Everyone always talks about the extra ease in McCall, Butterick, Vogue, and Simplicity patterns, and I'm always skeptical because I tend to sew Simplicity and Burda and I have never, ever had a problem with excess ease in a Simplicity pattern. I might become a believer when it comes to Vogue, though. I had to take it in three whole inches at the waist, and could easily take in another inch, and also took it in about one inch at the bust. The alterations were distributed through the side and back seams, but I couldn't really take it in on the front due to the design and you can tell. It's pretty baggy under the bust. I feel like the fit is acceptable, but it was problematic and I don't really care about making another version to figure out all that was wrong.

I still love the color (more gray, less deep purple than the photos show) and the draped detail of the bodice, and I think I'm going to cut the skirt to knee-length to make it into a cocktail dress that I think will be much more successful.

Color Blocked

This dress has been finished for about a month, but for some reason I've been having trouble writing this post. Maybe it's because I'm just not all that excited about the dress.

I actually was excited when planning this project. I ordered some double knits from Fabric Mart during a 50% off sale, with the idea that I need a few basic work dresses that will withstand my bike commute. I didn't like the actual color of the blue or purple fabrics when they arrived, but seeing the three fabrics stacked together inspired me to combine them, using Simplicity 1665, a design I was very much drawn to.

Image from Pattern Review

I just don't think it's that flattering in real life. The yoke and straps don't look all that great, and there is absolutely no bust shaping. It's not a bad dress, but it was definitely disappointing.

It was so cold and windy! Brrr...

It is a very serviceable work dress, though, and I do like it more paired with a cardigan.

I do own more than one pair of shoes... these are just my favorites!

So, there you go. It's not a great dress, but it's not a fail either. Meh.

Thanks for all the encouraging comments on my Vogue dress! I'm itching to finish it, but today is my personal deadline for starting that gown. Just three weekends left!

Don't forget to hand baste...

...when constructing something like this:

to make a seam like this:

Instead of diligently working on that gown I need in less than a month, last weekend I started making Vogue 1350, which has these terrific corner seams in the front and back. It's my first designer pattern and I was nervous after reading reviews complaining about inadequate instructions for these tricky seams, but I shouldn't have worried, it's really not that bad if you baste it!

I'm actually having a blast with this dress. After that year when I hardly made anything, I felt pretty insecure about my skills and gravitated toward super simple patterns. This one really isn't all that complicated either, but it does require careful, precise sewing, and, you guys, I'm rocking it! I haven't had to unpick anything yet, and I feel so much more confident about my ability to construct garments. I can still sew!

Further Fanciness

Aside from sewing and hiking, my third passion is guitar, and since that's the passion that has been winning my free time the last couple weeks I have nothing new to show this weekend. I have been spending some time thinking about my next big project, though, which is going to up the level of fancy in my sewing by a few notches, believe it or not. You guys, I'm so out of my element. I'm a bumpkin teacher, not an urban socialite!

Anyway, I have to go to a ball in September - a real, honest-to-goodness ball. It's for work and I will be actually working at the event, but I still need a gown. I had been going back and forth about making or just trying to thrift one, but then I bought some fabric so I guess I'm making it. A gown is really just a dress with a long skirt, right? I can make a dress!

The perfect warm grayish lavender... a bit darker in real life

I found this poly dupioni in the clearance section of JoAnn. I know I should do better than a JoAnn poly dupioni, but gowns really eat up fabric, $3/yd is well within my budget, the color is absolutely perfect, and, most importantly, it's not a shiny satin. This remnant of gray lace coordinates perfectly, but I won't be heartbroken if it doesn't make it in the final design.

Now I just need to decide on a pattern. Because I'm going to be working, I need a comfortable dress that I can move in. Pockets are a huge plus, as are sleeves, and the ability to wear normal undergarments is a must. Two weeks ago I was really sure that this was the one, but now I'm waffling. I'm afraid that the skirt might look frumpy unless I fit it perfectly. It will look especially bad if the seams aren't pressed totally flat, and I don't know if this fabric is capable of that.

Image from Simplicity

This dress turned out to be such a great design for working events that I kind of want to just make it again. I could incorporate the lace on the cummerbund included in the pattern. I am a bit concerned about being totally boring, though, both because the design isn't all that interesting and my fabric is plain, and because I just made it and it has some distinctive features.

Image from Simplicity

There are a few more patterns floating around my head and my super-helpful Pinterest board (what did we do before Pinterest??), but none of them are quite as good as these two. I have a couple months to make it but I'm sure they will just fly by, and as much as I would love to gather inspiration and dream up the perfect design I really want to keep it simple this year.

Have you ever made a gown? What did you wear it to, and how did it all turn out? If you needed a gown in the near future, what sort of dress would you want to make?

The party's crashing us

Finally, photos are taken! I made this dress on a whim the weekend before last to wear to a cocktail party for work the following Wednesday. It had been quite some time since I made a dress, and everything was going pretty well until suddenly it wasn't. I was up late Tuesday night scrambling to finish, but the dress was completed just in time and I'm pretty happy with it.

Image from Pattern Review

I used Simplicity 1610, which is one of the new summer patterns, and I highly recommend it! I chose the pattern because of the basic design, the sleeves, and, above all, the pockets. I've worked enough functions, though not quite such fancy ones, in past jobs to know that I want to have a place to stash my badge, phone, keys, and so on. The dress was very straightforward to put together, and the troubles I had weren't the fault of the pattern at all.

I cut a 10 at the bust and graded to a 12 at the waist, which is normal for me, with no other alterations except that I sewed the back seam with a 3/8" SA because I was afraid of it being too small. I usually construct dresses so that the side seams are the last to be sewn in order to adjust fit, but since I've never set in sleeves with a pivot point like this I didn't want a bunch of dress hanging down on that step. Next time I'll sew the regular seam allowance, as this dress is a little too big, but that actually turned out to be a good thing because I can just slip it over my head without a zipper. It's also super comfortable, and since staff kind of blends into the background at these events, I don't really care that there's a bit too much ease.

So, it's a great dress, and I'm sure I'll wear it to functions like this all the time. That said, I'm going to try to never, ever sew anything in a satin again. The fabric didn't look all that shiny in the store next to the other JoAnn satins, but the more I sewed it the shinier it looked and the more I noticed that it shows every little wrinkle, flaw, stitch, and even the pinked edges of the wispy acetate lining that I used as a facing. To make matters worse, even though the bolt said it was 40% cotton, this fabric pressed like 100% polyester. I felt more and more trepidation about the zipper insertion, and as suspected it was a total disaster. I ended up just trying to squeeze into it without a zipper, and thanks to that 3/8" SA I could. Phew. Even though staff blends in, I didn't want my dress to look so totally homemade among the attendees' designer dresses!

I had forgotten how much fun it is to make dresses, but I also forgot how much I dislike sewing under pressure. I'm not one of those people who can whip up a garment in a few hours, and I like to take my time, go slow, and finish things nicely. There will be more of these parties and other events through the year, and I'm looking forward to making a few pretty dresses that are actually well-made!

Emerging from the land of separates

I forgot that I love to sew dresses! I started sewing because I wanted to wear dresses all the time, and though I did make a few of them, somewhere along the line I got stuck making separates. I haven't made a dress in over a year! Well, I am going to a fancy cocktail party for work tomorrow and I spent the weekend stitching up a new dress. It still needs a zipper, a hem, a final pressing, and some hand stitching on the inside, but I think it will come together in time. More details to come!