Loving the Red, White, and Blue

I was thinking of this fabric as red, white, and blue but the "red" is actually mostly a sort of salmon pink, which is lovely and I'm still probably going to wear it on the 4th of July.

I used the bodice of Simplicity 1803, View B, and a plain gathered skirt. Last summer I made View C, the one with the square neckline and the fit was not great so this time I cut a size 14 instead of my usual 16. You know... I think I have a tendency to get stuck on things like numbers and have a hard time believing it could possibly be wrong even if it's a number I don't especially like. The whole time I was sewing this I kept thinking and worrying, "This is wrong; I can't wear a size 14; it's not going to fit..." and so forth even though the more logical part of my brain was pretty sure it would fit.

And it does. The princess seams are maybe not quite right but overall it's great. I love it! It actually makes me feel youthful. I know it's not the sort of style that actual youthful people are wearing these days but that's not what matters. If I had to live in just one dress for the rest of the summer I think this would be it.

Here's a back view. I'm loving these scoop backs even though my back isn't the most lovely thing to be showing off to the world.

And of course it has pockets.

(I have a blue (lapis) and white (shell) necklace that I was going to put on for these pictures but I forgot and I didn't want to go back out and start all over again.)

Shoe Review

I first started seeing those woven elastic shoes a couple of years ago, maybe longer. It seems really recent but I know it's been longer than it feels like. At first I thought they might be one of those things that most people either love or hate and get all worked up about way out of proportion and I wasn't sure which side I would be on. Then last 4th of July I noticed my sister-in-law was wearing a pair of them and I asked her about them. She said that they are the only kind of shoes she wears now.

My sister-in-law and I have very little in common, fashion-wise. She is more conventionally fashionable than I am. (I'm more like, "Oh, that's fashionable now? Get it away from me.") But anyway, the shoes - I'm always looking (usually unsuccessfully) for comfortable shoes that look appropriate with dresses and some of the more recent styles of these are fairly attractive. The earlier styles I saw looked a little tacky or clunky to me. So, I've been curious about them and finally got around to trying a pair about a month ago and then bought two more pair.

Shoe selfies are a bit awkward so these are not the best shoe modeling photos.

This first pair is Bernie Mev brand. They look more grey than silver in this photo but in real life they're definitely sparkly silver with a subtle bit of pink trim. They feel like house shoes, very comfortable and kind of flimsy. The sole is very thin and it almost feels wrong to wear them outside the house.

This multi-colored pair I actually saw at Walmart a few weeks before I bought the silver ones and thought about buying them but didn't. I'm not a snob about Walmart generally but I am a snob about buying their shoes or any cheap shoes but I went back and bought these. In some ways they are actually better shoes than the silver ones. The sole is sturdier, like an athletic shoe sole, and they have a very thick cushiony insole. Downsides: The heel piece is very stiff and uncomfortable. I bought stick-on heel pads and that fixed that problem. The other thing about them is they are rather tight with a very strong elasticity. They're fine when I'm standing or walking but when I'm sitting down, not putting weight on my feet they put the squeeze on my toes.

This navy blue pair, received just a couple of days ago, are Sketchers brand and they're the best of the three - sturdy enough sole, cushy insole, and just right stretch. I'm trying to resist the temptation to get one or two more pair of these. The "bronze" ones would be very useful. They would go with a lot of different clothes. But I tell myself I need to wait a while and see how well these hold up in the long run.

I'm not ready to give up all other shoes because I still like most of my other shoes but I can really understand why someone would want to wear these exclusively. I can see myself wearing them more and more.

Summer Sewing Plans Udate

Back in January I posted pictures of some fabrics that I planned to sew this year. To save you the bother of clicking on that link here are the two spring/summer priorities pics. (Below that I'm going to babble some more and post another picture of more fabric.)

It's been good having a plan. I haven't been completely dedicated to it but it's useful because when I get stuck and can't decide what to sew next I can pick something from the plan. So far from the first photo I have done (or am working on) all except the aqua polka dot and the floral right below it. Right now I am not sure if I will sew those this summer or not. I am currently working on the dark blue floral in the lower right corner.

In the second pic I have only done the first two in the top row. The vintage ads fabric, because of both the color and the weight, feels like fall to me so I'll probably wait until September, maybe late August, to sew that one. The peachy pink with the antique pickups is only 3/4 of a yard and I haven't found anything to go with it yet. The last two, the two florals, I'm not quite as excited about as I was a few months ago. I still love the fabrics; I've just become more interested in others.

And here are are those others, the fabrics that are really floating my boat right now.

The chicken print and the dark print on top of it go together. I luuuuuve the cat batik print. Must make that one really soon. I am just a wee bit scared of the last fabric in the top row. It's just too much gorgeousness. Not only is it pretty but it feels especially nice, very smooth. (These are all 100% cotton, BTW) So even though I really want to sew it and wear it, I might end up procrastinating until next year. Next, the jellyfish print. Isn't that cute? It's nice and lightweight so it should be very wearable for summer. I forgot about and recently rediscovered the bird print. I don't really have any ideas for that one. It's only 3 yards so depending on what I decide I might need to find another small piece to go with it.

Finally, the last one is a very recent purchase but I know what I want to do with it and I'm thinking I might make it very soon, maybe even next. It was on clearance. It's 4 1/2+ yards and in addition to it being on sale I got the 1/2+ for free because it was the last on the bolt. I'm thinking of this for a "house-dress" because it's cheap fabric and dark colors so even though I do love it I will feel comfortable enough wearing it while I'm cooking and cleaning and other housewifey things. (Okay, fine, mostly reading sci-fi novels, spending too much time on Facebook, and of course sewing.)

There's more of course. There is always more but these are the ones that are most on my mind today. So how is your summer sewing coming along?

Blue and Pink

This sweet and lovely fabric was the oldest in my stash by a couple of decades.

It was a leftover piece. I bought it in the late 80's and made a dress. It had lace trim and buttons that looked like little pink pearls. It looked like an Easter dress for a giant four year old, which, actually, was sort of the look I was going for. I loved it but I always felt self-conscious wearing something so traditionally pretty so I only wore it a few times. It hung in my closet for 15 years while I gained two sizes and finally, regretfully, I gave it up to make room for more wearable things.

I had slightly over a yard and a half of the fabric left and for all those years I have been trying to decide what to do with it. Finally, here it is: *

I used the same collar from the old McCall's pattern as this blouse but this time I put it on New Look 6078. And I love it! It also feels really good to have finally done something with that old piece of fabric. It helps to justify my pack-rat ways.

Here is a closeup of the collar. I still need lots more practice doing scallops. I'm not totally thrilled with the way they turned out but overall I'm ecstatic about this blouse. (The buttons are actually a much lighter pink than what it looks like in this picture.)

*The skirt is this one

The Insect Journal Tunic

Is everyone getting tired of New Look 6963? I know... based on the low number of page views, not to mention lack of comments, I must be the most boring sewing blogger on the planet. This fabric, on the other hand, is far from boring. That's it; that's my excuse. The fabric. For me it's all about the fabric and the more I love a fabric the more I want to use a pattern that will be a guaranteed success. Anyway, the fabric. My apologies to anyone with insect phobias.

The first thing I noticed was the insects and the text, which is in French, or at least that's what it looks like to my monolingual* brain, but the more I look at it the more I see. There are several layers of stuff: insects, text, large plants, like old fashioned botanical illustrations, a small faded green and yellow calico print, and large stencil style numerals. I think this might be the most interesting fabric I have ever seen.

As you can see, I made the long, sleeveless version but I actually lengthened it about an inch and a half, not that I really needed to since it's long enough to start with, and I added pockets because I want to wear this with leggings. Last Sunday I wore it with the dark grey leggings. Here's the back:

I sort of wish that the two 5's hadn't ended up right next to each other on the front. I would have preferred having it more random but it's really no big deal. Overall, I love it.

(* I studied Spanish in high school but I only remember maybe a dozen nouns and two verbs but not how to conjugate them.)

The Silly Bird Dress

This is it - the dress that caused my recent moment of angst. It wasn't all that big of an ordeal to fix it. Of course I did have to take the zipper out but I didn't take the dress all the way apart like I was thinking I would have to. I took the bodice in about 3/4 of an inch on each side but instead of taking the skirt off and re-gathering it I "cheated" and just tapered out to the original seam at the outer top edge of the pocket. (And that sentence probably made no sense without a picture to illustrate.) Anyway... in sewing, cheaters often do win.

It's not perfect but I love it anyway. I used the bodice of Butterick 5748 but I wanted to make sure all the birds were the right way up so the skirt is just a rectangle. Here's the back:

This is the second dress I have made that has a scoop back. Before I made the first one I was a little worried that it might bother me but I love it and I'm definitely going to make more.

But lets talk about the birds for a minute. I love this fabric. It has owls, ducks, roosters, and some smaller birds of indeterminate species. And look - some of the roosters are green! I want a green chicken for real. Parrots have green feathers so it's not that much of a stretch. You genetic engineering people get on that will you? No? Well fine then! I'll just wear my wonderful silly bird dress and dream.

Something Simple

Several weeks ago Denver Fabrics had what they call "cotton suiting" on sale for $1.99 a yard! I bought two pieces, one of which was this lovely pin-cord.

I knew almost immediately what I wanted to do with it:

(I did take two photos with the blouse tucked in but I didn't like them at all.) I used the skirt pieces from Vogue 8811. I didn't make a waistband, just a narrow facing cut from a scrap of lighter weight pink cotton. Strictly speaking, it didn't need elastic; my ample hips would have kept it up without it but it felt loose to me so the facing became a casing for elastic. And of course it has a 7 inch zipper and pockets. (The blouse is very old, probably close to 20 years. I rarely wear it. I keep it around just in case I need a white blouse.)

I love the skirt. I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I already have several summer tops that I think will look okay with it and a couple more planned that I think will look even better.

~ ~ ~

After I finished this skirt (Wednesday) I immediately went back to work on That Dress and it's almost finished. I just need to hem it and that's it. I have discovered (or decided) two things: 1, Merely the fact that I worry that unfinished projects will become never finished projects means that I probably won't let that happen even if I stop and work on something else for a while, and 2, taking a break from a project gone wrong to work on something else can actually be helpful. I won't say that I will never completely give up on a project but if I love the fabric and there's any chance that it can become something wearable there's no giving up. It's just the way I am.

#100 and Thoughts on Unfinished Projects

This is the 100th post on this blog and it's going about like I expected. I still don't get to sit at the popular kids table. For a little while I tried to think of something "special" for post #100 but after considering a couple of ideas I decided that 100 posts is nothing. It's just a start. If I make it to post #1000 maybe that will be worth celebrating. So I just decided to post what's on my mind right now, just like any other blog post.

So, a question: How do you feel about sewing projects that are left unfinished for a long time, maybe forever? UFOs, some people call them.

I remember two projects (during my childhood) that my mother started and never finished. Actually, I'm sure there were more than that but there are two in particular that stick in my mind. One was a plain red sheath dress that she was making for herself. I remember at one point she was upset that she hadn't finished it. The other was a dress she was making for me. The fabric had small yellow roses on a white background and it was going to have a solid yellow under-skirt and, I think, yellow trim around the sleeves and neckline. I can't remember the details of the pattern very well. I was about 8 or 9 - maybe as old as 10? Anyway, I was really excited about that dress but for some reason she never got around to finishing it and to this day I still feel sad about not getting to have and wear that beautiful dress and I have even considered making an adult version of it.

Perhaps because of my memories of my mother's unfinished sewing projects, I have a fear of not finishing things. I have always sewn one thing at a time and not even cut out the next one until I finished what I was working on. That has changed a little bit in the last couple of years. I now have two sewing machines and sometimes have a project going on each one but I still very rarely put something aside and move on to something else.

Last week I was working on a dress that I was excited to finish and wear but when I got it to the point that I could try it on it turned out that the fit is way wrong! What is usually my correct size is about 2 sizes too big. (Yes, I know, that's why we make muslins but I don't.) I can fix it but I'll have to take it most of the way apart, including taking out a side zipper. I hate taking things apart and I was so disheartened I decided to quickly move on to the next thing - something simple and quick. I really want to go back to the dress soon but at the same time I feel that it is in no way urgent since it's starting to look like we might not even have a real summer and it's very much a summer dress. I will finish it but I still have this nagging thought: "Hurry and do it now or you might never finish it."

And Another New Look 6963

I don't have much to say about this one other than... I love it. I love the colors, I love the lightweight, yarn dyed cotton fabric, and I love the pattern, obviously since I can't stop making it over and over again. I started out to make it exactly like view C, the one with the short turned up sleeves, but when I tried it on before hemming them I liked the sleeve length so I just gave them a standard shirt sleeve hem.

Inspirations and Temptations (or the lack of)

Well, you see what happens when I decide to do a "weekly feature"? Nothing last week and almost nothing this week. As well as being relatively uninspired right now I'm also unmotiviated so I'm not even going to bother with pictures, just a couple of links. (As usual I have another finished thing to show off and will try to photograph it sometime within the next couple of days.)

Roisin has made the retro Butterick pattern that I just recently purchased. I don't know if I can really claim this as inspiration but maybe a little nudge to go ahead and make one myself?

At any given time there are always at least three dozen fabrics at eQuilter that are tempting me but I'm really not going to buy any more fabric for a while. (except that I really do need something for some new summer pajamas and I might have to buy a couple of fabrics to start another quilt but other than that... really, no more fabric until I've sewed at least half of what I already have.) But anyway, isn't this the most fascinating and exotic print? There was also a gorgeous floral that I fell in love with but I can't find it now. Sold out already?

It has been five whole days since I sewed anything and I'm trying to decide what to sew next. The weather is really screwing with my motivation. Sometimes I really think Mother Nature is menopausal.

(I really think I probably use the word "really" way to much.)