12 Months12 Outfits -- July

As a reminder, here are the outfits Janice picked to coordinate with the 6 Hermes scarves for the month of July...  Basically, a pair of shorts, two tee shirts, a pair of sandals and a necklace.

I debated the shorts.  I really don't wear shorts outside of housecleaning/yardwork, and I do have one pair from last year that serves the need if I'm just in a situation that requires shorts in a public setting.  So I decided once more to forego the shorts and just use summer pants.

And I just so happened to have purchased a pair of white jeans from Lands' End back in, oh, April or so, and they just so happened to be the very pants featured in the Vivienne files post on White Jeans, and I was really glad to have already bought them because by the time that post came out LE was sold out of the white jeans in my size.   Unfortunately, I didn't snag an image from the LE site before they took them down for the fall colors.  My bad...I will be more pro-active in the future.

No more layout on the bed pics, since my facepalm moment last month when I realized I could use the same pics I'm taking for the year-to-date collage for a monthly collection. It only took me six months to have that epiphany (snort).

 Here's the July set:

I used two different patterns for my T Shirts; the blue cotton/poly/lycra one is the slight modification of Jalie 2566  and the red rayon/lycra one is, I think, a modification of Vogue 9057.  Maybe.  I traced a full pattern some time ago, so I could do a single-layer cutout on stripes, but I forgot to write the pattern number on the full size pattern and it doesn't exactly line up with the 9057 pattern.  So it's a Mystery Pattern, lol.  With an added dart.

Shoes are SAS Pampas...crazy expensive sandals by my standards but by far the most comfy ones I own.  This is actually my second pair; I have one in red, too.  Finally, the sweet little hummingbird necklace is from Novica; I was tickled to finally find something that referenced the scarf.

So, squeezing everything in the slide, here's the wardrobe to date:

 

This is progressing nicely.  And you know what?  I'm already thinking about a scarf for next year, lol...

Flea Market Find -- and a Giveaway

One of the things My Sweet Babboo likes to do is poke through antique stores, looking for things he can use in his frontiersman reenacting group.

So, when we found that one of the things available in the small town near our vacation lodging this past week was a large antique store...I suggested we spend a rainy afternoon there.

I really didn't expect to find anything for me, but there was one booth with a bunch of buttons (if only I had an idea of what I needed, lol)...and some patterns.  There were the cardboard storage boxes full of McVoguerick stuff, sold for a pittance, but I spotted a plastic bag containing a Sandra Bezina Today's Fit (that really didn't strike my fancy), a Nancy Erickson 1945 jacket (I've already got that pattern)...and a Cynthia Guffey princess dress, size 12.  My little Guffey Groupie heart did a pitter patter; the three patterns were listed at $4.50.  Totes worth it just for the Guffey dress.  So I snagged it.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the sealed up bag and found this inside:

There were TWO MORE Cynthia Guffey patterns hidden between the visible princess dress and the Betzina pattern.  And they were my size range...or, erm, close enough, lol.

I don't know how the booth owner missed that; the label clearly said '3 sewing patterns $4.50'.

But, you know, I'm feeling like I oughta share the blessing here, so I'm going to give away the Erickson jacket pattern (being as how I have one already, lol).

So...if there is anyone out there who is wishing they had Nancy's 1945 power suit jacket pattern (sizes 8 - 18 included I should have checked first; the pattern has been CUT OUT on the size 10 cutting lines.  So sad.  I've been tracing my patterns for so many years that it never occurred to me to check and see if the pattern had been cut; none of the others are.  So...if you are size 10 or a boss at adjusting pattern sizes...), leave a comment here and I'll draw a winner next Saturday!

Update:  Well, to my utter lack of surprise, no one left a comment to win the Nancy Erickson already-cut-on-size - 10 pattern.  I will figure some way to give it away elsewhere, lol.

The denim dress...

Ok, just for grins, here's what I started with.  The pattern is for a shirtdress, with a copyright date of 2001.  Um, Yeah.  2001.  It's been in the stash a while.  But I have always liked the lines of it, so when I was looking for a pattern to use for my denim shirt dress, it was the one I ultimately pulled.  

Here are the pattern pieces I had to work with:

 

There were optional fisheye darts in the front and back; the sleeve length options were full length, elbow length or sleeveless.

I cut the dress off at the 'lengthen/shorten' line, which ended up being right at my knees...pretty close to the length I wanted to end with.  The first muslin showed that I needed to move the bust shaping down about an inch, and shorten the dart considerably as the point wrapped way too far past where it should.  And I needed to give myself just a pinch more ease.

Because it was going to be a wide, fairly short dart, I decided to rotate that puppy to a princess seam.

I will add that this is the first time I have tried this, and I did learn a lot.

I had to lengthen the center front section...and this was after it had already been lengthened once for a full bust adjustment.  I thought that was odd, but walking the seam after I closed the dart clearly showed that I was going to have to lengthen it.  Also, the top buttonhole was pretty much at full bust level, so I moved the collar shaping up about an inch and a half.

Wouldn't you know, the next muslin showed that the bust shaping was now about an inch too low.  So I moved that back up to where it started, basically.

Hind sight...maybe I used the wrong pivot point?  I might should have researched that a bit more.  I didn't put the sleeves on the first muslin since I was just checking bust dart placement and girth, but the second muslin showed that there was too much ease in the sleeve cap; the sleeve had to be slightly gathered to fit the armsceye (not shown at all in those lovely smooth sleeves on the pattern photo...).  So I shaved down some of the curve, and cut a bit of the length off the front underarm so that it matched the dress (not sure if the mismatch was my fault or the patterns at that point).

And, of  course, I added an inseam pocket.  I also eliminated the front facing and just cut the center front pieces twice so I could sew the facing into the princess seam. Plus, I wanted a shirt tail hem, with the back slightly longer than the front, so I curved the hemlines accordingly.

However, I was somewhat short on fabric and I had to shorten those curves a bit from my original plan just to get it to fit on the fabric.

Here  are the pattern pieces I ended up with:

 

The fabric was an indigo blue cotton/lycocel from JoAnn's.  Not at all cheap, either, at about twelve and a half bucks a yard.  But I'd bought it for one thing and ended up using something else for that project, so it was available.   I was disappointed to see that it wasn't square; I tore both ends for a straight edge and when the fabric was laid out with the ends even there were terrible ripples down the fold.   I had to offset the selvege ends by about 2" to eliminate that rippling.  So I am attributing any wonkiness in the hang to that little issue. 

I had to change up the sewing order considerably; I sewed the CF and CB together at the shoulder seams; added the collar and put the facing on and pressed it well; basted together the raw edges on the CF seamline.  Then I put the pockets on the side front...putting on the facing piece, then the pocket so the pocket opening is finished off and the pocket becomes the sideseam. Then I sewed the side front/side back together at the shoulder seams, then sewed the sides to the centers.  Then I did the side seams and inserted the sleeves.  Hem, button holes and buttons.

Sounds simple, eh? LOL. 

 The dress, emphasis on the added pocket:

 The June outfit, bracelet, earrings, shoes and bag as well:

The bust shaping still feels a shade low to me.  Not enough to really worry about, but I'll probably adjust it if I make up the pattern again.   The sleeves bind a bit if I raise my arms, but that is just something I ALWAYS deal with on woven garments.  I haven't yet figured out the magic combination of ease here and fitting there to keep that from happening.

And you can't tell about the shaped hem at all; it's just not pronounced enough to show, although it does look just  a wee bit longer in the back if you look close.  

These pics were taken very late last night, after birthday festivities, so it is a bit rumpled.  But it was very comfortable to wear.  I expect to wear it at least a few times this summer.

12 Months 12 Outfits - June

So, here we are, a week into July, and I've just now got the June outfit ready to post.  But, considering I completely lost the first week of June to jet lag, AND I completely worked over a new pattern, rather than using TNTs, I don't think I did too badly.

 Just for a reminder, here are the June picks at Vivienne Files.

The denim dress does not want to photograph well.  It just sags on a hanger and rumples lying flat.  I think it's because of the shaping;  it just has to go somewhere.

But, anyway, here's the June collection:

And, you know, it JUST occurred to me  (like, as I'm typing all this up) that if I am collecting images for the 'whole wardrobe' picture I could make a better collection to see the month's outfits.  Oy.

(timeout while she goes and builds a slide for this month...)

Dress:  Much modified out of print McCall's 3254 made from indigo blue cotton/lyocel 'denim'; I will do a whole blog post on that later in the week.  Shoes are Rockport/Cobb Hill Hannah from the closet; I've had them for about two years and absolutely LOVE them...they are very kind to my picky feet.  In fact, I may have just talked myself into ordering a pair in another color.  I hunted and hunted for a tote bag with a hummingbird motif but had absolutely no luck...they were either gaudy or just basically reusable grocery bags. But I found this one that looked like a good denim color, and it's about a dead match for the shoes...and the turquoisy color in the original scarf.  I actually purchased a bracelet...since I had a reward that needed using at Novica.  And a light beaded bracelet is not nearly as annoying to wear as a clunky bangle.  The earrings are some that I bought years ago...at Kohl's, maybe?  They are my favorite wear-with-denim earrings.

AND...here's everything so far.

Now, on to July's T shirts...

12 Months 12 Outfits - July Assignment

Ok, you have no doubt noticed that I have not posted my June outfit yet.  Well, there's a reason for that.  It's a denim shirt dress that needs about 10 5/8" buttons.  I dug through my button stash but could not find 10 matching suitable buttons.  I'm not sure I have 10 matching buttons, period, actually.

So, given the disappointment that my last foray into retail looking for buttons turned out to be, I pulled up WAWAK and ordered two 1-dozen packs of buttons...one of which should work.  Since they were only about $2.50 a package, I thought it would be worth it.  Also ordered some serger thread, since it was on sale, to make the shipping worthwhile, but $2.50 for a dozen buttons is so much less than I would have paid for three or four cards of buttons...IF I could find them...that I didn't mind the shipping; it may still have been cheaper, lol.

So, I'm waiting for the buttons to get here. The dress needs the final top stitching pass around the front and the collar but, aside from the buttons (which are to arrive tomorrow) and buttonholes it's done.

Quick slip-on seems to indicate that the dress is going to fit well...except for some binding in the armsceye/sleeves.  The bane of any kind of fitted upper body.  If its truly annoying I will pull off the cap sleeves and finish the armholes with some bias binding.  I didn't notice it on the muslin, but there was an excessive amount of ease in the sleeve to put into the armsceye; it was kinda puckery.  So I shaved off a little bit of the outer curves on the sleeve cap...small amounts, really.  I didn't think it would make that much difference.  But, apparently it did. We'll see if it's an actual problem once the buttons are on and all.

But, I'm 4 days into July and Janice has posted the wardrobe picks for July....as she has done in years past, July's picks are shorts, two t-shirts, a necklace (well, earrings for one outfit) and sandals.

I could totally pull items from my closet to cover July, but I have been in sore need of some T shirts with red in them; that's a definite wardrobe gap that needs filling.  I've recently acquired a couple of pieces of red and white stripe knit, so one of those will get made up.  I'm waffling on the second T...I have a royal and white knit that would make a good T and would work really well with my wardrobe...or I could sew up a woven red T that's been cut out since February.

It probably depends on what I decide I want to do for the shorts.  My first impulse was to use white jeans; I have some that were added to the wardrobe back in the spring...as it turns out, it is the same white jeans Janice featured in her 'Ten Ways to Wear White Jeans' post back in May.

Can I admit to a slight smug feeling to realize I was ahead of the curve?  Which is a good thing...I clicked through to make sure it was the same pants as the ones I'd purchased and discovered that my size was sold out.

So there's that option.

But...I may scrounge around and see if I have a remnant of fabric that would be suitable for shorts.  Just because, well, that might be a good way to use up a bit of something.

So...if I go with white pants (or shorts) , then the two stripey fabrics will do nicely.  If I opt for something else, well, that may change the second one.

And of course, if I run short of time (short of time!  hahaha) I can always just go to the white Lands' End jeans.  So...decisions will be made after I get the buttons on the June dress.

July's necklace and sandals will not be a problem.