That's Not Her Shadow

Is anyone else as freaked out about this photo as I am?

Because Science is Awesome

I woke my son up so we could watch it live. We both stood up and cheered, just like these guys:

TOUCHDOWN MARS!  Beat that varsity jockeys.

P.S. Best quote so far on the nets  "Do not play darts with these people. They can hit a bulls eye from 36 million miles away"

Striking Similarities: Vintage vs. Modern

Whenever one discusses fashion the term "cyclical" comes up a lot.  And I'm sure we could come up with any number of other idioms.  Honestly, designers will often go back in time for inspiration.  And here I have an example of just how uncannily similar it sometimes gets.

Take this 1930's DuBarry pattern available on Etsy here. Its a pretty nice design with princess seams and butterfly sleeves that are sewn into those princess seams.  When I saw it however, I remembered another pattern in my stash.

Laura Ashley from McCall's M6277.  The similarities are striking. The princess seams, the inseam butterfly sleeves.  With a bit of creativity and experience it wouldn't be hard to add length and flare to the skirt, not to mention drafting the bow. And lets also mention this is one of those multi-cup size patterns which makes the fitting that much easier.

I found the vintage DuBarry while combing through all the 1930's patterns available out there for my own inspiration.  I really wanted my gown to fit into the era that DieselPunk takes place in.  If you haven't heard of DieselPunk, that's ok, its not a huge draw yet and is mostly popular with the men-folk.  Its that Era from WWI to the end of WWII and often associated with "alternate history" or "Weird War II" fiction.  Given my love of Science and Technology History I have a bit of a love affair with this sub-genre of cyberpunk.

Have you stumbled upon strikingly similar vintage and modern patterns?

Promballoona: The Payback Edition

I hopped in the stretch limo to Kalkatroona land and shared what every nerdy outcast dreams about doing, paying back those bullies!  Head on over and share in the fun and cocktails. I'm drinking wine.

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In other news, I had hoped to get the skirt portion traced and cut this evening but I received news that my last living grandparent, my Grandfather, just passed away. My apologies for the happy* and sad in the same post but I didn't really feel like separating out the two. As you can imagine, I just wasn't feeling the sewing bug tonight.  I did a bunch of cooking instead, test run some ideas I had using what my farm share has provided. If its turns out well I'll share, k?

In the meantime do me a favor and go give everyone you love a hug. Or send them a card in the mail with warm thoughts.  Its sucks to regret not corresponding with them more often.

*I have many other reasons to count my blessings and find happy things in life.  My Grandfather was in his 90's and had a long full life.  I was not terribly close but this is one of those things that marks how time passes.  His passing was quick and peaceful and he was happy up until the end.

Productive Procrastination

The hitch I ran into yesterday with the dress design kinda threw me into a melancholy state.  Then yesterday was Simon's birthday and we went out boating again. So far this week I've walked, did pilates, and swam.  Then I rearranged my sewing/craft area to open up the room and make all the things more accessible. Now I'm considering going to the flea market down the road in a bit.  In any case, no sewing.  So here's a photo of a sleeping kitty in my lap.

Week 2: Tweaking the Fit (post one)

I'm doing more than one post this week, as I've already spent about five hours just tweaking fit on the bodice.  Changing design plans and then changing it back again.  How the frak do they do things so quickly on Project Runway?  In any case I think its just easier if I upload and type out my thoughts as I go instead of trying to do it all at the end of the week.  These are going to be photo heavy posts. (Also, I know this is technically two posts in one day but the other one was a serious quickie)

Back Bodice

Here's the thread traced pieces that I have started to pin together.  Thread tracing is where you machine stitch over all the marked lines so that when fitting you can 'see' with your fingers. Again, the stitching line is the most important element here, not the seam allowances.

 I decided to go ahead and use my doppleganger to start some of the initial fitting details.  While the waist is not quite my size right now, it is closer to what it will be with the copious amounts of shape wear that I will have on underneath the dress.  The shoulders could be more rounded but I'll tweak that later.  As you can see the first thing I had to do was re-draw the under bust stitching lines to accommodate the girls.  

The next thing I did was to pinch out "dead darts" where the v-neck was gaping open.  Yes, it is a very deep neckline and I want to keep it that way. We're talking about a dress that shows off the things I like most.  ;) The question marks are for posting the photo in my Craftsy Course for feedback, cause I'm not sure this is the 'right' way to do it.  Though sometimes you gotta know the rules to break them.  

 The back bodice is looking pretty good, I think.  The center puckering was where I didn't iron out the grainline stitching very well. Its usually cut on a fold but I'll be doing this as one open piece.

Ah, now here is a trick I learned about recently.  When you make changes to the back bodice, such as a rounded shoulder adjustment, you'll often get these weird drag lines up to the shoulder from the waist. This is caused by a shift in where they arm scythe is suppose to be.  The pin (and later a sharpie) marks where the arm scythe stitching lines will be. Since I'm drafting my own sleeves, changing this now is not a problem.  I also re-drew the side seams to where I will actually sew for my first on-me fitting.   On to my next design hitch. The midriff.  

 As you can see, the stitching lines on the midriff are significantly smaller than the lace I plan to use.  I thought "uh oh" and went and retraced the pieces and widened them.

back midriff widening

Front midriff widening

However, as I was doing this and then mentally putting it together in my head I realized that 5 1/4 inches was pretty damn wide, even for my long torso.  It suddenly didn't fit right in my head.  So I did what any good designer should do and pinned the lace under the bust portion, stood back and had a Tim Gunn moment.

hmmmmm....

Why does the midriff have to be the same size as the lace?  In retrospect, it really doesn't.  The lace is flexible enough that I would be organically attaching it to the mid-riff section anyway.

In fact, after writing all this and looking at the photos I'm seriously considering doing away with the midriff all together and just have the skirt fall from just under the bust.  Hmmm... That treatment would certainly be much more in keeping with the 30's styling I'm going for anyway.

What say you, oh wise sewing people of the internet?

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