new project - McCall's 8581

working on a eightiestastic new dress with tucks!

this dress requires 3 yards of material (44") which was kind of meh because the dkny dress barely used 2. this dress is wider and longer - it has 3 x 1" tucks which is really 2 inches per tuck so that's... 6 inches of decorative material. still, it looked super long. not sure how much i can shorten the hem without having to move up the bottom tucks (there are two). it might have to resort to the latter. 

anyhow, as you may or may not know, cutting fabric is my least favorite part of sewing. I ABSOLUTELY HATE(d) it! yesterday i thought i'd go a different route and went to ace hardware and got a box of its biggest and heaviest washers. i had read on different blogs that using washers as pattern weights are much easier & faster than pinning down patterns. yes i hate pinning patterns to fabrics as well. i have these perfectionist tendencies when i do detailed work like this, and can get really discouraged if the fabric isn't cut zomg exactly like the pattern. i think the dkny dress took me 2 or 3 evenings to pin down, cut and mark. YEAH I KNOW! a huge waste of time!

aside from the weights, i also decided to try out rotary cutter instead of scissors. i don't know how many times i've read "tips on cutting" from different sewing books, and the only suggestion they have is "cut as closely to the cutting surface as possible." dude, whatever! as soon as you slide the scissors underneath the fabric, you've moved it. so, i got a new rotary blade and got to work. prior to this change in my cutting habits, i've only used my rotary cutter against a metal ruler on straight cuts. why didn't i think that R-O-T-A-R-Y means that you can use it on curves? i'll never know. 

so, how long did it take for me to cut out 4 pieces and mark them with this new cutting method? oh about an hour. that's crazy efficiency from what i am used to. 

so, to stress, in order to de-stress cutting: 

pattern weights (washers) x 10ish
+
rotary cutter
=
no more hair pulling!

(this is probably not news to seasoned seamstresses, but pretty phenomenal for me.)

eta: i only tried this on 100% cotton. not sure if knits/rayon/silk/satin will produce the same results.

v1236 IRL

wore this dress to the office yesterday and got many compliments.

only problem was that cotton/chambray...wrinkles a lot!

WIP - vogue 1236 (dkny)

still needs:

-hemming
-slip stitch the openings on shoulder straps
-belt
-laundering (to get rid of the marks)

full frontal:

you can still see the basted pleats in this photo.

close-up of the pleats, sans basting, avec lots of markings:

and a seam shot:

yay lace!

there were definitely some steps i skipped because i JUST WANT TO FINISH THIS DAMN DRESS (e.g. understitching the facings, connecting straps the correct way so the seams are enclosed). next time i'm probably not going to include the pockets, because let's face it, i cannnot go anywhere without a purse. also, i'm probably going to underline it with muslin because i don't like fusible interfacings.

wishlist update

crossing off one more thing from wishlist:

24x36 cutting mat. got it from amazon for a tidy $34.15. got it in 2 days. it's sitting pretty in the backseat of my car since friday.

procrastinating post #434

it's close to 90 deg outside. how/when did this happen? i could have sworn that 2 weeks ago it was 50 degrees and rainy and i was praying for spring weather. all of the sudden i get shoved into summer...which means...

i'm very much behind on my dress making.

i'm recycling my old(er) store bought dresses.

i should not be looking through banana republic and urban outfitter's online stores.

i should be cutting out fabric and assemble them into dresses.

but i really really hate cutting fabric. especially when i do not have a large table cleared off. i also do not like sitting on the floor and assembling patterns.

i think the resolution here is to buy a large coffee table to occupy. (i already have a fully cluttered craft table & dining table). which means that i have to ask my friend for his truck for transportation (i have already bought a coworker's coffee table that i have promised to haul away for about 8 months now).

so the plan goes something like this:

1. get truck
2. pick up table
3. secure table to truck
4. drop off table @ my place
5. assemble pattern pieces on fabric
6. cut out fabric
7. 10 new dresses magically appear.

yup. it will go something like that.

突然很怀念惣領冬実的《战神》。 这是我初三中考前复习的时候偷偷看的漫画。 当时特沉迷于惣領的绘画风格。觉得很特别。我没有看过由漫画改编的同名电视剧。也不太想看。没有办法将真人和漫画人物相比；现在也没有办法体会当时的无忧无愁的心情。。。

很华丽，不是么？有一点点清水玲子的味道。

i steal children's hats

and sew bunny ears on them.

pattern & instructions here:

http://www.purlbee.com/bunny-hat-and-paw-mittens/

on me:

~happy zombie jesus day~