Adaline velvet dress-part 2--pattern selection

Well, the cruise came and went and I didn't get this finished. I didn't even have time to finish start the muslin for it. I am still going to work on this, but zero waste change and getting my garden in this past spring and summer were/are just more of a priority at the moment life got in the way. (I started this as soon as I got back from the cruise, but honestly, I was a little bummed at myself for not having time to do it. We had a great time and then I forgot about it for awhile.)

Sewing and quilting is more of a winter activity for me anyways. 

Now that it is getting colder, I'm really thinking about finishing this up. Also, holiday parties are coming and how awesome would it be to rock this dress at a Christmas or New Year's party? 

Oh yeah, DH better start planning to take me somewhere AWESOME!!

In case you haven't read the first part of this on going series. It's here.

This is part 2 of the making of 'The age of Adeline' Wine Velvet party dress. I posted pictures of the original dress in the previous post, if you need to refer back, I provided a link above. 

This took quite awhile to do and in the end, I already had everything I needed...go figure. *eye roll at self*

I looked through current pattern books at the store and nothing jumped out at me. Blah, I'm hating the new styles coming out right now. Retro all the way! 

So, I dug through my pattern stash and found 2 that I can frankenpattern together to make the dress.

First up is a 1970's era empire waist dress. This is practically perfect. It already has darts in the bottom where I need them, but I think I'm just going to use the puff sleeves and the skirt part on this one. I would have to redraw the entire bodice if I used this whole thing. 

This is a better picture of the one I'm talking about above. Aren't those sleeves perfect?

This pattern top is perfect for this application. I'm really only looking at version 'A/B' here and he gathering at the collar could be very easily changed to a couple darts (who wants to try and gather velvet? Because this dress requires actual velvet, not stretch velvet. 

Here is a closer shot of version 'A.' Do you see what I mean? It will be easy to slash the front to make that low dip and change the gathers to a dart or a tuck even. (It's really hard to tell from the movie and pictures whether it is a tuck or a dart, so I suppose it's up to my own interpretation here.) Since I don't need anything but the top-that's all I'm looking for in the pattern department. 

The same thing goes for the back. There is really only the one picture of the back and it's a long ways away in the shot that you cannot see where the zipper placement is in the dress. I'm thinking it should go in the back over the bum for ease of dressing. Which would put zipper in the back and a hook and eye in the front making this a difficult dress to get on and off really. But, I want it to look seamless once I have it on my body. I think part of the all of the dress is wondering how it's made and how she even got it on. Right? Or is that just me?

Looking at that plunge Im nervous. I dont have an adequite bra for that and I dont think my girls would do in a sewn in bra, but maybe...boob tape?

So I'm looking into that still. I'm willing to take suggestions here too. (hint, hint) 

I will not be able to complete this in the original time frame as I had hoped. I have been working on baby quilts for some people and obviously the cruise is over.  So, I have to put aside my plans for a fancy dress...for now. Once it is completed I can wear it for years. (assuming that I can keep my shape after having children) *crosses fingers*

We are trying to have a baby now, so it might not be the best time for me to be working on a fancy dress anyways. I still wanted to do an update on my thoughts for the dress. I am going to work on it, but don't expect this to be done quickly. I have a few other things on the sewing table that need to be finished up before this really gets underway. 

But, having a solid plan for it makes me feel that much better. 

Have you ever frankenpatterned something like this? What do you think of this massive project? Are you excited to see it finished?  As far as I know nobody else has made one yet (or at least it's not online anyways.) So, I'm really excited to make it perfect and perfectly tailored to my shape. 

Next up for part 3 is the making of the muslin. 

'Age of Adeline' Wine Velvet Dress

I've scoured the internet to see if anyone has ever tried to recreate the wine velvet dress that Adeline wears to the new years parties. I did not find anything. It's such a beautiful dress. It has a beautiful, yet classic style. The cut out in the back was actually fairly popular in the mid to late 1940's. You need to have some kind of support inside the bodice to make the cutout AND the low neckline. It's sexy, but not overly flashy.

Now, if you haven't seen the movie yet..you really should. It is simply amazing. The plot is awesome and the way the shot the movie actually gives it the period feel for each decade that they show you.  It's no 'New Amsterdam', but it's a close second. That will always be my favorite plot. I long to see it done again, and actually finished.


And I'm even going to give myself a deadline for this dress. I want to make it in time to take it with me on a cruise I'm going on with my DH. In February. It's the beginning of November now, that gives me basically 2 months to complete it. I have a lot of work to do still. And then I need to think about how I'm going to do the beading. Am I going to do that by hand? Or can I find a strip that I can tack down on the dress?


Now to convince you of the beauty of this dress.

This is just the best picture available of the dress. She's a beautiful girl as well. 

This picture shows the actual color of the dress. In the movie, the way it was shot it looked black to me until I watched the special features. Knowing that it's red just made me love it all the more. 

See what I mean here? It looks a little black, no?

This dress is classic. My favorite word to describe clothing. 

And here is a shot of the back. The cutout makes construction a bit harder... 

But, I'll get into that next time. 

Let me know which of her costumes was your favorite. 

Happy Sewing!!

Inspiration for medieval/renaissance costumes

I watched some of the new season of Doctor Who and I really love Clara. But this post is not really about her, so much as her costumes. Her costumes are great! I love flawy dresses. Always have, and this is the quintessential beautiful dress.

Of course I would like to have this in blue or green maybe. the shine on the velvet fabric they use is amazing. The embroidery on the sleeve and bottom of the dress would take me forever. 

Then again she looks amazing in red and orange. 

See?

I love the puffed sleeves on this too. It's just so feminine and pretty. 

Doesn't it make you want to sew something flow-y and pretty for yourself? It does me. 

Renaissance Costumes Part 1

I have been working on McCall's 4696 for a little while.

 I made view A, and I am contemplating adding the sleeves from view C at a later time and maybe making B as well. I used a cornflower Blue linen and I made it reversible instead of using a lining with it. I used a slightly stretchy black velvet looking fabric (It's been in my stash so long I have no idea what it really is!) And I put canvas in the middle to give it some strength and rigidity. Instead of metal eyelets/grommets I hand sewed the eyelets on in the black thread. Yes, this is a tedious process.(WHY DID i CHOOSE TO DO IT THIS WAY?? IT IS TAKING SO LONG!!)  I really didn't like the look of the metal eyelets and I have a tough time getting them to stay on  the way that I want to. I tried one and then ended up prying it out. I think I've gotten pretty good at hand sewing them and I can do them at a rate of  5 eyelets per hour. That being said. I loved this pattern.

I made a skirt in matching fabric from the McCalls 4090.

 I made view C without the trim in the middle. I didn't really like that in the middle. This was really easy to make and pretty straightforward. I hand sewed the eyelets in the back of this skirt as well. Hemming this huge circle skirt was the worst part, but it wasn't too bad really once you get started.
I want to make the skirt in View D in one color and McCalls 4994 View A (without the arm bands/sleeves) for next time.

I always have so many plans of what I want to make, but with school and work I just dream about it. As soon as school is over I'm going to concentrate on my sewing and my violin playing. Both have suffered greatly as of late.

Maybe I can post some pictures/videos of me playing the violin since this is my artistic venue blog. :)

I am planning on going to some renaissance faires this year again.
Who wants to go this year?

Harley Quinn Original costume

Ok, so you may have seen all the pictures in my slideshow that highlight my adventures in making my own Harley Quinn costume. So, I've been thinking about talking about how I made it and just doing an overview of the costume. I am going to do a few changed to the hood that I made. I believe that it could use a little bit of work. I have worn it to Dragon Con and took a lot of pictures. I'm not the best seamstress in the world, but I notice that the more I sew, the better I get! I hope that others notice it too!

First I found this pattern Kwik sew 3052

Kwik sew 3052

I used view A. Which I based on a 'mad love' picture of Harley with the joker where he was zipping down the front of her costume. I fell in love with that picture of them. So, I made the front zip costume. Nobody noticed the zipper in the front anyways, and it makes it easier to get out of also. The hardest part of making this was matching the lines in the middle. I had to cut out the pattern in black and then cut it where I wanted and then cut out the red to make sure it was the right length for me. so measure for your torso and I had to play with it a little bit. I advise basting this to make sure of the fit and cut with the black (or whichever you want to use. I had more of the black and it was cheaper to buy more.) I did not make a muslin with this fabric, because I didn't want to worry about the ease and the strech of the costume. Mine is a little bigger than skin tight. I also made the mask and some "shoes" that are more like spats really. I don't like wearing shoes but at Dragoncon, they make you wear them. I didn't ever go outside so it worked beautifully for me.

I made a circle for the white part to go over top the suit, and then cut out the half circles. My boyfriend wanted to help with this so he measured me and then drew on the fabric and cut it out and it was perfect. He just divided my circle by 5 so there would be the right amount of  "petals". I will take a picture of how this is done next time. I need to make a new one anyways, because someone spilled orange pop on mine and it stained.

this was me cutting out the arms and the extra pieces needed for the footies.

 

I had to carefully cut out the sections and cut the pattern in half to make it half black and half red.

I measured the piece in both colors and made a test piece in the red as a sort of muslin. I would really recommend this step.

Then of course is the sewing of all the pieces.

Which I was really excited about!!

most of the work is in the cutting and making sure the pieces fit together correctly.

 

I sadly no longer have this sewing machine, it was a good one for many years. sewing the middle together was difficiult with the seams streching and going all over the place. once this is set you add the zipper, I put it on the front but you could put it on the back to I suppose. Having it on the front makes it easier to put on and take off myself.

And here is a picture of me in the final jumpsuit.

I had fun making this and I am going to be working on some more Harley Quinn clothes soon.

Let's talk sewing machines

Recently I was in the fabric store and I started talking to a woman about the fabric selection and naturally we started talking about patterns,things we've made and how much she admired the dress that I had on. *Thank you*. Eventually we got to talking about sewing machines that are being made now. Now mind you I have a wonderful roommate who got my my current machine for Christmas last year. But I had been looking at them mighty hard before that. She must have been watching me debate over them. As she bought me another brother machine-the SQ 9000 Click here to see the review on the machine. It's a good little machine. I've loved it for the time I've had it so far, which mind you isn't long. But it's a breeze to operate and no trouble figuring out how to thread the bobbin. Well anyways, the woman I was talking with said she bought a singer machine and couldn't figure out how to thread the bobbin, she said the book was of no help and she just got so frustrated with it she eventually sent it back with a note that said she was very unhappy with singer. She now owns and loves a brother machine. She was also talking about a T.V program where a woman was telling about the new singer and brother machine and explaining them to the public. When she got to the singer machine she couldn't even figure out how to thread the bobbin either!! And she is supposed to be a professional!! **This is word of mouth* But, word of mouth can make or break a company,especially in this day and age when we're all connected so easily but the Internet. I'd hate to see singer go under because of their reputation slipping. I mean they started the whole sewing machine revolution for us all.(BTW, I'd love to have an old treadle sewing machine)
 I also have a friend who's boyfriend bought her a singer simple machine. She is a first time sewer, but she said she read the book and still didn't understand how to thread it. I'm assuming she meant the bobbin. She asked me if I knew and I didn't think I would be able to explain a machine I haven't seen. But told her that I could look at it. I think she got her BF's mother to help her with it. But the point is that I think Brother is a great company and that singer needs to step it up a notch if they hope to compete. Now I know there are other brands out there-Janome,babylock and a few others I wouldn't mind owning. They are so expensive that for people on a budget we'd have to save up for along time to get one. I only occasionally take in other peoples jobs(I just don't have much time for it)so I couldn't justify spending that much on a 'hobby'. Let me know what you think. And whit kind of machine do you use?