Zombies Like to Sew, You Know…


chris and the zombie1_effects


chris and the zombie2_effects

This year for Halloween, we took a cue from a shared favorite TV show for our costume inspiration – The Walking Dead.  It started with going back and forth on different “couples costumes” we could do: Princess Leia and Han Solo, Decker and Rachel, Sid and Nancy.  Since time and budgets were tight, we decided to fall back on the zombie idea we had from last year, except with a twist.  I’d be the zombie, he’d be a zombie survivor.


chris and the zombie3_effects


I think his favorite part of the costume was the toy gun he bought a month in advance – seriously.  Boys will be boys, always.


chris and the zombie4_effects

Zombie looooove.


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I was having a bad hair day…

This is the skirt I made for my “Zombie Housewife” costume.  It’s from Vogue 8749 and is simply a circle skirt that comes in three different lengths.  This was my first time working with plaid (eek!) but it turned out pretty well, considering that the skirt was intended to be only for this costume.  I think I had an issue with the fabric being off-grain when I cut out the pieces and should have tugged the opposite corners to get the fabric back on-grain.  Plus, I think the bias contributed to some wonky stuff happening after I cut out the pattern pieces.  Instead, my plaids curve at the waist instead of being straight, but hey.  It’s a costume.


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Look at that matching plaid
I tried some new couture techniques based on what I learned from Gertie’s book as well as Claire Shaeffer’s Couture Sewing Techniques (review to come this week!).  Being my first time sewing plaid, it seemed easier to sew a hand-picked zipper and not risk the plaid shifting.  I loved it!  It was much easier and not as intimidating as I thought it would be.  I also used a grosgrain ribbon waistband facing, a finish that’s used in Chanel garments.  Nothing wrong with a little zombie couture.
After winning Best Costume at the party, I don’t know how we’re going to top this next year.  If I start way in advance, maybe I can get those Princess Leia and Han Solo costumes whipped up in time.  I’m thinking June…

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Pattern Review: Vogue 1250 [Feather Dress]


vogue 1250

Pattern: Vogue 1250 (DKNY)
Fabric: Knit jersey from Metro Textiles, NYC
Size: 10 bodice, 12 skirt

Boots: Nine West

A couple of weekends ago, I attended a birthday party at Finale in Harvard Square, a fab-oo-lous dessert place that I’d been dying to go to since I watched an episode of Phantom Gourmet featuring the restaurant.  That morning, I got the idea in my head that I absolutely HAD to whip up a dress to wear out to dinner that night…you’ve had those crazy moments, right?  And considering that the weather was unusually warm for October, we’re talking around the 78 degree mark, it was even more of an excuse to make something for the party.  This pattern has been in my back pocket for awhile now and it was the perfect dress pattern for the few hours of time I had before I needed to get ready for the party.


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The Pattern

At only three pattern pieces, and one of them is the neck binding, you really can’t complain about sewing this dress together.  There’s only a center back seam for the skirt, a seam connecting the skirt to the back bodice, a partial side seam on each side of the dress, and the shoulder seams.  That’s it!  I think the most time-consuming part of the whole pattern was marking and stitching the pleats together and tacking down part of the neckline facing to the shoulder seams.  You can kind of see the back seams in the photo below:


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It was slightly tricky trying to figure out how to grade the pattern into two different sizes since there are virtually no side seams – the bodice front and skirt are entirely one piece with the skirt wrapping around and joining in the back.  I cut a size 10 for the bodice and switched to a 12 for the skirt segments, with a little bit of grading in-between the two pattern sections.  I probably could have cut a size 8 for the bodice and a 10 for the skirt, but it’s nice that this dress is a little roomy and not so fitted – it worked out well when the dessert menu came around after dinner that night!


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My only gripe is the neckline.  This baby is super wide and super low, which is evident by the model on the envelope.  The night I went out I wore a long cardigan over it and was conscious of observing that my neckline wasn’t flopping around or that I wasn’t bending down or leaning forward too much. I really need to wear a cami with this dress, which is fine since I made it to wear primarily during fall and an extra layer won’t hurt.  The facing is very fiddly and the raw edge flips out too easily, something else I have to watch when wearing this dress.  I’ve never had to deal with a facing doing that on a dress like this before.  But the draping the neckline creates gives the illusion of curves I don’t have.  Score!

There’s a reason why there’s over 90 reviews on Patternreview.com for this dress – it’s a universally flattering pattern that delivers great results considering how simple it is to construct.  I love that I can dress this up or down depending on how I accessorize it and it can be layered easily for the changing fall temperatures.  I just may have to make another one of these next year when the spring weather returns.

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Pattern Review: Vogue 8723 [Fit and Flare Dress]

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Warning: twirly poofy skirt pictures ahead. And lots of cheesiness.  Of course.

Pattern: Vogue 8723
Fabric: Cotton twill-like fabric from Metro Textile in NYC
Size: 10 bodice, 12 skirt

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I don’t think I believed everyone who said that this is a huge skirt.  Even the drawings on the envelope and the model on the Vogue Patterns website didn’t quite illustrate the poof-factor of this dress.  But I’m in love with it and that’s all the matters, right??

1) The Pattern

Can I just say, I am so glad that Custom Fit exists now and that pattern developers are realizing that even if you follow their measurements for different sizes, it’s still a challenge to get garments to fit correctly.  It really is the best thing ever for ladies like moi who are “bust challenged” and avoid tops with darts like the plague.  If you’re not familiar with Custom Fit, the pattern comes with different size pattern pieces to fit different bra sizes ranging from A-B-C-D.  Every time I make a top with darts I always have to do a SBA and move the dart up because my cup does not runneth over and there’s always too much fabric for my chest.  Not the case with Custom Fit!  I picked the pattern piece for an A cup and didn’t have to do a single modification at all.  It fit perfectly!! 


I’m sure this also a great thing for you ladies who need to do a FBA… 

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2) The Fabric(s)

The dress called for something a little bit lighter than what I chose, like cotton shirting or gingham, something with not a lot of heft.  I’m sure my using a heavier cotton with a twill weave explains why I got more of a poofy skirt than the pattern drawings.  Another thing: patterned fabric is your friend.  It hides mistakes very well…

I was surprised to find out the the dress is completely lined, which would explain why I needed to buy so much lining fabric of course!  I probably didn’t need the skirt to be lined and would omit it in the future, but I got super confused how to add in an invisible zipper with the skirt lining.  I left the entire back seam open, since that’s what you do with invisible zips, but I couldn’t have the skirt lining seam sewn the correct way with the seam allowances facing the wrong side of the dress fabric.  I guess that’s something I should have looked up before I installed the zipper.

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The graffiti in the picture adds to my street cred.

3) The Skirt

Ooooboy, what a skirt it is!  The front and back are essentially two huge rectangles that are gathered along the top and attached to the bodice.  Everyone was right about one thing: it’s really difficult to gather the skirt up using two rows of basting stitches.  I originally intended to sew a wide zig-zag stitch over a length of cord and gather up the skirt that way, but I discovered that I could only adjust the length and not the width of the zig-zag stitch on my trusty Bernina 1005.  So of course I did what everyone else did and suffered through pulling on basting stitches and sliding gathers across the skirt one by one.  That part was easily, hands down, the most difficult part of this dress.  At least the hemming was pretty simple.

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Now where am I going to wear this thing?  I feel so fancy in it, probably due to the poofy skirt.  My boyfriend joked about it and asked me who I was taking to the square dance….boys are stupid.

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On My Cutting Table: Vogue 8723 [Fit and Flare Dress]

fitandflairdress

This dress is going to be a winner, I can feel it.

I immediately jumped onto this project Saturday night after my fail at a Vogue DKNY dress and did a tissue fit of the pattern.  Seriously, why didn’t “Custom Fit” patterns exist years ago??  They’re freaking brilliant!  I selected the bodice pattern that fit my bust size (the smallest one, obvs), pinned all of the darts, side seam, and shoulder strap into place and voila: a perfect fit, unheard of for me with patterns with bust darts.  Just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke, I cut out the lining for the bodice and stitched it up to test the fit.  Again, spot on.

My only hesitation with this pattern is the skirt.  I read some reviews on Pattern Review that the skirt is wicked full and difficult to gather, especially with heavier fabric like the cotton that I’m using.  I’m going to try sewing a wide zig zag stitch over a length of cord or floss to gather up the skirt instead of sewing two rows of basting stitches; the basting is more than likely to break with all of the pulling and tugging.  I’ll also try the skirt on myself before I attach it to the bodice – I have a feeling, with the body and fullness of this cotton, that it is going to be one super poofy skirt and may need some trimming down.  Which should be easy, since the skirt panels are just wide rectangles.

The fabric is from Metro Textile in NYC – look for a post this week about my shopping adventures and what I found!

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MMM ’12 – May 12

MMM 12 - May 12

Me-Made Item: Dress
Link to Original Review: Vogue 1224 (July 8, 2011)

Sandals: Marc Fisher
Shades: Bulgari
Nail Polish: Essie “Watermelon”

Wearability Report:

Even though I originally pledged that I was only going to try to wear me-made items on my days off from work, when I came home on Saturday, it was way too warm and beautiful out not to pop on one of my summer dresses.  And since my boyfriend and I were going out to dinner (I wanted outdoor seating and Coronas), a dress was something I wanted to wear for our mini “date night.”

I wore this dress a bunch last summer after I made it, and I loved it so much that I made it again in another fabric.  It’s lightweight and cool, and the sleeves aren’t really sleeves, it’s more like fabric that floats over my shoulders.  I’m not surprised at all that this is a “Best Pattern of 2011” on PatternReview.com because it’s so flattering on everyone, great to wear, and a cinch to make.  I stayed nice and cool all evening in the 80 degree weather.

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