Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Homecoming 2012 - McCall's 6460

The dress is coming along nicely.  Thank goodness it is "EASY", because Stephanie decided she needed to have it on the 11th instead of the 13th.  So I lost almost one full Saturday's worth of sewing...  I can't complain - she got a violin gig at a fancy museum event, so she's gotta have a new dress! Who would deny her that?  And she gets to wear the dress twice -- I already feel better about it.

The muslin came out pretty close - I cut a 12 with a 14 bust, but with all the nips and tucks, we decided to cut a straight 10 instead.  The cup-size options eliminated the need for an FBA, and we were pleased with how well the muslin fit!

I dragged myself into Hancock Fabrics in search of a black satin that wasn't too cheap.  Most of the stuff I've sewn with unravels so fast I'm afraid I won't have a garment when I've finished.  Ended up with a "stretch" satin, which had a nice weight.  I think it will be fine, although I did zig zag every single bit of the edge to keep it from falling apart.

Unfortunately, no black stay tape at Hancock, so I settled for a black fusible interfacing that I applied to the seam allowances. 
It's hard to see from the picture, but the lace is really quite pretty.  Delicate and not too busy.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Homecoming 2012 - Preliminaries

I count myself lucky that I have a 16 year old who actually wants me to sew for her and is even proud to wear home made special occasion dresses outside the house!  I usually get about halfway into the project and decide that it would have been easier to just go buy something.  But in the end, it's a great mother-daughter experience and I'm happy that she wants to include me in the process. 

This year, she has decided that she wants me to make McCall's 6460, view C:
M6460
It's EASY, I had it in my pattern stash already, and it required very little fabric.  Seemed like a slam-dunk.  We had originally intended to make it for a wedding where she was to play the violin, but the bride wanted everyone in navy and we just never found anything that fit the bill for this one.

Last weekend we picked out a lovely lacy black mesh from Gorgeous Fabrics for the contrast (yoke and hem), and since Stephanie was in love with her latest toenail polish, she picked a bright magenta/fuchsia crepe-back satin from Vogue fabrics that matched her little piggies perfectly as the predominant color.  She generally has a very pleasant sense of style, so I didn't give it much thought.

They arrived on Friday, and I didn't say anything, since it was her pick, but imagined something from a trashy bordello instead of an elegant evening dress.  What a relief when she told me later Friday night that she didn't want to look like a hooker and can we please go with plain black satin instead? 
Delicate Floral Motif Nylon Lace - BlackCrepe Back Satin - Fuchsia
 lac5875 (Gorgeousfabrics.com) & SR-CVS-Fuchsia (voguefabricsstore.com)

I was picturing something closer to this for the end product:
M6460

So we have revised the search.  We will keep the black lace -- it would be easiest to mix it with a black satin, although it would be more fun to find a nice dark purple or something with less contrast to the black than what the fuchsia has. I guess another black dress wouldn't hurt, would it?  Young ladies and violinists always need black dresses.

Drop dead date is October 13, so I will have to shop locally.  BLURG!  Our fabric store choices are limited...