Sunday, May 27, 2012

Muslin for MOB Dress

Bodice: Bernina My Label princess seam dress
  • Bodice shortened to fit midriff
  • Neckline lowered (may be lowered 1/2" more)
  • Outer shoulder narrowed by 5/8"
  • Gathers added to center front
Midriff: Butterick 4510 Maggy London, from 2005 (OOP)
  • Pin-tucks, pleats, ruching or alternative will be included to add interest (lining pieces were used for this muslin)
Skirt: Burda Plus Autumn/Winter 2011 425A
  • Skirt height trimmed to meet midriff at waist
Jacket:
  • To be determined...

Sunday, May 13, 2012

The Beginning of the MOB Dress


With some decisions made, the process has begun. I have been shopping for months, trying to find an appropriate dress to wear at my daughter’s upcoming wedding. MOB dresses seem to fall into the following categories:

  • Las Vegas showgirl
  • Muddy colored polyester knits incorporating sequins and geriatric styling
  • Cringe-worthy MOB regulation uniform 
 
Well, that just isn’t going to work. I ended up at Sew Elegant, a little shop on West Avenue, in San Antonio. They have lovely formal wear fabrics. My first visit was several months ago during lunch hour. This time, DD#1 accompanied me and when she saw this fabric, we were done shopping!
 
Now I have to decide on which patterns to use. I’ve looked at every pattern website I can think of along with searches through my own pattern collection. All I know right now is that there will be an unlined jacket from the embroidered silk organza and a simple, full-length dress sewn from the silk dupioni. The lining is rayon - Ambiance Bemberg. I’m thinking there should be an underlined bodice, but don’t really want to underline the whole dress as drapey is preferred for the skirt.


The lines need to be clean. That means no fancy pleating, ruffles, etc. to compete with the embroidery. The purple of the flowers matches the purple of the bridesmaid dresses and the mother of the groom’s dress is a creamy beige lace, so these fabrics will certainly coordinate. Tell me though - does that even matter?

For the dress, I’m considering 425A from the Autumn/Winter 2011 Burda Plus.


And, for the jacket, McCall’s 9700 (OOP from 1998), view A with the short sleeves from view B. View A lacks the front princess seams of view B. No side seams either, but the center back seam, which gives shaping, needs to go as it would be a shame to break up the flowers. Frankenpattern? Likely...



And, yes, a muslin will be happening very soon!

Happy Mother's Day!

Enjoy your week!

Monday, May 7, 2012

Style Arc Anita Peasant Blouse


My new blouse is made from a teal rayon challis print purchased from Fabric.com nearly a year ago. I love it! The cropped pants, Burda Style 02-2011-123A, were sewn last April and have become a favorite.

I have been sewing other garments, too. I put together a pair of the Style Arc Peta cropped pants and another pair of the Ottobre Every-Woman’s Pant (05-2008-16). And, waiting their turn by the Bernina, are the cut pieces for the Style Arc Katherine pants. I’ll get you some pictures soon. By the way, the Style Arc Susan t-shirts fit well and are comfortable. I’ve retraced the pattern with the changes and am ready to make more.

BIG NEWS: DD#1 is getting married! I am making my dress for the wedding and I need to finalize the design and get busy. So far, I have a beautiful turquoise/Capri blue embroidered silk organza that I want to use for a shrug/little jacket thingy. There are also several yards of matching silk dupioni on order for the dress. It will be floor length and fully lined. 

I’ll definitely be stitching a muslin first. Now, the dress should be underlined, right? With silk organza? Bodice only? What is typical? I suppose I’ll need to figure out how to do an invisible zipper/lining combination…

Ah, a learning opportunity…