Well, it has been quite some time, since the last post. I just received a wonderful gift of a Dritz dress form. I have already put it to use this day. Happily, the sleeves are cut out for the plaid wool coat. One sleeve is done and I still have the other to sew. Wow, I forgot how wiggly this fabric is, so I really need to baste the sleeve seam before I machine stitch it. I am using the Cecila P. Book from Tauton Press for assistance with the "sleevey goodness". This was my main goal for this weekend- to finally return to the coat!

Allmost finished!

Wow, I am just so thrilled to have Georgene help me with the final fitting issues. She was able to tweak/finesse where the shoulder straps need to go, as well as the teeniest little easing to do between the princess seams on the embroidered eyelet. It also needed for me to take 1/4 of an inch out at the side seams. I think it looks pretty amazing, but with G's help I can not help be feel happy beyond belief!! I feel like I am one of those proverbial " Ladies who lunch" and have their dressmaker create such a special little frock for the summer months.

There is truly not much left to finish- now it is just finishing the lining of the bodice ( easy!!) and sewing the hem.

Pictures to come tomorrow at Lunch!! Going out for a special Bastille Day lunch, but will not divulge the dining establishment, just yet. :)

Dress done, well almost!!

Well today I am hoping to finally post a picture of the dress. I am just so happy that it is going to be finished in time for my birthday, which is this Thursday!! Now I can celebrate Bastille Day in style!

Sewing Bliss or just a really happy day..

Well it has been a while since I have worked on the dress. I am so glad that I am not pressuring myself to finish this on a deadline. I had been putting off doing the hem, the zip and applying the boning to the lining.

Guess what I did?? I followed the best directions for setting a zipper a' la Clare Shaeffer. Wow! I do not ever remember hand basting a zip in forever. I even hand basted some black cotton voile to stabilize the seam for the zip. I just did not want to use fusible on this gorgeous printed eyelet. It would have been a colossal mess.

But this time, I really wanted the zipper to turn out perfect. The fit is amazing. Now to find someone to take my picture so I can post the dress.

The joys of a blissful sewing excursion and sewing..

Well, I did end up going to Lacis this afternoon. Wow, the selection of steel boning was tremendous. But, I feel a bit silly, because I left the dress muslin at home. It's okay, I now have a much better idea of how I am going about this. It's hard to believe that it has been about 25 years since the last time I did any sewing with boning. After showing the fabric to the gracious manager of Lacis, I feel even more inspired to get this dress rolling along. Guess that I am going back to Lacis next weekend. :)

Happily the dress is finally cut out! I don't remember the last time I was ever so excited to cut something out to make for myself. (Usually I find this the most tedious and boring part of sewing.) I am going to post some pics of this incredible fabric, as soon as I get the cell phone upgraded.
Stay tuned for further adventures..

onto the dress of the day..

Now that I have the time, the fabric is preshrinking and yet I am still pondering which stays a.k.a. boning, I would like to use for my dress. Of course after reading about using boning, I want to make a trip to Lacis (picking up the steel) to do samples with the ridgeline and the steel to make the ulitmate decision. I even picked up some grosgrain to make a waistline stay. If I am going to do this, I am going whole hog!

The best thing is about this is I am making the decision after A) reading about it in the latest issue of Threads ( May 2010), B) re-reading about boning in Couture Sewing Secrets from Australian Stitches and lastly seeing the Balenciaga exhibit at the de Young Museum last weekend. Now that is inspiration!!

It's amazing to think that I am so excited to finally cut out the dress this weekend.

Has it really been that long?? Yesh !

Well, now that I am in a totally different mind set and new space I am returning to the land o' blog.

Since it is Spring Vacation for me, I finally have time to sew. The latest two projects are a plaid coat and a simple dress.

I finally figured out on my own what to do about the pattern alterations on the dress. I was "monkeying" around with it last night and I figured out what to do to make it fit in the back. It's called cut out the correct size (DUH) and taper the seam for the waist!!

Now I am really happy.