M6503 - Inspiration

After seeing M6503 on StitchyWitch, and thinking up a dozen different variations I'd like to have, I somewhat hastily bought it on eBay (no JoAnns for $0.99 pattern sales over here). It looks like a fairly simple pattern (allegedly "easy") and resembles some of my favourite dresses. Hurrah!

I'm a big fan of dresses and actually managed to wear a different one every day for most of December (á la Dressember). I might do that again and document it; it'd be harder in the summer though, some are just too hot.
Although I haven't seen any completed makes among the blogs I follow, Googling turned up a few, including a Make This Look on Sew Weekly which is a different interpretation to how I'd seen the pattern originally. Looking at other people's completed dresses seems like a really good idea in terms of finding out what the fit is like and what parts of the construction might cause difficulties. Yay for the internet!

Here's a little round up of what I found, in link form:

• Azalea & Rosebud Fiberworks - vintage inspired view A in aqua. I think the collar ruffles with the busy print are not for me, convenient since she reports difficulty with constructing the ruffle "sandwich" of the collar edge.
•  Historical Quintessence - straight view D in a strong floral prin. No problems reported beyond cosy sleeves. Good to be reminded of that since I seem to suffer from larger upper arms, though they've yet to descend into bingo wings...
• Sewing And Music  - She used view D to make a version of a Modcloth dress. I *think* she's quite a petite lady, the waistband looks lower than I imagine it should be and she mentions taking length out of the bodice if she were to make it again.
• Four Square Walls - this lady seems to take pattern altering in her stride, she's made not one but two dresses from this pattern. One is a longer-bodiced colour block version of view D, and the other is a heavily modified view A or B made to resemble another Modcloth dress, and it looks really nice. She observes that "the gathered bust was basically drafted for a double-Z cup" so that's something to look out for.
  

Modcloth is a very popular source of inspiration, and it's not hard to see why. So many pretty things. Definitely not within the price range I'd go for (but, as previously discussed, I am a horrible cheapskate).

I'm almost entirely new to dressmaking (apart from a too-tight halter top made for a birthday disco when I was 11) so when I finally get around to making this I won't be altering anything much.
If I do become confident enough, however, the idea of a version where the back section of the waistband is elasticated appeals to me. My umbrella dress has this feature and it means I can pull it over my head, so I might be able to lose the zip and the accompanying pokey-zip-top-in-the-armpit discomfort. The other thing my umbrella dress has is a waist tie. It's attached to the waistband up to the side seam and ties in a bow round the back, neatly covering the elastic (when I can make it stay).

Me & the wonderful Mr Adam in London, several years ago (outtake)

I can't seem to find  photos that show the structure of this dress very well, but here's an idea. The ruffle goes all the way around the back of the neck (irritating) and it's a bit too short for my liking (no bending over!) but otherwise it's nigh-on perfect. I just had a look and the armholes are finished with self bias binding and the neck is faced. Look at me, I know fancy sewing words!
I have a sixites duvet cover (previously seen here) and a new Asda charcoal grey double flat sheet, either of which might become a muslin for a sleeveless view B at some point in the future. However until I'm done with this here degree and have some sort of a future sorted out there'll be no dressmaking for me.

More Pretty Things

This is the second half of yesterday's epic post, with more of a sewing-y theme to it, but it's mostly just "Look at the pretty things!".
I seem to have had a week of fevered acquisition, mostly blog-inspired. Let's look at the evidence:

I first saw this dress on Alex and immediately opened up People Tree's website, I love bunnies. The dress is a really cute style too, fitted in the bodice with a flarey skirt and tapered shoulder straps with little bows at the front.
I was very happy to spot it in the sale section at £26 (down from £60) and made the snap decision to purchase it. It's good quality, I reasoned, and a very pretty thing from a good brand, so if it doesn't fit I can always put it on eBay. It was only available in one size, and the longer version going out of stock while I was browsing made up my mind about which to get. This version is navy and a decent length (no bending over though) and luckily the 14 fits me perfectly (take that, H&M!).
Oh, did I mention it's got BUNNIES on. Happy, frolicking bunnies! I wore it to frolic happily on my birthday, which mostly involved chasing the cat around the garden and trying to take his photo. The boy took some pictures of me but I'm pulling awful faces and wearing Mum's crocs so I'll refrain from posting them...

I spotted this on a sewing blog and in a fit of self-indulgence almost immediately bought it off eBay. Views C & D look a lot like two of my favourite and most worn dresses so I think this pattern will be a winner. It also says EASY so hopefully it will be...

What's this? A GLORIOUS old duvet cover. This reminds me of my Grandma's house (it's a wonderful time capsule of patterned wallpaper and strange ornaments). This beauty was going free from a table on the street around the corner from the Students' Union. There was a second one in a different pattern but I thought I'd spread the joy by leaving it for someone else to find.
What will it be? Perhaps a (wearable?) muslin for M6503? View A I think. I might end up looking like a sixties housewife but I won't care.

I blame Karen for this. She's trimmed her latest Sorbetto with the black version of this cute polka dot bias binding, and spurred me into buying some for my future strawbetto. I can't decide if it'll look nice or be a bit too strong for the strawberry fabric (which I bought on a sewists' expedition in Birmingham). I'll have to try pinning it on once I've actually got around to making the things. After exams. When I am a "real person" (eek!).
I actually got around to applying for a job yesterday, the process isn't my favourite thing in the world. Covering letters make me feel like a smarmy idiot. Hopefully the kind of companies I'm applying for will want to judge me on my CV and actually meeting me. Hum.
The job I applied for is in Cambridge (as are several others I'm looking at), and that's most definitely Not Bristol. I do love Bristol and want to stay here but Cambridge is also a lovely place and I'm not committing to staying away for ever. Plenty of time to move around yet, I am but twenty-two.

Written to the sound of: The Well-dressed Son To His Sweetheart by Devon Sproule

Contemplating A Refashion

I'm bad and haven't got any further with making my dress yet, but I have done a bit of maths so at least I have an excuse. It will happen, honest! The idea has grown in my mind of adapting the dress shape to make my own graduation blouse (Bristol seem fairly strict on the dress code - black and white). This is mostly inspired by seeing so many sets of people graduating over the past weeks, and the realisation that I only have a year left! (and that I need to get my act together...)
But yes, anyway! On Tuesday I ventured down to Broadmead to buy a towel (thrilling I know) and sadly lost my jumper somewhere along the way. This was my charity shop bargain navy lambswool men's XL Crew jumper, one of my favourites and the main thing standing between me and pneumonia in the chilly air-conditioned climes of my lab at work. Luckily all was not lost and, after failing to find it on the day, I phoned up M&S and lo they had it in their lost property. Hurrah!
So, down I went this morning to be reunited with it. On the way back I decided to stop by Primark and see if they had any cheap summer dresses which didn't require modesty-preserving but toasty vests (I seem to have overlooked this when buying almost everything in my wardrobe). I came out with not one but two bargain dresses. The first is this one which is a surprisingly very good fit (probably all that shirring on the back), a colour I don't wear enough, and cost £5. I might wear it for the boyfriend's Dad's birthday on Saturday, hopefully the weather will stay decent.
The other dress I bought, while still a bargain at £3, isn't quite the shape I'd want.

 Click through for larger pictures, I didn't want to overwhelm the blog with massive ones!

 The print is lovely, there's enough chest coverage and it's a good length but there's something potato sack-y about the top part, plus a strange overly-large frill and wormy ties:

I feel a refashion coming on.
I think the elasticated waist is probably responsible for the sack-like-ness but then it stops it bagging further down so I'm not sure what, if anything, I should do about that.
The frill is just a bit bizarre (and I never iron things so there's not much point trying to tame it that way as I'd never wear it after the first wash!) but I think it'd be too plain without. I might narrow the frill to a more manageable amount and attach the excess to the straps which are a bit thin for my liking. Alternatively I could add to/replace the straps with plain navy ribbon.
Any thoughts? Suggestions would be most welcome.
I'm not very brave about refashioning things as I always expect to screw it up.

 fluff/
My sofa has become a pile of colour and pattern (at least it's not a floordrobe?!) - clockwise from top right we have:leopard print snuggie/slanket, new M&S towel "bath sheet" - huge towels are the best, flighty but lovely navy jumper as mentioned above, Monsoon maxi skirt given me by my grandmother ages ago, grey New Look cardi - very much a staple, navy polkadot Primark skirt - £1 in the sale!, Red Herring black leggings - shorter than standard & mostly for cycling, green woolly cardi - £2.99 from a charity shop, khaki shirt from H&M last summer - lovely & light, crocheted blanket - huge grey & purple stripes, crocheted ...umm.. thing? Started life as an experiment with leftover wool, now mostly a lap blanket/antimacassar (ew)! Oh and New Look bird skirt  - originally purchased in an 18 in the sale because I loved the pattern, replacement 14 came from eBay very cheaply! (the original went to a clothes swap some friends were holding) /endfluff

Life in the lab today was punctuated by the noise of builders next door, which was pretty annoying. At lunchtime we collectively decided not to bother coming back from lunch and to work from home. After eating my sandwiches with the awesome Mr Adam  who has just recently moved to Bristol I went home and flirted with the idea of running away to the union to develop film. I have a backlog of film to develop which extends back to February; I made a list of what I have to develop, complete with dev times from the massive dev chart which seems to be a good source of that type of information.
I eventually decided to be good and productive and cycled over to Callum's to work sociably, trying and failing to pick up two lots of payment on the way (one from my summer job, the other for a psychology study I participated in yesterday). I managed to fix the problem I'd been having updating my graphs, finish off the council tax student exemption form, and start an actual list of things I need from home home. I feel efficient.
Phew. Please note that all this stuff I write here is partly for my own record, I know it's not terribly fascinating! :)

Onwards!

I've just returned from a lovely week in Cornwall with the boy and a slightly pointless but relaxed few days back home and it feels like a good time to get writing again. Tomorrow I start my summer job making pretty graphs of important computery things happen, I won't go into too much detail as a) it'd be boring and b) I'm not quite sure what I'm doing yet myself! All should be revealed tomorrow though.
The plan for the summer is to work 5 days a week and split my evenings between learning maths for my resits, making a dress (no sewing machine to help me there), and seeing the boy. Hopefully I will neither slack off the first in favour of the last too much, nor bury myself so deeply in the first that I barely do the last. The middle one is of much lower importance and probably for days when I'm lacking the brain for maths!
Added to this I intend to make my own sandwiches all summer to save money and to generally eat healthily and hopefully shed a few pounds inches (no scales), possibly with the assistance of walks/cycling. Of course it's pretty unlikely that I'll manage all this, and even if I do I'll be so sick of being saintly that I'll spend the next term eating Ben & Jerry's and doing no work. Hmm.

So here's what I'm making:

I've disemboweled this dress!

The picture only shows the bodice but the skirt is fairly simple - just four panels and two pockets. This is a New Look favourite which I bought a duplicate of from eBay and I'm planning on making a version out of a duvet cover I bought way back in early May or so.

The funny thing with this dress is that everything you'd think was a turned up hem is in fact faced. Extra work? I can see why it's been done mostly and will probably stick with it, it's all done with the same fabric so no fancy stuff to buy (and our iron is broken so I can't use iron-on interfacing anyway!).

There will be dress updates with progress pictures, partly to help me keep it up. I've already got loads of photos of seams and hems taken as I took it apart to show me how everything goes together. I'm not ironing the deconstructed dress parts as they'll show me how to fold the new fabric. Hopefully I'll get the skirt facing off and the fabric cut this week.

Wish me luck?