_rosiel_ and I have some vague plans to go to the Gadsby's 1780 ball in a few weeks. I figured, sure, why not... leaving the looming fact that I have nothing to wear! I've had significant expansion since I last had to dress fancy, and while I'm de-expanding a little, it definitely won't be enough to pretend I don't have to make a new gown. So I figured, I' ( Read more... )

I'm going to try to make a bra. Wish me luck.

Well, hell. I finally sat down and started sewing ruffles on my can-can skirt lining to discover... I have NOWHERE NEAR enough ruffles. I cut them too narrow and so it's going to take twice as many rows to get to the top of the skirt. Pretty sure I don't have enough fabric to make enough to do that at this point. I wanted to replace them with ( Read more... )

Serger: $1500

Gathering attachment for sewing machine: $30

Not having to manually hem and gather 50 yards of can-can skirt ruffles: priceless

When I made my Rita Skeeter cocktail suit last year, I was delighted at the trick I learned from Sandra Betzina for how to make absolutely perfect slot (centered) zippers using scotch tape. I got a lot of questions about it, but since I didn't have pictures, I couldn't answer them very clearly. Today I'm working on another (streetwear) skirt, and ( Read more... )

I am not quiiiite at the "good is good, done is better" (tm orca_girl) point with the jacket yet, but if it isn't done by the weekend I probably will be ( Read more... )

Somehow I've managed to sew garments for 18 years without ever making a bound buttonhole.

Until today.

I'm encouraged by my test buttonhole. Vogue Sewing has like five different methods for making them; the one I picked involves a lot of basting and careful measuring, but seems reasonably foolproof. So tomorrow I will figure out the button ( Read more... )

I think jackets are my least favorite things in the world to make. I still have a fitting issue in the upper chest, which I was able to partially fix by cutting the back neckline wider, but I'm at the "screw it" stage where I may just throw caution to the winds and proceed from here, cause procrastinating is just going to mean I'm trying to do ( Read more... )

Now I'm working on a pattern for the Rita jacket. I am very nervous about this, because with that shiny shiny fabric, it needs to fit as close to perfectly as I can make it. I've managed to get the back to fit pretty well, but I'm tearing my hair out over the front. I really wanted to avoid using princess seams, because the fewer seams in this ( Read more... )

Skirt hem is bound, mitered, and stitched. I'm out of interfacing, so I can't do the waistband just at the moment, but that won't take much time. Until I get some, the skirt's as done as it can be, so I'll hang it in the closet for now. I am just ridiculously pleased with myself. Binding and mitering hardly took any time at all, and it looks so ( Read more... )