I've got to make myself something to wear to my cousin's wedding in a few weeks and I've been feeling uninspired by everything.
Today, I went stash diving because I don't want to spend the money on new fabric (I already have tons). The yardage I specifically went looking for is still hiding, but I dug out some other options. I'm still not sure which direction I want to go or what style dress I even want. I've spent at least a month pondering it all. I'm just meh about the whole thing.
My dilemma is a compound problem:
It's an evening wedding. I almost never need eveningwear and I want to make something that I can wear more than once.
It's at the beginning of November and it could be rather chilly or still 85°F since it's north Texas. It's one of the hardest months to predict how you'll need to dress.
I can't wear my gold sequin dress again because it's all the same family attending the wedding (this is younger sister's wedding).
My cousin said she doesn't really have wedding colors. Her bridesmaids and mother will be wearing navy and all the flowers are white.
Wedding attire etiquette is the same as for film - no black, white, or red.
I don't really look good in dark and/or cool colors. So I'm really having to push myself to be enthused about most of my choices. If I could wear any of my bright fabrics, I'd have a million options.
The fabric I was looking for is a cobalt blue and I don't remember how many yards of it I have. Probably only two. It's not a good color on me, but I have the perfect heels to go with it.
What I did find was a navy linen with metallic gold in it. It is super sparkly in real life but it just looks like denim in photos if I'm not trying really hard to show the shine. (First 2 pics)
I love the "earth" print semi-matte satin, but it feels a bit casual because it's a print. It is the most me in terms of bright colors I would normally wear without being too fluorescent.
And I also have 14.5 yards of the crinkled shiny teal stuff. It's pretty dark and from certain angles, it almost looks black. I bought it from the Barney & Friends end of show sale probably 10+ years ago. It's probably polyester, it's not super thick, and it has decent drape. I just have no idea what style it wants to be.
I don't know. Nothing is really speaking to me. Meh.
I spent the day priming things for paint and then I remembered to shoot a quick video. #SewingStudioBuild
I started cutting all the edges while Janet was away yesterday morning. When she got back after lunch, she pulled out a roller and started filling in. I'll put a pic below in the comments. #SewingStudioBuild
We broke for lunch and then came back with a portal ac unit plugged in to an extention cord from the house. Can't wait until they finished hooking up all the electrical and we have the mini split cooling the room for us - it was stupid humid today! #SewingStudioBuild
Why do you have to be so pretty, brocade? I love you, but you are so fussy to work with!
#derbydress
I made a rub-off dress... the only change I made was to increase the width of the waistband from 2" to 3", which I am more-or-less satisfied with. I'd do a few things, construction-wise, differently next time, but this is an easy, comfortable dress.
The original is from Talbots.
It’s been awhile since I’ve had something to show, but I’m finally getting the pictures up! Both of these were from the Paloma pattern in the Itch to Stitch “Sew Beautiful” book. I did the top first to test the pattern, and tried to add some length to the sleeves, since 3/4 length only works here about 3 to 4 days of the year! I apparently underestimated the length I needed to add, but I had to cut crosswise even to add this much, so I couldn’t have done more.
For the dress, I did add more sleeve length (slightly overestimated this time). I also added ties to the neck and pockets, though in retrospect, I probably should have put them in higher. Based on the shirt, I’d thought putting them in the top part would be too high. So I inserted them in the first ruffle layer and it is maybe a bit too low.
Overall, though, I think this was a worthwhile pattern to play with.