Friends, I don't watch Mad Men but even I know that Joan Harris is a POWERHOUSE. I mean, she has red hair - it's practically a given, right? Right.
When I made that magical trip to New York so many months ago, I managed to acquire this lovely pattern from a gracious meet-up participant. I apologize for never finding out which person supplied this pattern, but if you speak up, I will send you pretty things BECAUSE THIS PATTERN IS AWESOME.
I won't lie - I had my doubts about the awesomeness of this pattern until hour 8 of working on it. Then I attached the collar and it was like that moment in Harry Potter when Harry gets the wand and everything lights up and there is a breeze and he says "Whoa."
The collar chooses the sewist ... or something like that.
I flat-lined each dress piece with the leftover bed sheet remnants from this dress - so those sheets are gone, never to match the bathroom again. You can see a little bit through the sleeve opening here.
I ended up choosing this blue linen for the shell fabric simply because there was enough to cut out all the pieces. I did not expect to love this dress so much, and to be so grateful that the color worked out the way it did!
Here's the secret to collar: don't attach it the whole way around. Leave a two inch opening, attaching the collar at all other points around the neckline. Take a ten inch piece of fabric (mine was two pieces sewn together, turned right side out and top stitched) and thread through opening. Tie so the long piece of fabric encases the collar. It was so easy to do that I may try this on other dresses in the future.
I was originally hoping to do the 3/4 length sleeve, but sadly, I did not have enough fabric. I decided to go with a short sleeve, which I still had to shorten to a comfortable length. I ended up taking 3 inches off of the bottom of this sleeve in order to make it the current length. I guess short sleeves weren't so short then?
You can see my main problem with linen fabric below. I shed hair like a long haired cat, and this fabric picks it all up. (You should see the vacuum after a stressful month. Rob complains that he has to give it a "haircut." Hopefully that will be better now that I've chopped off six inches!)
The fit of this dress took a bit of tweaking. At first, it was a bit boxy and unflattering, so I just got crazy with my pins and chalk. Eventually it came down to back seams, which meant I would have to take out the zipper and adjust. This was not going to happen as this zipper is probably the best zipper I have ever done. It's so straight! I took in the side back seams and that seemed to do the trick. Oh, princess seams, I love you so much.
I took two inches off for the hem, since I prefer dresses to hit me at my knee and avoid getting too close to the dreaded monster calves. (I'm not saying I don't love my monster calves. They are pretty spectacular. I just don't want to make them look any bigger.)
Hemming with pleats wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. A bit of patience and some dedication with the iron helped them to lay flat, which definitely polishes the overall look of the dress.
Is it my favorite thing ever? I don't know, but it's pretty close! Even Rob, the man of few words, said, "Wow. That is a great dress."
I have to tell you that this dress sat on my dress form for about three days before I could touch it for hemming. I was feeling completely burnt out by this dress and the Couch of the Irish dress. I've noticed that when I put two time intensive projects back to back, I burn out very quickly. I feel like I am not getting anywhere, and I find myself standing in the middle of my sewing room but not being able to work on anything. And then I get on Pinterest. Nothing gets done.
I've found that I need to incorporate shorter projects in between these longer ones. I feel like I am crossing things off my sewing list if I make multiple projects in two weeks, rather than sludging through two and avoiding the finishing details for as long as possible. It's not that I sew quickly, but when I am excited about a project, I will get up early and go to bed late just to work on it. Two long projects in a row find me sleeping in and watching TV late at night instead.
When I first started sewing, I did not take my time to line dresses or do any seam finishes. Now that I've been sewing clothes for myself for over a year, I feel like I've graduated into the mindset of "I'm putting the effort into making this piece - I should probably put the effort in to make it last." This has added hours onto my sewing time, but given me pieces that I love and I'm not afraid to wear for fear of them falling apart. Hopefully adding short projects into the mix will allow me to keep this mindset about the more time intensive pieces. I've got a Sencha blouse on my table right now and that's proving to be one of the quicker variety - I only have buttons and buttonholes left.
Friends, do you incorporate shorter projects into your schedule? Do you ever find yourself burnt out after long projects? What are your secrets for staying excited about sewing?
Have a great day all, and I hope you're having fabulous weather where you are!
UPDATE: If you want to buy the pattern, I found several on Etsy, including one here
UPDATE: If you want to buy the pattern, I found several on Etsy, including one here