Brown???

When I found the surprise assortment of yardage at the regular thrift store a few months ago, I further surprised myself by actively liking a brown-based print so much.  But I did like it!

And there was a decent amount of it--more than enough to be the main fabric in another Gunne Sax style dress!  I already had several other prints to coordinate with it, too.

Except...

I realized last week that I've only been making those--and a lot of the other dresses over the last year--because they're fun to make, and not because I actually want to wear them.

So,what do I want to wear?  It didn't take much reflection to realize it was Fake Burda 6401, with no trim or ruffles--tiers are fine, but ruffles are pushing it too far toward Gunne Sax froufrou.

So!  That's what I made with most (but definitely not all) of the brown print. 

And I like it!

A Halloween Patchwork Tiered Skirt

 I made another Halloween Patchwork Project!  And it's another tiered patchwork skirt! 

 

 There's really not much more to say about it!

...which won't keep me from saying more, of course... 

Repair and Update

 The Découpage Dress once again needed repair--I saw that the underarm seam on one side was open, and I initially thought the fabric had ripped.  But!  It turned out that the stitching had just come undone, so I was able to easily re-sew that....and then deal with an area next to the seam that was worn through.

Since I still have the  fabric I cut off of the bottom of the original configuration, I cut a square of that, folded over the edges, and zigzagged it in place.

 

It's not elegant, but it's in the underarm, so it's fine.

Then I sewed over the stitching under the other arm, just in case. 

For the updated dress, I realized that I could use the same approach of adding another layer of ruffle under the existing ruffle to lengthen the Sew It dress, which I do like, but I never wore because it was very short.

I cut pieces 5" wide, to add 3" beyond the dress's existing 2" ruffle.  I cut both of them selvedge to selvedge, which made it a little wider than the seam I'd be sewing it to (oh, and, I had top stitched the ruffle seam, so I did buckle down and pick out allllll that top stitching.)   I just pinned it thoroughly and let it bunch up naturally gather between the pins.

Then I added a row of wide black cluny lace, to make the black of the ruffle extension possibly make more sense.

This print is still so delightfully weird and mildly creepy. 

Covers

Both my sewing chair and my current computer chair have plastic seats, and I've been covering those with towels so my bare legs don't stick to them.  While this is certainly effective, it is also very very ugly.  So!  I decided to make covers for them.

I quickly rejected the idea of making these covers from properly quilted patchwork, because I know that calico cottons don't hold up to upholstery needs very well.  I turned to my stash of 'tapestry' jacquards, most of which I have had for a very long time, saving them for Just The Right Project.

...and, honestly, I didn't feel like this project was that, but I decided to use one of those jacquards anyway.  Since the fabric was so precious, did I make patterns? Mock ups? Any kind of test at all for my ideas about how to make these chair covers (things I have very little experience making)? Nope! I went straight to draping and cutting the irreplaceable vintage fabric. It worked out.

(there's more)

Two and a Half Months Early, or Five Years Late

After I started considering sewing Gunne Sax dresses, I found out about the GunneSaxOween hashtag from 2021.  Me being me, I'm going to sew things from Halloween prints anyway.  So!  Even if it's not trendy now, I have still just finished a Gunne Sax inspired dress that involves Halloween prints.

 

(What I have not yet done, however, is get my better camera repaired.  This plaid print seems to be a challenge for this camera to capture from across the room...)

Wait--I didn't post the Chicken Dress???

I took the finished photos of this on July 29, and shared some of them on social medial but apparently completely forgot to record them here

Basically, I took the "add the peter pan collar to the cut-on sleeve pullover dress" idea that I tested here, made it from a less graphically-bold print, and added appliqué 

It is very silly.

Gunne Saxish

I'll start by saying that I completely forgot about making the Halloween Eyesore dress from the pattern I hacked to be able to make a pull-over version of Simplicity 8729.

So!  I got to the point, while cutting this one out, where I suddenly had enormous doubts that there would be enough room to actually get this on and off over the head, due to the longer upper back and the A-line skirt (in contrast to the high waist and gathered skirt of the pullover dresses I usually make.)

So!  I cut the center back bodice and skirt pieces to make room for a zipper.  I knew that would make the back a bit narrower, but I figured that wouldn't matter with a zipper there.

Then!  The first zipper I installed--vintage, with metal teeth--self destructed when I tried to zip it back up (a lot of teeth popped off.)  Fortunately, the zipper went in and fell apart before the side seams were sewn, so it was easy enough to reach everything to replace it, even if the nylon coil zipper color match was nonexistent.

I dragged myself through the rest of the project, after the doubts and inconveniences had reduced the already tepid enthusiasm about the project, which was meant as a test more than anything (again, because I had forgotten about already having made a dress with this pattern, although, granted, that one wasn't as ruffly extravagant as this one was going to be.)

But I did finish!

 

And then I tried it on and it's still generous enough that the zipper is unnecessary for getting it on and off.