Halloween Eyesore (affectionate)

So.

In early 2001, I got some super clearance Halloween fabric from Joann.  I think it was about 4 yards?  Dark purple ground with a scattered "jack'o'lanterns in funny hats" print.

I used little bits of it over the years, including doing a dye/bleach experiment on a yard of it that turned the ground a nice pink, but I still had a solid two yards in the stash, waiting.

But then...

Time had passed and I had gotten more aware of things—one of the "funny hats" was a sombrero, and I had finally reached the state of knowing that was not acceptable.

I didn't want to donate the fabric, both because I didn't want it falling into the hands of someone who wouldn't think twice about the sombrero, and also because, cultural insensitivity aside, I liked the print.

I decided a while ago that I could appliqué something over every instance of the problematic pumpkin, and settled on the idea of hearts cut from a coordinating plaid fabric.

I did not, however, want to hand cut all however many hearts that would be, so I set the project aside.

A local friend got a laser cutter and said I could use it, so I thought that would be a great opportunity to make all the hearts. Then the friend moved. (well OK they moved closer, but they haven’t set the laser cutter back up yet.)

When I got the die cutter, I ordered a set of heart shaped dies, hoping one would be the right size to cover the corrupt curcurbit. And it is!

So I finally started seriously thinking about making a dress from that fabric...and knew I'd need to mix another print with it to have enough.  And that started me thinking of maybe making another GunneSax-type dress.  Bonus that the Gunnes Sax dress pattern I have has an A-line skirt, meaning that there would be fewer possible pumpkins to cover than if the upper skirt were a gathered rectangle.

A proper Gunne Sax dress, though, seemed too formal, so I decided to make (more) modifications to Fake Burda 6401/Mock McCall's 8197, with the goal being something informal and easy, with a pullover nonchalance.

I mean, "nonchalant" once you disregard the fact I had to appliqué 80-some hearts on the primary print.

 

Fortunately, I do still love zigzagging densely around little fused-on fabric cut outs, so that part wasn't so bad.

Since it was clear, once I had chosen the second Halloween print (thrifted in 2017), that the resulting garment would be very loud, I went ahead and leaned into that by using some wide eyelet I'd gotten from Deb's Lace, which had turned out to be not at all what I expected when I ordered.

I had been eying that trim for years, thinking what I was seeing was a gray and black woven plaid, in a cool-toned photo, in a heavily textured poly-cotton blend.  I also somehow managed to miss that it was 1¾"/45mm wide.

Well.

It arrived and, one, it was really wide, and, two, it was...printed. brushed. tricot.

 

I don't think I can be blamed for not expecting that, because who would expect that?  And now I had 20 yards of it.  (I had ordered 15, thinking it was a more typical kind of eyelet, because that was all the site said was left; they filled my order with extra—Deb's is trying to quietly sell down stock and go out of business, so they are being very generous with extra length, although not always on everything ordered (I am absolutely not sponsored)—and then the site listed another 9½ yards for $1.50, so I guess their stock keeping can be a little off.)  

A proper Gunne Sax style dress demands a lot of lace, though, and, as mentioned, the fabrics here were already leaning toward "obnoxious," so why not use the bizarre tricot eyelet?

 

The color coordination is dubious, but it works.

Of course, the big thing with this project is the heart appliqués.

I had originally chosen a burgundy flannel, thinking the added texture would be interesting, but when I cut some test hearts, the color was just too dark.  I rummaged around the stash and arrived at the plaid pieces left from making (and then disassembling) a failed skirt last year.  The red in the plaid was fairly close to the red in the pumpkin print (there's also red in the cat print, and close enough is close enough.)

I then used up all of my remaining Pellon Wonder Under, fusing it to the backs of the larger pieces of plaid fabric before removing the backing paper (Wonder Under likes a hot peel.  No, hotter.  Hotter.) and then die cutting.  I was able to get 60 hearts prepared that way.  I then placed a Wawak order for more fusible web, but I got Therm O Web Heat'n'Bond instead of Wonder Under.  I made this choice partly because the Heat'n'Bond cost less, but also because...  Back in the early-to-mid 1990s, Big Lots had a buyout on sewing things, and I had purchased a pack of fusible web then.  I didn't use it much for years, and had long since lost the package by the time I did start seriously using it.  It was lovely to work with!  When I ran out, I got Wonder Under, having completely forgotten about Heat'n'Bond.  Wonder Under was...not lovely to work with.  When I saw the listing for Heat'n'Bond, it clicked that that was (probably) what I'd originally had.  It arrived and I used it and, yep, that was it. (which is good, because I ordered several packs.)

I placed the order, then fused as many hearts as I could, then zoned out and did a lot of zigzagging. 

 

I chose orange thread after asking a few people for advice.

I had originally chosen some yellow-green bias tape to do the neckline and sleeve bands, but it became clear that I was not going to use up all of the pieces of plaid fabric for the hearts, and there wold be enough of it eke out the neckline bias and the sleeve bands...which don't have to be bias, but there wasn't enough contiguous fabric left to cut them on the straight of the grain...nor was there enough for a proper bias...  I ended up cutting the sleeve bands at about 30°, and they look fine. 

There were enough hearts to go on everything except that back upper skirt, so I assembled as much as possible, and made another dress while waiting for the fusible web to arrive.

 

Hearts aside, everything went together easily!  I mean, the hearts weren't hard, especially after I finally figured out I needed to be using a 100/16 needle, but they definitely added significant time to the project. 

 

I cut the pocket bags and neckline facings from the tan poly-cotton I've been working through in hidden parts of other recent projects.

I know that technically the neckline probably didn't need facings, since it was bias finished, but I do like a sturdy neckline. Yes, of course, the facings are also interfaced.  Also, no, I did not change the serger thread.

There wasn't enough of the cat print to make the back ties as long as the Gunne Sax pattern wanted, but this isn't bad.

While awaiting the fusible webbing, I declared this project an eyesore, and could only imagine it would get worse after the back skirt was assembled and the "tossed black cats on orange" lower tier was added.  Curiously, it did not? and may even have started looking a touch more respectable.