3/4/13: I'm Sewing for Victory! - Part One

Almost a week ago I mentioned at the bottom of my post that I have joined a sew-along. So here I am today to give you all the details! 

I have joined a 1940s themed sew-along titled Sew for Victory! and it is being hosted by Rochelle from the Lucky Lucille blog. The sew-along started in mid-February and will end on March 29. A couple days after the 29th, Rochelle will post a parade of all the finished participants' 40s fashion for everyone to see. I hope I make the deadline!

I first received the news of the sew-along from Tasha's post on her By Gum By Golly blog. I wasn't a reader of the Lucky Lucille blog so thank goodness Tasha mentioned the sew-along; I would have never known about it.

Now what will I be sewing? It took me no time to decide what pattern to do because I've been looking high and low for an excuse to make this dress:

This is Simplicity 2106 and it is from 1949. It is a button-front, shirt dress with a pleated skirt. View 2 has the option of pleated sleeves. (My favorite style aspect of the whole design!) I am doing View 2 except I will be eliminating the buttons in the skirt and using an invisible side zipper that extends from the armhole to six inches down from the waist. 

I bought this pattern from an Etsy seller in 2010. I think it was $10 or so. The pattern envelope is falling apart but the pattern pieces and instructions are in great shape. When I had the pattern tissue strewn around the sewing room, my sister came in and said, "What is this? I thought you were going to do a pattern from the 1940s." It looks that new.

The tagline of this sew-along comes straight from the WWII decade itself: make do and mend. When it came time to pick out the fabric for the project, I knew I wanted to make do with what fabric I had on hand. I soon found out that my choices were limited. I don't have many single fabrics that have copious amounts of yardage. This is what I wound up doing:

I am using two different fabrics. A white/black polka dot lawn for the bodice and a navy blue rayon crepe for the skirt. Since the lawn is well, a lawn, I will be needing to underline it so it won't be too transparent. Another layer of lightweight cotton sounds good.

If you have been a follower of my blog for awhile you might have notice the normal train of events when it comes to sewing around here. I usually make a post sharing my plans for a sewing project I'm just beginning. I follow up with a post showcasing the sewn item all serged and ready to wear or use. I never seem to do in-between posts. 

For this dress, I'm going to do something different. I believe it will also capture the spirit of doing a sew-along. I will be publishing progress posts throughout this month or until I have a finished dress. How do you like the sounds of that? I will share with you my thoughts, fitting alterations, design changes, and the little tips and hints I will find along the way. This dress has a lot of detail so I know I won't run out of things to talk about. I'm really excited to get things rolling here and will be back later this week with a muslin recap. (Made a bodice muslin and tried it on today!) See you then!

2/12/11: What Happened to My Crepe Dress?

photo taken from this site

Now think back to my Crepe Dress project. . . Nothing coming to you? Could be because I haven't mentioned it since the middle of December of last year. Maybe this link will help jog your memory. Just so you don't think the whole project went up in smoke, I wanted to post about it now.

I was one happy person when I had all the necessary fabric, notions, and the pattern. But my optimism slowly waned after my second muslin. I was following along with Gertie's sew-along and so I made my first muslin, tried it on, tucked and pin some areas, and transferred these changes to the pattern. After which, I made a second muslin to see if my alterations were correct. When I tried it on it appeared to me that nothing changed. The problems from the first muslin were still evident and new ones appeared. "Good grief!" I said.

I was disheartened to be sure. So I laid my Crepe Dress aside to begin working on last minute Christmas gifts and start finishing up my Acorns sweater. I felt defeated, to say the least.

Since then my perspective has changed. I think back now and say, "That was my first time making alterations like that! It isn't going to be easy." I won't be pulling out this project soon (because I am working on a pair of satin pajamas), but I will. I have all the necessary information on Gertie's blog, I just need to commit to it and brave the rough parts. So many sew-alongs have taken place--or happening right now--that I am learning a ton from just by lurking. Sew-alongs like Casey's Swing Dress, Tasia's Pendrell Blouse, and Cupcake Goddess' Burda Trousers. These blogs are answering so many of my fitting, underlining, finishing, etc. questions. Thank you ladies!

12/15/10: First Steps in My First Ever Sew-Along

Before I start getting excited and jumping up and down about the upcoming sew-along, I wanted to mention here that I have finally made my previous post come true. Yes, I am talking about having a computer of my own. I took the plunge on November 28 and bought a lap top (a Toshiba Satellite L675 for those who just have to know), and I've been using it for all sorts of things. It is wonderful when it comes to in-action-sewing; I used Sewaholic's understitching tutorial on the lap top a couple weeks ago and it helped immensely.

OK, back to some more good news. Gertie, from the New Blog for Better Sewing, started a sew-along (SAL) this month and I've decided to join it. It will be my first one ever! I love to work along with other crafters (I've done a couple knit-alongs through ravelry.com), and it is something I've been wishing to do for years. I am a little bit behind everyone else, it started on December 6, but I really don't mind because a lot of other people are in the same boat.

Now, allow me to be more thorough.

The sew-along pattern is The Crepe Dress from Colette's Patterns.

You can find all the related SAL posts here,

the special SAL flickr group here,

and a Ravelry thread that I created is here.

So what's my progress? Very, very, far behind. I picked out my fabric but I'm still waiting for it to come in the mail. So scissor and pattern tissue haven't met yet. In the meantime, I wanted to share my fabric choice. I bought it from Hobbylobby.store.com and it is a brown/turquoise floral.

I will be altering the pattern a slight bit. I'm planning on adding a few inches to the skirt and having the back neckline higher; this will probably mean muslin making. I haven't done too many of those and so I am hoping Gertie and fellow Crepe makers will give some detailed tutorials. Lots of pictures, please!