New clothes

              I've been on a dress-making binge lately.  Here are a few garments I've made.  Yep, there are others, but no photos of them yet.

This Vogue Vintage dress pattern has been on the table for 2 years!  Barb helped me pick out the cotton voile for the humongous circle skirt.  I swear there wouldn't be enough room for me AND the dress in my car if I had chosen a slightly heavier weight fabric.  I love the dress, the way it fits, and the fabric.  The buttons at the center front are Sculpey.










































Gini gave me this pretty border print, which turned into a dress inspired by a Project Runway tv show I saw last spring.  I'm pleased with the way this dress turned out, an alteration of an old, basic Vogue faux-wrap dress pattern. Yeah, I know, not much resembles the pattern, but it had the neckline/armhole I wanted.  I will make a dress more like the PR dress, now that I've worked out the pattern.  The ruffle at the hem is top-stitched on, with a little 'header'. 

















Same cute dress, with a little lace jacket Martha found at a yard sale.  It was really ugly beige, so it went into the dye pot.  After I removed the very predicatable shoulder pads, of course. The surprise is that the color works with this dress!  Maybe it needs a black button?




















This is my interpretation of a Project Runway dress I saw last spring. Barbara again helped with picking fabrics to go with a couple of pieces from my stash.  She has a great eye for combinations!  After hanging around draped on my Evil Twin for a month, and rearranging the fabrics, I'm pleased with the result.  The chiffon 'ruffle' at the bottom was a bit of a battle, and it could have been fuller, but I'm still pleased.
Rayon faille, sand-washed rayon, rayon challis, cotton border print, polyester chiffon.  With pockets, of course!  I wore this dress last night, when we went out for dinner, and I felt very good in it.









Whoohoo!  I love this jacket!  The pin-tucked cotton is from my stash.  A Vogue Marci Tilton pattern I picked up last week on sale.  I love the way the pin-tucks look, cut on various angles.  The collar is a cool, folded-over design, with a bias binding on one side and hemmed on the other.  I chose a rayon crepe for the front facings.  Yes, non-traditional, but I wanted that color just along the inside.  The buttons are from a trip to Italy more than 20 years ago!  I've just stitched the corded buttonholes, and will finish this tomorrow. It looks great with a silk skirt I picked up while in Michigan a few summers back, and will look good with other clothes in the closet.



Now, I can move onto the Alabama Chanin-inspired garments!  The book arrived this week, Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, Natalie Chanin, and I've read it already.  Before the book arrived, I cut up and stitched a couple of previously loved t-shirts, bought at Goodwill, and have stitched a top cut from cotton double-knit from my stash.  The book gave me the answer to a couple of  problems, so I'm eager to get to work.  Even though all the garments I've just finished are from new cloth, I love working with previously loved clothes!