Ench By Sew-36: Fiona, the Irish Laurel Dress

Dress creation brings out the romantic in me. When I looked ahead to my summer sewing, I thought if I could sew only one garment for the season, it would be a dress. Fiona, the Irish Laurel dress, satisfied my yearning to design and sew the perfect summer frock.

Hey let’s listen to the show! To do that you can either download the ‘cast from iTunes - Click on this link to iTunes  , 
*OR* listen directly on the web, by clicking on this link
* * *

This dress was a very satisfying project for my arty romantic style. 

In between sewing summer essentials - shorts and tees - I worked off and on to determine what design lines spoke to me about summer, mock up a miniature sloper pattern to test my ideas, draft a pattern from my sloper, and then finally to sew up Fiona, while summer was still on!

* Pensamientos Primeros - Thinking through my idea for this summer dress
     - Part 1 - Planning Fiona
        - Part 2 - Farewell to Summer Romancing Fiona, the Irish Laurel Dress  

*Technicos - Pattern Drafting and Kissing Zipper using a Prick Stitch

*Pensamientos Finales - Fiona's Design Lines have roots in my own history

Finians Rainbow was a modern American fairy tale. It expressed late 1960's dreams for racial harmony and folks coming together. Fred Astaire (Finian McLonigan) and Petula Clark(his daughter Sharon) added in the romance of America seen, and idealized, fresh from Irish eyes. The story of Finian's determination to plant himself a crop of Irish gold, intertwined with romance of countryside and a new happpily-ever-after love for Sharon draws me in as well today as it did when I was a kid who'd only recently arrived in a new place myself. Any wonder that the movie's costumes inspire my pattern work and sewing today?

Visit Me Encanta Coster/Enchanted by Sewing - my regular sewing blog for other summer sewing I enjoyed along the way... in between time spent bringing Fiona to life

Regency Romance Novel Cover is Not the Assignment! Historic Inspired Draping

I was thinking Regency Romance Novel Cover
When I draped this bodice
But I was supposed to be thinking about
working with the circles!

This is not what my draping teacher was looking for - at all - when she had us draping with circles in class.

I finally pulled off a project she was happier with ("More organic. Work with the circle."), but I can't seem to help having this dress-my-Barbie-doll reaction when somebody tells me to get creative with fabric and form. 

What deep seated emotional problem does this mean I suffer from? And can I get my community to pay me to overcome it, so that I can buy more fabric and notions?
:-)

Playing with materials in draping class keeps me...

Enchanted by Sewing!

Sewing Some California Romance (Vogue 8810)

My daughter graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last weekend, and I sewed to celebrate!

I first made Vogue 8810 in a straight skirt, no sleeve variation (You can see the black and white houndstooth version I made last summer in my Romancing the Dress posting). I like the simple lines of this frock pattern, which work when I want to get a little bit dressed up, but also don't get in my way when I hop on my bike and pedal off to chorus, or walk downtown for groceries.

This is my California Romance version of the pattern. I was crazy about this poppy trim when I found it at Brittex not too many months back. Now how could I use it? Hey, nothing like shopping my fabric inventory!! This light weight plaid shirting fabric worked well. To give this fabric sufficient clout for a dress, I used rayon beneath, interlining the bodice and sewing a full slip beneath the skirt.

Once more I didn't use the drawstring waist that came with the pattern. My friend Susan worked hard to alter the bodice, fitting the shoulders better and adding long diagonal darts I like a lot. I had meant to wear this with my favorite brown leather belt but the bias cut skirts just looked wrong with that belt. It was bunchy and unattractive at the waist when I tried on the belt. Instead I sewed on a piece of wide black elastic that didn't go all the way around to meet in the front and then sewed that CA poppy trim from Brittex

So happy I found a use for my
CA poppy trim

on top of that, just buttoning it at the side with this pretty green button. The front then hangs flat on me, which works better with what the pattern designer was going for.

Interpreting the romance of my life in California in the clothes I wear, keeps me enchanted by sewing!

Enchanted by Sewing Podcast: Vests and Tutus (Ench-005)

This is my new
 double flannel Birdie Vest
More about fabric and stitching

Hey, have you heard the big news in the sewing world? The latest and greatest Enchanted By Sewing podcast   has hit the streets with it's fifth episode, the January Show: Vests and Tutus! 

Listen to the podcast online by clicking here, or.... do what the Cool Cats do and Drop By the iTunes store to Download

the January Show :-) (of course it's free)

Show Notes for January and previous Podcast Episodes at EnchantedBySewing.blogspot.com

Below are some web links related to 

this episode.

A Nod to Vests in History

In The Scarlet Pimpernel, one of my favorite classic romance stories, Sir Percy Blakney wore vests (He called them waistcoats and it sounded like weskits). You can download a free text or audio book version of this public domain work from Librivox.

Patterns

McCalls Vest 2260



Connie Crawford for Butterick 5473

Folkwear Tibetan Panel Coat/Vest

Tutus versus Tofu

The Nureyev Exhibit at
the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park
Runs through mid February 2013

I sew to create my own look, so I don't want to recreate the picture on the front of the pattern envelope. As a sewist, I also don't want to be inspired, by overly affected by, other people's designs. So, it's a good thing I didn't see this video, which focuses on the Lilac Fairies costume before Larissa encountered that exact garment in my e-book novella My Heart Beats Faster in Past Times. If I had, I wouldn't have been able to get caught up imagining my own version. But now, I can just get a kick out of seeing what somebody who created the real deal came up with.

The Sleeping Beauty - Behind the Costume

RoyalOperaHous

Recreating a Tutu's Splendor | Theme and Variations

A great youtube video by the costume shop at the NYC Ballet. I first saw this at the Nureyev exhibit at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco

Wikipedia describes several different styles of tutus and explains more about how they are constructed.

Interview: Jewels - Behind the Costumes

RoyalOperaHouse·

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msLjmbPFmT4

Romancing the Dress: Envisioning California Romance

Getting together the goods
For my California Romance Dress

I feel so successful about the black and off-white houndstooth dress I sewed last summer, from Vogue v8810, that I've begun planning my next version of this frock.

What really made this project a success?

1) I liked the look of the completed dress

PLUS

2) I've actually gotten in quite a lot of wearings.

The newest girl in my wardrobe will be made from this pattern and from this pretty plaid shirting and CA poppies trim (did you clue in on the significance of that California Romance name yet?). Since the fabric is  lighter than what's recommended for the pattern, I plan to interline the bodice to create a heavier fabric. Because I'll be making the fuller skirted version, I'm expecting the skirt zone to hold it's own. I may wear it with a half slip though.

I also plan to add a 3/4 sleeve - based on the full length, a more typical length for me, which makes me feel like I can really move around. I'll also include the inseam pockets - with a waistband leash - that I added to the pattern the last time I made it. I can't stand not having pockets. And, as I did last time, no bow-front casing. I'll wear it belted with a nice wide brown leather belt I already own. I'm going to spend a little time altering the bodice, probably taking it back a little bit at the shoulder seam in the front. I'm hoping to try that out with my buddy Susan in sewing lab this week.

This time I'm trying out the
full-skirted version of v8810
with an elbow, or just past sleeve,
Let's just hope I've got enough
material to match those plaids!

This dress represents my idea of real California Romance, a garment that's both practical and pretty for a life that's lived in the every day, not just in an imaginary no-fuss-minimal-movement environment that often seems to be represented by magazine models in high heels and no bike or public transit in sight. As a matter of fact I thought quite a lot about why dresses are important and what makes them work for me so that they can go beyond special-occasion and into my daily wardrobe, so much in fact that I devoted quite a bit of my October "Enchanted by Sewing" podcast  to the theme of Romancing the Dress. This second show in
this relatively new free podcast show series will be up in the iTunes store before the end of this month. You can search iTunes using the phrase "Enchanted by Sewing", or simply signup to receive email notifications of all new shows (no spam!) at the Show Notes site for Enchanted By Sewing.

Romancing the Dress Part 2: California Romantic Considers Realities of Life When It Comes to Sewing a Dress

Forever fantasizing about sewing the perfect dress
But do skirts really fit into my active and arty modern life?

I spent a lot of of my little girlhood playing with dolls. I also spent a lot of time drawing girls. Drawing girls merged into drawing paper dolls. The most important part of drawing paper dolls was creating their clothes. I particularly enjoyed creating patterns and textures for these outfits, which I made by rubbing my crayons over the paper atop a rough surface. Of course none of my paper dolls wore pants, trousers or slacksas bi-forcated womens clothing was called in the nineteen sixties.

If you weren’t around in that time, especially if you missed the early, pre-groovy part of the era, images from the time might lead you to think that American females wore mostly skirts or dresses. In fact, shorts and pants were nearly as much a part of our daily wear as they are today. However, when it came to creating artistic duds for dollies, I didn’t see any point in designing the sort of togs I actually spent most of my own time in. On television, in magazines, coloring books and  movies, and in my favorite modern and historically themed stories, girls and women wore fluffy dresses and glamorous skirts. The clothes I created for my dolls were those I imagined I’d wear myself as an adult, and they came from what I drank in from my culture. They came from images of traditionally skirted women.

As a sewist, I’m still faced with the eternal challenge of an imaginary, idealized female lifestyle, versus the reality of my own activities. What I put on in the morning reflects what I'm expecting to do. Right now that involves walking or hiking, classes, study, a lot of computer time, and (unfortunately) a little housework. I'm usually pretty darn happy, and comfortable, wearing my most attractive tee shirt and a pair of long pants or shorts, both items that style up great with a pair of sturdy walking shoes or hiking boots.

Despite what I actually wear, when I plan time for my favorite hobby, I'm tempted to sew dresses. In point of fact, I've sewn only two within the last few years. I'm relatively happy with the way both of them turned out. Yet, I’ve worn each of those frocks two or three times, both times to events, to which, I could easily have worn some of my most feminine pants with a lovely blouse, a rope of pearls and a scarf.

Still, when I open the pattern book, you know what section I turn to first.

This summer I just couldn’t resist the how-to-style examples for Vogue pattern v8810 shown in the Vogue pattern magazine. You can just guess I imagined myself hurrying off to an important meeting with a friend in that denim dress with those lovely heels and the model's jewelry. I don’t actually wear heels, and the jewelry she was wearing wasn't my style. In point of fact, I usually plan on fitting in a long walk or bike ride when I go to a meeting, but I still saw myself togged out like the gal in the spread.

Well, maybe I could still figure out a way to fit that duster style dress into my lifestyle…

Earlier in the month I created a toile of this pattern. Some stained home dec ex-curtain fabric was the perfect muslin for the fit I was looking for. I’ve also pulled a heavy black houndstooth print out of my stash, and I think there’s enough for the short-sleeved version. I’m imagining it as go-to summer and fall garment, in our temperate California San Francisco Bay Area climate. It could even extend into our mild winter as a kind of jumper over my pale pink quarter-sleeve tee or my petal pink cowl neck long sleeved tee shirt.

But when it comes down to it, even if the dress turns out exactly as I imagine it, will I really get much use out of another dress to keep the others company in their far end of my closet? I hope those girls have an active social life back there, because they rarely see the light of day.

In the meantime, I've sewn a nice new pair of shorts and another cute tee. 

But the black houndstooth print is eyeing me from the back of my sewing table.


You may also enjoy.... Romancing the Dress 1: Dainty

Romancing The Dress Part 1: Dainty

Though I was only five when this photo was taken, I remember standing on the porch of the rental house in Lansing Michigan posing for it. I remember telling my mother "I look dainty". And I remember her laughing at me and asking me where I had learned that word.

We're not a 'dainty' family. We're midwestern stock - large and robust, arty, and folksy. But I can recall just how delightfully feminine and romantic this much beruffled dress made me feel. Despite her somewhat sarcastic response to my words, my mother was, and is, as big a romantic as I am. She had absolutely filled the pale blue bodice with those ruffles when she sewed it for me. And despite the black and white-ness of the photo, I remembered the exact soft shade of blue of the dress, when I was photoshopping the old snapshot.

Whenever I've sewn a dress, I've been just a little bit influenced by the memory of that dainty blue frock.