Regular readers might know that I originally wanted to create a blue and gold dress, but after finding my fabric I realised that gold was going to be, well, tacky. Following wonderful advice from dear readers I have decided to utilise gold-inspired trimmings instead. First up, this beautiful cotton and silk off-white lace. Isn't it pretty?
My original plan was to draft some tulip sleeves, and then offer either a tutorial on tulip-sleeves, or a 'not-how-to-draft-sleeves' post. Unfortunately, Plan B (or, 'Operation Bed Socks') is already underway. Thankfully I've already made this dress so I don't feel like I'm falling behind. Also, in grade 4 I created an entire story-book for a project in one night, I can deal with pressure and it's all about picking your battles, right?
Firstly, are we all Ok? With the great blogger outage I was unable to read my usual blog list. Now that it's back up, massive blog reading catch up night!
Yep, someone around here has been following the instructions
As you may know, this hasn't always been my style. I've cut corners, big corners. Bias tape and fitting corners. At the time of creation my brain was more concerned with a finished wearable garment rather than a silly little thing like hem or clean button-holes. Now, I'm starting to appreciate the finer things in (sewing) life. I've read about some sewers who start out with doll skirts or scrunchies, not me. I wanted a skirt. Needless to say it didn't work out as well as my overly-ambitious mind expected, but my heart still flutters with pride when I see those lop-sided pleats.
So for me learning to sew started off with getting something completed, and now it's progressed to an understanding of fitting, finished seams, and taking time, even if it means a weekend of what Angie calls the 'frog dance'. I'm still not to the stage of meticulous-sewing-wonder-woman, far from it. My muslin for the Crescent skirt was lazy to say the least (just waiting for that to bite me in the ass). But I'm interested in everybody else: what is, or was, your learning style? Did you start out as impatient as me? Or were you a perfectionist from the start who has learnt to relax? Maybe you had a teacher keeping you in-line? Does it vary for different things?
Let me just preface this post with: thanks be to the sewing goddess I had a week to find fabric. As you know my colour theme for this dress is blue and gold, and it has been a plethora of blue. Blues too dark, too polyester, too linen, too anything, until I found her. She was sitting there on her little roll, all blue and half-priced, I knew that she was meant for me.
Basically, microfibre is a polyester measuring less than one denier
Being synthetic it dries fast and is non-wrinkle *fist pumps the air* which makes it perfect for Italy. And, even though I kind of despise Polyester this is nothing like the scratchy-crap you find in a thrift store. It's soft, and gentle, and literally glides over your skin. I'll have to be cautious when the dress is completed not to, I don't know, sit at the bus stop and just start rubbing it against my skin like some creepy Decore add. I make no promises.
I was thinking about having gold thread to top-stitch, but when I told the saleswoman that I think I made her gag. I agree, because this fabric is such a 'blueish-blue' it would look tacky, a navy however... It's funny some thing can look good in your head, but wrong (criminal even) in real life.