past project photo-dump...again

Man, blogging is hard, especially when MIT eats your life.  It's been a while, and now there's an even bigger backlog of projects, but here's a dress I made sometime in the fall and just now got around to photo'ing.

 

I'm pretty sure this is the most awesome fabric I have ever owned. It's made of HOLES! It's geometric! It's like a cooler version of lace!  No pattern for this one; I just pieced it together on my dress form.  The fabric (sturdy embroidered cotton) was surprisingly easy to work with.  Since it's clearly see-through, I decided there was no point in trying to hide the zipper, so I used a big chunky metal zipper I had lying around and inserted it visibly in the back.  I haven't made a liner for the dress yet, but I've been wearing it with a lacey slip that belonged to my grandmother.  It's a little long, but I like the effect. 

 

 

Also, here are a few pictures of my winter coat. I'll upload better ones later...these don't do justice to the fabric or the amazing buttons. The outer layer is this beautiful orange/maroon herringbone wool I got for $6/yard. It's not quite coat-weight wool, so I put in an interlining of grey polyester fleece (which we have lying around in large quantities from the time Thom decided we should make a manatee couch..sadly, never happened). The lining is polka-dot polyester charmeuse, which I will post photos of eventually. Also, the buttons! They are so cool! I was looking for cameo-brooch buttons, but I ended up finding these metal ones (which are supposedly antique, and rescued from an abandoned factory) at Windsor Button in Boston. They ended up being the 2nd most expensive component of the coat. Total price = $18 worth of wool + ?? grey fleece + $6 liner + $10 buttons = $34. Not bad for a warm winter coat.  

  

 

This coat definitely isn't as neat as it could be. I didn't use proper tailoring techniques (no shoulder pads, no fancy shaping, not even any interfacing), and I completely altered a pattern for a basic hip-length, single-breasted jacket without a hood. Maybe next year I'll go all out and (attempt!) to make a well-tailored coat, but for now I'm pretty happy with this.  

  

past project photodump

Photos of new and exciting projects to come soon, but for now here are some dresses and things I made/photo'd a while ago. Apologies for the poor photo quality!





I have an unhealthy obsession with insane, psychadelic-print type (spandex!) fabric like this, but so far I've limited myself to two dresses made out of this fabric. This dress is basically rectangles pieced together. The bust is gathered, and the skirt has a bubble hem.


















I made this dress by attaching a skirt based on the Marie pattern from BurdaStyle to a few rectangles of fabric shaped with darts. I never really have an occasion to wear this dress, but it's good for layering.












A dress like this calls for a cheesy pose like this...it's quite poofy and shiny. It's hard to see from the photo, but it's made of iridescent silk dupioni, and I did some decorative contrast stitching along some of the seams. I didn't hem it; instead I just left the selvage. Just one more dress I never have the occasion to wear...













I based this jacket on the Hikaru patttern from BurdaStyle. I made it from a huge old herringbone sportscoat (found in the $1/pound pile at a thrift store). The coat was falling apart, but I loved the fabric, so I tore it apart and tried to keep some of the structure of the coat, like the curve in the peplum and the old buttons on the sleeves. I added some contrasting pieces from a corduroy button-down, a hood, and liner made of seafoam green toile (strange but fantastic fabric).






























That's it for now, but more to come soon when we get around to taking pictures!

Amy

hello there

Hi all! Me (Amy) and my roommate (Farre) have decided to join the crowd and start a sewing blog. Not much to post just yet, but we have a huge backlog of dresses, skirts, scarves, jackets, and craziness to photo, so check back soon. This will probably be mostly a log of creations that we make, and probably some cool links, and maybe (if I can figure out how to electronic-ize them) patterns we make. sweet! see you soon.

Amy & Faye