A Closer Look at the Marine Ball Outfit? Gown?

As promised, let's take a closer look at what I wore to the Marine Ball here in Kyiv.  Every year around the world, the marines who guard our Embassies and Consulates celebrate the birthday of the Marines in early November.  This year it was the 239th birthday.  If you do the math, the Marine Corp was born on November 10, 1775, meaning it's close to a year older than the United States itself.  Anyway, enough history.  As a reminder- here is what it looks like on.  I was a dork and didn't take any pictures while at the ball, but I'm sure there are some out there.

I began the making of this outfit on last Saturday.  Yes, only a week before it needed to be done.  Bad planning on my part.  Originally for the bodice and waistband I used Butterick 6094, which I have already made twice.  On Saturday I cut and painted the waistband, and then re-cut and painted the waistband again.  Sunday, I spent making the bodice, lined it, and attached it to the waistband (including hand tacking the lining down at both the neckline and one armhole.  I stopped at that point, and decided I needed to try it on.  I had not inserted a zipper, and hadn't planned on it- as the neither of the first two version actually need a zipper.  I couldn't get it over my head.  So I unpicked a side seam and hand basted a side zipper.  I was then finally able to try it on.

I did not take pictures of it on me.  It looked tortured.  That's the only way to really describe it.  Terrible.  The darts were a pointy mess, the fabric pulled at the neckline and armholes, and it was way too tight in the waist.  I pre-treated the wool, but apparently not enough, as the waistband had shrunk almost two inches somewhere during the sewing process, but only at the bottom.  It was too small to even put on my mannequin, which is smaller than I am.  Honestly, I think it had to do with the painting, it somehow shrunk the fabric.  So I rethought the look.  My actual internal monologue went something like this:
"If I was on Project Runway, this would be the moment when Tim Gunn comes in and says something like why did you torture the fabric?  Then he would be all like make it work."

You can totally see the weirdness happening with the darts here.  (Please ignore the little piece of thread in the picture.) Anyway, I decided to make a top, belt and skirt. This was Sunday night.  I pondered it Monday at work and sketched out a couple things.  I knew I wanted a silk top with sleeves, but was waffling between one with a collar or a super simple kimono sleeve one.  I finally decided on hacking B5813 into a top.  (You can find it here.)
 
I cut out the pattern Monday night, and found the fabric I eventually used, but didn't think I had enough of it.  So on Tuesday, I went to the fabric store, first to find ribbon for the skirt waistband, and second to find a cream raw silk.  I only found the ribbon.  I didn't work on any of it Tuesday night, as I went to bed around 7 PM.  On Wednesday I started freaking out a little bit, because, I still hadn't finished any of it.  I went to the other fabric store, and found silk that would probably have worked, but wasn't awesome.  That night I made the skirt, which had been cut out since Sunday. 

 

To make the skirt, I cut a 3 yard long piece of the wool.  I used the curve from the Victory patterns Nicola.  When I was still going to make it a dress, I had cut a seam into it.  Even though it was a superfluous seam, it actually helped with the sewing.  It is fully lined, and the lining was all machined sewn.  

 

 I sewed the bottom and outside edge of each piece.  I then , flipped, undersewed the lining, ironed, smoothed it out as much as possible, and serged the top and the seam edges.  The smoothing out wasn't perfect, so it pulls a tiny bit, but no one noticed it.  Then I made the pleats- the waist is 31 inches with a 9 in overlap.  To do the pleats, I cut the ribbon 41 inches and folded over the edge 1/2 inch on each side.  I messed around with the pleats until it fit the ribbon.

I sewed the ribbon like bias binding with a half inch seam allowance.  I hand slipped stitched the inside.  I was careful not to iron it too much, as I wanted the pleats to be soft (and the fabric didn't like pressing).

The wrap is held together by heavy duty snaps.  They worked pretty well.  The next step was to make the top.  I ended up cutting it out of my original cream raw silk, but as I only had remnants, it was a tight fit, and the back was cut on the fold, versus with the seam.  The only other change I made was a cheater full bust adjustment.  I didn't need any extra width in the bust, but it was way too short, so I added an inch in the length.  I honestly could have used another 1/2"- 3/4".  I'll do that next time.  I used french seams for almost all the seams. For the front seam, I folded and stitched the seam 1/4" before I sewed it, so then the raw edge is turned underneath.  I also did that with the facing.  I used silk organza for the collar. 

I started the top on Friday and finished it Saturday morning.  On Thursday, I worked on the belt/waist piece.  I used black coutil for the the back.  I was going to use horsehair and boning to make sure it didn't collapse, but it was already really tight (even with making the side seams 1/4 inches at the bottom), so I just used the coutil.  To be honest, it was more that I didn't have any plastic boning, and didn't want to have to waste more time going to the fabric store yet again.  For the closure, I used four hook and eyes.  Which I sewed on Saturday at 2:30 PM.  Mind you the ball started at 5.  Cutting it close eh?  I would have had it done earlier, but for being sick on Tuesday and celebrating my birthday on Thursday.  Oh well!  Here are closer looks at he painting and the waistband.

You can see that it did wrinkle some, but overall it held up really well.  You also may have noticed something else.  I rearranged my sewing room once again.  It felt way too crowed as it was, so I sacrificed being able to walk around my cutting table to having more space.  It feels so much better in there now.  I'll leave you with some pictures of what the room looks like now.  It's about 80% done- I am waiting for the artwork to get back from the framers.  Until next time, happy sewing!

Marine Ball Gown

I just have time to post some pictures before I got pack my little bag and change my lipstick.  (Why it's nice to take pictures before hand, you know what you look like.)  My hair decided it wasn't going to do anything, so it will just have to be down.  I'll be back tomorrow with details and an explanation on why it looks nothing like my drawing.

A Quick Check-in

I know, I know, I'm a terrible blogger lately.  All excuses aside, the last couple of weeks have been crazy.  We went to London (whole post on that is due), I made a dress for Halloween, I messed up the neckline for said dress for Halloween, so I didn't wear it, and the Marine Ball is a week away and I've just started the gown. Here is my sketch for the gown.  I drew it while coloring with Alex, which is why it's in crayon (and purple).  

For the last couple of weeks I have been researching the tulip wrap skirt, and thinking about painting the poppies, just to realize that I was over thinking it.  I am using this cashmere/wool blend from gorgeous fabrics.  My biggest concern is that painting the fabric would mess with the beautiful drape of the fabric.  So I decided to simplify.  The bodice will be the same one I've been sewing for the last month- B6094.  Since it has a waist band, I decided that would be where the majority of the poppies would be.  I still think that I'll have one or two at the hem, but not many.

Today, I painted the waistband.  It took me two tries.  The first time, I didn't really think about the placement of the poppies and the seam allowances.  I was two thirds of the way done when I realized that it was going to look weird, so I took a deep breath and re-cut my fabric.  The first try is on top, and redone one is on the bottom.

I have gotten really good at drawing poppies.  I also used Peter's advice from Male Pattern Boldness and used a color pencil the second time around to draw.  It worked so much better.  The paint is lumiere fabric paint (found here).

Here is the finished waistband.  I might go back and do a bit of embroidery on the poppy pods.  They seem a little bit under done.  What do you think?  It doesn't look too Becky-homecky does it?  Anyway, back to the grind.  Hopefully I can get the dress most of the way done this weekend, so I'll have more time to blog.  Until next time, happy sewing!

A Devil in a Blue Dress?

The last week and a half has a been a hectic everyone gets sick in a row.  Two days Alex, two days Conor, then two days dear husband.  After everyone is better, dear husband goes and sprains his back. This has meant he's been out of commission since Friday.  It was a long weekend, and my have involved me muttering whilst walking the dog.  Anyway, busy family life + busy work = not a lot of sewing, which sucks, since I have three major sewing projects I want to get done before November 8- one of which is my Marine ballgown.  Well, of course, when one has deadlines looming, one makes a completely different dress.  I've been thinking about this dress for over a year now- since August 2013 to be exact, when I bought the trim on a Russian trim buying spree.

I am going to keep this post to mainly pictures, because I have some fabric to iron, dryel bag to find, and some pre-treating to do.  One of the perks of living abroad, is that I can have a housekeeper who comes twice a week.  One of the pitfalls is that if I don't put everything away before she comes, who knows where it might end up.  So let's take the dress in a little bit more?  It's Butterick 5556, with about four feet taken out of the hemline- my god what a lot of fabric it is- I believe it's a 1.5 circle skirt. (Can you have such a thing?  I don't know, all I know is that it's at least one full circle with all the extra taken out, so I can only imagine.

I am going to have to ask you to ignore the slight creasing and the belt slippage.  I took these pictures right as I got home from work, but I had to quickly change to a. walk the dog (who had missed her 4 pm walk because dear husband's muscle relaxer made him fall asleep), b. play with a cranky baby (see a. above), and c. make dinner.  I really wanted to take pictures yesterday, but did not finish the dress in time, mainly due to the ridiculously long hem.  If I remember correctly, I bought 4 meters of the bottom trim, so if I do my math correctly, that's 13ish feet of trim?  And this is all I had left

Yup, 8 inches, or in metric 20 cm.  I am working on working in metric.  I doubt it will ever happen, I still convert everything to imperial.  Don't even get me started on trying to convert kilometers to miles, I will say I am thankful that my car's speedometer has both, because it's just not natural.

Here are some closer ups of the details.  The coloring is off in just about every photo- it was already dusk when I was taking these, and therefore my camera was over compensating.  I haven't quite figured out to to consistently fix color in photoshop, it's a work in progress.  The fabric is a cotton sateen, with a weft interfacing.  I made two changes to the pattern- I turned the gathers in to pleats and I made a hem facing to help support the weight of the trim.

You might have noticed that I shot these pictures in the sewing room.  It is getting close to being done.  I am having issues with the rugs, so I need to buy the rubbery things that go under rugs, so that they don't move around.  I also have to hang the shelves so I can finish putting everything away and organize my fabric.  But it's getting there.  And I love the walls.  I just wish my landlord had never put in pink/red carpet.

Work in progress right?  At least it's usable and I have my big cutting board.  I am excited about the artwork that will hopefully be going up on the walls.  I need to still print out the photographs, but if I can get them to turn out, it will be awesome.  I haven't really made any art in the last several years, so it will be nice to have some new stuff.  Mostly I tend to decorate with my senior thesis photographs, way back from my undergrad years.  I minored in photography, so it's really a love of mine.   (Which is shameful and embarrassing that my blog photos aren't perfect, I really need to up my game.)  

Anyway, with a 1.5 circle skirt, one must have obligatory twirling shots and here is mine.

One last note- a question for you dear readers- which one do you prefer? The one on the left is a wool/cashmere blend and the one on the right is a cotton sateen with some stretch. 

Let me know what you think in the comments.  Until next time- happy sewing! 


P.S. Sorry mom- no pictures of the boys.  I promise next post.

A Spring Dress in a Ukrainian Fall

It's amazing how a couple of days will put some perspective on a situation.  After I stopped complaining, I started doing, and have fixed almost all of my complaints.  This post will be super short, as it's past my bedtime.  Where should we start?  After careful deliberation and staring at the dress, I decided to not change the length, but take out the majority of the poof in the sleeves.  What a difference 5/8ths of an inch will do to a dress.  I wore it yesterday, and within the first 20 minutes of work, I received at least five separate compliments on it. 

 

This is how I wore it.  The jacket is from JCrew circa 2009/2010.  I think 2010.  In real life the pink/red in the dress and coral in the jacket match.  

Here is the side/back view.  You can really see the flowers.  Funny story, one of the babushkas (old ladies) that man the entrance of my apartment, called me Carmen Miranda when I came home from work.  It made me giggle.

Here it is without the jacket.  Much chicer with the lower sleeve poof.  For future me's sake, here are the rest of the pictures of the dress.

I will admit that I wasn't all to concerned about matching prints.  Also, the center pleats turned out to be different sizes.  Somehow I didn't notice it while making them.  I bet if I didn't tell you you would have never noticed.  Anyway.  Let's talk about the elephant in the room...  I've started (and almost finished) the remodel of the sewing/guest room.  My household effects came on Monday, and in it was peel and stick wallpaper I had bought for a room in Sao Paulo.  (We had a lavender wall which at first I wasn't too keen, but in the end it didn't bother me enough to do anything with it.)  So before I organized my sewing room, I decided that I needed to do the wallpapering and painting.   Then fortuitously my first round of carpet squares came.  So you can see the total effect in this picture.

 

So much better right?  I have done two coats of painting, and tomorrow I will just have to fix two spots where the paint didn't want to go.  But other than that, I get to clean up the mess and put my room together.  I can't wait!  And I have a three day weekend.  Maybe I'll get started on my Marine Ball gown?  Hmmmm.  Perhaps!

 

 And just so you know what a state of disaster the room is.  Egads!  Anyway until next time Happy Sewing!  

P.S.  I'm thinking I might dress up this year for Halloween.  Who do you think?  Josie from Josie and the Pussy Cats or Claire from Clueless?  Are you dressing up?  As who?  Leave me a comment!

A Complaint of Sorts and a what would you do?

Hello dear readers, sorry I haven't been blogging nearly as much as I want.  First things first, we have been sleeping in the guest room/sewing room, making it much more difficult to sew.  Second of all we're still waiting on the rest of our stuff, so if I want to cut something out, I have to bring everything out to the kitchen table, and then clean it up.  Third of all, can I be frank?  The color of the carpet and the walls in our bedrooms, all of them, makes me cringe.  I honestly hate being back there.  Red carpet, pinky beige walls. 

This is what we have in our room.  I really shouldn't complain, as our apartment is huge, and is for the most part really nice.  We have two giant bathrooms, both with jacuzzi tubs, and one even has a built in sauna.  (I don't know if we'll ever use the sauna, but the boys love the two person jacuzzi tub aka small swimming pool).  Anyway, my sewing room is not inspiring me to be creative.  I have some carpet squares on the way in a grey, some peel and stick wallpaper, and I've talked Tony into painting (which means we'll have to paint in 3 years to get it back to beige), so I think in a month or so, it will look a lot better.  Also not having all my stuff organized is driving me nuts.  Luckily, our stuff is arriving tomorrow, so things will start getting better.  I hope!

I've also been in Odessa for half of the last week for work.  It's a beautiful city, and I really enjoyed it.  I forgot my camera, so no pictures.  But I can check off my Russian nerd list- seen the Potemkin stairs.  

Enough complaining!  In preparation for getting our stuff, yesterday Conor, Alex, and I trekked out to Epicenter.  Epicenter is pretty much Home Depot mixed with Walmart.  We ended up at one of the not as nice ones, but we still got what we needed.  I bought a new sewing table and some shelving to put on the walls for better storage. This is my new sewing desk:

What I love is that it is large enough for both machines, there is storage, and there is even space for my transformer on top of the desk.  I hated putting it together, though, it was completely unassembled, but without IKEA like instructions. 

This was it.  There were at least six different types of screws.  Luckily, I've put together a massive amount of furniture in the past, so I figured it out.  I even got help from my lovely husband.  That made it go a heck of a lot faster.

So I am pretty sure that there was a second box that we didn't receive.  I guess I could have gone back to Epicenter to check it out, but that would have involved a 40 minute bus ride, and arguing in Russian, and then getting back home.  What was missing, was all the plywood for the drawer bottoms.  To make due, I used pieces of the box.  I thought it would work fine, as I'm not putting anything heavy, but then Alex stepped in the bottom drawer, so um no.

Anyway, there has been some sewing.  In fact, I am almost done with a dress.  I went to the fabric store last Sunday to get some bias binding, and also came back with three meters of a printed cotton.  I used the same bodice pattern as my last dress- B6094, but I closed up the back.  I also added sleeves, and made a pleated full length skirt.  Everything is done, but the sleeves are just basted in, and not hemmed.  I tried it on tonight, and I'm not sure about it.

 

The fit is spot on, and I love the pattern, but I kinda feel like it's a little too modest?  Here in Kyiv, the full length dress or the long midi is really on point right now.  You must wear the dress with high heels, but other than that, it's very turn of the century chic right now.  (And I'm not talking about this last century.)  Anyway, I can do one of the following things.  A. nothing, hem the sleeves as is.  B.  unpick the skirt, raise it to midi length, hem sleeves as is.  C. leave the skirt as is, reduce the poof or the length in the sleeves.  D. raise the skirt to midi length, reduce the poof or length in sleeves.

Let me know what you think in the comments!   Until next time happy sewing.