Finished: The Pink Elephants on Parade Cambie Dress

This post should be titled : Look, I finally made something! I'm terrible at this blogging thing, since this is the first garment I've made since Vincent was born- seventh months ago. I've had a major loss of motivation to sew anything for myself since I've been trying to lose the  baby weight and I *really* hate alterations. Then entered Sew Dolly Clackett and it was too awesome to pass up. There are only a handful of bloggers I can honestly say I would wear everything they make, and Roisin from Dolly Clackett is definitely one of them. 

I've been lusting after this dress from Bernie Dexter for the longest time and when I found the fabric I promptly bought 4 yards. There are drunk pink elephants on a charcoal background and polka dots, so I probably would have spent my grocery money on this fabric if I had to. I decided to pair it with the Sewaholic Cambie dress. It's not an exact match but it's close enough to make me happy. Plus I've been wanting to make this pattern up for ages.

I'd been wearing it all day at this point so it's a little wrinkly!

I absolutely love this dress and I have a feeling this is going to be one of my go to patterns in the future. The directions were clear and the way the dress is lined makes for a professional finished product. It's lined in a light pink cotton batiste and I almost want to wear this inside out. 

I made a size 12 graded to a 16 at the waist, and the only changes I made were doing a 1" FBA (which added a bust dart) and changing the invisible zip to a hand picked lapped zipper. I'm really happy with the fit and I'm glad I took the time to muslin it and fix the full bust issues I was having. The only changes I might make in the future are to pull in the waist darts a little under the bust, try the invisible zipper method.and use the skirt lining pieces from view A. I had a few issues with catching the waistband in the skirt, so my gathers aren't as even as I'd like, but overall I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

I'm really glad I took a chance and entered this contest, because now I have an awesome dress and the return of my sewing mojo! Hopefully it won't be another seven months for another post this time.

Sewing Queue: Negroni and Rooibos

I've been meaning to make a Negroni shirt for Brandon for a while now, and when I found the perfect plaid flannel while fabric shopping the other day I figured it was time. I have eleventy billion things going on right now, but I'm still trying to squeeze in a little recreational sewing here and there. Though at this this rate it's taken me about 2 days just to cut out half the pieces, and the fact it's plaid doesn't help. I just hope I can finish this before spring!

I promise I was in the process of matching it up better!

 I've also been working on a wearable muslin for the rooibos dress, but I'm about 98.9 % sure it's going to be a wadder. It's one of those ideas that seemed better in my head than in reality, but I'm going to finish it and see how I feel. So far the back darts are really strange for some reason and they form dart-pleat things instead of laying flat so I'm going to lengthen them and see if that helps. You can't really tell but I'm pleased with the midriff and piping. I should be since I ripped it out and redid it 3 times. No sleep + sewing = a bunch of mistakes and facepalm moments.

Hopefully I'll have a finished project to share this week!                                                                                   

The Introduction

Hi! I'm Brittany, a 23 year old pug loving girl living in Florida with my soon to be husband and new baby boy. About 3 months ago I took the plunge and started up an Etsy shop selling handmade wallets and key chains so I can take the winters off and stay at home. I started to teach myself to sew about two years ago and I've been obsessed ever since. I love collecting vintage patterns and fabric and I hope to share my projects, tips and tricks as well as some sneak peeks for the shop. I hope you stick around while I make pretty dresses and adjust to motherhood.