Simplicity 1665 - The Frida Kahlo dress

So, my friend Mamie suggested we should sew something special for the Frida Kahlo tribute on the Sewing on my Kichen Table Google+ community. I was only able to finish mine a few days ago because I wanted to add a built-in bra and it took longer than I expected. Happy belated Frida!
Built-in bras are my latest obsession. A friend of mine has a beautiful halter dress from Athleta that I wanted to replicate so I've been experimenting with adding built-in bras to some of my dresses. I spent hours at REI examining dresses and how the bras were sewn into them.
For the tribute, I chose the Simplicity 1665.

I have been wanting to make this pattern since it came out and after I saw Art Attack's dress on Pattern Review. The pattern is made for woven fabrics and lightweight double knits. I liked the colorblock option of the pattern and decided to use a medium weight rayon knit I bought last year during a fabric shopping spree in Berkeley. For the contrast, I used a matching purple rayon knit from my stash.
I have been doing great staying away from fabric stores since I am participating in the Quirky Peach Summer Stashbusting Challenge.
My stash is out of control so I am glad I stumbled upon Sally's blog and working on reducing it. I still have fabric from 15 years ago when I used to live in Paris!!!!!
Anyway, since the pattern was made for woven and lightweight double knits, I cut a size 8 grading up to a 10 at the hip. I had to trim it down another inch to make it fit properly. So, it is better to go down 2 sizes if you decide to make it in a knit. I added about 19 inches to make it a maxi dress because I love maxi dresses and I envisionned this dress as a maxi.

I lined the straps with some power mesh fabric from my stash since I was afraid the weight of the print fabric would make to top part of the dress sag. It worked perfectly.
For the built-in bra, I cut the front and back piece again using the length of my own sport bra as a reference. I cut one out of the purple fabric and one out of the power mesh. I left an opening on each side to insert bra cups and finished with an elastic. I bought bra cups at Joanns and unfortunately they were too light to provide a good coverage, so I used foam bra cups from one of my sports bras.

The contrast fabric is hard to photograph. It is actually purple but it appears blue.

I am pretty happy about the result. I will be making more dresses with built-in bras in the future.

I have been sewing up a storm. I am participating in the Mini Wardrobe Challenge on Pattern Review. I figured it would be perfect for my trip  to Africa. I am super excited about my color combinations. I went all mixed media with stripes, flowers and lace.
Stay tuned.

Et de deux!!!(The bullseye dress)

I finally finished my second dress. Another knock off. I'm on a roll especially since I am going to Africa again in a month. I need basic pieces so I will try not to sew fancy dresses for the closet like my hubby always says. I will also try to just follow a pattern from start to finish. Who am I kidding!

I saw this dress on Gilt.com originally and had to make it. It is made by Dolce Vita and was priced at $242. Aside from the price which is way out of my budget and the skirt which I didn't like, I loved the uniqueness of the bodice. Sooo I had to knock it off.

I wanted a pattern with a yoke and no darts on the front bodice. I went through my stash and was almost ready to draft my own bodice when I found Vogue 8944. It indeed fits the bill. I cut a size 12 but next time will cut a 10.

The rayon striped fabric is from my stash. I got it at Hancock on the clearance table fro $3.98/yard. The cutting went fairly quickly because matching the chevron with a 1 inch wide striped fabric is easier than on a fabric with smaller stripes. I did recut the yoke a second time though because I mixed up the sides.

Since I wanted to recreate the V in the back, I modified the back bodice and added an exposed zipper. I followed this Pattern Runway method for sewing exposed zippers. It was my first time sewing an exposed zipper. I had to be careful to match the stripes but the Pattern Runway instructions were so clear that it was very easy. Interfacing the seam allowances make all the difference.

The dress is fully lined since the rayon is really thin and see through. I decided to try the Colette Pattern  method on how to line sleeveless knit dresses and actually liked it better than my own method. So from now on I will use the Colette Pattern method. It saves time. I had to take the dress down completely right before putting in the zipper when I realized that I cut the yoke for the lining to short and it was actually showing through the striped fabric. Ugh!!!!! I hate undoing serged seams. The construction went faster the second time around.  

 I wore the dress this week to a girls night out and got a lot of compliments. My friends called it the bullseye dress. It can be dressed up and down so what not to like.

I am such a sucker for stripes that my next project is another striped dress. 

A bientot!

Finally a dress!!!!

I can't believe it's been sooo long since my first post. I haven't bought any RTW since I took Sarah's challenge 6 months ago but I have barely sewn anything for myself. Being a homeschool mom makes it tough to find time to sew. I almost gave up but I held on.
We are finally done with school so I pulled this cute striped fabric I bought last year at Stone Mountain and Daughter during a Fabric shopping meetup in Berkeley. I knew at the time that the fabric was quite similar to the dress I had in mind. I also found the yellow contrast lining knit fabric there.

I used the Simplicity 1358. If I recall, the original dress is from Kensie sold last year by Nordstrom. Since high and low dresses are still popular this summer I wanted to make this dress up first. 

I only had 2 yards each of the striped and yellow so the flare on my dress is not as wide as on the pattern. It works fine I think. I cut a size 12 and had to shave off a couple of inches on each side at the bust mostly due to the fact that I was using a rayon knit. The round back neck is a mistake from staying up late cutting the dress. I kind of wanted the racer back but I'll live with it. The construction went fairly smoothly. I used the yellow contrast fabric for the neckline and armholes. Because of the yellow fabric being a thin rayon knit I reduced the length of the neck and armhole bands. I finished the hem with my coverstitch.
My next project is on my sewing table and is another knock off.  Stay tuned...

RTW FAST 2014

Sew, let's start 2014 with fasting!
RTW fasting that is. I am starting a new sewing blog and I have taken Sarah Gunn's(www.goodbyevalentino.com) Challenge to fast RTW for a whole year. Exciting isn't it?
This will also be a major stashbusting challenge for me. I have accumulated way too many fabrics and patterns over the years and have sewn very little.

That's me at Stone Mountain and Daughter last year with fellow meetup friends. I might start with that beautiful stripe knit fabric shown on the cutting table.
Affaire a suivre(to be continued)...