Vintage fabric! 30 inches wide by 2 yards, $4 and a total find. It's called 'Gallery Division of Couleur International Ltd.'. Time for some google to find out more.

More Pics of the vintage Swirl dress and Butterick 2104

I Really should have pressed the dress again. I had it "resting casually" on the top of a chair (i.e. thrown carelessly). It's got to go in the wash so I saw no point in frivolous ironing. Ick, I hate ironing! 

Butterick 2104 - Pattern Review

Oh Butterick, I do love you! When I make this dress again, I will use contrast piping around the midriff piece and shorten it to just above the knee (I still may shorten it too). Maybe I'll do a red polka dot version. I'll also take out my changes to the original pattern to make it bigger since clearly they were unwarranted. I also had to use bias tape to finish the neckline which while I don't hate it I also am not in love with it. It does break up the green a little bit though. The bodice has a tuck pleat in the CF and a tuck in the CB. The back tuck looks like a inverted 'action back'. In retrospect I really should have taken out about 1 inch from the midriff too. Ugh, This is the first pattern I have done in my own size that was so horribly off.

I think the only thing that makes me crazy is the sizing. It's nothing new to have a pattern just not fit right. Butterick is part of the Big 4 but seriously, the bust was huge. It was a 32 inch bust and I still took out an inch or two on each side. Then the neck line was so low I had to take the shoulders up by 3.5 inches!! Then because I don't have smurf arms I had to cut the arm holes lower which I have never done. All in all the dress turned out fab and no one else is the wiser. I do wish I had finished the inside seams but since I wasn't sure if the dress would be worth saving I just left them.

I'll put it on the dress form to get some better pics. The dress is just so much more lively in person, you can barley see the micro polka dots. I got compliments from people when I dropped the Little Dude off at school so it will go into my regular summertime rotation.

Butterick 2104 almost done!

Vintage dresser for $10! Stripping it tonight.

I smell BS cooking

Oh Mood, why must you fib! I placed a second order for my wool swatches and the delivery is delayed again because of 'adverse weather conditions'. Seriously.... C'mon Mood, I live in NY too and there are no adverse weather conditions. If you need like four (4) days to process my order than say so, don't tell me the the City is in the middle of some freakish weather.

Today I MUST finish my valances for the dining room. The fabric I chose is here. It matches a coordinating fabric that I used to do a tablecloth style rush mat.  (I'll put pic's up when it's done, I know that sounds confusing).

Update: My ugly fitting vintage Butterick pattern dress is turning out great! I just have to hem the bottom and tack on some bias tape to finish the arm and neck holes. Here is where my world crashes: hemming a circle skirt. Bane of my existence! Anyone have any good way to hem up a massive skirt? Casey is doing a circle skirt sew along so I'm hoping she covers different ways to hem up the monster. Last time I did one I just cut the hem portion off and turned a narrow hem and left it at that. This time it's supposed to get a turned 2" hem. That's 4" I either have to turn up or chop off. This part of sewing is my absolute least favorite of anything. Luckily because the skirt is so voluminous it will hide any uneven boo-boo's. The dress will just have to wait till after the kids go to bed, sigh.... this thing will never get done and I'll probably won't get to wear tit before it get too cold. The green a little springy for Xmas but I suppose I could try making a bright red bolero or something to top it. Or maybe it will just sit in my closet till next spring when the snow melts. Bummer.

There is too much Wonder in my Land!

I seem to have gone from a sewing rut to a sewing frenzy. I am now working on finishing not one dress but two.  I dug out an old UFO project that I remember not fitting right. It was supposed to be too small so I altered the pattern. Well, once I tried the top half on I realized the ease was huge and now I'd made it even bigger! I think that making something smaller is so much harder than making something bigger. The neckline was gaping like the Grand Canyon but the arm holes and bust points were still unchanged and fit correctly. What the what!

It's really too bad I didn't dig this out to try to fix it earlier. The weather is really making a turn for the worst and I don't think I'll be getting much wear out of a sleeveless dress. There is an overblouse that goes with it (also sleeveless). I could always get one wear out of it dropping the Little Dude off at school but I do already get a bunch of weird looks from the other moms regarding my vintage style wardrobe. They are all just too Ann Taylor to function (but that's just me being judgmental).

Pic's to follow as soon as the zipper goes in!