Pattern review - Simplicity 2933

It honestly doesn't get easier than this. This dress has no sleeves, minimal fitting - it went together like a breeze, and I really like it.

Let's see - a bit more detail.

Fabric: A gift from my aunt. (People who have figured out that the best gift to get me is fabric - those people are awesome. Well, fabric & beer.) She bought it in India, it is a synthetic with really nice drape. I figured it would fray like crazy, and accordingly took precautions - my side seams are French seams.

Pattern: Simplicity 2933 - view A.

Pattern adjustments: This has the potential to be a bit mu-mu-ish, so I cut a size 8, and it fits pretty well. To give context, my normal Simplicity size is 8-10 on top, and 10-12 at the bottom. I took an inch off at the torso, and inches off the hem to get it to hit above the knee.

Time taken: Not long. This was pretty straightforward. An evening's worth? Spread over several, my life is crazy.

Good things: The fabric - I love it!!!! Plus, honestly, while I think it avoids looking mu-mu-ish, it is really easy-fitting, so remarkably comfortable.

Bad things: A tiny little thing, and something that happens to me in RTW as well - there's a bit of excess fabric in the underarm area. If I wanted to bother, it would be an easy enough fix, but honestly, I'm too lazy.

Overall though - I really like this dress, it feels easy and effortless, and that fits perfectly into my life.

Sewing Updates

The dark red BWOF dress really grew on me. I wore it out, and got a ton of compliments on it. And after musing on it, I decided I really liked the fit. It hid all the bumps, and showed all the curves. :)

I realized my picture was pretty blurry & terrible. Here's a close up of the fabric. It is darker than this, and I really like the orange lines running through it.



And since I'm still working on my third dress (sigh!), and don't have pictures of that to share, I'll show you this skirt instead. It is Simplicity 4036, and only took me about 4 months to shop for and insert the zipper. The fabric was a Fabricland remnant, ~$2.50 or so, and I'm incredibly happy with the way it turned out.

Two new dresses

The second version of BWOF 02-2009-124. I took the inch off the torso, which seemed to make it too loose through the waist... I think this dress needs something - it feels very monotone. Opinions, please?



And the second version of Simplicity 2896. This time, with back darts.



This was Canada Day sewing (and finishing up.) I have at-least one more dress planned for this weekend, so, here's to hoping I'll find time to sew.

Sewing pattern review - BWOF 02-2009-124

More from the Feb 2009 BWOF issue. There's a lot of great versions of this dress - however, the one that made me trace and sew was Allison's fantastic version.

This dress was supposedly a muslin. The fabric is a 15-year old dupatta that I've been meaning to turn into some kind of dress. (My version is unlined.)

Holding the pattern up to me, I figured I didn't need to take any inches off the torso, which turned out to be decidedly untrue. At that point, however, the zipper was already in, so I took an inch off the shoulders instead. When I make it again, I'll also add a bit of extra ease at the hip, it feels a bit snug to me.

Otherwise, the dress was super-easy in construction, and sewed up quickly.

Good things:
This dress just goes to show, you don't need complicated patterns - sometimes the simplest pattern looks pretty good.

Bad things:
Well, it isn't a bad thing necessarily, but this dress turned out way dressier than I would have imagined - mostly because of the gold detail in the fabric. I haven't worn it yet - since relatively few of the things I go to involve dressing up to this extent.

Conclusion: I'm actually going to sew another (less dressy) version tonight, since I'm going out tomorrow, and have decided I've nothing to wear. So, its fairly safe to say I really like this pattern.

How am I supposed to get anything done?

When this happens?



Biscuit managed to get inside the plastic bag, and sit on my fabric. Little brat!

Although, to be honest, I'm not getting anything done anyway - I'm sick and I'm in my PJs feeling sorry for myself.

Dear mom. I lied to you.

Yes, mom, I know I said I'd make this shirt for you.

I lied.

You have plenty of shirts, mom. (Ok, so do I, but stay with me here.) And I really wanted this one. See how good it looks?

And its perfect for my regular day-to-day dressing - pretty shirt + jeans.

So, ma. Sorry. I lied. You can't have it. I'm keeping it.

Love,
Reethi.

P.S. BWOF 12-2008-113. Remnant of fabric from this Vogue dress.

On the bookshelf...

As I said in my last post, I recently became a library member. (To explain why this deserves comment - I have to get out of my front door and cross the street to get to the library. That's it. Its only taken me 11 months to do it.

Anyway, I'm taking full advantage of the ability to order from any branch and have it delivered to my branch. Here's what I've been reading in the last few weeks.


The Enchantress of Florence - Salman Rushdie. I liked this book! I grew up in India, and we learned all about the Mughal dynasty in history class. This book was an interesting take on a world that I knew a little about. (However, suspend belief in things like the linearity of time.)

House of many ways - Dianne Wynne Jones Ah, I really, really wanted to love this book, I really did. But alas, no. It was ok, readable, but nothing special. (On the other hand, this book is sort of a sequel to my all-time favorite book - Howl's Moving Castle, and Castle in the Air is also really good, and I recommend both of them highly.)

I'm reading Alice Waters and Chez Panisse right now. I'm finding it a bit heavy going, to be honest. Its filled with listings of menus, names of people that worked at the restaurant, etc. And detail of this sort mostly bores me. I wanted to be interested, but I don't think I'm cut out to read biographies, much though I'd like to.