La Latina Pin-Up Dress (Part I)

My friend C asked me to make her a couple of vintage style dresses to wear to work - think "sexy secretary".  I've been busy on the first dress this past week in between work, cleaning, socializing and procrastinating packing...  (We are moving to the coast in a few weeks - eek!).

I used Simplicity 2250 for the bodice, and am making a slim-fitting pencil skirt for the lower part of the dress.  I had some black polyester fabric kicking around in my stash with a red and white roses print on it - perfect for a sexy, retro feel.  Unfortunately I didn't have enough of it to make the wide straps that C requested so she could wear a normal bra with it, so I used a black cotton twill and then used scraps of the rose print to make piping on the outer edge of the straps.  I think it turned out beautifully!

C wanted the dress to be quite tight (especially in the skirt part) so I picked up some stretchy red ponti de roma knit fabric to bring out the red roses in the bodice.  As you can see from the photos, it's not a perfect match of reds, but it's the best I could do.  Hopefully she can wear a wide belt to help break it up a little bit...

The colours in this dress make me think of a sexy Latin pin-up from the 50's, or possibly ChaCha DiGregorio from Grease (she sure got a bad rap, didn't she?  lol) so I've sort of been calling it the La Latina...  I still need to finish this dress, complete the second dress for C, and pack up my house - all before April 15th.  Yikes!

Hello Polly!

This is a post for my grandmother who is learning to use the internet.  She is a quilter extraordinaire and made most of my clothes for me when I was young.  I wanted her to see my blog and see all the pics of what I've created (she lives 3 provinces away... dommage).

Granny and her 3 grandkids (plus one addition!) on my wedding day in 2008

In other news, my highschool pal Candace Lacina is lighting it up this year with her new album released on itunes, as well as her YouTube cover of Shontelle's "Say Hello To Goodbye" (which Ms Shontelle herself even tweeted about!!!).  Candace is an amazingly talented singer-songwriter based out of Calgary these days, and she has got to be one of the nicest, kindest, and funniest people I have ever met.  Enjoy!

Spring Wardrobe Challenge Underway!

Ahhh springtime!  Days are getting longer, people are walking around town in shorts paired with a puffy vest, dust is flying up off the road from vehicles, and I'm getting a sudden craving for pastel-hued clothing!  I made this office-appropriate dress based on the 9 to 5 dress from the Built By Wendy Dresses book (so awesome).  The book suggested making this dress out of an orange linen, but I ended up using a cheap pastel orange twill that I bought on clearance for $3/m.  I think the twill works alright, but in hindsight I should have not bothered with interfacing on the sleeve facings... it's a bit too stiff for my liking.

I pretty much followed the book exactly, except that I added 2 darts in the back to reduce some of the volume on either side of the zipper.  This is also the first time I've used an actual zipper foot to install an invisible zipper and it looks frigging fantastic!  The book also suggested making a belt out of the same fabric, but for now I've just styled it with a dark brown skinny belt that I already had.  I also ended up making belt loops to keep the belt  from floating randomly around my torso.

I'm still not 100% sure about the colour.  I really like orange a lot, but I think this shade might wash me out.  Luckily I get pretty dark in the summer (hooray for Spanish bloodlines!) so I think it will look better then.  Sorry the pics are kind of blurry... I guess the lighting wasn't too great today (too bright out).

I also finally got some photos of my finished Crepe dress...  It's been done for a few weeks - I swear! 

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, but as I said in an earlier post, I'm not sure if a sew-along is the right process for me...  I prefer to just keep on sewing once I'm in the groove and get the entire project finished!  I did a Pattern Review for the Crepe dress, and plan to make the dress again, but maybe with a few alterations.  I found the bodice to be a bit short for me (I have a long torso) and even though I made the second smallest size, I still had to alter the bust.  I think Colette patterns are meant for curvier gals, and sadly that is not me...

A Wrench In My Plans

I was just about finished my Crepe dress when my serger decided to stop working...  ARG!!!  So that puts my dress on hold for now until I can get my machine fixed.  Boo....  I guess now I'll have to finish all that hand-sewing I've been putting off.  *sigh*

I was poking around online yesterday and saw the Spring Palette Challenge on Colette Patterns' website.  I think I'm going to join it, as I want to make a couple of new dresses for work.  That's right - I got a job!  Woo hoo!  And for the first time since before I started university, my job has a dress code - business casual.  Considering that most of my jobs (in the natural resources sector) often have my co-workers wearing sweatpants to work, this is basically like going to a friggin' ball.

Like everything else I sign up for, I joined this Challenge a bit late so please bear with me as I try to catch up!

Here is my Inspiration Board (created using Polyvore):  

Welcome to Polyvore!  featuring victoria beckham dresses

And here are my colour palettes (I couldn't find just one that I liked):

The pastels are traditionally "Spring-y" and I love them, but I do love a bright hit of colour especially after a long, grey winter.  Plus they transition nicely into Summer.

I need to go through my patterns and see what I want to make first!  Decisions, decisions...

Crepe Sew-Along (Update #1)

I'm pleased to report that I am finished the top of my Crepe dress as part of Gertie's Crepe Sew-Along!  I think the sew-along has been a great way for me to learn better sewing techniques, but the actual sewing schedule doesn't really work for me...  I'm definitely more of a "guerrilla style" sewer where I like to tackle one project at a time and finish it in (more or less) a single day, rather than someone who only does one small bit each day, dragging it out over a long period of time.  That being said, I do realize that I am fortunate to have lots of spare time - no kids to take to soccer after school, etc etc.  So fair enough - it works for lots of folks.

See feedback and fitting tips on Flickr

I followed Gertie's alterations and moved the bust darts down about an inch, but now it seems a bit weird.  The fabric keeps bunching up under the bust, and some ladies commented on my Flickr photo saying that I should probably move the bust dart back up to its original spot as well as take it in a bit under the bust.  So far, I've just pinned the fabric (no photos yet) and it definitely seems to improve things.  So a big shout out to the Flickr folks!

Anyhow, we took a week-long vacation to the coast (Vancouver Island and Squamish) to visit some friends and just get away from it all, so I fell behind a bit in the Sew Along.  Oh well, I will try and finish the last of it this week.  Possibly tomorrow, I'm rather sleepy now.  Good night!

A picture I took at the Victoria Butterfly Garden - a great place to go on a wet, grey day in February!

An Ode to Newfoundland...

I'm sure I've mentioned before that my very best friend lives on the complete OPPOSITE side of the country from me.  And Canada is a very large country.  She is getting married this summer and I am hoping very much to be able to go out to Newfoundland for her wedding.  In case you have never been to (or heard of) Newfoundland, it is a breathtakingly beautiful island province on the very east coast of Canada.  Cape Spear (just outside the capital city of St John's) is the most eastern point in all of North America.  The next stop on your eastward travels would be Ireland (incidentally where a large percentage of Newfoundlanders trace their ancestry back to).  A fact you can easily hear in the speech of the fine folks of Newfoundland.

So without further ado, here is a fantastic song from the band Hey Rosetta from St John's, NF.  Enjoy!

Crepe Sew-Along update: photos have been posted at Flickr.

Shuswap Beach Tunic - Photo update!

We finally got some sunshine, so I ventured outside in my Shuswap Beach Tunic to get some photos.  I used the Palm Beach Tunic from the Built By Wendy Dresses book I've blogged about in the past, and an old vintage bedsheet from the 1970s.  I think the dress has a fun, Marimekko-esque vibe to it.  Enjoy!

Front view

Back view

Side profile

 

Definitely NOT Summer!!!

Beaucoup de neige :'(