On a Christmas Coat Dress!

Somewhere early on in my pattern buying I purchased McCall 9130, but it ended up being one of those patterns that I've skipped over time and time again because of the amount of fabric involved and the fact that it's primarily made up of four giant pieces, which doesn't leave much room for error.

Looking at some fabric I had been given along with the fabric I used for last year's Christmas dress (apparently November and December are my months to conduct sewing experiments) and being in the mood to attempt some pattern grading and alterations I finally decided to give it a go this month and ended up being very pleased with the results. 

My primary alterations involved taking it in by about two inches to make it smaller, adding a lining and, most noticeably, shortening it to right below the bottom button.

Now, I'm guessing the reason that this was meant to be an "unlined coat" is based on the sleeves and how the underarm curves wouldn't necessarily match on both layers, but my outer fabric was so thin I fortunately didn't have any noticeable bunching and it ended up working out really well. What didn't work was that in cutting out the pieces and eliminating the facing section (which was part of the overall front piece) I left the seam allowance off.  This meant having to go through the extra step of adding bias tape to both front pieces to close it off, but I actually really like the way it looks with the bias tape, so it didn't end up being that big of a mistake.

Happy to have been able to use some of the buttons from my grandma's button box!

My other foolish mistake, due to working on this over a period of a few weeks and just not thinking, was failing to baste on the interfacing before cutting my button holes. It made things a little more complicated, since I then had to deal with cutting through the lining layer and interfacing and probably took away extra support for the bound buttonholes on the front piece. As I'll probably only wear this a few times a year, though, I'm also counting this as being a rather minor thing, since at least I did get the interfacing in and pretty much everything else went smoothly.

While I referred to it as my Christmas coat while I was working on it, I get the feeling that I'll really be wearing it more as a dress, since it pairs well with leggings, so for now I'm happy to call it my Christmas coat dress!

♥ 🎄 ♥

On A Colonial Look

As a follow-up to my last post, which may have left some of you wondering...While not my original intention to sew a colonial style dress, I came across Hollywood Pattern 1205 (1930's or 40's) near the end of September and knew it would be this year's costume and I am exceptionally pleased with how it turned out.

I really loved making this dress and felt very elegant in it! The panniers (the piece from the last post being one of them) are probably one of my favorite parts of this dress just because they're so far from what I normally sew.

Construction-wise, it was a pretty straightforward pattern to work with. The side opening was interesting as I'm not used to having an overlap between the front bodice piece and the back skirt piece and I'm still not entirely sure I interpreted the instructions correctly, but as the skirt stayed on I'm not going to question it. In relation to that, I also ran out of the right size snaps. As a result, my waist band ended up with only two snaps instead of three and the pannier which clearly couldn't be sewn on at the front if I ever hoped to get the dress on or off ended up with just one instead of two or three, leaving me with none for the bodice. Given that I was still sewing them on at around 10 at night on the 30th, I was more than happy to resort to safety pins the next morning for the bodice seam and to keep the scarf/collar in place with the belt piece happily covering them from view. 

Overall, despite the issues with the snaps, which I'll be fixing as soon, I would consider this a very successful project! ♥️

On a New Sewing Project: A Photo Post

Started a new project yesterday, which contains probably the most exciting shaped pieces I've ever worked with. Now to figure out how to get them pleated properly!

And, for those wondering, yes, I'm still planning to share Peter Pan skirt photos! Just waiting for a slightly warmer day to wear it! ♥️

On Alice in Wonderland Wall Decorations!: A Photo Post

A few weeks ago I was browsing on Etsy and was delighted to come across an almost a complete set of Dolly Toy Co. pressed cardboard Fairytale Pin-ups for Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Needless to say, I bought them right away and now they're living on my one of my walls! While I doubt I'll be able to track down the missing story placard that goes with them, I did manage to find a picture of one, so I think I might just print that out on card stock and place it next to the lantern.

♥️ ♥️ ♥️