Please vote for the Red Dress Contest

First things first. I got an e-mail from my awesome sewing friend Holly who knows I have been totally starved of human interaction with no walking or driving.



Bwahahahahahahahaha! I needed that! And now I have a night out with some quilting ladies that totally rock my world. Good thing, because I never did my February Blocks of the Month.

OK, now to the Red Dress Contest.

You can vote here, and you have five votes to cast. I'm partial to my own project, and my user name is Stacie Thinks. But, even if you don't vote go check out some of the amazing work that was done in this contest.

As always House of Pinheiro killed it with one yard of fabric. Is there anything she can't do?

I love the Tracy Reese pattern made by JudyMac. I would live in that dress for the summer!

And this one by Quinner is just beautiful!

I have never sewn a solid red dress, but it is so flattering and easy to wear. I see more of these in the future. Well, maybe not all red, but at least more solid dresses.


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Red dress contest entry

Whew. Sewing with one leg is a challenge! It's not the actual sitting and sewing though. It's the pinning and ironing and finding where the seam ripper went that killed me. And yes, I am sweating in the photos...and clinging to the mantel so I wouldn't fall!

This is my official entry to the patternreview.com Red Dress Contest. If you like it please vote for it. If you don't, there are some amazing entries that you have to check out and vote for them!

Notice how well my neighbor cut my fancy new black boot out the picture? Notice just the tip of my scooter? She should be a photographer to the gimpy full time! I made a red Colette Peony out of a twill I got super cheap at Joann's. Since this isn't a difficult pattern I really focused on the insides of this dress.

This version fits a little better. I took out a horizontal dart on the back bodice and lengthened my back top darts while letting out my front bodice darts along my waistline.

Now the good part...

The entire dress has been French seamed. This is the front bodice. The sleeve and waistline as well as the side seams are French. I also finished the raw edge of the neck facing with a pretty lace.

Here is a closeup of the facing as well as the arm seam. Gosh, it looks pretty doesn't it?

As a matter of fact that is a French seamed pocket! How nice of you to notice.

And the waste line seam. I am really proud of this dress. It fits great, but more importantly I am very proud of the inside. This is the most care I have put into a garment, and I can't wait to wear it.

By the way, if you haven't made a Peony, you should. It is such an easy dress and so cute.

Red Dress Contest

I am entering Pattern Review's red dress contest. I want to make a red Peony. I was thinking of doing some pin tucks then realized that would be a direct rip off of Mary's red Peony. Since I have already made the Peony, I wanted to fit it a bit more, and make the guts look really great. I made a few adjustments on the pattern and decided to give the whole dress French seams. I've never done this before, but I am a hot mess at it. I have ripped out loads of seams. I have the bodice done though, and it looks fantastic! Here is a preview:

That's right a French seamed set in sleeve...how is that the only part I didn't have to rip out BTW?

A super chic side seam.

From the outside.

It looks pretty awesome. The fabric is a medium weight twill. It is very crisp and nice; however, I don't know that I should be French seaming twill. Good thing I never claimed to know it all!

Also, today there was a small tragedy at Chateau Stacie. My trusty iron of nine years (only opened in the last year and a half since I began sewing) died. He heated up super hot and burned my board cover. I unplugged him because it smelled like it was burning and he never turned on again. I got a new one to replace him already, but dang. It just doesn't feel the same. Rest in Peace iron.

A very nice dress or two

The part of Mr. Thinks He Can will be played by Ryan Gosling.

True story. That also explains the glasses and general disorient going on with these shots. 

I really like how the Peony went together. It was a quick dress to make, and yielded nice results. I did make a muslin of the bodice, and that helped. Had I not I don't think it would have worked out at all. I let out the front waist darts a bit and took in and lengthened the top back darts quite a lot. I plan on making the cummerbund for this pattern in black fabric or maybe hot pink to match my zipper.

See the pull there at the top? I do mean it is hot pink! I also have my hands in my pockets for that picture.

I used some of the left over print from Brindy's quilt with squirrels running up trees. You can't see them, but I like knowing they are there.

Overall I am pleased with my new dress. It went together very quickly and I plan on making it again. I would like a V-neck version I think as well.

Check out the dress Holly made, and I mostly watched her make yesterday. She did a fantastic job on this Cynthia Rowley for Simplicity 2178 dress. It was a doozie because of the tie at the shoulder, but I believe we liked the results so much we both want to make another one. It should go faster this time. She also made the awesome curtains she is standing in front of as well. She is so accomplished like that.

Have you ever hit a wall?

I have had a Peony dress cut out for a week, but haven't been able to talk myself into going and sewing.

I found this medium weight cotton on ebay for maybe $8 with shipping. When I got it in I knew it was perfect for the pattern except...there isn't enough. I had to skip facings, shorten the sleeves and use something else for the pockets. Mary made a really great Peony with bias tape instead of facings, so I feel OK with it. I made a muslin of the bodice, advice by lladybird, a few weeks ago.I also wanted to do piping like she had done, but I just don't have enough extra fabric. It fit pretty well, but I did let out the bodice darts some. I told myself this afternoon to just go in and sew the darts today. I got the whole bodice done and half of the skirt done. This is a quick project! Then hunger called.

I put out some drumsticks for Asian Glazed Drumsticks. It is my favorite recipe right now, so it won. Check it out.

Anyway, to keep me accountable, I took a bad picture in the bodice. It is proof, it is out there and not too bad. It should be finished this week.

Not a flattering shot, but it is turning out nice. Tomorrow is quilt club. I don't know what to take to work on. I finished my quilt, and don't want to start another just yet because I don't know what I want to do. I may just go and hang out. Holly and I are in charge of dinner anyway. 

Holy Cankles Batman and how that relates to The Colette Sewing Handbook

Remember my fall at the park from the other night? It was a severe sprain and not a break. I got a giant boot to wear, but I still can't put any weight on it anyway. I have basically been lying down with my feet up in the air either conscious or unconscious in a Vicodin haze.

It looks a lot like this from my point of view.

See that right foot? No it is not an optical illusion, my right ankle measures 7.5 inches larger in circumference than the right. So long for now jeggings.

Also, being as that is my right ankle, it is my sewing and driving foot. Le sigh, If it weren't for the Vicodin I would be totally stressed about that.

Also, because I can't bear any weight on my foot just now I have been scooting around the house on my butt on my assistant's dog bed, which she thinks is a hilarious magic carpet game in which she is meant to chase me, lick me and make me laugh so hard I stop she can get on the bed with me and we can ride together.

I know I am not being punished though, because last night I asked Mr. Thinks He Can if he had a rolling chair at his office I could use, after a long trip of Magic Carpet Ride to the bathroom and back. He said no, but there was one someone had left by the dumpster. GET IT!!!! What a blessing. I now have abandoned the dog bed and have been rolling around the house in my dirty, old, used office chair which my assistant sniffs a little too much for me to be comfortable with.

So, during a moment of self pity, before the office chair/dumpster miracle, I bought the The Colette Sewing Handbook off BN.com. I know Sarai wants us to use Amazon, but I get a sweet educator discount and had a gift certificate to use at BN.



I have enjoyed her blog posts on the five pattern she is including in the book.

Taffy and Meringue - A cute shirt and scalloped skirt

And three dresses!

Pastille - a simple shift

Truffle - a sleeveless dress with a pretty peplum-ruffle.

Licorice - a pretty dress with sleeves, but I am scared if I try this one it will look Becky Home Ecky. I may need to extend the sleeves to full length to feel comfortable with it. Still cute though!

It is set to ship November 16, which gets it to me just in time for my week off for Thanksgiving! Another awesome thing to look forward to!

The Anthro-Inspired Dress (So Easy, Seriously!)

Hello readers! In Stacie's absence (vacation, where she is showing off her pink beach cover up and making everyone jealous) she asked me to contribute to the blog and write about the Anthro-Inspired dress we made. First, Stacie gets credit for finding this amazing tutorial via Sarah on the Sew Weekly during embellishment week. It was so easy to follow along with and for any budding sewers out there, I would recommend this project right up there with the Simplicity skirt we made.

Also, I have to cop to buying ALL the elastic in Jo-Anns, on accident of course. Stacie and I shopped the 4th of July sale and I accidently bought the whole roll of elastic we needed for this project. My bad. I was so excited to make this dress that I went home and made 2 since the first one was so easy. Stacie followed suit and before you know it, we're obsessing over this project like we did on the Simplicity skirt a la making 4 and 5 at a time!

Here is a link to the tutorial.

The first one took me about 2 hours because I did the lace detail. The second one, without the lace detail took me about an hour and a half. I also had some machine issues when I was sewing on the elastic. I had to do some creative sewing to cover up my mistakes on the first dress, you'll notice the elastic band is smaller than the second dress, despite using elastic from the same roll. On the second dress, my machine was throwing up thread all over my stitches so I went back over it with a "decorative" stitch (zig zag was the only thing that could cover up what my machine did) which ended up working out.

Here is Stacie's creation, made with a gray seersucker material. Overall, a very cute dress that is casual but still looks good. I will definitely be making another one! I already have plans for a maxi-version with this lovely silk fabric I picked up...