Victory’s Nicola Dress: A Splash of Van Gogh

Posted in 2013 Sewing, Finished Projects by

Howdy do! Oh boy, long story short this post certainly took awhile to get here. But, alas, it’s here! I’ll start by saying that I love this dress, but it’s been soured by a rather frustrating sewing process. Gotta have one of those every once in awhile to make sure you really love what you do, yes? Yes…

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This is the Nicola Dress by Victory Patterns, my first pattern made from this indie company. I used rayon fabric that I had bought three years ago at Sew L.A. and the print is called “Van Gogh” (also used in the blue colorway for my 1920s kimono). This fabric was destined for a few other dress patterns before it finally made the cut with this one, no pun intended. :-D The skirt is lined with Bemberg rayon and the dress closes with two buttons at the waist, one interior button and one exterior.

Size-wise, I cut a size 2 at the bust and hips and a size 4 at the waist. I almost thought I didn’t need to be so precise and could’ve gone with a straight size 2 since this is a wrap dress, but I’m glad I went with the usual measurements.

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Saved By the Safety Pin

Posted in Musings & Everything Else by

I came down with a bit of a cold and spent my day off today watching The Great British Sewing Bee. Definitely a nice way to be entertained without having to do too much! Have you seen it?

nicola

From the Victory Patterns site.

In other news, I finished the Nicola Dress from Victory Patterns and wore it yesterday. I had grand plans to photograph it today, but my cold got in the way! Oh well. I will work on that soon and write up my review. Also, since this is labeled a beginner pattern, I thought I’d add some extra tips that I felt were missing from the instructions that might help beginners sew up this pattern.

Before then, however, I’m going to try to add some snaps to the bodice AND the skirt – maybe I’m just very modest, but having practically my whole right leg show when I took a step forward isn’t exactly what I had in mind!! And, oh boy, this skirt is quite revealing when sitting down. Thank goodness for safety pins. :)

Despite these concerns, it’s a beautiful pattern and I received a number of compliments. It’ll be nice not having to rely on a safety pin, which popped open a couple of times during the night when I stood up from where I was sitting. Yikes and a half!

Nicola Progress and Colette Events

Posted in 2013 Sewing, Reality? Check! by

wip-nicola

Here’s a quick shot of the bodice of my latest work in progress, the Nicola Dress by Victory Patterns. I was originally going to use another fabric for this dress, but since I’m on a tight deadline and the sheer fabric was going to require underlining, I decided to go with this rayon instead. The print is called “Van Gogh” – perfect because the event I’m going to will be in an art gallery!

I made a muslin of the top and it fit well enough for me to say, “Just go for it, kiddo.” I cut a size 2 at the bodice and transitioned up to a size 4 at the waist, which is what I usually do. There are a lot of darts on this baby! Three on each bodice piece and two in the back (so eight total). The rayon wasn’t liking my chalk pen so I thread traced the darts instead. Took some time but they came out nice.

One thing I noticed is that I probably should have done an FBA. I’ve only seen a few other finished versions of Nicola online and I could sense that this neckline might be a bit revealing on me – turns out I was right! I mean, it’s nice for a date or something…but not a work event. :) It all works out though because I happen to have a matching camisole that will pair nicely with this dress.

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Hello, 1966! My Mad Men Faves

Posted in Sewing Ideas by

Saturday morning is one of my favorite times of the week, and I thought I’d take the time to share photos I took of some Mad Men fashions that caught my eye as I watched the entire 5th season on my TV. Yeah, photos of the TV – high tech, I know! These photos were taken as I was cutting out the pieces for my Purple/Blue Wrap Dress. :)

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I just love this dress that Joan wears (I noticed she wore it twice in season 5, can’t hide from me!). The color shows up better in the top photo, but I wanted to get both sides of the dress to see if I could one day recreate it. I think Gertie’s Wiggle Dress from her book would be a great match for this one, and Charlotte at Tuppence Ha’penny wrote a tutorial on how to draft your very own sailor collar. Helpful!

I also think the colorful tie peaking out of Joan’s collar is really cute. This would also be a nice project to try my hand at covered buttons and a lapped zipper, both of which I haven’t attempted yet.

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3 is the Magic Sewing Number

Posted in Reality? Check! by

This post is about meeting 3 sewing ladies, 3 fabrics, and 3 patterns. Yes, I also met fabric and patterns. It’s the new thing!

In any case, a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to meet up with Meg the Grand, oonaballoona and Clio & Phineas in the Garment District! Meg announced on her blog that she would be visiting from Chicago so I was excited to finally meet her. I’ve been following her blog for a couple of years now after “meeting” her on the Sew Weekly Sewing Circle, which sadly seems to have slowed down of late. This was also my first time meeting oona (I respect her usage of all lowercase letters as I would for e.e. cummings) after a number of failed attempts, yay! And it was also nice to meet Clio and find a new blog to follow. How cute is this knit hippo?!

We visited a couple of new-to-me stores (I’m so unadventurous), including Spandex House at 263 West 38th Street. Yep, Spandex House! I’ve heard about it through Peter’s blog, but never went in since I had this idea in my head that the store only sold spandex for workout clothes or something. Silly me, t’would seem.

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