The Foxy Dress

This will be a brief post. I spent a good part of the day at the dump in the heat and I'm a little knackered ( a British term, but I love it!)

 

I finished this dress Thursday morning. It's been in the works a few weeks (?months) and I am glad to be able to now wear it.

I have very few pictures of me wearing the dress -the city is enduring a serious mosquito infestation and the less time spent standing still the better. Cue the sour face.



 

I originally cut it out during Sew Dolly Clacket. It is a mash-up of two vintage patterns. The neckline and skirt of Style 4980 and the under-bus gathering of Style 4892. I raised the neckline an inch or so or it would not have been at all work appropriate.

The fabric- Ed Emberley for Cloud 9 Picture Pie Fox quilting cotton. The first time I saw a picture of the fabric the back ground looked more gun-metal gray and I think it would have looked better with a slightly darker background. Nonetheless, I still think it is pretty cute.

I lined the bodice in beige cotton- the same stuff I've used to line my last few dresses.



 

I made no attempts at pattern matching but still one fox is almost perfectly aligned on the front center.



 

A cool and comfortable summer make. Given its name it should qualify for Oonapalooza but its still a little tame for that. Maybe I could consider it part of Heather's Sundress Sew-A-Long?

 

Now I really need should work on some tops.

Sewing Smalls

 Comfy knickers -every woman's quest. The underwear I bought after my surgery last summer (because the underwear I had before my surgery rubbed the top of my scar) is starting to wear out. While those knickers were ok, they were not the best and I can't see the point of replacing them with a similar, sub-optimal store-boughts.
The underwear pictured below are at least 10 years old and are...ok... too, but better than the latest purchase. I figured I would copy these ones.
Initially I was going to trace them, but then The Geek happened by. Why don't you use scan them she enquired? I must have looked puzzled (something that happens frequently when The Geek flexes her powerful brain). She explained that I would take a picture and use CorelDraw to make a pattern. Lead on, MacDuff.

Picture were taken of all three sections (tho' I forgot to get ones with the ruler she placed on each piece for sizing reference).

 She then freehand traced around each picture and smoothed it out with the software. The half she traced was then cloned and flipped, and then the picture was removed to leave only the 'pattern'.

The pattern was duly printed out on to letter-sized paper, taped together and then cut out. I cut out two sets? pairs? last night out of some interlock I picked up at an estate sale. Judging by how it reacted to the iron I suspect it is a poly-cotton blend, but it works for a muslin.

 I stitched  up this morning. It likely would have taken about 20 minutes had I not broken a needle in the serger, and then run out of looper thread.

I'm sold. These actually fit better than the originals.

 I have some bamboo interlock destined for more. And tons of scraps to use up!

Happy Canada Day!

It has been a miserable, wet, windy day; we have yet to reach our forecast high of 17. I have only been out of the house briefly whereas on most Canada Days I am out all day enjoying the festivities somewhere.

I have a very cheerful song tho', co-written by Chris Hadfield, arguably one of our most famous Canadians, and his brother.

Enjoy what ever you are doing today; one of the benefits of living in this grand country.