Embroidered Moon Shirt

I started this shirt about two years ago. It was one of those crazy ideas — hey, this would look so pretty if I  hand embroidered the fabric for the cuffs and collar! Yes, a great idea. But soon after I started, it became very clear that it was going to be one of those projects. Yep, the ones you get a little bit into before you realize how tedious an idea it really was. Do I really want to wrestle with this stupid thread and needle, or would I rather go do those dishes I’ve really been meaning to get to. Organize the sock drawer, yeah, that definitely needs to happen!

Okay, well, I’m not sure I ever organized my sock drawer, and many many sinks full of dishes were washed, but I eventually finally finished this project. There are plenty of projects I’ve dropped and never picked up again, but I was too excited to actually wear this shirt to let it moulder on the “in progress” pile forever.

I am so glad I powered through and finished this shirt. It is everything I hoped it would be. The pattern is the Archer Button Up shirt by Grainline Stuido, and I used Sprout Patterns printed fabric to make life easier. The shirt uses two designs from Spoonflower fabric, poly crepe de chine, by designer Marketa Stengl. You can see why I was inspired to add embroidery to these gorgeous designs, I wanted to add a bit of depth and texture to the lovely embroidery inspired designs.

Moon Phase Embroidery fabric by Marketa Stengl on Spoonflower

Stitches on Blue fabric by Marketa Stengl on Spoonflower

I got the effect by doing a simple straight stitch over top of the drawn design in sulky silver thread. Given that the fabric is so fine and drapey, I interfaced the cuff and collars. I love the texture it adds to the garment, and just that little subtle something special. I love that using Sprout Patterns takes out the irritating parts of sewing, leaving me more time to add unique design details.

Embroidered Moon Shirt

Embroidered moon shirt front

Embroidered moon shirt collar detail

Embroidered moon shirt, collar and buttons

Embroidered Moon Shirt cuff detail

Embroidered Moon shirt back

Embroidered moon shirt back yoke

Embroidered Moon Shirt collar back detail.

1920’s Christmas Dress

Well, here’s the yearly Spoonflower Christmas Party dress. The theme this year was the 1920s, so of course I had to draft my own pattern.

I found this amazing art-deco-ish embroidered net fabric at Mary Jo’s in Charlotte and couldn’t really resist. The lining, and the skirt, is a simple navy blue satin. It has a dropped waist, loose fit, handkerchief skirt line, and (my favorite bit) a cowled low back. I also, of course, bedazzled the crap out of it. The skirt moved really gorgeously when I walked and danced (and in the wind), which is obviously why I assume it was so popular for this era. And I had to make a gif of it.

I didn’t use a pattern for this dress. I hand drafted a basic bodice sloper, and then used that as the base to drape the fabric directly on the dress form. Its a simple silhouette, but I am still ridiculously proud of how it turned out. The skirt is just a square with a slit cut in the middle. Then I used my old favorite hot-fix crystals in a deep blue all along the hemline to give it a bit of weight and help it move nicely.

 

It has always been a goal of this home-made blog to encourage me to take more and better photos of my work. Especially to take photos of myself wearing each sewing project. Well, here you are, proof that I wear what I sew! A little sloppy but better than nothing ;-). I really enjoy the one where I’m making crazy chicken arms, but I included it for shits and giggles, and because it shows the movement of the skirt quite well.

Spring Birthday Dress

So here’s my birthday dress for 2015.

The pattern is Dahlia by Colette Patterns. I used the sleeveless version and altered it a little bit to shorten the straps to raise the neckline, and I lengthened the hem in the back to create an asymmetrical hemline.

Its a great pattern, easy and fast to put together, with very little fitting involved considering the gathered bodice and six-panel skirt. I liked the use of self-made bias tape for the straps and sleeve binding, it was a nicely finished detail that didn’t require a lot of effort. I’ll probably try the sleeve version when it gets to be closer to fall again and I’m looking for warmer clothing.

I wrote a review of this pattern here: Colette Dahlia Dress ★★★★

The fabric was a spring green linen I found on sale at joann’s and simply had to have. But I wanted a bit of color to really give some detail, so I added the hand embroidery.

Christmas Dress 2014

So this was my Christmas dress of the year. I knew I wanted to do something a little bit over the top, couture inspired, silvery gray, and covered in sequins. I was predominantly inspired by this 1950s dropped waist dress by Hardy Aimes. (And created a inspiration board on pinterest.) I ended up not going with the scalloped edge neckline like I wanted, but kept the scalloped dropped waist.

I bought an entire bolt of tulle off amazon (where, fyi, you can get it super cheap!), about 60000 sequins in a variety of gray and smoke and rainbow sheen colors, about 10000 hotfix crystals, and an acre of ribbon. I even got a tambour embroidery hook and frame, and told myself I was going to learn an awesome new skill. As you can see, I totally ran out of time. There are some sequins along the seam at the dropped waist, and at the neckline, but thats it. The neckline was actually originally going to be the edge embroidery on an epic shawl I planned to wear, but ended up repurposing when it was clear I was barely going to be able to get the dress finished, much less the decoration.

I didn’t use a pattern at all. This is probably the most complicated garment I completely planned and draped by hand. There were a couple of terrifying moments when the party I wanted to wear it to was three days away and I thought I had completely screwed up the bodice. Thanks to an amazing friend who ended up drafting extra darts while it was on my body, the thing turned out amazing. The upper back is unlined gathered tulle, and on my skin it looked amazing. I wish my dress form wasn’t gray so you could see the effect.

Overall, I am very happy with this dress. I got an unusual shape that I’d never played with before in the dropped waist. The color was beautiful at nighttime parties with lots of lights. I got a ton of compliments, and would probably wear it again if I had fancy parties to go to, ever. But I do wish I’d been able to sequin and bedazzle the shit out of it like I wanted to. Maybe I’ll get around to it someday, but I doubt it. There are always more things to sew!

Chevron Dress

Remember that velvet christmas dress? I said I had plans for that pattern again, and here it is! I chose this fabric because it exaggerates the interesting piece-work construction. The pattern is Vogue 8814. It’s fascinating to me how the same pattern can create dramatically different dresses. Summery and bright and floaty, versus dark and smooth and luxurious.

The fabric is by Domesticate of Spoonflower, printed on kona cotton. I wrote a review for this pattern here: Vogue Dress V8814 ★★

This was also an excuse to play with some hand embroidery. It is a braided chain stitch. I love the tutorials on Sarah’s Hand Embroidery’s website, the pictures are clear and beautiful and helpful.

Science Girl Eats

Right, yes, so I’ve been really really busy. Really really really really busy I mean. But here, finally, is Science Girl at the NC Museums of Life and Science’s After Hours Event: Science of Eats! Yay!

The fabric was designed by my friend and coworker Janet, but she doesn’t have anywhere for me to link to it, so I’ll have to add that later. (she also took the photos of me, and my hair.) Oh, and what’s that in my hair? Its a stick of asparagus, and some basil leaves. Because I NEVER pick a theme and only take it halfway. (And a carnation, but its February, there are no good red fruits or vegetables you can find in a grocery story at 6pm with only 5 minutes to figure out how you’re going to stick it in your hair. And I think maybe carnations are edible anyways.)

I did the embroidery myself, to add just that little touch to make the dress more like the poster for the event. I got so many compliments for this dress, and its still one of my favorite ones to wear!

The pattern is great and one I’ve used several times. I’ve reviewed it here: Butterick Retro Dress B5603 ★★★★★