Lucille Muslin take 2 (+ low-quality photos of the dress)

 

I took in the sleeves by 1″ and the sideseams of the dress by 2″ from underarm to waist, and by 1″ from waist to hem, that seemed to fix the problem! The muslin still has some weird looking folds, but I assumed that it would be fine when done in wool crepe, and I was right! (phew…)

I finished the dress saturday evening, just in time for partying! It’s definitely not a “serious dancing” dress, (even though it’s really comfortable!) it does get very warm, which is good when you need to go outside for some fresh air. And I wasn’t even wearing tights!

I’ll post some more “technical details” when I take proper pictures, for now, here’s me trying to be Lucille Bluth:

Ice cream sandwich!! and me attempting a Lucille Bluth facial expression.

(the last two pictures show the color quite well, it’s an almoust blue purple)

Lucille Dress – Muslin

I made the muslin today, and I was fast too! I didn’t do the collar (I don’t think I’ve ever made a complete muslin, I usually only do one sleeve, or even just one half of the piece), since I wasn’t using a fabric that drapes as nicely as the wool crepe I’m using (I just can’t afford anything else than muslin, even that it kind of expensive in switzerland) I don’t think the collar would’ve looked good anyway.

It’s definitely not the most flattering thing I’ve ever made, but I have quite a few snug sheath dresses already, plus it’s the Lucille Bluth Dress!! Not the Lindsay Fünke Dress.

I do think it looks better in real life than in pictures, but there’s still something about the sleeves that I don’t quite like. I think it’s the folds that radiate from the armpit (never thought I’d use “radiate” and “armpit” in the same sentence…), as visible in the first picture. But I don’t know how those folds will look when I make it with wool crepe. And I want this to be a comfy dress, a dress that I’d wear on a cold day, when I’d rather wear my I <3 NY sweatshirt than a sheath dress but still want to look put together (because the fabric is so gorgeous!), so I don’t want the sleeves to be too tight.

The sleeve has a dart in it, so I’m thinking there might be a way to adjust the pattern, so that the weird folds are gone? Or maybe I need to change the side/sleeve-seam?

Or maybe there’s not really a problem, cause the wool crepe will be heavy enough to not bunch up like the muslin does?

Well, I only just started pre-treating my fabric (and it will take a while, working in small sections) so I have some time to think about it…

Sewing Plans!

It’s getting really cold here, which means I need to start making some of those fall/winter dresses I’ve been dreaming about since July! My plans (I love daydreaming about what I’m going to sew next!) with their fabrics:

 

First up: the Lucille Bluth Dress (butterick 2907), view B with the collar, using a purple wool crepe (it’s so beautiful! But always looks blue in pictures, had to edit this one a bit), but first I want to make a muslin to make sure I like it (not going to waste that gorgeous wool crepe!)

After that, I’ll try to squeeze in another (hopefully) quick butterick 2952, this time another one like the pink one, but from a houndstooth wool, and with a waistband (somehow I always picture myself wearing that (still imaginary) dress in paris, with a big fancy hat on and a crocodile leather purse, walking a big black poodle. I might start calling it the Poodle Dress :)). I’m thinking about making a (removable) collar for this one.

sketch by me, Lady with the Red tights is lauriana, Ad from Chanel, dress to the right by postmodest

Then the Tweed “Chanel” Dress, which will be a slightly bigger project, because I need to draft the pattern. I first wanted to make this when I saw laurianas version, and then kept seeing more versions of this kind of dress! In Paris I finally found the right kind of herringbone fabric (it’s not tweed, but I like to call it the “Tweed Dress” anyway :)). I might also change the design to include a waistband, I’ll see if I like it on the Houndstooth Poodle Sheath first.

Gertie in her Bombshell Dress, Coco Rocha wearing Zac Posen, pattern from the bombshell course

And finally, I want to sew that Bustier Dress from Gertie’s online course! I bought 3 different colors of shantung when I was in New York, this dark seafoam one will be the one I use first. I’m excited for this one! I’m going to take my time with this one (my first time using boning!), but I’m excited to try out a few new techniques :)

Hopefully I can get started on the Lucille Dress soon! I’m a little scared of the wool crepe, pre-treating it is a little complicated from what I’ve read (steaming the entire thing with the iron…), but at least the pattern is fairly simple.

Ah University…

I can’t believe it’s been over a month of not blogging about sewing. I’ve been busy (performing in a musical version of “the importance of being earnest” as Gwendolin & starting university in Zürich and living between Zürich and Lucerne) and unfortunately, the closest I can get to sewing lately is reading sewing blogs and books and instructions.

I did get around to sewing one dress! Nothing “exciting” though, as it’s just another version of the Butterick 2952 sheath dress, this time a mix between the red and the pink: sleeveless like the red, with a scoop-neckline like the pink, made from blue broadcloth. This was a “I really want something new to wear so I don’t just wear the same things all the time but I don’t have time or money to spend”-project, and since it was the third time making butterick 2952, it didn’t take very long.

One “interesting” thing I did do on this is a lapped zipper. I like that it’s faster than the hand-picked one, and after the hand-picked zipper on my pink sheath came undone when I first wore it (that’ll teach me to not put off sewing the waist-stay in!), I wanted someting with a little more “security”, so the machine sewn lapped zipper was perfect! I do like how it turned out, even though I could have done a better job ironing, and the overlap kind of sticks up a little which I don’t like.

Another thing I changed is the back neckline, since the zippers that go all the way up to the base of the neck are hard to zip up on your own (especially in tight sheath dresses with waist stays that don’t allow you to move your arms up over your head haha!). So I made a V-neckline in the back, and now I can get dressed on my own :)

I haven’t gotten around to taking pictures of the dress, but until then, here’s an instagram photo (because posts without pictures are less fun, I know :))

the instagram filter makes the blue look greyish, it’s brighter in real life! Better pictures soon :)

I really like having a pattern like this. I’ve adjusted the fit to be perfect, it’s simple and making it is so fast now! I just “know” this pattern very well by now, it’s great for when I want to sew but don’t have too much time.