cottington's so crafty: thread

I sure waited until the last minute to sew up this Halloween version of the Little Lizard King circle skirt, City Lights. I kept reminding myself, kept putting it off, thinking the tulle would torture me. I bought the fabric a few weeks ago, and YIKES, Halloween is in 5 days, and I finished the dress only last night. It is super cute, though.

Clearly, this is a pretty basic circle skirt pattern, and there is a sash option that I didn't include, though part of me was sad at the last LAST minute about not doing so. Then I got over it, aha. It was late. I know people can do the math and magically make a circle skirt, but I'm lazy and get weird about figuring things out on my own.

Camden has been desperate for more sparkly/metallic in her life, so, I doubled it up - combining some glittery tulle from Joann Fabrics and some Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed Metallic Rainbow from Modern Domestic. It's a great combination, though the metallic doesn't really come across in photos. The metallic also doesn't include any purple, but it all works out well enough.

I could have gone with tulle UNDER the skirt, but the whole idea was something sheer swishing about over the solid layer. I wasn't sure whether or not to hem the tulle, but I did - and was bummed I didn't have matching thread, somehow. I wanted the colors of the skirt to pop, not the threads. It works, and nobody will care, but I do, naturally.

The front waistband is flat, and the back is elasticized, which I always like, though I definitely waisted a couple inches of elastic, because I was sewing late and wasn't able to test the fit on Camden until this morning.

The directions for the pattern seem great, though I mostly just sewed it up without using them, which is probably par for the course for anyone sewing this pattern. I printed out the size 8 and 9/10, though I ended up cutting the larger size...and I wish I had bothered to lengthen it, for no real reason, of course - just to make it last longer.

Camden super loves it and showed a friend today how well it twirls, though I guarantee the one twirling photo I am including is awful, aha!

More fun we have been having!

Writing post cards at the fort

Working on Tiberius's Captain America costume

Through pure magic, I finished Camden's school photo outfit - score one point for me! I mean, there were failures, pin pricks and a 1:30 a.m. bedtime involved, but suffer pain and sleep loss for beauty, right??

No joke.

I am pretty much in LOVE with the final look of this Georgia and Lulu combination by Violette Field Threads. I am so glad someone in the group mentioned she had combined these two dresses. As soon as I checked the pattern pages on the VFT web-site, I knew it was a go for me, too! I then realized last week this would have to be her outfit for picture day, as I had clearly put NO thought into it.... then it was rush, rush, rush!

For the fabrics, I used Robert Kaufman Essex metallic from Modern Domestic, and you likely can't see the metallic in the photos, but it's SUCH a nice compliment to the dress! As for the main dress fabric, Camden chose it on the discount table at Bolt - score!!!

Now, I did something I so rarely do - in fact, when WAS the last time I sewed up a pdf pattern??? Too many cute patterns have gotten to me lately, and as VFT only sells pdf patterns, I had to suck it up - along with a few other designers in my sewing future. Anyway, putting VFT patterns together is a piece of cake!! I like how the pieces are matched up; that sort of detail is a BIG deal. I did learn I need to go through Adobe to print my patterns at the right size, as I wasn't getting my one inch by one inch box.

Starting with Georgia, the pattern itself is relatively simple - sleeves, bodice main and lining and skirt pieces - along with three other ruffles. If you are not into making small ruffles and inserting them at necklines and small circumference sleeves, then this isn't the pattern for you. Someone in the VFT Pattern Group mentioned having issues with the sleeve ruffles flipping out, but that doesn't appear to really be a problem with my version, and as for the neckline, I understitched the ruffle seam to the lining, just to keep things nice and neat. Installing the placket was easy enough, but I still don't know if the placket is 100% needed. We'll just pretend that it is, aha - in terms of getting the dress over the body, I mean.

As for the construction of the bodice and skirt, I sewed the sleeves onto the main dress fabric then hand-stitched the lining to the seam - and I did the same with the skirt/bodice attachment... as I did HERE. I was definitely feeling the pain last night, as I stayed up way too late and kept stabbing myself with pins, but I just felt this pattern, too, was lacking in nicer finishing touches. I just don't feel a dress should have a serged (or otherwise exposed) seem, when it could be completely covered up. It just feels so much more polished and is worth the time. And the only top-stitching, other than the hem, that I did on the dress was on the sleeves, to hold the ruffled seam in place nicely. Overall, it's a super fun dress, and I may have lengthened it for a bit more wear.

Moving on to the Lulu, I just think it is a great pinafore. I am happy with the basic construction and the fit. I did a few things differently on this, too - to make my life easier and to give it a better end result, though sadly, a couple things didn't work out because I am a fool, LOL. The shoulder straps are to be sewn on the tab side and then folded under and top-stitched on the opposite side, but I sewed it as a tube then turned it out. I assume it is NOT done this way because the tabs are a bit annoying to pull through - but NOT impossible. And I didn't want too much top-stitching on this, either. I did insert lace on the shoulders, but I didn't think about inserting it on both sides.... and I completely forgot to insert it under the waistband, which I had meant to do.

I waistband/skirt seam would have also been left exposed, as with the Georgia, and I didn't want this look, so, I had to think about that when installing the zipper. In this case, I sewed the zipper on to the main fabric first, then I hand-stitched at the zipper and all around the lining of the waistband all around. This meant starting my back skirt seam a couple inches down (they called for three inches, but I did no more than 2.5 inches), then serging that before applying the zipper. In my haste to be cool and have a fancy pinafore, I chopped off the top of the zipper, including the zipper stop - WHYWHYWHY????! Ugh. I clearly could have installed a new zipper, but I didn't have the right color, so, I hand-stitched four thousand stitches at the top, making my OWN zipper stop, aha. Not super classy, which is a bummer, but it works.

OMG. WAY ignore the zipper I haven't yet finished!!! LOL

As for the hem, I knew there would be shenanigans. All fanciness goes out the window here. I totally used a non-stretchy ribbon I have had stashed for years. I wanted to give the innards some kapow, which meant I am sewing insanely stretchy material to something quite the opposite. I did some tugging as I made my way around the hem, and while we know that isn't always a good idea, I was hoping for the best. I clearly ended up with a bit of a puckered hem. This was super frustrating so late at night, and I had to fix two different areas, but even still, in the end, it doesn't look too great. Camden doesn't care, and nobody would maybe notice, but a sewist totally would.

Ah! That puckering!

Anyway, love the patterns and can't wait to make them again (I want to say SOON, but we all know I have a million things to make!). I do just wish the designers would step up the game a bit when it comes to finishing touches. Teaching home sewists is always a good idea; this way, they know there are other finishing options out there, and they can choose to be lazy if they want - rather than assume the home sewist DOES want the easy way out.