Missoni Maxi Madness

This is an example of total fabric inspiration!

I would never have pictured myself making this project on my own.

Prior to making this dress, this was my mental picture of a maxi dress:

Pretty much a tube of fabric (which I don't mind, I love fabric!) except that maxi fabric is usually ugly and clingy and sometimes the stripes don't match up and really the only good reason I could think of for wearing one was if you forgot to shave (...actually, that's a pretty good reason).

And this was my mental picture of a Missoni dress:

....And I was like eeeeeeeegh I'll just wear jeans.

And then Elliot Bermann had a promotion, and among my mom's haul from the sale was this gorgeous swath of textile.

Disclaimer: I got permission from my mom to steal this fabric.

Romper

Aren't rompers super-cute? I think so. They're also in-style. I know because I went to a school-sponsored event the other day and a bunch of the girls were wearing them...which probably means they're already on the back-end of trendy... (I'm really out of touch with clothing trends...is that ironic?) 

My brother, who is not as fashion-oriented as I am, insists on misinterpreting the name of my newest garment. Whenever I'm wearing it, he makes sure to tell me to "break a leg" or "break out a dance move!" or "I know you have senioritis, but don't break out of graduation practice." In Spanish, you see, romper means to break. 

And actually, that's a pretty good metaphor for this article of clothing. Por ejemplo: 

One usage of "romper" is to describe waves breaking. Which is appropriate because SUMMER IS HERE and I am officially BEACH-BOUND!!!  

Celebration shot!

Romper can also be used to mean "take a break"...which I seriously need. High school is over...I know where I'm going to college (more on that in another post)...time to de-stress and kick back. 

Not intended to refer to acne, tears, or prison. Read below.

Because the future is bright, my friends! I'm on the verge of adulthood, and I'm ready to break out into the world! 

Thanks, WordReference!

And finally, if we want to talk about the most literal definition of breaking (and actual sewing, because that's what this blog is supposed to be about), this project was definitely a stash-buster. 

Fuzzy Red Fur (aka my Sesame Street coat)

Hi everyone! 

I feel like a salutation is  needed because (to my shame) I've fallen behind on my posting! (Though I did make pumpkin pie and pecan pie for Thanksgiving, which I've already blogged about so you can check out those awesome recipes!)

As soon as Thanksgiving is over, it's Christmastime in the Newman household. It really felt like Christmas yesterday when I was headed outside to go take pictures for my blog, and found that it was raining! In Southern California! Who, if you're not aware, is in the middle of a really serious drought! As luck had it, it kept raining nearly all day...

So I just stayed inside and took pictures next to my Christmas Tree!

I've been so busy lately with school and college apps and Mock Trial that I have had no time to sew. But I am acutely aware of abandoning, forsaking, and washing up my readers, so I decided to do a retrospective post on a coat I made a couple years back. 

I like to say that this coat makes me look like a red marshmallow!

 This coat is actually one of my very first sewing projects!!! This is the second real garment I created. As a fully-lined fur coat with a lapel and everything, it was quite a learning curve.

Thankfully, I had my mom to help me with the construction of the garment and even the reading of the pattern (reading patterns can be confusing until you get the hang of it!). 

I knew I had to make a coat as soon as I saw this fabric. I bought it from Chic Fabrics in New York. A huge roll of it was hidden in the back of the store, jammed in among a bunch of not-quite-as-fantastic textiles. It looked like it could have fit right in on Sesame Street. 

Image courtesy of Muppet.wikia.com

It's bright red alpaca fur that I got for--get this--$10/yard. For 60-inch fabric. :O I bought 3 yards to make a coat! 

I rifled through my mom's quite extensive pattern stash looking for an appropriate design. Ultimately I was caught between two options: View C of Vogue V8465, and View C of McCall's M5766. I guess I was subconsciously attracted to art that matched my bright red fabric! 

 

I ended up (I have no idea why) choosing the McCall's pattern. Which ended up being a good choice, because I used the Vogue pattern minus the sleeves to make myself a dress! 

Here's the link to the pattern!

This pattern has a lapel, and is closed by a single button and loop on the left breast. It has lots of pleats in the skirt to create some volume. The version that I chose also has some really unique, awesome sleeves that are divided into two parts--a normal, straight segment above the elbow, and then a second balloon-like part from the elbow down, with large pleats at the elbow and the fullness gathered into a tight armband at the wrist. 

Don't you love those sleeves? 

I lined the coat with some horrible, ugly, plastic-y, polyester black lining that was sitting around my mom's stash. If I had to make the coat again, I would definitely find some better-quality lining. It's not worth spending all the time and materials making a really nice coat and then use poor lining for the inside! 

Here's the (one) button I used! 

Finally, later on in the day, I snatched a few seconds when the rain subsided to a slight drizzle to go outside and take some more pictures in better light. 

So, in consideration of the fact that there's a debate going on regarding if sewing actually saves you money, I'm going to observe that this coat--including fabric, lining, buttons, thread, the pattern etc--cost me no more than $50. 

Try to find a custom-fit bright red fully-lined awesomely-buttoned alpaca-fur coat like this anywhere in a department store for less than 50 bucks! 

Plus, after three years with this coat, I can sincerely say that I love wearing it! It's fluffy and fun and excellently made. I intend to wear it all winter! 

Sunset Dress

It's summer! And as you can probably tell from the setting of my most recent blog posts, I'm enjoying it.

I love summer sunsets. The quality of the light in the late, late afternoon, when the sun has mellowed out from its bleached, midday glare but is still powerful enough to drench everything in a rich, coppery glow, has this beautiful, latent energy that reminds me why I look forward to summer so much.

That was the inspiration for this dress.

My fabric

I remember being hesitant about buying this piece, because I have an automatic (and, I know, undeserved) bias against orange fabric. I don't really find orange a pretty color, and I can't imagine that as a color family it goes well with my skin tone, and it just seems a counterintuitive choice. And yet I keep finding myself drawn to orange textiles.Orange is a very rich color, especially when mixed with other shades, like gold or magenta, when it can take on the natural, luminescent gradient of the sunset.

As you can see along the fraying edge, this gentle tangerine color is created by weaving orange threads in one direction and yellow threads in the other.

This specific fabric is an orange chiffon. It's delicate, but resilient at the same time. The threads are interlocked so loosely that the fabric had the tendency to snag or leave visible holes if I had to remove a seam, but by gently massaging it I was able to pull the threads back into place and it looked as good as new.

The fabric is composed of two different colored threads running opposite directions, which give the textile a beautiful multi-hued sheen. Depending on the angle at which you view it, it can appear fiery dark orange or shiny yellow. It makes the color (and the slight sine of the textile) very dynamic.

The orange chiffon with the lining fabric under it

After buying this fabric, the design of the dress fell miraculously into place. I was driving home with about three new textiles to add to my stash, none of which I had a very good idea what I would do with, and discontent with having beautiful unassigned fabric, so I dreamed up an ideal garment to go along with my orange chiffon.

Anna Sui in Time for Summer

I know summer has started...

...when I have time to sew again!

Welcome to my first project of the summer! Even if it's a blouse that I've been imagining for a good year and whose commencement dates back to before APs...(how tragic!).

Well I'm finally done with school, tests, and don't have to think about summer reading for a solid two months, which means that I'm going to be pumping out garments for the rest of summer!

CHECK OUT THIS CRAZY FABRIC

The first time I picked up this fabric, I said to myself, "This is kind of tacky but it's soooo cooooool." Well you should have been there to see it folks, because that is a once-in-a-lifetime-statement from Anelise Newman whose attitude is usually more like