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.

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! 

Shopping in New York...for fabric, of course!

You guys, I'm a little disappointed in myself.

After spending nearly an entire day fabric shopping in New York (a pursuit fully worthy of an entire day, just to be clear) my mom and I bought, between us, 6 pieces of fabric. Which might sound acceptable until you realize that half of those were 1-yard swatches from Spandex House.

How, you might ask, did I permit such scantiness to come about? I am afraid (I'm ashamed to admit it) that I became so focused on finding certain textiles that I knew I wanted that I was not as open as I should have been to the wealth of options around me.

Which means I ended up with a very responsible heap of fabric. I have all the fabric I need for my prospective projects, without a lot of extra unallocated textiles to bloat The Stash. Moreover, I have a clearer idea of what sort of fabric I'm looking to match to some of the newer Vogue patterns (V1419 Ralph Rucci coat, anyone?). Unfortunately I found these items at the expense of those exquisite, unanticipated impulse purchases you hope to find while fabric shopping in New York. (Although I suppose tackling impulse buying is a good thing...)

Ok time for show-and-tell :D

I know you were curious about that Spandex I mentioned!

V8465: A Coat without Sleeves

Last weekend was my class's Junior Ring Ceremony.

Nothing much actually happens at the ceremony. The juniors receive their personal class rings (well not me, I used my mom’s and plan to spend the savings on fabric ;) ), listen to speeches by class officers, and parade across a stage with a symbolically lit candle. It’s pretty much like graduation but without the circumstantial significance.

So why, you ask, did I go?

So I could make myself a new dress, of course ;) 

Me and my awesome sponsor, the other reason I decided to go :D

Because I wanted to have this dress in time for the ceremony, I made it from stuff I had around the house. In said house, there is this coat pattern, V8465, that I have liked for a really long time. I was really close to using it for the second article of clothing I ever made, which was a bright red fur coat, but I ended up using a different design instead. So I have this beautiful coat pattern around that I have never used:

Specifically:

Wrap Coat + Electric Blue Fur = 7 Pounds of Awesome

+

=

And, if you thought it couldn't get any more awesome, ladies and gentlemen...

That electric blue fur collar is completely detachable. :D

(Not like anyone would ever actually want to go without such a glorious turquoise mantle, but for the sake of versatility and laundering.)

This work has been in-progress for so long, it's almost embarrassing. I made the coat over a year ago, and the fur came before the outerwear. 

I found this fur at the Mood in New York. It was not a case of love at first sight; I was inclined to jest at the nearly phosphorescent nature of the fabric. Fortunately for my wardrobe, it was a case of love at first touch. I will endeavor to help you comprehend through visuals the textural euphoria of this textile:

I Knew I Hated Stretchy Fabric

So I really don't prefer stretchy fabric. I think it's because of my dogmatic aversion to making basic, casual clothing in favor of unique, attention-grabbing eveningwear (and also since I have a uniform that's kind of casual clothes out the window). Stretchy fabric is often reminiscent of sweatclothes or cheap sausage dresses

because they look like a sausage casing
from www.thegloss.com 

and if I wanted those I could go to Target. Besides, I like  nice fabric. Can you blame me?

But my mom does contains some notable exceptions in her interminable fabric armoire. Before Christmas, I really wanted a new dress to wear to my family's annual Christmas Lunch. So much so that I deluded myself that I could whip up a new one in three days right before, between, and across final exams.

I scrounged (ok it's more like free shopping) for an appropriate pattern-fabric combination. I was inspired by a white, beaded, beautiful but sparse swatch. I had other fabric to pair it with, I just needed an appropriate pattern to...

Vogue 1316, Rebecca Taylor. I've loved this pattern since I bought it off the Vogue Patterns website, and now I could throw it together at home without pursuing four different coordinating textiles in half-yard increments at a store!