. . .Another White Dress I've Gotten Myself Into

Remember this picture from the blog before? 

It's from the Chanel Prefall for 2013/14. Anyways, then I drew this picture:

I thought it might be interesting not to have to put another zipper in something fitted, so instead, I would just pleat the top straight down (instead of darting) and then leave a panel in the back open. That way, I could get in and out of it easily, but also the panel thingy would add a bit of interest. 

When it came to sewing it, I took the darts down a bit further than waist-high to make it slightly drop-waisted. Everything else I make is so high-waisted, so I wanted to do something different. People ask me how I have so much time to sew. This dress only took about two to three hours.

This is the side without the panel.

The back.

From this side, you can really see the slit panel thingy.

Okay, so I learned how to do something else this time. You see the eyelet holes in the fabric? It's the same fabric I used for the Scottish nightmare dress...Anyways, it likes to get holes in the points of the zigzag. I tried to piece the fabric so that most of the holes are hidden in the wrap around part of the back of the dress, but one of them was right in the front:

So I thought about maybe recreating the latticework with thread, but. . .then I got the bright idea to take a scrap I'd cut off and piece it into the hole. 

Can you see the scrap lying on top? This is the wrong side of the fabric, by the way.

Then I just stitched around the zigzag and cut the scrap down close to where I stitched.

The is the right side of the fabric. See? You can hardly tell, and you for sure couldn't if you didn't know about it.

Up close you can tell something's a little off, but. . .at least it's not a gaping hole!

Last word. I have a piece of unsolicited advice for the rest of female-kind out there: Wear a slip!!!! They aren't as archaic as you think, and they keep you looking confident and not gross.

The End!

The Ralph Lauren Bed Skirt. . .Skirt

This is my first and only piece of Ralph Lauren clothing. . .and I made it! 

I had this Ralph Lauren bed skirt that I couldn't use on my bed because we have a base-board that doesn't allow for a bed skirt.

I keep seeing fashion shows and reading in fashion magazines that a great closet staple is a knee-length khaki gathered skirt. It's flattering on every figure and looks great with everything from a tank top, to a sport coat, to a nice sweater. I really wanted one, so I made one!

Here's a tip I learned from reading several other blogs: to make a gathered skirt that looks good on you specifically, measure your waist line and multiply that by 3. That's how much material you need. Even though this material was pre-gathered, I still had to baste it to gather it properly. I added a folded-over panel of fabric to the top for a belt-line and this is what I came up with:

Obviously, I couldn't wear it like this because there is too much material around the waist. I thought about darting it like the picture below:

But I have a very short torso, and I felt like this option would assure that I wouldn't wear this skirt, like...ever!

So then I got the bright idea to make the skirt in such a way that I could wear it two ways, as a hip hugger:

All I do is fold the fabric over and it fits the top of my hips. This helps me looks like I'm not as stumpy as I really am. However, the back had these two corners sticking out from where I'd sewn the zipper, so I sewed this decorative piece over to make sure the back lies flat:

Here's a close-up if you couldn't see it in that last picture:

But if I want to wear it with more of a high-waisted effect, I can also fold it back up, because I sewed belt loops along the top:

This give a cute retro, "bread bag" waistline look. 

As one last little touch, I even left the "Ralph Lauren" tag on the inside seam! Haha...

The End!