Slogging Away

I have been working diligently on the safari dress, but man, is it tedious! First of all there are 17 buttons and button holes. Buttons down the front, buttons on the pocket, buttons on the belt loops, and on the epaulettes. While it looks like a very simple dress, it is really quite time consuming, having to switch back and forth between machines to make yet another buttonhole. Not only the buttonholes, but topstitching on every seam has really taken a long time.


On the plus side, the cotton twill that I am using is incredibly easy to work with. It is not too thick, it irons up well, and has a nice drape for a twill.


I also spent some time doing a bit of "surgery" on the pink shirt I finished up last week:


If you recall, I was unhappy with the way the facing flipped out of the collar, and the front was gaping at the collar. So, using an invisible hem stitch I tacked the facing down inside the shirt. Since the collar is so wide, and I was only catching a few threads on the inside of the fabric, you can't see those stitches at all. I also added a tiny snap at the very top of the button placket to keep the collar from gaping.

I also decided that I did want to make the dress version of the pattern:


Fortunately, I had a length of purple cotton and a pile of buttons that I could use for it:


Taking Linda's advice, I redrafted the facings. I didn't re-draw the patterns, but just "free-handed" it:


Once I get these done, there are a few more projects that I want to finish up before the end of summer. Recently I picked up Vogue 1120:

I think i will use it with the silk charmeuse that I just got from Fabric.com:


I also want to work on some basic button-down shirts, and still have some of these fabrics left:


The magenta was used for the 60s-style dress and also the Burda shirt, but I still have some white and lime stretch sateen, as well as an embroidered red stretch cotton, and a black batiste. Two patterns that I would like to make up are BWOF 5/2009/110:
And also BWOF 8/2009/130:

Both are going to need some alteration, while the first goes up to a size 46, the second does not and I will need to do add some tissue. Also even though the first goes up to a 46, it has an empire waist so I will most likely have to drop it a bit.

Hopefully work will calm down a bit and I will have a moment to catch my breath and get some work done. Of course, if I don't, does it really matter? I'll just keep the fabric in the stash until next year!!