What didn't work, and what I did instead

Well, looking at the requirements for BurdaStyle's JJ, I thought I'd have enough for a sleeveless version in the pink hawaiian print.


Problem is, the fabric is only 45 inches wide! ARG! So I can't put all four body pieces side by side, and being only a meter long, there's not enough fabric to put the fourth piece below the others. So for now, JJ is scrapped until I have some other inspiration. I'm considering making an uber-trendy high-waisted tulip skirt (specifically BurdaStyle's Marie) out of the fabric. Thing is, I'm round on the bottom and I know full skirts (like the second one, from Target, no longer listed) tend to look horrid on me, although I've never tried out a HIGH-WAISTED full skirt. I don't want the effort (and the fabric!) to be wasted.

To feel like I accomplished something, I decided to make panties out of the aloha polo shirt.

I traced a pair of panties I own that are really comfy. Too bad that didn't work! They ended up too small. That's ok, though. I'll mail them to my best friend with her other birthday goodies, cuz she's smaller than me. I trimmed them in the ice blue I used on the Starfleet shirt. The front ended up too high, so I ruched it down and put a bow on the front. Yay bows!

I've also been working on a dress out of the sheer waves jersey.

It's a gorgeous fabric for another uber-trendy look: sheers over not much! Hehe! Seeing as how I'm pretty flubby as of late, I want to keep cool this summer without exposing my jiggly bits overly much. I went digging into my pattern stash, because I KNEW I had a dress pattern that was exactly the halter-necked a-line I had envisioned, and lo! My photographic memory has served me once again.


This happens to be exactly my size! Eyeball the yellow version. It's not a true halter, but it has the look I wanted. I don't know what I'll do about the collar. I was thinking a ruffle, but that's just added fabric to over-heat me, so I may just keep it simple with no collar at all. I had to frankenstein the pattern to get rid of the bust and waist darts (I can't seem to find the how-to to share), and I shortened it from at-the-knees for a glamazon to just-above-the-knees for my 5'5". I may cut the back as one piece instead of two, which would also make it more floaty I think. I've only cut the front so far. I'm also feeling slightly ambitious and considering using couture methods on all the seams and hems. It is sheer, after all. I want to hand-roll the hem, the arm-holes, the neck-hole and the inside seams. That would give it a gorgeous finish, but obviously take a lot of time. I think that if I machine sewed the edges, it'd stretch out too much because it's a delicate fabric (I had some issues with my victorian bibbed shirt). And me without a walking foot for my sewing machine... While we're at it, somebody buy me a ruffler foot and a roller foot!
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