Vogue 1220

Me Made June: A week in review

~ Tia Dia ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a busy week with no time for writing a blog post, so here’s my week in review.

I fell off the me-made bandwagon on June 18.  It was hot and we celebrated my niece’s 8th birthday outdoors, so I threw a RTW tank and skirt on.  No pics, sorry!

MMJ 19 – Sunday – Happy Father’s Day!

MMJ 19

Outfit:  Nine West top; Vogue 8295 silk linen skirt; BCBG shoes

Activities:  Dance recital for my girls, and a picnic with daddy for Father’s Day.  No, I did not play Frisbee and traipse through a woodland path down to the Humber River in my stilettos!

Thoughts:  This is one of my favourite skirts.  I’ve made it twice – once in this chocolate silk linen and Harris Tweed.  It’s a lovely cut and very swishy!

MMJ 20 – Monday – Happy 8th Birthday, DD3!

MMJ 20Outfit:  RTW tank top with capris from OOP Vogue 8094; Joseph Siebel shoes

Activities:  Making DD3’s birthday dinner (she requested a roast ham!) and generally working through a list of of household responsibilities (nicer word than, say, chores)

Thoughts:  This is the second time I’ve made up these capris, and although they don’t have a waistband, I find them comfortable and flattering.  You can read my original post about this pattern for all my thoughts and tweakings.

MMJ 21 – Tuesday – Garden Day

MMJ 21 (2)

Outfit:  Tee: RTW; skirt: Vogue 1093 repeated; sunhat: San Diego Hats; shoes: Joseph Siebel

Activities:  weeding my garden and household administrative paperwork

Thoughts:  No interesting thoughts.  This skirt is a stretch-cotton that goes with everything.  It’s a very casual fabric, and if it hadn’t been MMJ, quite frankly, I would have thrown on a pair of RTW capris instead!  HA!

MMJ 22 – Wednesday – Play date with a friend

MMJ 22Outfit:  Shirt & capris from Vogue 2396.  Both are repeats this me-made month.

Activities:  Meeting with a dear friend that I haven’t seen for a long time to window shop and catch up…  You can never be too old for a play date!

Thoughts:  I lengthened these capris to the design length from my very short version that I wasn’t so crazy about after wearing for a day.  There was enough yardage to add the missing length, so I added a horizontal seam about 2” (5 cm) above the knee and pressed a crease down the pants as per the pattern.  I’m liking them way better this way.  They’re a little long in the front, so wearing the shirt tucked in à la 50’s doesn’t look so hot.  The shirt is one of my favourites, though.   I’d like more shirts – they’re just so much dressier than a tee.

MMJ 23 – Thursday – DD2 graduates from primary school today

MMJ 23Outfit:  Vogue 1220, reviewed here

Activities:  Running kids to their annual check-ups and then celebrating dear Sarah’s grade 5 graduation.

Thoughts:  I’m so proud of my daughter, Sarah!  She’s just plugged along, daily doing what needs to be done, working hard to acquire the knowledge and skills that other children just pick up so easily.  She is a chatty, charming and friendly girl, and we are so darn proud of how she’s growing into a lovely young lady.  Not to make it all roses, though.  There are daily challenges, which seem to be getting more persistent as she gets closer to those dratted teenage years.  So we’ll just keep praying, looking at the silver lining and striving to keep her engaged in a supportive community.

MMJ 24 – Friday

P6240006Outfit:  Hmmm…. it’s pouring today…. and I’ve already worn these capris this week…  But what did I tell you?  If it wasn’t MMJ, I’d not be wearing so many dresses on a daily “schlepping” around basis.  And it’s a testament to just how much laundry I do in a week around here…

RTW tee and Vogue 8094 capris

Activities:  meeting with DH’s accountant and bookkeeper to introduce them to each other.  I used to do his company’s administrative work (which, although I am very good at it and very organized, I may say) I loathe with every cell of my being.  Numbers are not my forte, and neither is being married to DH’s company 24/7!  So…. in celebration of this final act of divorce, I’m spending the afternoon down at MacFab, which is new to my sewing world.  I’m sure most of you living in the GTA (greater Toronto area) already know about this place, but I’ve never been there, and am very much looking forward to prowling around.  I called early last week inquiring for spiral steel boning, which I need to repair a bustier, and so am off to buy 25 yards of it for my stash.  Yep.  Twenty-five yards.  That’s the length they sell it in.  On a roll…. cheap, too, apparently.  I’ll let you know!

Oh!  And today’s MMJ picture theme was with an animal.  Well, my little mini poodle, Nuggett, is my animal for the day.  I had thought of taking a pic with the DH….. Winking smileMMJ 24

Pattern Review: Vogue 1220

~ Tia Dia ~ 6 Comments

V1220 sideI think this dress should be the “Vogue Pattern of the Year”.  So many people have sewn it up and it looks so great no matter what you do with it!

When Vogue published this pattern, I loved it.  It’s such an interesting take on the eternal shirt-dress, and the little “Donna Karan” details in this make it fun to put together and flattering.

V 1220 backFabric:  I chose to make this up in a nice chocolate-brown stretch (cotton-lycra) poplin that was – SURPRISE!! – at my local Fabricland.  Now, maybe that’s not really a surprise, but the Fabriclands in my area rarely carry really nice stuff and I was pleasantly surprised by the lightness of this fabric and the tightness of the weave.  It sewed up beautifully.  I can’t wait to see how it wears.  Here’s the back view.

Notes:  This pattern went together easily.  It’s rated “average”, and I would definitely agree with this.  There’s enough work in here to make it a day-long (or more) project and little things that require accurate markings and attention.  This is perhaps not a project to finish or work on while you’re sleepy.  The pattern markings were accurate and went together nicely, but there was one step in the instructions that threw me for a bit.  And I have to confess it’s probably due to my laziness.  You see, I will sometimes just glance at the picture instead of reading the instructions and continue on that way (maybe that’s why I have such trouble with Burda magazine’s instructions – I have to read and re-read them sometimes!)  P5310002Anyhow, the drawing of the button fly vs. the length of the facing in Step # 21 had me wondering, what the heck?  When I pin basted the fly into the facing, it was as long as the hem – and it’s not the case in the picture!  So I had to check the pattern pieces and realized that the drawing is wrong.  Go figure. Oh well, it’s the little things such as this that make me pay attention!

V1220 side frontI bought the required yardage, but there wasn’t quite enough to cut the tie in one piece, as instructed, so I put a French seam at the centre back of the tie.  I don’t know if the yardage shrank in the prewashing…  But it’s just as good as cutting it in one piece.  The other issue I had was setting the sleeves.  Has anyone else had this problem?  I don’t think I’ve ripped out and re-set little 1-inch sections of a sleeve head so many times in my life.  I just could NOT get the ease to work smoothly.  Perhaps this was a quirk of my tightly-woven cotton?  Anyways, I ended up pin basting the sleeve about every 1/8″, which is not something I usually do.  This probably doesn’t reflect on the pattern, but it was really annoying after about the 3rd time.

On a final note, I think I’m really going to like this dress.  I’ve always wanted a shirt dress, and this is the first one I’ve had in my closet in about 10 years.  Actually, it’s the first self-stitched one ever!  I’m thinking this might be the summer of the shirt dress in my life.  I’d really like to tackle the Chado Ralph Rucci take on it.  Maybe I’ll be ridiculous and actually make it in a silk taffeta.  How’s that for totally impractical?V1220 front 2