Yet another new dress...

Honestly, I just love making summer dresses.  They're surprisingly adorable and easy to make.  And I will wear them, I wear a lot of skirts in the summer time to work because I can't wear my shorts that are my usual summer clothes.  Also I really really really really really really really want it to be summer.  And I really really really really really really really want to go shopping and buy summer clothes which I really really really really really really don't need to do.  So I'm working with what I already have.  This time I'm working from this tutorial: 

http://fashioncuts.i8.com/Sara_Berman_Style_Dress.html

It's an adorable style.  And I have a fairly large amount of this brown and black striped jersey that I got forever ago with the intention of making striped leggings to go with my steampunk stuff, which I've never gotten around to.  I still have plenty left after doing this to do that still.  Here's mine:

hahahhhaaaa... Those are kind of terrible pictures.  I swear it's cute.  I'm very happy with it.  It looks much better on me than it does on Tipsy.  It's not a very exciting color, I wouldn't normally go for that, but it's what I had.  I didn't really follow the tutorial, I mostly just took the dress design as inspiration.  The skirt is your basic circle skirt (with no need to hem cuz yay jersey!)   The band around the ribs is just a strip sewn around the top of the skirt.  I had to gather the skirt a bit cuz I cut the waist in the skirt a bit too big.  But it was an easy fix.  For the top part, I measured the distance underneath my bust from the center of my chest to my side seam.  I added 2 inches to that to account for the overlap.  Then I kind of guessed how high up over my chest I wanted it to go and cut 4 triangles where the bottom width was my first measurement, and the height was the guess I'd made.  I cut 4, because then I could sew two together and then turn them inside out to have nice neat finished edges on the top.  Plus this fabric was just a teensy bit thin, and I worried about it being see through on the chest.  So I made the two triangles, pinned them to the front, overlapping a bit, and sewed them on.  After that was done I realized the back was too far down for me to wear a bra, and I'm just not able to work with the whole no-bra thing.  So I cut a small rectangular strip and sewed it across the back from one triangle to the other.  That covered my bra band perfectly.  I sewed ribbon to the points of the triangles for straps, so I can tie a big pretty bow behind my neck.

I though the color would be a problem for me, but the style turned out so cute that it really doesn't bother me.  Plus I just love circle skirts.  They're so twirly!

In Which I Have a Shit Ton of New Clothes

So, I haven't felt much like posting.  I would be so bad at running a blog for a living.....  Which is why I don't. But I have had a few projects I've been working on.  After working on those infinity dresses- I did get a second one, a solid baby blue one that I haven't taken pictures of- I really wanted to see how much of my fabric stash I could work through.  My tub that holds my fabric is overflowing and I really needed to make some room.  So I got out a pattern for a simple princess seamed dress I'd had for a while, and some magenta stretch satin and went to work.

The godets were optional, but I can't resist adding extra twirl to a skirt. I didn't have enough pink to make the dress solid, so I went with a contrasting color.  Added a black band around the top, a black contrasting zipper, cut off the original sleeves, cuz I hated them, and went with a ribbon halter around the neck.  It's shiny and twirly and fun.  I'm pleased with it.  Before I decided to cut the sleeves off I was really worried it was gonna be a failure.  I REALLY hated the sleeves.  Well, more like straps, it was a sleeveless pattern.  But for some reason the straps made it all wrong.  So I cut the bitches off.  All better!

I also came across a tutorial that I just had to try: http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/dramatic-blouse

It was an easy, not too costumy peasant blouse!  I love the look of it, especially with a corset, and I am always on the lookout for more options to wear my corsets in my every day wardrobe.  So I hit Goodwill.

And of course I can't stop at just one.  They work by themselves, with a corset, a corset belt, or even one of my normal wide belts.  I wish I had some before pics.  They were all XL mens button ups.  I may do one more just so I can have a before shot.  I can't wait for weather to be warm enough to wear them!

And, if you're paying attention, you'll notice that I'm wearing a new corset over the white one.

Just a plain black one.  I had thought to embellish it with some rivets, but I'm so afraid to!  I can make anything simple and basic, but decorating just scares the hell out of me.

As for next projects, I have one busk left, I think I want to make a mesh corset, one specifically meant to go under clothing but will be cooler than a normal one because of the mesh.  Good for summertime.  And I STILL need to narrow the hips on my corset pattern.  I don't understand, the single layer one was perfect, and this one's a bit loose in the hips again.  Sigh.  

Also, this is my next big project: 

I'm so in love with that I don't even have the words to explain.  And since it's got a flat front, I don't need another busk, just boning and grommets, which I have plenty of.  I can't wait for this one.