Pattern Placement is Critical

Okay,...I'm putting this out there as a work-in-progress because I need an excuse to post Thanksgiving Greetings to everyone reading a blog on this holiday.  Perhaps you're up early, have had a cuppa coffee and let the dog out....like me.  Special greetings to you.  Make sure you hug someone today...make it a good long hug where you are the last one to let go.  And, think of a good family memory.   

This also has a therapeutic purpose also.  If you've been following along for a while, you would have read how I am packing up my mother's home and preparing it for sale.  I will then collect my belongings from storage in the suburbs of Atlanta, and begin another phase of my life.  At this particular time, my creative time for sewing is extremely limited.  This blog is about one project that needs about two 4-hour blocks of time to bring to completion.   



Vogue 2960  (back)
Please ignore the floor...I know it clashes badly!



The dress is Vogue 2960 one of my absolute favorite vintage pattern reproductions.  The picture on the right is of the back of the dress.  I love the cabbage rose fabric I bought from Repo Depot a few years ago.  They offered the fabric with dark green, blue and (my selection) beige backgrounds.  I gravitated toward this fabric because I have memories of my paternal grandmother's living room drapes that had the dark green background.  She was the grandmother whose sewing machine (a Singer 401) I use to this day.  The construction process included serging all the inside seams, and (just prior to) completing the grosgrain ribbon waistline stay, I decided to include a petticoat.  The only steps remaining are completing and attaching the petticoat and creating the buttonholes.  The pattern instructs you to make bound buttonholes on the bodice front.  I didn't think the dress requires them.  Now, I understand why they selected this design feature.  One buttonhole is positioned so that the opening sits in the waistline seam.  I'm contemplating opening the seam instead of trying to work a machine buttonhole at that position.  It may be easier to make the bound buttonholes!  lol   I also could forget the button at that place and add a hook and eye.  I plan to wear the dress with a self-fabric 2" covered belt and buckle.  I also think I want to add one pocket large enough for keys or hankerchief.  There will be red heels, that I know...And dark green suede heels in the winter...! 

 



Vogue 2960 front 
shows importance of pattern placement

  Only after taking these pictures did I realize the importance of stepping back from your work,  I don't know if I will be able to get over the terrible pattern placement on the bodice.  If I had more fabric, I would certainly re-do it.  Repot Depot no longer does retail business, and I've nothing but scraps after making the petticoat bias binding.  

I had not yet discovered the great tutorial from Gigi Sews (miss you, Gigi)!  I wonder how much more fabric should be bought to accomodate possible fabric pattern matching?  Aha!...perhaps the answer is in the fabric and how often that particular pattern repeats.  Anywhere, there is noneof this fabric left in the universe, and I am torn between finishing it and investing in a shawl or calling it an official UFO.

So, the picture that follows is the last of the gathered notions and fabric required to complete this project.  The red grosgrain will be used between the petticoat tiers. 

Skirt and lower ruffle of petticoat plus notions

Depending on how long it takes to sell the old homestead may leave more time than I think.  You will see it finished, I just can't tell you exactly when.  There are quite a few of these project bags sitting around me right now.  Makes me really anxious to work like this....I'm more of a one-project-a-time sewist. Are you?  

I am invited out to dinner with old family friends and neighbors.  They moved into their house in 1957 on thiss block and have lived here every since.  Our family drove moved from Nebraska to California a couple of years later.  I grew up with their children, and their gatherings are legendary.  Real neighborhood celebrities and a great couple (see the June 2011 issue of Jet Magazine, wedding/anniversary section).  The food should be gooood!

I'll talk to you again, soon...

Remember, take it one stitch at a time....

And you'll be just fine...

I love comments and conversation...so if you feel so inclined....please do!