Does this count as insanity?

I started this blanket  in 2009. I saw this  crochet flower pattern online and loved it and I thought ( as I do with every pretty  thing I see online) - I can do that! I had never crocheted a blanket but it can't be hard, right? My Gram  used to  crochet amazing blankets.  She would just whip them right up. I have a lacy cream colored one she made that is just gorgeous. I pull it out once a year and put it on the bed for a while, admire it, then pack it back up. I  don't want to mess it up!   I decided to crochet a more practical blanket  in black and ivory, the colors in my bedroom.  This will take no time, I thought. Crocheting is fast.  I was going to do 144 squares- for a 12 square by 12 blanket.  Enough to cover a queen sized bed. 

 I did a couple of test squares and found the right gauge hook, super soft yarn and off I went. 

Note to self: when the first square takes forever, it isn't going to be a quick project. 

Each square takes about 2 hours. I can do about half a square a night, sometimes a whole one depending on what we are watching on netflix that night and how late we stay up.  Every few months, I pull out the crochet box and make square after square until I get sick of them and put them away for a few more months.  Then the crazy cycle starts over again. 

These photos date to November 2009.  I had done 18 squares  and was very proud of myself. I put them  on the bed to see how they looked and realized- oh holy cow and that which springs forth from the cows back end this is going to take me the rest of my life to finish.   I  decided to just make a throw. 8x8 squares. So now I just need 64. 

I love the contrast of the ivory yarn and the black. 

Eden assisted me with the square arranging. She was just 7 then. I love her missing front teeth.

 Only 46 squares to go Mommy!  Keep going!!!

Eden had me cover her up so she could test out the squares and see how comfy they were. 

It is 2012 now.. At the end of Mad Men last night, I counted  40 squares. 40.   In three years. 

 That means  40 squares at 2 hours a piece: 80 hours so far into this thing.
The yarn is Lion Brand Micro Spun I am not sure how many skeins of yarn I have used.  A lot. I think, and this is a guess, that I can get 2-3 squares out of a black skein and 3-4 squares out of  one skein of cream.  Joann's used to carry this yarn, but they stopped and so now I have to order it online. It is usually about $5 a skein but Hancocks has it every once in a while on half price and I try to order some then.

Here are all the squares I have completed so far :

     I ask myself every once in a while- why do I do these things? This is an insane amount of time to put into a blanket that, now that it is underway, isn't really as practical as my brain imagined it to be way back in the beginning. Now we have Sophie the wonder pup, her paws, claws, collar & tags  can catch in this one just as easily as my Gram's blanket so I can't actually put it on the bed and use it like a regular blanket. And my hubby has asked what is the point of a blanket with holes in it?  He doesn't really see it being used as how is it going to do  what a blanket is supposed to do which is  hold in heat, when there are holes in it?  I say it will work just fine  because it's pretty!  The pretty adds a whole level of funtionality. It will work even better than blankets with no design holes in them! 

    At this point, and even at the 18 square point, I felt I had too much time invested to give it up . What do you do with just 18 squares? Toss and time wasted?   So I wonder is that I am just too stubborn to give up, I am gonna see this though dammit and finish what I started  or am I just possesing amazing amounts of patience. Or is plain insanity an option here because who in their right mind really plans something like this?  64 freakin' squares.....

Whatever I am, stubborn, patient or insane I am going to be SO HAPPY when it is finished!!!!! And it will be  used more than once a year and displayed somehow in my bedroom either on the bed or on the chair or somewhere...Anywhere. 

Bebe Dress Sew-a-long Part 3 Make the muslin

***7/6/12  This post is unfinished- it is missing some photos but I wanted to get it up quick so that Kristi has photos while she is working on her muslin 

:) 

Today I sewed up my muslin for The Bebe dress and I am so excited! It looks great! This pattern is beautifully drafted and easy to alter. I am going to show the process I used today to  fit this pattern to me. If you have any questions or problems- comment and I  help you!

 I transfered the dart markings from the pattern-  to the muslin using good old fashioned carbon paper and a tracing wheel .     The carbon ink is permanent so only do this on muslin!  I like to use carbon paper on muslins as the lines are bright and clear to see.   And it is  dark enough for you to see in photographs. On the real version I will use either dressmakers carbon paper or a disappearing fabric pen. I do not care for the wax free dressmakers tracing paper, the kind that is chalk. It is just  a personal preference. 

Ok! let's get crackin'!! :) 

Snip a tiny snip at the edge of the darts- do this to each dart leg. This makes it easier to line up the dart legs.  be sure it is tiny! The seam allowance on this dress is 1/2- DO NOT GO PAST THAT.   We just want a tiny snip to see where the legs are when folding them together. 

The pattern instructs us to fold the darts right through the dart point.  I then finger creased the fold.  Finger creasing is using - yep! your fingers to put in a crease or mark . I got everything lined up and smushed down on the fabric with my fingers. An iron could  put a permanent crease here and we just want the crease to hold long enough for us to make sure the darts are perfectly lined up. 

I lined up the dart legs while making sure the crease went right through the dart point. This took a couple of minutes so don't worry if it takes  a couple of tries to get it right on the point. 

I put a pin in the the dart point first and work out from there. The pin at the dart point makes sure that when you sew, the dart  doesn't move. Pin the dart in place, checking to make sure the dart legs are matched up.  You can also stick  a pin though one side of the dart leg and look at the other side to make sure both legs are exactly lined up. 

Put a pin in the dart point to ensure accuracy  on your dart.

Set your machine on  the longest straight stitch you have- a basting stitch. We are going to baste the muslin together.   This allows us to just pull thread out super fast  if we need to make changes.  Thread up your machine with a dark or bright  colored thread.  This allows us to easily  see stitching lines when trying it on.  

  Sew from the raw edge of the dart to the point , SLOWLY.  At the tip of the dart point sew off the edge one or two stitches. Lift up your presser foot and pull the fabric away form the machine and clip the threads, leaving long tails. Tie these threads together with two knots. Do not trim the threads - leave the threads long in case you need to pull them out to change the dart. 

Do this to all four darts. Press. Press the side darts downward and the smaller under bust darts towards the center. 

The pattern instructs us to trim the  side bust darts down to 3/8. We will not do this on the muslin as we are doing this for fit, not to wear, and if we trim it, we cannot make adjustments. 

All of the darts have been sewn and it is ready for pressing. 

FIT AS YOU SEW.

Try on the bodice at each stage when construction it. 

You can tell a lot at this stage by just holding the bodice up to you and looking.  A great way to do it is wear a form fitting t-shirt and pin the muslin front to the t-shirt. That way your hands are free to mark and pin. 

  I discovered that on me the under bust darts extended too far up. Not by too much, but enough that it made my  girls look kinda funny shaped.  I measured using my seam gauge and the dart was @ 1 inch too high.  The side bust darts were just fine.

The bodice front  is  pinned to my shirt
so I can look at it on me.
The flash went off for some reason. Sorry :) 

I removed the stitching in the under bust darts,  measured down one inch and made a dot. I drew a straight line from the dot to the dart legs original position. Then I  re-stitched the dart, still using a basting stitch. 

After the darts are all done  and pressed,  stitch  front  bodice to the back bodice pieces. 

I put in a zipper for fitting. It is just to hold the dress together as it will be in the final version so I can get a good look at the fit. It is basted in, I can rip it our and reuse it on something else. 

By putting a zipper, in it tightens the bodice around me and I get a very good look at how it is fitting. if you leave the muslin loose,  you aren't getting an accurate fit. 

XX pic of zipper XXX

Now under bust darts have been adjusted and look much better.

The side bust darts are a touch poufy at the tip. On the real version I will solve this by either tapering the dart farther away from the tip or by sewing the dart on a curve.   I will photograph this so you can see ot/ 

Everything fit nice but there was an extra bit of fabric just under the arm. I measured 1/2 inch in from the top edge of the side seam , and drew a line angling down to the original seam allowance at the bottom of the side seam  and then sewed on this line. This took out the floppy bit at the top edge.

XXXX picture of side seamXXXX

I tried it  on one more time (fit as you sew! fit as you sew!)  and it felt wonderful. Nice fit, nice dart placement, I'm happy!

To get an even  better idea of how the  dress will look when finished, I folded down the seam allowance  on the neckline and one arm to see exactly where the seams would sit on my body.  

Using a medium length stitch (2.5-3.5) stitch away from the raw edge of the neckline and armscyes  on the seam line. This pattern has a seam allowance of 1/2 inch. ( Most commercial patterns are 5/8 inch  so be sure  to look and use what each  pattern calls for)

Make tiny snips up to the stitching line. I did it every inch or so. 

then press the seam allowance to the inside.

 It will look like this.

 Then try it on.  Now I know exactly where the neckline will fall.  The neckline on this dress is perfection, not too low-cut but not nun-like either.
     By folding in the armscye seam allowance, I could see where the seam would actually be. On the left side of the picture ( my right arm)  you can see how the fabric is flat around  the arm, just like it should be. On the right side of the picture, there is some gathering just under my arm. This is taken care of when the seam allowance is removed, as it will be when the dress is sewn together.

 While I was working on this, I took notes or each alteration I made.  I usually use a piece of paper taped up onto the wall so that as I stand in front of the mirror, I can easily write it down.

WRITE DOWN EACH THING YOU DO, even if you think you will remember it , because it is easy to forget what you have done.

My crazy cracker handwriting says:

•  lower the under bust dart by 1 inch
• take in side seam 1/2 inch angled from top of seam to bottom
• add 1/2 inch more to bottom of bodice - total 11/2 inch. 
• stitch a curved dart seam  on the side darts  to reduce puffiness in the dart tip. 

Ok!!! Muslin made, next  we will talk about fabric choices!!!

Bebe Dress Sew-a-long Part 2 Determining size

In this post I am going to talk about determining what size to cut the pattern out. When first starting out, it can be a bit tricky  reading size charts, choosing a size and then making any alterations to the pattern. 


Here is the size chart for the Bebe Dress.


Size Chart

	XXS	XS	S	M	L	XL	XXL
Bust	32	34	36	38	40	42	44
Waist	24	26	28	30	32	34	36
Hip	34	36	38	40	42	44	46

The instructions state that the bust measurement is the most critical  to choosing fit for this pattern .  As this dress is loose around the hips and tummy, we really only need to look at the bust measurement.

   Step 1
 Measure. 
 We need to take two measurements : An actual  bust and over bust.

Actual bust- measure at the fullest part of your bust.

image from Sew La Blog 

Over bust- measure above the bust just under your armpits.

image from Sew La Blog 

 If there is a difference of 2 inches or less  between those two measurements you can use the pattern as it is  without altering. Just   look on the chart and use your actual bust size.



If there is a difference of 3 inches or more, you will need to make a full bust adjustment.  A full bust adjustment alters the pattern to provide more room just where it is needed: in the bust. This way the shoulders and neckline fit  and are not too big. Most patterns are drafted for a B cup.  This dress is drafted for a C cup.  If you are larger than a C cup   do a full bust adjustment.


In the Bebe Pattern  booklet, Kay Whit recommends looking at the Full Bust adjustment  on Sew LAs Website... here is the link:     Sew La Bog Full Bust Adjustment  I am not going to do one here as  the one on the link is just fantastic and I really don't think I could explain it any clearer :)


My measurements are 38 over bust and 42 bust.   That is a difference of 4 inches. Yes,  I need to do an FBA.

  When looking at the pattern, if I go by my overbust measurement of 38, I would need to cut out a medium. I have pretty broad shoulders and would like for this dress to be a tad loose for summer, so I am going to cut out a large and do a full bust adjustment of two inches.  The large is 40 inches, my  bust measurement is 42.

If I were to cut out the XL, which is a bust 42, yes it would fit around my ample  bosom.  But it would be too big  in the neckline, the sleeves, everywhere.  The rest of my body is a medium/large.  My front is just super-duper extra large :)

 I photocopied the bodice top because it makes it easier for you to see exactly what I have done to the pattern piece.   I find that photocopying works very well for pattern altering, especially bodices as  tracing can be a bit inexact.  (This also works in cases of laziness when you don't feel like tracing it. )

Once you have made the changes to your pattern, hold it up to you in front of a mirror and really look - is it long enough?  Does it look right?  You can get a lot of information about what the pattern needs to fit you, just by holding it up to yourself and looking.  Remember to factor in seam allowance,  which on the Bebe dress is 1/2.   I  am extending the bodice down one inch as when I pinned the pattern to me, it fell about an inch short. By adding on an inch, it makes sure that the bodice sits just under my bust, at the bra line.

 This is the bodice with a full bust adjustment.  I drew a line one inch down from the bottom edge to add an inch.  

Here is the back bodice piece and front bodice piece, ready to go to sew up!

Next post: Sewing the muslin!

The Red Dress of Summer

Eden and I made a dress back in March for her to wear on spring break when we went to Tennessee. It has become her favorite dress!  I picked the fabric- I thought this bandana fabric was  just perfect for Tennessee. Eden chose the pattern. Shake it up is  one of her favorite Disney shows and she went nuts that there was a pattern. Went totally bonkers, actually. I told her I had seen it in the pattern book and she was so upset that I didn't buy it. So next time Simplicity was on sale, I got one for her.  

We made version C. We moved the elastic from where the pattern has it
 at natural waist, to an empire waist. 

Here is the whole dress. Eden is standing in front of our garden, in front
of the mutant zucchini and squash plants.  

Back view. That is my hubby in the background , weeding :) 

Eden cut out the pattern all by herself!!

Eden cut the pattern out, cut the fabric and did about 1/2 the sewing. I did the harder stuff (what she considers harder like the ruffle and the flounce and the top stitching) 

Sophia and I supervised Eden cutting out the pattern 

Bottom Hem .   Eden and I love the cute cotton lace with hearts. 

Eden wanted the cotton lace on the straps, too.  It makes a cute addition!

 This pattern had some  issues in the instructions. It  left out the last steps completely. I think someone at Simplicity saw popularity of the show and acted quick to get the pattern our while there is a demand- but they forgot to proofread it!   

We  plan on making more of these dresses. It is very quick to put together and  Eden loves how comfortable it is.  Since spring break Eden has worn this dress weekly. Now that it is hot as everything here ( 95 today - heat index over 100 ) she  loves it as it is light and cool. 

Eden is wearing her red dress in Tennessee on The Square in Lynchburg  . She is kissin' Belle. 

Eden and I are in Lynchburg Cemetary in the Bedford section.  'cause we're Bedfords.
I am wearing my Jasmine blouse.

@ mile post 6.5  On the way to Nags Head.  June 2012

I asked Eden if she had any messages to give ya'll. She said just to say that she loves her dress-
and  Peace!

The Bebe Dress Sew-a-long Part.1

  I love Sew Serendipity! I have both of her books and I love them.  She has hinted that there is a third coming out and I  can't wait. She hasn't said what it is about yet and that is just mean & evil. Why tease people? :)   Come on, I'm gonna buy  it- just tell me what is in it!

        I love  her patterns for many reasons but mostly because they make sense. They are clearly written and  well drafted. The designs are all  wearable. I have made a couple of skirts from the first book  and I wear them constantly.  I also love that she mostly uses quilting cottons.

Recently she released a couple of dress patterns and I went nuts over the Bebe dress. Hello! Isn't this the cutest thing ever?   Comfy and flattering and looks darn easy. Sign me up!

I ordered two copies . One for me and a copy for Kristi. Kirsti is my student who moved away. I really miss her. We listened to Lily Allen and talked about Battlestar Galactica  in lesson and had a splendid time. Then she up and moved and left me on Wednesday mornings to sew on my own.  ( EH!!! STOP MOVING PEOPLE! ) . She loves the inverted pleat version. Which is totally cute!   Oh and she ordered the boots in the above photo to go with  her dress when she finishes it! Awesome!

Kristi and I cooked up a plan (without alcohol even- she was a morning lesson girl) to sew it together- her in Washington and me here in Virginia and blog about it.  I can do a post and she can follow along and post as well.  Kristi is still new to the sewing thang and  so this will be her first project completely on her own. Completely on her own with me on  call by phone, email, Skype and text! Yea baby!
At the end  of this adventure you can see both of our dresses! Fun? We think so!!  You can sew a long with us or just read and learn. I hope to put lots of tips that I have learned in my 20+ years of stitching. And learn from Kristi too!

My plan is this- to weekly  take photos of the muslin process, the fabric choosing process, the sewing process and the wearing it out in public process!

Are you ready! Let's sew!




First step:
 Open the pattern! 

This pattern comes with the pattern tissue, an instruction sheet and a full color glossy  cover with lots of pictures.

Read the pattern!!!


       Read through it. Seriously  folks. Read the dang blasted pattern.  More than once. See what you are getting into.  Determine which version you are going to make.  This dress has a lot of variations  and has the possibility of getting a bit confusing  as to which directions to follow. So read it, become one with the pattern.  Lightly circle  in pencil the parts  that pertain to you and the dress you want to make. This really helps to eliminate the instructions that you don't need for your dress.
       Draw  the dress out like you want it.  It does not have to look like a John Singer Sargeant drawing - it can look like a toddler drew it- it's fine! Don't worry if you can't draw for diddly. Neither can I. In fact, to prove it- here is my initial drawing for this dress:

Determine which pattern pieces you will need.  Short or longer sleeves or no sleeves, which length,  which hem , etc. Cut out the pattern pieces that you will need. Cut out on the largest size. That way we can use the pattern later or change sizes later or use two sizes. 

For this pattern I am making the short  gathered skirt  with the short sleeves. 

( I am typing with a band- aid on  my right pointer finger which is my main typing finger and it is driving me crazy! I ripped  a pin through the skin yesterday - on the job injury. It really stings!  Can I file workman's comp on myself....? )  

I cut out the pattern with my rotary cutter and mat. Using the rotary cutter makes it super fast!!

 Once you have them all cut out,  fold them up nicely with the  PATTERN PIECE INFO FACING OUT.  So you can see it quickly. This makes life sooooo much easier! If you get in this habit now,  it will make going back into pattern envelopes  to find one specific piece easy peasy . Otherwise when you need to get a  piece  of the pattern out because oh, let's say you forgot to mark the notches, you don't have to open every single pattern piece to find it.

After I have cut everything out, I fold them with the info facing out  and then I put them into a large ziplock bag.  

Second step:

Photocopy the small pieces. 

I like to photocopy the small pieces like  facings,  collars, sleeves in baby items, pockets,etc. Anything small.  This makes them : 1. easier to deal with and   2.  harder to lose

I photocopied the facings on this pattern. 

That's all for today :) 

Next post: choosing your size!

Some Girls are Bigger Than Others

  I found this pattern thrift shopping with Eden the other day- isn't it adorable? It would just look amazing on Eden in a red velour for christmas.  Look at the dress on the left, in blue. How cute in red with a white collar edged in lace? 

(I haven't even  made our Halloween costumes yet and I am already planning her christmas dress!)

 I put the pattern in the sewing room when we got home and went about my day.  Later I looked closer at the pattern, checking for pattern pieces and I noticed something funny.

 Do you see it?  

Look in the upper left corner. 

Here I will enlarge it   for you.

Suitable for Chubbies!

Uhm... What?  Chubbies?  

 Inside the pattern are instructions  on Fitting Chubby Girls.    Seriously.   

At first I was incredulous  that that was even printed on there.  But some girls are bigger than others.   Everything is so PC these days, it seems so insulting to call someone a chubbie, even indirectly on a pattern envelope.   Then I got to thinking. If  patterns would just print that kind of information on each pattern smack dab  on the front  and not worry about offending anyone , it would make things easier.  Honest and  up front.  No sugar coating.

Here are some I would like to see:

Hides a Muffin Top

Suitable for Fat Bottomed Girls

Not suitable over 40. No exceptions. 

  Only Suitable for Bulimic Models  

Suitable for  Boob Jobs

Suitable for Shorties

  or  more PC

Suitable for the Vertically Challenged

Can you think of any more?? 

Send them to me and I will add them!

:)

The Mae Dress

This is my new favorite dress.

  I love this dress!!  I made it  a couple of weeks ago but am only getting around to finishing this post about it.   I love this pattern! It is from 1965.  I used it to make Eden's Halloween costume  last year and   this dress :  The Pink Peace Dress.

 I have been wanting to make one for myself  for a while. I chose the view on the right,  the white one. But in black of course! I  do love the gal on the left, and I intend to make one exactly like hers eventually. I love the large gingham check and  it is hard to see in this photo but she is wearing fishnets and pointy toe shoes. So cute!  I need her whole outfit!!!

 I got this pattern in Tennessee last year on spring break when we went out to my dad's farm to visit.   So the pattern was only in my possession for a year before I got around to making it! That's not bad!  I bought it in Fayetteville, on the square in one of the antique shops.  The pattern  I found is a 10T meaning it was for teens.  The size is a 30 bust. Now, I can't recall in  my life being a 30 bust. My 9 year old is a 28 inch chest so I think this pattern was probably meant for what, 12 year olds? Yea, folks were skinnier then, there wasn't any Ben & Jerrys and ranch dressing wasn't invented yet. But still, wow. Small.

I graded the pattern up, meaning I altered  from a size 10teen bust 30 up to my size. I am not going to publicly tell you my exact inches but I am  waaaaaaayyyyyy above a 30 bust. Yes, I made a muslin. Here I am in all of my muslin glory looking mighty sexy-

I worked on that for a while and fine tuned it and then made the dress.
 I changed the sleeves entirely from the pattern. For this dress, I just had a tiny cap sleeve in mind. I think I  look better in a  shorter sleeve than the pattern has.

There is an invisible zipper in the back that you can't see.
It's a ninja zipper!

The dress is made out of $3.95 a yard polyester  from Hancocks. You know that value section, over where they have the horrid flannel that nobody buys?  Yea, this was in the value  crazy ugly fabrics section. It rocks. I treated this fabric like it had done me wrong and I was getting payback. I took out stitches and did the darts a couple of times and the fabric does not look like it.  You know a dress will hold up to daily wear when you  put it through hell  during the making of it and it comes out lookin' good.

The dress has a natural waistline, not a modern waistline, which is very comfortable.


I lined it.
I bought the lining  at Sir's  Fabrics in Fayetteville, Tennessee in April for $1 a yard. It is the cheap,  cheap stuff.   I adore this color. It is gorgeous!   It is sort of a bummer that it is hidden on the inside but I am sure I will find ways to show it off :) This lining is not too hard to work with as it is  stiffer then the linings I usually use. Sometimes cheap  is better!

I used one of the decorative  stitches on my machine to hem the lining.

 Funny how I have all kinds of pictures of me doing this....
Do other people have lots of pictures of themselves
 holding up their dresses and showing their hems, or is it just me? 

The facings are applied to the lining and stitched on.
Then the lining layer and face layer are sewn together. 

The hem has lace hem tape attached to the bottom raw edge and then the
lace is hand stitched to the fabric. This is my favorite kind of hem!

I love using a pretty stitch to hem linings. My machine has so many stitches and
 I pretty much just use the straight and the zig zag. Sometimes I have to remind myself
that the machine can do  flowers and other cool stuff. 

The Lace Edges :
I wanted to edge the neck and sleeves with a lace. I had about 5 options I kept going back and forth between as I tried to decide. I wanted black, but I didn't want it too floral. I bought a white lace to dye black but then I changed my mind and  just went all out OCD and crocheted the lace. I wanted a width wide enough to cover the edges of the sleeves where somehow, even though they are handsewn, I could where the stitches are. The sleeves really gave me  a hard time. As I deviated from the pattern, I ended up just drafting them from scratch. I went trough two sets of sleeves trying to get these just perfect!

The crocheted lace around the
edges of the neck and arms is the easiest ever!
Each arm piece took about an hour to crochet
 and the neckline took  about 2. 

I had no idea that the dress was wrinkly.  I need to remember if
I am wearing it in the mid day summer sun,
iron it first!

      I had the dress done in time to wear on Mother's day to brunch at the mom- in-laws house.  I didn't have the lace done yet  so here is what it looked like without the lace on the arms and neckline.  Kinda plain.  I wore it with my pearls. It was overcast that day so these photos are kinda gray

That's some craaaaaaaazzzzzzzzy hair.

You could hide an army in my hair.
Seriously. An entire army could camp out
 for a year and not be seen,  ever.

The pictures with the lace on the edge  were taken  in my best bud Elaine's  back yard.  Her flowers were looking so good, I said to myself- Self! Take picture in her yard!! I picked up her daughter from school and while we were waiting for Elaine to get home, Izzy took  pictures of me in my dress.  

Thanks Izzy! You did great, kid!

Sometimes we pretend to be grown adults.
This was not one of those times. :) :) 

The Pin:
My brother gave me this for Christmas and I love it! It is a mama kitty and baby kitty! Just like me and my baby! I love kittys!   I think it looks awesome with my dress. Really goes well with my glasses!

( I used to have a black  cat, or a black cat had me rather, named Saracen.  That's part of why Matthew got the pin for me. He was a huge, pissy, part-siamese, obnoxious  total jerk, darling  of a kitty and  I loved him dearly. He was 14 when he passed.  I haven't had a kitty since because I just want him back , another cat wouldn't be the same.  Plus, I discovered after he passed that all of my horrible sinus  infections and breathing issues cleared up so apparently I was allergic to him all those years.  And am allergic to other kitties.   Bummer.) 

Why I named it the Mae Dress:

   Ok, so most of ya'll know I pretty much stick to one color in my clothing choices. Let's face it- I have been this way since about 15 and  I don't see me changing anytime soon. Black  is my color.  So please stop suggesting butter yellow or light blue for my clothing. Ain't. Gonna. Happen.  :) 

   I realized one day  I gotta start naming these things because if I say I wore the black dress,  which one? They are all black!  Kristi  ( who made this exact dress at the same time as I did in lesson but in a lovely plaid ) sent me a short list of some names and I really liked them. She felt a nice one syllable name was elegant and here is what she said 

"Here's why I see these 1 syllable girl names. It's strikes me as a 1920's feel. Add a low waisted sash and voile. Maybe I'm looking at it all wrong but it's 1920 and 1950's all in one to me and that's the name vibe I get." 

    Some of her options were Molly (can't use it,  have a niece named Molly), Anna ( I knew an evil Anna, can't use it), June( name option for a girl if I ever had another one so  that didn't work for me). So I thought about it- I made it in May but that is a dorky name for a dress. So Mae it is!  Mae is elegant and simple  just like my dress!  (There is that whole Mae West association but I don't mind that :) )

Now I can write to Kristi and tell her I wore the Mae dress and she will know which dress  I am talking about! 

    I know a lot of bloggers name each and every  of their dresses and I have to say, sometimes I think it is kinda silly. But it does cut down on confusion! 

Things I will change on the next version:

Oh yea. I will make another.   Once you have made the alterations to a pattern, the time consuming part is done! Use that work again! I want a sleeveless version. I will place the bust darts a touch lower.  Somehow they moved up on this one and I couldn't fix it because I followed the instructions and trimmed the dart.  (Do not trim a french dart until you are positive they are  in the correct place!!! ) The next dress will be 2-3 inches longer. Maybe change it to a V neck....

Pale, pasty and ready for summer in my hand-made 1965  black dress!!