Sew All 26: D

My dear, darling Divine is in the limelight once again.  And if you're keeping track, it hasn't been even dispersement of sewn goods among my children, but it will all even out in the end, so please don't despair.

The advantage of being the oldest is ALL NEW CLOTHES, except when they're mine and I pass them down to her, but the disadvantage is that she usually has a more minimal wardrobe.  There's just so many of them, you know?

This one was a doozy.  (Do I say that about everything I sew?) I cut this out almost a year ago, but then it was lost in the shuffle of our move and I only happened to find it because I needed both my sewing machines for a youth sewing activity and I had packed in with my old machine.  Don't try to solve and understand my packing methods.  It made sense at the time.

When I sewed up the bodice...it didn't fit.  Now, it's very likely that it didn't fit to begin with, because I cut it out one night using one of Divine's t-shirts as a general guide, and sometimes when I do that I fail to account for stretch.  Or lack of.

But, it did fit Olive quite nicely.  Although Olive doesn't start with D, now does it?  I considered calling her Dolive for the week only momentarily.  My solution: I decided to add a placket in the back.  I was going to do it in the contrasting green color, but didn't want to take away from the drama of the longer skirt back.

Do you like to hear about my sewing processes? Well, too bad, because I'm going to tell you anyway, because I'm the type of person that sometimes forgets to listen to a conversation because I'm busy dissecting the details of what you're wearing.

Back to the placket.  It needed to be larger than normal to fit Divine, and I didn't think it was going to look great, in fact my whole execution on this was a bit shoddy and my expectations for a solid finish were low, very low.  But when I got the placket pinned, I really liked the look of it.  Rather vintage-y.  Then I went to decide on buttons.  These buttons.  I ordered some amazing glass buttons a couple of years ago and these came as a mistake, substituted for something else I ordered.  I was so disappointed and thought "BLECK!" when I took them out of the box.  I was going to send them back, but they came from Europe and the cost of shipping wasn't worth it.  So they were stashed in my button stash.

But (you knew that was coming, right?) I pulled them out for this and it's like they were made for this dress. They fit the vintage-y look.  But of course I didn't have enough for the placket all the way down the back, so I just put them on the bodice and sewed the placket shut down the skirt.

The shoulder portion of the bodice looks like it's just lace, but I actually split the lining and added flesh colored lining, so it's not just hanging from the lace.  (The sleeves are just lace.) If you know me in real life, please do not inspect this too closely.  I lowered the neckline 3 times (and it's still high!) after I topstitched the lining and lace together.  Yep.  I broke many sewing rules on this one.  Don't tell my High School sewing teacher.  I just added piping and flipped it under, a little in-a-pinch-trick.

But, I think Divine looks beautiful in it.  It's very flattering on her, and there's no need for ironing, which is flattering to me. Desirable indeed.

And, in honor of Sew All 26 D Week (and my other D child ;), I have a coupon code for my parents' star shop, Piggy & Dirt to get 20% off your order! Use code DRUMMERSTAR at the checkout page.  They have some new, incredible Halloween stars.  Also, they're running a giveaway for $150 worth of stars over at the lovely Stephanie Nielson's blog, Nienie Dialogues. Click on over for details, and say hi to my sweet friend.

ps I've loved hearing your thoughts on self-esteem for girls over here.