yours for the low-low price of

$139.99 for the dress form


$29.99 for the cover



$12.63 shipping.

i'm not buying one of these. not yet, anyway. but 1 step forward in my sewing usually means 3 steps back. every time i think i've finally nailed the problem & am sailing towards completion, i have a setback.

& then i start googling dress forms. you know, because if i only had a dress form...

but seriously, & i've mentioned this before in terms of my knitted garments, the ability to pin up the garment on a dress form would make fitting a lot easier. as it is, i have to pin, baste, try on, lather, rinse, repeat.

& there are things you can't see or feel when you are looking at the garment on yourself in a mirror. this brings me to the latest setback on the skirt reconstruct, which follows the eleventh time i was convinced i'd finally nailed the project.

i now have to rip out part of the front bubble hem to readjust the draping at the side-back seams because it is pulling at the sides. did not see this during pinning or basting & looking in the mirror or trying to walk in it. the problem only popped up after i'd done the final sew-up of the back hem to the side seams.

if i'd only had a dress form...

anyway, the seam ripper makes yet another reappearance but not before googling reviews on dress forms. the Uniquely You dress form gets high marks on the sewing forums for those of us who are new to sewing & don't want to spend a lot of cash on one of these in case 6 months down the road we're bored with sewing & trying to offload it on craigslist for $40.

talked to mom this morning. she said the dress form is going to be like the ironing board.

it's only a matter of time.

the impasse. because there always is one.

i bought some lining fabric for the skirt reconstruct at fabrix (more on the fabrix experience in a minute) & while i was there, picked up some cheap fabric to make muslins for 2 vintage 1940s patterns i bought. i have never made a muslin in my life. actually, it was only recently that i'd even heard of the concept, but disregarded it because i'm too impatient. it takes me forever to sew something once, but twice?

upon further reflection, however, i suspect sizing the vintage patterns will be a total shot in the dark (complete failure & waste of money on good fabric) so for this one time only i'm going to make muslins to test fit the patterns.

back to the fabrix experience. point of emphasis here: fabrix should never, ever be confused with britex.

whereas britex is all about beautiful fabric, one-on-one customer service & getting chastised for breaking yet another one of the unwritten rules of shopping in the britex store (ask me how), fabrix is a free-for-all of wading through dusty bolts of unidentifiable & mostly unappealing fabric, employee drama & much much more.

it took a long time to find something doable for just 1 of the muslins, only to have the cutter show me (with hand gestures because she had laryngitis and her coworker went on lunch break for longer than she was supposed to, etc., etc.) that the fabric was wrapped around the bolt in 1 3/4 yard pieces which is not at all helpful when you need a piece that's 2 1/2 yards.

i went back digging for the plan b option. desperate on a mission. found it on the $.99/yard pile. brought it to the other cutter (who did not take an extended lunch break, she was hardly gone at all, etc., etc.) who said it was misplaced on the $.99/yard pile & was actually priced at $2.39/yard. (whatever)

i read the yelp reviews on fabrix, so i thought i was prepared going in, but i must say it was worse than my lowest expectations. there were a lot of people with purpose shopping in that store though, so maybe if i keep going back i will eventually be taken in by its quirkiness?



i created a 3-piece lining from scratch, applying what i'd learned from vogue 8425. everything went together much easier this time & i was feeling really good about the project. the only other thing i had to brain think was how to do the bubble hem. note: the bubble hem was not what i had in mind initially, but it's where the skirt was going so fine.



this is where the skirt & i hit an impasse.

it turns out there is more fabric at the front of the skirt than the back, something i did not know about the garment when i was wearing it as a dress, nor at any stage of the reconstruct. it was only after many pinups of the bubble hem & trying it on (& i mean like 3 separate days of doing this in different ways & it still not fitting right) that i realized what was going on. of course now it's totally obvious: there are 8 pleats in front & only 4 darts in back.

which means i can bubble the front, but not the back.

i've tried everything i can think of to do something non-bubbled with the back that will compliment the bubble in the front, but i'm at a total loss. as of now, there is only 1 option - straight, flat hem all the way around & as i mentioned previously, this is not an option i want to pursue.

i really don't want to stick this skirt in the still waiting to be finished pile or worse, in the oh well better luck next time pile.

so i'm waiting for inspiration. i'm hoping once the cold bug runs its course, the brain will be clearer & the answer will come.

of zippers (more).

photo: threads magazine

threads is a great magazine. i'm fortunate to have a friend who quilts & she has gifted me with a stack of threads magazines. i'm thrilled! hand-picked zipper? never heard of it, but it's an interesting technique & i'm filing it away for future reference.

of zippers (more)- mom pulls through again. at christmas, she gave me 2 different sets of invisible zipper feet from her sewing gear. she said "i don't know if any of these will fit your machine but you could try."

lo & behold, we have a perfect fit!

i now understand why mom said putting in the zipper was easy. it really is, when you have an invisible zipper foot. setting the zipper back into the reconstructed skirt was no problem.



except that now i might have to take the zipper back out. it all depends on what happens when i add the lining to the skirt.

misc #15.

in researching various technique possibilities related to the skirt reconstruct, i found many references to this book.

it's an expensive book that i can't afford. it is "for library use only" at SFPL & there was nothing available on ebay, so i moved on.

& then i stumbled on a used copy at an unbelievabable price. so unbelievable that even if i never really look at the book, it would still not be a waste of money. by the way, it was shipped here lightning fast & i've already been pawing through all the pages. it's in perfect condition & i just can't believe it.

this is the exact opposite experience from the ironing board situation.

i've spent nearly a week trying to find a way to get around putting a lining into the skirt.

i'm going to have to put a lining in the skirt.

& vogue 8425 is not dead. it just needs 2 more darts in the waistband at the front-side panels & a major pressing on the new ironing board.

black skirt progress.

the skirt reconstruct is going, although the fabric doesn't want to do what i want it to do. i measured, draped, basted, remeasured & redraped several times & then i got rid of the ruler altogether & submitted to the fabric. it should count that i put up a good fight.

i'm having fun with this project & i think it's because there's no pattern. while that showcases how little i know about sewing, at least i'm not failing at the hands of someone else's pattern instructions. truth be known, i could have just cut some of the bottom off & made a hem, but i was hoping to learn something more than what i don't know about sewing.

i didn't realize how many pin gouges i had all over my hands until i squeezed a lime over some pad thai. making a point to angle the pin away from my skin doesn't work at all. if anything, the pins become more determined to make the plunge.

the new ironing board makes a great work surface & can be used a pin cushion.

the downside is that it likes to tip & throw my iron onto the floor.

deconstruct; repurpose.

beginnings of a skirt with ruching at the side seams.