Sewing Won

But I'm betting you knew it would. ;-)

The invisible (magenta!) zip is in, the hem is complete, and the skirt is finished. I cut out a black lining and then decided not to use it. First, I wanted this done already so impatience won out, and second, I was thinking with the poly, it was just gonna be hot and static-y and my impatience didn't want to find out if that would be true. Since the lining is pretty much ready to go, I can always go back and add it if I change my mind. Or, I have a lining waiting for another skirt. The scrap around Zillie's neck is all that my friends Polly and Esther left me (BTW, P&E is not original, I think I stole that from Rachelle). I think I might serge a rolled edge and have a cowl/scarf, which I probably *won't* wear with the skirt.

Next up is another make of McCall's 6397.

I wore the first make all summer but it's definitely a summer dress and I've been missing it now that "winter" is here. If you were following along back then, you probably remember my disappointment at finding out too late that there's a drafting error in the pattern so that the pocket seam/waist dart on the skirt doesn't match up with the bust dart on the bodice in real life like shown on the envelope drawings. (I also notice that the human version on the envelope is the other view, the one without that seam. Hmm.) Other than that, I really liked this pattern and knew I'd make it again, after fixing that error.

It was actually a pretty quick fix. (So why, McCall's, didn't YOU do it?) I lined up the bust dart with the pocket seam and saw that all I had to do was re-cut it on the size 14 line. That's step 1.

Step 2 was to add onto the side piece (10) what was removed by recutting the seam above. Step 3, the last step, was to add onto the pocket bag (9) so it matched piece 10.

I knew I wanted to make this in a double-knit. The first make is a stretch woven and since it has about the same amount of stretch as a firm double-knit, I was fairly confident the fit would be similar. (Hope that confidence doesn't come back to bite me in the butt.)

I'm using this printed double-knit recently acquired from Fabric.com. I had ordered two colorways but only received this one because the other had sold out, darn it.

I auditioned some different thread colors for the topstitching and settled on the one at the bottom of this pic. It actually matches the light color in the fabric, but the lighting played tricks with the camera.

Here's where I am as of now. I'll get back into the sewing room tomorrow, but I also do want to tackle the Christmas crap ... er ... decorations ... too, so I'm not counting on a finished dress at the end of the day.

If this one works out like I think it will, I'm going to make another double-knit dress from McCall's 6394, probably similar to the bottom left view. You know I'll be checking those seams before I cut good fabric.

Now it's time for a chocolate martini ... which is chocolate-flavored vodka + creme de cacao + Godiva liquor, chilled in a shaker with ice and then drained. Yum! They were passing these out (in cute little martini shooter glasses) at my cousin's wedding last April and I've been hooked ever since. It took me a few experiments to come up with a mix that tasted like those, but even the trials tasted pretty darn good. Hic!