Extremely Short and Quick Post: 2010 Crossword Dress

So, quickly:

here's my dress from the 2010 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. I broke 500 for the first time!



Thanks to Jan for taking the picture (on my cell phone).

Also: this is one of those BurdaStyle Heidi dresses. I'll post a better picture of it later in the week.

Also: the fabric is from Spoonflower. I'll make it available this week too.

Also: yes, those are hot pink patent penny loafers.

Also: that's it.

Another Heidi

Seriously, folks. Do you think I have a problem? I can't stop with the Heidi dresses.

Here's the most recent one:



Fabric is from FabricMart.com again. I don't know who they know but they are getting some excellent fabric lately.

Here's the bodice:



And the back:



I lined the bodice and pockets in pale gray Kona cotton -- not sure why I had it hanging around, but I did.

I have a whole pile of fabric that I still want to make this dress in: TWO (two!) colorways of camouflage, black denim, a Liberty twill, a rayon plaid, possibly a rose-pink corduroy, and on and on ... Good thing it's so fast to sew!

Am I Blue?

One more Heidi ... for now (evil laugh):



I'm not sure if the color really comes across on your screen, but this dress is BLUE. Blue blue blue blue blue. The closest I can come to describing it is that this is the blue that I assumed they painted the Avonlea hall:

a deep, brilliant blue, the shade they use for painting carts and wheelbarrows.

Despite it being probably not so good a color for a community hall on Prince Edward Island, I quite like it as a dress!

Here's the bodice -- note the lining which I deliberately pressed to show, for a kind of piping effect without the work:



And the same lining as the bodice for the pocket:



I have at least one more Heidi left to come -- I managed to cut out FOUR of them in one evening, assembly-line style, and have finished one. Seriously, at this point I hardly want to wear anything else -- they're just so comfortable!

Heidi #2: The Return (With Butterflies)

Here's the second Heidi I made (fuzzy pic, sorry):



The fabric is by Joel Dewberry, I'm pretty sure I bought it from eQuilter, although I don't see it there now. I probably hovered with my finger over the "buy" button for five or six visits until I figured out what to do with it ... luckily, Heidi only takes 2 yards of 56" wide fabric (another reason to love it!) so it wasn't a huge commitment once I did decide to buy it.

I lined the bodice on this one with some $1/yard fabric I bought ages ago. Every time I think "oh, I should really get rid of all those remnants that I bought for no good reason," I find a dress pattern like this one (or the Duro) that needs little bits of contrast fabric. Whew!

You can almost see the lining fabric -- it's cream-colored, with a maroon and gray thread stripe, perfect, huh? -- and the gray ribbon I used as pocket trim, here:



Here's the back -- I actually made a half-assed (pun intended!) attempt at matching the pattern on this one.



I've been wearing this with dark gray tights, flat penny loafers (duh) and a dark maroon sweater; I could probably also wear it with a bright pink, a dark gray, or a cream-colored sweater, if I thought about it.

I also have a goldenrod-colored scarf (you know, one of those pashmina-y things) that goes nicely with this, and about two weeks ago I was in "the city" (which seems to be what you call San Francisco, if you live near it) wearing this dress, that scarf, and an old denim Levi's jacket I swiped from my Dad in roughly 1987 (with bright pink leather gloves sticking out of the breast pocket) and a tourist actually STOPPED ME ON THE STREET and asked to take my picture. It wasn't the Sartorialist, but hey, it was still nice. So if you see that picture on the web somewhere, let me know?

A few other quick things: I'm sure you already know (and knowing you all, have already donated to the best of your ability) about the tragedy in Haiti -- but if you're looking for sewing-type things to do, eBay seller Charlong is donating the proceeds from her auctions to Doctors Without Borders, and I know Lisa and Tina have been doing relief/benefit auctions/sales, as well. If you have links to other relief/benefit sales, please leave 'em in the comments, and I'll do a roundup later this week.

My First Heidi

Remember way back when, last year, when I posted about this fabulous new BurdaStyle pattern I'd found, Heidi? I made three of them in quick succession and promised you pictures.

I finally got a battery charger for my camera (and then immediately found mine, in the last box unpacked after the move, isn't that always the way?) and so here is my first Heidi attempt:



Notice how deep the neckline is? Yeah, me too. So I wear a long-sleeved black tee under this one. After this one I altered the pattern to not be as wide and deep, and I still have more of this fabric (glad I bought a ton of it, I love it and it's now sold out!) so I'm probably going to re-make the bodice. It goes together quickly (despite being lined) so that won't be the arduous slog it would usually be.

Oh, and I changed the tucks in the original pattern bodice to darts.

And look! It has pockets!



The original pattern had very shallow pockets, but I deepened them by about three inches, which seems to work just fine. They go together very easily.

Here's the back:



For some reason it was really hard to take sharp pictures of this particular print ... I wonder why? And I'm sorry it looks so baggy -- I adjusted my dress form WAY down to take some pictures of some smaller dresses with a friend, and she's still not back to her usual fighting form. The dress itself is fairly fitted.

As you can see, I didn't even bother to try to match the print. It's giant scribbles!

Next week I'll show the other two versions!

(Sorry, I don't know where this week went. Okay, I do know -- it was trapped in busyland, with two writing deadlines, a couple of big meetings, and torrential California rain which caused minor flooding in our garage [WHICH IS STILL BETTER THAN SNOW!]. Next week, well, it doesn't look better, busy-wise, but it doesn't look like I need to start cadging ProVigil, either.)

Meet My New Friend, Heidi

So over the Thanksgiving break I FINALLY made a BurdaStyle pattern ... this one above, Heidi. (The picture above is NOT the one I made, but one from Isobel M -- I'll get pictures of mine up soon, maybe even with me wearing them, ulp -- but I did want to show one all made up, and not just the pattern illustration. And anyway, Isobel's is LIBERTY!)

Anyway, I actually made this twice over the holiday break, which should tell you how easy it is. I thought I would dislike printing out and taping together the pattern, but in fact it was very easy and soothing. I also discovered Netflix streaming video over the holiday weekend, and managed to inhale Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend ... I have a BBC Dickens obsession. (Not to mention a "watching David Morrissey lose his shit" obsession, cf. Blackpool and State of Play.) Costume drama plus scotch tape is an incredibly relaxing combination.

I also liked the heavier paper -- compared to pattern tissue, it was super-easy to alter, and having all the sizes meant I was able to cut different pieces for the bodice and skirt without worrying about doing anything unfixable -- if I screwed up, I could just print those pages out again and start over. (And there's a nearly endless supply of BBC costume dramas, after all ...)

Alterations I made: I raised the neckline about an inch. I cut one size for the shoulders, another for the bust, and a third for the waist/hips, and it was simple to smooth the pattern lines to do that. I changed the tucks to darts on the front and back bodice (but left them as soft pleats in the skirt). I shortened it by about three inches, to hit just above the knee in one version and just below the knee in the other. I also made the pockets about an inch and a half deeper -- when I put things in my pockets, I like them to stay there (with the exception of my hands).

The pattern went together really quickly, even though the bodice is lined (my fabrics were heavy so I didn't line the skirt). And compared to what I usually sew, Heidi uses *no* fabric. Seriously, I got away with less than two yards of 54" for this one, with maybe another yard for the bodice lining. Needless to say, I am re-evaluating the "short cuts" in my fabric closet in the light of this new information. I have some green cotton satin that is begging to be this dress.

I really should post pictures of the ones I made. I'll try to get them up tomorrow, if I can find my camera connector cable. I'm planning on wearing them with a cardigan (quel surprise) and maybe even a belt, and I have to say it reminds me of nothing so much as the Michelle Obama look: nice dress, sensible cardigan, cute belt (link is to her Tussaud's figure, so if that's not iconic ...). If it's good enough for the First Lady of the United States, it's good enough for me ...

[Also, I haven't really looked at how the new FTC blogging rules affect me, but I should point out that while BurdaStyle is an advertiser here, I paid for this pattern (it wasn't a freebie).]