Some interesting feedback to my last post on the dress fitting issues. Lana from Illinois - you are so right that Calvin Klein patterns are designed for skinny minnies with no shape, which is so not my body type. In fact now that I look more closely at the pattern envelope I see that the model is not only straight up and down, but the dress doesn't even fit her that well despite the pattern envelope describing it as very fitted. Ah well, the pattern is now packed back into its envelope and in the pattern drawer. Even though it was a major failure for me I just can't throw away any patterns! Maybe I can use it on Anna in 15 years or so.....
Another comment that got me thinking was Trena's (aka The Slapdash Sewist) that she couldn't buy RTW dresses because her size variation, which is similar to mine. I tried and tried, but I cannot remember the last RTW dress I bought, I certainly haven't bought any in the last decade, but before that I can't even picture a RTW dress that I've worn either! But I do have these in my wardrobe:
That's 23 dresses up there on the hangers, plus I have another 3 dresses in the wash and I discovered another dress slipped inside one of those hanging up sharing a hanger, so that's a total of 27 dresses! 26 dresses I sewed myself, and 1 dress that I refashioned, but absolutely none are store bought. And that's even after I had a wardrobe purge a few weeks ago and let go of a few dresses that I had made. And I have quite a few more maternity dresses stored away for the next time I do something crazy like get pregnant. Until I put them all together like this I didn't realise how many I had made, but I must say I'm pretty proud of this situation - I'm well on the way to having a fully custom made wardrobe.
Interestingly, there's not that many grey dresses in there even though it seems like I am always sewing with that colour - there are only four (one is in the wash). Quite a few in the red/pink/purple range, only a couple in the black/brown range and a few in the blue shades as well.
Looks like I need some dresses in yellow and green (separately, not together - I'm not an Olympic athlete) to make up the full spectrum!
And my newest dress is hidden in amongst that lot - I plan to wear it to work tomorrow so shall have some pictures soon. It's made from a stretch cotton - anonymous, I sooo agree with your cheaty way to get a good fit!
Thank you AnaJan for bestowing the Versatile Blogger award upon me, it's been ages since I've gotten one of these and I was beginning to think you all didn't love me! Ha ha just kidding... You really should check out AnaJan's blog though, she is the Burda queen - I've never seen someone sew so many Burda patterns with so much success too!
Anyway I'm supposed to pass the award onto 15 other bloggers, but I'm too lazy for that so consider yourself all awarded. I also have to reveal 7 random facts about myself, so let's see what I can think up:
1. I'm the middle child in my family, I have one younger sister and one older brother. We all have red hair and freckles, even though my mum has blonde hair and my dad used to have brown hair (all gone now I'm afraid!).
2. I've been wearing glasses since I was in fifth class (about 11 years old), probably caused by me always sitting in the back row in class because I was usually reading a book under my desk instead of doing maths!
3. I was very accident prone as a child, spending many hours in the emergency department of our local hospital, mainly because I was always trying to keep up or outdo my brother (middle child syndrome?). Falling off the garage roof or out of trees, crashing bicycles or skateboards you name I did it. Broken collarbones and fingers, fractured heel, stitches, bruises, concussions and stitches.
4. My first overseas trip was to South America for nearly 2 months, all by myself when I was 20. I was so naive that I landed in Lima at 3am after flying for about two days straight with no accommodation or transport arranged from the airport to the city. All good though, I met some fellow Australians (we're all over the world aren't we?) and tagged along with them.
5. In high school I despised home economics and the first thing I ever sewed was a pair of fluoro yellow boxer shorts that I never ever wore. I studied technical drawing and industrial design instead - my parents still have a coffee table I designed and built.
6. I had all four of my wisdom teeth pulled out in one go, in the dentist chair too and not a hospital stay. In fact it didn't even hurt that much even though I stocked up on a week's worth of canned soup. It's why I was so surprised that childbirth hurt so much, because my mum told me that her giving birth three times without any drugs didn't hurt as much as having her teeth pulled. She was so LYING!
7. My husband and I are both town planners, and we met working together at a local council in the development assessment section. We kept the relationship secret for six months though until my husband found a different job. These days however he's a property developer and I work in environmental policy, so we've left our town planning days behind us, but we do have many many friends in the industry so there's always lots of trade talk when we all get together!
And my newest dress is hidden in amongst that lot - I plan to wear it to work tomorrow so shall have some pictures soon. It's made from a stretch cotton - anonymous, I sooo agree with your cheaty way to get a good fit!
Thank you AnaJan for bestowing the Versatile Blogger award upon me, it's been ages since I've gotten one of these and I was beginning to think you all didn't love me! Ha ha just kidding... You really should check out AnaJan's blog though, she is the Burda queen - I've never seen someone sew so many Burda patterns with so much success too!
Anyway I'm supposed to pass the award onto 15 other bloggers, but I'm too lazy for that so consider yourself all awarded. I also have to reveal 7 random facts about myself, so let's see what I can think up:
1. I'm the middle child in my family, I have one younger sister and one older brother. We all have red hair and freckles, even though my mum has blonde hair and my dad used to have brown hair (all gone now I'm afraid!).
2. I've been wearing glasses since I was in fifth class (about 11 years old), probably caused by me always sitting in the back row in class because I was usually reading a book under my desk instead of doing maths!
3. I was very accident prone as a child, spending many hours in the emergency department of our local hospital, mainly because I was always trying to keep up or outdo my brother (middle child syndrome?). Falling off the garage roof or out of trees, crashing bicycles or skateboards you name I did it. Broken collarbones and fingers, fractured heel, stitches, bruises, concussions and stitches.
4. My first overseas trip was to South America for nearly 2 months, all by myself when I was 20. I was so naive that I landed in Lima at 3am after flying for about two days straight with no accommodation or transport arranged from the airport to the city. All good though, I met some fellow Australians (we're all over the world aren't we?) and tagged along with them.
5. In high school I despised home economics and the first thing I ever sewed was a pair of fluoro yellow boxer shorts that I never ever wore. I studied technical drawing and industrial design instead - my parents still have a coffee table I designed and built.
6. I had all four of my wisdom teeth pulled out in one go, in the dentist chair too and not a hospital stay. In fact it didn't even hurt that much even though I stocked up on a week's worth of canned soup. It's why I was so surprised that childbirth hurt so much, because my mum told me that her giving birth three times without any drugs didn't hurt as much as having her teeth pulled. She was so LYING!
7. My husband and I are both town planners, and we met working together at a local council in the development assessment section. We kept the relationship secret for six months though until my husband found a different job. These days however he's a property developer and I work in environmental policy, so we've left our town planning days behind us, but we do have many many friends in the industry so there's always lots of trade talk when we all get together!
Your dresses look so pretty there, hanging on the rack. I have a tiny wardrobe...I'd love to hang all my clothes out and see what I have made. No RTW dresses for me either...I wonder how they stay so fashionalbe when it seems that no-one can buy them to fit.
ReplyDeleteTown planner hey? Never would have guessed.
Ahem. And what makes you feel that Anna's body type will be radically different from yours :-)?
ReplyDeleteLove the dress display. Maybe you are tired of sewing grey dresses but you still like to wear them? I definitely agree with Trina that if you have different top/bottoms you're left entirely to make them yourself. Personally, I can't wear RTW pants, and yet I do every day, without a sewing machine I'm sunk..
Hadn't read much on the blogs lately - glad Anna passed the ring. With my 4 that's one we haven't had, yet... But the chair moving, all mine have done that, Hayley (3) does that now. As far as sleep, my hardest was Andrew (now 7 and has CP). He did that all night-stuff until he was about 2.5, when our pedi prescribed an antispasmatic drug for him with a side effect of sleepiness. He would twist his limbs at night and couldn't get them apart (that's the CP). Then he would scream. Every hour or so. Once he slept, his speech and growth took off. Now at 7, he's about top of his 1st grade class. I know he's a special need, but I sympathise with the long term sleep deprivation. I have been there, in our own way. I also have a couple of headstrong children, so I am not unsympathetic to that too.
ReplyDeleteI'm so impressed about the dresses. Gives me comfort to know that I'm not the only one making alot of dresses...and I have 4 grey dresses...so I think you are allowed to make one or two! :)
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ReplyDeleteLove your dress collection! I'm similarly shaped as you are, but I avoided dresses with sleeves, I was afraid they were uncomfortable to wear. However, I prefer dresses to skirts and blouses, so I think I should really give them a go.
ReplyDeleteBTW, It was nice reading about you.
Sometimes I like to go through my closet saying "made that, made that..." It's fun! And makes me feel really productive. Keep up the good work. I love the array of colors, and definitely think green would look beautiful with your coloring.
ReplyDeleteYour dresses look great all in a row like that, wish I could say that I have sewn that much for myself. Seams... that I'm always sewing for others! Although I do really enjoy it...
ReplyDeleteChild birth... it's different for each person. Heck, I would rather give birth, than go to the dentist! Mostly cause I've had some bad ones!
Keep up the good work. Who knows Anna may want a "retro" dress when she is finally able to wear that pattern. LoL
When I put all my summer dresses on an external rack last year I LOVED the way they looked. They have kept me company throughout this cold winter, patiently waiting...
ReplyDeleteI have three RTW dresses. Two are wrap dresses and all too big on top. Oddly enough I bought them all last year at one sale.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have as much grey as I would have thought! As a fellow lover of gray I like that you sew with it so much.
I love the story about how you and your husband met ;)
People go to the hospital to have their wisdom teeth extracted? I've never heard of that. I had all four out in the dentist's chair too and everyone I've talked to has, also....
ReplyDeleteI'm not much of a commenter, but I just wanted to tell you that I didn't do Home Ec in school and instead did tech drawing too (we call it graphics). But now, I'm a Home Ec teacher... no yellow boxers though.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a fashion designer's rack! Bravo!
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