Vogue 1679 - TSW Reunion Inspiration

Ms. Veronica sent me the vintage pattern Vogue 1679 for TSW Reunion Pattern and Notions swap.  I am striving to make View E (i.e., the multi-colored, short sleeved, knee length dress without cowl on pattern front) for the challenge.  I've opened the pattern, ironed the pieces, and started looking around the interweb for inspiration.

Guess who loves this pattern? Kazz! She's blogged about it here, here, here, and here. This girl really loves her some Vogue 1679! And what is best is that for each one she has used different types of fabrics, made different views - all making each and every one unique. Inspiration overload - just what I needed! Thanks Kazz!

Sew Weekly Pattern and Notions Swap - Receiving

As you know I signed up for the above mentioned swap.  The swap was round-robin style:  the person who I had wasn't the person who had me.  About a week after the packages were supposed to be sent I wrote a calm and collected (read: worried) email to the swap organizer, Kat from Modern Vintage Cupcakes, who graciously replied with the following:

"Your swap package has quite a distance to travel, so I suspect it'll take a couple of weeks to arrive with you! The person who it's coming from it very reliable though, so never fear - I'm sure it'll get to you safe and sound. :-)"

(read:  calm down girlie, you'll get your package - what, is this your first swap or something?)

So of course, I immediately start thinking of the places it could be coming from and the only person that popped into my head was Adey from The Sew Convert who lives in Singapore.  Adey was one of the five talented women who sewed a garment a week for The Sew Weekly in 2011.  ANWAY.  I was beside myself fantasizing about what I was going to be getting, who it was going to be coming from, what I would make, would it be good enough, would I have time, and on and on and on.

Nothing.  Nothing came and I really started to worry.  Was my swap partner lame?  Did they forget about me?  You know, all of the really dumb things you start to think when you are new to something and don't know what to expect.  How naive of me!  How utterly STUPID of me.

So I kind of forgot about the whole thing until one night my husband casually told me that I received a package from Australia.  AUSTRALIA!  Um.  Australia?  Australia, as in, where VERONICA DARLING is from?  As in, Toni calm down, you might be touching something that Veronica Darling touched?  (OK, really - I'm not this crazy or stalker-y).  So I picked up the package and saw this:

Then I turned it over and saw this:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! 

Then. I. Opened. It.

 

I am one spoiled gal, fo sho!  Veronica (yes VERONICA!) sent along homemade bias tape, self cover buttons, an emerald zip, a Vogue pattern for me, AND a very thoughtful pattern for my daughter, Roya.  Look how happy she is to be included:

 

 

 

Roya is holding a beautiful card from a local artist that Veronica wrote a cute little note inside.  Thank you so much to Veronica for the lovely goodies.  It was well worth the wait and I am so excited to started sewing!  And now I am so addicted to swaps.  How could you not be when your first was so awesome?  I know each and every one will be as exciting as this one was.  How could it not?

Sew Weekly Pattern and Notions Swap - Giving

Yeah!  Tanya recevied my package!  I'm so glad she 1) received it safe and sound and 2) that she didn't have the patterns I sent!  I can't wait to see what beautiful pieces she makes from them.  Now for me to patiently await my goodies!  Waiting. Is. So. Hard.

The "Copycat" Dress

Fabric:  2.5 yards of navy blue knit from Joann's

Pattern: Simplicity 2443, View A, Size 14

Year:  Current

Notions: 7" invisible zipper, thread

Time to complete: 4 hours

First worn: To work - July 22, 2013

Total price: $1.99 for the pattern, maybe $4/yard (?) for the fabric: <$10
Wear again? Yes, after some minor alterations

As I have said before, I tend to copy the pattern exactly on the cover with respect to fabric.  I'm not very savvy when it comes to fabric and I have a ton of quilting cotton in my stash (when I was starting to sew I was doing a lot of crafty sewing and making children's clothes).  So when I bought this pattern at Joann's I immediately purchased the same navy blue knit to go along with it.  Unfortunately, Joann's is the closest and cheapest place for me to buy fabric.  Its not the greatest for quality and options in apparel fabric.  I wish I had a Michael Lavine's or a Mood right around the corner but I don't (Have you seen these places?  Where does one start?!).  Plus I'm a tightwad when it comes to buying fabric and those 50% coupons really come in handy.  We do have a local fabric shop in Salt Lake City called Yellow Bird Fabrics, but fabric from there comes with a hefty price tag that I can't splurge for right now.

I'm going to have to work on the photographer!  Or is it the model?

I completed all but the hem on this dress March and just now finished the hem.  It was staring at me hanging in the laundry room just begging me to be worn.  So I whipped up the hem the other night and voila, here she be.

I love this dress.  Except.  There is some strange bunching up on the side of my bust that drives me insane.  I think that I need to clip the seam allowance a bit more and hopefully the seam will lie flat.  A colleague at work said this is happening because I'm not full on the sides - duh.  I'm not full anywhere!  I'm pretty pleased with the results.  One thing I learned is to let the dress hang for a couple of days before hemming.  It helps a lot with the drape in terms of hemming!  Who would've thunk?

Closeup of buldge on upper corner of bust.

Sew Weekly Reunion Challenge and Pattern and Notions Swap

I am a swap virgin.  I have no idea what I am doing.  But I am giddy with anticipation and nervous for the reaction of my swap partner.

The four Sew Weekly gals from 2011 have resurrected a theme based sewing challenge in a reunion and swap.  I heard about this by clicking away at the 100s of sewing blogs I follow and am so glad that I stumbled upon it (if I spent half of the time sewing instead of stalking, I would be an expert seamstress by now!).  The theme this time around was inspired by the new Pantone fall color scheme.  Anyway, you can read more about it here so that you don't have to read my ramblings.

I just packaged up my goodies to send along to my swap partner.  I hope that she enjoys them!  I am anxious to see who had me for their swap partner and what goodies they thought of just for me.

Swap Package Ready to be Shipped!

I'm already working on my item to submit for the Sew Weekly Reunion challenge.  I hope it goes well.  I'm a little out of my league but there are some great sewists out there who I truly adore, even if I have never met any of them.

Using this 100% Thai Silk for my challenge