Anna Maria Horner sundress

I've decided to try this new thing where I start my post with a picture. That way you don't have to read through all my wordy crap before you know just what the heck it is that I've made this time. (That's sort of how my mom asks me what I'm making: "Leah, what are you making now?" As if I'm stirring up trouble for the umpteenth time, sigh. I know she doesn't mean to come off that way; she just can't help it. She's a sigh-y mom.)

I managed to finish up the Anna Maria Horner dress I was planning in my last post. That's right; I planned something and then actually sewed that exact item, according to plan, in a timely manner. Who knew. I completed it in time for Mother's Day yesterday, and then we had some sort of freaky wind storm thingee that made me freeze my a__ off at church while futilely pulling my sweater around me--fate is always on my side! Then my sister told me that I look like a little kid in the dress, mainly because it accentuates my chestless state. I dunno. I asked DH for his opinion, and he replied by running down the hall away from me. Such is the life of a youngest, I suppose.

*I* love the dress. So there. :p~~~~~

Pattern: Anna Maria Horner Evening Empire Dress. View A, above knee length with straps. Complete honesty: I like my dresses short, so I cut, like 4" off the pattern length. If you do not like your dresses short, this pattern will be plenty long enough for you as is.

Fabric: Very lightweight cotton print from Joanns. I got this fabric off the quilting wall, but it seems much more apparel-y than that. It is truly beautiful, and I really enjoyed looking at it the whole time I worked with it (shouldn't this be true for every sewing project?). I lined the skirt section with a thin cotton jersey.

See? It is not maternity looking, IMO. Even though it has an empire waistline, the lightweight fabric combined with the stretchy jersey lining makes it fall nice and flat.


The topstitching voice won on this dress. Because of the simple lines, I just thought it looked a little more professional with a nicely topstitched bodice & straps.

I cut the jersey skirt lining at least 15"-20" smaller around than the outer skirt to reduce bulk. I noticed on the pattern envelope that the skirt section can look a little puffy, so I really wanted to avoid that. Rather than hand gather it, I just pushed and tucked it under my presser foot as I sewed it to the bodice. Lazy sewing, that's me.

Topstitch-ed-ness. I use my left-edge topstitching foot for a great deal of my topstitching, bindings, and hems. The foot is not necessary, but it has pretty much changed my life. I can sew a straight line of topstitching, but the special foot makes it go a lot quicker and stress-free. For topstitching the straps and other fabric edges, I like to use my clear seam guide foot. I don't think that's really what it's for, but the increased presser foot area makes my fabric feed a lot better than a standard A or B foot.

(Side note: I typed "foot" so many times in that paragraph that all of a sudden it doesn't look like a word anymore. Damn you, weird English language!)

I used a pretty green invisible zipper from my stash. Don't you just love an unexpected colored zipper? It makes me happy.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Mother's Day!

New Kwik Sew patterns!

I admit that I am a pattern junkie. I'm not a snob, I love them all. I subscribe to every major and minor pattern manufacturer's email updates: McCall's, Vogue, Butterick, Simplicity, New Look, Kwik Sew, Hot Patterns, Jalie, you name it. I stalk European pattern magazine websites like a hawk. Any time I get a whiff of new patterns (which is quite often, when you think about it), I pop on over to the appropriate website and click with breathlessness. Ah, new patterns; so full of promise and imaginary sewing.

Recently Kwik Sew released their Summer 2010 catalogue, and well, LOVE. I found so many that caught my eye, I just had to pick up a couple on a recent Yardage Town trip. Now, I have to mention that I am a very lucky sewer in the Kwik Sew department. I can get them at my local Yardage Town for a whopping 40% off, every day. Yes, that's right, whichever never-go-on-sale, not -available-very-many-places Kwik Sew pattern that I want is instantly available to me at a ridiculous discount on any given day of the week. Thank you, sewing gods.

Here are the two I picked out:

I want to make several of these tank tops to go over my leggings this Summer. This pattern happens to be drafted for woven fabrics, and I hope make view A out of a really floaty, champagne-colored silk I bought a while back. Kwik Sew also released a very similar pattern for knit fabrics, but I told myself that I don't need two patterns for basically the same thing. I will just adapt this one for knits and get more use out of it.

I was attracted to this bathing suit pattern, as it's becoming that time of year again (ugh) where I have to take my kids to the beach/swimming pool and feel like a pale, dumpy mom while surrounded by hot young things in do-me bikinis. Yay. My favorite season. I know, I know. I have an arguably slim figure and should not complain. But the fact is that people who look tan and hot and pre-childbirth in bikinis make everyone else feel bad, regardless of your size/shape. And I live in SoCal, where they seem to grow beautiful skinny girls on trees. With my pre-kneaded bread dough tummy and negative A-cup floppy breasts, looking cute in a swimsuit is a little bit more of a tall order than it used to be. So, I am planning to make view B in a pretty teal print and sew supportive bra cups into the bodice. How awesome does that shirring look for concealing mommy gush? Already I'm feeling better.

I also picked up this super-cute skull print. I am always looking out for girly, dare I say sweet? skull prints, so I was really excited to find this. I'm thinking jammies for presents, and possibly some for DD as well:

In other news, I'm working on a project for me out of this gaaaahgeous light, cotton print from Joanns. See, Joanns has cute, quality stuff sometimes! Never count that store out. This fabric came out of my mom's crappy agitator washer with hardly any wrinkles, and feels lovely. I got it off the quilting cotton wall for, like, $4 a yard on sale. I'm sewing up view A of Anna Maria Horner's Evening Empire Dress, the knee-length version with straps. Maybe I will start to like Summer more if I have some cute dresses? Eh, at least they might make it a little more bearable.


FYI, I don't hate Summer only because of bathing suits, I just plain don't like to be hot. And our Summer here lasts for-ev-er. Like, into November. Gimme Spring, or gimme Fall, but don't give me unending 80+ degree days.

Up next, hopefully I will show off this dress!