Mad Men Monday

Welcome to my new series. I figured if I'm going to do the latest Mad Men challenge (click on badge in the sidebar for more info), I might as well attempt to keep myself on track, hence a Monday report on how it's going.

Today's topic... INSPIRATION ... aka WHAT DO I MAKE?!!

I went to my favorite source for Mad Men Style info (Tom and Lorenzo), and pinned photos from last season. If you're a Mad Men fan, you know that they're now firmly in the late 60s. This leaves me with a dilemma, because the early 60s are really better style-wise for me. I just relate more to those more formal and fitted styles, and find the wearability easier than the mini, hippier looks of the late 60s.

[As an aside, I lived through the entire 1960s, minus the first 5 days of 1960 when I was still in the womb. I'm a child of the 60s and wore many of the late 60s styles, at least in a child-version. This doesn't make me like them any better.]

Me, December 1960...I'll try to find a better picture.

My initial feeling is that I'm going to make the shirtdress I was considering making for the challenge last year. I have fabric, and a pattern for this, and it will be a great and timeless summer style for the heat of the southeast US.

source

But Joan's (or even Megan's) work look would also be great, and a useful addition to my own work wardrobe. OK, the boring part would be that it would have to be in black. I'll probably still make a Joan or Megan-inspired pencil skirt and blouse with a ruffle, or a great wiggle dress, but maybe just not for the challenge.

source

Finally, I need a dress to wear to a summer wedding, so something dressier could also be a possibility. Hmmm, do you see any favorites in these pictures?

source

Tiramisu, the Paisley Edition

Tiramisu #2 is finished, and I'm calling this the Paisley Edition because, well, there are paisleys all over it. Are paisleys a thing? Singular? Plural? Nevermind.

This is a full length dress (as opposed to my original tira #1 which should be called the Peplum Edition). I took the changes I made after finishing #1 and essentially ended up with a size 30 vertically, and a 35 horizontally. Yep, short and wide...that's me. Forget about the cup size... don't even know where that ended up.

And you will notice the sleeves. 3/4 length, which is my favorite length. Basically made by making the underarm seam slightly more dolman-like. I did add the binding for a neat finish, and used only 1/4" seam allowance for the underarm to midriff because it seemed like they would be a smidge tight. They are perfect now. I actually made the piece for the sleeve separate from the bodice, but cut it all in one. Now it will be easy to choose the sleeve length, cut and go.

Oh, and I didn't gather the underbust seam, but made 3 little pleats. It's kinda hard to tell from the pictures, but I really love the end result of the pleating.

I also didn't hem it, which makes me a little twitchy, but I also don't think I want it any shorter. So the pictures... you would not believe the static electricity. Even after rubbing the inside of the skirt and my legs with a dryer sheet. Some spinning:

Mad Men Challenge II

JuliaBobbin asks... are you in? Oh, I so want to be. It seems so unpractical. I mean, I should make things that I just need, right? I haven't even worn the LBD I made for last year's challenge. I will though. It's black, and actually work appropriate, amazingly. It's just that it's sleeveless, and of course... it's winter. How many times can I use the word it's?

Mad Men Challenge 2012

Nope, I can't resist, and the deadline is April 19. So that's workable. Plus, I have plenty of patterns, and actually a couple of possibilities that I was seriously considering from last year. Will it be shirtdress or sheath? Early 60s or late? Betty, Joan or Peggy? So stay tuned, and I'll let the challenge unfold.

Naughty Knits

So, I'm in the process of making Tiramisu version 2. It will be awesome. It should be done. But I suspect every sewist worth her (or his) salt, has had best laid plans go awry. A snip here, a rip there, a miscut piece. And where the hell did the facings go, right? And you only had 30 minutes and wanted to get to step 12!

Let's back up. Version 2 is going to be a thicker jersey that some of y'all would call beefy. For the record, I had that term. I love a steak any ol' time, but I don't want to wear one. I'm going to go with spongy. Which behaved in a rather unexpected way when I stitched the center front seam of the skirt. With the lightning stitch, which is a bitch to rip out, by the way.

Yep. The edges are supposed to be even. It's the bias. It's the fabric. I even used a walking foot. Ok. Fine. I put it aside to do the back, with a decision to baste first. As I basted, I decided that really a straight stitch would be fine, because I didn't have the movement when it basted. And this seam is just hanging. No real stretch needed, or even wanted really.

So, I just spent 40 minutes ripping that lightning bolt stitch out, and it's ready to re-do tomorrow. Let's see if I can finish (or get closer to finishing) tomorrow morning before work.

Have you ever had a fabric do something unexpected?

It's Out of the Oven! Tiramisu -- Done!

That title should probably say, Tiramisu Version 1... done! Yes, I will make more (or at least one more in the very near future).

I've been following along with the sew along, and probably averaging 30 minutes a day, but just haven't managed to sew every day. You do what you have to do, right? Initially in the sew along, I was ahead of the game, but once the actually sewing commenced, I was a couple of days behind, and that proved to be beneficial, because I was prepared for some tweaking that I may have to do. As it turned out, I ended up having some major tweaking of that underbust seam, and spent about 2 hours Sunday morning getting it right. Well, almost right, but right enough that my next version will have a cleaned up pattern piece and should, fingers crossed, work right off the bat.

So. Pictures. With commentary beneath them. And at least a couple will be posted to the Tiramisu flickr group.

•  Black, but my work uniform color. A cotton knit from fabric.com
• It's a top. Duh. I had about a yard of this knit, so that's all I could get, and I'm fine with that. Some of y'all might call it a wearable muslin, but I hate that term so let's just go with version 1.
• I cut out the 35C with a 35 waist.
• Ended up raising the underbust seam of the bodice about an inch in the center to about 2 inches at the sides.
• The gathers worked better for me in the center. That was deliberate and not a mistake.
• I haven't done the actual checking, but the top of the midriff piece ended up cut at about the size 30, grading out to the 35 at the natural waist.

• ACK! I have red hair now! When did that happen? ;)
• After seeing these pictures I might go back to bangs.
• Oh, the top. There is one issue with the neck binding that is a mistake on my part. Will be rectified with the next version.
• Because I had to raise the underbust seam, I had to shorten the edge of the front sleeve. It worked, but in version 2, I'll shorten the back sleeve edge and lengthen the front to make them proportional again.
• It basically means that it feels a little weird in the armpit area, but doesn't look bad. Only I will know that.
• I'm debating on narrowing the midriff band about half an inch.
• Ultimately, I think it will work better as a dress. It definitely needs the weight of the skirt to pull the bodice into the proper place. Scroll down a bit for my solution.

• Back shot. Um, there will be a little tweaking. Yep, I do see the drooping of the top midriff seam.

• Ah, yes, the belt. This is how I'll wear it probably 100% of the time. And even though we have to wear all black at work, we're allowed to have a little fun with accessories.

Pre-Heating the Oven

The Tiramisu sew along has begun (see button in the sidebar for more info). Amazingly, I'm a little ahead of the game. I had the weekend off, so took that opportunity to do a little "pre-heating" as it were. It turns out, that was basically the instructions for Day 1 of the sew along. Good news for me, is that time-wise, Steph is many hours ahead of me in Australia, so this gives me the "class", essentially, the day before.

Of course, I've already broken some "rules". And by rules, I mean, that 1) I'm making a top, 2) out of shorter yardage, 3) I didn't use the cutting out guideline, 4) oops, I've already cut mine out, and 5) I'm not putting everything in a box. Actually, the box is a GREAT idea, and one I've used before, and will use again. It's just for this project, for me, it won't be necessary. Now, if I decide in the middle of this project, to start making my dress version, then, yep, into a box or a shopping bag the various pieces will go.

Anyway, my timer is about to ring and off I'll go to work, but here's a picture of the way I laid out and cut my fabric. While I flaunted the "rules" of the layout, note that I did pay strict attention to the way the pieces were laid out in relation to the stretch/grainline. That's one rule I'll NEVER break.

The Tiramisu Sew-Along

This time I mean it. I'm going to do this sew along. I got the pattern for Christmas, so that's a check. I have fabric. Check. The only question is do I have time. It's 30 minutes a day. Clearly I should (should is of course the operative word here) be able to handle it.

It starts Monday.