Catching up...

Hello everyone!

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd do a little catching up.

First off, vacation was really nice. We did lots of swimming, some walking, and even a little kayaking.

And even though I didn't get to do any actual sewing, I did do a few little experiments along the lines of embellishment.

Experiment #1: Beaded embroidery

I really like the look of beaded embroidery on garments and it's something I want to try to do sometime. But, I've only done a little bit of embroidery before, and never with beads. So I played a bit with some scrap fabric and a few beads. Here are the results.

This took me an afternoon to work up and I generally like how it turned out. Most of all, the beading itself wasn't too difficult and I think I could incorporate beaded embellishment easily enough.

Experiment #2: Crochet trim

I've also seen crocheted, or crochet-like trims on garments, and wanted to play a bit with that too. Just before vacation, I picked up a book called 150 Crochet Trims. There are a few designs that incorporate beads. Here's one I tried.

I like how this turned out as well. I can see using something like this sometime.

There is an Experiment #3, but it will take a while to go through, so I'll save that for another post.

As for Simplicity 3775, I have finished sizing and tracing the pattern, and I've gotten some muslin fabric for it, but Experiment #3 has co-opted all my sewing time since vacation. Soon though, soon!

If you haven't been following along, check out the series of posts on the Sartorialist about the stylistic differences between Fred Astaire and Cary Grant.

I think it's comparing apples and oranges myself. And I'm certainly, certainly NOT going to try to pick between the two. I'll take them both thanks :-)

What you can't argue with is that both actors have what DH and I call "Face". It's a characteristic that embodies their presence, the way they carried themselves and their sense of style. It's something they had inside that made it possible to take what might otherwise be an ordinary face and turn it into something admirable.

Humphrey Bogart is a prime example of someone who was not particularly good looking, but who had beautiful Face. Grant was someone who was naturally good looking, but turned it into something more with his Face.

One of the things that gave so many of the actors and actresses of that era their Face, at least in part, was the fact that they didn't shlump about, as so many people do today. They carried themselves with a willful grace - erect, upright and ready to face the world. I think people have forgotten just how much personal power you get when you carry yourself like you mean it.

Sew little

There is sew little going on. I got to look at my sewing table a few times this weekend and that was about it. Life had other plans for me. Not bad plans mind you, just not ones that involved sewing.

I'm still in the measuring and tracing process for Simplicity 3775 . Did I mention the part about never having made a dress before? So what do I do? Do I pick a "standard" sort of dress to make? Oh no. I've got one that comes with pieces parts that are different from the ones in the books.

In this pattern, there is a bodice piece that ends just below the bust, a waist piece that covers from there to just below the waist, and the skirt piece which starts below the waist. To make it more challenging, the bodice gets gathered in front where it attaches to the waist piece.

It's making my standard "increase the width in the waist and hips" adjustments interesting. To top it off, I think I would like to add some fullness to the skirt. I took some pictures of my fabric laying flat, and then gathered, and I really like the look of the gathering. I also think a little extra fullness would be more flattering for my figure. I've been wishy-washy about this last part though, so I've done a lot of staring, but not much tracing.

It's the last bit to be traced and then I can move on to making a muslin.

Chances are though that it won't happen this week. Which means it won't happen for probably another two weeks. We're going on vacation next week, and it's not the kind where I can haul my sewing things along (AAACCCKKK!!!!!!!!). So that kills this weekend, next week and the weekend after as far as sewing goes.

Ah well, I'll take some crafty things along with me to fill the void and dream about sewing :-)