the sew weekly reunion: LATE AS USUAL

OH HAI!  guess who has a new photographer??  ruggy haz mad skillz, yo!  all it took was a delayed DIY bathroom renovation surprise to guilt him into this job, and now he is FOREVER chained to my canonG12! MUUUUUUUAAAAHAHHAhahahahahhHaHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

if you read between those lines, you'll understand why i'm late to the sew weekly reunion.  but it's totally par for the course with my track record there.  actually, this dress, the ever popular and completely awesome anna of by hand london, was completed over two weeks ago, in plenty of time. that was a sew weekly record for me. however, the distant due date found me slacking on pictures, and holy hell am i glad i did.  who woulda thunk ruggy would snap away in ten minutes flat what it takes me forty five minutes to hopefully accomplish. okayokay we're done,  i yammered after five minutes of clicking, hoping to avoid any stress.  wait babe, lemme try from back here.  the light is playing in a really cool way.

??!!!!!!  OKAY!

the facts:

fabric: a polyester from joanns from, egads, THE SUEDE SAYS COLLECTION.  wrong side of fabric was used for the front.  it's like playing a record backwards to reveal the voice of a demon, only the other way around.  suede scares me.

pattern: the bombalicious anna from by hand london

year: right now, baby, as tootie heath would say...

notions: invisible zipper, poly thread, universal sz 12 needle

time to complete: for cutting, sewing, and handsewing, under three hours.  even with french seams! unfortunately, i tinkered like hell with the pattern, part of which included raising the waist WAAAAAAY too much, that part took about four hours.  i blame it on my dallas hotel room and lack of ruggy.

first worn: august 2013, in the heart of texas, to model for tinkerbell in our dressing room.

wear again: now that i see ruggy's pictures, hell yes!

total cost: the pattern was a birthday prize, so just the fabric & notions, about $24.  joann's polyester is EXPENSIVE, yo.  suede says he needs a coupon.

for this reunion challenge, we were required to use pantone's fall colors.  i'm like, kind of colorblind, but i think these fit.  maybe they fit better on the right side of the fabric.

i'm so glad the fab four got the big band together again.   for those of you who don't know about the sew weekly, it was a online group of sewists who were challenged to sew one garment a week for an entire year.  each week was a new challenge.  i joined up in march of 2011, with this green pieced ponte knit dress.  later that year i met mena, and signed on to do oona does it! as a weekly feature, which very nearly had me throwing my iron right out the window every sunday. you can see those archives here, if you are so inclined.  

it is absolutely balls out crazy to make one garment a week.  i won't lie, a lot of those ended up wadders.  but the fab four, along with mistress mena, continually churned out amazing, envy inducing creations that always inspired.  anyone who played along with the sew weekly was certainly a little stressed, and definitely a better sewist by the end of it.  and a better friend.  to wit: the colossal new york meetup.  

  

although i shot myself in the foot overthinking pattern adjustments, i did need a couple of darts in the back bodice to solve some gaping.  i've noticed several ladies have made that adjustment...anyone have a method to share?  i just added 3 inch long, 1 inch wide darts, the center line following the center line of the pattern's waist dart.

speaking of foot.  BEANGIRL.  WHEREVER YOU ARE.  MARK MY SHOES.  MARK MY SHOES WELL. 

happy labor day, and happy reunion, y'all!  thank you debi, adey, veronica and sarah for throwing this beautiful bash!  my photographer is placing dinner on the table, but do holler if you're playing, i'd love to peep over a digestif...

edit: hey guess what i did.  I FORGOT TO NAME IT!  so not sew weekly of me!  i'm thinking of going with "the psychedelic suede dress"... suggestions?