Rob Was Gone For Five Days So I Made A Five Hour Dress.

GREAT TITLE RIGHT?!!!! Last week, Rob was away for five days, which in Casa Harriell Time (CHT) is ALMOST FIVE YEARS, and, as previously evidenced when we are apart, questionable decisions were made.

For Rob, it's doing things like demolishing and renovating our bathroom single-handedly (this turned out to be a very good thing in the end; Rob: I love the bathroom). For me, it's turning the house into a tornado of fabric and slam sewing through anything within reach.

This was one of those slam sews, a dress made in about 5 hours, which at the end of the day, for a dress of this level, is just silly. It was worn that very evening, to perform with the Loser's Lounge. We have a ridiculously good time at those concerts! But when my ladies asked me how I was upon arrival, I had to say-- nay, HOLLER: 

I DID NOT LIVE A BALANCED LIFE TODAY. 

There were a lot of new faces there, and therefore new peeps learning I make my own stuff, and therefore new requests for stuff of their own, which I happily dodged as much as possible. Though one gorgeously talented lady did correctly guess how much a dress like this might cost...she gave me PAUSE, y'all!! 

I digress. The dress. The slam sewn dress. She doesn't stop at the waist, as the belt might suggest. I elongated my self-drafted strapless "bustier" pattern to stop at mid-hip, then attached a paneled skirt. 

To keep her up, I made a second bustier pattern as drafted, and threw rigilene boning on those seams. Now, if I hadn't been POSSESSED, I would have realized that having a waist edge underneath a dress without a waist seam would get uncomfortable, which it did. Should have made the lining as long as the bodice, but you know, I elongated my pattern directly on the fabric, because poor choices.

I didn't have an appropriate invisible zipper, of course I didn't, I didn't plan this out AT ALL, so I used an exposed gold zip. She buckles a litte just under the waist--but never you mind that, JUST NEVER YOU MIND, because she's not long for this world in her current state! 

Which is why you're getting these slightly blurry, back alley pictures of this dress (another intriguing decision, as my photographer was gone). Evidence that she existed as such!

My first instinct for this fabric, which hails from @fabricsusainc, was to go for an autumnal maxi skirt, and after her virgin outing proved vexing, I believe that's just what I'll do. Time for some surgery. Though I'll grieve losing that print placement on the bodice portion! Print placement took about 3 out of the 5 hours of stitching!

I know, I know, shhhhhhhhhh. Nothing is safe in my handmade closet. I might salvage the bodice portion for a two-set, though!

If you wanted this look, you could use the bodice portion of Simplicity 8456 (it's really the same look, my pattern just fits my tatas better 😁) and attach a half, or full, circle skirt at mid-hip. You'd simply use your mid-hip measurement for the "waist" measurement, and if you don't want to do the math, put those digits in any number of circle skirt apps to get your skirt pattern (I love By Hand London's online calculator.)

By the way, I have LOVED reading your comments on my jacket giveaway post, both here and on Instagram!! I haven't replied, as I'm keeping the area clean for pulling a name later today. I'll close off entries at noon 10/28 EDT (that's today as of the writing of this post) and pull a name out of a hat this evening. It'll probably be announced on Instagram before the blog, but I will put the winner up here as well (and you don't have to be on IG to win, though you do get an extra chance if you follow & comment there as well--again, before noon!)

Okay cheerio then! I don't know what's got that phrase in my head, but when you start with a post title like this, might as well FINISH STRONG.

Behind the Seams of Re:Fashion, Season 2: BUY TWO!!! And Giveaway One!

Most weekends, when other teenagers were grabbing their friends and heading to the mall, I grabbed my Nan for a girl's day. Mom would drive us up, drop us off, and we'd spend hours arm in arm, checking out every store, getting a slice of pizza and cake for lunch, meeting at the pickup point in time for dinner.

Nan could change my luck in a store SECONDS after walking past the threshold and taking in the scope of things by simply saying: Nah, there's nothing for us here... As the type of personality that wanted to go through *every rack*, this always dismayed me. But when we hit a store that passed muster, forget about it. You like it? Get two! You love it? GET THREE!

Where the first proclamation made me slump, the second always made me cackle. Nan! I don't need multiples! What am I gonna do with three of the same neon yellow polka dot shirt? And we'd laugh and laugh, arm in arm, ignoring the weird looks from my contemporaries in their teenaged, impenetrable circles.

By the time we got to lunch, we usually had a bag or two of clothing, which I later realized she was buying with her Social Security checks. She lived pretty frugally, spending the money she saved on others (and not just the trivial fashioning of a grandaughter by a woman who raised four rowdy boys and didn't get to play dress-up-- I'm talking, we think she helped put more than a few people through school).

All this is to say, when I saw this jacket: I bought two. I liked the longline style so much, I wanted to take the original idea and run with it. I figured two jackets would morph into one extra long duster. Then....this embroidered mesh caught my eye (and my breath) and I was careening away, off on another track. 

When we finished this episode of Re:Fashion Season 2, I realized I had plenty of fabric left over to make another! 

You like it? MAKE TWO! 

  

Don't mind if I DO, Nan!

And true to her spirit, I'd like to give the second one away. A little trip to the oonaballoona mall! To get your name in the hat, leave a comment here, and tell me what you love about fashion. I have many layers of love for fashion-- a very fond layer is the memory of those Mall shopping dates with my Nan. I wish she could see what I'm doing now, I know it would make her holler (she often hollered on the phone to me, if there was even a *nanosecond* of silence: MAAAAAAAAAAARCY! Followed immediately by laughter on both ends). She would have been yelling at her TV set to see me wearing this on the Today Show, for sure. And she was always giving, so this seems the appropriate thing to do, when you buy two ❤️

You can also enter on Instagram, but as stated in my last post, the world is not entirely on Instagram, non? But, you'll have two chances to win if you throw your hat in the ring on both arenas.

Full disclosure, the jacket is my size, as I didn't know where I was going till I got there! As usual. Giveaway is open all over the world, and I'll close the entries on Monday Oct 28. I'll throw the winner's initials of choice in crystals the back :)

Speaking of bling, there were also LED lights and all manner of mayhem, courtesy of Rob, on the meandering way to creating this look--to see how I did it, you can catch the full episode here on Bluprint. (If you don't already get your Sewing TV there, you can sign up for a free trial, and right now they're offering a super discounted price of 59.99 for a year, but I think that only lasts through tomorrow! I know I sound like a commercial, but that is SO MUCH LEARNING Y'ALL. Besides getting entertained by all manner of makers, last weekend, I watched Kenneth King sew pockets, & Alison Smith taught me tailoring. Cuz somebody's on the warpath to make a tuxedo.) Links in this post are affiliated, to feed the sewing beast!

The NYCB Fall Gala Gown, Take Two!

Sometimes I think in captions, ie: I'm def gonna need more coffee lolzzzzzzzzzz😴☕️... AND THEN I WANT TO PUNCH MYSELF. When you think in captions, it's time to re-evaluate your life choices. It's good to know when you have a problem. The first step is calling yourself out on it. Or rather, as Rob said when I outed myself on the morning coffee talk in my head, The first step is admitting you don't have any control over it.

HAHA ROB. Ok. I don't, I really don't, Instagram is taking over my online life and I need to curb it STAT. I forget that the world is not entirely on Instagram, nor should they be, and it's high time I had y'all over for coffee here, in my own internet living room, and gabbed about what became of the Gala gown! The Bazin print is still waiting in the wings (that Bazin print placement is TRICKY, y'all!) I decided to leave her for when the time is right, and dove headfirst into this pink and black wax print from AKN fabrics. Or pink and green, as my man behind the cash register at AKN insisted. I see black. Though as you're about to see, she photographs as she pleases. 

I didn't have much time, but I already had the one-shouldered bodice pattern drafted, and figured I could drape the skirt. That said, it wasn't super quick. There was still a bit of wrangling to do, print-wise, on the bodice. Lots of opportunity for lines cutting me in half or circles outlining circular areas! The bias looked best to me on the form, so I split the CF panel to get a chevron effect, cutting the bodice on the bias across the front. To support the bias, I cut all the lining pieces on the lengthwise grain, and used some rigilene boning on the bare-armed side.

But the skirt was eaaaaasy, I just used the existing lines in the print as my guide, and pleated along the design. I whispered to myself a lot during this phase. Black to the pink, over to the center, black to the pink, I'm sure I sounded properly off my rocker, which really, I was. As usual, it was nonstop around here-- I was rehearsing a musical workshop from 10-6, sewing 7-11p and/or 7-9am, doing a gig with my loves The Tall Pines, and recording a segment for The Today Show. (Oh yeah! I should tell you about that! It airs TOMORROW, Friday, 10/18, in the 8am hour!)

One of my dinner breaks was spent buying a hoop crinoline from Ye Olde Amazon. I bought several, actually. I've been meaning to make one for years, and you know what? I just have ZERO DESIRE TO WRANGLE TULLE THAT NO ONE WILL SEE. I grabbed 4 different styles, and I'm going to throw a video up on our channel to give y'all an idea of what you can get for under twenty bucks. Spoiler alert; they are ridiculous amounts of fun to wear. I have no idea if I'm wearing mine correctly, I have a feeling you shouldn't see the ridge of the hoop around the hem...but FUN nonetheless!

A lunch break was spent careening into the garment district to find some extra bling, when I decided the finished dress didn't scream Gala. These "crystals" are made to look like hot-fix Swarovski crystals, you just get more for your buck. They come in a large cuttable sheet, with a glue back. I lost a few strips during the actual Gala! 

Now, I decided to iron these on after the dress was made. I was in fact, madly ironing them on the day of the Gala during my lunch break. Heat setting the glue on curves, through multiple layers of fabric, is probably not the best way to give these a thumbs up or down. I have more, and will test them out in a more sensible way and let you know, cuz if these babies work when properly applied, there is a WEALTH of gorgeous pattern and color out there to be had! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT WAS TO GO WITH BLACK UMMM SPEAKING OF....

Black tie, black vest. Which I made as well. CUZ I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH ON MY PLATE! This is a sample welt, Rob decided he liked the bias cut as well, and he gets what he wants ❤️. His shirt & tie are also made by me, though from previous years! 

Lookit that face. This is what we look like after we wait in a red carpet line for an hour after the rain moves the red carpet to a cement walkway and causes a veritable goat rodeo. A man with that much good humor deserves a tuxedo, no? Anybody got a good pattern? Anybody? Help...

our "red carpet" photos by the awesome Nina Westervelt!