Monday, November 23, 2009

The Last Knit Print Standing

I was in a frenzy of sewing over the weekend. A frenzy, I tell you!

Projects 11.20-22.2009

All except the far left houndstooth project (from hell) were cut and sewn entirely over the weekend. By Sunday night I felt like I needed to stop and perhaps, you know, live some life...but I couldn't stop. Then I had the thing where I couldn't go to sleep because I was thinking about sewing too hard. Oy.

Anyway, the upshot of the frenzy is that I am way low on knit prints. I only have two Fall/Winter prints left in stash, the black/white/gray from Philly and the pink scales I recently purchased at G Street (the green/black/white from Philly could go either way, season-wise). I suppose I should turn my sights to wovens, but I really needed a Quick Knits Pick Me Up this weekend after finishing the not-entirely-successful houndstooth dress from hell.

Black Halo _Kathleen_ Dress - Sleeves - Nordstrom

I decided to browse through Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's looking for ideas for those last two knit prints. I think the winner for the pink scales is this Kathleen Dress from Black Halo. I love the "now" silhouette. The skirt is very clever, and having made the Drape Drape dress I thinking I have an idea how to do it, although that bubble hem is going to be a real fabric hog because the skirt will have to be doubled to get that look and I'm not sure I have enough fabric to do that. I have a vintage Stretch and Sew raglan sleeve peasant blouse pattern from my mom that I have, oddly, only made out of wovens, but I assume it will work for stretch fabrics. It would be pretty easy to adapt, I think.



Maggy London Ruched Dress - Sleeves - Nordstrom





I love all the drapey sculptural bits going on with this Maggy London dress. I would never take the time to figure it out, but the Maggy London Butterick pattern collection is pretty comprehensive with lots of great style in it, so I'm hoping she'll release this one as a pattern! It would be fab for the black/white/gray print.






ABS by Allen Schwartz Sweetheart Jersey Dress - Sleeves - Nordstrom



This is an interesting use of the fauxlero. I recently decided to purge my Vogue 2980 Sandra Betzina fauxlero top from my closet because I just hated the light blue color and felt it was a little too tight across the belly. I also thought the fauxlero looked kind of dated and aging. But on this dress it is suddenly new and exciting again. Hmm. The draft on V2980 is quite good so it's a shame to write off the pattern entirely. It would take a lot of frankenpatterning to get to the ABS dress from the Betzina pattern, but I have all the elements in other patterns, and it would only be the upper bodice that would take some fussing--the midriff and skirt are just rectangles. I can handle rectangles. This is a definite possibility for the black/white/gray.



Jay Godfrey _Bella_ Cowl Neck Dress - Sleeves - Nordstrom


I'm not wild about the boring, shapeless body of this dress, but how clever to create a carapace-shape by leaving the lower seam of a raglan sleeve unsewn! I'm sure there's a little more to the sleeve shape to get it to drape like that, but I'm not exactly sure what. It can't just be extra width, I don't think. You might be able to imitate that drape just by running a gentle bit of gathering along the upper sleeve seam. This isn't very practical for winter, but I thought it was an interesting bit of design. Then again, poly knit isn't warm at all, so outerwear has to do all the work anyway.


Diane von Furstenberg _Grand_ Velvet Wrap Dress - Sleeves - Nordstrom


I go hot and cold on velvet, especially stretch velvet. When I was in high school stretch crushed velvet was the HEIGHT of elegance. However, in the intervening decade(s), it has lost its luster and it can look kind of cheap to me. This is lovely, though. The fiber content includes here is rayon/nylon/silk so I don't think it's a stretch velvet and you can see that it has a nice weight and drape. I love the kimono shape of the sleeve and the, plain stark diagonal line of the wrap. This would make a fabulous party dress.



Adrianna Papell Lace Sheath Dress - Sleeves - Nordstrom

And finally, this is neither for knits nor for winter, but how much do we LOVE this lace dress? I really enjoy the lace dress I made earlier this year (I went back in and fixed that terrible zipper--I should show that sometime), and I probably don't need another one and I can *guarantee* you that I would not end up with perfectly straight rows of lace if I attempted this method, but man, I love the dress. The black lace on white, the rows, the cuteness. Love it.

You can see my Fall/Winter 2009 designer inspiration photos here.

14 comments:

AuntieAllyn said...

Ooooh, I'm inspired by all of your picks as well! Can't wait to see what you come up with! BTW, you MUST be shopping at the Rockville G Street; the Falls Church store has VERY LITTLE on the $2.98 table, and I didn't see any prints at all when I was there yesterday! Very sad, the store keeps looking more barren every time I visit . . .

Trudy said...

Lots of great styles.

amber said...

I LOVE that fauxlero dress! I vote that you make that one. :)

loopzilla said...

I love all your fabric and pattern choices. I would love to start sewing with knits but I'm a little nervous about doing so. Do you have any advice for someone who hasn't sewn with knits and owns a sewing machine and not a serger?

McVal said...

I'm liking the twisted skirt on that 1st knit dress... No hem to do!!! I'm REALLY liking that... I think I could do a skirt with a waistband to hold it together. hmmm... THanks for the inspiration! Can't touch my sewing room until after Thanksgiving unfortunately...

cidell said...

Check the Burda dress with the fold over hem I made over the summer. You use a contrast, like the stuff from Panama, for the straight underneath and that saves a lot of your fashion fabric.

Sigrid said...

Looking forward to see what you made. great inspiration pictures.

Kim Hood said...

All great picks.
Cidell beat me to the comment about the dress featured in BWOF about a year ago. I remember it being drop waisted, belted, and very cute. You would look great in it and this hem is just like you picture.
Looking forward to the results photographs.

Beangirl said...

Well, they beat me to the punch on the suggestion for the bubble dress which was going to be "use a contrast fabric, preferably a really inexpensive one (because it's so much fun to knock off $350 dresses for $6.93)"

What I really was going to say was "That is a totally COOL lace dress."

Um. Just felt like sharing, no real insights or anything. It's a totally cool dress, though.

gMarie said...

Love your picks. There are some great dresses in there.

I was going to say what Cidell did - like the bubble dress with a stretch lining. g

Uta said...

I'm so impressed by your productivity... Funny how sewing preferences differ; sewing that many knits would be my definition of torture! Now I can't wait to see the finished garments. Have one of your great photo shoots and show us, please!

senaSews said...

Wow, it seems you really had a productive weekend. I Can't wait to see all your new dresses!
BTW, the lace dress is awesome. Love, love, love it!

Little Hunting Creek said...

Love the lace dress. Also love the fauxlero - could you use the betzina pattern and run a line of gathering down the front to get the sweetheart neckline? That might be a fun experiment

Beangirl said...

Dear Slapdash Sewist,

This letter is to inform you that you have been nominated for the Honest Scrap Award. Probably other people have too in the past, but what the heck I'm going to do it anyway. The link to the info about it is on my blog at this page:

http://beangirldesign.blogspot.com/2009/12/some-honest-thanks.html

Just my way of saying "Thanks for the entertainment!"

Sincerely,

Beangirl

(I always wanted to post an official letter in a blog comment. Next, windsurfing in the Arctic! Uh. Or maybe not.)