Palomino Dress

From PalominoDress

I've said for a long time that I want to make more dresses, but I don't actually do it, it seems. I began this project with my original plan for this fabric (from Mood LA). I was going to make a long sleeved high-necked top that I could wear under dresses, or with a cami under it since it's so sheer. I then thought it would be nice as the yoke and sleeves of Jalie 2682. I then thought maybe I should make it a dress instead of a top, by just lengthening it. I am quite pleased with the result, and am glad I made a dress of it.

As you can see, I raised the yoke/bodice seam from under the bust to above the bust, just below the armscye. This meant that the FBA I had done on the original pattern needed to be adjusted as well, with the dart pointing up to the new seam, rather than down as before. I also added the bow with streamers. A nice strong vertical line is hardly ever a bad thing. As I look at the photos now, I may make the bow part larger, which would only involve un-tacking it and pulling them out longer. Pressing the seam out after turning the piece for the bow took about as long as making the rest of the dress. The sheer part of the burnout wants to stick to itself, and I had to pin the seamline to the ironing board about every couple of inches or less, and carefully manipulate the fabric while pressing. Hooray for teflon iron shoes, as I was able to use steam on this. It was resistant to pressing flat, too.

From PalominoDress

The Brown Burnout is a knit, and the body of the dress is Slinky Knit. I didn't have much trouble putting them together, although the burnout is very light and flimsy, and the slinky is fairly heavy. I used clear elastic in all seams involving the slinky, which seemed to work well. I used a twin-needle for the hem. This project involved changing thread colors depending on which fabric I was working on at the time. I have a fairly unique zip-up jacket made of the slinky that I will have to try with it. You never know.

This dress is really comfortable, as you might expect. The burnout seems pretty fragile, but once you have it on, it's fine. I was surprised at how much coverage it gives, especially since it's double on the front bodice. I am wearing a strapless bra with it, but I think I could wear a regular one without much problem. I found I did need a half slip with the dress, otherwise if I had the skirt fitted this closely, it showed every bump, and if I had it looser, it just looked like a sack. I think I found a happy medium, and I like wearing a slip anyway. I was just afraid it might show, but it doesn't seem to.

From PalominoDress

Narrow Pants – Marfy 0913 & Jalie 2682

Photo Link
This is what I wore on Thursday of the Textile Symposium.

This pattern (Marfy #0913) turned out to be 'the one' for the narrow pants I was looking for, as far as I'm concerned. It's one of the free patterns included with the 2009 catalog, and is for woven pants, with a zipper, back darts, and a faced waistband. I used knit fabric, a blue mystery knit for the first pair, and a brown ponte knit for the second.

I added 4" in length for the blue pair, 2" above the knee, and 2" below. For the brown pair, I added another 2" below the knee, and did a straight hem instead of the curved vent. I think I might like the curved vent with a little more length, so I may try it. For the brown pair, I actually added another inch for a hem allowance, and so they're really great with heels, but I wore them with flats for the Symposium, so I just turned up the hem, with looked much like a cuff since I'd topstitched the hem both at the hem edge, and at the lower edge.

On both pairs I did a Hollywood waistband without a zipper, but still using the back darts. I didn't have to cut the waist straight from the hip since the knit has plenty of stretch, and in fact I ended up taking about 3" out of the CF at the waist, tapering to the crotch.

I used Ann Rowley's Flat Seat Adjustment, and re-did it for a little more flatness on the second pair.

I added side-seam pockets on the second pair, which will be automatic in future, I think. I should have put them in the blue pair too, but I've been wearing them with my fleece vest, which has lots of pockets anyway.

The knit top with the blue pants is Jalie #2682, lengthened. I really like how it turned out, especially with the fleece vest which was the perfect color all around. I had thought of making a brown vest from the ponte knit, and making it cropped, but I'm not sure how that would look. What do you all think? I remember a very cropped jacket a few years ago (Vogue pattern?) that stopped just below the armscye, and definitely above the bust point. I like the idea of that, but I'm afraid it would look really strange. It wouldn't take much fabric to try it I guess....

Here are the brown pants again with an older Jalie 2005 Tee. It was the right color for the Collar and Cuff set.
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This is what I wore on Saturday of the Textile Symposium.
Friday I wore my Burda WOF ruched 'twirly' skirt and blouse. It was definitely the right venue to wear interesting things, as everyone else was wearing interesting things too, and we were all interested.