Saturday, December 3, 2011

Summer is where?

If I look a little tense it may be due to the weather.  The spell of early summer has been broken by chill westerly winds and heavy rains.  I wore my new dress to a Christmas lunch with my real life sewing friends from the Australian Sewing Guild and asked Sharon from Petite and Sewing to take a blog photo.  Much better than asking a reluctant DD or grumpy husbie.  The backdrop is the Parramatta River, just near the Sydney Olympic site.

The first thing I need to say is McCalls 6163 - a faux-wrap dress with raglan sleeves and rouching into the side seam - is a great pattern.  The pattern calls for a zip into the side seam - don't bother as it is not needed for the majority of stretch fabrics.  Next time I make this dress I will pinch in the pattern slightly at the neckline to bring the collar lower and allow it to sit better.  Otherwise I am happy with the fit and feel that it flatters my increasingly lumpy figure.

Next?  I really really do want to make up the Donna Karan jacket, but I'm headed for Paris, London and Spain in early January so should focus on a travel wardrobe - black ponte pants, black dress, two infinity scarves, overcoat (?) and finish a nearly done animal print, faux suede trench jacket. 

Happy sewing!

24 comments:

  1. Lovely Dress! Very flattering. I really like how the print sort of spirals down.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very classy! Your dress is lovely and the longer sleeves are well suited to a cooler day.
    Wow, London, Paris Spain?? JEALOUS!! How completely fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very pretty dress, have fun making your travel wardrobe. Sounds like an incredible trip.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gorgeous dress! There is snow down to 900m in Tasmania today so I understand about the lack of summer. Only a few days ago I was in a cotton summer dress! A travel wardrobe of black and white is great. You can add a few touches of colour and get great mileage out of a few pieces. I made a red, black and white travel wardrobe for a month long OS trip last year and it was perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Summer is up here :)
    Your dress looks very smart. Maybe the cold weather is around to help you get into the wintery sewing? It sounds like a great trip!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think Perth has borrowed your summer for a few days, it is boiling here. A happy medium would be good wouldn't it. Lovely dress and not long to go to your fabulous holiday!

    ReplyDelete
  7. it looks wonderful! i love the diagonal print in this style :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. The dress looks wonderful! Good luck with the travel wardrobe - that sounds like an amazing trip.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice dress. Can't wait to see the animal print faux suede trench jacket in the real life.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lovely dress-and how wonderful to be able to travel to Europe. Travel wardrobes are satisfying because they are so useful and full of expectations. Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That's a lovely dress Gail. Have a lovely time in Europe.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It is a lovely dress. I like the way your print sort of goes on the diagonal. I made the pattern too and really liked the way it turned out.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Fab dress! Enjoy your trip it sounds great! Summer is gone from here too - 19C and overcast :(

    ReplyDelete
  14. That fabric is so very current! I just ripped a picture out of one of my Vogues that looked remarkable similar...so obviously, I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thank you for pointing out this pattern, it is lovely and your version looks great. Good job it has sleeves for your weather - at least Europe will seem less of a shock when you get there! Have a great trip.

    ReplyDelete
  16. That's a pretty dress. Love the print. As always, you did a beautiful job of sewing.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Great dress, even better in person.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Summer is NOT here either!! Great dress.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Gail, Beautiful pretty. Thanks for the tip on the zipper. I recently pick this one up and do plan to make.

    I can imagine how excited you are about your upcoming trip to Paris. Looking forward to seeing your wardrobe.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wonderful dress -- great style and fit. Your travel and associated wardrobe plans sound fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Gail, you will have time to sew all those items before you go? This is amazing. The dress looks very flattering as you said. Your picture is small though ;-), I wish I could blow it bigger and see the rushing. This is a pattern I never noticed. It seams so interesting. The print is a great choice. As for the weather, you have a faux summer and we have a faux winter without any snow... I hope we both get the right weather soon.

    ReplyDelete
  22. A beautiful dress on a pretty lady. I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Not long now.... Europe is beckoning ... Have a wonderful time.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Love the cute little cartoon... hope you had a great Christmas! Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete