SWAP and Holiday Party Sewing Update

Holiday Party Attire update:

The Fabric Mart chiffon won the great chiffon face off.

The Manhattan Fabrics chiffon is just too perfect for the SWAP and it was too safe. I am tired of being so sedate ALL the bloody time.

So in that spirit, I am searching for the right RED sateen to make the top and skirt from. Do you believe it? She who lives in earth tones, gray and tan, wearing a RED dress out in public. At night, even! And I bought these shoes too.



I just hope I can walk in them.

I can't find the necklace and earrings I want to wear (at least not for less and a few grand which is never going to happen) so I am going to have to make them as well.

I'm scared. Just kidding. Only not. And if I chicken out and make a black dress, so what. NO! I AM WEARING THE RED DRESS! Okay enough with my neuroses.

SWAP update:

Here is the plan in brief...

2 Skirts
2 Pants
2 Blouses
1 Blouse not like the ones above
2 Vests
1 Suit Jacket
1 Overcoat

1 skirt is the TNT I posted about before and the other is the one with the back gore detail that I want to make a 2-piece dress from.

1 skirt (TNT), the suit jacket, 1 pair of pants and 1 vest will be from the medium gray cool wool from Trim Fabrics.

I had very, very, very much wanted to make everything from stash but did not have enough of this fabric on hand. The good news is, Trim not only still has it but is ON SALE FOR $4.50 A YARD. I really had to use some will power to not put 10 in the quantity. I got 5. Plenty for everything for this project plus some for flubs. (Which there will be NONE, darn it.) Yeah, right.

The other skirt and a blouse will be from a dark navy wool blend I got from Trendy Fabrics.

The balance of the fabrics are some violet stretch twill that has been in the stash for about 20 years (not an exaggeration ), some lavender-white end-on-end that is about 10 years old (60" wide a real score from Wal*Mart in Rocklin, CA), some royal blue cotton-poly twill (only about a year or three old from Fabric.com), and some charcoal tencel-wool blend also only about a year old (from Fabric.com).

I auditioned some royal blue habutai and the navy Bemberg behind the chiffon and the navy won by a landslide.

I think I will call my SWAP "Blue and Gray in Harmony".

My accent colors are coming from the print of the chiffon. There is a periwinkle/violet color hence why I pulled the twill and lavender from the stash. Thank goodness for the few things I own that actually coordinate!



First column, overcoat pattern and Tencel wool blend not looking very charcoal in this picture, but it really is.

Second column, navy wool (basically looks pretty black IRL, too.), gray cool wool, royal blue twill, violet stretch twill.

Third column, pattern for blouse* (see note below), chiffon over navy bemberg, lavender end-on-end.

(I am going to make a skirt from the end-on-end fabric as well. Not a part of the SWAP, but a part of the plan when I purchased it. Depending on the style, I may underline it with a light fusible to cut down on the wrinkling.)

*I have a notion to turn that dress pattern into a blouse. The only thing I do not like about it is that the ruffle does not extend around the back of the neck so I am going to try to sort out how to do that. I think if I copy the circumference of the ruffle where it attaches just at the shoulder, I can extrapolate the semi circle for the back part of the ruffle. I think the chiffon would look great with this ruffle.

Gah! It just occurred to me that this may be better suited for a fusible underlining than the Bemberg, too. (I do believe Marta Alto shows a Palmer/Pletsch fusible suitable for chiffon in the jacket video.) If I go with a tie neck blouse that no part of the wrong side of the fabric shows, then the lining will work just fine. But for the ruffle, I don't think a single layer will work and at my skill level trying to sew the lining with the chiffon into a ruffle may cause an aneurysm*.

2 Skirts (navy, gray)
2 Pants (violet, gray)
2 Blouses (chiffon print, navy)
1 Blouse not like the ones above (lavender end-on-end)
2 Vests (royal blue, gray)
1 Suit Jacket (gray)
1 Overcoat (charcoal)

*Rethought this. Definitely going with a different pattern. Unfortunately that rethink has me rethinking the holiday dress too. Or maybe fortunately. At least I am thinking about it.

Now, please, please, please do me a favor. If I start talking about the SWAP again before December 11, give me a good smack upside the head and tell me to get a grip and make my holiday dress.

Thanks!