Sewing an Off The Shoulder Dress with The Confident Stitch

How blue you look today, I hear you cry! And yet, how joyful! How did you come to this combination?!

Well, my friends, this usually warm-toned gal has gotten a makeover once again from the marvelous crew at The Confident Stitch. Last time, I covered my mane in little swatch butterflies-- this time I thought it might be fun to pick a pattern and yardage from Kate's Swatch Experience to make a full-on garment. 

Of course, I figured I'd end up in warm tones...but I was surprised to find how many bits of fabric goodness complimented my kisser on the "cool" card (pictured on right). The floral was calling my name, but that sweet rectangle of tie-dye caught my eye in my mirror test, and I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to add a little indigo into my handmade closet...

This is a viscose knit, always a favorite for me. It feels so wonderful on, like you're enveloped in crystal clear waters, on some island shore, where the water is always the perfect temperature. And I like having someone doing the tie-dyeing for me. I'm the kind of crafter who ends up with clown-colored hands and sludge-colored fabric when DIY-ing it. (Apparently pouring *every* color on your fabric does not necessarily produce technicolor results.)

Kate's cards paired the Picasso Top from The Sewing Workshop with a different swatch, but I was encouraged to mix and match to my liking. An 80s lightbulb went off in my head and I was sure this combo would give me an easy path to an off-the-shoulder throwback. 

Adding a little length with a wide foldover hem band gave me another leg-baring sew. I swear, y'all. I am ALL IN on maxi dresses in the heat of summer, and hellbent on sewing shorties as soon as the temperature drops. I am definitely in denial. Winter is not my jam.

But our apartment is also Africa hot all year round, and this band gives me options. It's always good to have options. I've got an apartment loungey dress, and I can throw it on over leggings if I'm braving the elements sans leopard stilettos.

Another little pattern hack (which is not so much of a hack as a last-minute effort to save this project from my ham-handed print placement)...this top is worn back to front! I managed to give myself headlights, as I am wont to do. Whenever something's not going my way, I try flipping my sew around to kickstart a new path. All this fix needed was the flip, since I'd cut a roomy XL. Check out the "before" here.  

Of course I couldn't keep my cool completely--I highlighted the sleeve pieces with my trusty "neutral" neon coral zigzag topstitching thread. The construction of this pattern is very cool--I went off the map with mine, but Kate has videos on how to sew this baby up here and here.

I'm thrilled with this result, and I never would have considered adding this pattern to my stash, or this fabric to my closet, without seeing them in Kate's picks! I wore my new "dress" to our very intimate Thanksgiving dinner for four (we had thrice baked potatoes and NY strip steak. Because Steak.)

These cards are so thoughtfully curated, and chock full of information, it's like getting a mini-book of fabric in the mail. I honestly can't say enough good things about them. They'd make a great gift for a sewist of any level, cuz you know, 'tis the season...

Kate and Co will be packing up Winter 2021 Swatch card goodness to everyone who signs up by the end-of-day December 8 (tomorrow!). You can hone in on your sewing habit with two color-curated options: {gar}Meant For You or We Quilt This City. 

The wordplay. I MEAN. If I'm ever in Missoula Montana, I'm going to barge right into the Brick and Mortar and laugh for hours.

Wishing you a silly season full of swatches and sewing!💗

This is a sponsored post, but as always, I only holler about products and businesses I love, and I thank The Confident Stitch for supporting my own small business with these awesome adventures! 

All Dressed Up. Always.

Our bags were packed with summer clothing when we headed down South last July. Rob also schlepped twelve pairs of jeans, and I brought...a portable watercolor set? (We might not have been in the right headspace when packing for our Escape From New York.)

Dressing up in the summer is easy for me: throw on a maxi dress. (Which I DID bring plenty of. I guess they're my equivalent to Rob's jeans.) Since we've decided to stick around a bit more, top on the sewing list is beefing up my colder weather garb. And that's where this sequin, faux fur and brocade comes in. 

I nabbed ALL of it at the local JoAnn. Madame JoAnn might have moved the quilting fabrics upfront, but the back of the store holds a few sections of fancy bolts, and allllllll the way 'round the corner by the bathrooms: a boatload of cosplay and outdoor fabric. Including a full TWO aisles of faux fur! Shocked, I was. 

I carried a small army of fancy bolts up to the cutting tables and had, as usual, a wonderful time talking to the employees and shoppers. Every time I go to the JoAnn here, it's lovely. I met a woman who was buying backing to surprise her 90-year-old sister, by finishing the last step of her handmade quilt. A mother-daughter duo who recognized me from our YouTube channel (hi, new friends, if you're here!) told me a story so amazing, I lost my brain for a good fifteen minutes. And everyone is always masked up in the most brilliant, colorful coverings. Never your normal, everyday surgical mask in a crafting store!

I decided that in this supremely abnormal year, I would stick with my regular tradition of making my maxi-fied holiday skirt. This time I went with my favorite kind of circle skirt: the half circle, married to a 2 inch wide, faced waistband, and an exposed lacy zipper. 

Of course no one will see all that yardage on Ye Olde Holiday Zooms, so from the waist up we've got a blinged-out, super soft shrug.

Our holiday was pretty lit, as the kids say. We pulled a mattress out in front of the fire for Christmas Eve, shot a video (not that kind of video), played games (maybe those kinds of games), ate meatballs (this is where the innuendo is getting ridiculous), and zoomed with family. The sequin shrug is so warm I actually had to leave it for a colder day...but the new skirt made an outing to a very socially distanced, outdoor weekend dinner with Rob's folks. In which the temperature hit the high 60s.

Maybe my wardrobe won't need *that* much wintry beef...... 

Happy holidays--and I mean ALL the holidays, the world is a great big place--to all! And if you're looking to get fancy from the waist up for all those New Year's virtual celebrations, check out our tutorial for this super easy, one-hour shrug (if that...y'all...it's a rectangle) here on the channel. 

eta: happy new year to EVERYONE, thank you for your comments! Obviously, a rocky start to 2021 kept me quiet here. But I appreciate all your words💗

Outside the Spectrum of Color...and the Pattern Envelope!

Don't you dare tell me summer is over when I am sitting here, RIGHT THIS VERY HOT MINUTE, in the sunshine, in seven yards of wax print.

Did I say seven? Indeed I did! I nabbed one lonely yard of this gorgeous explosion of flowers from House of Mami Wata, and then my parents, completely on the same wavelength and completely unaware, sent me a standard six-yard cut for my birthday! They sent me a BUNCH of goodies, actually--this is the first of four technicolor prints they chose.

A dear friend of ours--a civilian non-sewist, mind you--has been peeking in on my adventures in fashion, and told Rob he thought I lived "outside the spectrum of color." After hearing that, forget it. You could use my inflated head to power the Goodyear Blimp.

I get my penchant for technicolor from my parents, no question. Our house, our clothing, even our taste in music was as colorful and mixed as our family of four. (Though I must add a disclaimer, Brother Beast went rogue in high school and started dressing all black, head-to-toe. His color comes from head-to-toe tattoos. Now THAT is commitment to color.)

With seven yards suddenly on my hands, I wanted to make the sweepiest, fullest maxi I could think up. All that's left from the making of this bad boy is one long strip of fabric, about 6 inches wide by 2 feet long. Enough to add a little ruffly sleeve, or maybe a contrast fabric for another dress...

YES IT IS ENOUGH FOR A MASK AND NOPE I AM NOT MAKING A MATCHING MASK FOR IT. THAT'S RIGHT! I STAMP MY FEET AND CLENCH MY FISTS!!! 

Sorry, after sewing around 400 masks, I needed that. Don't get me wrong, I'm a thousand percent #TeamMask (and also Science Is Real, please vote, please god vote), but on the sewing front, I'm a little...spent. Besides which, this baby is a poly-cotton blend, and me no likey the poly for breathability around the mouth and nose region. Who would have ever thought that would be a consideration in garment making? Who would have ever thought a LOT of things, for that matter...

(HoMW is very good, by the way, about listing fabric content. Many of her prints are 100% cotton. And many of them became aforementioned masks.)

This is a self-drafted bodice, which I used to make three versions of this dress. On my YT channel, I mentioned I'd be putting up suggestions on what you can use to get this look--here's the thing, any bodice pattern with princess/prince/vertical seams will get you here, and I'm wrangling up a how-to video for you on that. But, for example, if you've got McCalls 8108, 8103 or 8094 in your stash, you're golden. Just take your underbust measurement, throw it in a circle skirt calculator, and attach the skirt at the bodice seam for 8108 and 8103. For 8094 (the closest match to what I did) you would slash the pattern at the underbust, adding seam allowance.

I used a half circle skirt (my favorite, lots of fullness with just one seam at CB!), and the addition of two gigantic gathered tiers, cut on the crossgrain, gave me the maximum swish I wanted.

By the way, notice there are three current pattern options you can use to get this look, all of which came out this Spring/Summer? At an eventual point in your sewing, you learn that a lot of the new big 4 releases are versions of what you already have. And, while it's lovely to buy another pattern and go to town from start to finish, it's also wonderful to look at what you have, and how you can achieve a new look by adding your own tweaks.

Alright, I've got some shorts to make for Rob, who said that this dress makes me look like I'm carrying around my own personal spotlight. HOW CAN I REFUSE HIM SHORTS AFTER THAT. 

I'd love to hear about what you've been sewing! Wherever you are in the world, are you sticking with summer? Or onto The Season That Shall Not Yet Be Named? Do tell. You know, cuz I'm going to NEED breaks from figuring out my man's crotch curve. And sewing talk is the best break.

New on the channel: What I Made in August!

This is a quickie post, cuz I was up till 3am getting this video up on YouTube. THAT'S a ridiculous sentence, ain't it? Last night, as I edited out yammering, and watched spinning uploading balls, I kept telling myself: we're in ridiculous times, might as well act the part.

Summer is waning, and so is the shelf life for these wax print maxi dresses, so I wanted to get this out today! (At least, the shelf life for their public consumption--I'll be wearing these well into 2021 where, and when, ever possible.) Plus, I've got another very important summer-sew to finish. You'll see.

Here's my August Sewing Output (I have a very hard time calling it "makes," as the youtubers do...) hope you enjoy it, and truly hope you have some happy in this Summer Sunday 💕

I'll be back with still photos later this week, and suggestions on how you can get this look!

Watch What I Made In August: Wax Print. EVERYWHERE here!

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!

Behind the Seams of Re:Fashion, Season 2: MADMAXI !!!

On the streets of New York, most people hear me coming, and turn slowly in wide-eyed terror to get a glimpse of the large, intimidating beast that is surely barreling down upon them. Nope. Just me. 5’2 of clomping heels, swirling fringe, jangling bells and a large mass of curls COMIN ATCHA. 

My favorite clothing makes NOISE when I walk. I love it when I make noise! Sometimes I speed clean the house yelling BANGCRASH just to make it more fun. Ask Rob. It's one of his very favorite things. This little dress is noisy both in color and in volume! I think of it as my mad maxi. Thunderdome in technicolor. Partly because of the frantically paced trip I took while adding trim upon trim to it, in an effort to fix my miscalculations on that hemline. She used to be super long! And super weird! You really do need to see the before on this one:

YOWZA. That’s a SKORT under that open floor-length panel, a panel that displays the wrong side of this polytastic madness. AND CHECK THE BACK VIEW. Y'all, the back view of my dress was WAY WORSE...the technicolor warning bars of the tie occupied an entire side of the back, right smack dab across my booty, which I happily model for you in the episode. 

But I saw all that color on the hanger, and knew it was meant for my scissors. And when I went too haywire with the shears, trim came in....POM POMS! LACE EDGING! LANTERN BELLS!

I'm fond of all of the episodes, which I feel I can say humbly, because it is largely due to the wonderful crew that we shoot with. But I'm especially fond of this one! It's the last episode we shot, number 6 for Season 2. On most sets, the last shoot day is the hardest-- people are tired from a long week, especially as the hours grow longer, but not with this gang. There were so many bits and bobs on this one: panels, french seams, lapped seams, gathering, reworking the sleeves, hemming, reconfiguring prints, ripping and reinserting invisible zippers, and allllll that trim work...IT WAS A LOT! But the mood that day was just as fantastic as it was the first day. (And, at that point in the week, we'd found the sweet spot in the day for caffeine Nitro, so 🤪)

I've gone out of order in my recaps here, because I think these next two outfits are appropriate for Transitional September Styling, la di dah. I'll be back in a minute with another transitional look, that I think is probably the fan favorite for this season ;). Til then, you can catch all six episodes exclusively on Bluprint. 

Happy almost weekend, peeps!

Tips! If you don't get your sewing TV through Bluprint and want to scope it out, you can download the app and watch free for 24 hours. You can also sign up for a 1 week free trial on the website...handy for a weekend of Making All The Stuff.