Monday, June 21, 2010

Dress #2, but not Plan B

I've been hard at work over the weekend on my second dress muslin.  It struck my eye as soon as I saw other bloggers making it up.  It was a little bit different because of the neck ruffle and I loved the fabric that everyone used--silk dupionni!  I don't really know why I love the stuff, but I do.  It can be aggravating to work on because it ravels like crazy, but I love the crispness, the slubs and the colors!  The first time I used it was a long time ago to make ds's christening gown.  How many opportunities do you get to really dress up a son?  That was my only one so he got a really long silk dupioni gown with quite a bit of hand embroidery using silk floss which was wonderful, too! 

But, I digress.  It will be no surprise that I'm using the Simplicity 2497 Cynthia Rowley pattern for my second dress.  The fabric for it hasn't been ordered yet.  After my last pattern flop, I wanted to make sure I liked this pattern!






I really wanted to make 2 dressy dresses for the occasional special occasion so I'm relieved at least one of my choices worked.  Finding a replacement for Vogue 7642 (out of print) has proved challenging though.  There were a few other Vogue patterns that I liked, but probably not enough to rush out and buy them and make them up.  Besides, most of them seem to have millions of pattern pieces and I just don't feel like fiddling with that many pieces!  Some of the Marfy patterns look interesting, but they are expensive!  It's hard to justify that much money for something I'll make only once.  Here are a couple of the Vogue patterns I like, but since they have lots of pieces I'll pass on them.


















Vogue 1152 and Vogue 1157


Besides, I think those are for the younger set!  Another eye-catching option was this one:


Vogue 1162

The neckline and shoulders really make this dress, don't you think?  But while I could find the dress fabric, finding a matching fabric for the contrast flower thingys would be tough. 

Not nearly as eye catching, but very pretty, were these two:



Vogue 1182


Vogue 1108


Patterns from the other major pattern companies didn't strike my eye either.  The small independent pattern companies seem to do mostly casual wear, which makes sense.  And, so far, my new Burda Style magazine has left me unimpressed and uninspired.  I've only gotten one issue so far, so maybe there's still hope.  In the meantime, I'm still looking for Plan B so I can use all that wonderful silk crepe I bought!

2 comments:

Samina said...

I really like the style variations for your CK 2497 pattern, nice choice you've made...and yes Vogue can be a bit pricey especially since we can never buy just one pattern :), but I can kick myself for missing the big sale they just had. Many of their patterns were under $6!

Joanna said...

Call me crazy, but I like the bottom two the best!