V1053 - Just yesterday I was looking for a cardigan just like this. Ok, nearly like this. The front band is too high for me; I just want a cardigan with one-piece fronts that comes together in the front and is held together with a little broach. But it's an easy modification. And an easy pattern!
V8512 - TOTALLY bad for my body but I can almost feel the dress in a buttery cream wool. So soft and warm and chic.
V8512 - I'm so in love with this dress, I want a couple in each of the variations.
V8518 - I'm not a fan of the front asymmetrical pleat (not a good look on me) but that back high-waist detail intrigues me.
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And yesterday, after spending too long looking through the vogues, I got paid 50c for an alteration job. That and another 10c will buy a whole soda! Actually it's no where near as bad as it sounds. I've got ads up around the place for my sewing classes and so wasn't overly surprised when someone here in the building emailed me about possibly altering her bridesmaid's dress. I emailed back that I generally don't do alterations but would be willing to look at it. Yes, I know, I should have a nice little fee set up for such an occasion but I told her I'd look over it gratis for several reasons, the top most being that I'm bored of cottons and just wanted a chance to play with some nice fabric without having to buy it and do anything with it. :) So yesterday I went to her apartment and ... oh my. The dress ... was a nice color. Her sister had picked out fabric and a pattern and another relative sewed it up and ... the seams were nice. But someone definitely has never heard about things like "measuring" and "fitting." Oh, oh, oh my. The bridesmaid to be wasn't someone who could fit in a pattern straight out of the envelope but neither was she a difficult fit. And the dress was doing her no favors. Some patterns are just bad patterns. This was one of them. I can't identify the culprit but it had tiny little bust, high empire waist, and a tight skirt. It was managing to look both droopy and stripperific at the same time. And the bust area was gaping horribly while the fabric barely fit around her hips. It was bad and, sadly, she knew it. Poor thing!
I have a soft spot for abused fabric and the bridesmaids having to wear said fabric. Don't ask why, it's a painful memory involving butt flowers. Barbie pink butt flowers.
I pulled out my pins and we went to work getting the bust area to fit, the empire waist to fall at the right place, and the sides to work. A slip took care of a lot of the worst drag lines around the hips and after enough pinning it wasn't toooo bad. The bridesmaid to be was fantastic - no qualms about me treating her like a dress form, no modesty concerns (I did apologize after accidentally grabbing a boob - did I mention I don't do this alteration stuff very often?), and just a plea to make it wearable. After a lot of pinning and repinning we had something that was presentable and she's going to send it back to her mother to do the actual alterations since I'd rather not be any more responsible for the dress. In the end she insisted on paying for my pins since I did use a lot of them and I jokingly told her that I'd used all of 50c worth. So she grabbed two quarters and gave them to me. We had a great time together trading wedding stories and forming a good acquaintanceship that could turn to friendship with time so it was totally worth it to me. :)
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