A sewing blog about building a functional, cohesive handmade wardrobe, one garment at a time.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

The best laid plans - aka Plantain #3

So I was going to sew the Plantain dress based on the tutorial on the Deer&Doe blog.  I was going to make a color-blocked version with a red top and a navy skirt. Only it turned out I didn't have enough of the red knit.  So I made navy sleeves. And I thought red elbow patches would be a little cartoonish, so I used the striped knit left over from my last Plantain.

And then I sewed the dress and it looked ... a little matronly on me.  Probably because my bodice was a little long (my natural waist is a tad higher than the notch at the side seam of the Plantain pattern where you are supposed to slash it).  Or because the weight of the skirt was pulling it down a bit.  

So I decided to chop it.  And then I was going to take all these great pictures of myself on the balcony, but seriously I looked so dumb in 90 percent of them.  And the exposure was all wrong.  


So I resorted to the bathroom-mirror pictures.


 Note the potty sticker chart on the wall.


I don't have any hope of winning the Plantain challenge as there are some seriously beautiful ones out there already, but I wanted to give it a go - and today is the deadline.

So I thought, ok, I'll have my husband take some quick outdoor pictures Friday morning before work. I always like how I look in the ones he takes - somehow his vantage point from 6'1" always makes me look thinner.

I got up at 7 a.m., got dressed and then the baby woke up.  I went in to feed him ... and then he projectile vomited all over me and my new Plantain.

So these are all the pictures I have.

Here's a very blurry close up of my best knit neckline to date.  For this one, I cut the neck binding as patterned, but I sewed them together with a 3/8" seam instead of a 5/8" seam.


Also on this version, I cut a 40 shoulder and then extended out to size 42 at the end of the armhole for more room across the bust.  It's a better fit and I will do it from now on.

3 comments:

  1. Masha, you are so beautiful! Look how thin you are! I need your secret of losing weight as I gaine dmore than ever this time around with So. :(
    And the dress looks more like a peplum top to me and I absolutely love peplum tops! Great job! Very pretty top/dress and I also love the color blocking!

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  2. I made the Penelope peplum pattern from see kate sew, and ended up with a similiar result. It just feels very... Meh? The regular plantain looked good on you though. And you've inspired me - I really need to write up my peplum even though it wasn't a resounding success.

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  3. Giggling about the baby vomit, only because I've been there! I love the striped elbow patches and the neckline looks perfect. A perfect neckline is a wonderful thing. I'm afraid that style if dress may not look flattering on me either. But this looks great!

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Hi! I am so happy you came by. Thanks for your comment!