Friday, September 2, 2011

V1191 Kors dress sneak peek and a birthday present to me

In my last post I asked if a designer could be a genius.  The jury is still out on that one, but testing my theory I am making Vogue 1191 Michael Kors draped front knit dress for my birthday dinner.  It is Labor Day weekend here in the US, which means my birthday falls around this time.
Some years on the actual day, causing many jokes about how my mother felt when I was born, ha ha.  Never heard those before.  But actually I have always thought it was fun to have a birthday fall on a long weekend, and usually I am on vacation, so this is the first year in about fifteen that I am at home.  Which is a good thing as I am not quite up to suitcase wrangling or long plane rides.  We are set for a lovely weekend and I have plans for a dinner out with family and friends so I am sewing this dress.  
It is fun when other bloggers give a sneak peek of their projects  - Shannon of Mushywear does this very well, and she recently used this same fabric. Great minds think alike and it is interesting to see a fabric made up in totally different styles.  Here is a look at my work in progress.
Coral dress sneak peek
That is the pattern piece pinned up behind the dress form.  With these crazy what I call mobius strip pattern pieces, I find it helpful to have the piece there to reorient myself when putting it together.
Here is the pattern envelope, I am doing one design change which is to make it a sleeveless dress as the fabric is more summer than winter and I wanted to wear it now.


V1191 ptrn
My next post will be the finished dress, including how to change from long sleeve to sleeveless.  For some reason I want to write a "compare and contrast"  since I am currently fascinated by these drape and twist dresses.  I made the Donna Karan V1159 earlier this year and these two dresses have some similarities and also big differences in construction and result.  


For my birthday present to me - a couple of books for my sewing library.  They came in the mail yesterday and I spent about at least an hour with the Pattern Magic book.  Now that is genius.  There are so many things in it I would like to try, especially the Bamboo shoot bodice, however I settled on the Twist top as a first project.  Then this morning in my blog reader - Carolyn of Handmade by Carolyn who I admire so much is wearing her version of the top.  Kind of getting me interested in winter sewing! 
PatternMagic book

The second one is Pants for Real People by Palmer and Alto.  While the photos and styles in their book series may be a bit dated, the information is fantastic and I highly recommend their fitting books.  So maybe I will finally make some pants for myself.
Pants book
Here is today's SunnyGal garden photo, actually taken in June.  This is my favorite Hydrangea, the big mop head type, which has retained its purple color since being planted there next to the front door.  

Hydrangea June 11


Happy Labor Day Weekend Sewing,  Beth

9 comments:

  1. I'm really excited and eager to see your dress finished. I love Michael Kors' designs and the pattern you are working on is fabulous. And so is your fabric - it's exactly the kind of fabric that I would purchase - bright and beautiful!

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  2. Oooh, I too am so eager to hear about this dress since I've been meaning to get to it for so long. Wonderful fabric and helpful to see those pattern pieces. I enjoy all the variations of twist tops and dresses that I've tried although each one is a little geometric challenge. Hope you have a delightful birthday.

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  3. I have V1191 sitting in the fall line up........but oh dear, I am sure it will require several Advil to complete.....looking forward to your journey.

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  4. I too have this pattern in the queue so will be interested to see how you get on. Love your fabric, initially I purchased some grey knit for this and I was thinking it could be worn with nice red shoes etc to bring it to life.... perhaps when I see your finished garment I may change my mind.

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  5. Thank you for this sneak peek, I have admired this dress pattern too, so I can't wait to see your version. The fabric is very exciting!

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  6. Ooh, I hit post comment before I had finished, I am so glad you like Pattern Magic too, and I am REALLY looking forward to seeing your first creation out of this wonderful book! I am working on my next one now, the pinafore type dress with a "wobbly" looking up-and-down wavy seam at the front... (my book is Japanese so I don't know it's real name!)

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  7. Can't wait to see your dress! I hope you have a wonderful birthday weekend -- the weather should be perfect here in the Bay Area!

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  8. Happy Birthday, and many more! I love both of those books. Isn't the drafting in the PatternMagic book just mind-boggling?

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  9. Happy Birthday! I am excited to see what you come up with from the Pattern Magic book too. I haven't been ambitious enough yet to try anything, but I hope to someday. I sure do like to look at the designs in the book.

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