I’ve been working on the Truly Victorian 1900s S bend corset all this week , and by Saturday it became obvious that it was not.going.well. Along the lines of – “I’ve let out ever seam 1/4” of an inch, and the thing is still 2″ too small for me!” not going well ( a couple of other bloggers have mentioned their corsets were far too small in passing, so I suspect an overall issue with the pattern’s smaller sizes and the fact that our body type is going to have a much higher immovable bone to moveable squish ratio, especially with the ribcage, that isn’t accounted for in the patterns sizing and shaping). So I threw the corset in the corner in disgust and had a sad.
Then lifted my chin, threw back my shoulders, and fished out a piece of striped black and ivory viscose knit I’d found in the Fabric Warehouse $5 bin during their 40% off sale, and whipped up a simple two piece summer dress on my overlocker.
No pattern, no fussing, just a super simple T-shape.
From fabric to hemming, the frock took less than an hour to sew, and happiness was restored. There is nothing quite as mollifying to the aggrieved sewist as a super quick and super successful make.
The finishing is less than stellar, and I suspect I’m going to have to re-do the neck at some point, as the viscose really isn’t strong enough to be a successful binding, but the whole thing was just the balm I needed. And my standards weren’t so low that my stripes don’t match perfectly at sleeves and sides, so my corset encounter hasn’t left me completely bruised and un-me!
Dress done, Mr D and I went for a lovely late-afternoon ramble on Mt Victoria, and saw little baby quail no bigger than a spool of Sylko thread, and an amazingly engineered arrangement of scaffolding and lifts for tree-pruning, and a bright green lift machine to go with the scaffolding, and the last of the pohutakawa blossoms, and sat in a lush meadow, and life was wonderful.
I did fashionista posing with the tree-pruning platform tractor thingee:
And “Yay! It’s Wellington” posing in front of the view:
And just happy hanging-out-in-the-meadow not-actually-posing-but-by-golly-that-doesn’t-matter-because-these-are-magazine-worthy not-posing:
(and check out the beautiful sleeve V’s. Yes!)
Oh, and this photo?
Totally unposed. Just happened. Just happiness. I am now fully placated. All sewing grumbles are forgiven. Once more into the breech with the corset!
Oooh, so beautiful! And satisfying. 🙂 The photos came out great!
Your lush green meadows are a sight to behold in Czech January. Your matched stripes are a sight to behold anywhere and anytime.
Awww, thank you! I do like a good matched stripe! That may be the last lush green meadow in Wellington this year though. It’s nested in a little hollow, so all the water runs down into it. Most Januaries it would be a squishy mud-pit. But this year has been so dry that every other meadow/lawn has turned into crisp brownness, and this one has dried out enough to be pleasant enough for sitting in.
What a stunning dress and fabulous photos! I feel like you should have had some PPE on when standing by the machinery, a hard hat and high-vis vest at the least, but they might not have matched your dress 🙂
I love this dress. It’s the perfect example of minimalist elegance.
I’ve never made the TV S bend corset, but from what I’ve seen of it it looks like it has a very high waist line and the top part slopes inwards at quite an angle. That would tend to be a problem for fitting a large ribcage.
Fine dress, very becoming. And the stripes at the shoulders – happiness indeed. Great photos!
The dress looks great. A really great print.
Very beautifully matched stripe ‘v’s on the shoulder. A lovely dress indeed. I too am having sads with my sewing. Nothing seems to go well at present. Perhaps I should get out my overlocker and make something simple to bolster my spirits.
I love the black-on-white/white-on-black contrast between top and skirt. I’m glad making it restored your happy!
Cordonices (quail) have been my favorite bird for some time. Lucky you to see a baby! Lovely T-shirt dress, lovely pictures, lovely day.
I can’t agree with you enough on how much an easy sewing project helps when you’ve just had a tough go of it with something else. And your dress turned out just lovely!
I just realized I haven’t sewn a single thing since Christmas. That will have to be remedied soon! ;P
Very nice dress. I started to like simple forms%)
You look beautiful!
Those Vs are a thing of beauty! Lovely dress, and I hope you work out the corset soon.