Ench By Sew-36: Fiona, the Irish Laurel Dress

Dress creation brings out the romantic in me. When I looked ahead to my summer sewing, I thought if I could sew only one garment for the season, it would be a dress. Fiona, the Irish Laurel dress, satisfied my yearning to design and sew the perfect summer frock.

Hey let’s listen to the show! To do that you can either download the ‘cast from iTunes - Click on this link to iTunes  , 
*OR* listen directly on the web, by clicking on this link
* * *

This dress was a very satisfying project for my arty romantic style. 

In between sewing summer essentials - shorts and tees - I worked off and on to determine what design lines spoke to me about summer, mock up a miniature sloper pattern to test my ideas, draft a pattern from my sloper, and then finally to sew up Fiona, while summer was still on!

* Pensamientos Primeros - Thinking through my idea for this summer dress
     - Part 1 - Planning Fiona
        - Part 2 - Farewell to Summer Romancing Fiona, the Irish Laurel Dress  

*Technicos - Pattern Drafting and Kissing Zipper using a Prick Stitch

*Pensamientos Finales - Fiona's Design Lines have roots in my own history

Finians Rainbow was a modern American fairy tale. It expressed late 1960's dreams for racial harmony and folks coming together. Fred Astaire (Finian McLonigan) and Petula Clark(his daughter Sharon) added in the romance of America seen, and idealized, fresh from Irish eyes. The story of Finian's determination to plant himself a crop of Irish gold, intertwined with romance of countryside and a new happpily-ever-after love for Sharon draws me in as well today as it did when I was a kid who'd only recently arrived in a new place myself. Any wonder that the movie's costumes inspire my pattern work and sewing today?

Visit Me Encanta Coster/Enchanted by Sewing - my regular sewing blog for other summer sewing I enjoyed along the way... in between time spent bringing Fiona to life

Ench By Sew-36: Fiona, the Irish Laurel Dress

Dress creation brings out the romantic in me. When I looked ahead to my summer sewing, I thought if I could sew only one garment for the season, it would be a dress. Fiona, the Irish Laurel dress, satisfied my yearning to design and sew the perfect summer frock.

Hey let’s listen to the show! To do that you can either download the ‘cast from iTunes - Click on this link to iTunes  , 
*OR* listen directly on the web, by clicking on this link
* * *

This dress was a very satisfying project for my arty romantic style. 

In between sewing summer essentials - shorts and tees - I worked off and on to determine what design lines spoke to me about summer, mock up a miniature sloper pattern to test my ideas, draft a pattern from my sloper, and then finally to sew up Fiona, while summer was still on!

* Pensamientos Primeros - Thinking through my idea for this summer dress
     - Part 1 - Planning Fiona
        - Part 2 - Farewell to Summer Romancing Fiona, the Irish Laurel Dress  

*Technicos - Pattern Drafting and Kissing Zipper using a Prick Stitch

*Pensamientos Finales - Fiona's Design Lines have roots in my own history

Finians Rainbow was a modern American fairy tale. It expressed late 1960's dreams for racial harmony and folks coming together. Fred Astaire (Finian McLonigan) and Petula Clark(his daughter Sharon) added in the romance of America seen, and idealized, fresh from Irish eyes. The story of Finian's determination to plant himself a crop of Irish gold, intertwined with romance of countryside and a new happpily-ever-after love for Sharon draws me in as well today as it did when I was a kid who'd only recently arrived in a new place myself. Any wonder that the movie's costumes inspire my pattern work and sewing today?

Visit Me Encanta Coster/Enchanted by Sewing - my regular sewing blog for other summer sewing I enjoyed along the way... in between time spent bringing Fiona to life

Ench-005-By The Powers inVESTed in Me, Vests and Tutus

This is my new
 double flannel Birdie Vest
More about fabric and stitching

Hey, have you heard the big news in the sewing world? The latest and greatest Enchanted By Sewing podcast has hit the streets with it's January Show: Vests and Tutus!

Listen to the podcast online by clicking here, or.... do what the Cool Cats do and Drop By the iTunes store to Download

the January Show :-) (of course it's free)

Below are some web links related to 

the January episode.

A Nod to Vests in History

In The Scarlet Pimpernel, one of my favorite classic romance stories, Sir Percy Blakney wore vests (He called them waistcoats and it sounded like weskits). You can download a free text or audio book version of this public domain work from Librivox.

Patterns

McCalls Vest 2260



Connie Crawford for Butterick 5473

Folkwear Tibetan Panel Coat/Vest

Tutus versus Tofu

The Nureyev Exhibit at
the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park
Runs through mid February 2013

I sew to create my own look, so I don't want to recreate the picture on the front of the pattern envelope. As a sewist, I also don't want to be inspired, by overly affected by, other people's designs. So, it's a good thing I didn't see this video, which focuses on the Lilac Fairies costume before Larissa encountered that exact garment in my e-book novella My Heart Beats Faster in Past Times. If I had, I wouldn't have been able to get caught up imagining my own version. But now, I can just get a kick out of seeing what somebody who created the real deal came up with.

The Sleeping Beauty - Behind the Costume

RoyalOperaHous

Recreating a Tutu's Splendor | Theme and Variations

A great youtube video by the costume shop at the NYC Ballet. I first saw this at the Nureyev exhibit at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco

Wikipedia describes several different styles of tutus and explains more about how they are constructed.

Interview: Jewels - Behind the Costumes

RoyalOperaHouse·

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msLjmbPFmT4

Episode 002: Romancing the Dress - Show Notes

The Podcast Episode 002: Romancing the Dress has been published in the iTunes Store :-)

o To find and download this free podcast show - search the iTunes store using the phrase Enchanted by Sewing OR follow this link
• You can also LISTEN TO THE SHOW Via the Web, by clicking Right here, if you prefer not to download it to a mobile device

• Signup here to be notified about new shows (to the right of this window), using the no-spam Feedburner link. 

   

• This show is an extension of my regular sewing blog - Me Encanta Coser - which roughly translated means Enchanted By Sewing. My blog is written in English. The name celebrates the historical and modern use of the beautiful Spanish Language in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, where I live.

Please let me know, by posting below, if you find any links I mentioned in the show,  missing from this posting. I find getting all the links in challenging!

October Show Links for Episode 002: Romancing the Dress

Why I find dress sewing enchanting. How I’ve been working on making that enchantment both a time for special occasion sewing, and also a time to add to the practical part of my regular, daily arty-romantic California wardrobe.
Includes reflections on dress fashion history as well as techniques for sewing a fitted facing at a dress neckline.

Jackie Kennedy wearing
my favorite Oleg Cassini frock
Her Paris trip?
  

 • Check out that much be-ruffled pale blue dress in Dainty: Romancing the Dress

    • This McCalls Pattern is my Special-Occasions go-to frock

    • Pattern Review Link and first experiences with my new favorite day-in-day-out dress pattern Vogue v8810 in Romancing The Dress Part 3: The Dress Comes to Life

• I'm continuing my work with v8810 as I begin Envisioning the California Romance Dress

• Patterns

    * Vogue V8810

    * McCalls M5316

• Techniques

     Sewing a well-fitted facing for a dress neckline

• My Sewing Basket

Sewing Projects Planned for October and Completed in September

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2012/10/my-october-sewing-basket.html

·      September Sewing Accomplished

o  The Spider Web Rose and it’s parent Tee Shirt

o   I love this tee fabric! Have you checked out What the Fashion Forward Mermaids are Wearing?

• Favorites mentioned multiple times (in alphabetical order)

     -  Cañada Fashion Design and Merchandising Program, Redwood City California

 -    Hot Patterns

 -    The Sew Forth Now Podcast

Upcoming November Show
The Lady Wears Trousers!

 • November’s Theme will be The Lady Wears Trousers

• Pensamientos:Why Barbie Doll Doesn’t Always Go Fully Clad

    (No Links)