Anna Dress for Zoe

Zoe models her new dress

I've been taken with the "Anna" dress for months now.  This is a retro inspired dress with a boat neckline, kimono-style cap sleeve, double pleats at bust, paneled A-line skirt from indie pattern company By Hand London.  

 I made one for myself this summer out of light weight striped linen from The Fabric Company on La Brea, and knew I wasn't done with this dress.   So I made a version for Zoe in September, and  finally got to mark the hem and finish it when Zoe and Chris were down here for Thanksgiving.   

I made a muslin first, and after a fitting in Santa Cruz in September,   I ordered a really beautiful quality linen/viscose blend from Marcy Tilton, and it really lived up to its  $22/yard price point. Cool print, great hand,  season-less weight, and great drape for the gored skirt.    The beautiful quality of the fabric really makes the dress, and I am really pleased with the outcome.  

For Zoe, I cut a size 10 with a few alterations. Having made 2 muslins and a dress for myself already, I knew the neckline needed narrowing to hide bra straps. So I took in the neckline   by 1/2" on each side. I also did a sort of Full Bust Adjustment (FBA) by dropping the front bodice 1" at the center front waist; tapering to nothing at the side seams.




I love the look and fit of this dress on Zoe, and am still not done with "Anna." I am about to cut another one for myself from a sale fabric I got up at Britex in SF this fall.

Sewing Satisfaction

So I've been sewing many things since the wedding dress, just been too busy/lazy to write up and post them.    With each new project, I learn so much and gain confidence.  I'm even considering changing my status over at patternreview.com from Advanced Beginner to Intermediate.   I know I shouldn't get too cocky about it, but I am pretty pleased with some of my efforts of late.    My latest project was a top by Katherine Tilton, a designer who lives in Oregon.  She and her sister, Marcy Tilton, both design what my mom calls "art-to-wear" patterns for Vogue.   Sometimes these designs seem to boxy for my frame and taste, but I was intrigued by Katherine's 8793 top for Vogue.  It mixes and matches fabrics, which I like, and has a double collar embellished by a non-functioning zipper.  It's just used as a interesting trim.  Here's a cut-and-paste of my PR review: Pattern Description: Fitted pullover top with inner/outer collars and zipper trim, long sleeves with cuffs. Pattern Sizing: This pattern says it's fitted, but it runs big and pretty boxy. Based on the measurements on the envelop, I cut the large and ended up taking in side seams by 1 3/4" each side. The shoulder seam was very droopy, but if I'd cut the medium, the arms might have been too tight through the bicep. Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, it looks very much like the photos. Were the instructions easy to follow? Instructions were very good. I really needed them for the zipper trim at the collar. What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? This pattern is a great way to use knit scraps from your stash. I love combining prints, and the unusual double layer collar with the zipper edging is really unique. Very clever Katherine Tilton! Fabric Used: Various knit blends from my stash. Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I took in the side seams a lot. Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I'm already planning to make at least one more. I'm thinking of going a bit longer for a tunic length. And I've had more than one friend hint that she'd like one too... Conclusion: Really successful and satisfying pattern that offers endless creative print combo possibilities and stash reduction.

Under the Perigee Moon

 August 9th, 2014 Corralitos CA

In the redwoods south of Santa Cruz, under a harvest moon, all of Zoe's dreaming and planning came together to create a uniquely personal, beautiful, funny, heartfelt celebration of love.  Friends and family from near and far gathered  to witness the big event.  

Craig's brother Ralph and his partner Chris Freeman officiating

 The coastal night air was summery cool.  The rainbow of colors against the redwood backdrop was breathtaking.   The locally sourced food was abundant and absolutely delicious.  And like the dress, everything was handcrafted with love.

Zoe's dearest friends and family arrived at 9am to meet the local dahlia farmer with his huge delivery of  fresh blooms,  picked just an hour before.   Chris and Zoe and her best girlfriends, Alivia and Amanda and Catie and Marnie, her uncle Ralph and his partner Chris, most of the Bracey family -- lots of folks were there to help.     140 "escort cards", denoting the table assignments, which Zoe had hand-painted on watercolor paper, were strung from a clothesline between two redwoods.   The huge redwood backyard of the Corralitos Community Center, as well as the interior of the hall, were joyously adorned.

Everyone pitched in.   Marnie was the flower boss, and supervised the arranging of the dahlias in recycled glassware and jelly jars.   Alivia and Amanda and Catie and Marnie decorated the hall where the dancing would take place.   Lights and streamers were strung inside and out.  Chris Freeman set up two sound systems.    The ceremony was secular, but in homage to Zoe's Jewish cultural roots, a small Hoopah, fashioned from one of my grandmother's table linens, was hung in front of the gazebo where the ceremony would take place.   Karen H. and her fiance arrived with the amazing carrot wedding cake she had made, and set to creating and frosting the multiple  tiers.

Around lunch time, the second team arrived.  Craig and I brought in lunch for the crew.    Soon afterwards, Zoe's dear friend Val, one of the the official volunteer photographers, arrived to document the behind the scenes of Zoe's wedding makeup, which was skillfully applied with a light and natural touch by her friend Molly.

 Zoe's hair was a joint project, curled by Catie, then braided with flowers by Marnie.   Around 4, just as Zoe had called for on her "timeline", she and I retired to a bathroom, and without aid of a mirror or a table to put things on or a  hook to hang the garment bag up, I buttoned her into the wedding dress.   Who needed a mirror?  She looked gorgeous.

Then the guests began to arrive.    Zoe and Chris met in the fall of 2008 as instructors at Astrocamp in Idylwild, and many Astrocamp friends were there to cheer them on, including their dear friend Burch, who along with fellow photographers Val and Will captured the milestone event.    Zoe and Chris' high school and college and post-college friends, their Trivia friends, Zoe's Crossfit girlfriends, my mom, my brother and sister and their families, our dear friends from LA and NorCal and Washington state.   I felt I was watching a retrospective montage of my life.

Throughout the evening,  Zoe and Chris glowed with happiness.  As they exchanged their vows, promising to love and honor and respect and care for one another for the rest of their lives, I was filled with wonder and gratitude that they had found each other, weathered the ups and downs of relationship building,  and after nearly six years, were committing to building a life together and helping each other be the best that they can be.   These two young people, who care so much about the world, about family, and about each other,  give me hope for the future.

The Long and Winding Road

I am happy to report, Zoe's dress is now DONE, but it was not without a couple of bumps along the way. Since I didn't manage to sustain a running blog commentary, I will try to reconstruct the timeline.

After the amazing Couture Workshop in February, I came home and spent about a week in early March finishing as much as I could without an actual bride fitting. My list of things to do was long, but it all went together nicely. At the end of March, I tagged along with Craig up to NorCal for a mystery writing conference in Monterey. Zoe drove down to our hotel, and tried on the dress for the first time. I thought it looked beautiful, but sensed that something was wrong. After we got back to LA, Zoe called, and said that she hadn't really been happy with the dress, that she regretted the choice of the organza fabric. She said 'It's too inflexible, too shiny, and I won't feel comfortable in it.'

 

First Fitting in Monterey Hotel Room

The next day Craig and I took off for our month long trip to Spain and Morocco. The whole time we were traveling, every time I'd think about the dress, which was often, I felt terrible. I wracked my brain for a solution. I was pretty sure that the addition of the sleeves precipitated her discomfort with the dress. She had loved the strapless muslin with the boning. But the pattern I used didn't have a sleeve, which Zoe wanted, so I had self-drafted the sleeve addition. I had made a "muslin" out of cheap organza, Zoe had tried it on at the workshop fitting, Susan K had checked and approved the fit. The cheap organza version had never felt comfy to her, but we wrote that off to the cheezy fabric, assuming that our beautiful embroidered organza would feel better.


I had to figure out what to do. Of course I wanted her to love the dress. Zoe and I talked about changing the overlay fabric for something softer, with more give. But I didn't want to throw the baby out with the bath water. I'd invested so much in the dress. The corset had 17 bones for goodness sake! The entire silk under-layer fit her like a glove. I wasn't even sure I could deconstruct the dress without doing too much damage to the delicate fabric. Plus I didn't have any extra material.


I was pretty despondent. After working as a filmmaker for overt 40 years, I knew from experience that many creative projects hit these kind of impasses, and are almost always better for it in the end. But this wasn't a film!


When we returned home early May, I turned to my guru Susan K and described my dilemma. I suggested that Zoe might feel better if I took off the sleeves, and either made it sleeveless, or if she definitely wanted sleeves, maybe could mix in a stretch lace or mesh for the sleeves.
 
Susan wrote back:

Boy, that's a tough one. But - the reality is she needs a dress she's happy with......so....are there any parts of this that she likes? The skirt? It wouldn't be the end of the world to take off the sleeves and bind the armholes - that's relatively minor - or a lace cap sleeve. Is she being specific about what kind of sleeve she would like? I don't know that mesh would go with the rest of the dress - yes, it would cover her, but I don't know what it would add stylistically.
The bodice overlay fabric could be removed, too, if she really hates that - one thought would be another lace for the bodice overlay and the sleeves, leaving the the skirt as it is (does she like that part?)

I guess I'd sound Zoe out and see which parts of the dress she can live with, and which parts she can't live with.....and take it from there.......
Poor you - all that work, all those good intentions......................how dispiriting.
Keep me posted........... Susan

I replied:

Thank you for your focused and insightful thoughts Susan. Your break-it-down approach is just what I need to pick myself up and move forward.

Zoe is driving down tonight for Mother's Day/Daddy's birthday celebration, so resolution of the dress question is #1 on my weekend agenda. Wedding is August 7th, so deadline is tight but do-able. I will take up your suggestions with her.

I think Zoe has a non-traditional, DIY style wedding in mind. Cake homemade by one girlfriend, decorations by another, simple, classic, short dress by mom. Yet somehow the dress disappointed, fell short of this easy, casual vision. The restricted movement as metaphor. Zoe chose the organza overlay fabric on shopping trip with me and her girlfriend, who spotted it on the shelf and encouraged her to buy it.

In hindsight, if I had more sewing experience, I might have anticipated that adding a sleeve in that unforgiving fabrication would possibly be an issue, and steered her to a more stretchy lace. Ah hindsight.

Learning so much. Thanks for being there. I will keep you posted.

Gratefully,
Karina

To which Susan responded:

And bear in mind - any fitted sleeve is somewhat restricting. It just is. Which is why we all choose to live in t-shirts! - and we're not used to such confining garments - we're just not. I don't care who fits it - me or Coco Chanel - it'll feel tight (at least if it has any sort of attractive silhouette it will).....
so there's that....

I wonder if taking off those sleeves might do it........they do make things more formal, and without them it will be more of just a pretty summer dress and she'll have tons of movement.
Just a thought.
Keep me posted..... Susan

So Zoe and I  conferred on the phone and agreed to move forward on 2 fronts:

1) We'd start the revisions by removing the sleeves from the nearly finished dress and see how that looked and felt.

2) I would make a second "After" dress for her to change into after the ceremony.


When Zoe came down for Mother's Day/Craig's Birthday, she tried on the dress first with:

... and then without sleeves.

Voila! Much less constricting, much less itchy organza. A lot less formal and matronly. Totally adorable. Crisis averted, problem solved. Happy Bride.  Very relieved mom.   Besides, without sleeves you can see her awesome Crossfit Biceps.   Phew!

We also picked out a pattern, bought some beautiful white Thai silk, so she can change into something more comfortable for dinner and dancing. I'm going to make view A of  Vogue 8996,  for the "After" Dress.  It's almost complete, and I will post pictures as soon as possible.

In the meantime, Zoe received her PhD May 22nd.  Craig and I couldn't be prouder parents.  We went up to Santa Cruz June 13th for commencement.

Celebrating Dr. Buck

While Zoe was down in late June for a friend's wedding,  I was able to mark the wedding dress hem.  After she left,  I finished up the hem, and got started on the "After" Dress.

I must admit,    I have a lot of empathy for the hard working production costumers who are constantly trying to schedule actor fittings.   Fortunately, Zoe's had a lot more time since she completed her studies.    She was just down for a raft of SoCal based 4th of July parties and festivities, during which time she tried on the hemmed wedding dress and we declared it DONE!
 

Now she has a month to find some shoes!

Back from Couture Sewing Workshop - Dress about 75% Done!

I spent last week at my long-awaited Susan Khalje Couture Sewing Workshop in Vista CA.   It was 6 x 9 hour days of sewing bliss.   Zoe flew down from NorCal for the first 2 days for fittings, so on top of everything, I got some delicious mother-daughter time too.

Susan and Zoe discuss placement of lace overlay

At the LA Area Pattern Review meet-up last fall  I met a woman who said she'd made a wedding dress for her niece at Susan's Couture Workshop.  She highly recommended I do the same if I could swing it.   I am so glad I took her up on her advice.

Our workroom was sunny, comfy, and full of great tools  

I was aware of Susan as a contributing editor to Threads magazine.    But I had no idea what an amazing teacher she was.  She possesses that rare combination of complete master of her craft, and great communicator.  Here's a link to her website, susankhalje.com where she offers online classes.

Susan fits the sleeves on a steam punk style jacket

Not surprisingly, Susan has amassed a loyal following of talented and skilled women who regularly attend her workshops.  The luckiest among them have traveled with her to Paris to shop at the best stores and ateliers.    There were 12 women in the workshop, and more than half were repeat attendees.  

During the first hour of the workshop, we went around the circle, introduced ourselves, and shared the pattern and fabric we intended to work that week.  There were many accomplished and talented sewists, many of whom were tackling couture evening gowns, Chanel style jackets, and beautiful coats. The quality and style of garments that would cost thousands and thousands to acquire if you weren't making them yourself.



It was a  diverse group:  ranging from one young woman who took up sewing 8 years ago because she's over 6 feet tall and couldn't find anything to fit, to a number of highly accomplished educators and consultants, moms, nurses, equestriennes, and onto a handful of women of happy retirees.  Like me!

Timmi is the principal of a charter school and a true artist.   She made a gorgeous Devoré velvet gown.  

The workshop was held in the sunny sewing studio of Vista local Cindy Dahlin, of Cindy Dahlin  Designs.  Cindy loves vintage, and her lovely upstairs studio was filled with the antique clothing and collectibles that inspire her work.

Cindy plays with a ribbon belt embellishment

Like Susan, Cindy is a lifelong couture seamstress and designer, and she served as Susan's assistant and right hand during the week.

Susan approves my french seams

Under Susan's wise and patient instruction, I learned many couture sewing techniques, including making my first corset with boning.  And the best part is that Zoe's dress is now about 75% completed!

Dress starting to take shape

I am so inspired and stimulated by the whole  experience.   The exposure to couture sewing techniques really upped my game and widened my creative horizons.   And the community of fellow sewists was fantastic.   Plans are in the works to get together with some of my new friends for a couture sewing gathering soon.

First Muslin Fitting: Duct Tape Dress Form Fail

I carefully fit the muslin to the the duct tape dress form (nicknamed "Dummy,")  we'd made.   But when Zoe came down last week, and tried it on, it became evident that "Dummy" is quite a bit pudgier than the she is!   Not sure what went wrong, but I suspect that the T-shirt that we used as a base layer was too thick, and maybe I overstuffed.

The muslin on Dummy

 So while my live model was here, I altered both the muslin lining and the organza overlay, and  added boning to the muslin.   Here's the muslin by itself:

  Here's a shot of the organza bodice that is standing-in for our lace fabric.   Next step: Adding sleeves to the bodice overlay.    

Muslin with Organza Overlay - Sleeveless

I had altered the sleeveless version of the organza overlay to fit my model, but now I had to add the elbow length sleeve.   So with the help of sewing guru Barbara Rain at Sewing Arts Center, I drafted a sleeve pattern based on Zoe's measurements.   

But back home, (gulp),  I was on my own transferring my alterations to the bodice overlay pattern pieces and adjusting them  to accept the sleeve.  After pouring over several pattern drafting reference books, I dived in, dropping the armscye and extending the side seams at the underarm, tapering to nothing at the waist.

Tomorrow I will cut and sew the re-drafted organza bodice and sleeve.  Then I  have to sit tight til I see my live model next month.  Fingers crossed,  it will fit as well as the muslin lining!