This week I really need to get my muslin finished. Nothing yet to see here, just a lot of tracing and prep work. And Esteemed Sewing Assistant helping out.

I had a chance to stop by the Gatsby exhibit at the Prada flagship store today after work. Gorgeous, gorgeous dresses. These dresses are truly breathtaking: intricate beading, attention to detail, fitted silhouettes (not a single sacklike, baggy silhouette in sight). Daisy’s dress had a hand-done crystal beaded overlay, with huge chandelier-type crystal beads over light peach.

Prada apparently designed most of the clothes from the Gatsby movie and the costumes were on display at their store. I was a bad blogger and only took my iPhone with me, but here are some photographs from it.

This exhibit has definitely inspired me to make more loose-fitting shift dresses and high-low dresses. Not a single, baggy, sack-like 1920s silhouette in sight.

In some fit of sewing responsibility, I finally went back to what I really should have been working on since about a month ago: my bridesmaid dress. I’m going with the bustier/sarong version from the late 50s.

I also finished McCalls 5805, and still need to take decent pictures of it.

It took way longer than it should have, but I finally finished my version of Laurel. I finished reading The Great Gatsby on my commute the other week, and I wanted something that would capture the decadent, opulent, lush feel of the novel.

Btw, I didn’t realize how sheer this dress was. I’m lucky there’s a brown fence behind most of me.

Edit: Thanks for reminding me guys, I am entering this in the Colette Patterns contest.

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Pattern Description: Loosely fitted basic sheath dress or top.

Pattern Sizing: 0-18. I cut a 4 on top and tapered to a 6 on the bottom.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, sort of.

Were the instructions easy to follow? I have on idea, I didn’t read the directions.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I like how versatile and simple this pattern is.

Fabric Used: Sheer crushed velvet.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I changed this pattern a lot. I dropped the neckline, took out the front and back darts, and raised the hem. I wanted a 60s-inspired does 20s-inspired version. I serged the side seams and hem and used seam binding to finish the neckline and armholes. I removed the darts since I didn’t think the crushed velvet could handle it, and I wanted to keep it simple.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes and yes. I’d really like to sew this so it would actually look like Laurel version, and not severely modified.

Conclusion: I’d definitely make this again.

Here’s my progress so far on Laurel. I really wish I made a muslin. I need to adjust the neckline and the hem, and it’s almost there.

Sheer crushed velvet, with topaz and cobalt blue flowers.

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It’s been quiet around these parts since I’ve been doing a lot of pattern modifications on Colette Laurel and have no decent photographs to show for it.

I’ve been working on my version over the weekend. No sleeves, lower neckline, no darts, much more simple shaping. I finished reading The Great Gatsby on my commute last week, a novel thing since I’m a very slow fiction reader, and I’ve been greatly inspired by that. I want something that will mirror the lush opulence and decadence of what the 1920s are in my head (at least based on what I read from Gatsby>), and it’s been slow going.

Hopefully this project will be done in time for the Laurel sewing contest next week.

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I had a chance to see the Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity exhibit at the Met over the weekend with Elizabeth, Cindy, Ann and her daughter, and Claudine.

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The exhibit was much better than I thought it would be, featuring paintings by Manet, Monet, Renoir and others as well as samples of clothing from that time period. There were some dresses on display with impossibly tiny, straight-laced corset-trained waists as well as the paintings that feature the dresses.

We couldn’t take photographs since there were guards watching (and yelling) at people who were trying to sneak photos, but I found some good photographs online. There were some beautiful intricate black lace dresses, white lace dresses, a gorgeous evening gown in silk with artificial silk flowers that was breathtaking, a polka-dot and striped dress that reminded me of Tim Burton, some corsets, some hats, and even some menswear.

After the exhibit was lunch, and the rest of the ladies then went on to the garment district for some shopping. I had to bail since I was, um, really hungover from the night before, but all in all it was a good time.

The exhibit goes on until the end of May, so definitely check it out if you have a chance.

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Source for Met photographs: dapperlou.com

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There has been a lot of sewing-involved activities here, but not any actual sewing.

I finally picked up my Hello Kitty sewing machine from the repair shop, went to Mood to pick up some fabric for a new project, and still need to attach an invisible zipper to McCalls 5805.

Santa Muerte is a Catholic folk saint venerated primarily in Mexico and the United States. I tend to see her as an underground or unofficial saint, and is known as the patron saint of criminals, prostitutes, drug traffickers, those on the fringes of society, those in especially bad romances.

In thanks for a favor granted recently, I sewed a shelf tablecloth from some leftover white Swiss dot and lined it with muslin. It’s a long rectangle with the edges folded over double, which came out better than I thought it would.

This is my progress so far on Mccalls 5805. The bodice has a normal zipper since I ran out of invisible zippers (and the Hello Kitty machine was in the shop). I still have to finish the bodice and the sleeve binding, but it’s almost done.

At City Sewing over the weekend.

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Any other insomniacs out there who update their sewing blogs at 3 am since they can’t sleep?

I had to bring in the Hello Kitty machine for repairs over the weekend. I’ve only been sewing with the Featherweight lately, which means no knits and invisible zippers, and hopefully I can get it back this weekend.