Red Jackie O Dress : Shades Of Me

Happy Saint Valentines’ Day!

When Celina and Hayley invited me to a be included in their fabulous Shades Of me Series I was really excited to make myself something red.

They assigned the red day to February 14. I have a date with my husband planned, and decided to make myself a cute little dress.

The details:

• Dress fabric: Some sort of cotton bark cloth I bought at a yard sale for about two dollars.
• Pattern: The pattern comes from the book Famous Frocks. Here is a review I wrote on it. A book with 10 designs and patterns inspired by 10 film stars and fashion icons. I chose the Jacki O dress. I needed a dress design with structure to show off this firm woven bark cloth type fabric. Plus, I’ve had this book a long time and even though I only paid ten bucks for it, I wanted to get my money’s worth. The good news is it pretty much fit perfectly, although I had to do a FBA and lengthen the skirt stomach area a little to fit better. The bad news about this book for some people reading is the largest sizes of the patterns in the book is about an 8 or a size large. I’m a 6 and cut a medium.

Each style in the book has two variations. The Jackie O dress had a version with a high funnel neck which although incredibly chic looking, wasn’t going to be a good look for me. I felt the lower boat neck version was going to more flattering on my body. In general,high necklines tend to make me look blocky. I had to do a full bust adjustment to get the bodice to fit. I made a muslin, slitting it in the bust area and letting it fall open. The amount that the muslin opened is the amount I made larger on the pattern by cutting it open at the waist dart to the armhole and opening the pattern. Full bust adjustments are easy once you get the hang of them. There are several great tutorials. This one on the Christine Haynes blog is excellent.

I also shortened the dress several inches. I feel frumpy in below knee length dresses. Plus, My daughters are always telling me I should dress more racy! I may be in my forties, but I work out and want to show off a little. While I still have something to show off. Ha!

I loooove these yellow shoes. I bought them over two years ago. They are by Via Spiga, and although they are two seasons old, I think they still look current.

I pretty much messed up this zipper. I bought a new machine, a Janome Magnolia and didn’t buy a zipper foot. I put in the zipper without it. I’ll have to replace it, but I lost my seam ripper!

So have you been following the Shades Of Me series? It’s been great. A lot of the ladies involved don’t usually sew for themselves and the series has been a great excuse for some much needed selfish sewing. Although I love seeing what they are making for their kiddos, I’d also love seeing them create some more grown up styles. Come on mom, you deserve it!

I love sewing for myself. It’s definitely harder than sewing for kids. Learning how to work with your lumps and bumps to create a garment that fits and flatters can take years to perfect. I always learn something new. For instance, I had to make the skirt pattern a little longer in front between the two darts, so it would drape better over my slightly protruding stomach. It looked really bad the the first try but you can hardly see my stomch now, thanks to getting the fit right. And holding in my stomach for the photograph.

Once again, thanks Dad, for taking these pictures!