Taming the Beast

Spring is officially here, and sitting in front of the sewing machine has been more difficult now that the weather is so nice. Nonetheless, for the past couple of weeks, I've been working on two different projects -- both in silk chiffon, which I've nick-named THE BEAST.

Project #1 is a quick and easy little blouse (minus buttons):

Wait -- did I say quick and easy? I meant slow and painful. Well, that's not entirely true either. It went much better than I expected. I guess I did manage to go through an entire package of 5 Microtex needles (recommended for sewing with silk) throughout the course of this blouse. And, I haven't even figure out how to do the buttons yet (I'm thinking snaps are a good way to go here -- I can just imagine the disaster of trying to make buttonholes in chiffon). More photos and a formal review when I figure out the button closure.

Project #2, which I began this past weekend is the Saffron Dress:


This dress is for a friend's wedding the first weekend of June. The minute I saw this pattern come out earlier this spring, I knew I had to have it. I'm shortening the length to make a tea length dress (mid-calf, perhaps). The fabric on the left is the most beautiful and delicate chiffon from Mood in NYC, and the right is some soft and luscious china silk from B&J in NYC. My color inspiration comes from the seasoning saffron (which I love) and all of the yellow I've seen this season. In particular, I saw this Roberto Rodriguez dress on the Nordstrom's website:

I was going to alter the pattern to make the top more like this dress, but I decided that I was lazy and actually loved the dress as is -- the pattern is more elegant. So, that's what I'm working on this week!