Doctor T Designs

Somehow despite being a rather busy month I actually got a decent amount of sewing done in November! Blogging about it… Not so much, but hopefully I can get some more detailed posts about my most recent projects up soon. The early winter darkness and rainy weather hasn’t made photography a super fun prospect, but I’m hoping to get photos done soon. And I’ll give a bit of a preview here since I do have a few in-progress photos I can share.

Sewing Progress

I finished a few projects this month and I’ve already started working on some that will continue through to next month as well. Firstly, I finished two dresses I made to wear to a performance I saw while visiting my sister in New York. Masquerade is an experiential Phantom of the Opera show, with a strict dress code of black, white, or silver. You are instructed to wear evening dress, but you walk through the show, so you also need to be able to move easily in your outfit. My sister and I didn’t really have anything that fit the criteria in the designated color scheme, so we both decided to made dresses to wear to this show. My original thought was to make Simplicity 3046, a Jiffy Vintage Dress reprint, because it fit the criteria of being simple, elegant, and fast to sew. Unfortunately, after making the dress I just wasn’t feeling it (for a variety of reasons; I’ll go into more detail in a dedicated blog post), so I went back to the instant TNT I made last year for a different Masquerade event, McCall’s 8340. This dress turned out much better, and was what I eventually wore to the event. The performance itself was fantastic, it was super fun to get dressed up, and if you find yourself in New York with a chance to see it, I highly recommend it. I still need to get additional photos of both of these dresses for blog purposes, but I do have a few in-progress shots to give the overall idea of what I’ve been working on.

I also made a banner this month to be used as temporary signage. I sewed it using some basic cotton broadcloth and used the Cricut for the lettering. I’d like to say the rest of the materials are in the image for scale, but it was definitely more of a case of needing to make this in the midst of doing a bit of sewing space organization.

And because I can’t seem to stop sewing undergarments, I’ve gone back to working on some of those projects too. Though rather than sewing for me I’ve actually made a few things for my sister, as we are trying to work out a few patterns for her while she is visiting for the holidays. I made a B,Wear Christina and a B,Wear Sigrid for her to start. The Christina is a free pattern, and doesn’t have any instructions, but is pretty simple to figure out if you’ve ever sewed undergarments before. For my sister we ended up needing to size up 1 because the stretch lace wasn’t quite as stretchy as a regular stretch fabric, and we needed to narrow the front of the gusset. Otherwise this was a really simple and straightforward project.

The Sigrid was a bit more complex to fit; it’s designed as more full coverage, but the back of the gusset is quite narrow, and so it required a bit of a redesign to get a better fit as a more standard full coverage fit for my sister. The construction was pretty standard after working on the pattern, but I was quite pleased with how the lace design looked with the black and white contrast.

We are also planning on working on some new patterns (right now we are gearing up to try the Emerald Erin Black Beauty), as well as re-working the fit of the Sahaara for my sister. I also have more of the LilyPADesigns Patterns waiting to get cut (the Labellum is next up on my list), so there is no shortage of sewing projects on the cutting table.

Sewing Delays

Despite a fair bit of travel, ongoing busy weekends, and the start of the holiday season, I have been able to get a lot of sewing done this month. It doesn’t feel like sewing has been a focus, so I’m honestly pretty excited with the amount of projects I’ve been able to finish during November.

Finished Projects

I was able to finish five things this month: Simplicity 3046 Black Velvet Dress, McCall’s 8340 Black Twist Front Dress, the Academy Banner, the B,Wear Christina, and the B,Wear Sigrid for my sister. The biggest issue has been getting finished garment photos of the dresses and finding time to write up some blog posts, mostly because it’s been dark, cold, or rainy any time I’ve had the time to take photos, but I do have a photo from the night of the event to share as a sneak peak!

WIPs & Upcoming Plans

The current WIPs are definitely the projects I’m working on with my sister (the Emerald Erin Black Beauty, the Sahaara, and whatever else pops up on the radar), as well as the LilyPAD patterns I’ve had in the queue for a while. We are also planning to draft a pants sloper for my sister so she can use it to help with pattern fitting when she goes back home, and I’ve got a bunch of other projects that I’ve been wanting to work on as well. But either way there is not shortage of things to sew and lots to work on before the end of the year!