{"id":11001,"date":"2014-08-20T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2014-08-20T12:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=11001"},"modified":"2014-08-19T22:51:20","modified_gmt":"2014-08-20T05:51:20","slug":"sewing-for-me-frances-newcombe-part-2-meets-darling-ranges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=11001","title":{"rendered":"Sewing for Me: Frances Newcombe (Part 2) Meets Darling Ranges"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fn-darling-ranges1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The thousand yard stare….perhaps it looks like I’m contemplating the plight of the impending world financial crisis or maybe it merely looks like I’m making a mental grocery list. In fact, I’m thinking, “What IS that brownish spot on my curtain?”<\/p>\n

\"fn-darling-ranges2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A picture is worth a thousand words they say, but this one sums it up in six: “Stay down, poufy stomach, stay down<\/em>!”<\/p>\n

\"fn-darling-ranges3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The theme is ‘thousand’, it seems, and I have thousands upon thousands of these “what’s going on here?” shots of myself from these past couple of years. I was pretty satisfied with the one above, and then I realized that I forgot the middle button. I have roughly 500 shots of me with that middle button unbuttoned. Nice. I could have Photoshopped it in, but we keep it real here, folks.<\/p>\n

\"fn-darling-ranges4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There, that’s better. All buttoned up.<\/p>\n

So this is the world famous Darling Ranges Dress<\/a> by Megan Nielsen that’s been around for some time. The sophisticated dark grey abstract print on a cream background was gifted to me by the textile designer herself, Frances Newcombe. It’s called En Route Sable<\/a>, and I couldn’t settle on this colorway that you see, or the darker En Route Gravel<\/a>. In retrospect, I feel like the Gravel would have been a better choice, but it’s still a great dress and the fabric was a dream to work with. I’m really digging the Art Gallery cottons.<\/p>\n

\"fn-darling-ranges5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Since I only had two yards, I had to do away with the sleeves and there are a few other modifications I’ll need to incorporate if I make this again (and I’d like to. Very much):<\/p>\n

1. Lower the dart apex. Currently, they’re floating somewhere high above where they should be, and none of my push-up, underwire bras were up to the task.<\/p>\n

2. Cut out the bodice one size up. I tried the medium based on the measurements, but quickly saw that the 5\/8-inch seam allowance was going to make it way too small. I used a 3\/8-inch seam allowance instead, and the fit isn’t bad, but you can see the gaping happening between the buttons below. Then again, maybe adjusting the darts will fix the problem.<\/p>\n

\"fn-darling-ranges6\"<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Add a couple of inches to the bodice. Forgot — as I so often do\u00a0— about my loooong torso.<\/p>\n

But these are really pretty minor changes and I think the dress is awesome. It’s casual enough for daily wear, yet pulled together enough that it could be dressed up for fancier occasions or worn to work. And I love dresses with pockets!<\/p>\n

I leave you with another slightly awkwardly-posed photo (I think I was in the process of putting my hands back into the pockets), but at least I look happy, which is how this fabric and dress make me feel. And bonus: when K and I swung by the library to get her some more choose-your-own-adventure books, the librarian was oh so complimentary about my dress. Librarian-approved!<\/p>\n

\"fn-darling-ranges7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The thousand yard stare….perhaps it looks like I’m contemplating the plight of the impending world financial crisis or maybe it merely looks like I’m making a mental grocery list. In fact, I’m thinking, “What IS that brownish spot on my curtain?” A picture is worth a thousand words they say, but this one sums it up in six: “Stay down, poufy stomach, stay down!” The theme is ‘thousand’, it seems, and I have thousands upon thousands of these “what’s going on here?” shots of myself from these past couple of years. I was pretty satisfied with the one above, and then I realized that I forgot the middle button. I have roughly 500 shots of me with that middle button unbuttoned. Nice. I could have Photoshopped it in, but we keep it real here, folks. There, that’s better. All buttoned up. So this is the world famous Darling Ranges Dress by Megan Nielsen that’s been around for some time. The sophisticated dark grey abstract print on a cream background was gifted to me by the textile designer herself, Frances Newcombe. It’s called En Route Sable, and I couldn’t settle on this colorway that you see, or the darker En Route Gravel. In retrospect, I feel like the Gravel would have been a better choice, but it’s still a great dress and the fabric was a dream to work with. I’m really digging the Art Gallery cottons. Since I only had two yards, I had to do away with the sleeves and there are a few other modifications I’ll need to incorporate if I make this again (and I’d like to. Very much): 1. Lower the dart apex. Currently, they’re floating somewhere high above where they should be, and none of my push-up, underwire bras were up to the task. 2. Cut out the bodice one size up. I tried the medium based on the measurements, but quickly saw that the 5\/8-inch seam allowance was going to make it way too small. I used a 3\/8-inch seam allowance instead, and the fit isn’t bad, but you can see the gaping happening between the buttons below. Then again, maybe adjusting the darts will fix the problem. 3. Add a couple of inches to the bodice. Forgot — as I so often do\u00a0— about my loooong torso. But these are really pretty minor changes and I think the dress is awesome. It’s casual enough for daily wear, yet pulled together enough that it could be dressed up for fancier occasions or worn to work. And I love dresses with pockets! I leave you with another slightly awkwardly-posed photo (I think I was in the process of putting my hands back into the pockets), but at least I look happy, which is how this fabric and dress make me feel. And bonus: when K and I swung by the library to get her some more choose-your-own-adventure books, the librarian was oh so complimentary about my dress. Librarian-approved!  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,35],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sewing","7":"category-sewing-for-me","8":"entry","9":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11001"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11021,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11001\/revisions\/11021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}