{"id":4759,"date":"2013-06-13T05:24:47","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T12:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=4759"},"modified":"2013-06-13T07:55:06","modified_gmt":"2013-06-13T14:55:06","slug":"maximal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=4759","title":{"rendered":"Sewing for Me: Maxi Dresses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the summertime, maxi dresses are kind of my thing.<\/p>\n

I love the idea of dresses, and own a ridiculous number of patterns for them (JoAnn sales, I curse you), but not having inherited my dad’s coltish legs I tend to get very very self-conscious about the lower regions of my body.\u00a0<\/span>The maxi dress is the answer to all my needs. Legs hidden? Check. Comfortable? Check. Stylish? Well, depending on the maxi dress, check.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Let’s start with the attempt at color-blocking first. This was actually going to be your basic black maxi dress, but I didn’t have enough fabric and was initially stymied. Luckily, the grey jersey I used as the bodice lining for the navy stripes maxi happened to be on my cutting table, so I gave color-blocking a whirl.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The pattern is McCalls 6700<\/a>, billed as “Easy” and yes it is. It took about three hours from start to finish, which is pretty good for adult-sized clothes, I would say. I cut out a grey sash to go around the waist, but ended up second-guessing myself and didn’t make it. I don’t hate the look of the elastic-cinched waist, though I did try it with a belt (the same one<\/a> that K tried earlier this week). Oh hey, awkward pose. I look rather dazed here…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I like the tie detail in the back, and I am now discovering the benefits of taking pictures of myself in self-made clothes. I didn’t know my bra would be showing so blatantly – at least it kind of blends in so you might not have known what was going on without me pointing it out.<\/p>\n

Both fabrics are some sort of jersey – mostly cotton I think. The grey one is slightly thinner than the black, and you can see it making waves where it meets the black at the seam. I like this dress a lot, though it definitely needs some tweaks. I’ve discovered that I have a freakishly long torso so I had to adjust the bodice which made the fit a bit weird somehow. But all in all, this is like lounging in yoga wear, so I can’t complain too much.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking of freakishly long torsos…this v-neck maxi is (drumroll please) my own design<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What you’re seeing here is the dress before I put the elastic into the casing. I thought it would have a cool drop-waist effect, but the the hem kept stretching out more and more and the gathers puff out at my hips in a less than stellar way.<\/p>\n

Still, I’m quite proud. I had only about a yard of this navy and grey striped knit from\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0(and again, I bought the last bit of their stock) and knew immediately that I wanted it to look like chevrons. I didn’t have enough fabric so I was only able to achieve the chevron look on the front. The cotton jersey is very sheer, so I fully lined the bodice – I love how it gives it more body and is totally bra-friendly (which is my biggest beef about a lot of store-bought maxi dresses).\u00a0The skirt part is a jersey tube that’s been in my stash for about two thousand years, and it was perfect for this project.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I added the elastic, but now I’m not sure. To elasticize or not to elasticize? Hmmmm….<\/p>\n

I winged the whole thing starting with a v-neck tank top that fits well, and I think the results are decent. It’s a wearable dress, which is so exciting! What say you? I’m going to try version 2.0 of this dress soon with improvements. Should I do a tutorial?<\/p>\n

So today is my birthday. I’m feeling ancient, and we’ll leave it at that. I’m off to go celebrate for the next few days (yurt camping!) and may not be able to do a Monday post, but I’ll pop by briefly tomorrow to announce the giveaway winner<\/a>!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

In the summertime, maxi dresses are kind of my thing. I love the idea of dresses, and own a ridiculous number of patterns for them (JoAnn sales, I curse you), but not having inherited my dad’s coltish legs I tend to get very very self-conscious about the lower regions of my body.\u00a0The maxi dress is the answer to all my needs. Legs hidden? Check. Comfortable? Check. Stylish? Well, depending on the maxi dress, check. Let’s start with the attempt at color-blocking first. This was actually going to be your basic black maxi dress, but I didn’t have enough fabric and was initially stymied. Luckily, the grey jersey I used as the bodice lining for the navy stripes maxi happened to be on my cutting table, so I gave color-blocking a whirl. The pattern is McCalls 6700, billed as “Easy” and yes it is. It took about three hours from start to finish, which is pretty good for adult-sized clothes, I would say. I cut out a grey sash to go around the waist, but ended up second-guessing myself and didn’t make it. I don’t hate the look of the elastic-cinched waist, though I did try it with a belt (the same one that K tried earlier this week). Oh hey, awkward pose. I look rather dazed here… I like the tie detail in the back, and I am now discovering the benefits of taking pictures of myself in self-made clothes. I didn’t know my bra would be showing so blatantly – at least it kind of blends in so you might not have known what was going on without me pointing it out. Both fabrics are some sort of jersey – mostly cotton I think. The grey one is slightly thinner than the black, and you can see it making waves where it meets the black at the seam. I like this dress a lot, though it definitely needs some tweaks. I’ve discovered that I have a freakishly long torso so I had to adjust the bodice which made the fit a bit weird somehow. But all in all, this is like lounging in yoga wear, so I can’t complain too much. Speaking of freakishly long torsos…this v-neck maxi is (drumroll please) my own design. What you’re seeing here is the dress before I put the elastic into the casing. I thought it would have a cool drop-waist effect, but the the hem kept stretching out more and more and the gathers puff out at my hips in a less than stellar way. Still, I’m quite proud. I had only about a yard of this navy and grey striped knit from\u00a0here\u00a0(and again, I bought the last bit of their stock) and knew immediately that I wanted it to look like chevrons. I didn’t have enough fabric so I was only able to achieve the chevron look on the front. The cotton jersey is very sheer, so I fully lined the bodice – I love how it gives it more body and is totally bra-friendly (which is my biggest beef about a lot of store-bought maxi dresses).\u00a0The skirt part is a jersey tube that’s been in my stash for about two thousand years, and it was perfect for this project. I added the elastic, but now I’m not sure. To elasticize or not to elasticize? Hmmmm…. I winged the whole thing starting with a v-neck tank top that fits well, and I think the results are decent. It’s a wearable dress, which is so exciting! What say you? I’m going to try version 2.0 of this dress soon with improvements. Should I do a tutorial? So today is my birthday. I’m feeling ancient, and we’ll leave it at that. I’m off to go celebrate for the next few days (yurt camping!) and may not be able to do a Monday post, but I’ll pop by briefly tomorrow to announce the giveaway winner!    <\/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-4759","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\/4759","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=4759"}],"version-history":[{"count":47,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4821,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4759\/revisions\/4821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}