I sewed a second Mojave dress a couple of weekends ago. My first Mojave was one of my very first makes, and one of those things that languished for no good reason. I started sewing the dress at West Side Sewing Studio (I learned a lot there), then took it to my friend Courtney’s for a sewing hang. I finally hemmed it in March(!) and it got a lot of action.
My Second Mojave Dress
I knew I wanted to make another one, so I bought this Rifle Paper Co Cotton + Steel 100% cotton and earmarked it for a Mojave dress. It’s a deep blue with gold silhouettes of various sites and the world—Sydney, Rio De Janeiro, the Eiffel Tower, etc. The fabric is super light but a little stiffer than the chambray I used for the first one, but it’s still lovely. I imagine it will loosen up with more wear.
On this version I graded the top between two sizes, choosing the 22 for the shoulders and bust then grading out to the 26 for the hips and skirt. I felt like there was too much fabric under my arms in the first version (this is a common issue for me, one I also have with knitted garments… What’s happening there?), but the sort of “drop shoulder” construction of the top means it’s roomy enough for the breadth of my shoulders but hugs my ribs just a bit more. I really practiced my French seaming on this and the inside of this Mojave dress looks so GOOD. I’m so proud of it.
Future sewing projects
Sewing at the moment is on hold while I tape and cut out patterns and parts of patterns. I’ve got to tape and then cut the top part of Zadie so that I can sew up my “real” Zadie. I’m going to use this 100% cotton fabric—it’s a medium gray with tiny flecks of neon nepps. And I’m thinking I’m going to lean into the colors and use this coral color for the thread.
I’m hoping to sew my Zadie this weekend. So that means, of course, that I had to start on my next projects! Some of which also require excessive amounts of tape.
First up is a hard to photograph gray-blue heather double-brushed polyester from Stone Mountain Fabrics. I’m going to use this as my wearable toile of an Indigo Bodysuit from Laela Jeyne Patterns. I like the idea of the body suit, especially coming up on winter. I can wear it under sweaters, and the bottom of it won’t bunch up under said sweaters. My ultimate goal is to make one of these in a stretch velvet because I am ridiculous like that. This pattern had a copy shop version so I had that printed, but it still needs to be cut out.
Then there’s this gorgeous cotton-silk …something woven that I went a little silly with. I bought one yard of two colors—so I have two yards in total, which is enough for many projects, but in two different colors. My plan is to sew a Bellbird Top from The Sewing Revival (I may leave off the elastic at the sleeves… tbd). This pattern needs to be taped together, too. And I have a plan for working it with the two separate yards of fabric… we’ll just have to see how my plan might work out.
Plans to Sew Pants
Next up is a bottom-weight Brussels linen that I plan on using to make the Peppermint Wide Leg Pants. I don’t have any brown pants, period, but I have a whole slew of black shirts. I needed something that could go with all of those black shirts. Of course I will have to add like 10″ to the bottom (I’m exaggerating for effect). I just don’t see myself pulling off this trend of high-wader pants that’s going around. They look so cute on others, but when I try them they just hit my shins in a weird place. I don’t know. This pattern also just needs to be cut out.
Then there’s this stretch denim I got to make the Scarlett Jeans from Laela Jeyne. I haven’t sewn anything from Laela Jeyne yet but I appreciate that their patterns have extensive sizes. Plus they show the samples on a bigger lady. I’m hoping that they’ll work on my plus-size body because there are some really great patterns there. So anyway, back to the jeans. I love jeans. And I wear jeans as much as possible. I DON’T LIKE THAT ALL OF THE JEANS RIGHT NOW ARE 5″ TOO SHORT. So yeah, I’m going to take a chance on making my own jeans. At least that’s the theory. First I have to tape together the pattern. So. Much. Tape.
So of course now that I all of these washed and the patterns printed if not taped/cut… I ordered more fabric. Specifically to make a whole slew of plaid skirts (“slew” here is a whopping 3–4 skirts, in different plaids). But this should be the last fabrics I buy for the rest of the year, because my September is jam-packed. I won’t have a ton of sewing time, plus, there’s yarn that needs to be turned into other things.
Knitting plans
Speaking of, I nabbed these beautiful babies from Julie Asselin‘s shop. They will one day become a version of Jessie Mae’s Diaphanous Raglan (Ravelry link).
The problem being that first I need to finish my Davallia (Ravelry link), which could be done this weekend. However, I think I’m going to need to literally seam and cut out a whole swath of the back because the back neck is ridiculously wide. And I need to work more on my Brewster Pullover (Ravelry link) because I’ve determined it’s going to be a Rhinebeck sweater.
And then I fell into Andi Satterlund’s knit-along for her new Arachne sweater. My other Rhinebeck sweater? Most definitely my “wear all fall until December” sweater. And I need to finish crocheting my sister-in-law’s birthday present, which is now late.
We’ve got a three-day weekend in the States, and mine is only partially booked up (Saturday after noon is totally gone). I plan to make some solid progress on something this weekend. What are your plans?
