Jim is a Rat and Other Cautionary Tales

Hawaii Comic 6This really needs to be the last crazy novelty-print fabric dress I make for a while. This fabric is fun, but like my newsprint dress and my “prom dress“, there are some places I wouldn’t wear this one.

The fabric is the newer Home Sewing is Easy print, the Hawaii edition. The comic appears to center on two women who are trying to get the attention of an (undeserving) male via their sewing skills. Unlike the first Home Sewing is Easy fabric which focused mainly on sewing, there seem to be two overall messages to this fabric:

1) Jim is a rat
2) Feminism is dead

But just look at my cute full skirt.

Hawaii Comic 3It’s a really full skirt, 4 widths of fabric, to be precise (but this fabric was only 45″ wide, unlike my other recent full-skirted novelty). I did no shaping of the skirt pieces; they are just gathered rectangles to keep it easy and to avoid breaking up the print any more than necessary.

Hawaii Comic 4For the bodice, I used a vintage pattern, McCall’s 5255. It’s a half-size pattern with 41-inch bust. I hadn’t tried this particular pattern before, but like all the others I’ve tried in this vintage size, the fit is perfectly acceptable to me without major alterations. When I make another (and I will), I might take it in a bit at the armscye area; the pictures seem to show a little gaping that I didn’t notice in the mirror.

The bodice is faced instead of lined. I know facings really bother some people, but they don’t bother me at all; I grew up wearing a lot of homemade clothes with facings. Let me qualify this a bit, they don’t bother me so long as I have Pete or Guinevere around to tuck them in where I can’t reach them. This facing seemed particularly nifty since it is arm and neck edges all in one. It was like a lot of clipping of curves all at once, especially with the sweetheart neckline, but it was fun to put together and left me with very little hand sewing at the end. The zipper is in the side seam. Hooray, I can reach it to zip myself! The side seam zipper also meant I didn’t have to try to pattern-match across the back.

Hawaii comic 1This is my contribution to Heather’s Sundress Sewalong. There’s still time if you want to sew along too; it runs until the 18th of this month.

I did briefly consider climbing the tree here, but changed my mind when I realized that it would probably:

1) scuff my shoes
2) end with me falling on the ground

Some impulses are best thought about rather than acted upon.

Hawaii Comic 7

Comments

9 responses to “Jim is a Rat and Other Cautionary Tales”

  1. Amanda Avatar

    Looks great!

  2. liza jane Avatar

    Love that full skirt!

  3. Annette Avatar

    I want to see a close-up of that fabric!

    1. Cari Homemaker Avatar

      I’ll wear it to dinner tomorrow. 🙂

  4. Lynn Avatar

    That is so cute! .

  5. elaineoc Avatar

    Ahhh I love it I love it!

  6. Gjeometry Avatar

    Oh, Carri, you look so adorable in this!! As I was mentioning on my blog, I love the 50’s style ‘prom dress’, but I just can’t pull it off. It does not suit me. But, you wear it so well and make such a statement in it. I’m curious as to whether people stop and ‘read’ you when you are out and about. 🙂

    1. Cari Homemaker Avatar

      Thanks! So far the only people reading the fabric have been people I know, so its not too awkward. I haven’t worn it out to the grocery store or other larger gathering place yet though; that will be the true test.

    2. Lynn Avatar

      Yeah, I have some fabric with old ads on it. (Just posted a picture this morning.) It will be my first time making something readable, and it’s quite interesting, so I’m wondering how that will go.

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