You have your rose-colored glasses handy, right? Because I’m about to share the PINK skater dress I made as part of the Shades of Me sewing series! It’s a sewing challenge series hosted by Petit a Petit + Family and Welcome to the Mouse House, and the idea is simply to sew something monochromatic and fun for yourself. There were slots available for each of the colors in the series and I chose pink.
Okay. This isn’t the pinkest thing in the land of pinks. That’s why the rose-colored glasses would be helpful. Since our move last summer I shop for fabric almost entirely online because the nearest fabric store is at least an hour away. These days that feels like Narnia far. So I ordered a few things I thought I might use for this challenge and they all ended up being too thin to use for a dress (my chosen target here) or being… not pink, exactly.
There was a red and white print that I thought would look pinkish because of its scale, but no. There was a sweater knit that was more purple-magenta than pink-magenta. And then there was this “hot coral” ponte de roma from Girl Charlee. I sweated for a bit about it not being pink. But it’s not orange, either. A friend suggested… pornge. Why aren’t more things sold as “pornge”? Or maybe I’m not on the right sites. So, hot coral, yes. We’re going with that. I happen to know that the other folks in this series are the loving, embracing type and won’t kick me out over it. I added a violet filter to these photos to knock down the orange-y ness a bit.
I used the Lady Skater pattern. There are comforting similarities in construction between Amanda’s patterns that make it easy to sew the first one and even easier to sew each thereafter. My “high bust” measurement was between sizes 5 and 6, so I sewed a 6. I wanted a v-neck, so I barely changed the neckline to get a “v” shape – and if I make another like it I’ll bring it up a bit because as you can see, it’s a pretty deep V. I wouldn’t wear this on an outing with clingy children. I lined the front bodice and created a facing for the back so that I could skip the neck binding, which meant the V ended up even lower. Helllloooo date night! (In my pornge dress, no less. Oy.)
Modesty. I like it in general, but I find that with my hourglass-yness– especially when pregnant and nursing, most round necks and anything crew neck just leave me with a broad expanse of bosom that only accentuates the overabundance. Remembering how badly I wanted a bosom before I was so generously gifted with one, I know that sounds fantastic! In let’s-get-real-world, dressing for and sewing for it is downright difficult. (Tangent: you should hear Adrianna and me discuss bras. We live on DIFFERENT. PLANETS.)
I sewed this with cap sleeves but they’re hiding under the sweater because it was 30 F and in my efforts to appear sort of summer-y and happy without freezing I forgot that I had planned to take it off for a few photos. Oops!
This is the first thing I’ve sewn for myself in well over a year. I remember that I’d thought I’d sew maternity clothes, but when it was time to make that happen I just didn’t have the enthusiasm for it. And the last six months have been spent taking care of the baby that’s no longer in the belly. Taking first blog photos of post-baby body felt really, really hard. Wearing a non-nursing bra for these photos felt really, really odd. But I signed up for it knowing it would be, and knowing that once I did it, it would be easier to do again.
Despite the fact that I assembled the pattern with my favorite new trick and the fabric was cooperative and the pattern itself is easy peasy, every second of this one hurt. This challenge was supposed to be fun but when I signed on I knew I was going to be fighting with myself the whole time. It felt like work. I wanted to quit. I wanted to cry. I wanted to be done. I wanted to puke. And I did, because in the last week all 5 members of my family plus one visiting Gramma all had a stomach bug. But we’ve pulled through. And I got back to work. And now? I’m so glad I did it. If I were the couch-jumping type, this is my moment. It’s not perfect, but as a good friend says, perfect has passed. I fiiiinished it!
Hop around and check out the boatloads of sewing-for-yourself inspiration in this series!
Susan that is exactly the color I would have chosen if I did pink!! Pornge is right up my alley ;) You look fantastic in it! And is that your front porch?? If so, can I come hang out on it? It looks awesome.
Thanks so much for joining in with us!
That’s the front porch, come on over! Thanks for the compliments, and thanks for hosting!
Personally, Pornge is my favorite of the pink shades. And it’s seriously the perfect shade for you and for your neck of the woods. And the dress? Super cute. You go ahead and show off that cleavage, girl. Nursing 3 babies deserves a chance to show it off. And I hear you on the battle of the boobs and sewing clothing. It makes it harder for us but you know the husbands are happy.
There are a lot of shades of pink I dig, but this one reminds me of my Grammy who wore coral lipstick. And then she wore orange lipstick. And then she had cataracts removed and got mad at us when she realized her coral lipsticks had become orange because she couldn’t see them well enough! Haaa. Thanks, Stacey!
I almost spit out my orange juice – today’s post is a great mix of information and entertainment. Pornge, boobs, and the passing of perfect?! My kind of post.
xoxo,
Jen
I was hoping for more of a nasal rinse effect – vitamin c has to be good for the sinuses. Love you, mwah!
You look amazing! And that color is just perfect and pink enough for sure! Who wants perfect anyways? I have the same discussions with my friends about bras- too funny, the small chested have no clue! And I am happy this was the first step, hope to see more of you this year! Thank you so much for being a part of tour.
Thank you Celina, and thanks for providing the challenge I needed!
You look fabulous in Pornge! Though that sounds kinda dirty to say :)
Coral is also the color I had originally wanted to go with, but ended up with something much different.
Thanks! Yeah, saying it out loud is even worse than it looks! We work with what we’ve got. :)
I love love love it! Isn’t the skater dress the best?? You look so gorgeous and hour-glassy.
It is! Thanks, Alida. I need one for every day of the week. Next up: nursing version.
I love that color on you. And, dangit, I need that pattern! arrggh.
You have put it out into the universe. HEAR THAT UNIVERSE?!?
Love it! As for the boob pornge, I totally get both sides of the argument. Because mine were antbites before my first kid, then they went all Pamela Anderson on me, but now that I’ve been done nursing for quite a while they’re Pamela’s skin with the former antbite filling and it is very sad. The grass is always greener, huh?
Indeed it is. At least we live in the age of comfy stretch fabric and shapewear. Yay for that!
Hallo good looking and hilarious lady!!! Looking amazing and perfectly pink indeed!!
Thanks, Mie!
The color looks perfect on you (I’m totally stealing pornge by the way) and so does the dress for that matter. Honestly, this may be one of my most favorite photo shoots of sewing bloggers ever. You look real. I always feel bad when I go out on my front porch to get photos of something I’ve made knowing there are so many bloggers that would go to some cute park or downtown or … I live in the country. I have a big, open front porch. I need these photographs so I can finish my blog post. Bam. Thanks for making me feel ok with my decision to “model” at home. Way to fight through the urge to quit, you’re rewarded with a beauty of a dress that looks great on you!
Thank you for sharing that. What a lovely compliment. There are a lot of bloggers and a lot of ways to blog and from day to day my own taste changes. In this season of my life, the front porch is the place to be! For about 5 minutes. And then a run inside to warm up. And change out of the outfit to tend to baby. And then change back to try again. For a total of 5 attempts at getting decent shots by myself with a remote. It’s the thing I could do. Big things. Little things. All good things. :)
I absolutely agree with you, Kelli! Love this photoshoot. And obviously the dress, and just Susan all by herself.
You’re beautiful! It’s beautiful! And a beautiful shade of pornge. hahaha
The dress looks great on you! Love the Lady Skater Dress!
That shade of corally pink is lovely on your beautiful skin!
Love the dress and your bravery for making and modelling it, despite not feeling so great.
I love everything about it! I wonder how that dress pattern would work for me?! Anyways, I think that pornge is a good year round pink color, so way to make a multi-seasonal dress! Thanks for a good chuckle this evening.
You look amazing!! And, having recently lost most of my chest post-nursing, I am super jealous of that V-neck abundance you’re packing. sigh. Really, though, fantastic job with the dress. I love me some good pornge.
I love it! The colour is awesome too…yay for pornge! I hear ya about the non-nursing bra. I put one on the other day for blog pics and boy was it weird. Nice to have some shape and lose the mono-boob though.
Oh I love this colour it is one of my favourites! I love how you changed up the lady skater to a V neck, love that pattern. You look great!
Love the pornge color! The dress looks beautiful on you! I can’t believe you just had a baby, you look fabulous!
The dress and color are very pretty and you look lovely in it!