"Aunt Hilda" unmasked! ~ malepatternboldness2

Readers, the cat's out of the bag, and I'll have more to say about cats in a minute. The true identity of my Aunt Hilda, I mean, my "Aunt Hilda" has been revealed!

Those of you who happened to visit BurdaStyle yesterday know that I am leading a sew-along there, starting yesterday and running throughout September, which just happens to be National Sewing Month. I'll have a new post each week!

There are two sew-alongs happening simultaneously, actually. The other -- more elementary, by the way -- is being led by the indomitable Gretchen, who, based on her first sew-along post yesterday, seems to be veering alarmingly into Edie Beale crazy-cat-lady territory.

Most of you already know Gretchen as The Selfish Seamstress. OK, she's really Gertie, but seriously, there are so many cats on Gretchen's blog that it is easy to confuse her with that other catty gal -- who is also a cat owner, I believe.

I was actually thinking of doing a blog post today titled Cat Sewers vs. Dog Sewers but I woke up too late to tackle it. I still might if somebody else doesn't steal the idea. Don't, OK?

But let's get back to Aunt Hilda.

Aunt Hilda is BurdaStyle Halter Dress Pattern #116. Pretty, though I'll be skipping the coordinating Lifesaver.

And since it's just you and me here on my blog, can I just share a little something? This pattern is haaard, at least it is for me. Especially because I'm making it for somebody else, in this case, New York actress Leah X.

Wait -- Leah is an actress: don't actresses PAY to have people remember their names (like on That Girl)? Her name is Leah Curney -- C.U.R.N.E.Y. -- it's no secret. Musical plays, straight plays, juggling -- Leah's your gal! She also has a great attitude, as opposed to my cousin Cathy, who just has attitude.

Bitter.

Here we are hard at work, and let me assure you if the roles had been reversed, I would have knocked Leah flat out on the floor in that pose, need I say more?

As you well know, I am not the kind of sewer who sits down with directions and carefully studies each step beforehand. Plus, come on, you know how Burda directions tend to be -- German translated into English by an Italian. So I didn't order enough fabric, since the bolt for the fabric I chose was narrower than the bolt Burda used to estimate yardage on the pattern directions.

The powers-that-be had to Express Mail me extra.

The skirt for the dress has four pleats, four very deep pleats, meaning it uses a lot of fabric -- nearly enough to make three skirts when you think about what's actually going on in a pleat (the fabric is folded back on itself, and then attaches to an underlay).

Here I am fitting the skirt onto the bodice and I assure you it won't make Leah look fat when it's finished. But it's a lot of fabric and I chose a particularly heavy cotton (it's hard to order the perfect fabric sight unseen, I have learned).

Another challenge is that all the skirt panel seam lines have to match the bodice seam lines, and the skirt not only has six panels, but also four of them have a pleat underlay. So narrowing a skirt panel is not as simple as merely restitching a single seam. The seams attach to the underlay, over which the outer (blue) fabric is folded -- does that make sense? I may have to check out how Gretchen is making her pleated skirt. Is that cheating?

(BTW, would you press the seam allowances attaching the outer skirt fabric to the underlay panels open or to the side? The fold is on the seam allowance itself. Does anybody know what I'm talking about?)

Finally, I don't have Leah here all the time for fittings, nor do I have a body form her size. So there's a lot of waiting involved.

OK, enough bellyaching. It's very fun to make this dress and I hope you'll follow along -- or at least follow the backstage gossip here on MPB. It's so nice to know I can unburden myself among supportive friends!

In closing....Cat People: don't you think they are a little strange? I mean, think of all the famous dog heroes out there: Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Benji, the list goes on and on.