Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Sew Grateful: Pushing Daisies Sew Along

Today in the Sew Grateful week is the day to provide resources, tutorials, patterns, etc. I was actually hoping to provide a pattern for you guys of my 1920s dress (and if you're interested in testing the pattern - let me know!), but I got a little burned out designing and creating the dress that just won't ever be good enough! Next week I'll finish it, maybe. Probably not.

I'm happy to link you guys to my sewing page on Pinterest (click here!) where I do have free patterns and tutorials and links to tips and tricks on everything from working with lace to maintaining your machine.

But I want to offer something more for Sew Grateful, and it's for an entirely selfish reason.

Have you ever seen Pushing Daisies? It's one of my favorite shows, and if you've seen it, I'm sure it's one of your favorite shows. It was killed by the writer's strike of '08, so there's only 2 seasons to re-watch over and over again.

Why should you care?

Because I want to host a sew along! I don't know if I have enough followers to do that and I usually have a difficult time remembering to take pictures and explain my process, but I'm putting this up anyway and we'll see how it goes. Perhaps it will just be me by my lonesome, but I'll have a kick-ass dress at the end of it so who cares?

This is Chuck:


Chuck wears pretty dresses.


And pretty under things as well.


I think my favorite part of Chuck's outfits are that she's wearing them to blend in, not stand out.







Okay, hopefully now you understand just part of my obsession with this show. Of all the dresses, I've been coveting the red lace dress for the longest, and I think that's the dress I'm going to focus on for this sew along. (Perhaps the lingerie will be next?)

Looking through my patterns, I think a combination of Vogue 9810 version C and the skirt from Butterick B5708 will be the closest fit.


I haven't yet made the Vogue pattern, so I'm not sure if there will be any fitting issues. Obviously, we'll have to make some alterations, most noticeably shortening the sleeves, though that shouldn't be difficult. I've made the Butterick pattern previously and it's very easy to work with. The gathered skirt sans petticoat would be perfect for this dress.

So what do you think? Are you in? I'm happy to make this my first sew along if others are interested, though I'll probably make it purple or navy instead of red. I've also secretly thinking about buying white lace and dying it in tea for a cool vintage/sepia effect!

17 comments:

  1. Pushing Daisies was one of my favourite shows as well. I was really sad when it got cancelled :(

    I just fell in love with that red lace dress. I just might have to make one for myself when I find the right fabric for it :)

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    1. Do let me know if you decide to make it! I'd love to see a final version of it! :-)

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  2. That yellow dress is right up my alley. I'm in! And 20s pattern testing? I'd love to!

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    1. Yay! I can't wait to see what you come up with! And I'll let you know when the pattern is ready. Potentially up to a few months away...

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  3. I love the show pushing daisies and was turned on to it by a picture of Chuck. I just found out last week that there was a second season (and watched it all in two days, oops).
    I need to go back through both seasons and get pictures of my favorite outfits
    Sadly I am not prepared to do the sew along with you right now. But I hope that you get a lot of participation so that I can look through it and maybe do it later.

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    1. Sigh, I know, I really should go back and watch all the episodes again, just because. I can't wait to see how yours turns out if you do decide to do it later!

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  4. I LOVED Pushing Daisies! Olive had some great outfits, too!

    You might also like (sadly only 13 episodes of) Wonder Falls, which had the same creative team and some of the same cast.

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    1. You are so right! I loved both of these brilliant but cancelled shows. I even bought a squished lion from Wonderfalls. It's one of my favorite knick knacks!

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  5. Just found this post via Debi's Sew Grateful Week and OMG PUSHING DAISIES IS MY FAVORITE SHOW!!!!!!!! I'm looking forward to more details :)

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  6. Oooh, I love the choices you've made. DVD ordered, and I'm in!

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  7. I have been a great fan of Pushing Daisies as well. It would have been great if there had been more seasons, but the two they made are absolute gems, so maybe they stopped at a high and that's not such a bad thing either.
    I will follow your sew-along and who knows, maybe I'll make myself a Chuck-dress in the (near) future...

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  8. (Found this via Kat's handy list of sewalongs.) I've always loved the production design on that show! In a perfect world I'd have a rainbow of brightly colored dresses.

    Possibly Cambie would work well for these sorts of dresses? That's more or less why I bought it. :)

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  9. Wow, this is SUCH a great idea!! I loved this show, and Chuck's dresses were the reason I started sewing in the first place! I recreaed one of them recently... I will send you a picture somehow, but maybe a bit later, when I see some other beautiful creations... I'm so excited for this sewalong!!!!

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  10. I loved Pushing Daisies, it had such a great look to it, and Anna Friel is always lovely. I just dropped by to say you won my suitcase giveaway! Can you email me at minnadoshouse@gmail.com with your postal address and I will get the parcel sent!

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  11. I love Pushing Daisies and would love to see a sew along

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  12. will be following the progress, can't wait to see all the results! dyeing the lace is a great idea too.

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  13. Thanks so much for thinking of this. I haven't seen the show in years, and I'm really enjoying revisiting the episodes. When the show was first on, I wasn't one to notice fashion at all--now it's like a wonderland!! Anna Friel and Kristin Chenoweth are heaven.

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