Finished: Pushing Daisies Dress

I know you were terribly afraid I was going to update with yet another post on why you shouldn't use vintage patterns that resemble aliens, but worry not! 

With the neckline still looking vaguely Mormonish, I'm pleased to say that I'm finally finished with the Pushing Daisies dress! After fighting with it for what seemed like every step of the way, I'm generally really happy with how it turned out.

I do think I might take out the sleeves at some point just because it would make the dress a bit more versatile to wear in different seasons, but I'm not touching it any time soon. (Plus, it's much too cold to really venture out without tights, let alone sleeves!)

You can find the entire schedule here, in case you want to go back and see what I've documented to get here.

And of course it would be the Pushing Daisies dress if I didn't make some PIE!

For those unaware, the main male character, Ned, is a piemaker. He makes delicious and amazing looking pies in every episode. Chuck, the main female character, sneaks around and makes special pies for her aunts with gruyere baked into the crust.

I don't think I can say this with enough emphasis but WOW. The gruyere in the pie crust is the best decision anyone has ever made. Ever. I mean, yeah the apples and cinnamon and sugar is good and all, but I'd eat the freaking butter, flour, and gruyere all day long. 

Here's the recipe I used because I know you want to make one right away.

And now for your entertainment, I present a story in 3 parts.

Yay, I made a pie.

I am going to eat this pie right now.

Hehehe I have pie.

Fin.

(For those unawares, the bf and I don't have a weird no touching policy, it's from the show.)

Edit: Boyfriend finally tasted the pie and our conversation went something like this.

Me: What did you think?

Bf: It was awesome, of course.

Me: But what did you think of the gruyere? You could tell when you bit into it, right?

Bf: You mean the lapdance happening in my mouth? Yeah, I could tell.

Pushing Daisies Sew Along Schedule

My goodness, I have been so overwhelmed with everything these past two weeks! I've had an ungodly amount of work to do, my mother has been in town, I've been trying to finish up start Valentine's Day presents for my boyfriend (which was a failure - Valentine's Day has been postponed), and in the midst of everything, Sew Grateful has been going on and in addition to discovering many new, amazing blogs, I had actually had people join my sew along! (And today's the last day to join my giveaway if you're interested!)

So... having never done one of these before, I'm going to create a schedule that will probably be altered a few times. I made a lot of categories because I'm assuming that will be helpful, but let me know if you want to see less. Or more! If you notice something that's missing, let me know so I can add it!

Just a note: I tend not to make muslins because I like to wing everything (and not spend time and money), but I certainly encourage the making of muslins for those who want everything to be perfect.


I'm all about saving money at this point in my life so I'm going to be using patterns from my stash. For the top I'm adapting Vogue 9810 version C and for the bottom I'm using Butterick B5708. Alice at Heteronormative Lovefest recommended the 1202 Cambie dress, which is just darling, and it seems like an excellent option.


As I mentioned in the original post, I'm not so sure I want another bright red dress so mine will probably be a different color. I haven't checked prices yet, but in my head I'm assuming white lace is the cheapest so I'm probably going to get that and dye it.

The dates are approximate! I will do my best to get the posts up that week so if you don't see them that day, I'm sure they will appear shortly.

Sewing With Lace
Selecting Fabric
Cutting Fabric
Piecing Together the Bodice and Gathering the Skirt
Mistakes, Mistakes
French Seams
Sleeves!
Facing Like A Boss
Update: Assembling Shoulders and the Dress
The Post in Which I Stop Caring
Show and Tell

So hopefully we'll have a new dress by the end of March, just in time for spring!

I'm trying to figure out how to make badges now so you can have post them on your blogs!

Also, if you make any Pushing Daisies dress, not just the red one I'm focusing on, please send it in because I would LOVE to see it and feature it with everything else!

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!

Edit: A tentative schedule can be found here!