Leading Lady: Wendy Cooper

Hooray for week 1 of this season of Project Sewn!  I had a lot of fun sewing along with the last season but almost decided I was going to skip doing it this time around.  I simply wasn't sure I wanted to invest my time, money, and effort into sewing things that will only be worn for a short period of time.  Yes, I'm expecting again.  Woohoo!  It's always a blessing but it feels a little extra special after my miscarriage last October. With all my past pregnancies I had no problem wanting to sew something fabulous to wear.  This time is different because it will be the last and I already have plenty of maternity stuff. Tangent: I'm really not kidding when I say I have plenty.  My maternity stuff is prettier than my regular clothes and I have more of it.  Much more.  Once this pregnancy is over I will be forever done with my maternity wardrobe, thus my reluctance to add to it too much.  However, I love me a good challenge and sewing maternity clothes is a different animal than sewing regular clothes.  Plus, I already had patterns I'd never used.

This week's theme is Leading Lady.  I decided to choose a pregnant leading lady for clothing inspiration and assumed that would make it easier.  Oddly enough, the only person I could think of was Tess Ocean from Ocean's 12, who was impersonating a pregnant Julia Roberts.  "Protect your fake baby!"  I guess I haven't seen as many movies with pregnant ladies as I thought.  A friend directed me to the movie What to Expect When You're Expecting.  Bingo!  Aside from a lot of choice in that movie, one of the characters stood out with a style I love.  Even better, it turns out that I love the movie.  I've seen it at least 3 or 4 times in the past couple of weeks.  Hooray for Netflix!

That look of I'm-so-uncomfortable-please-shut-up-before-I-smack-you-no-actually-come-just-a-little-closer-so-I-don't-strain-myself is pretty spot on.

Wendy Cooper is my leading lady.  I can relate to all five of the women in the movie in one way or another, but Wendy is my style soul sister.  She wears bold, high-contrast colors in feminine styles.  And very preppy.  Perfect.  My own selection in what to make, however, is not one that Wendy would have worn.  It has the bold pink but I don't think she'd have gone for the print.  She has mostly solids and florals.  I chose this dress because it shows how Wendy changes during the movie.  She goes from completely put together and in control to admitting defeat and giving up.  She puts on a brave face and pretends it's all sunshine and roses until it's just too much and she gets completely honest.  I go from "I love being pregnant" to "I. Can't. Breathe." to "I just stood up!  Why the heck do I need to pee again?!?"  This dress is a marriage of those feelings.  The funky print reminds me that I actually do get into a groove and enjoy this time (at least for a while), while the comfy fabric and design don't confine me.  Also, the long length means I don't have to bother with shaving my legs if I don't want to.  It's a fabulous care-free style.

Ever heard of Resting B*tch Face?  In all these pictures I seem to have Purposeful B*tch Face.  I swear I'm much nicer than I look in these pics.

The tilt on all the pictures?  It's...artistic.  Yeah, artistic.

The pattern is Simplicity 1469.  It's their version of the Megan Nielsen pattern.  I'm cheap and like to know what to expect from my patterns, so I was happy to see this in the Simplicity catalog.  It sewed up fast and easy.  I did have to take in a few inches through the center back to get the proper fit and to narrow the neckline a bit, but other than that it was wonderful.  It was easy to lengthen the pattern to a maxi dress so I could avoid that whole leg-shaving issue I just mentioned.

Now that I see this picture I realize I should have also raised the shoulders in the front.  Yay for the saggy boob look!

The fabric I used is the hot pink black zebra print from Girl Charlee, as well as some leftover black interlock I had on hand.  I think I may live in this dress  It is ridiculously comfortable and all I have to do is add a pair of earrings to make a complete outfit.  An added bonus is that the pattern is made to allow nursing access.  I guess my fear of making something I'll only wear for the next few months was unfounded.  Well, at least for this pattern.  I'm pretty sure I'll be making another one as a shirt so I have more nursing attire.

Unnecessary parting note:  I seem to have blogging picture problems recently.  There are the pictures on this post (I'm the leaning tower of Jordan!) and then all the missing pictures from the past several months.  I'm still figuring out my first smart phone.  Pictures that I thought I was deleting from the phone ended up deleting from everywhere so all the pictures I have of work I've done since September are now gone forever. Sniff.  At least I didn't delete the clothes and they're all still in my closet.