Pistachio macarons for everybody!

This is a pistachio macaron.


This is also a pistachio Macaron.


This is me, eating a pistachio macaron, wearing a pistachio Macaron.

Any questions?

Two and a half items in one week?^* I am on a very tiny roll, here. I decided to wear this Colette Macaron to a family bbq on Saturday, and I'm really glad I started it on Tuesday because? Wow. If I had been taking part in one of those 7-hour sewing challenges instead of my 9-in-6, I would have failed epically. It took me all of Tuesday evening and most of the next day to merely cut out the pattern and fabric. There are, like, eleventy billion pieces, most of which go into the bodice, which took me most of the morning and early afternoon on Thursday to put together. The skirt with its paltry six pieces went together relatively quickly^** Saturday morning. I tell you, blood, sweat, and tears, man. Well, maybe no sweat or tears, but there was literal blood.

And it's still not technically finished. Maybe. But I'll come to that in a minute.

Anyway, we took some pictures in my cousin's gorgeous garden in Stratford^***. I have to say, I'm much more pleased with this dress than I thought I would be. I wasn't in love with the pattern, to be honest. I'm not a huge fan of sweetheart necklines, and I've always worried the Macaron looks a bit like a dress worn over a t-shirt, but then I saw this version and I thought "Ooh, I have a plaid, I like the idea of cutting the same fabric on the bias. Then it looks like you did it on purpose." Even then, I really only considered making it because of the name and as an opportunity to use up some of the green and tan mystery fabric I bought last summer in London (hence Pistachio Macaron). When I really looked at my fabric, though, I noticed that it's more striped than plaid, and the checks aren't even symmetrical. Unless I wanted to add a lot of extra work, the bias idea was out. Then Dixie DIY posted her gorgeous version and I knew I had the solution to my problem: cut the yoke on the cross-grain.

I cut a size 4 at the hips and waist, grading to a 0 at the bust on the bodice and cutting a zero for the yoke and sleeves. I also lengthened the bodice by 1.5" I usually do an inch, but this was the length of one block, and I wanted to take the path of least resistance. I wound up sewing 1/4" seams at the shoulder and 3/8" seams at the bottom waistband, and even so, the bottom of the waistband only barely reaches my natural waist.

The mystery fabric has a linen-like weave, but lack of wrinkling and a burn test tells me that it's actually made of plastic. It's also kind of itchy. I think this might be a good dress for when the weather gets cooler. We'll see then if I need to line it or if the itchiness is only a reaction to the heat.

The process of making it was a bit frustrating, as those who follow me on Twitter can attest, partially because as I was making the bodice I sort of felt like all my stripe-matching had been wasted because of the darts, and I ran into some difficulty taking the bodice off during a fitting session^****, but mostly because it was taking so bloody long to finish every last seam. Speaking of bloody...

Here follows The Epic Story of a Sewing Accident: A Cautionary Tale About Seam Edging

Saturday morning, I got up early to finish the dress before heading off to Stratford. I was using the edge foot and stitch to finish the seams and it was really boring. I had to go a bit slow to begin with to keep the noise levels down so the DC could sleep in, but then some guy started using a chainsaw outside and I gunned it. I do this all the time, and I'm not sure how my finger got caught under the needle mechanism, but I did and it hurt a lot. My initial thought was that I had somehow sewn right through my finger, but I had just clobbered it right at the side of the nail bed with the screw that holds the presser foot on. It was bleeding like a stuck pig and hurt like the billy-o.

I am a good person to have around in a medical emergency^*****, because I don't panic. I just swear really, REALLY loudly. And repeatedly. Loud enough to wake the household, who came rushing to my aid. The human was much more helpful than the feline, incidentally. Lucy, who is not generally useful in a crisis, stood in the middle of the living room looking at me inquiringly. Thanks, cat.

The bleeding and pain had mostly stopped by the time we left for Stratford, and I got some solace in the fact that I got to use some of the battle dressings left over from that time I didn't bike to work on Bike-to-Work Day and that the pleats in the skirt are arranged in such a way that my stripes wound up matching be-yew-tifully at the waistband. I really wish I could take credit for that, but it was pure serendipity.

And finally, a last bit of cleverness. I originally thought I would be able to hem the skirt right at the knee, but because the skirt starts much higher than I expected, that's where the raw edge fell. I really didn't want to go shorter, and to be honest, my finger was still throbbing and I didn't want to hem. So I didn't. I sewed a line about 1/2" from the edge and pulled the threads to leave a deliberately frayed edge.

After the family bbq I got to test out the Macaron's bikeability because when we got home from Stratford there was no time to change before we set off to Hart House to say farewell to another cousin, then up up up to St. Clair and Bathurst to another party. Despite the straight skirt, there's enough room to move the legs, although it does ride up a bit. The evening was mild, but the material doesn't breathe (another clue that I was wearing plastic) and I got a bit warm, but not hideously so.

Some issues: the fit of the sleeves (which the DC thinks is the best part of the pattern) is weird. I can't raise my arms beyond shoulder level. I'm thinking I lengthened the shoulder without raising the armscye, and now the armhole is too big for the sleeve. I'm also having problems taking the dress off. So maybe my armholes are actually too small? Do I need to broaden the shoulders? I have no idea what's wrong. Any suggestions?

Also: I originally planned to add piping along the edge of the bodice but, er, didn't. I'm wondering if I should add a thin ribbon along the edge, just to give it some definition without drawing too much attention to the area. Maybe also around the neckline. What do you think? And what colour should I use: green, tan, or cream?

Issues aside, I've surprised myself with how much I like the dress. The pockets are awesome and not at all marsupial-like. The cut is extremely flattering and gives me some... weight, shall we say, up top -- I mean, check out that side view! I think I'd like the skirt better if it flared out from the pleats instead of going straight down, so if I make this pattern again, I might try that.

^*"Wait... and a half? I only see two!" I hear you cry. I put in significant work on the eyelet dress modification, having made both flanges and installed one of them, in time to wear it to the sewcialists meetup on Friday, only there was... a bit of a wardrobe malfunction that means I need to replace the back zipper. Let's just say that invisible zips are not terribly strong. But more on that in a future post.

^**Aside from a hour to deal with the minor medical trauma resulting from edging the skirt. I tell you, this finishing seams business is dangerous. Why did nobody warn me?

^***Stratford, Ontario, in case you were confused.

^****At one point, I thought I was so stuck I was going to have to cut myself out of the bodice.

^*****Windstorms? Not so much.