You wouldn’t know it from this sorry old space, but I’ve been busy sewing up a storm! I suppose the difference between my sewing now and when I started this blog is that now I focus on what will get worn, rather than what would make for interesting reading or pretty photos. So these days I don’t often have anything insightful to say about what I’ve made- most things are pretty straightforward and not terribly interesting as stand-alone posts. So I’m not sharing anything groundbreaking today, but I have been thinking about a few simple little posts about the more streamlined approach I’ve taken with my sewing.
If you follow along on Instagram you’d have noticed a distinct blue flavour to my sewing of late. The thing I love about blue is that different shades of the one colour can be mixed and matched without looking too matchy-matchy. With a few exceptions, almost everything I’ve sewn in the last 6 months has been blue and it makes getting dressed in the morning so easy!
It’s a bit too cold for this first outfit (Alexandra Peg Trousers + Lou Box Top) now but one that got a fair bit of wear up till about a month ago.
Lou Box Top:
Version- straight hem with scoop neck
Made up my own size half way between xxs and xxs-s
Finished armholes with folded over 2cm cuff
Sewn in linen knit remnant bought from Tessuti a year or 2 ago
Verdict- oft worn though oft cursed for crinkliness post-wash
Alexandria Peg Trousers:
Size 36 graded to 38 at the waist
Sewn in soft lightweight denim from Spotlight
Pattern changes:
Shortened legs by 4cm at the hem
Doubled the width of the waistband & sewed channelling for 4 rows of narrow elastic
Altered back pattern piece to match my personal block
Spread back pattern piece along hipline by 1cm at centre back to nothing at the side seam
Verdict:
I think a straight size 36 would have worked just fine.
I got a bit carried away with the tightness of the elastic waistband and consequently they can feel a bit corset-like after a few hours. The extra-tight waistband also creates more gathers at the waist than I would like. I’d like to try and turn the elastic waistband into a non-stretch one and add darts to the top of the pants.
Size 8 with a 1.5cm wide shoulder adjustment (I have quite narrow shoulders & often actually do narrow shoulder adjustments so maybe give this pattern a miss if you’re a bit broader in the shoulders)
Elbow length sleeves
Sewn in a lovely warm cotton jersey from ClearIt. I used bleached beeswax for the batik pattern and dyed it with Jacquard Procion Dyes (both from Eckersleys)
Verdict: Can’t get enough of the Brigitte Top! I’ve made 6 to date and can’t promise that there won’t be more. It’s definitely my go-to t-shirt pattern. I’m also thrilled with the success of both batik & dye and every new project at the moment is a canvas for experimentation.
Alexandria Peg Trousers:
Sewed channels for 3 rows of elastic and measured it a bit longer.
Switched the original pockets for those from the Ginger Jeans and added three 1cm pleats instead of topstiching.
Sewn in hemp/ cotton chambray from The Drapery. I would be quite happy with a wardrobe sewn entirely from this deluxness!
Verdict: Quite a bit more comfortable with only the 3 rows of elastic. Really don’t want to put these away for the winter & must figure out how to make a warmer outfit with them!
Drop Pocket Cardigan:
A re-make of a worn to shreds version from a few years ago.
Verdict:Gets worn about 5 days a week! I need to remember to add jelly elastic to the neckline next time to prevent stretching over my shoulders.
Well, there you have a few very useful additions to my wardrobe! While some of the sewing itself may not be the most challenging, I’ve really been enjoying putting a bit more thought into what I do. I’ll always make time for less practical sewing but there is a certain satisfaction that comes from not sewing wardrobe orphans!
No pattern release this year has come close to the genius
that is the Victory Patterns Hannah dress.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I had this much fun sewing.
There’s no going through the motions with this pattern- you need to be switched
on but the results are definitely worth the effort. The design is so clever and it was a joy
watching it come together.
Based on my measurements I chose to sew a size 4 (34″ bust) but it really is a bit too tight from the shoulders to the bust as well as being a bit too high under my arm.
I was thinking that next time I’d sew a size six for the shoulder to bust and grade to a four below, but I’m not 100% sure I’d be able to identify where to make the changes on the pattern pieces. Maybe I’ll add a little bit of width both through the CF and CB and lower the armscye by a centimetre or so…. or just sew a bigger size! Clearly I could also use a swayback adjustment which I hadn’t noticed till taking photos.
The fabrics I chose were a slubby silk noil from the now sadly closed down Beautiful Silks, and a speckled cotton chambray from The Delhi Store. I think I might have had more success with thinner, drapier fabrics but still really love how the two fabrics work together. For a pattern that calls for precision sewing I’d definitely avoid anything too shifty or slippery though.
Despite a few fit niggles, I’m calling this one another win! It’s not the sort of thing I have the concentration for everyday (hello t-shirts!) but I really appreciate patterns (and of course the people who design/ draft them) that go beyond the standard bodice and simple skirt combo. So refreshing!
Occasionally I’ll step trepidly from my little social media bubble into the real world of sewing. Saturday just gone saw a bevvy of glamorous ladies gather at Seamstress for a night of cocktails, tasty treats and of course sewing chatter. It gets easier every time and am getting to the point where I quite enjoy myself, whoo!
My final makes are not quite what I had planned and went through several iterations of the top half before finally settling on a highly modified version of Tessuti’s Kate Top. For such a simple pattern I had to make a surprising number of fit changes; I narrowed the back by 3cm, shortened it through the body by 3cm, increased the dart width by 1.8cm and lengthened the dart by 1cm. Style-wise I then squared off the front and back necklines and made some 4.5cm wide straps. Once sewn up I found the top was still a little long to work well with the culottes so I folded up the hem up to the splits. I hand stitched it in place so it’s going to be easy enough to return to its original length if I feel like it. It’s actually a real shame hiding those beautiful mitred corners- the instructions for these are worth the price of the pattern alone.
The Tania Culottes were quite a bit more straightforward, just requiring patient cutting & sewing. I used this really fantastic tutorial on the Tessuti blog for cutting out silk on the bias and while it wastes quite a lot of paper, I reason that it’s better than wasting expensive silk! The fabric I used was purchased from Tessuti (bit of a Tessuti fan-girl outfit this one, huh?!) which seems to have sold out, sorry!
The Tania Culottes pattern itself is also quite clever. I know many people are in love with the circle skirt-come-culottes phenomenon, but my favourite feature has to be the way the pleats meet at the centre front and back rather than being pleated at the waistband, thus opening up over the belly and bum. Please don’t ask me to demonstrate that on the internet, instead see if you can figure out what I mean here:
The other winning factor is of course the culotte-ness. I can’t quite convey how stress free it is to walk along in such a floaty garment without fear of a wardrobe malfunction. Total game changer!!
As with any garment that has parts on the bias, it needed very careful hemming. After leaving it to hang for a couple of days I had the ingenious innovation (even if I do say so myself!) of hanging it on a balloon so I could even out the hem. I just tied it to a light fitting with some string which made for a bit of a wobbly process, but just took things slowly. In the end I think I’ve ended up with the most even shifty hem I’ve ever done so am calling it a win for the good guys!
Since the monstera fabric is also quite sheer, I thought it best to include a partial lining. I cut the mini length of the pattern in habotai, and kept the lining separate from the outer during construction except for at the pleats where I pleated them together. It’s worked really well but expect this method could add quite a lot of bulk if a heavier lining was used.
Anyway, while this outfit was about 6 weeks in the making (meaning totally boring the pants off my co-workers!) and came down to the wire in the last few days, I’m really thrilled with the results. I felt comfortable and confident on the night and also know that I’ll get wear out of both of these separately. Yay!
Alright spring, I’ve had enough of your folly, I’m ready for summer!
This Named Patterns Florence Tulip Dress was such a fun sew! It was so refreshing to step away from the standard darted bodice to something a bit more puzzle-like and challenging. It’s not difficult but it does require patience and accuracy. After going to see the excellent Making the Australian Quilt exhibition I felt compelled to slow down and really focus on what I was doing and this was the perfect project for that.
While it’s a fairly simple silhouette, it has quite a few design details (totally hidden by my fabric) that make it different to other patterns out there.
The fact that the bodice front is one piece, essentially making the CFS cut on the bias, makes pattern placement a real conundrum. Much to the frustration of everyone on Instagram, I dithered over cutting for ooh, about a week! In the end I traced a couple of options on my tissue in different colours and then pinned it together to see which option I liked best.
I’m so glad I took my time with this- I don’t see any obvious doubling up of leaves or any awkward placement!
The other really satisfying thing about this pattern is the full, bagged out lining. Gives me little sewing nerd warm fuzzies every time!
While I was on a ‘doing things properly’ mission, I also decided to add a couple of extra little details- a button and loop for the top of the zip and my first ever arrowhead tack at the top of the skirt vent. It wasn’t difficult at all and actually quite fun!
I did
need to make many fit adjustments, the main one being to remove 5cm of length
from the skirt. I think I may have over-fitted the bodice (probably a
consequence of my fabric having zero give to it) and shortened the straps a bit
too much. Oops!
All the
same, I can’t help but love it. Those leaves are screaming summer fun!
Now, whenever you’re ready, come on sunbeams and warmth!
This winter feels like it’s been a bit more trying than usual. And the only way I could think of to give spring the hurry on was to sew a whole lot of summer frocks. If that doesn’t work I don’t know what will!
My most recent make, and one I see myself getting tonnes of wear out of come summer, is New Look 6411. There’s nothing fancy going on with this pattern, but this is a style that I know I’ll come back to again and again. One of the things I really love about it is the two piece sleeve, which you can just make out in the picture below. I used it to remove some volume and I love the result of the narrower sleeve. From memory I took something like 1.5cm out from the bottom and tapered to nothing at the shoulder point. It’s now perfect for wearing under cardigans which I’m calling a major win!
To keep it extra wearable I went for a tried and tested colour combo. I just don’t see how you can go wrong with chambray and white! I’ve been busting to use this broderie anglaise that I bought in Japan several years ago and I think it works perfectly in this dress. Just the right amount of bonus detail!
I hadn’t noticed in real life but I can see from these pics that I probably should have done an FBA. Honestly though, it’s not going to keep me from wearing this all summer long and it’s already had a few trans-seasonal wears paired with a cardi and tights. With a couple of tweaks I can definitely see this pattern becoming a TNT, yay!
The past 6 months has seen a pretty big lifestyle change for me which has left little brain power or energy for sewing. My approach has been to keep things simple, but in the case of Named Patterns’ Lexi A-line Top, keeping things simple ended up giving me big-time headaches!
It took me three toiles to get this far, which for such a fuss-free silhouette felt like a lot to me! The problem was that all my fitting issues had absolutely nowhere to hide in a design this straightforward. The main issue was that the top was falling back on my shoulders meaning the side seam was pulling forward with the front rising up. I found a really useful post about balancing bodices on Cutter and Tailor, the link to which often doesn’t work, (including now, grr!) so instead I’ll link to David Page Coffin’s Pinterest link in the hope that it might be accessible again soon. If you have ever had a problem with clothes pulling forward or falling back on your shoulders I would really recommend trying to persevere with that link.
Anyway, you can see the balance adjustment on my pattern pieces below- red wedges on the front bodice indicate what I added, and on the back bodice what I removed:
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the puzzle- I also:
Did a forward shoulder adjustment (Fit For Real People, p. 162)
Added a short dart to back neckline to eliminate gaping
Added 1cm width to front bodice at centre seam
Created a hem facing for extra length- this top is *seriously* short as drafted and I’m only 5′5″, or there abouts
Created sleeve hem facings
It was all a lot of work (it was relegated to the naughty corner on several occasions) but totally worth it. I wear it regularly- I love the fabric and I love the shape of the sleeves and the swingy shape of the bodice. I might even give the dress version a go now that I’ve sorted all those fitting issues…. seems a bit of a waste not to now that it’s finally fitting properly!
Question- how many toiles will you make before you call a pattern done? I’m finding myself surprisingly stubborn the more I sew!
Christmas just gone was spent in the bush. Not much need for a party frock out there, but I felt like sewing something up for Christmas drinks & summer catch ups all the same.
I’d been planning this Ruby dress for a little while, with visions of a midi length, double layer dress with raw bias strips around the neckline & hems. My tests with the bias looked awful so I proceeded as per the pattern instructions with bias binding instead. I suppose sometimes it’s ok to leave well enough alone. In the end the only changes I made were to have 2 layers & add about 30cm in length to the dress length that comes in the pattern.
Hemming it proved to be a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. It dropped very unevenly & my first effort was rushed and pretty dodgy. Thankfully Helen was on hand to help even it out and she did a stellar job… three cheers for sewing friends! I hemmed it with bias binding instead of the suggested narrow double fold and it’s much smoother and neater than my first effort, hooray!
To make it a bit more festive-like I decided to make myself a collar out of some matching sequined fabric I found.
To make the collar pattern I drew the shape I wanted onto the Ruby pattern and then added seam allowances.
The result is a collar that fits Ruby perfectly. I did use a thin chain as a closure though so that it can be fastened at different lengths and worn with other tops.
Despite not being much of an accessoriser, I really love this little collar. It’s the perfect amount of understatement plus sparkle!
And the dress has already been a hit as well. It’s perfect for super hot days as it just hangs from the shoulders and is floaty all round. It’s and absolute summer winner & I love it!
I think I may have finally found somewhere in Melbourne that recycles textile scraps! My local kindergarten is overflowing with my scraps and my friend who was making rag rugs out of them has moved on to her next ‘thing’ so this is a very welcome discovery.
I found the Textile Recyclers Australia website this morning and emailed straight away to see if they took domestic scraps. The reply I got was:
“If you have no other
alternative then we will take your fabric cuttings"
It’s hard to tell from emails, but I’m not sure how willing they are or how willing they will be to take them on an ongoing basis. So what I thought I’d try to do is gather up all our scraps and take them in together just in case this is a one off.
I haven’t really given a lot of thought to the logistics of how I’m going to collect them all, but if you’re interested leave a comment below and we can organise something. They’re closed until Monday 11th January, so ideally I’d like to get there within the next few weeks. My apartment is just not big enough for this many scraps!
Even if I hadn’t put that word out there I’m sure it’s something that would have popped into your head of its own accord as you looked through these photos. And probably in the context of ‘NOT flattering’!
This dress is based on dress C from the Japanese sewing book Dresses are the Best (that’s my translation since I have no idea what the official one is) and it’s got me to thinking about this concept of clothes being flattering. I’ve been wondering if the general interpretation might be something along the lines of showing off/ highlighting your assets and covering up your flaws. I’m not sure. But if that was the case, it could probably be argued that this should be used as a potato sack rather than a dress. There’s definitely no highlighting going on here.
But the thing is, is that I feel really good in this dress. It’s little bit quirky (yes, verging on lagenlook, I know) and is so comfy. I’m sure many will concur that we usually look good when we feel good. And that’s why I’m going to continue wearing it, even though I can hear some people say it does me no favours.
As you’ve probably noticed from the line drawings, my finished dress differs quite markedly from the version in the book. Every summer I try to make a dress with gathers at the waist and every summer I’m left aghast at the resulting effect. This time I think I may finally have learned my lesson- dresses with gathered skirts are just not my thing. I feel awful in them. I need to write this down for my own reference because it would seem likely that I’ll try it again.
What I ended up doing to remedy the situation was to cut an A-line skirt of sorts. I cut the top of the skirt to the same measurements as the bodice (90cm) and kept the original width of the skirt at the hem the same. Then I gathered it into a wide, folded band with a circumference of 110cm. It does restrict my walking a little bit, but only to the extent that it makes me slow down. I do love to dawdle though so this is no hindrance in the slightest!
I’m usually a bit of a quitter when things don’t work out so I must say I’m pretty pleased with myself for persevering! I love the bodice and am even contemplating incorporating it into a jumpsuit (never the early adopter), although I haven’t decided on tapered leg or culotte version yet. Thoughts welcome!
And what think ye about unconventional clothes flattery? Do you take other people’s opinions on board or are you reasonably content to do your own thing?
Back in the day when I started sewing it was aaaaaaall about the party frock. These days, not so much- I’m too addicted to that feeling I get from wearing clothes that I made everyday!
Sewing basics means a few things- simpler designs, quicker makes and generally less challenging sewing. Fine if you’re burnt out and need something mindless but more often than not I want to be learning. So I’ve started to incorporate little details into my simpler makes. Functional details that don’t make the clothes any less wearable (looking at you pompom trim and ric rac!)
Looking at these shorts (again from my self drafted block), there’s nothing in particular that stands out, but on closer inspection:
While I’ve done welt pockets in the past, I felt like trying out a new technique, just for fun, and the same with the fly- it would have been easy to just put in another regular one but heck, I just did a production line of 4 of them when I made new work pants recently! I did practice runs first and have kept them with the pattern so I can refer to them later if need be.
Also, just to make everyday even more special:
jellyfish button, just because.
I know sewing basics isn’t for everyone, and also that not everyone always wants to be challenged, but I wonder, how do you keep sewing fresh for yourself?
The Portside Travel Set was one of those patterns that you fall in love with as soon as it’s released, buy straight away, but then forget about for no reason in particular. My interest was reignited about a year ago when I heard of this crazy thing called Kraft Tex which is a brand of washable paper. Intrigued, I then proceeded to buy a whole bolt of the stuff, as you do. Insert an Adventure Wardrobe, 2 coats and numerous other smaller projects and it’s only just been completed in the last month or so. I was so smitten with my fabric & paper combo that I went on to make ALL OF THE THINGS. There’s something that feels oddly grown up about having a matchy matchy travel set, maybe akin to having a nice crockery set?!
If you’ve read any other reviews for the Portside on your internet
travels you’ll doubtless be aware of both effort and cost of gathering
all your notions. Make no mistake, this is definitely a pretty pricey
project once you’ve managed to find everything. If you’ve been pondering cost vs. reward, I say go for it! The Portside was unlike anything I’d sewn recently (both pattern and materials) and it was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve made in a really long time!
I made a couple of additions to the duffle bag- pull tabs at each end of the zipper and some interior pockets for things like passport or phone and a bigger one for travel documents. As a preference I also swapped the 2 D-rings on the strap for a rectangular strap adjuster.
While I found sewing the duffle bag very straightforward I was really tripped up by steps 23-25 of the Dopp Kit instructions. As a result my dimensions are slightly off but it’s nothing terminal. Phew!
The little pouches are made up from a pattern that’s sadly no longer available. I chose these over the Portside pouch because they have little darts in the corners that make them 3D rather than flat. I couldn’t tell you how many I’ve made of these over the years but they’re so useful and great for gifts.
It’s a pretty quick project- I cut out and sewed this up within a day. I did a few superficial things differently, like changing the straps and the size of the interior pockets, but other than that followed the tutorial as is. At first I was worried that it might be too big but I think it’s going to suit my purpose perfectly. The base measures 27cm x 21cm and is 37cm high.
As far as sewing with Kraft Tex is concerned, there’s nothing to it
really. If you’re interested I’d recommend Googling ‘sewing with Kraft
Tex’ to get a few tips. My experience is pretty limited but here’s my
not-pro tips:
Cut off what you need then wash on hot cycle,
no detergent necessary. It will soften up considerably but will still
need some serious wrangling once you get to the sewing machine
Use a leather needle
Crank up your tension. For seams I sewed at 8 (normal tension for my machine is 2) and for topstitching I sewed at 10
Pin within the seam allowance parallel to the edges. Once you’ve got holes, you’ve got holes
For
straps etc. that will be topstitched on, secure with masking tape
instead of pins & sew straight through. The tape can be easily
removed once you’ve finished sewing and it doesn’t damage the paper
Be patient and sew slowly & carefully (see note above re. holes!)
Here’s the texture of the paper before and after washing & wrangling:
Neat, huh!
If this has been a massive post, it reflects all the time & energy I’ve put into these. I really enjoyed making them and I love the result. You know that funny satisfaction you get from using a kooky patterned fabric for a waistband facing or pockets? Well, my satisfaction is on par with that! No one on the plane will know what matching goodness hides inside my bag but I will!
If I’ve been a bit M.I.A. around these parts, it could partly be because I embarked on an entire winter of coat making this year- starting in May and finishing up a couple of weeks ago. It started with a Colette Patterns Albion for my brother which was a belated present for a milestone birthday earlier in the year. It was an absolutely massive project, but one that I surprisingly enjoyed (surprising since I could just about count on one hand the number of things I’ve sewn for others). I think I already knew this, but my favourite projects are those with lots of little details- things that you can chip away at here and there, and before you know it everything comes together and BAM! You’ve got yourself a coat! Or your brother has himself a coat. Either way.
Without delay, I rushed straight on to my own coat after his was finished and I can confidently report that I am definitely a one coat per season kinda gal. It wasn’t long before I ran out of steam and there were several occasions where it was unceremoniously shoved aside in favour of something with a bit more of a quick-fix vibe to it. Anyway, it’s done now, so enough rambling and on to the details.
This lovely thing (yes I love it so, even after all that procrastination) is Tamanegi Kobo’s Sophia Coat. Of all the PDFs I’ve ever taped together (which is a LOT) this has got to have the best layout I’ve ever seen. The pattern pieces took up 51 A4 pages which is enough to make the most seasoned PDF taper break out into a sweat, but because of the excellent layout I was able to do the whole thing on the table & not get down on the floor once! I love a designer that thinks about our knees!
It’s sewn up in a particularly excellent and fluffy wool from The Cloth Shop. It bears mentioning that they were very generous when cutting and threw in the end of the bolt, so I have enough left for a winter skirt or the like. I’ll see what inspires me in another 9 months though I think. For now I have voiles and swimsuit fabrics and georgettes on my mind!
I sewed this up in size 38/JPN9 with the only alteration being the addition of 2cm length through the sleeve. I’m ridiculously happy with the fit, which I think is part pattern, part fabric. I suppose that’s one of the joys of sewing with wool, that lovely malleability. I feel like it kind of moulds to my body. If you’ve ever set in a sleeve in wool fabric you know exactly what I’m talking about!
While the pattern isn’t especially difficult, I was tripped up by part of the lining insertion around the sleeve cap where it meets the facing. I feel like it may have been missing seam allowance as you can see from the photo below that the sleeve lining comes right to the edge of the facing. My solution was a total on-the-fly fix as I just couldn’t get my head around it. I’d like to figure it out properly though because I think I might revisit this pattern sometime.
Aside from my lining conundrum, the most difficult thing was matching the zig-zags. I’ve never been a master pattern matcher so rather than do my head in trying to figure it out on my own I used Tasia’s brilliant tutorial How To Match Prints Along Seams. Worked pretty well, no?
As always with big/ special projects, my buttons are from Buttonmania. Damn I love that place. Every time the service is spot on and I come away with something just right. Kate spent about 15 minutes with me trying to find the perfect button and if it wasn’t quite right she’d be the first one to say so. The buttons we ended up with are weird, but they work don’t you think?!
I also sewed shirt buttons to the underside of the heavy coat buttons in order to support them and reduce stress on the fabric:
And magnetic snaps on the inside to hold things in place (only because it meant 2 less buttonholes :-) )
There’s little else I can tell you about this coat. As far as coats go it’s a pretty simple sew but still has quite an eye-catching design. Would definitely recommend!
It sounds a bit strange, doesn’t it? I think many of us (myself included) strive for more knowledge, more skills, more professionally finished garments… more! more! more! We know that we can do it and as a result place certain expectations on ourselves. We get disappointed when things don’t work out. It can take some of the joy out of creating.
But I was recently reminded of that completely different kind of joy and satisfaction that comes from being a beginner. You know, when you’re still such a newbie that you surprise yourself with your ability to do something successfully (albeit imperfectly)?
After a few false starts, and a day of excellent coaching from Nicole, I’ve been bitten by the knitting bug. What is this bug though? I think it’s that moment when you think to yourself “Geez I’m amazing, look at me go!”. Instead of being limited to doing things within the boundaries of your knowledge, you’re excited to TRY ALL THE THINGS! And instead of being disappointed when things don’t work out perfectly, we’re still pretty thrilled that we even managed to make a thing! And we wear those things with pride.
So does that make our first makes (and therefore likely our simplest makes) our proudest makes? I don’t know. It seems kind of counter-intuitive. But my recent excitement reminded me of that time about 4 years ago when I really got back into sewing when I made these Sorbettos. Gad, I would just chew the ear off anyone that would listen, telling them all about my amazing sewing superpowers, ha!
I had really forgotten about that next-level excitement and feeling of awesomeness that comes with learning new things. It’s addictive!
When was the last time you surprised yourself with your amazing learning and crafting skillz? And if you haven’t surprised yourself recently, I highly recommend it! Go on, learn something!
P.S. project details for the scarf I’m wearing on Ravelry here. Blue scarf is just some nonsense I made up.
How does one combine evening wear with adventure wear? Like THIS!:
All class I tells ye.
Would you be surprised if I told you this whole outfit was planned around these most awesome life-changing leggings I made for NZ? What can I say… I guess I’ve reached a certain age where comfort reigns supreme over style. I’m not going to bang on about this pattern again (you can read my previous accounts here and here) and the only reason I’m mentioning them at all is because they are made from THE best fabric (Polartec Power Stretch Poly/Nylon Double Velour from Mill Yardage) and have subsequently changed my life. So toasty. So comfy. So energy efficient (due to reduced apartment heating requirements, of course). I want to make all of the things in Polartec double velour!
Anyhoo, you didn’t really come here for energy efficient leggings, now did you? You came here for glam!
Since leggings were first and foremost on my mind, it was all about the floor length skirt. I had originally thought of a floor length circle skirt but I don’t really like the way they sit around your waist and it also would have used an obscene amount of fabric. What I ended up with is an Anna skirt with a godet between each panel.
To avoid any extra volume at the waist, the point of each godet starts 23cm from the waistband. Each godet measures 30cm at its base for an added extra 210cm of swish!
The question of the night was ‘You didn’t hem that by hand did you??!’. Hell no! Machine stitched all the way, baby!
I overlapped petersham ribbon to the bottom 6mm of the right side of the hem, zigzagged it, then turned it to the inside & straight stitched in place. I reasoned that unless anyone was crawling along the floor, no-one would notice my less than couture techniques. Besides, Frocktails is famous for actual last minute (& therefore slightly dodgy) sewing, no?
The waistband is simply a really long straight sash-like thingo that can be tied any which-way.
While I absolutely love the end result, I have to say this is undoubtedly the most tedious things I have EVER sewn. Sewing in a straight line for daaaaays. Shoot me now!
The top is iteration #4 of the wiggle dress from Gertie’s New Book For Better Sewing. My fabric choice was less than ideal- it’s a bonded double layer 100% polyester with absolutely NO give. Getting it to sew smoothly around the curved princess seams was an exercise in patience but it doesn’t look too bad in the end. I knew it was going to be trouble when I bought it but I just couldn’t go past that print!
Laying out the pattern pieces so that the flowers were off-centre but balanced (does that even make sense?!) was a real challenge, but a very enjoyable challenge I must say! I’m not especially good with pattern matching/ placement etc. so it was fun to have a bit of a play! I guess Frocktails sewing is good for that, huh?
Yes, there is one flower boob but heck, at least it’s not two.
For the dash from home to train, train to Frocktails and back again, I pulled out a couple of miraculously well coordinating me-mades- my Megan Cardi and a shibori scarf I dyed in Japan last year.
I like the top and cardi so much together I might have to get round to hemming the top so I can wear them with jeans. Oh! Did I forget to mention that it wasn’t hemmed? Ooooops :-D
I don’t have any pics from the night (too busy clinging on to alcoholic beverage like it was a life jacket) but you can see Melanie’s here and Gabrielle’s here. Helen was wandering around with a camera as well so hopefully she’ll put hers up soon too! She has some real doozies let me tell you, ha!
It really was an excellent night (weekend) and was so good to catch up with people, put voices to faces, faces to names and to meet a bunch of brand new people! Sadly I didn’t get to chat to everyone but it’s astounding I managed to speak to as many people as I did before doing that introvert’s implosion thing. It seems a lot of us share the same social anxieties so I hope you all understand! Thanks of course to Kat for being organiser lady extraordinaire, Sarah for being shop keeper and Nicole for gathering early birds together on Friday. Y’all are tops!
Feels like it’s been a while since I’ve shown myself around these parts. I trust you’re all well and sewing like mad things!
While you wouldn’t know it from my recent blog inactivity, I’ve been busy sewing up all number of things- mostly simple, but all very useful. I often don’t have much insight to share about these kind of makes, so I’ve decided to roll 3 into 1 post today. A bit of an outfit post, if you will.
In no particular order we have the Megan Longline Cardigan, the Ruby Top and Ginger Jeans. It’s not an especially winter-friendly outfit, but it was warm enough on Wednesday that I could test drive all these together.
As a big wearer of cardis, Megan had me very excited when it was released. My original vision for it was in bottle green which did happen but it was an abject failure since the fabric I chose had way too much body and sat horribly. This one is made in a super-stretchy & drapey merino rib knit from the Fabric Store that I picked up for something like $10/m. Perfect for the job and reasonably priced!
After trying on the size S in store, I decided to make this up in size XS. It’s a tad wide across the shoulders, but with a style like this it doesn’t bother me too much. The only changes I made were to shorten the sleeves by 6cm and to sew them with a 2cm seam allowance rather than 1cm.
There is one thing that annoyed me about this pattern (as well as Ruby actually) which is that the binding pattern piece is the same for all sizes and you’re left to cut it to the right length for your size. Without knowing the reason behind this, is just seems like really lazy drafting to me- not really good enough when a hard copy sets you back $25. For the record, I removed 23.5cm from each end of the binding. The binding is also so long that I really think it could use some notches, just to make sure it’s applied evenly all the way round. Besides this little niggle, I love this pattern and as always with Tessuti patterns have picked up some nifty little construction tips.
What can I tell you about Ruby? Not a lot really! It’s a simple little sleeveless top that sewed together very quickly, even for a slow sewer like me. The white one is size 8 which is very roomy under the arms and also quite long and the stripey one is size 6- all round a much better fit, just not as swishy!
Both of these are quite weighty viscoses (the white is a crepe from Tessuti and the stripes are a regular old woven from Darn Cheap from a good 2 or 3 years ago). I think Ruby could be really unflattering if made up in something too floaty but I absolutely love both of these, despite all the wrinkles come the end of the day. I think I’ve finally found my ideal tank- I just love the high neckline paired with the cut away shoulders & swish factor! Oh! And that jazzy little button loop at the end? Best finishing touch ever! The tutorial is absolute gold.
And the Gingers. I finished these about 6 weeks ago & have been getting bucket loads of wear out of them. This time round I did proper flat felled seams & top stitching. Getting the tension right with the top stitching thread was probably the thing I found most challenging about this make- the tension on my machine is trying at the best of times! For the top stitching I used a stitch length of 3 & tension of 6 and for the bar tacks (which are far from perfect) I used a stitch length of 0.2, width of 2 and tension of 2. One thing I found a bit odd is that in the sewalong it suggests you’ll need about 200 yards of top stitching thread, but I think I may have only used about a third of that, at most.
You can see here how the yoke seams don’t match up at the centre back because of the way I flat felled the seams. For the life of me I can’t remember what I did or why it is so, but there’s naught I can do about it but live with it. Sigh.
I had planned to add rivets as well, but haven’t gotten around to it yet… we’ll see! The fabric for this is pair came from MRecht, & while I can’t seem to remember which weight I bought, I’m pretty sure it was the 10.5oz denim. The fabric itself is good quality, but I think I’d prefer something a bit heavier for jeans.
So there you have it for today’s installment! I can see more of all of these patterns in my future. That will have to wait though since I’ve got some serious coat making to get through this winter!
