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Completed: Ooh La Leggings

Leggings are one of those types of clothing that have always mystified me. What is their appeal? Why do people insist on treating them as pants? Don’t they have enough decency to cover their asses, for fuck’s sake?

And yet, here I am, posing in leggings-as-pants, with a nice dose of cameltoe to boot. The things I do for you guys.

Haha in all seriousness, though, I don’t actually plan on wearing them out in public without my ass being covered – the fabric is too thin, it’s practically transparent as far as I’m concerned. I wasn’t sure how to treat these pictures – since, if I did cover the top of them, it would kind of cover everything and defeat the purpose of even taking the pictures, yeah? – so in the end, I took one for the team and here I am baring my ass on the internet. Don’t judge me.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. Leggings! I never got their appeal. Why not just wear… tights? I mean, if you’re gonna wear socks anyway (my feet are always cold, I like the multiple layers). But I gotta say, these Ooh La Leggings from Papercut Patterns were REALLY intriguing to me. They look so cozy and comfortable – and the model just looks super glamorous. Or maybe it’s because she’s gorgeous, I don’t know, either way, it got my attention.

The pattern is one of those deceptively simple patterns that offers a bit of a kick with the finished piece with all the interesting seaming – front and back yokes and seams down the front and backs of the legs. It’s very easy to put together – I can get these done in a couple of hours, from cutting to hemming – and it doesn’t require a lot of knit finesse or even fitting to get everything looking good. Only 5 pieces, a self-encased elastic waistband, and a quick pintuck of the front leg seams (or leave it off, see if I care) and you’ve got a pair of leggings that has a little somethin’ somethin’.

This is actually my second pair of Ooh La Leggings… I made another pair a couple of months ago, in red rayon knit. I never bothered to take photos (again, I wasn’t sure how to go about modeling them), but I can assure you that they get worn frequently. They are SUPER comfortable and they’re red!

I cut the smallest size – the XXS – and took about 4″ off the hem. I should point out that the waistband hits very high on these – above the belly button.

The grey fabric is a lovely merino wool, straight from New Zealand. Katie sent me a big, gorgeous stack of this shit earlier this summer, and I’ve been hesitant to cut into any of it because I didn’t know what to make with something so special! Leggings, I think, are a good choice – I can layer them in the winter when I’m biking, or wear them as loungewear.

If you’ve never used merino wool, let me be the first to tell you that this stuff is AWESOME. It’s soo soft and warm, and you can wash and dry it like normal in the machine! It doesn’t slip around while you’re cutting it, nor do the edges roll up when you’re sewing it. There is a good elasticity and stretch recovery as well. The fabric of the gods, basically!

The only drawback (which I don’t consider a drawback, since I don’t wear these as pants!) is that this stuff is a little thin. Thin enough where you can see everything under my leggings – including my panty lines (hey, at least you know I’m wearing undies amirite) and all the muscles in my legs. I was a little hesitant to post these pictures because I don’t think they’re terribly flattering – are my thighs really that big?! – but, you know, whatever. Them’s my legs and that’s just what they look like.

I also made my top, do you like it? The pattern is the Coppelia, and if you’re keeping track here you’ll know that it’s my third one (others are here and here). For this one, I sized down to the XXS and lengthened the bottom by 2″. I also shortened the neckband because it was gaping a bit, but I think that’s my fabric choice. Speaking of which, this is some type of rayon knit from Mood Fabrics, and it’s really weird. It feels like a cheap polyester, but it’s definitely rayon (I burned it and everything). Also, it’s kind of see through, despite being a bit thick. So weird!

Anyway, whatever, white wrap top/good layering basic.

I just realized you can totally see a mosquito on my chest in this picture. HAHA. Omg I hate mosquitoes.

Consider me a leggings convert! I still don’t know if I would willingly leave the house without something covering my ass (I say this as I have posted pictures of myself ON THE INTERNET with my ass out, and everyone knows the internet never forgets), but maybe with a thicker fabric, I could see it happening. I think these would be really wonderful in a ponte knit. You know I’m gonna try it!

Did I show you how good my ass looks in these? Because… look at how good my ass looks in these things.

Tags: completed, coppélia, knit fabric, leggings, merino wool, ooh la leggings, papercut patterns, top

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Categories completed projects - new

Completed: The Anna Dress, 1

19 Aug

Thank you so much, everyone, for your overwhelming support this past week. My recovery is going well (although I’m still not clear to lift anything that weighs more than 10lbs – that includes my CAT! HAHA! Oh well, I’m sure she’s happy about that, anyway), and I’m back to work and back to… sewing!! Yeah!!! Well, sort of. I promised myself I would take it easy (aka: laying, knitting, snoozing) until Friday, per Doctor’s orders, and only then could I get back in the sewing room. Lucky me, I woke up on Friday morning with a fucking cold! So, needless to say, the past few days have been a haze of cold meds and even more snoozin’. I’m functioning, albeit slower than normal.

But hey, look, I have a make to share with y’all today!

Ok ok, before you flip your shit on me – I finished this dress before the surgery! Haha! I actually wore it to work the Friday prior; it’s just taken me this long to take photos. Speaking of which – if I look a bit extra happy in these photos… cold meds. That is all.

This is the Anna Dress, from my friends, the babely babes, over at By Hand London. I’m no stranger to the patterns from this line – I can proudly say that I have sewn every single one of ’em, yeah! – but I gotta say… Anna is my favorite. Based on everyone else’s gushing about this particular pattern (here is where I was planning on linking my favorite Annas, but again, cold meds. If you made it, linky up in the comments pls!), I’m not alone. Anna is a WINNER!

Am I allowed to tell y’all that I actually saw this dress waaaaay before I was announced to the hoardes of blog readers? Truth! Elisalex showed me a sneaky peeky while she was in Nashville back in May! I have been dying to get my hands on the pattern ever since! I love my short version, but I am SO EXCITED to try out that thigh-high split, peeps.

I opted for a very simple version for my wearable muslin, in a classic seersucker from Mood. This is one of my last pieces of fabric from the NY stash, btw. I’ve held out on making this up because it’s a stretch cotton, and we don’t play well together. But I think stretch cotton works fine with this type of dress, as long as you’re ok with how the bodice looks in a slightly structured fabric. I like it!

My Anna is the short version, with the slash neckline. I cut the size 2/6 and shortened the skirt about 5″. I found that the back was rather large on me – I just pinched out the excess along the zipper line. Oh, I also put in a lapped zipper because I didn’t have any invisibles on hand. Sue me!

Since my fabric is stretchy, I stabilized the neckline facing with a bit of non-stretch cotton. To do this, I just cut a second facing piece from the cotton, sewed it to the seersucker facing (as you would a sew-in interfacing) and applied the facing as normal. This keeps the neckline nice and smooth and secure!

The pattern itself was an absolute delight to put together. There’s a reason why this pattern has so many fangirls – especially considering how short a time it’s actually been available on the sewing market. There aren’t a lot of pieces, and what is there is super simple to put together. I think this would make a great beginner pattern, whether you’re a beginner at sewing or a beginner with a a certain type of fabric (meaning: yes, you should make this up in silk!)

I should probably tell you that I already have a couple more versions planned. Better get used to this dress! Ha!

Oh, one more thing before I tear outta here… our giveaway winner!

There were 230 entries in all (accounting for duplicates), and you ALL made me hungry (special shoutout goes to Marchelle who linked me to this lemon cookie recipe from Martha Stewart… I will have y’all know, I made this yesterday and they are delicious aaand I’ve already eaten about half of them, ha!). Random Number Generator sayssss-

Louise is the winner of the Sweet Dress Book! Yay!!

Um, will someone kindly tell me what spotted dick is, though? Here in America, that means something TOTALLY different and I’m afraid to google it…

Tags: Anna, By Hand London, completed, cotton, dress, giveaway winner, seersucker, winner winner chicken dinner

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Categories completed projects - new

Completed: Lakeside Pajamas

9 Aug

Hey look! I made pajamas!

I feel kind of weird posting pictures of myself modeling pajamas, but eh, let’s roll with it. At least I kept my shoes on 😛

These are the Lakeside Pajamas, the newest offering from Grainline Studio. The pattern was given as a gift to me from Carla, yes, the same person who have given me multiple patterns. Thank youuu, Carla, you are the best! I never would have thought to make myself sleepwear (other than a slinky slip), but now I want a million sets of these.

This is a great little set, and it’s SUPER comfortable. The shorts are loose with an elastic waist, and the top is floaty and cool, with some interesting detailing so you don’t feel like sewing it is a total snoozefest (pun intended, maybe?).

Isn’t this fabric beautiful!? I’ve been hoarding it for years, waiting on a ~special~ pattern. Part of what kept me from using it is that I barely had much it – about 7/8 yard – and the print is pretty large. Obviously, I was able to squeeze all my pieces out on that tiny yardage, but I had to make my bias tape with a contrasting fabric. I used the rest of my navy organic cotton sateen and ughhhh shit took forever. The pattern calls for 7 yards of bias tape (!!) and I only had small pieces, so I found myself cutting tiny squares to make continuous bias tape. I ended up using only about 6 yards, but be warned that I also made the smallest size in the shorts and the second smallest size in the top.

Anyway, it was worth the effort because I haaate pre-made bias tape. It’s so stiff! This stuff is nice and soft and the color matches beautifully. Plus, it has that cotton sateen luster. Yummy.

The pattern was surprisingly easy to follow. I had a small snafu with the shorts, but it was 100% user error (note: the front and back seams are not the side seams, Lauren! I basically made a huge circle of fabric and spent like 10 minutes trying to figure out the crotch seam until I realized I’d done goofed loololol. What was not lol-worthy was all the unpicking I had to do after that, wah!).

I LOVEEEEE these shorts, though. They’re pretty low-rise (you can almost see my belly button; it’s right where the tank top hem is hitting). I am totally going to make a couple more pair for running and general house-lounging – they’re like the perfect 70s running shorts, except they’re not knit (although I think these would work beautifully with a stable knit, and that is something I am totally going to try). I really want to make a classic red with white trim.

I was a little hesitant at first to use my beautiful hoardy fabric on a pair of PAJAMAS, but I’m soo glad I did. I can actually wear these every day (or just one piece at a time), unlike my regular clothes – which means I get to look at the fabric all the time! Seriously, they are so pretty I want to hang them on the wall when I’m not wearing them 😉

A big part of the reason why I decided to make pretty loungewear is because I am scheduled for a minor surgery on Monday. It’s not anything serious – hence the “minor” – but I am going to be in recovery for about a week. Including no work, no biking, no… sewing 😦 (we’ll see how long that lasts lolololol) (seriously, tho, I’m gonna plant my ass on the couch that whole time because I do NOT want to do this twice!). I bought myself the prettiest kelly green yarn and plan on knitting and watching lots of those ancient Egyptian documentaries that Landon hates! Oh god, this means I finally have a chance to watch the Great British Sewing Bee too!

With that being said, thanks to everyone who purchased something from my Etsy shop – combined with some aggressive saving, I think I have enough to pay everything off up front 🙂 SUCH a good feeling!

For those of you who were interested in taking local sewing classes taught by yours truly, obviously that’s on hold for a short time. I will be sending emails when I get my life figured out, ha. For those of you who are interested in taking a sewing class taught by me who are NOT local, I’m working on that too 😉

Wish me luck! I’ll be around next week, but apologies in advance if I start talking painkiller-induced nonsense 😉

Tags: completed, fabric hoarding, grainline studios, lakeside pajamas, pajamas, pjs

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Categories completed projects - new

Completed: the Organic Hawthorn

7 Aug

First of all, thanks to everyone who voted for me in the Colette Hawthorn Contest – I somehow ended winning second place! Such a wonderful surprise, and do check out those other winners – because, guys, I’m not worthy.

With that being said, I love this pattern and I’ve already made a second dress.

I realized that my wardrobe was severely lacking some basic, work-appropriate, tattoo-covering clothing (we are fairly casual here at my office, but I think it’s good to have a few pieces that err more on the professional side should I need it for meetings or important clients dropping in), and a Hawthorn with sleeves pretty much fits the bill here.

It’s modest and sleek without being frumpy, vintage-inspired without being costumey. Win!

I am super happy with how it turned out, however, I am NOT happy with those bust dart points. I promise you they look 1000% worse in the pictures than they do in real life – according to these photos, I have two sets of eyes D: I resewed the dart tips more times than I care to admit – lowering them, raising them, tapering them more subtly – as well as pressing the everloving fuck out of them. No dice. Like I said, they’re not as bad in real life as they look here, but now I can’t stop staring at them oh god I’m sorry.

Anyway, dart issues aside – we’ve already discussed the pattern, so today we are going to talk about the fabric!

This is organic cotton sateen, from my pals at Organic Cotton Plus (my second review for this – they liked my my first review so much, they came back for a second round :P). I’ve not had much experience with cotton sateen – most of what I’ve seen has been the sort of fabric I shy away from. Think super shiny (if you like shiny, that’s totally fine, but personally I always feel like I’m wearing a prom dress!), too much stretch, and much too stiff for my liking. This stuff is NOTHING like what I described, though. Don’t let the boobie-eyes deter you; there ain’t much shine on this fabric, other than a spectacular luster that comes from high-quality cotton and a gorgeously deep pigment.

The fabric has a great drape – it just floats and creates the most lovely folds. It’s pretty lightweight, with no stretch, which makes it ideal for this pattern. And since it’s cotton, it’s super comfortable to wear. It also wrinkles like crazy, because of the aforementioned cotton, but I’m ok with a few wrinkles – I’d rather have wrinkles than pools of sweat from polyester!

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This is a great basic if you want to make something in a solid color but feel bored with the idea of, well, solid colors.

Both the buttons and the monogram are from the flea market. I think they both add something special to the dress, while still keeping it office-appropriate.

I love the monogram! It’s actually metal, and has sharp bars at the back that pierce the fabric and bend to keep it in place. Which means it’s never coming off this dress… except to wash, I guess. I’m not sure how old it is, but it’s pretty sweet! I’ve been hoarding it for a few months now, waiting on the perfect shirtwaist backdrop.

Soo, as you can see here, I tried splitting the dart on this version, following the tutorial at the Coletterie. I’m not totally happy with how the darts turned out – they are too close together at the top (and I suspect that, while they likely aren’t 100% of my nipple-eye problems, they likely contribute to it, ugh). I didn’t realize how they looked until after I’d put the bodice front together- and cut up all my fabric. Shoulda made a muslin, shoulda woulda coulda.

Oh well!

Quick, look at this! Shiny!!

I trimmed the hem with matching rayon seam binding, and catch-stitched it down for a clean finish (and yeah, that took forrrever haha). I’m mostly including this picture because it really shows the color best. It’s so rich!

The dart points aren’t as prominent here – this is much more accurate of how they look in real life. Still… how do I fixxxx thiisssss????

I think this dress will end up getting a lot of wear this fall! I can’t wait to pair it with future Kelly Green cardigan – navy and green is one of my favorite color combinations at the moment. I better get knittin’!

Tags: completed, cotton, cotton sateen, dress, hawthorn, organic, shirtwaist

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Categories completed projects - new

Completed: The Marion Cardigan

5 Aug

I should probably first confess that this cardigan has been a finished object for over a month now. Oops! In fact, I’m nearly done with my next knitted project. It’s just hard to bring myself to take photos of a wool, worsted weight cardigan when it’s 95* outside, ya know?

But anyway, here she is – my newest cardi and and Andi Satterlund‘s newest pattern offering, the Marion!

This was SO MUCH FUN to knit, guys!

Marion is a lovely little cropped, 3/4 sleeve cardigan, knitted seamlessly from the top-down in almost entirely stockinette. There is some fun cabling around the v neck to add a bit of interest (both in looks and during the actual knitting, ha!), but it is an easy, fast knit. Well, for me, anyway. I finished it in just under a month!

I think everyone knows about my love affair for Andi’s patterns, but let me just repeat – I LOVE her patterns! I love the construction, I love the fit, and I love the finished pieces! Every time she releases a new pattern, it immediately goes into my queue.

This is a straight size small, with no alterations. I did size down my needle to a 6 (I find that I knit pretty loosely!), but everything else in the pattern was knitted as written. Going forward, though (because I WILL knit this again… maybe in a lovely grey alpaca? Ooh!), I will probably adjust the length of the sleeves. They hit me in a weird spot when they’re not scrunched, I guess I have short arms? Whatever, not a big deal.

The yarn is from Sonja, a little destashing prezzie she gave me while I was in NY. I actually have a LOT of this stuff left over… I think the sweater took maybe 6 skeins, and she gave me 10. I may have to dream up a matching hat and scarf, yeah?

The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes. I found it very similar to my beloved Cascade 220, but with a little less pilling. I just love this color – it’s the perfect not-quite-cranberry-not-quite-harlot red. It’s also VERY warm. This will be nice in the winter, I guess!

Oh, who am I kidding – it’s fucking freezing in my office these days. I’ve been wearing this a LOT!

The only thing that was a bummer about this pattern is that the cabling looks really weird until it’s actually blocked. That’s why I didn’t show any progress shots – the cables were all lumpy and weird and it just wasn’t pretty enough to photograph! I did give this a proper block – soaking and all – and the cables bloomed out and now it’s basically perfect.

I’m so happy with how they turned out 🙂

There are teeny cables on the sleeve ribbing, too!

Here is how it looks unbuttoned. I don’t think I’ll ever wear it like this – I like to keep my stuff closed – but I thought I’d show y’all anyway. You probably noticed that I didn’t stabilize my button bands with petersham this time. I was planning on it – I even bought some cranberry red petersham ribbon – but the way the buttonband is constructed was going to look really weird with ribbon sewn on half of it. Anyway, I tried the sweater on and the button holes don’t gape at all, so I just sewed my buttons directly on there and called it a day.

Also, here is a picture of Amelia judging me.

And that makes 10 sweaters for me! Fuck yeah, I love knitting 🙂

Tags: cables, cardigan, completed, knitting, Marion, red, sweater

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Categories completed projects - new

Pattern Testing: The Saltspring Dress

2 Aug

I looove pattern testing, but what I don’t love is the part where I have to keep my mouth shut about my project until the pattern becomes officially available to the rest of the world.

Well, Tasia just released the Saltspring Dress, so I guess I can talk now! YAY!!!

Here’s another pattern that is quite a bit outside my ~personal style comfort zone~ – that blousey look is not something I normally go for – but I actually like it a lot, surprisingly! It’s very comfortable and cool for summer, while still managing to look pulled-together (or, eh, as pulled-together as one can look in FLORAL ANIMAL PRINT lolz).

This is view A, size 2. I didn’t make any significant changes to the pattern – since I was testing it, I wanted to try it straight out of the envelope. I’m happy to say everything came out great, with no alterations, although I should probably trim down those tie straps a little 🙂

The construction of this dress is very interesting, and Sewaholic’s pattern design chops really shine here. There are actually two layers to this dress- an smooth, semi-fitted underlayer, and the top blousey layer. The underlayer is shorter than the top layer, so that it “blouses” itself without needing to be tucked in. It’s kind of genius! There is elastic at the waistband, so this is the perfect dress to wear while eating a big meal 😉

I’m wearing a belt with this dress because I personally don’t like the look of exposed elastic casing, but it’s not needed to get the bloused look. The dress does that by itself!

Isn’t this fabric so fun? I’ve actually had this in my stash for a few years… Morgan’s grandmother gave it to me after a giant destashing effort on her part. I’m not completely sure of the content – based on a burn test, I believe it is rayon, but it also has a weird crinkly texture and a slight stretch – but what I can say is that woman has some FINE taste in fabric, so I’m fairly certain this is some nice stuff. It sure feels nice, anyway!

In retrospect, I don’t know if this fabric was truly my best choice, because it doesn’t drape as well as it needs to. The top of the dress doesn’t exactly look structured, but it’s not as flowy and drapey as it needs to be. But, you know, I think the print actually makes up for it a bit 🙂 Hard to be mad at the world when you’re wearing this kind of awesome island tiki type shit, yeah? 🙂

The only “drawback” (if you can even call it that) to this pattern is that it does not look flattering AT ALL until you actually put in the zipper and the elastic. I don’t know how many of y’all try stuff on as you sew it (I do – constantly – which is why I mostly sew in my underwear 😉 haha), but I just thought I would point that out. Obviously it works out in the end, but I was a little terrified for a minute there 🙂

Anyway, this is a great pattern – very easy to make up (perfect for beginners!), comfortable to wear in the summer, and I think you can really try a lot of different options with the design. Personally, I’d love to try this up without the overblouse, just a slim-fitting, spaghetti strap top with a flared skirt. Ah, that sounds so perfect right now!

Want a copy of your own? You can buy the Saltspring here!

Tags: completed, dress, pattern testing, rayon, Saltspring dress, sewaholic

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Categories completed projects - new

Completed: A Stripey Belladone

29 Jul

Oh noes, you guys – I’m running out of fabric from the huge haul I bought at Mood in NYC. Can you believe it? I only have two pieces left! What happened! WHEN DO I GET TO RESTOCK?

I am happy to say that the striped cotton I bought finally found a home in a new dress. Yay!

I actually had different plans for this fabric, but then Eléonore sent me the Belladone dress pattern and my plans immediately changed. Stripes are PERFECT for this dress – you have so many fun stripey placement options! And y’all know how much I love playing with stripe direction 😉

I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am with how this dress turned out. Sometimes when I’m going crazy with my stripe (or plaid, for that matter) directions, I start to wonder if I’m going to end up with a giant clusterfuck in the end. Fortunately, I think this one turned out pretty perfect – there’s plenty of interest, but it won’t make you dizzy if you stare at it too long!

My Belladone is a size 34, with no alterations except a few tucks at the back to get it to lie flat (I’ll talk more about that in a minute). I went with the invisible bias trim – which is topstitched in white – as I didn’t want a bunch of contrast competing with the stripes. The upper back pieces are cut on the cross grain because I liked that stripe placement better, and the waistband is cut in four pieces on the bias, and then pieced together. I also interfaced the waistband because I was afraid the bias would distort over time – it’s pretty fitted. Otherwise, the dress is basically sewn straight out of the envelope -length and all!

I love this dress! Look, it has pockets!

And a cool back cut-out!

The stripes made some cool chevrons down the sides, ha.

This is a fairly simple pattern to make, but be warned that the back may take a little finessing to get a perfect fit. You want it to lie perfectly flat – no gaping! I’ve noticed that most reviews tend to not need any adjusting, so I think I may be a bit of a rarity in needing it – I also have a pretty small back (I wear a 30 band, fyi), so most stuff is big on me anyway.

I made a muslin of the bodice – zipper and all – and pinned out the excess at the upper back when I tried it on. Obviously, this is kind of difficult to do without assistance – but it’s totally doable, I mean, I did it. I just kind of eyeballed it, took the top off, pinned at my guesstimate, and tried it on. Over and over (ok, it was like twice, haha). A dressform would be helpful for this, but mine has a bigger back than I do sooo I had to do it the hard way. Anyway, once I pinned out my excess (and then sewed up tiny darts and tried it on a final time), I measured the amount I needed to take out.
(Also, I just realized I was drinking out of an American Pride coffee mug while working on a French pattern. lolz.)

To make the adjustment to your pattern (since you don’t want darts in that piece, you want it nice and smooth), just slash right up the middle of the piece and leave a little hinge. Overlap the edges by however much you need to take out (I think mine was 1/4″, not much) and then tape it down. Make sure the line is smooth and straight, and you’re done!

I also ended up overlapping the upper back pieces an additional 1/2″, as well as taking about 1/4″ out of the center back seam (along the zipper).

The back looks pretty good, though, yeah?
Ignore the lump at the waist of the zipper, I had a lot of bulk there, so the zipper doesn’t want to lie flat! Wah!

Stripessss!! 😀

Oh, and check out my new necklace! This is from ChatterBlossom, my newest sponsor! Jamie has some of the prettiest reclaimed vintage pieces I’ve come across (and enviable hair to boot, I mean, ugh, that’s EXACTLY what I wanted mine to do when I cut it short!!), and I love that she gives each of them a story. I picked a couple of pieces from her shop – and that was hard, there are soo many things in there that I need – and I am so happy with what I got. This necklace is Egyptian, circa 1880-1918. I’ve really gotten sucked into Egyptian history lately (the pyramids! Nefertiti! The Spinx! Aliens!! lol just kidding on that last one :P), so I’m really excited about this little treasure. Fair warning: I’ve worn this every day since I received it, and I don’t plan on taking it off. You’ll be seeing this necklace a lot, jsyk.

Anyway, back to Belladone…

Even though my bias tape is invisible from the outside, I still wanted it to be pretty – so I used polka dot bias tape 🙂 I used the bias tape left over from my Blue Lace Robson (and I still have more of this stuff, it’s like the gift that keeps on giving haha). I also faced the waistband with a piece of navy cotton sateen (also from that same lace coat, gah), since I didn’t want the interfacing all up in my biz. Unfortunately, the sateen is a bit heavy, which is why the zipper is lumpy at the waistline. Oh well, live and learn!
Oh god, ignore that rogue navy thread on the upper back btw.

I’m pretty happy with how this dress turned out – it’s fabulous on it’s own, and I think the navy stripes will also look good with different colors, such as yellow and kelly green. The dress is perfect for bike riding, even if it does give me a funny tan line 😉 Ha! Worth it 🙂

Tags: Belladone, ChatterBlossom, completed, Deer & Doe, dress, Mood Fabrics, sponsor, stripes

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Categories completed projects - new

Completed: The Hawthorn Dress

26 Jul

Ok, before I go any further, let me just address the elephant in that room that is my hair in these pictures.

This is what happens when you put your hair up in Heidi braids (or, as much of a Heidi braid as I can manage with my length – or lack thereof) and leave them for 24 hours straight (yep, I even slept in ’em). When I took them down the next morning, my hair was a glorious lion’s mane according to the mirror. Looking back at these pictures… err, maybe not so much. Lying-ass mirror.

Another thing I should point out is that I’ve basically given up on trying to hide the camera remote.

With all that out of the way – let’s talk about my dress!

This is the Hawthorn from Colette Patterns. GUYS, I LOVE THIS PATTERN. I love it so much, I’ve already planned two more versions.

I always always love the patterns that come from Colette – even if the shape of the garment isn’t specifically something I would wear (the Laurel falls in this category, although seeing everyone’s versions pop up during that epic contest has really made me reconsider what I think I can’t wear!), the styling of the photoshoots is just lovely. Of course, this is something I would absolutely wear – I love me a good shirtwaist, and this one has some pretty and unique details that set it apart from other shirtwaist patterns.

For my dress, I cut a size 0 based on the finished measurements. I did not make a muslin – just a quick tissue-fit to make sure everything looked right. For future dresses, I may shave a bit off the side seams as the waist is about 1/2″ too big. It fits fine in these photos, but that’s because I moved the buttons to compensate for the width. A quickie fix for sure, but definitely not want to want to do with every Hawthorn I make!

I also took about 4″ off the hem. It originally hit me at knee-length, but I like my dresses shorter 😉

I also changed the button position at the waist, as I plan on wearing this dress with a belt so I don’t want a button right by the waistline seam. I raised the lowest bodice button just a smidge, omitted the top skirt button, and slightly raised the next-highest skirt button to compensate for the gap. Hope that makes sense! I also added a hook and eye closure at the waistline to keep things smooth.

The only thing I don’t absolutely loooove about this dress is the bust darts – or, rather, the bust dart puckers. Yeesh! I tried to smooth them out as best I could, but my fabric must have a bit of poly in it because I was getting a bit of shine whenever I pressed them, in a most inappropriate place. Restitching the dart tips helped a little, but you can see they still need a little bit of work.

I just LOVE this fabric and I think it’s perfect for a dress called Hawthorn 🙂 Funny, I picked this up at my local fabric store during their biannual sale – it was in the remnants sections and heavily marked down (I think I paid $8 for a little over 2 yards). I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I bought it anyway – I mean, it has embroidered cherries on it! Later that week, Sarai contacted me and asked if I wanted to see pictures of the newest Colette pattern before it was released to the masses, and as soon as I downloaded those pictures, I knew I had found the perfect match.

My buttons are from the flea market and I have been hoarding them for ages. They are sparkly!

I love the tiny collar, but I will warn you that it was a bear to get to lay right – with the layers of the collar and the facing and the dress, that’s a lot of bulk! I understitched as much as I could, as well as tacked the facing down at the shoulder seams and back neck darts. This seemed to help, although my next go will involve some aggressive grading as well.

Anyway, I’m really happy with this dress and how it turned out! I can’t wait to try a sleeved version (won’t this look incredible in plaid?? Oh GOD, I love plaid), or maybe even redraft the collar for a more peter pan style. Lots of possibilities here!

As a side note – I’m QUITE a bit late to the party here, but I’ve recently joined Kollabora and I can’t get enough of it! It has totally filled the Craftster-shaped hole in my heart, and then some 🙂 Who else is on Kollabora? Let’s be friends!

Tags: colette sewing handbook, completed, dress, hawthorn, Kollabora

Comments 75 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: The Lady Skater Dress

22 Jul

About a month ago, Amanda contacted me and asked if I’d like to participate in her Lady Skater Pattern Tour, to promote this awesome new pattern that she had just released. At first, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to participate – my fabric funds are currently pretty tight right now, and YES IT SUCKS – but after chatting for a hot minute (with me flapping my arms and squawking about how much I was dying to sew the pattern up), Amanda offered to send me some yardage from her shop, Kitschy Coo.

Specificially, this ice blue tiger knit. HOLY SHIT, right?!

I’m really not trying to be cocky here, but I’m fairly confident that I have the best dress in the world now. For real.

I’m supposed to talk about the pattern, so let’s discuss that first! This is the Lady Skater Dress pattern – a basic knit dress pattern that opens itself up to a world of customizations, and it’s EASY. It’s so easy, y’all. If you’ve never sewn a knit before, this is a great pattern to use for toe-dipping.

Let me put it this way – whenever I sew up a new pattern (especially if I’m testing), I keep a notebook on hand to write myself little notes. Stuff like adjustments on size or construction, whatever I can think of that will help other people who are sewing the same pattern. When I sewed this dress, I literally did not make ANY notes. The instructions cover every single thing that I would have already said – even down to creative cutting layouts to make the most of your fabric yardage. If that’s not a sign of a well-written pattern, I don’t know what is 🙂

My dress is a size 2, which corresponds perfectly with my measurements. I made absolutely no changes to the sizing – this is how it fit straight out of the ~~envelope~~errr, printer ;). I did shorten the length a little, but that’s just a personal preference. The skirt should hit about at your knees, if you keep it at the length as printed.

Like I said, the instructions on this dress are pretty fabulous. Amanda has you stabilize both the shoulder seams and the waistline seam with clear elastic – something I’ve never done before. I’ve used twill tape (topstitched down with a twin needle), and fusible interfacing (which, obviously, doesn’t require sewing on, so it’s invisible), so I was interested to see how this worked out. First of all, I should mention that I didn’t have any clear elastic on hand, nor could I be arsed to buy any. SOWWY. I used regular ol’ polyester elastic, 1/4″ wide, and followed the same instructions for the clear. You basically sew the elastic on right along the seam allowance, so when it comes time to sew your pieces together, they are permanently attached along the seam.

Here is my waist seam. You can’t see it from the inside, but guys – it works. My fabric is a bit heavy, but the waist seam stays exactly where it should (instead of sagging and being sad and droopy). I should also point out that I took these pictures after wearing the dress all day. Nice, yeah? 😉

I love the skirt on this dress! It has a nice flare, but it’s not so huge that it eats up too much fabric, or creates difficulties when navigating the world on a windy day.

The only thing I’m not crazy about are the wrinkles on the back. There are instructions on the pattern to eliminate this, but I’d already sewn my top and bottom together and I couldn’t be arsed to unpick the serging (yep, sorry, lazy LT). I may try to fix it on the next go-round, but honestly? It’s the back of the dress. I’m not looking at it, therefore, I’m not sure if I really care 😛

I decided early on that I wanted something contrasty for my neck and arm bands. Initially, I wanted black, but I didn’t have anything suitable in my stash. This polka dot knit is from Mood, and it’s a pretty perfect match, yeah? I tend to shy away from mixing prints, but I don’t think this is too busy at all!

I think it’s funny that I somehow managed to match the tigers at the back waist seam (trust me… that was unintentional, haha!). Wish it would have worked out for the front, too. Oh well!

Srsly, tho: TIGERS.

Sorry for the picture overload, I am really enjoying the macro setting on my new camera, haha!! My topstitching was done with a double needle, and white wooly nylon thread in the bobbin.

So, like, you know what’s better than white tiger knit fabric?

MATCHING WHITE TIGER SHOESSSSSSSSSSS!!!

IS THIS A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN OR WHAT?!

The Lady Skater is TOTALLY my new TNT knit pattern. I can’t wait to make multiples upon multiples upon multiples of this lil guy 😀

Thanks again, Amanda, for letting me join this pattern tour and also for the ACE fabric!!

Tags: completed, dress, knit fabric, Lady Skater, tigerz

Comments 82 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: The Simone Dress

19 Jul

Can we talk about Victory Patterns today?

Specifically, let’s talk about the Simone.

This is new for me in two ways – a new pattern company (well, new to me) and a new shape. Seriously, guys, I do NOT wear these loose-fitting dresses… I feel like my body gets swallowed up in the fabric and I lose my waistline, which just isn’t a good look for me. But I’ve been wanting to try this pattern since it was first released… I’m not even ashamed to admit that 100% of the reason was because the girl modeling this shit is a fucking BABE. For real. Go have a look and try to tell me otherwise. I’ll wait for you to come back.

I don’t think this dress pulls me quite that far into babe-ville, personally – it’s still not totally the best shape for me – but I’m surprised at just how much I like it!

For my Simone, I cut the size 2 and decided to add piping and a couple pops of contrast. Originally, I had the whole front yoke purple (like the racerback), but after I finished sewing the piping on, I pinned everything together, stood in front of the mirror… and realized how weird it looked. Like I was wearing a big, purple bib. I think the contrast yoke is a good look (the version of the top has a contrast yoke), but not with my particular fabric choices. So I ripped that shit out and made my yoke in the same fabric as my main fabric, with a contrast placket, racerback, neck binding and piping.

I did have to make a couple of modifications to the pattern – namely, the original length of the shoulder straps and racerback was much too long, making the armholes sit too low (like exposing a good 1″ or more of of bra too low). Since I’d already sewn on the armhole binding at that point and I didn’t feel like ripping it out (so sorry, so lazy), I pinched out about 5/8″ at the shoulder seam and another 5/8″ out of the center of the racerback. Honestly, I should have considered these adjustments BEFORE I cut my fabric – I’m petite and I generally have to shorten those areas – but my quick fixes worked just fine, I think.

The only drawback was that I now had a weird seam right across the middle of the racerback. I covered it with a little tube of my main fabric. Done and done!

I also shortened the back of the hi-lo hem – it was a little too long on me, almost hitting my ankles. I did not shorten the front of the dress; that is the original length.

I will admit, I didn’t care much for this dress while I was sewing it. I think it’s mostly my fabric choice, but this reeeeally looks like pajamas to me. And something about the shape of the tab reminded me too much of a tiny tie, which was throwing me off. It wasn’t until I completely finished the dress and put it on that I decided I liked it. Actually, scratch that – I LOVE it. I don’t even care if it makes me look sorta preggers from the side. This shit is COMFY and it feels amazing to wear during this heat wave.

I do think the instructions on this pattern were a bit lacking, and definitely earn it that “intermediate” mark. The diagrams were mostly helpful, but there were a few that made absolutely no sense to me at all. Some of the wording was a little off, and there were a couple steps that were completely missing (such as sewing the button on the tab to anchor it down. At least… I think you’re supposed to sew a button there, or at least invisibly tack it down??). The hardest part was deciphering the pleating instructions – the diagrams showed them sewn in one direction, but the photos showed the opposite.

Still, with that being said… this dress took a couple afternoons to sew. It’s not hard and you can always hit up another resource if you get stuck.

Shoulda topstitched that armhole binding in purple, but I didn’t. Oh well.

Isn’t this fabric fun, though? It’s another design from my new favorite new-heard-of-’em-before-Mood designer, Thakoon. Just like my previous piece of Thakoon loveliness, this stuff is super soft, super drapey, and feels like pure love on my skin. It is a little bit on the translucent side, but as long as I wear nude colored underthings, it doesn’t seem to be too noticeable.

I used a gorgeous purple sateen to sew all the contrast. This one is soft and lightweight with a rich color and no stretch. I used the wrong (aka non-shiny) side to sew the tab, the neck binding and the racerback, and the shiny side to make the piping. Looking at the fabric as one piece, the two sides are quite different… but when looking at the dress as a whole, you can’t really distinguish much between sides. Oh well!

This is just a random button from my stash. I thought it looked good!

Also, JUST IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING…

This dress looks awesome belted!

I know so many of y’all are probably groaning so hard at my love affair with belts on everything (sorry, not sorry), but I’m actually really surprised at how well the shape looks with a cinched belt. It totally changes up the look!

Personally, I plan on embracing the dress as-is, in all it’s flowy goodness… but for those of you who have been hesitant to try this pattern due to the volume at the waist, perhaps you can consider this as a solution!

I can’t wait to try more patterns from this company! I already have the Lola (which, sadly, is going to have to wait until the weather cools down a bit!), but I’m also loving the Nicola too.

Who else loves Victory Patterns? Let’s fawn over them together!

Tags: completed, dress, Mood Fabrics, Mood Sewing Network, Simone dress, Thakoon, Victory Patterns