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Completed: Some Fabulous Silk Birds

I am just going to preface this post with a warning: This is my VERY favorite thing I’ve ever made. Forget everything else up to this point. This here, this is the winner.

Also, I tried REALLY hard to cull down the number of pictures, but there are still a lot. Sorry, not sorry.

I initially saw this fabric on the Mood Fabrics Instagram (which, if you’re not lurking that – WHY NOT, THEY POST THE BEST FABRICS!!). Isn’t it fabulous? I immediately called the store and had them set aside 4 yards for me. When I finally had it shipped all the way to Nashville, I was amazed at just how wonderful it was in person. The designer is Marc Jacobs, and it’s a soft silk Georgette with a gorgeous drape and some incredibly saturated color.

Of course, I had no idea what I was going to do with 4 yards of bird silk Georgette. I hoarded it for about 2 months, while plotting and planning.

I had a Sewing Epiphany while on the way to work one morning (does anyone else have those? Aren’t they so awesome?) and realized that the print would work perfectly with a 40s style dress – and the drapiness of the silk would be a 100% match for McCall’s 6113. Yes, the same pattern I used for last month’s Mood dress. What can I say – I love this pattern, and I want to make a million of it’s babies.

Since this was my first time sewing with silk Georgette, I spent a few weeks devising a game plan and learning all I could about this fabric before slicing into my yardage. Georgette – or, at least, this Georgette – is on the sheer side, so it was going to need some sort of underlayer to keep things opaque. I didn’t want to underline the dress and compromise the flow of the fabric, so I decided to make a slip to wear underneath. Bonus: this is quite handy on a windy day! Already tested that theory 😛

I used french seams to construct the entire dress, except at a few sections where it was impossible to sew them – such as the curved yokes. For those parts, I pinked the seams to keep them from fraying. I also stabilized the fabric underneath the yokes with a piece of black silk organza. Since the Georgette is so lightweight and that area gets so much stress, I wanted to give it as much support as possible. I also found the use of my walking foot quite helpful while assembling the dress – it kept the layers from shifting (and me from crying tears of frustration).

Despite having made this dress twice already (my red wool crepe version, plus a boring ol’ muslin), I still encountered some construction challenges unrelated to the fabric. For one, the sleeves gave me HELL when I was trying to set them in. I don’t even understand how it happened – they eased in perfectly with the crepe, but for some reason, it just didn’t work with the Georgette without including a lot of unwanted puckers. I was stumped and let the dress simmer for a few days on my dressform. I even considered leaving it sleeveless, no lie.

Fortunately, I remembered that Casey posted a tutorial on excess sleeve ease on her blog a couple years ago, so I followed the instructions for redrawing the sleeve cap and crossed my fingers.

I am happy to say that it worked! I’m so glad I was able to figure it out – the sleeves really make the dress!!

I just think this pattern is SO PERFECT for such a bright print! Isn’t it beautiful?

I even got super fancy and put a (non-functional) fancy button where the front of the dress fastens.

Now, let’s talk about my slip! I am going to post pictures which I realize is essentially me in my underwear, so bear with me here.

I’m not going to lie – like 99.9% of the reason why I decided to go with the matching slip was so I’d have a chance to get my hands on some 4-ply Silk Crepe. I’ve heard some amazing stories about the stuff, but never had a chance to try it for myself. It tends to run on the expensive side (truth, this silk crepe cost more than the silk Georgette!), but a slip doesn’t require a whoooole lot of yardage, so I sucked it up and put in my order. I didn’t know what to expect when the package arrived at my door.

People. This stuff is INCREDIBLE. Throw out any mean thoughts you had about silk and focus on the 4-ply. It’s not at all slippery – even when I was cutting bias pieces, the fabric stayed put. It’s nice and robust and opaque, and it feels amazing against the skin. It presses beautifully and sews like a dream. I was extremely skeptical before I properly introduced myself, but I really think it deserves the hype.

To make the slip, I used the free Ruby Slip pattern. I spent a lot of time redrafting shit to get it to fit right, and it was kind of a nightmare and I kind of almost gave up (no hate on the pattern itself – I’m just VERY particular about how my slips fit!). I started with the size 8, made a lot a lot a lot of changes, and I’m just going to list them here:
– The original bodice was very small, so I added a 1/2″ FBA using the sew-along tutorial. Truth, I tried to get away with not doing this (I wear a DD cup, but let’s be real here – the only thing “big” about my boobs is the proportion, not the actual size, kwim? I could totally fit into like a C cup if the band was small enough), but my first muslin informed me otherwise.
– I then redrafted the bodice to include a center front seam and underbust gathers, following this tutorial.
– My second muslin showed that now the bodice was too big at the center front, and the gathers were sitting in such a weird place… I looked like I had puffy nipples. So awesome, except not. I wish I could tell y’all I did some mathematical pattern drafting magic and fixed it, but honestly I pinned that fucker to my dress form and manipulated it until I had a decent fit. I pinned out a chunk of the center front seam, redistributed the gathers, and chopped about 1″ width off the back midriff. I readjusted the side seams of the skirt (that shit fit almost perfect with no adjustments, thank god) and crossed my fingers.
– Since the new back midriff was slightly (I’m talking 1/2″ or less) smaller than the skirt, I cut that piece on the bias and carefully eased the two pieces together. I think the result is pretty good – it fits my small back, and the bias makes it easy to pull on and off!
– I also cut about 5 1/2″ off the hem of the skirt. It was long, and I need this slip to be shorter than my skirts!

Finally, I added some beautiful lace around the top and the hem, and a little self-made bow in the middle of the bodice. The straps are just satin ribbon outfitted with strap adjusters and rings – very easy to put together.

Now, here’s the real question: I still have like a yard (maybe more) of this bird fabric left. WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH IT?

Tags: 1940s, 4 ply silk, completed, crepe, dress, georgette, mccalls, Mood Fabrics, Mood Sewing Network, silkkk, slip

Comments 91 Comments
Categories completed projects - new, Mood Sewing Network

Completed: The Victoria Blazer

15 Jul

Remember when I made those Maritime Shorts and I swore I’d make a matching blazer to satisfy my inner Tina Turner?

Welllll that happened.

AWWHHH YEAH!!

Don’t get mad at me, but it actually happened last week. I just got around to shooting pictures of this guy, hence the delay. Sorry!

You can also see my camera remote in these pictures, haha! I just figured out how to use it for this ~photo sesh~, so there ya go. I must say, taking pictures is a HELL of a lot easier when you’re not reliant on the self-timer. I just stood in one place and snapped away, it was pretty awesome!

Anyway, so this here pattern is the Victoria Blazer from By Hand London. This shit is extra special because 1. The pattern was PERSONALLY HAND DELIVERED to me via the beautiful and charming Elisalex while she was in Nashville at the end of May; 2. The fabric is yet another chunk of the endless yardage gifted to me by Sonja during last year’s swap; and 3. IT’S PART OF A MATCHING BLAZER AND SHORTS SET, HOW FUCKIN AWESOME IS THAT.

Oh, and the inside is purple.

So, this was a pretty easy pattern. I don’t understand why people have such an aversion to sewing lined jackets – it’s essentially the same process as sewing a lined dress. Were this jacket fully tailored, with all the padstitching and a back stay and fancy welt pockets or whatever, I could understand the hesitation. But, guys, all of you are capable of sewing this. It’s a jacket – an easy jacket, at that – with another jacket inside it, inception-style.
(oh god I just realized I inadvertently gave myself a weenie in this picture… ignore that, ok.)

I cut the veeeeery smallest size – the 2/6 – and made the cropped version. The pattern calls for a partial lining (the sleeves are left unlined), but since the cotton voile I used the line the inside is srsly the most buttery smooth fabric IN THE WORLD, I thought it was a shame to not have it against my skin and thus chose to also line the sleeves. This is super easy – I just set them into the lining, same as the shell, and then finished the bottom with a french seam as instructed.

I know, this looks super ridiculous with the matching shorts (hahaha y’all shoulda SEEN Landon’s face when I stepped out of the sewing room in this get-up!), but I think it will look really nice with my dark jeans.

It’s such a departure from my normal, everything-fitted style, but I like it!

The sleeves did give me a bit of trouble at first, but it turns out that I accidentally set them in backwards. Oops! Make sure you pay attention to those notches!

OH MY GOD, I took way too many pictures and I’m just going to dump them all right here.

I love these tags from Sweet Little Chickadee! I should also point out the running stitch along the top – that goes all the way around the jacket, through both the lining and the shell (you can’t see it from the outside since the lapels cover it). The lining didn’t want to behave and stay inside the jacket where it belonged, so I used embroidery floss and handstitched around the edge of the lining. It keeps everything in place, and I think it looks pretty as well!

Another thing I really love about this jacket is how good it looks draped over your shoulder, fashion-model-style.

Want to make your own Victoria Blazer? The girls at By Hand London are currently running a Sewalong for this pattern, so you have no excuse now!

Would you ever make a matching blazer and shorts combo like this? Am I off my rocker here?

Tags: blazer, By Hand London, completed, I am fabulous, jacket, maritime shorts, Victoria Blazer

Comments 53 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: Deer & Doe’s Bleuet Dress

3 Jul

One thing that I love so much about the sewing community is the neverending supply of fresh patterns, made by small-beans businesses. I find them soo much better than the offerings from the Big 4 – the style lines are more unique, the instructions are easier to follow, and there tends to be a HELLUVA lot less ease in the finished pieces (ask me about Simplicity’s “close-fitting” dresses with 4″ of bodice ease. No, wait, don’t. I’m getting all ragey just thinking about it).

This is the Bleuet Dress by Deer & Doe, a sweet pattern company based in France. (Actually, Google tells me that Bleuet translates to Blueberry – but I like the French word, it sounds FANCY. Also note that I took 2 years of French in high school and I need Google Translate to tell me the word for blueberry. Bitch pls) (Also, I was just informed that Blueberry only applies to Canadian French, not French French. The things I learn on this blog! :)). Deer & Doe is a fairly new pattern company – the first set of patterns were released only in French, but now they offer English translations and I’ve been ALL UP ON THAT. I should probably also point out that the English translations were done by Anna, which means that they are actually concise and easy to read and understand, as though they were actually written in English to begin with. Nice!

Also, these patterns are ADORABLE. Like, um, why do I not own this? Or this? Or this jacket SWEET JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL.

So, I really love this dress. Like, a lot.

I bought this fabric in NY, at one of the random tiny shops in the Garment District (Fabrics for Less? Chic Fabrics? Halp.). I was originally drawn to it because, well, that colorway is pretty fucking awesome. I thought it would look totally ace as a shirtdress. Of course, I didn’t bother to actually check the fabric before buying 3 whole yards of it (I’m going to blame that on being starstruck at the presence of Sonja and Oona, as well as on a total fabric high), but IF I HAD BOTHERED, I would have noticed that the seersuckery-ness of the fabric actually meant that it had LOADS of stretch. Which, I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that sort of fabric if it’s your jam or whatever, but I’ve learned my lesson and I tend to stay away from woven fabrics that incorporate a lot of stretch.

That’s part of the reason I delayed cutting into this for soo long. I had the perfect pattern in mind and everything – plus I’ve been hoarding these purple buttons I got at the flea market months ago – but it was cut to my current size, and this fabric has enough stretch the necessitate sizing down. Add that to matching up all those checks (what was I THINKING?) and fugeddaboutit.

This Deer & Doe pattern seemed like the perfect match – the princess seams allowed me to cut the sides on the bias (less plaid-matching, yay!), as well as making it easy to fit as I sewed. I cut the very smallest size, the 34 (ok, I lied, I actually TRACED it. Can you believe that shit?! Hell must have frozen over), and combined with the stretch of the fabric, the dress fit almost perfectly from the get-go. I had to let out a tiny bit of seam allowances at the bust, but other than that – perfect.

This pattern is rated “Advanced,” but I think a very confident beginner could easily tackle it. The instructions are good, there are lots of diagrams, and the pieces are pretty easy to figure out on their own. Make sure you use the right weight fabric, though – mine is a bit too flimsy, as you can see. A shirt dress like this really needs a fabric with a bit of body to give the dress structure – even a quilting cotton would work here.

My line-matching is… ok. I got the front lined up beautifully, but the sides are less than perfect. Somehow, I didn’t think to double check those – I was just excited that the bias on the sides meant that I didn’t have to match them at the princess seams. LOLLLL.

Anyway, this side is worse than the other. Oh well!

I LOVE THE BACK THO. Look at that cute little bow!!! Ack, it’s so sweet!!

You probably noticed that my dress has a placket, while the pattern doesn’t call for one. Actually, it’s a mock-placket 🙂 I had the dress almost entirely assembled – everything but the buttons – and when I put it on, it just looked wrong. I couldn’t figure out why it looked so weird, so I set it aside for a couple of days and considered my options. Eventually, I realized that the stripes matching across the front meant that there was a big ol’ uninterrupted chunk of lines going right down my center. I don’t think this necessarily looks bad across the board – but in this small/busy print, it just seemed unfinished. I considered adding bias tape to the center front, or even rick-rack, but a quick Google of “vintage plaid shirtwaist” gave me my aha moment when I saw all the bias plackets. That’s it!

Since my dress was mostly assembled at that point, I fixed it the cheater way. I cut a bias strip of my plaid, folded the raw edges to the inside, and topstitched that little shit right on top of where the buttons would go. It’s only on the outside layer – the under (where the buttons sit) is still the straight plaid. Considering I can’t wear this unless it’s buttoned all the way up to the collar (my fabric is reeeal flimsy; it droops all sad-like), it’s not really a big deal. And it instantly made the dress look SO MUCH BETTER.

I also omitted the sleeves. I had every intention of adding them, but there was just too much plaid going on. I finished the insides of the arm holes with black self-made bias tape. Easy!

The pattern calls for you to face the hem, but I did not because my fabric was being really obnoxious. In retrospect, I may go back and face it anyway with something non-stretch, like a cotton batiste, because it’s obvious that it needs a little bit of structure, at least where the buttons are.

Also, sorry for the lack of flat shots! It slipped my mind until literally just now, oops! Speaking of taking pictures – I bought a new camera over the weekend! It’s a Canon G12, and I’ve been having a lot of fun learning how to use it! These pictures were taken on my old camera, but you should see some stuffs with the new camera next week 😀

Anyway, I love my finished dress – but next time, I will make it in a firm woven fabric. If I want stretch, I’ll buy some fucking jersey knit.

I guess that’s it. My office gave me a 4 day weekend, so I’m off to go celebrate America and Hot Chicken and sticking it to the man or whatev.

Have a great weekend!

Tags: Bleuet, completed, Deer & Doe, dress, plaid

Comments 58 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: the Peggy Sue Sweater

1 Jul

I knitted another sweater!!! Ok ok… I actually finished this over a month ago, and since then I’ve knit a whole ‘nother sweater. But let’s take this one ~~day~~ sweater at a time, shall we? 🙂

This is the Peggy Sue (oh yah, I’m so creative with my project names, ha!). You probably notice that it does differ slightly from the pattern picture – I made a couple changes (some intentional, some “oh well I done fucked that one up”).

For starts, I knit this in a smaller size than what I should be wearing – the XS, which is for a bust 30. I decided to do this after measuring a similar cropped sweater with a fit that I liked. Since the pattern calls for no waist shaping – it just goes straight down in a tube – I also added a few decreases to pull the body in to 24″ at the waist (again, my waist is not 24″ – but the copied-sweater has those measurements!). These are the changes I made intentionally.

Unintentional changes: Well, for one, the ribbing. It doesn’t come up nearly as high as the pattern is written! That was actually an accident – the pattern has you knit in straight stitch until 8.3cm or 3.5in. Being an American, I saw the 8.3 and assumed it was inches, so I merrily knitted myself 8″ of fucking stockinette. Double-checked the pattern as I was coming to the end, and realized they mean centimeters. WAH. Rather than rip all that shit out, I just drastically shortened the height of the ribbing and called it a day. I kind of like it better this way, I think it’s more flattering!

My other unintentional change was swapping out the buttons for snaps. I planned on sewing buttons – I even put in button holes on the button band (which you can baaarely see), but I managed to skip one, somehow. How? Lord knows. Anyway, my chosen buttons didn’t fit in the holes and since there was one missing (right between the bottom button and the third from the bottom – again, HOW DID I MISS THAT??), I just opted for snaps. It’s fine.

Anyway, I am pleased wit the fit! It’s nice and shrunken, and looks good whether the snaps are fully closed, partially open, or totally open…

See? 🙂

Anyway, this was as fun pattern to knit! The body is stockinette, with raglan sleeves (which means no wrapping for the sleeve caps, fuck yeah). The button band is moss stitch, and the ribbing involves some funky cabling. I likey!

I’m a big fan of this yarn, which was a gift from reader Holly, who offered it after I posted up my big knitting fail. She actually sent me a bunch of really sweet emails filled with great knitting advice, and the package she sent me was full of amazing – in addition to the yarn, there was fancy chocolate. Actually, those chocolates are the sole reason why I even eat chocolate now. I’ve always thought it was hilariously underwhelming (give me a good vanilla-flavored anything, any day of the week), but now I realize it’s because I was just eating shitty chocolate. Imagine that! This led me to try Nashville’s own local chocolatier, Olive and Sinclair, and a longtime romance has begun.

Oh, right, I’m supposed to be talking about this yarn! I don’t actually know what the yarn is specifically, brand-wise, but it’s a gorgeously soft merino and bamboo superwash. It’s somewhere in the DK-weight realm (although I compared it to some of my sport weight and I think it might be closer to that?). One thing that I didn’t notice on the skeins, but is apparent in the sweater is that there are some subtle color gradients going on. I LOVE THAT! I don’t care much for heavily variegated yarn – it’s just not my jam, sorry! – but the subtleness of this is just gorgeous and gives the sweater so much dimension. Love love loveee.

You can really see it here! Ahh, so pretty!

Per usual, I finished the button bands with petersham ribbon to keep them from stretching all crazy. I actually started to make a tutorial on how to do this, but I found it difficult to get a good picture and anyway, it’s literally just hand-sewing petersham ribbon to the back of the knitted band. So.. there’s your tutorial, I guess HAHA.

To block this, I just laid it on a towel and saturated it real good using a spray bottle. After my last fiasco with superwash, I didn’t want to risk it growing all weird!

I don’t know how much I can really call a sweater “summer appropriate” when I live in a climate that has regular 100*+ days, but this is probably the closest I’ll get. The fibers and light yarn weight are much cooler than my usual wool worsted weight sweaters.

Oh, and since a couple people asked – here are some pictures of the dress I’m wearing!

It’s vintage, probably from the late 50s/early 60s, based on the construction and style. I picked it up from the flea market last weekend for a sweet $30. It just *barely* fits me – like, I cannot gain any weight at ALL hahaha. It’s also pretty see-through, but I wear a slip under it and that works! Actually, this is the first time I’ve worn a slip under my clothes, I think. Lord, the majority of y’all must be rolling your eyes so hard at me right now haha.

Anyway, I guess that’s it! Full Ravelry notes (spoiler: there ain’t a lot) here. Thank you again for the yarn, Holly!!

Now to muster up the strength to pull on my second sweater and take pictures for that. It’s one of them worsted-weight wool ones, ugh 😉

OH, I almost forgot – I owe y’all a giveaway winner. Random Number Generator saysssss (dum dum dummm)….

Taryn is our winner! Yay, congratulations, Taryn!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Tags: cardigan, completed, giveaway winner, knitting, Peggy Sue, sweater

Comments 35 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: Maritime Shorts, Straight Outta the 80s

28 Jun

As I mentioned at the end of Me Made May, I really have been wanting to try my hand at a different shorts pattern. Not because there is anything wrong with my beloved Thurlow pattern – but I want to change it up! Try something new! So here’s my first stab at trying something new.

So, check these babies out~

This is the Maritime Shorts pattern from Grainline Studio. I only just recently discovered these and immediately decided that I wanted to try them. I like that they are similar to the Thurlows but a little more casual – patch pockets instead of welts, no cuffs, and the detailing is a little less fussy. While I was summoning up the courage to buy these (only because I didn’t want to have to assemble the PDF, ha!), Carla contacted me and asked if I would like the pattern as a gift. Yep, same Carla who also gifted me the pattern for those glorious culottes. So not only is she a sewing saint of gifted patterns, but she can also read my mind. AMAZING.

Also, just for the record – taping this pattern together was not difficult. I was surprised at how smoothly it went, actually!

Putting this pattern together was interesting. I’ve slapped the Thurlows together more times than I even want to count right now, so much that I really think I could assemble a pair in my sleep. Jen’s instructions for these is totally different though! Not in a bad way, however, I did have to pry myself away from what I thought was ~the right way~ and let myself at the mercy of the instructions. Turned out ok in the end, though, as you can see!

The only thing I didn’t like about the instructions was inserting the front fly. I don’t know, maybe I’m just stuck way too much up my own Thurlow ass, but I found them a bit confusing. Fortunately, Jen has a whole tutorial on assembling these shorts, from beginning to end, and that includes inserting the zipper! So that helped. I do think that in the future, however, I’ll probably go with the Thurlow instructions just because they make more sense to me.

I wasn’t sure what size to make, since I usually base mine off the finished measurements. In the end, I decided to go with my actual measurements and cut the size 2. The shorts were a little big at the sides, but I was able to pinch those in nbd. However, the back gaped a LOT at the waist. This was super easy to fix – I just pinched out the excess and stitched a new CB line before putting on my waistband. Easy!

But hey, it’s fixed! And I managed to avoid mount crackatoa in the process! TAKE THAT.

Oh, so, now let’s talk about the fabric I used!

It is awesome, yeah? I’ve actually been hoarding this for over a year… it was a gift from Sonja during the 2012 Summer Sewing Swap. I could never figure out what exactly to make with it, but I knew a good fabric when I saw it, so I hoarded and waited patiently. I’m happy to say, it totally paid off! This fabric looks perfect as shorts.

I’m tempted to use the rest (assuming I have enough – I haven’t measured my remaining yardage) to make a matching Victoria Blazer, like the most amazing summer power suit you ever did see.

The only change I made to the pattern was to swap out the hook & eye closure for a button. I did originally sew on the hook & eye, but it was pulling the waistband really weird, so I decided to do the button instead. I think the pulling is actually because all the stress is on that ONE closure, so next time I will extend the back of the waistband to be long enough where there can be a second button the inside, as with my Thurlows. Just a personal preference!

I’m also a little bummed about my topstitching choice. Wish I’d gone with a darker thread. Oh well!

The pockets are lined with a super soft purple voile I had in my stash. With such a loud outside fabric, I wanted to keep the inside plain!

And because you guys love inside shots as much as I do, here are some pretty serged seams for ya.

Finally, this is what happens when I get bored with taking pictures of myself:

If you’ve been hesitant to buy the Thurlow pattern because you’re not as curvy as the pattern is drafted for, this is a GREAT alternative. You could even follow the Thurlow Sew-Along for extra hand-holding, since the construction is mostly the same.

Psst! That’s one of my white tshirts I made with fabric from Organic Cotton Plus. I just wanted y’all to know that I am wearing a BLACK bra underneath it in these pictures. Pretty cool, huh?

Also, I have a few updates that need to be mentioned:
– I don’t know if I have any local readers on this blog (well – I know there’s at least one because I met you the other day! 🙂 Hi, Beth! haha!), but I am going to be teaching sewing classes with a local dressmaker 😀 We are still nailing down details, but it will be a small, open-workshop class where people bring in what they want to sew (so you don’t get stuck sewing something you have no interest in ever wearing) where we will be on hand to demonstrate techniques and answer any and all questions. Classes will be on Tuesdays, last 2 hours, and will start in August. If you are interested in attending the class, please email me at lladybirdlauren at gmail dot com. If the days don’t work for you, we may be able to offer a different class day. Right now I’m just trying to figure out if there is an interest 🙂 So, please, let me know! Teaching sewing has been a longtime goal of mine and I’d love to see it actually happen this year 🙂
– Theodore has now gone to his new home, and I MISS HIM, but I’m also very pleased that he is in such wonderful hands! Thanks everyone for your support and comments. He’s a little stinker (literally – he stepped in his shit every single morning, and got an emergency bath every single morning as well), but he’s a CUTE little stinker! He is now with my brother and sister-in-law, which means I should still see him from time to time 🙂
– My other little brother, Matt, won’t be going to England this summer! So sorry to everyone who offered to show him around 😦 He actually made it across the ocean, but when they asked him for his work visa and he didn’t have one (he told customs he was there for an internship, even though “internship” really meant he was fixing this place’s website in exchange for a free place to stay), they put him in a holding cell for 22 hours and then shipped him home. I’d say poor Matt, except he’s now planning a road trip around the US and some parts of Canada, so I’m actually quite jealous. Ha!
– I finally stepped up and got my own domain! You can now find my site at WWW.LLADYBIRD.COM. No need to update all your readers and whatnot – the wordpress.com site should redirect to the main domain. If it doesn’t, do let me know! GOD, THIS IS ALL SO EXCITING.
– As most of you should be aware by now, Google Reader is dying a tragic death come Monday, 7/1. If you haven’t already started moving your blogs to a different reader, better hurry up! You can follow me here on Bloglovin.

WHEW that was a big ol’ wall of text! If you managed to read through all that – yay! Your consolation prize is another kitten picture:

If that’s not enough, Here is a little video of him playing with his feet. I DIE.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Don’t forget to sign up for the Fashion A-Z Giveaway if you haven’t already done so – it closes on Monday!

Tags: completed, fancypants, grainline studios, kitten, maritime shorts, shorts

Comments 52 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: Birthday Tania Culottes

24 Jun

I never thought I would say this… but… YAY CULOTTES!!!

These culottes come courtesy of not one, but TWO awesome birthday gifts I got back in May.

I used Megan Nielsen’s Tania Culottes pattern to make these bad boys up. The pattern was a gift from reader Carla (she doesn’t have a blog yet, but there’s her Instagram!). I had to wait first because this pattern is wildly popular – it was sold out, and it appears to be sold out again, ha! – but I like to think it was worth the wait. This is such a fabulous little pattern, it’s very easy, but it sure doesn’t look it!

I cut the size XS, keeping the length also on the XS. The length should really look more like a mini, but on my short lil’ legs it’s *almost* appropriate for work (I say almost, but not quite :P). This pattern was seriously fast to make – I breezed through it in a couple of hours.

The engineering on this pattern is SO COOL. It actually looks like I’m wearing a floaty little circle skirt…

… but they are indeed culottes! With a crotch seam and everything!

One thing I will mention that was not written in the instructions is that you reeeeeally need to let this sucker hang for 24 hours before you hem. Since the skirt is a circle (or half circle, or whatever, I can never tell with these things!), the bias along the hem leads for some crazy settling. I had to cut quite a bit off to get it even, and still it’s not exactly perfect. Better, but not perfect.

I think the fabric is what really makes these, though. Isn’t it lovely? THAT was a gift from Kristi, a giftcard to Mood, which I immediately used to buy me some of that Thakoon cotton everyone is raving over. And, you know, after handling this fabric during the making (and wearing!) of my culottes, I gotta say… the rave reviews are there for a reason. This stuff is AWESOME. It is the silkiest, softest cotton (my mom was shocked when I told her it was just 100% cotton… and she’s a seamstress, too! She knows her fabrics!), but it’s not slinky to handle at all. It presses well and while it’s lightweight/sheer-ish, it’s opaque enough to not need a lining. I kind of wish I’d bought several yards of the stuff. I may anyway, when I get my next Mood allowance.

Srsly, I wish I could cut a little swatch to send to each of you! It is THAT amazing!

I didn’t bother to match the stripes on the CF or CB seams, but I don’t think it’s really noticeable? The folds in the circle skirt do a good job of hiding that, ha.

Anyway, I looove my new culottes! I cannot wait to try these out while riding my bike. Gonna feel like a floaty cycling goddess, y’all. Again, thank you SO SO SO MUCH, Carla and Kristi, for making my culotte dreamz come true~~

Now, on a totally unrelated note, let’s have a cat story!!

(I know, the side of my house looks SUPER white trash, bear with me here…)
On Friday, I hear this awful/scared mewing from outside the house. I looked out the back door and there was a tiny kitten on the porch! He ran when he saw me. All that night, I could hear him but I couldn’t figure out where he was hiding, until I realized there was a tiny hole in the crawl space under the house (this picture was taken after I pulled out all the bricks in the crawl space, fyi!).

I eventually caught him when I brought Amelia outside. He just ran straight to her! (Amelia, on the other hand, wants NOTHING to do with him. Bitch.) We brought him inside, gave him 3 baths (he was covered in fleas, poor thing!) and he seems pretty happy now. He gets really scared if you leave the room and he can’t see you, but I try to carry him around with me because I don’t want him interacting with Amelia until I know for sure whether or not he has any kitty-diseases. She’s vaccinated and on flea/tick/worm meds, but still. You never know!

So now I have this kitten. I have no idea how old he is – he seems really young, though. We’ve been calling him Theodore.

I wish I could keep him, but I can’t afford the bills & additional pet deposit that he would cost me – not to mention, Amelia is REALLY unhappy about sharing her space with another animal. Fortunately, I think my brother & sister-in-law are going to adopt him 🙂 She’s taking him to the vet right now to make sure everything checks out, and I may hang onto him for a week or so until they move into their new house. Fingers crossed that everything works out! He’s super sweet and cuddly.

Here we are trying to take a picture this morning. As you can see, Theodore wasn’t feelin’ it 😉

Tags: completed, culottes, kitten, Mood Fabrics, Thakoon

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Categories completed projects - new

Completed: Peter and the Wolf Pants

21 Jun

So I’ve been sitting on this pattern for a couple of months now – Katie sent these to me as a surprise spring gift. An awesome surprise, I might add. Who doesn’t love getting surprise patterns in the mail, amirite!

Anyway, my immediate first thought was to make these up in a light polka dotted denim. Doesn’t that sound like it would be amazingly cute?! Unfortunately, I couldn’t source the right fabric – this pattern calls for fabric with a little bit of stretch, and I couldn’t find any sort of stretch bottomweight that also included polka dots (I know there are lighter-weight fabrics out there, but in my experience, their thinness requires either 1. Commando or 2. Thongs, neither of which I’m comfortable with rocking. TMI? Whatever.). I remembered this polka dot DIY post from Portia and I figured, hey, I’ll just get light denim and make my own polka dots, yeah?

But, you know, I was seduced by all the pretty dark denim at Mood Fabrics. OH WELL. This stuff is from Theory and it is amazeballs. Nice and dark, robust without being super heavy, and just the right amount of stretch.

Btw, you’ve probably figured out that I did eventually end up with polka dot bottoms – in the form of shorts. Hey, it works!

Anyway, let’s talk about these pants!

This is the Peter & the Wolf pants from Papercut Patterns. The way these pants are cut is really unique – in addition to side and inseams, there are seams straight down the middle of the front and back legs, as well as some interesting pocket/yoke action and the cutest little scalloped hems. As you can see here, they definitely do emphasize the hips, but that’s what I like about them!

I cut a size XS, although in retrospect, I really should have gone down another size to the XXS. I had to do a LOT of alterations to get these to fit the way I like, and I made some easily-avoidable mistakes along the way. Pretty much EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM could have been eliminated if I had made a muslin first. Why didn’t I make a muslin first? I dunno, I guess I was feeling ~cocky with how good those Rite of Spring shorts fit me straight out of the package.

So, LESSON 1: Make a muslin. ALWAYS MAKE A MUSLIN.

Here is why this is so important, why I keep knocking this into your heads and why I should listen to my own damn advice:
– I tried these on right before I put in the zipper, and the sizing was MUCH too big through the waist and the legs. Normally, that’s not toooo bad of an issue because one can just take in the side seams (I do this all the time, u guise), but the way the pockets are placed means there isn’t a lot of side seam to take in before you start cutting into pocket territory. I couldn’t pull from the center seams because I’d already done all that topstitching and I’m ssssooooo laaaazzzzyyyy. I sat and thought about it for an evening, and ultimately decided to remove the majority of the excess from the BACK of the pants, rather than equally distributed between the front and the back. It worked, and my pockets are still there – yay! – and you can’t tell too much that the front is bigger than the back (unless you’re really studying where that side seam hits), except one glaring error…
– The front scallops now ride toward the inside of my ankles, instead of being centered in the middle of my leg 😦 Believe me, I tried really hard to fix this, but ultimately it’s just a matter of physics… the front is twisting, since it’s wider than the back. It’s not too terrible since they both pull about the same amount, so it looks intentional. But you and I, we know the real truth.
– The crotch curve was wrong for my shape and it looked like I was hiding packets of ketchup down the front of my pants at the crotch. WOOF. Please don’t take this to mean the crotch curve was bad across the board – I just mean it didn’t work for my specific shape (obviously it’s good for some people – look at the model on the envelope!). We all have different crotch curve shapes (how many more times can I say the word “crotch” here?) and mine is apparently a pretty pronounced J – something I learned when I was sewing the Colette Clovers. Fortunately, redrawing a curve is super easy – even on mostly-assembled pants, I mean, you’re basically just creating a new seamline – and that eliminated most of my issues in that one area. If this sounds confusing and slightly terrifying, it’s not! There is TONS of information on Google, as well as in various pants-fitting books.
– I also should have slightly shortened the crotch depth. Not even by much – just a little pinch of fabric (you can see where it’s puffing out a little. STOP STARING.). Unfortunately, I can’t fix this now as it’s something that needs to be adjusted to the flat pattern before cutting. #1 reason why you should make a muslin first. Womp womp.

I know this sounds like a lot of issues, but I just want to stress that all of them could have been EASILY solved if I’d just made a damn muslin first! ARGHGHHGHGH.

Well, at least I remembered to shorten the inseam before cutting my fabric; the original inseam is over 29″ and I needed something much shorter, plus I wanted them to be cropped. I love the length!

My yoke seams don’t perfectly match up due to all the side seam that I had to cut off, but at least I preserved the pockets!

I subbed out the invisible zipper for a lapped zipper. I really think an invisible zipper would look best, but I was concerned that I would have trouble with the bulk of the denim+invisible zipper. A lapped zipper doesn’t look terrible, although I wouldn’t necessarily say it looks great, either.

Look how good the butt fits, though! I should also point out here that I widened the waistband so it would cover my navel – this was easy, instead of cutting 1 waistband and folding it in half, I cut two and sewed them together at the top. Next time, I will opt for a curved waistband instead (this one is straight), as I find the straight doesn’t hug my curves as well. Just a personal preference!

Personal fitting woes aside, these are REALLY cute. I love all the topstitching, it really highlights the cool yoke and pocket detailing.

For sitting through this giant long post, here are some pictures of me swatting away the skeeters.

HAHAHAHAHA

In all seriousness, though! I know this post sounded like a big Debbie Downer review, but I do really love these pants! Slim-fit, stretch pants like these can require a bit of tweaking to get the fit right (remember the everyone’s personal saga with the Colette Clovers?), but it’s worth it in the end, as you can crank these out over and over once the fitting adjustments are done. Which is what I plan on doing – wool cigarette pants for winter, please! Hey, maybe I’ll even find some dotty fabric 😉

PS – My top is McCall’s 4488, an old make from last year.

Tags: completed, denim, fitting and alterations, pants, papercut patterns, Peter and the Wolf

Comments 65 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: Advance 8511 in Gingham

19 Jun

In an attempt to catch up on all the stuff I’ve finished that I haven’t posted yet (I just counted and there are 8… yikes), here’s a gingham top I made using Advance 8511, which is a vintage pattern.

I also forgot to mention that the pictures are REALLY bad; this is what happens when you don’t wait for it to finish raining (hence, me standing on the porch) and then position yourself so that the sunlight is directly behind you, and then try to lighten the pictures and when they turn out grainy and grey, you say, “Eh, fuck it.” and post them anyway.

Not that I know anything about that.

Anyway, I’m sorry.

This was a fun little pattern to make! It would have gone together a lot more quickly if I didn’t have so many fit issues. I don’t think the fit of the pattern was too bad – the size was a little big, but nothing too tragic – but rather, my fabric was a terrible choice for this pattern. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

This pattern only has 4 pieces – a front, a back, a back neck facing (the front facing is all attached to the front as one piece) and the collar (no undercollar). The armholes are bound with self-made bias tape and it only uses 4 buttons. So economical!

The fabric, again, is from Mood Fabrics in New York. It’s really lovely stuff – a cotton gingham seersucker with lots of texture and LOTS of stretch – but that damn stretch was nearly my undoing. I kept taking in the side seams over and over to get this shirt to fit (I know slightly-loose button-ups can look good, but not this shape/style with a woven stretch. Just… no), and I think I ended up removing a good 2″ from each side, possibly more. I don’t think stretch wovens are inherently bad (take a look at my fabric stash if you don’t believe me), but they really should not be used for a pattern that is already a little big to start.

You can’t see too well (because the pictures are so bad, again, SORRY), but there are tucks at the front and back waist, and soft pleats at the neckline under the collar. I had to extend the front tucks to be longer (originally they were only about 1″ long) because they ended up giving me this weird fullness in an area where it wasn’t needed. I don’t know how I feel about the neckline pleats – they are beautiful in theory, but in this fabric I think it kind of looks like I messed something up and hid it under the collar. Oh well.

Hey look, Dolly went on a diet and now she can actually model my clothes again! And they BUTTON UP. Holy shit!

I had to add a pleat to the center back because it was MASSIVE compared to the collar. Seriously, the width of that pleat is how much bigger the back was than the collar. I double checked my pattern pieces and they don’t match either, so I’m assuming someone was hitting the bottle hard at the Advance pattern drafting headquarters that day.

Despite the fitting issues, I do love my little shirt! Navy gingham goes with everything, surprisingly.

By the way… check out my new back porch!

I wish you could have seen what it looked like before (if you think it looks trashy now, let me tell you… this is an improvement). The previous renters laid this horrible fake hardwood all over the porch – you know, the kind that is supposed to go INSIDE a house – and didn’t even cover the whole flooring area. There were bare spots of concrete by the stairs. It was just drab and ugly and sad and we mostly ignored it for the past year. A couple weekends ago, we tore up the flooring (yes, we are renters, but I’m pretty sure my landlord dgaf), bought and painted the screen door, as well as hung the curtains and that tapestry. Now I am on the lurk for a tiny bistro table to fit back there.

Here’s another view – and there’s the old shed! I reckon you can guess where at least one of those chairs went 😉

Now we are actually inclined to hang on the back porch, IMAGINE THAT. If only I could figure out a way to permanently fend off the ‘skeeters…

Tags: advance, completed, Mood Fabrics, shirt, stretch cotton, top, vintage

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Categories completed projects - new

Completed: A Chambray La Sylphide – AND THE BOMBSHELL WINNER

17 Jun

OMG you guys. I am so backed up with posting finished garments… this top is from TWO WEEKS ago. Woof.

This is the La Sylphide from Papercut Patterns. I know, I keep meaning to make the dress version – it’s so pretty and floaty on the pattern picture, ahhh! – but this damn top keeps seducing me with it’s own version of awesome.

This is pretty similar to my Dude’d Up La Sylphide – I sewed a size XS, took 1″ out of the back and no other alterations. The sleeves are just rolled up in these pictures, btw.

The fabric is a chambray from – who else? – Mood Fabrics, which I bought while I was in New York. They have a lot of chambrays there and while I almost picked a gorgeous sateen-esque chambray that had just come in from some designer, I ended up with the more muted one because I wanted my shirt to be a little more rugged. Also, it was cheaper by like $2, ha.

Ok, CONFESSION TIME: I TOTALLY stole this idea (for a chambray La Sylphide) from my friend Colleen, who suggested it first. Although, to be fair, she also voted pearl snaps – and this one just has grey buttons that I had in my stash. So, while not a 100% idea rip, it’s still an idea rip and I’m sorry.

Also, I just realized I really need to repress the tips of those bust darts. HIIII.

I wasn’t expecting to be able to wear this top with these linen shorts, but I actually quite like it.

I really love this pattern because the top looks just as good with the peplum tucked, as you saw during Me Made May. As much as I love the peplum, sometimes an outfit just doesn’t work with it – like the Kelly skirt. Too much flare going on! And as much as I love making and hoarding clothes, I don’t need two chambray shirts… so I’m ok to let this one do double-duty.

And I guess that’s it for this post.

OH WAIT NO IT’S NOT!!! We have a Bombshell winner! There were 354 total comments (my most commented-on post EVER, thanks guys haha), but I had to pull a few out for dupes/replies/no entries.

It landed on my lucky number! GOOOOOO 7!!!!

… Which makes our winner Joanne!

Joanne, I think this pattern will work out for you a lot better 🙂 And I want to see that neon floral fabric, because it sounds awesomeeee.

Thanks to everyone who entered! The pattern is available on Etsy for those who did not win. Don’t forget to join the Sewalong, it starts today! I can’t wait to see everyone’s Bombshells! 🙂

Tags: chambray, completed, La Sylphide, papercut patterns, peplum, shirt, top, winner winner chicken dinner

Comments 33 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: 40s Wool Crepe Wrap Dress

12 Jun

I know, this dress looks strikingly similar to the 40s wrap dress that Peter made for his identical cousin Cathy earlier this month, not to mention I’ve already dabbled in wool crepe for summer wear, as well as a full 40s wool crepe dress. Yeesh. Ya think it’s possible for me to branch out a little here? Nuh uh, no way. Not me.

I actually bought this fabric ‘way back when I was visiting Mood Fabrics in NY. I’m sure y’all are sick of hearing about it at this point, but heyyyy I’ll be working through that stash for at least the next couple of months. Just so we’re clear.

Anyway, fabric. As I mentioned before, I wasn’t planning on buying any wool crepe – but again, Carolyn talked me into it. She’s SUCH a good enabler! This wool crepe is actually a bit thinner and drapier than most wool crepes I’ve come across, making it a good weight for a smart summer dress (oh god, did I really just describe a dress as “smart”? I am totally stuck on this 40s thing…). With Carolyn’s advice, I underlined the entire dress in a lightweight cotton batiste, to combat the slight sheerness and make the dress more comfortable to wear in the heat.

I used McCall’s 6113 to make this dress up. Isn’t the pattern gorgeous!? A friend found it (along with an entire paper grocery bag full of patterns – ranging from the 40s to the 80s, all in my size. I MEAN COME ON, WHAT ARE THE ODDS) in her attic, and gifted the whole stash to meee! Yes!! The pieces are intact, but unfortunately… the instructions are not. Wah wah. Thankfully, I’ve made a few wrap dresses in my day, not to mention I feel fairly confident in my assemblage skills, so I decided to give it a go.

… this is what I found when I pulled the pieces out. Not only is everything labeled (thank you, printed patterns!), but there are construction notes printed ON the pattern sheet, AND the notches are numbered in the order that things go together. PRAISE THE LORD. Although, in all honesty… I probably could have put this together without the help. But MAN, it was nice to eliminate most of the guesswork!

Despite the pattern being in my size, I did have to make a few adjustments to get everything to fit nicely (I generally like to go down a size or two – sometimes more – since I find most patterns tend to have more ease than I prefer to wear. Yep, even vintage patterns. What gives; am I just in denial of my size or something??), mainly in the form of taking in the side seams and shortening the shoulders, as well as hacking about 5″ off the length. I made a muslin for fit, but it ended up also giving me a great idea of how the pattern was put together so I had less guesswork with my wool crepe. Which is good, since wool crepe can be a sneaky little bitch when it comes to ripping out stitches.

In hindsight, wool crepe is definitely a little on the bulky side for the gathers in this dress. I’m afraid I look a bit boxy at the waistline here 😦 Oh well!

I do love the little tucks in the back 🙂

And the curved hem at the overlap.

I don’t know what’s going on with this picture, I just thought it was funny. ~Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline~

Oh, did you notice my pretty embroidery? This all happened entirely on a whim – I finished the dress, put it on and looked in the mirror, and it just looked… red. Overwhelmingly red, and plain! I decided to add a small punch of (neutral)color by embroidering the shoulder detail. The embroidery is from the Hoop Love Vintage Transfers Flickr Group, and it’s all just a basic back stitch with french knots in the middle of the flowers. Ha, that sound so easy but it seriously took me about 6 hours to do. Embroidery is definitely a time-suck!