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Completed: Hand-Dyed Blue Silk Vogue 1395

Ahh, Vogue 1395. First, I made you up in cherries, and it was good. Then, I modified the shit out of you and made you up in silk plaid gingham, and it was good. And now, we’ve come full circle back to square one. And that’s good, too.

Sometimes, ya just gotta stick with the ol’ TNT’d version, amirite?

I am also realizing that I took way too many pictures for a dress that will essentially warrant the same post as the cherry original, but, you know, whatever. My blog, my rules. I was having a good hair day that day. And my back yard looks BEYOND gorgeous. I will never tire of all that green!

Speaking of gorgeous- how about that hand-dyed silk that I used? I can’t take any credit for it (other than the actual sewing of the garment) – it was given to me by Elizabeth after a big studio clean-out. She made me an entire grab bag, full of mostly silks – some stamped, some natural, some dyed (in both solid colors and what you see here), and all of them amazing. I think a lot of this was leftover from discontinued collections, but some of it was from her personal stash. Needless to say, this is a woman with fabulous taste in fabric and I was really happy with everything she gave me. I also spent WAY too long agonizing over what to make with it! It was so special and I was afraid to cut into it only to later regret using it in case I later ended up having better idea.

This piece of hand-dyed silk crepe was probably my favorite. It’s so thick and lush and it has an amazing drape. I love the soft colors so much. Pairing it up with V1395 seemed like the best idea – a pattern that I already know fits and sews up well, that I know I love to wear. I actually made this way before I even left for Peru – so, it’s been in my closet for more than a month at this point. ha.

I can’t think of anything else to say about the pattern that I haven’t already gone over in my previous posts. The giant arm hole issue has now, thankfully, been fixed, although the neckline is strangely a bit wider than it is in the cherry version (probably due to fabric choice – this crepe is a heavier than the silk cherries). I didn’t follow much in order of construction – this is made with French seams and machine-rolled hems, both of which were a lot easier than what the pattern directions were asking me to do. I also used my own method for applying the binding, again instead of following the directions. The finishing on this dress is definitely an improvement over the last dress.

Here, you can see both the arm hole and how the dress looks untied. As well as what I guess is now my superhero pose. Damn, that arm hole still looks low. It’s ok, though, because the overwrap covers it when it’s tied.

I love all the little details on this dress… especially the elastic waist. Totally buffet-friendly! 🙂

The skirt in this pattern is lined, and while I tried to get away with not lining it – I realized that the silk is pretty freaking see-through. It’s not so bad on the top, because of the overlay, but the skirt was pushing being almost sheer. For these sorts of linings, I prefer to use china silk, as it’s really thin and lightweight. Of course, I had NONE of that on hand and I didn’t feel like ordering any, so the lining I used is just white silk crepe. It makes the skirt a bit thicker and heavier than I’d prefer, but at least it’s not see-through!

I always have a hard time cutting into fabric that is given to me – sometimes it takes me YEARS to actually settle on a pattern. I’m always paranoid that I’ll have an even better idea later down the line, and be pissed at myself for already using the fabric. But that’s kind of a crappy way of looking at things – I mean, it’s not like the fabric is doing me any good just sitting on the shelf, you know? So it feels good to get past that and actually use some of the gorgeous stuff that’s been given to me!

With that being said – I have a few more pieces that I finally cut & sewed that were also on the “too nice to actually use for something” list, so watch this space for those! Who else has dream fabric that they’re afraid to cut into? Maybe we should start a support group!

Tags: completed, dress, elizabeth suzann, hand-dyed, silk, silk crepe, vogue, Vogue 1395

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Categories completed projects - new

Completed: McCall’s 7119

22 Jul

Allow me to introduce you to my ridiculous summer sundress for 2015.

I guess it’s not really that ridiculous, but it feels a little over-the-top (for me, that’s a good thing haha). This is totally the time of year for getting away with this sort of loud dressing, but I haven’t really taken advantage of it until now!

I used McCall’s 7119 to make this, which was originally sent to me by the McCall Pattern Company (contrary to popular belief, I usually buy my Big 4 patterns because I live in the mystical land of $1 Joann sales, but I’ll take free, too haha). I really love the photo on the envelope and was dying to make my own. I was not, however, dying to plunk down $$ for the 3 yards of fabric necessary to make this sucker up. Damn wrap dresses and long maxi-lengths! As if!

Anyway, I noticed that this blue cotton poplin paisley went on massive sale at Mood Fabrics for all of $4.99 a yard, and I realized that it was perfect – both in weight and cost – for the dress I was wanting to make. I’ve never been a huge fan of paisley – I’ve made a couple garments in the past with beautiful pieces of paisley fabric, yes (and I have a couple more pieces in my stash as of this writing), but for the most part, I’ve always considered it to be kind of an ugly print. Mostly because it reminds me of the horrible ties that my dad used to work to work in the early 90s haha. Sorry, dad! This paisley, though, is definitely much prettier (or that could be the $5 price tag talking to me, I dunno!). I think it’s due to the monochromatic color scheme, which tones down the tack and lets you focus on the pretty design. Or, again, could be that $5 price tag. Whatever.

Despite this fabric being inexpensive, it’s not cheap. It has a really nice hand and drape, the colors are beautiful and saturated, and it’s opaque enough to not warrant a lining. The right and wrong side are almost identical, which is good for this sort of dress – as you can see the wrong side through the back hem dip. The fabric cut & sewed like a dream, and it is fairly good at resisting wrinkling (see: these photos after a day of wearing). It also feels reeeeeal nice in this heat, a bonus!

The pattern was easy enough to make up – I finished it over a long marathon sewing weekend. I started with a size 6 at the bust and an 8 at the waist/hip, based on the finished measurements. I did make a quick little muslin mock-up of just the bodice, to see how the fit was before I cut into my fabric. The bodice fit well enough, except that the center front gaped like crazy! Surprisingly, the easiest fix was also the most efficient fix – I raised the shoulders by 3/8″, and then took 1/4″ off the side seams starting at the underarm and tapering into the existing seamline below the bust dart. I do think the bust darts are a little high – I should have lowered them after raising the shoulders – but the fit is pretty nice as-is, and the print is busy enough to where you can’t see it. Also, I don’t know what the horizontal fold/wrinkle is doing over my boob. I think it’s from how I’m standing, because it’s normally not there. Except, of course, in these pictures, and it’s making my eye twitch. Argh!

The last fitting alteration I made was right at the end – where I took off a massive amount of skirt length. I don’t even know how much, because I kept chopping and chopping. I started with about 4″ off the pattern tissue itself – because the measurements on the back showed that the back dip would drag the floor on me (I’m 5’2″, so, yeah). Upon finishing the dress – well, apart from the hem and closing up the facings – I realized it was still waaaay too long and the whole thing – print+style combo – was totally overwhelming on me. I just kept cutting that hem, and curving into the front wrap (definitely don’t cut too much off the front wrap or you’ll end up with something very indecent!) until the length looked good.

To sew this up, I used a brand new 70/10 Microtex needle and navy thread. The seams are all French seams – except where the hole is in the side seam (to feed the waist tie through), that one is just turned under and topstitched. I finished the neckline facing with tiny little invisible hand stitches, and the bottom hem is machine rolled. I think that’s it? Pretty straightforward pattern if you ask me!

I don’t know what possessed me to drag the dressform outside for these photos. I mean, they look really nice, but holy hell that thing is heavy! Never doing that again lolol

Here’s the inside – look where my fingers are pointing, you can see the hole for the waist tie. There is also a tiny snap right at the bust where the wrap crosses over, to prevent any northern wardrobe malfunctions. Due to the wrap, a big gust of wind will definitely show some leg at the skirt. I’m ok with this, though. Legggsssssss. Also, see how similar the right and wrong side look? Because of my finishing, it’s actually hard to tell when the dress is inside-out! I have to look for the French seams 🙂 haha!

Overall, I enjoyed working with this pattern and I’m definitely not opposed to making it up again – although probably a different view, because this particular one is a little fancy for my daily use. I’d like to try the shorter, mullet-less skirt with some contrast on the facings. Maybe in a silk? Fancy without really being fancy, yeah?

Note: Every month, Mood Fabrics gives me an allowance to purchase fabric with, in exchange for writing a post on the Mood Sewing Network. This fabric was purchased with that allowance. The pattern was also given to me by the McCall Pattern Company. I like to think it’s because they love me, because I am forever an optimist 🙂

Tags: completed, dress, mccall, McCall Pattern Company, McCall's 7119, Mood Fabrics, Mood Sewing Network, paisley, wrap dress

Comments 66 Comments
Categories completed projects - new, Mood Sewing Network

Completed: The Mission/Skater Mash-up

10 Jul

Now HERE’S an obvious gap in my summer wardrobe that’s finally been filled! A knit tank dress!

I think we can all agree that wearing knit dresses is the ultimate in comfort/secret pajamas. Especially when it’s nasty hot outside!! I looove my knit dresses in every season, but most of them have sleeves and I don’t like wearing sleeves when it’s more than 95 degrees outside. No way.

Since I wasn’t seeing a pattern that fit the look I was going for (and I’ll be honest – I didn’t search very hard. I have a LOT of patterns in my stash and I’d rather mash ’em up whenever possible), I used 2 patterns from my stash to create this awesome mash-up Frankenpattern. Most of this pattern – the skirt, the bodice sizing and proportions – were taken from the Lady Skater dress pattern, which is my favorite knit dress pattern ever and is basically the gift that keeps on giving. For the neckline and arm hole finagling, I copied that straight from the Mission Maxi dress pattern. The result you see here is a fitted racerback tank top with a flared skirt attached to it. Which is exactly the look I was going for. Whew.

I am all about some Frankenpattern magic, and it’s 1000x easier when you’re working with a knit fabric. Much easier to tweak with the fit, and much more forgiving if you decide to forgo a muslin (like I did. Yay! Consider this my wearable muslin, ha). Plus, if you already have a garment that fits the way you like – in my case, the bodice of this skater dress is ACE – then it’s super easy to change up the neckline/sleeve options/skirt and have a totally different garment that still fits the way you like. I love buying new patterns, but I REALLY love knocking out projects that don’t require too much fit futzing. The only fitting I had to do with this dress was take a little bit out of the underarm side seam – maybe 1/4″ on each side. Since there aren’t sleeves there, the sides need to be a little more fitted so they don’t pooch out.

I guess the one downside to this is that you don’t have a set of instructions that are tailored to your garment – but that’s never been a problem for me, as I just kind of pick and choose what techniques to use from which pattern (or I ignore the instructions completely and forge my own method). Again, this dress is a knit, so it’s pretty straight forward. I stabilized the waistline with 1/4″ woven elastic, which keeps it from sagging over the course of the day (truth: these photos were taken on day #2 of wearing this dress. Pretty good recovery there, I’d say!). The neckline and arm holes are finished with the same method outlined in the Mission Maxi instructions – it’s similar to applying bias facing, but you’re not pressing that last 1/4″ under. Instead, you just finish the edge and topstitch it down. Here’s a photo of the guts so you can see –

Clear as mud, yeah? 🙂 It resembles a coverstitch, sort of. More like a binding and less like the knit bands that are used on the Lady Skater (and it feels a bit sturdier, which made me feel ok about not stabilizing the shoulder seams). Oh, and I did all my topstitching with a straight stitch/single needle (on my regular sewing machine). A twin needle or zigzag would be fine for this, but I like the way the single needle looks. Since this isn’t an area that gets a lot of stretch, it’s ok to use a stable stitch here. I also did the same with the hem – just sewn with a straight stitch. Again, as long as it doesn’t need to stretch, it’s fine to use a non-stretch stitch!

The cotton knit fabric is from Mood Fabrics in NYC, which I bought at the store while I was there in March. I wasn’t sure what I was going to make with it (honestly, I was probably thinking Lady Skater at the time), but I was prettttty happy to use it for this dress! I didn’t bother to match the print – it’s a casual dress, and meh – and I think it looks fine.

Here’s the back, again! I like the shape of this racerback because it’s a bit more covered than your standard beater tank. Of course, my bra straps still show – again, meh, whatever. I didn’t bother hiding them for this post, mostly because I don’t hide them in real life and I’m just tryin’ to kEeP iT rEaL~

Conclusion: this dress was easy to make, is comfortable to wear, and SECRET PAJAMAS. Expect to see more of these as I churn them out.

One last thing! I wanted to direct your attention to my newest sponsor – Wawak Sewing! Unfamiliar with Wawak Sewing? They’re a giant sewing supply company – offering everything you need for your sewing studio, from Gutermann thread (Mara 100 is the jam – 1000+ yards for $2.50, oh yes oh yes) to invisible zippers (24″ for 88¢? Don’t mind if I do) to professional boiler irons (ok, that’s probably waaay too much iron for the average home seamstress, but we use these at the studio – as well as when I worked at Muna Couture – and they are seriously incredible) to hymo canvas (for tailoring! I always get my hymo/horsehair interfacing from here because the price is unreal). A lot of the items can be bought in bulk, and the price is pennies on the dollar for what you’d pay at a brick & mortar store (I’m not just talking about cheaper than Joann’s – some of this stuff is cheaper than places in the Garment District, but you get the same quality). Plus, shipping is less than $5 (and free if you buy more than $100 worth of stuff)! I highly recommend you get a free catalog because it’s really fun to flip through – like the Toys’R’Us catalog, except for grown-ups 🙂 They occasionally have sales and discounts, so it’s worth it to be on their mailing list! International peeps – you can also join this sewing party, but you’ll need to call or email to place your order (and I’m going to assume your shipping might be a little more than $5, ha).

I’ve been a loyal customer/rabid fan of Wawak Sewing for years – I started with them back when they were still Atlanta Thread Company – and I’ve had nothing but great experiences with both the service and the products. So I’m pretty thrilled to have them on board as a sponsor, as well as to join their affiliate program (sooo any purchase you make after clicking these links is gonna net me a small commission, fyi!). And you should be thrilled, too, because right now through 9/30/15, you can get 10% off your order of $50 or more at Wawak Sewing if you use the code WLB915. Can’t beat that with a stick! Thanks, Wawak Sewing! ♥

Tags: completed, dress, knit, knit dress, knit fabric, Lady Skater, mission maxi, Mood Fabrics, wawak sewing

Comments 29 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

OAL2015: Attaching the Skirt // Finishing the Cut-Out

7 Jul

Good morning, everyone! My apologies that this post is a day late – I spent one full day of my weekend throwing a 4th of July shindig (complete with a slip-in-slide, food decorated to look like flags, and fireworks at the end of the night. I passed out before the fireworks happened, though, hahahahaha!! I heard they were lovely, anyway!), and then the second full day was much-needed RNR (laying on the couch, coloring and eating leftover party food. I surprisingly was not hungover for this, but I treated it like a hangover day regardless). It was an AWESOME weekend, but I didn’t make the time to write up this post – so you get it on Tuesday! Yay!

ANYWAAAAAY, time to get down to business!

Today we are going to attach the skirt to our bodices, as well as finish that back cut-out. The end is so close!!

First thing you are going to want to do is finish the edge of the back cut-out, using bias facing and the same method we used for the neckline (here’s a refresher on that tutorial if you need it!). Once you get to the back where the interfacing has been applied, you have two options – you can either leave that part unsewn, or attach the bias facing and then unpick it. I prefer to sew+unpick because I like the guidance of the creased seamline, as well as having the seam allowances already trimmed down, but it’s up to you!

Once you’ve finished that, unpick the facing where the interfacing is, plus a little extra (or pat yourself on the back for saving yourself a little extra work!). You’ll do this at both the top and bottom of the interfaced section.

Go ahead and clip off the excess bias facing, leaving at least an inch or so that overlaps where the interfacing starts. Err on the side of longer here – you can always trim off more later if you need to.

Notch the fabric right where the interfacing starts, going about 1/4″ in, or the depth of your seam allowance.

Finish the edge of the interfaced section howeverrrr you want. I just serged mine.

Now fold the interfaced section back on itself, right sides together, along the center. The edge that you just finished should meet right against the edge where you clipped that notch.

Sew along both short ends, following your seam allowance (this is where the guidance of an unpicked edge comes in handy). Be careful not to catch the ends of the bias facing just yet.

Ooh, look! New manicure! Haha!

Turn the interfaced section right side out. To get a nice, sharp corner: first off, don’t clip that corner or trim your seam allowances unless they’re bigger than 1/4″. Use your fingers to push the seam allowance in one direction all the way to the point (I’ve found this is easiest when I hold it the way you see in the photo)…

Keep your fingers holding that seam allowance in place and start turning everything right side out…

Use your pointer finger for the final little push.

You should have a pretty good-looking corner at this point, but you can also use a point turner (or a knitting needle, or a chopstick, or a pencil, or whatever you have on hand) to gently coax that corner out a little more. Don’t mash it around, just manipulate the seam allowance over until everything looks good. Repeat for the other corner.

Here’s where we are so far!

Now take those floppy ends of the bias facing and tuck them into the little pocket you just created.

Pin the finished edge into place and sew everything down. I also topstitch 1/4″ around the outside edges, to match the rest of the topstitching on the dress.

Done! Now do the other side 😛 haha!

Ok, now for attaching the skirt!

Pin and sew the skirt to the bodice, matching notches and seamlines, and using your normal 5/8″ seam allowance. The bodice will be quite a bit shorter than the skirt – that’s the back cut-out, and we’re gonna deal with that next. If you want to add piping to your waistline seam, now is the time to do it (well, I did it, anyway! ha! It’s easier if the piping does not extend all the way around the waist – end it right where the bodice ends).

Trim the seam allowance down along the top of the skirt that isn’t attached to the bodice, leaving yourself 1/4″ seam allowance for dealing with the bias facing. Then clip a notch where the bodice stops – this was hard to photograph, so right where my scissors are pointing! You can also see where my piping ends; it’s the little black rectangle below. Don’t clip your notice any deeper than the seam allowance.

Attach the bias facing along the top edge of the skirt, stopping at the notch you just clipped. Allow about 1/4″ or so of bias excess so you can tuck it under itself.

Here’s a closer picture. Once you’ve sewn the first swipe of bias facing (and understitched, if you’re doing that), take everything over to the ironing board and press the seam allowances up, and then the excess over to the wrong side (at the end that’s next to the bodice). If you added piping, the tail end of your piping should also be in this equation.

Now fold the bias facing to the wrong side, as normal, and pin in place. All your raw edges should be encased and the corners of the bias facing should be pretty close to one another (if not butted up against each other).

Finally, just stitch the bias facing down. Once you get to the corner where the other section of bias facing is, lower your needle and pivot, stitch along the existing stitching line just a little bit, then backtack. This will reinforce that corner and secure everything.

Here it is from the right side. If you want to be extra secure, you can also sew a diagonal line to the point of the intersecting facings.

I’m not really sure why I took a second picture of this, but here you go.

Ok, that’s all for today! Let me know if any of this needs clarification or if you have any questions 🙂

Tags: bias facing, dress, McCalls 6887, oal, OAL2015, sewalong, tutorial

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Categories tutorial

Completed: Vogue 1395, Modified!

3 Jun

I reckon I have time for one last post before I leave! 😛

May this dress be forever known as one of the bitchiest I’ve ever sewn. Sewing silk crepe is a challenge enough of it’s own – but throwing plaid into the mix? I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought this fabric (probably something like, “Ooh! Plaid silk crepe! My favorites! lololol”), but the fact that I not only sewed it up but actually finished the dang project is something of a miracle for me. It certainly didn’t give me an easy time.

The pattern I used is Vogue 1395, which is a Rebecca Taylor design from last summer. I’ve made the pattern before in cherry printed silk crepe, and it’s one of my favorite summer dresses. It’s SUPER comfy, but still pretty cute! I knew I wanted to make a second one, but I wanted to try to figure out a way to make it without the back overlay. I love the back overlay, but it can shift over the course of the day and kind of make the arm holes hang weird. Plus, I wanted to improve on my first version (namely, the low arm holes that had to be emergency-raised and thus the seams are pretty wonky).

First, my pattern modifications. Remembering those awful armholes, I shortened the depth by a good 1.5″ or so. I actually wanted to shorten them more, but I was afraid I’d really fuck up the pattern, so I erred on the side of less. This gives the arm holes a much better depth (much more suited to my petite proportions), although you can still see a tiny bit of bra if I move a certain way. Ah, c’est la vie.

I kept the front bodice the same (other than the arm holes). I re-traced the back bodice and copied the shoulder width from the overlay to the shoulder area of my new back bodice (the OG back bodice in the pattern has narrow shoulders, and the overlay matches the front piece. This probably doesn’t make sense if you haven’t seen the pattern pieces). I redrew the bottom armscye to have a little curve, similar to the front (the overlay also doesn’t have that – it just goes straight, since it’s supposed to pull across to the front). Aaaaand that’s about it! Pretty easy modifications.

Sewing up the actual pattern – again, with modifications, since I was omitting the overlay, as well as the skirt lining – was simple. Sewed the front and back together at the shoulders and side seams, added the bias binding for the necklines and arm holes, and then sewed the front closed. I sewed the skirt side seams, attached the skirt to the bodice, and then folded up the seam allowance and topstitched it down to create a casing for the elastic waist. The skirt has a simple rolled hem, and all the interior seams are french seams. Because of the bias binding, there’s quite a bit of topstitching on this dress, which I really like.

Sewing – and cutting, for that matter – silk crepe actually isn’t that difficult. Of course, it’s marginally harder than sewing, say, quilting cotton, but it’s not this terrible beast that you have to wrangle and beg and plead with. The spongey texture of the crepe gives the silk something to grab onto, so it doesn’t really shift much while sewing. It can be a little floaty when you’re trying to cut it, but I just make sure my table has enough space to hold the whole yardage and that helps a lot. You’ll want to use a sharp, new needle for sewing, and silk pins for pinning.

What gave me the most trouble with this damn dress was the fact that it’s a plaid fabric. Cutting was a NIGHTMARE – like I said, silk crepe is sorta shifty at best, but as long as you’re staying on grain and getting the pattern pieces straight, it’s not too bad. Throw in strong horizontal lines and some plaid that has to match, and then it becomes an epic journey. I gave up on trying to match the plaid perfectly, and instead just focused on getting the lines to match across the seamlines. This was something I also had to focus on while sewing – again, a little shifting and/or growing is ok when you’re sewing a solid color or a busy print, but for these strong lines, you have to pay attention to make sure everything matches up at the seams. I pinned the shit out of things and used a walking foot while sewing, but man, thank god there are only a handful of seams in this dress. Otherwise, I might have ended up flipping a table over out of sheer rage.

Overall, though, everything matches up pretty well! The center front seam is a bit unfortunate looking with how the plaids lined up – but whatever. The back bodice does not quite match the back skirt – the lines are unbroken, but they’re the wrong lines (whoops). The elastic waist really helps to hide that, though, and at least it’s not at the front! The shoulder seams don’t match at all, but that’s the nature of ~~the~~ ~~beast~~ this pattern. Ya gotta pick your battles.

When I finished the dress, I was a little underwhelmed with how it looked on me – I wasn’t a fan of how the bodice bloused over the elastic (the overlay ties over it and flattens things, but since I didn’t have the overlay, I had the blousiness). Belts are usually my solution for this, but those looked strange, too. So I made a little self-fabric tie, out of my remaining scraps. The dimensions are as much as I could get away with from the scraps. I just sewed a tube with bias ends and turned it right side out.

I also didn’t like the length, so I cut it REALLY short. Go ahead, judge me 😛

Close-up shots:

Final thoughts of this dress – love it, was totally worth the effort. The plaid matching, while not perfect, is good enough for me. I really love this silk print and I’m glad I pushed through to finish, although I don’t think I’ll be picking up any more plaid silk crepe anytime soon. Sewing this pattern made me want another of the unmodified version, though, so I made one last night – and it turned out beeeeyoutiful! You can see the Instagram peek here. Stay tuned in a couple weeks for that blog post, I guess!

I took these pictures in the woods because the sun was SUPER bright, and it’s awesome how much coverage the trees give! This is right outside my door, too. Amelia was sitting at the screen, complaining at me. The woods surrounding our house are on a bit of an incline, hence the slight bobble-head vibe I’m throwing here. Also, in case you were wondering and/or freaking out – I’m not allergic to poison ivy 🙂 haha 🙂 I don’t think any shows in these photos, but it’s aaaalll over the place back there!

With all that being said, I’m taking a blog sabbatical for the next couple of weeks! My trip to Peru leaves tomorrow afternoon, and we will be gone through 6/18. I am not sure if I will have internet access while I’m away – definitely will be off for at least a week while I’m in Iquitos, because there’s no reception where I’m staying – but I’m not bringing my computer, so I can’t really answer emails. Fair warning in advance if you try to email me or holler with a question, because it’ll probably go unanswered the whole time I’m gone! I’m looking forward to spending some time unplugged and exploring another continent with my bestie, though!

See y’all in a couple of weeks!

Tags: completed, dress, like a boss, peru, plaid, plaid matching, sabbatical, silk, silk crepe, silk dress, Vogue 1395

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Categories completed projects - new

Completed: Be-Zazzle’d McCall’s 6887 (+ a GIVEAWAY!)

20 Apr

I shared a little sneak peek of this dress in my last post (which, by the way – if you haven’t browsed through the comments, you absolutely should! I LOVED reading everyone’s stories!), and I had quite a few comments and emails from people asking what the pattern was and where I got the fabric. I’m sorry that I had to hold out on y’all – photography was just NOT happening that day – but I’m happy to be able to share the whole shebang with you today! Hopefully you’ll think it was worth the wait 😉

Introducing – my first make for Summer 2015, the Be-Zazzle’d Pineapple dress 😀 I don’t ever name my makes (partially because that would be a LOT of names to come up with, and partially because, well, as you can clearly see – I’m not very good at naming things hahaha), but naming this one was just toooo easy. Sorry if it made you groan. DGAF.

I guess we should talk about the fabric first, because it’s slightly more of a focal point than the pattern (tho I promise we will get to the pattern soon!). It’s hard to see from these far-out pictures, but my dress is covered in tiny pineapples! Cartoon-y pineapples, to be exact, since we all know those are the cutest pineapples. And, unlike cherries, I actually really really really love pineapples. I have been known to eat an entire pineapple in one sitting, and I have no regrets. Well, maybe my mouth does, but it has learned to deal.

Here’s a close-up of the fabric. Isn’t it so awesome? It’s definitely a cutesy little novelty print, but it’s not quite so in-your-face as some of the novelty prints you find on quilting cottons. It’s a little more subtle (well, as subtle as you can get with cartoon-y pineapples on a watercolor turquoise blue background), and it’s just pretty. I love it so much!

The fabric is called “Tropical Summertime Watercolor Pineapple,” and it from Zazzle. Did you know that Zazzle prints custom, on-demand fabric? Neither did I! This is a new venture that they’ve recently rolled out, and they offered me a few yards to try out and see if I liked it. Um, you guys. IT IS AMAZING. Granted, most of the fabrics offered are Home Decor weight, but they do have a classic combed cotton (similar to quilting cotton) and a Pima cotton, which are both suitable for apparel. I decided to go with the Pima cotton, and I chose an existing design. You can absolutely design your own print – I just didn’t want to go that route personally because I don’t really have a good eye for things like fabric design! I’d rather let someone else handle that part and let me make the dress 😉

Pima cotton is very easy to work with – it’s similar to quilting cotton, just lighter (but not quite as light as, say, voile). It doesn’t fray much and it cuts and sews like a dream. It doesn’t press quite as well as some other cottons – I just used my clapper to hold the seams down while they cooled, and that worked fine (your hand also works in place of a clapper, but don’t burn yourself! Ask me how I know. Also, ask me why I ended up getting a clapper, haha). The only minor downside is that, since the fabric is printed, the design only shows on one side – so the wrong side is white. This isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, but it’s certainly something to be aware of when choosing a pattern. You don’t want to use one that will show the wrong side of the fabric, unless that’s part of your ~design inspiration.

I pre-washed my fabric before sewing it, and I definitely got a little bit of color fading. Not as much as you’d think – the colors of the fabric upon arrival weren’t quite as neon as they are in that product photo! – but they are a little muted. I actually like them better this way, so I’m ok with that! I washed the fabric on cold and dried it on low, same as I pre-treat all of my fabric. Going forward, I plan on washing this as infrequently as I can get away with (I mean, short of stinking up a 5 foot radius around me or anything like that) and when I do wash it, I will turn it inside-out and hang it to dry on the line. I imagine if this was hand-washed and hung to dry, it would probably retain it’s colors a bit better, but I’m a woman who ain’t got time to hand-wash her clothes (and, tbh, I only line-dry because then it means I don’t have to iron hahahahahaha), so I can live with a little fading.

Now for the pattern! Since the fabric has a good amount of body, I wanted to use that to it’s advantage and make something with a bit of sleek structure. I used Mccall 6887, which has front princess seams, a scoop neck, a flared skirt – and this awesome back detail:

WHICH IS BASICALLY MY FAVORITE THING EVER AT THE MOMENT.

For sizing, I cut the bodice in a size 6 with an A/B cup (I don’t 100% understand these cup sizes because I definitely don’t wear anything close to an A/B cup in real life, but whatever. The sewing pattern fits and that’s all that matters, I guess.) and graded out the waist and hips to the size 8. I chose these sizes based off the finished measurements, and I’m really happy with how the dress ended up fitting (my measurements put me in a “suggested” size 10, which as you could see here would have ended up way too big. Use the finished measurements, y’all! Trust me!). It’s actually pretty perfect straight out of the envelope – I didn’t have to do anything! Even the straps are a good length, which is really surprising to me as I usually have to shorten them. I cut about 3″ off the skirt length because it was otherwise unflatteringly long, but that’s typical for me.

In the future, I am going to re-draw the curve at the bottom of the back cut out, because it’s not quite in the right place. My bra tends to poke out just slightly from the bottom 😦 It’s not the worst deal – honestly, I’ll probably just make a cute bra to wear with this dress bc that’s how I roll – but it’s annoying nonetheless. I tucked it out of the way for these photos, which is why you don’t see it, but I’m pretty sure it’s just gonna hang low and be free when I’m actually wearing it.

I love the style of this dress, but I don’t completely agree with the construction methods presented in the pattern – some of them seemed needlessly complicated. The dress is designed to be worn with a lining, which finishes the neckline, arm holes and back all in one swoop. Awesome, I guess, but I definitely want to be wearing as few layers as possible during the summer! Instead of lining this dress, I finished all the openings with self bias facing. It was a slight puzzle to figure out the bottom of the back opening and dealing with that zipper, but it turned out pretty nice!

I also did not actually sew button holes to the back – I just lapped those two pieces over each other and sewed them down. The buttons are there strictly for decoration. I had every intention of adding the buttons- there is interfacing there and everything – but I realized that the buttons would gape open and look stupid, and also, they’re hard to close by myself because they’re in that weird spot in the middle of my back that I can hardly wash, let alone button. So this dress just slips right over my head. It’s a little bit of a wiggle, but it’s not too bad.

Oh, and I added pockets! The pattern doesn’t come with them, so I stole a pocket piece from another dress pattern in my stash.

There’s an invisible zipper at the center back of the skirt, which helps with getting everything on. I actually had this zipper in my stash – it’s one of those dumb metal invisible zippers (seems like a good idea, until you try sewing one and realize that it’s basically impossible for it to be concealed, which is the WHOLE FUCKING POINT of a concealed zipper. And now we all know why these zippers don’t exist anymore), which I hate, but it was the perfect color, so I took one for the team and made it happen. Also, check out my matching serger thread – also from the stash! I love it when that happens 😀

Here is the bias binding. There are two lines of stitching because I understitched the facing instead of pressing it with the first pass (here is my method for adding bias facing, if you missed that post!). Also, I cut a metric shit-ton of the bias tape and only used a fraction of it, so expect more pineapple bias facing in future blog posts.

I don’t really have anything else to say about this pattern, so have another photo of the back:

OH YEA.I definitely love this dress and I definitely plan on making more – I don’t even care if the open back is super one of a kind and that it’ll be obvious that I have several of the same dress. Whatever!

Ok everyone! So, as I mentioned in the title of this post – it’s time for another giveaway! Yay! Zazzle has generously offered to give one lucky reader a $75 gift certificate to spend on the ~custom fabric of your dreams~. You can design your own, or choose from the thousands of designs that they have available, and $75 is enough to get at least 2 yards out of most of the available designs. Below are some of my favorites (I seriously spent about 2 weeks agonizing before I finally settled on the watercolor pineapples), you can also see my entire wishlist here.

Citrus Lemon fabric

Neon 80s Fabric

Fast Food Fabric

Colorful Bright Tropical Summer Holiday Fabric

Tropical // Fruit Fabric

Nautical Watercolor Hand Painted Plaid Pattern Fabric

Nautical Watercolor Plaid Fabric

Cute pink green watercolour trendy cactus pattern fabric

Watercolour Cactus Fabric

Parrot Fabric

Kitty Fabric

And, my personal favorite: this is what I found when I searched for “Butthurt” (look – I was waiting on car repairs and I was bored, and the Zazzle app is really entertaining, ok?):

My Butt Hurts! - What? Bunny Pattern Fabric

My Butt Hurts! – What? Bunny Fabric

All right! To enter this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post (PLEASE include an email address where I can reach you – you don’t have to enter it in the comment box, but it needs to be at least viewable to me from an admin end or I can’t count your entry 😦 ) and let me know what fabric you would choose if you won. If you want to tell me what you’d make with your amazing fabric, do that too! You know I like to be nosy 🙂 This contest is open WORLDWIDE, but you must be 18 or older to enter. Winners will receive the equivalent of $75 USD and are bound by the T&C of the Zazzle gift certificate. Entries will close one week from today, MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 at 6:30 AM and the winner will be drawn at random.

Good luck, everyone!

** Disclosure: Zazzle provided me with this fabric free of charge, in exchange for a review. All opinions expressed in this blog post are my own, though! Also, I am an affiliate with Zazzle, so any purchases you make at Zazzle by clicking the links in this post will net me a small percentage of the sale. Which I will likely use to buy more custom-printed fabric from Zazzle. The end! 🙂

Tags: bias facing, completed, cotton, custom fabric, cut out, dress, fruity fabric, mccalls, McCalls 6887, novelty prints, on demand fabric, pima cotton, pineapples, zazzle

Comments 278 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: the Colette Myrtle Knit Dress

17 Mar

I am so excited that today’s post doesn’t involve sleeves or pants.

It does, however, involve a navy striped knit fabric. Sorry! Don’t fall asleep on your keyboard! Landon already told me I’m not allowed to buy anymore navy striped knit fabric haha. I guess we all have a type, and I have just announced mine to the internet.

This is the Myrtle from Colette patterns, a knit dress with a cowl neckline and an elasticized waist. You guys, I’m going to be straight up front and honest with you – I apparently bought this pattern, and then somehow COMPLETELY forgot about it until a couple of weeks ago when I was digging through my pattern stash in search of another pattern. So I’m a little late on the bandwagon with this one, however, it’s probably ok timing on my end since I don’t think this sleeveless style would have gotten much wear over the winter!

Anyway, discovering the pattern and then realizing that I had the perfect knit patiently waiting to be sewn up, meant that this project skipped straight to the top of the queue and everything else had to wait. Ha ha!

My past few experiences with Colette patterns have resulted in some questionable fitting (I think I’m about sized out of their patterns – at least the knits. Wah!), so I made a muslin of the bodice before I got to sewing my fabric. This ended up being a really good idea, because the bodice was all kinds of wrong on me! I knew the bust would be big – the finished measurements for the size 0 are still about 4″ bigger than my bust, and while I know a little bit of positive ease is good with this style, that seemed like too much to me. In the end, everything about the top portion of the dress was just toooooo big and not at all proportional to my body. The arm holes were also really low – like, you could see at least half of my bra band when I stood to the side.

I ended up shortening the shoulders by more than 1″ (I start with a 1/2″ adjustment by slashing the pattern about halfway across the armsyce, to shorten the depth, but that ended up being not enough so I took the rest out of the actual shoulders after the dress was sewn up. Hence why I can’t give you an exact measurement for that adjustment) and taking in the bust by about 1/2″ on either side. I didn’t make any adjustments to the waist – it needs to be a little big so you can add the elastic – but the bust needed to be somewhat tighter or else the entire world was gon’ get a side peep show. As it stands now, I think the bust could still be sized down more, but I didn’t want to overfit the dress so I left it as is.

The dress has a clever assembly – the front is self-lined (so you don’t see any ugly wrong side in the folds of the cowl) and the front arm holes are finished with all raw edges inside the lining. The back neck and arm holes are finished with a simple turned under hem – in my case, with the twin needle. The elastic has a channel sewn, and then wide elastic is inserted and topstitched down. This was the hardest part of making the dress – I found it a bit fiddly, and as a result, my stitches at the waist aren’t exactly straight (but, I mean, who’s looking? Right? RIGHT?). I think it might be easier to just feed the elastic through the channel once both sides are sewn down. There are supposed to be pockets, but I left those off bc I hate pockets in knit dresses (and freedom, too, apparently). There is a whole sewalong dedicated to this pattern if you are interested in seeing the construction, btw. It’s hosted by Devon, aka my favorite Disney Princess.

Even with the fitting adjustments, the muslin, and the manhandled elastic – this dress came together very quickly! Its a very easy make (4 pieces, not including the pockets) and I just zipped it all through my serger and used the aforementioned twin needle for all the turned hems. It’s also insanely comfortable, and I think the looser/breezy fit is going to be my gold standard with the blazes of Hell start blasting through Tennessee this summer.

I really love this fabric, especially with how the stripes look on the cowl! The knit is a Ralph Lauren ~dazzling blue~ striped viscose jersey (their words, not mine) from Mood Fabrics’ website. It’s a nice, slinky 2 way stretch knit with a gorgeous drape that feels wonderful to wear. Definitely bought this without any idea in mind of what I’d do with it, but I think I found a good match 🙂

I seem to have no pictures of this dress without the belt (I could have sworn I took some on the dressform, but they are gone. Or else they never happened, which is likely the case here), but here’s an shot I posted on Instagram last week. I think the encased elastic is a pretty touch (you will never EVER hear me say that again, by the way), but on this dress + stripes + lose bodice with cowl neck…. just didn’t look right on me. Hence why it’s covered with a belt. I’m still not completely convinced that this dress is very flattering on me, but, I like the fabric and it’s super comfy, so it stays.

Front bodice with self-lining.

Enclosed elastic on the inside. The elastic casing is created with a zigzag stitch, per the pattern instructions.

Anyway, I think it’s pretty cute! I like it with the yellow belt, and it also looks good with my tall brown boots and a cardigan (which is how I wore it last week). The only thing to keep in mind with this pattern is that it is NOT bend-over friendly. No photo evidence to be found here, but just trust me… leaning over is the best way to give the nearest stranger an eyeful. I haven’t found a way to rectify that (some of my other cowls can be pinned to my bra cup, or even have a little piece of elastic or a weight to hold it down, but the design of this cowl doesn’t allow for that), but I thought I’d point it out. One thing I might add later down the line is some little bra strap holders at the shoulders.

SO happy we finally had a warm week here! It’s been pushing over 70 the past couple of days, with loads of sunshine, and it just feels *amazing* outside. The season of bare legs is upon us, at least for this week! Kind of a bummer that I’m going to leave all this to go to cold ol’ NY this weekend (I classify everything under 70*F as “frigid” just fyi), but I’m pretty excited for this class this weekend! Plus, fabric shopping. Can’t visit NY without coming home with a suitcase full of pretty new fabrics, amirite 😉

Tags: colette, completed, dress, dresses, knit, knit dress, Mood Fabrics, myrtle, ralph lauren, stripes, viscose

Comments 61 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: The Francoise Dress

11 Mar

Y’ALL. It’s like, practically spring here. After our freak ice and snow storm last week (which was the SECOND one we had this year – never happens! The last big ice storm we had was 20 years ago), the sunshine came back with a vengeance and obliterated the piles of snow (ok, 3″ here. THAT IS A LOT FOR NASHVILLE, OK!) within a couple of days. Thanks to the combination of 60* afternoons and the return of Daylight Savings Time, it’s really starting to feel super good here. Yay for spring!

So, with all that being said – I give you my first official warm-weather make of 2015! Hey, Francoise, how you doin’?

Francoise is Tilly’s newest pattern release, and by “new” I mean it’s been around since November. Which is exactly how long I’ve been meaning to make it up. I got my hands on the pattern when I was in London (full disclosure – Tilly gave it to me when we met up and waved her hand when I offered to pay for it. It wasn’t given to me in exchange for a posted review or anything, but, I thought I’d point that out regardless! I know some people feel that a review can be biased if the reviewer didn’t personally pay for the pattern), I made a muslin while I was there, and I looked for my ~perfect~ Francoise fabric on every fabric shopping trip we made. The truth is, I was stunted on fabric choice, so the pattern had to wait while I figured my shit out.

Anyway, I think the fabric I ended up with was a pretty PERFECT match, amirite? This gorgeous purple and pink floral cotton sateen is from Mood Fabrics, and it combined with the Francoise is basically a perfect marriage. The small amount of stretch and crisp drape make it perfect for the pattern, and the simple shape and exaggerated flare make the pattern perfect for the fabric. I love it when this shit happens!

I made the size 1, based on the finished measurements. The only minor change I made was to take a slightly wider seam allowance at the top of the invisible zipper, just because it was gaping a little. I also removed about 3/4″ from the hem length. I’m 5’2″, so taller ladies may want to consider adding some length because it’s a pretty short skirt!

Cotton sateen is REALLY easy to work with – like, beginner-level easy (it doesn’t shift, doesn’t fray, presses well, etc) – so construction was super straightforward. You really just need a fresh needle and a hot iron to coax this fabric into submission. I finished all my seams with my serger, and topstitched the neckline, arm holes and hem. The neckline is finished with a facing, and the arm holes are finished with self bias facing. Both of these are covered in the pattern. I followed the pattern directions as they were written for the bias facing on the arm holes, and while they’re great – I prefer my method, as I think it’s a little easier/fool-proof.

Also, looking at that back view just made me realize that the two back prints are mirrored. HAHAHA uhh… oh, look, there’s a rouge thread, too. GOD, I need to get my shit together. Ok, moving on!

Because my print is all crazy awesome and takes all the attention, here’s a close-up of the design elements of the dress that actually make is super cute. I love the raglan seams, and the French darts are so pretty! Also – can we talk about how the floral pattern on the fabric looks like watercolors? YUM.

Now here is the dress without me or a belt. I will be honest – when I finally finished everything and put it on, I wasn’t crazy about how it looked at me. I think part of it is the color palette (I LOVE that freaking fabric, but I feel like I look like an ass every time I wear pink or purple. It’s not because of my hair color clashing or whatever. I’ve felt that way about pink and purple for a couple years now) and part of it is the fact that the dress doesn’t have a waist seam. I don’t know why, but I feel like a smooth shape with no waist seam doesn’t look right on me (is that weird?). Once I added black tights and a thin belt, I really started to see the cute factor in this dress. I think the black also tones down the overwhelming girly colors, and I like that too. Ideally, I would have loved to put a black collar on the dress, but I didn’t have any black fabric on hand. Maybe in the future I can make a detachable one, idk.

Believe it or not, I didn’t buy that zipper for this dress. No, I just *happened* to have a perfectly-matched lavender invisible zipper in my stash. Again, I don’t really wear purple (and especially not lavender), so I have no idea how that happened, but I’ve had it for a few years now. Glad I finally put that shit to good use lolol

That’s all for now! Let’s just cross our fingers that I didn’t inadvertently welcome another fucking 6 weeks of winter by announcing spring’s impending arrival. I did that a lot last year and it was way lame.

** Note: All fabrics for this project were provided to me in exchange for a review post as per my involvement with the Mood Sewing Network.

Tags: completed, cotton sateen, dress, francoise dress, Mood Fabrics, Mood Sewing Network, shift dress, Tilly, Tilly and the Buttons

Comments 58 Comments
Categories completed projects - new, Mood Sewing Network

Completed: A French Terry Lola Dress

11 Dec

Good morning, everyone! I guess I’m back to posting about sewing things… it was a nice hiatus, anyway! I had a lovely vacation, a very relaxing weekend at home, and now working on a new big sewing project (a coat for Landon!). In the meantime, I have a small backlog of projects that I’ve been meaning to post, so obviously I will start with the most recent one first, because it is my most favoritest.

LOLA LOLA, I LOVE LOLA.

Y’all remember the Lola sweatshirt dress, right? Gah, sometimes I feel like – with the influx of new patterns coming out at such a rapid pace (which is not necessarily a bad thing – but it can get overwhelming at times!), we forget about the really good ones that are just a little bit older. And by older – sometimes that’s as “old” as a few months! So I’ve made it a point to re-visit some of my favorites and make them up in new fabrics. I mean, they’re a favorite for a reason, yeah? 🙂 (but don’t worry – I’ll obviously still sew up new releases as well because, ooh, new and shiny!).

Anyway, Lola was always one of my favorites! A really fun and flattering twist on the sweatshirt – here’s a princess-seamed sweatshirt dress! I’ve made this pattern twice before (see: one and two), so I knew it was a winner. Side note: While version 1 gets worn aaaallll the time (love that dress!), version 2 is gone. The cheap fabric I used meant that the dress was constantly pilling and just looked old and shitty, so I removed it from my house. So that’s that. Also, wow, I sort of almost miss having brown hair now.

Since I’ve already made this pattern before, this was a very quick and satisfying sew. I sewed up the size 2, and then made further adjustments to get the fitted/streamlined look you see here. I started by using 5/8″ seam allowances (the pattern calls for 3/8″, but I’m a little bit smaller than the smallest measurements so this helped with sizing down a little), and then took in the waist another 1/2″ or so at every seam. Speaking of which, I really ought to adjust my pattern pieces for this shit because I go through this damn trying on/adjusting/trying on/adjusting rigamarole EVERY DAMN TIME I make this dress! Maybe that should be my New Year’s resolution – adjust my pattern pieces when I do fitting changes haha. That would save me a lot of trouble.

One thing to keep in mind if you’re making this pattern – if you want to adjust the fit at the waist, try on the dress before you attach the skirt. From there, you can pinch out the princess seams to get the fit you like (just remember to do the same to the skirt pieces so the seams match up!), but be careful not to overfit, as this really isn’t that type of dress.

Other changes I made to the pattern: I lengthened the sleeves to full-length (and redrafted the cuff piece accordingly), left off the hem band (and sewed a deep 2″ hem), and left off the pockets. Actually, those are the same changes I made to my last 2 dress. Whateverrr!

Also, wtf is going on with my hair in the last picture? And why do I look so… disgruntled?

The fabric that I used for this dress is pretty fabulous! I’ve mentioned before that I get fabric from Elizabeth Suzann’s wholesale orders (ah, the perks of working in sewing!) – that’s where this stuff came from. It’s French Terry, and it came with MATCHING RIB KNIT, which I used for the neckline and cuffs. The right side of the French Terry is a smooth knit with defined stitches, and the wrong side has the most beautiful, plush loops that make this shit SO FUCKING COZY. We use it at Elizabeth Suzann to make sweaters and sweater dresses – although there, we sew the fabric wrong-side out because it looks so cool (see the Billie Sweater). For me, though, I wanted my dress to be warm and cozy – so the loops stayed to the inside. Funny, after sewing all those sweaters – this side looks rather plain 🙂 It is, however, easier to see the cool seaming details this way, so that’s good!

Sewing this fabric was fine, if not a little messy (French Terry will shed like NO OTHER, so I would really hesitate to sew this without a serger – you need some way to finish the seams). Because the fabric is so thick, my serger had some difficulties at first with stitch tension – everything was super wavy. I just upped the differential feed to the max and tweaked the stitch size, and that spaced out the stitches enough so that the seams lie flat. Speaking of which, pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve ever had to tinker with the settings on my serger. For the most part, it does everything automatically without my input (it’s a BabyLock Imagine, in case you were curious. The queen of sergers!).

Sorry these pictures are kind of crappy/all over the place. I guess I’m out of habit at this point, ha!

Here’s an accidental picture that really showcases the fabric! I used the wrong side for the little sweatshirt V. And check out that ribbing! Love it when it matches 😀

I guess that’s it! Really glad to have another cozy winter dress to add to my arsenal – and this one is pretty freaking cozy (while still being cute!).

One last thing – ChatterBlossom (one of my sponsors + an all-around gorgeous gal) is currently having a holiday sale! Use the code LLADYBIRD15 for 15% off your purchase, good through 12/15 (so, soon!). Whether you need a last-minute gift for someone – or for yourself (I always buy myself Christmas gifts, because I always ALWAYS get myself the best presents! Such as this necklace, ahem) – definitely check her out! I love Jamie’s stuff, and the detail in some of the pieces (such as this elephant or this mosquito) is INSANE. Actually, that’s a ChatterBlossom piece I’m wearing in these photos – the navy anchor button 🙂 Love it!

Tags: ChatterBlossom, completed, dress, elizabeth suzann, french terry, knit, knit fabric, Lola, Victory Patterns

Comments 32 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: The Lady Renfrew

12 Nov

Question: What do you get when you combine the Lady Skater with the Renfrew??

Answer: The awesomest, snuggliest, Lady Renfrew dress, of course!

There’s not much to say about this dress – I basically just summed it up in the first sentence. This will be a relatively short post, ha (is that even possible for me to accomplish? Time will tell). Anyway, I used a combination of the two patterns to create this Frankenpatterned dress. The bodice, skirt and sleeves came from the Lady Skater, which after much careful testing, I’ve decided is my favorite favorite favorite knit dress pattern. The bodice fits me really well, the sleeves are a good fit/length (all sleeve length options, I mean), and I love the flared-but-not-costumey-looking skirt. Everything about this pattern is exactly what I like in a knit dress, so it was the obvious choice for the base of this dress. To get the cowl neck, I left off the neck binding and instead used the cowl from view C of the Renfrew tshirt. I compared the two patterns to see if I’d need to make any modifications, and the necklines were surprisingly similar (fwiw, I use the size 2 Lady Skater and the size 0 in the Renfrew). So similar, that all I did was just sew the pieces together and that was it. I don’t remember what seam allowance I used to attach the two (Lady Skater is drafted for 3/8″, and Renfrew is 5/8″), knowing me – probably 1/2″ because it’s in the ~middle~. Or something dumb like that. Whatever, it worked out regardless! 😀

The real bitch part of making this dress was cutting the dang fabric. I had 3 things to pay attention to while I was cutting this – matching the print horizontally across the seams; being mindful of fabric usage (I barely had enough!); and actual print placement. I cut it so the darker stripes cross my waist, and the lighter stripes cross my bust. I think that’s a flattering look for me, plus, I love the way the white print kind of frames my head (that’s a bonus, because I totally cut it that way with the intention of it making my boobs look slightly bigger hahaha). I didn’t do any print matching on the cowl. I ran out of fabric and actually had to cut the underlayer with a seam. It worked out, though!

AND NOW I HAVE THIS BIG SNUGGLY COWLLLLLL WOOHOO!

I think the fabric is what really makes this dress! And by makes, I mean it’s slightly over-the-top – I’m almost afraid to wear it before Christmas season, ha. It’s like a giant, awesome black and white Ikat Christmas sweater. I bought it from The Fabric Studio here in Nashville; it’s the same fabric I used to make my Ooh La Yoga Pants. While it wasn’t 100% ideal for yoga pants, it’s pretty freaking fabulously good for this sort of dress. The fabric is nice and stable, cozy, and works really well for this sort of pattern.

I especially love how the cowl looks. Yay cowls!

So, what do you think? Lady Skater+Renfrew – do we have a perfect partnership here, or what?

Two more things:
1. Giant thanks to everyone who attended my class at The Sewing Party on Saturday! I had so much fun chatting with y’all (although I’ll admit – I kept my video on mute! Can’t handle the sound of my own voice blaring at me ahaha) and I’d love to do more video-related stuff if the opportunity ever arises again 🙂 Y’all are the best! Just wanted to give all my students (and future students, for those of you who will be watching the class sometime during the next 90 days) a head’s up – I forgot to remind you to download the handout for my class! I know, bad teacher! Anyway, it’s a little PDF document with all the class info written out – along with photo tutorials for each zipper insertion. You can find it to the left of the video, under handouts and chats.

2. The big closing sale at Sweet Little Chickadee is still going strong! Juli has upped the ante a little bit – now use the code SHOPCLOSINGSALE to get 35% off your entire order! This code is good until all the stock runs out!

3. I recently found out that I was named one of the top 50 sewing blogs in Budrastyle‘s Best of Blogging contest. COOL! I’ll be honest – I had no idea I was even nominated (or that this contest was even a thing) until I got the congratulatory email. Big huge thank you to whoever nominated me, and even bigger huger thank you to everyone who voted for me! Y’all are seriously the best! I’m not worthy! 😉

Tags: best of blogging, burda style, completed, cowl, dress, ikat, knit, knit fabric, lady renfrew, Lady Skater, renfrew, the fabric studio, the sewing party