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OAL2016: My Finished Outfit!

What up, everyone! It’s practically the end of the July – two days left to go! – which means one thing ’round these parts… The Outfit-Along is nearly over!

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I’ve had a lot of fun with the pieces this year – both making and wearing them! – and I’m excited to finally show you guys my finished sweater + skirt!

Here is the complete outfit!

The sweater is Zinone by Andi Satterlund, and the skirt is a Hollyburn from Sewaholic Patterns.

Zinone was made using the suggested yarn, Quince + Co Sparrow (the color is Moon), which is a fingering weight linen yarn. This was my first time working with linen and OMG TRUE LOVE Y’ALL. Very easy to work with and felt so good on my hands! My gauge swatch put me at size 2 needles, and I knitted the size XS (which is my usual size for Andi’s patterns and corresponds with my bust measurement). I chose to knit the version with the partial lace back, and slightly cropped. I was originally going to do the full lace version, but I guess I’m way out of lace-knittin’ practice because I had a helluva time working this one out. Fortunately, the directions for the partial and full lace back at the same for a bit at the beginning of the pattern, which gave me plenty of time to change my mind 😛 I also completely frogged the entire thing and started over after finishing the lace section, because I realized way too late that I had read the pattern wrong (which is why I was having issues in the first place). I was trying to be clever and separate my repeats with stitch markers – you can’t do that with this pattern, as some of the stitches borrow from previous repeats. Whoops. Once I realized I’d done goofed, let me tell you… it was hard to rip everything out and start over. But I’m glad I did, because my second attempt at the lace looks pretty bomb-ass, if I do say so myself 😉

I made some slight sizing and length modifications to the sweater as well – I knitted the correct number of rows for the cropped version, but somehow it ended up really short (I am thinking I read the pattern wrong). I just continued knitting until I got to the length that I wanted, and did a couple more rounds of decreases as well. Speaking of length, this sweater is only about an inch shorter than the schematics – it’s 16.5″ long from the shoulder, which hits me right about at the belly button. The cropped version on Andi appears to be a lot shorter than mine, even though it says it’s an inch longer.

Anyway, this was a very easy and satisfying knit. I did nearly run out of yarn at the end – I bought enough for the cropped version, and ended up frogging about 3 rows of my gauge swatch. Actually, I had an extra skein but I was trying really hard not to use it so I could be cheap and return it to the store 😉

I LOVE how this linen feels in the summer heat – finally, an excuse to wear my handknits even in July! 😀 And it’s pretty awesome that it’s machine washable. I haven’t done the recommend 3 washing cycles yet, though – I did one Soak wash (this is how I wash all my knits… and my lingerie for that matter. Soak is AMAZING, cannot recommend enough) and then one wash in the washing machine. My new place has me doing laundry at the ‘mat, so running 3 loads back to back to back isn’t exactly doable for me! (well, it is. But I’m not about to pay for that haha) So far, though, it has softened up considerably after even 2 washes. Can’t wait to see how it softens even more with additional wear and washing 😀

Sorry, loads of photos!

Now for the Hollyburn!

I already wrote a couple posts about the modifications to make this particular skirt (see: Choosing Your Fabric, Flat Piping, and Installing an Exposed Zipper), so I’ll just brief over the key details here.

The navy rayon crepe is from StyleMaker Fabrics (who is one of our sponsors for this year’s OAL!). I added flat piping at the waistband (sewn with silk crepe – from my stash) and an exposed metal zipper to the back. I also shortened the length considerably, omitted the pockets, and used stretch interfacing on the waistband.

I sewed the entire skirt on my Spiegel 60609, and it did pretty well overall! While I don’t want to say I was concerned to see how it would handle that shifty fabric (I have sewn straight-up silk and a bra on the 60609, and it hasn’t given me any problems thus far with my fabric choices), I was still pleasantly surprised at the entire experience. I didn’t use any special stitches, and only feet that came with the machine. The zipper foot in particular was great for both applying the piping and the invisible zipper, as well as making sure the topstitching was nice and straight and close to the edge. I did find that I needed to increase the stitch length just a smidge for this fabric, as it wanted to bunch a little bit otherwise, but overall I’m pretty happy with it! I am glad that moving the needle over is an option with this machine (you just increase the zigzag width while on a straight stitch), however, I’d love to see some new feet released to use with this machine. Maybe a 1/4″ foot or an edgestitching foot? 😉 HINT HINT.

For me, the most fun part about this challenge is ending up with TWO pieces that I can mix with other garments in my wardrobe. I love this top + skirt together… but honestly, I like them even more with different things from my closet! They are definitely wearable with a bunch of what I already have (which is part of the reason why I got a little boring with the colors 😉 I wanted the versatility!); here are a couple of examples:

Zinone top + Ginger jean shorts
I don’t know about y’all, but I am LOVING the cropped trend! Slightly cropped with a slightly high-waisted bottom is my new favorite thing right now (not your cup of tea? This is the beauty of knitting your own – you get to decide the length!). I love the way this top looks tucked into a skirt, but the combination with my high-waisted Ginger shorts really makes my heart sing the most.

Hollyburn skirt + sleeveless coral B5526 button up
I did not realize when I made this shirt that it was going to be one of my top 10 handmade garments of all time, but it is. It goes with everything. The sleeveless option + lightweight cotton fabric make it a great option for summer, and it layers beautifully under sweaters in the winter. The color is perfection and looks especially great with navy (my go-to summer dark neutral). It’s as easy to wear as a knit tshirt, but looks a helluva lot more refined and classy.

Anyway, I guess that’s it for this post! Those of you still scrambling to finish your outfits – you have 2 days before the deadline! Make sure you upload your finished outfit to the Official OAL2016 Finished Outfit Thread on Ravelry before 7/31/16 Midnight PDT if you wanna win one of those sweet prizes! Andi and I will be drawing 3 winners at random, who will win fabric, sewing pattern, and knitting pattern vouchers! Even if you’re not participating, do take a look at that thread! There are some amazing outfits to drool over 🙂

Tags: Andi Satterlund, hollyburn, knitting, linen, oal, OAL2016, rayon, spiegel, spiegel 60609, style maker fabrics, sweater, Untangling Knots, zinone

Comments 40 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

OAL2016: Part 2 (Zipper + Finishing)

15 Jun

Hey everyone! Welcome back for the second (and final!) sewing post of the Outfit Along 🙂

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At this point, you should have your skirt mostly assembled (all seams except the center back seam) with the waistband partially attached (not finished). Today, we will insert the zipper and finish the waistband in one go! I am making my skirt with this awesome rayon crepe from StyleMaker Fabrics (don’t forget that there is free US shipping/discounted international shipping on all orders through 6/30/16 when you use the code OAL2016 😉 ), using my Spiegel 60609 sewing machine. If you missed the previous posts, here is Part 1!

For this particular skirt, I am sewing an exposed metal zipper. If you hate exposed zippers, that’s ok! You have options! Check out my tutorial for sewing a lapped zipper, and also my tutorial for sewing an invisible zipper.

For sewing the exposed zipper:

Start by marking a rectangle where the zipper is to be inserted. For a 9″ exposed zipper on a garment with a 5/8″ seam allowance (if your measurements differ, you will need to adjust these accordingly!), make a rectangle that is 10″ long and 7/8″ across. I use a Chaco Pen liner, but again – anything works! Then go over your markings with a long basting stitch on your machine. Don’t be lazy and skip this step. I know it’s tempting, but trust me on this one. The stitches will make it visible from both sides, and also won’t rub off.

If your fabric is very lightweight and/or drapey, you will want to interface the area where the zipper is going, just to give it some extra support. I cut strips of lightweight fusible and applied them over my basting lines.

Clip into the bottom corner of the rectangle at a 45 degree angle, being careful not to snip into your basting lines.

Fold along the vertical basting stitches and press.

Starting at the horizontal basting stitches, sew the center back seam at 5/8″, ending at the hem.

Press the seam allowances open.

On the right side of the skirt, lay the zipper face down with the bottom facing toward the waistband. Line the horizontal basting stitching just below the zipper stop.

Sew along the horizontal basting ONLY, using a zipper foot. PROTIP: I just found this out, but you *can* move the needle of the Spiegel 60609. While the machine is on straight stitch (#1), increase the zigzag width to 7.0 and that will move the needle! So you can get RIGHT UP IN THERE to do that zipper!

Here is the bottom of my zipper after it is attached. You only need to sew along the basting stitches – not the entire width of the zipper tape.

Flip the zipper to the inside of the skirt and press the line you just sewed.

Now turn back the skirt pieces, one at a time, and sew the zipper tape to the skirt along the vertical basting stitches, starting at the zipper top stop and ending at the bottom stop (don’t sew all the way to the very end of the tape). Again, use a zipper foot and move your needle over to one side if you can.

Here is what things should look like after you’ve attached both sides. Note that the top of the zipper will NOT reach the top of the waistband – it should only go about halfway, since we are folding the waistband to the inside. On the Hollyburn, there is a notch to indicate where the waistband folds – so the zipper stop should reach that notch.

Now we need to finish the waistband. Fold the seam allowance (5/8″) along the long raw edge to the inside, and press. You may trim this seam allowance down to 1/4″ if it’s bulky.

Fold the remaining bits of the top of the zipper tape toward the inside of the waistband, and pin to keep them out of the way (if you accidentally sewed down this part, you gotta unpick 😉 ).

Now fold the waistband down to meet right below (about 1/8″) the stitching line at the top of the skirt, making sure that the top zipper stop is even with the top of the waistband fold. Make sure the raw edges are tucked in around the zipper and pin everything into place.

Now to topstitch! Starting at the top of the zipper, topstitch 1/8″ from the edge down to the seamline where the skirt meets the waistband, lower your needle and pivot. Then continue around the entire waistband until you reach the other side of the zipper, pivot, and sew back up to the top.

Alternately, you can also topstitch around the entire exposed zipper – but you’ll need to sew down the waistband in a second pass 🙂

Now pat yourself on the back for sewing an AWESOME EXPOSED ZIPPER WTF.

Finally, just a couple more things to finish your skirt! If you want to add belt loops or the waistband tabs, you can do so now. Then you just need to hem. I ended up taking about 3″ off my skirt length to make it more of a mini, and then finished with a double turned hem (1/4″ on the first turn, 3/4″ on the second) that is simply topstitched. Here are my hemming tutorials if you need a refresher!

That’s all for today! As always, please let me know if you have any questions!! How is your sewing coming along? 🙂

Tags: hollyburn, oal, OAL2016, skirt, spiegel 60609, style maker fabrics, Untangling Knots

Comments 17 Comments
Categories sewalong, tutorial, work in progress

OAL2016: Part 1 (Pockets + Piping)

8 Jun

Good morning, everyone! Time to get some sewin’ done for this OAL!

Before we get into the post, a few things I wanted to mention:
– Unlike previous years, I will not be doing a full step-by-step of sewing the pattern. Part of the reason is because this is a really easy pattern and the instructions are super straightforward and simple to understand on their own.
– Now, before you freak out – there IS a sewalong for the Hollyburn skirt! Not hosted on this blog, but a sewalong nonetheless! You can find it here on Lavender Lane. So if you reeeally need the help and the instructions just aren’t cutting it for some reason or another, there is that option!
– Instead of step-by-steps, I am splitting the OAL sewing stuff into 2 posts – today and next week – both with modification tutorials. I will also include links to relevant tutorials from older posts as they are needed. That way, those of you who are not following the OAL and/or don’t care about sewalong posts (I’ll be honest – I skip over them too!) – this is less for you to skip over 🙂 And for those who are here for the OAL and love reaching sewalong posts – they’re still here! 🙂
– And DUH, I’ve made like a zillion of these skirts – so feel free to ask me questions as well! Either in the comments, or you can email me! Don’t worry! I got ya covered!
– FINALLY, I should mention that I’m using my Spiegel 60609 sewing machine to construct my Hollyburn, so you’ll see it in the photos! I wanted to see how it handled my mega-shifty fabric 🙂

Ok, back to the OAL!

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Before you do anything, it’s a good idea to prewash your fabric in the same manner you will be washing/drying it once the garment is complete. Some fabric reeeeally likes to shrink, so you want to get that out of the way before it’s cut! I am using this cool zigzag rayon crepe from Style Maker Fabrics and it certainly shrunk a LOT! It’s a bit shifty to work with, but I think the payoff will be pretty sweet – it has the dreamiest, swishiest drape! I found that my increasing my stitch length just a hair (the standard stitch length on the Spiegel 60609 is a little short for sewing really delicate and shifty fabrics, I’ve learned) and using lots of pins was enough to keep the fabric in check for the most part.

Some notes on cutting:
– Here is a post I wrote for the 2014 OAL on cutting and marking. Different pattern, same concept.
– It is entirely possible to make this pattern with a striped or plaid fabric! You will need extra fabric to allow for matching and it may take longer to cut, but it can be done! Depending on your stripe/plaid, you may only be able to match 2 seams instead of 4 – if this is the case, match the center front and center back seam. Mismatched side seams are less noticeable 🙂 Here is my tutorial for matching plaids. Also relevant: my tutorial on matching the stripes at the pocket.
– This pattern calls for you to cut the waistband on the straight grain (parallel to the grain line). If your fabric has a bit of stretch, though, you may want to consider cutting on the cross grain (perpendicular to the grain line). This is what I did 🙂 Keep in mind that if you cut on the cross grain, you’ll want to interface the waistband with a tricot interfacing to retain that stretch. I personally love the PROtricot at Fashion Sewing Supply, but most fabric stores have something similar 🙂
– If your fabric is super drapey and you don’t want the pockets to bag out, you may consider eliminating them entirely (go ahead, gasp or whatever). This is what I did on my skirt, to allow for a smooth front. You can always add in-seam pockets if you’d like.

Eliminating the pockets is super easy:

You’ll need your pocket piece and your skirt front piece.

Fold the pocket piece in half along the foldline, matching the notches.

Lay the pocket piece behind the skirt front at the pocket opening, again matching the notches. Then just tape it down into place – I am using surgical tape because it peels off easily without tearing the paper (I can’t take credit for this – I got it in my goody bag at A Gathering of Stitches. Sam makes the BEST goody bags!), but you can also use regular tape, painter’s tape, pins, or even just trace off the pattern pieces. Whatever works!

Next steps are to construct the skirt as per the directions. Sew the pockets (if you still got ’em!). Sew the center front and side seams at 5/8″, but leave the center back seam open. If you would like to finish your seams, now is the time. I used my serger to overlock the seams after I sewed them, and then I pressed them open. Finally, staystitch the waist of your skirt (just a straight stitch about 1/2″ from the edge) to keep it from stretching out.

At this point, I decided to add flat piping to my waistband seam. So you get a tutorial!

I started with a strip of bias-cut silk crepe that was 1.5″ wide. The width of your piping will determine how wide to cut your bias – you’ll want 2x the finished width, plus 2x seam allowance. Cut enough bias to go all the way across the waist of your skirt. Fold the strip in half, length-wise, with the WRONG sides together, and press.

I promise I will get a new ironing board cover eventually. Ew, that yellow stain. haha.

If you don’t know how to cut bias, here are two really great tutorials: continuous bias (my favorite!) and bias strips.

Lay the folded bias along the waist edge of your skirt, matching raw edges at the top, and pin into place.

Sew the bias in place just within the seam allowance (I sewed at 3/8″) to hold it there. You can use a basting stitch for this step; it’ll get a second sewn pass in a minute!

Lay your interfaced waistband on top of your skirt, with right sides facing and raw edges matching. The bias strip should be sandwiched between the two.

Now sew your second pass to secure all the layers at 5/8″. Make sure to shorten your stitch back to it’s normal setting if you were basting 🙂 I ended up sewing another line a little more than the seam allowance, because I wanted the piping a little bit narrower.

Check the right side to make sure that everything looks good. I have no idea how I managed that unintentional perfect pattern matching, but hey, I’ll take it!

Press all the seam allowances up toward the waistband, using lots of steam so the piping lays nice and flat. If your fabric is bulky, you may want to trim down your seam allowances and/or grade them (trimming them in staggering layers) to prevent bulk from showing from the outside.

Now admire your pretty, flat piping! Isn’t that dainty? 🙂

Ok, that’s all for this week! Let me know if you have any questions about these steps 🙂 Next week, we sew in the zipper and finish the thing! Woohoo!

Tags: hollyburn, oal, OAL2016, rayon, sewalong, skirt, spiegel 60609, style maker fabrics, Untangling Knots

Comments 9 Comments
Categories sewalong, tutorial, work in progress

OAL2016: Choosing Your Fabric

1 Jun

What up, y’all! Welcome to the first official day of The Outfit Along! If you haven’t picked a fabric yet, don’t freak out – that’s what this post is about today 🙂 I’ve handed over the reins to Michelle of Style Maker Fabrics – one of our sponsors (who not only supplied my fabric, but is also offering prizes and a discount on the site – you’ll have to read to the bottom to get to it, though 😉 ) for this OAL. If you’re not familiar with Style Maker Fabrics, consider this your introduction 🙂 Style Maker Fabrics has a great selection of beautiful and on-trend dressmaking fabrics, and their website allows you to shop not only by fabric type, but also by garment type and color (which I think is pretty genius!). Style Maker Fabrics is also ready and willing to help you find that perfect fabric if you are having trouble with too many choices – tell them the garment you want to make and a few parameters (color, fiber, price, etc) and they’ll pull together some suggestions so you don’t have to weed through all they have to offer. Although, personally, I think that’s the fun part! 🙂

ANYWAY, enough about me – I’m going to give this over to Michelle now! As a side note, my chosen fabric and yarn are both in this post – can you guess which one they are? 🙂

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I am so excited to be participating in this year’s Outfit Along. I had the pleasure of working with Lauren earlier in the spring on a special project for my online shop, Style Maker Fabrics, and now I am happy to return the favor!
Favorites 5
Yarn Colors: Maize/Banyon/Hibiscus
Fabrics: Left- 1/2/3 Center- 1/2/3 Right- 1/2/3

To kick things off for the sewing portion of Outfit Along 2016, I wanted to share some tips and inspiration for selecting the perfect fabric for the Hollyburn skirt from Sewaholic patterns, the official OAL sewing pattern. You could apply most of these tips to just about any pattern, but I will look at the Hollyburn specifically. I have also paired some yummy skeins of Quince’s Sparrow yarn (recommended for Zinone, the official knit pattern) with some fabrics from our shop to hopefully inspire your own outfit!

Hollyburn

First and foremost, what type of fabric should you be looking for? The nice thing about the Hollyburn skirt is its versatility. The pattern calls for light to medium weight wovens, which translates to a fabric with little to no stretch in just about any weight/thickness (not a lot of help, right?). This is where you can really get creative. Think about how you want to wear your skirt, your personal style and maybe even what is missing from your closet. Here are three main fabric categories to think about and how they will translate in your finished skirt.

Structured Lines
The first category includes fabrics with a bit more weight- denim, twill, canvas, suiting, etc. These fabrics have very little drape, if really any at all, and they hold their shape giving you garment a clean A-line look. A great choice for a durable skirt, something to wear every day, year round- like a classic denim skirt. I would steer towards the lighter weights to maximize the movement of your skirt. I would also lean towards keeping the length on the shorter side, View B or C to keep it from feeling too heavy- both in looks and actual weight.

Structure 1
1/2/3

Form and Grace
The next category includes much lighter weight, structured wovens- lawn, shirting, linen, chambray, etc. These fabrics still provide some architecture to your skirt but will also have more movement, drape and body. Perfect for spring and summer, these fabrics are much lighter and airy resulting in a bit more feminine look. With some of these fabrics (especially the lighter colors), you may find that you need to add a lining- an extra step but totally worth it for the perfect fabric.

Form 2
1/2/3

Feminine Drape
Last but not least, the truly drapey, fluid wovens- rayon challis, crepe, chiffon, etc. Probably my favorite category, these fabrics will give your skirt the maximum amount of drape and movement. They will also give you the minimum volume as they will provide no added structure but the silky, flowy nature will soften the lines of this skirt giving you a beautiful feminine silhouette. This would be my preferred fabric choice for the longest length, View A, as the fluidity of the fabrics will give you an amazing lightness and feel that you won’t be able to resist taking a twirl in.

Drape 3

1/2/3

Ok, now that you have the style of skirt that you want to make in mind and what type of fabrics would be suitable, let’s talk about pattern and design. The pattern recommends staying away from plaids, stripes and directional designs, but Why? Having a structured pattern to the fabric does add another level of difficulty but I don’t think this it is something you should shy away from. It may take a little extra fabric and a bit more planning how you want the pattern to lay out but the results will be amazing. With a seam down the center front and back you will want to take some extra care to match up the pattern as best you can. Or throw caution to the wind and don’t worry about it! I would only recommend this approach for a more fluid fabric (category 3 above) as the drape will help hide the any mismatch.

Up next, color- my favorite part about picking fabrics! With the help of my local yarn shop, Apple Yarns, I was able to pick up a whole color range of Sparrow and play with how this yummy linen yarn looks with different colors and textures of fabric. Not a whole lot else to say about color other than that they are all stunning- I will just let the photos do the talking. Here are some favorite combinations for this summer!

Coral 4
Yarn Colors: Hibiscus/Pink Grapefruit/Paprika
Fabric: Top- 1/2/3/4/5 Bottom- 1/2/3/4/5

Aqua 1
Yarn Colors: Eleuthera/Banyon/Fundi
Fabric: Left- 1/2/3/4 Right- 1/2/3/4/5

Denim 2
Yarn Colors: Birch/Blue Spruce/Pigeon
Fabric: Top- 1/2/3/4 Bottom- 1/2/3/4

Neutrals 3
Yarn Colors: Maize/Little Fern/Citron/Sans/Fen
Fabric: Top- 1/2/3/4/5 Bottom- 1/2/3/4/5

Hopefully you have found this post helpful and inspiring. I know Lauren has lots of amazing tips for sewing the Hollyburn pattern to share over the next few weeks. I can’t wait to see everyone’s creations, both knit and sewn!

Happy stitching!
Michelle

Note: All of the fabrics shown are available in our online shop, Style Maker Fabrics. To help with your project, we are offering all OAL participants FREE US shipping (or discounted international shipping) on their orders through June 30th, 2016 with code OAL2016. We have also contributed a few special prizes for the three random winners of the OAL challenge. Read all of the details HERE.

Discount

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Thanks again for such a great – both in terms of info AND delicious fabric eye-candy – post, Michelle! Friends, let’s talk about our chosen fabric + yarn. What did you end up with? Can you guess which one in this post is mine? Are you second-guessing yourself after seeing these new options? It’s never too late to make two skirts, you know 😉

Tags: amazing fabric, fabric, fabric hoarding, oal, OAL2016, sewalong, style maker fabrics

Comments 15 Comments
Categories sewalong

Completed: McCall’s 7351 // Style Maker Fabrics Spring Canvas Blog Tour

1 Apr

Hey guys! I’m excited to be the final wrap-up stop for the Spring Canvas Blog Tour with Style Maker Fabrics!

It’s always really flattering to get asked to participate in a blog tour – although I typically send my regrets, as I think they can be a little exhausting if you’ve got a dozen people talking about, say, the same book or whatever. Kind of boring and personally I skip right over those posts! I found the idea of this particular blog tour a little more intriguing, though, as it is all about spring fabrics and spring fashions and all the fun stuff that comes with that! I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a necessarily fashionable person – I like the way I dress, of course, but I don’t exactly go out of my way to follow trends as they come into fashion. So this might not be a very “on-trend” outfit for me to make, but it is something that I will wear! So there’s that!

For this tour, I was given free range to choose whatever fabric I wanted from the new spring arrivals available at Style Maker Fabrics. Surprise surprise – I went with this navy rayon challis printed with cherries from Cotton + Steel, because I am nothing if I’m not predictable (I don’t even like cherries, but this is my third cherry print dress. See one and two. Hey, at least this one isn’t black hahaha!). It was a bit of a crunch to get this finished in time for my ~tour date~ – what’s with being out of town, getting sick, and then playing mad catch-up at work. But, spoiler, I finished it just in time to wear for Easter Sunday! Yay!

I used McCall’s 7351 to make my cherry dream dress, which is a new pattern from the McCall’s spring collection. It’s a classic shirt dress with a few extra options. I liked the idea of the straight skirt with the curved hemline that looks like, well, a shirttail, so I went with that option. Originally, I considered adding sleeves – but upon making my muslin, they were weirdly restrictive and I didn’t feel like going through the drama of figuring out how to fix it. Sleeveless dress it is! I actually prefer it this way; I think it’ll be more comfortable in the summer without sleeves.

I cut the size 6, based on the finished measurements, and didn’t make any pattern adjustments except the shorten the hem quite a bit at the end. The waist is a bit bigger than what I’m used to wearing – hence the belt – but I’m going to leave it like this for now because I suspect I will looove that loose waist come 95* weather 😉 I experimented with moving the placement of the buttons at the apex of my chest to eliminate button placket gap – but as you can see in the photos below, there’s still a tiny bit of pulling as it’s not *quite* in the right place. Whatever, I’ll figure it out with the next dress haha 🙂

Construction-wise, this is a really easy pattern. It has all the pieces of a proper button-up – separate button placket, collar stand, self-lined yoke – and I’ve made so many of those, I could do that in my sleep at this point. I used a very lightweight interfacing as not to interfere with the drape of the fabric, and finished all the seams with French seams and bias facing for the arm holes and hem. I used navy thread for the construction, and red thread for the topstitching and button holes. The buttons are from Mood Fabrics in NYC. I had to bring a swatch of fabric with me to get a good match – the cherries are more of an orange red than a true red – but this looks pretty good to me!

I LOVED working with this fabric! Rayon challis is one of my favorite things to wear – not necessarily to sew, as it’s pretty shifty and hard to wrangle (honesty, I’d rather sew silk crepe – I think it’s easier to work with!), but it’s worth the effort because it feels SO GOOD in hot weather. This rayon is a little heavier than most of the challis (challises? challis’? challi?) that I’ve worked with in the past. It’s almost the same weight of a poplin, so it’s not sheer at all and has a nice heft to it. It’s also easier to work with and not as shifty (but still feels really good!). This was my first experience using fabric from Cotton + Steel and I get why people love this stuff so much. It’s really luxurious feeling, wears and washes well. And cherries! 🙂 I still can’t get behind their quilting cotton (well, not as garment fabric. Sorry. Old habits die hard), but they can continue to make this rayon and I will continue to sew it 😀

Here it is on the form. I prefer it with the belt – I definitely need the waist definition (and the fact that the waist is already too big is also a factor here).

I always put a hook and eye at the waistline of dresses like this – it keeps things from gaping, but still allows me to wear a belt (buttons are too bulky under a belt, ew).

I know my photos don’t look very springy! It’s all green and flowering here in Tennessee, but not in my yard apparently haha. And while my neighbor has a beautiful cherry blossom tree that is in FULL GORGEOUS BLOOM right now, I do not have those kinds of guts to stand under it for photos! This is who was watching me take these photos – which is nerve-wracking enough:

Kevin & Wilbur! Did I mention that my roommate bought a second pig as a companion for Kevin? Well. Kevin has a boyfriend now. Also, we are pretty sure she’s pregnant now with his babies. Her stomach is massive – like about to drag on the ground because it hangs so low. Hopefully there will be piglet pictures in a future post! 🙂

blog tour

Hey, so that’s all for this part of the Spring Canvas blog tour – but be sure to check out all the other participants if you haven’t done so already! Lots of really amazing stuff to see 🙂 ALSO, just an FYI – but all domestic orders, regardless of size, ship for $5 from Style Maker Fabrics (and discounted international shipping, yo!). Cheap shipping is good through 4/3/16, so you’ve still got a couple days 🙂

Thanks again to Style Maker Fabrics for letting me be a part of this blog tour! 😀