"The Sultry Sheath" from Gertie's Book for Better Sewing

First finished project from the book! All in all a good sew. Weekend date, summer nights dress? After this one I need to make some more casual pieces. But this was one of my favourites from the book and I felt it would be a really good fit with this fabric so I couldn't resist giving it a try.

Construction notes:

I made this in some Nani Iro double gauze fabric I had been hoarding for a couple of years. When I made my muslin I noticed that the shoulder straps were sitting on my outer shoulders but looking at the photo in the book I decided that was how they were supposed to look. That was a mistake, as when I made my original bodice the straps kept slipping down my shoulders! I think the fact that the double gauze was softer then my muslin made the problem worse. I often sew using my high bust measurement because I have narrow shoulders so I'm not certain this would be a problem for everyone (due to my fit issues) but it's worth looking out for. Luckily a poster on patternreview.com who had made the pattern mentioned taking a wedge out of her shoulders to draw them up, so I decided to try a similar tactic:

I drew a wedge which was 1" at the neckline on both front and back and then cut out the wedge and closed it. I then traced the new pattern. I also lowered the armhole by about 1/2" using my french curve. Once I did that (and tried it out on a new muslin) I luckily had just enough Nani Iro fabric left for a second bodice.

The Fit is still not 100%. I traced the pattern using my high bust measurement (size 2 in the book) and tracing out to the next largest size for the waist (4), and then went from 4 in the waist to 2 in the hips. I should have just used a 4 in the hips as well because I think the pulling in the back is due to it being a bit too tight (it also feels a bit tight in the hips when I sit, but nothing that will stop me from wearing the dress). I'm closer to the listed measurement for 2 so I guess my advice would be to size up if you're between sizes unless you like it tight.

I didn't follow the instructions to the letter, as can be seen here with my invisible zip. I'm not sold on lapped zips unless I'm trying to make something completely authentic to a period. Plus I need to use up my collection of invisible zips. One side of my zip top is a couple of millimetres longer then the other! erg. "Only I will notice" is my sewing nitpicking mantra.

This was actually my first time making an all in one facing. I think it's a new favourite way to finish a garment. I did a kind of time consuming and fiddly finish to it where I used my decorative scallop stitch and then trimmed it down. I've actually done this before and it held up well, but it's hardly efficient, I just like the look!

And finally, I used a trick I read in Lynda Mynard's Couture Sewing Techniques and reinforced the back slit with a metal hook and eye bar. 

Final Thoughts:

I think I'm definitely going to come back to this pattern again! Other then the issues with the straps and the fact that I should have used a larger size hip, the pattern was very straight forward. The instructions were easy to follow, although I did not to use some of the more 'couture' techniques.

"Bombshell" Tiki Dress done at last!

Hello abandoned blog, nice to be back.

After working on it tiny increments at a time I'm finally finished my Bombshell dress from Gertie's craftsy.com course! This project took me almost a year to complete? Not that the construction was quite that time consuming, but I kept forgetting to get certain materials or having to order things online and so it just kept getting put aside in favour of other projects. But finally everything came together and I have a lovely and impractical dress perfect for pretty much one thing only, visiting my local tiki bar. A good excuse to drink zombies I guess!

Looking Cross.

And trying to smile.

 I really need to get better with the self timer. It's pretty awkward. Songza has a tiki playlist which I listened to while taking these pictures but I'm not sure if that made me feel less silly or just made it worse. Nerd out here if you want. 

This dress was a lot of fun to make, and I definitely recommend the course. I held off for a while because I wasn`t sure how much I liked the pattern but I really wanted to take it, and the dress has grown on me. I was worried that a bustier style like this would look odd with my A cup, but all in all I think its pretty flattering. I prefer how it looks with the halter strap, however it stays up really well as a strapless dress thanks to all the construction details. 

Construction Details:

Might miss some notes since this took such a long time to complete... 

The material is a cotton I bought off a seller on etsy. I think it was a nice fit with the pattern because it has a tiki vibe without being a straight-up Hawaiian print. I messed around with the fit of the cups a lot. Once I had taken out fullness from across the cups as directed in the videos they were scandalously tiny so I redrew the  bustline of the top cup peices. I did not lengthen the bodice but I`m a bit short waisted so I think it turned out fine. I was not sold on the side gather when I did it, but after several tries I just accepted it and now I think it looks good, so I suppose that's a lesson not to get too critical before I see the final piece.

It's lined with the finest vintage sheet cotton. The spiral steel boning was expensive, I had to cut corners somewhere! The grosgrain for the waist stay was sent as a bonus from a etsy fabric seller! I also could not find thin batting for lining the cups as described in the course so I used knit sweatshirt material. 

I spent a lot of time trying to match the floral pattern for my bodice only to have it fail. Oh well! Also, I made   lapped zipper even though I was using an invisible zip. lol!

Final thoughts:

All in all, had a lot of fun making this dress and am quite pleased with how it turned out. Might finesse the cup fit and make another in a more casual fabric with a dirndl skirt and sewn in halter straps. Learned a ton in the course! 

Colette Spring & Summer Colour Palette

image sources clockwise from top left:

Willow from etsy seller ara133photography via pinterest , Moschino flats , Mint Skirt , Vivi April 2012, Colour swatches from Robert Kaufman

I decided to participate in the Colette Spring & Summer palette sewing challenge! I've been following the Colette sewing blog for some time - I also own the Negroni and Éclair patterns, which I haven't had a chance to try yet, so I'm excited I'm  finally going to try to do one of the sew along challenges. It also helpfully happens to be my break between the winter and summer semesters right now so hopefully I won't get side tracked like I often end up allowing myself. I'm hoping to focus on feminine classics in colours that will complement what I already have in my wardrobe (tons of red and black basically). 

Nani Iro print Valentine's 1960s dress

I actually kind of hate this dress, but I'm hoping it's just residual resentment from how frustrating it was to make and one day I'll grow to love it.

Well this dress was a bit of an odyssey.
I had wanted to make it as a Christmas holiday party dress, just sometime cheerful and pretty to wear out for drinks or to family dinners. However exam time conspired against me and I had exams until the 20th and then only 3 days until I had to ship out to Guelph for labyrinthine Xmas fun-times. Ugh Christmas. I love Christmas in theory, but sometimes not so much - especially in that Christmas takes evolved time management skills or you get overwhelmed fast. So, yes, no Christmas dress. But luckily there's Valentines, another time of year in which it is traditionally sanctioned to wear pretty red dresses. But it's being posted late because even though I finished it on the day before Valentines I had a nasty cold (so no date!), which I've been fighting off since - which in my case means becoming unphotogenic to the max... gray skin and acne, so sexy.

Then there was the fabric itself. I ordered it from Japan because I love Nani Iro prints so much, and red is my favourite colour - so I was pretty much seduced. However completely out of my budget as far as fabrics go... 22$ a yard? No thanks. But I guess in this case, yes please. I only bought 1-1/2 yards, so I had to make do in terms of patterns. I ended up splicing two vintage 1960s dress patterns together: The bottom from Simplicity 5355 and the top from Vogue 6463... they went together ok, but it was far from smooth sailing with this fabric!

The fabric is a bit stiffer and lower quality then I was expecting, given that the other Nani Iro fabrics I've bought have been so lovely... If anyone out there is eyeing the 'brushed cotton' my 2 cents is that it's better suited to home dec or bags, something where drape is not crucial.
Anyway due to the unforgiving drape I needed this dress to fit perfectly ... I'd made the bottom of Simplicity 5355 before so I wasn't expecting any issues but the back fit was not very faltering... kind of a butt poof of sorts. I lengthened the darts and curved the stitch line and that helped a little. The bodice also had some fit issues which didn't show up in my (softer) cotton muslin... It needed to be shortened significantly, but since it was already cut I reduced the length at the shoulders. I also attempted a lapped zipper using this tutorial from A Fashionable Stitch, with mixed results. The first time it caused the side seam to bulge, so I took the seams in but it's still more prominent then I like.

Things I like: The fit is fairly flattering from the front. I like the tight 1960s cocktail look (which is what I was going for).

I also like - the lovely print! What an amazing textile design.

I'm less thrilled with:

The prominence of the lapped zipper - seen here on the side. I'm not sure what I did wrong - or if this is just the look? I know on Mad Men the Zippers have often quite noticeable but I still feel like mine looks sloppy. Also not happy with the fullness at the bottom of the back darts. Not a deal breaker, but still. 

Fantasy sewing league

I've been working on a new project using a lovely (and expensive for my sewing budget Nani iro print), and have been having a hard time finding a pattern that will work with the somewhat inflexible fabric and limited yardage. In the meantime I thought I'd post sewing inspiration and plans for future projects - I find that much of the fun from sewing comes from dreaming up projects!

I have a giant sewing queue - and more project ideas then I know what to do with. Right now I'm mostly looking forward to spring sewing - light dresses with lots of design details that don't get hidden beneath winter layers. 

While I'm stuck on my current project I'm also planning:

A black pencil skirt based on this pattern:

And with a decorative band around the bottom with this skirt from express (taken from pinterest). I bought a small amount of expensive vintage fabric from etsy and have been wanting to make a colour block skirt. 

This 1960s pattern from vogue is one of the first vintage patterns I ever bought (some time ago now!) and have had a muslin cut from it sitting in my sewing box for a few years (!!) now. I love the colour combo of this Top Shop dress. Maybe a little fall, but still cozy for winter. 

Gothic wallpaper dress

Well, my first finished project of the new year (and the first to make it onto the blog)! Classes have started but have yet to get gruelling leaving me a bit of leeway to work on this dress. I actually started this dress some time ago, but due to an error in cutting never got around to finishing it. The problem was, that when I was cutting out the skirt portion I spaced on the fact that this was a directional print, leaving me with not enough fabric left to cut a new one. Since a new skirt from the old one it was too short, I had the idea of adding a band of velvet around the edge of the skirt. But it took forever for me to get around to buying new fabric... in the end I got some Robert Kaufman wale from etsy. I like the mix of the two fabrics, I also ended up adding bands to the sleeves as well as a design detail.


Bodice detail - The bodice is a modified Burda pattern 128 from the 2009 08 issue:

I shortened the sleeves, and had to narrow them by about 4cm. The sides of bodice also had to be taken in about 6cm. I made it up in the size 38, which is my size, so I guess there was just a lot of wearing ease. even though the model in the photo is shown wearing something quite tight... patterns can be frustrating! I think I also should have shortened the bodice, since I'm short waisted. As it is the fit is not 100% flattering, but is good enough.

A more true colour picture of the fabrics:

Hello!

Hello, and welcome to my first post in my new sewing blog. This will be my first attempt at blogging so hopefully I can keep at it long enough to de-kink any kinks.

I have been a avid fan of sewing as a hobby on and off for some 11 or so years, but with some major fluctuations in actual sewing mojo. My hope is that through blogging I will be able to maintain my sewing motivation, and connect with others that share the same interest.