Red One-Shoulder Dress

When I ordered this fabric from EmmaOneSock, I was planning a summer blouse, but once it arrived, I could not get the image of a one-shoulder dress out of my head.  After a few days I wondered why this was so...perhaps I had been reading too many fashion magazines with red dresses in them?  So I google-imaged "red one-shoulder dress".  My gosh, could a red fabric be used for anything else?

I planned to wear this dress to a big Christmas function, then at the last moment decided that I really needed to wear something more demure.  Finally it got an outing at my bookclub Christmas party.  That's one of the things I love about bookclub.  I can wear whatever I like and everybody tells me I look wonderful!  Such lovely ladies.

I accessorised with my silver clutch.  In the background you can see the Christmas stocking my mother embroidered for me and the Advent Calendar my sister made for my kids.

I also like to wear the dress unbelted, which is how I will probably wear it on Christmas Day.

The fabric is very vivid!  I am not familiar with the designer Caroline Herrera, but this fabric was listed as being from her collection.  It is silk with the texture of a seersucker.  It is subtly embossed with shinier flowers, which are not showing up in the photographs. 

The pattern used is McCalls 6118.  I bought it for the one-sleeved version after seeing Anne Hathaway wearing a similar dress by Roberto Cavalli.  

The pattern should have been a 1 hour quickie but I had a lot of problems.  In a pattern review, I read that the reviewer found the sizing to run large.  I am not familiar with McCall's sizing.  It seemed a bit silly to muslin such a simple style, so I compromised and just muslined the neck band.  I made square shoulder and forward shoulder adjustments, which is what I would expect to make.  Then when I made the dress up, it was way too big, so I took in a total of about 6 inches from the sides  (1 1/2 inch each seam). 

I sewed a beautiful blind hem.  The fabric texture was perfect for a blind hem.  Then I had to unpick it all because the hem hung much lower on the non-shoulder side.  I didn't want to make the dress any shorter by taking up the long side, so I just made the hem much smaller on one side than the other.  The dress is still uneven, but that was the best I could do without going shorter.  I handstitched the second hem because it no longer ran on the cross-grain and I thought that I would not be able to control the hem very well by machine.

I did put the ribbon on the shoulder, but did not tie it in the bow suggested by the pattern.  My ribbon was cut on the cross grain instead of the bias because I was short of fabric, but because of the fabric drape, I don't think that this matters.

I added a bra stay to the dress, under the arm of the non-shoulder side.  This stay tucks into a strapless bra, so that the dress does not hang down on that side, or slide down over your bra when you bend over.  I have previously written instructions to make a similar decollette stay.  It is basically a length of boning inside a casing, which is hinged to the garment with fell stitches.  Close-up photos are shown below.  Sadly, these photos do not show the beautiful french seams that I made the first time I sewed the dress, but the modified double-stitched seams after I took it in. 

Children's swimmers

 Summer sewing always means a lot of swimmers around here.  We are in and out of the pool several times a day, just trying to survive the heat.

The first pair is for little miss.  I used Jalie 2792, a leotard pattern, for the body, then added my own straps. 

The straps are rather cute and easy to make.  I folded a length of lycra in half and stitched a line 1 cm from the folded edge to form a casing.  I threaded rubber elastic through the casing.  The elastic was about half the length of the lycra strip, so it makes a pretty ruffle.

The fit of this pattern looks the same as on the pattern envelope.  There is quite a bit of negative ease, so it is a very snug fit.  She is very happy with the fit, and says that the elastic is not too tight.  I think if I were to make a ballet leotard out of cotton lycra I might go up a size or two.

I only lined the front.  Next time I will modify the front of the pattern to shape it more like the bikini top below.

She still loves to dress in the same clothes as me, so I made her a bikini very similar to mine.  The top was made using Kwiksew 3165.  The kwiksew instructions are very good and showed me a new way to apply the straps / elastic.  The bikini bottoms with this pattern have never fit her particularly well, so I drafted my own using Stuart's children's swimwear block.  The bottoms are reversible. 

She has plenty of swim shirts, so then it was onto the boys.  Again, I made the pattern for the boys' briefs.  For my older son, I cut the shirt off a perished RTW shirt.  The shirt for my younger son was made using Kwiksew 2888, which must be out of print, because I cannot find it for you in the catalogue.  I went up 2 sizes because the pattern is for a close fitting raglan sleeved top and bike pants (actually, I was too lazy to trace off the pattern.  Tracing is one of my least favourite sewing activities.  My children have nearly all grown out of this pattern so I just cut it in the largest size).
 

I bought the fabric from Glitter and Dance.  I think it was called "aqualife" and is supposed to be chlorine resistant, so I am hoping it lasts better than most swimwear.

Now, back to the swimming pool.

Doily Tank and Marfy Pants 2

I'm still making tank tops.  I have 2 pieces of fabric to make summer tanks, but I am not 100% happy with my pattern, so I am just toiling / toile-ing away.  On my mesh tank, I wasn't happy with the armhole bindings, but I didn't know if it was the mesh that was the problem.  Turns out it wasn't; I need a tighter binding on the armholes than the neck (or maybe the neck edge is not so critical?).

The fabric is from my stash and the doily is from my local Vinnies.  This tank will be worn as a PJ top with some PJ pants I made last summer out of shirting fabric from Tessuti.

Today I continued with the Marfy pants.  Thanks for all your (unanimous!) input.  I will go with the silver buckle and white buttons.  I will use my bodgy silver buckle for now, but keep an eye out for a nicer one to replace it.  Jenny asked about the pattern number.  It is 1666.  It is not from the current catalogue.  I am making Sz 46.

First up, the back pocket.  This was constructed as a jetted pocket, using a method outlined by Martyn Smith in Australian Stitches.  I'm not sure of the difference between jetted pockets and double welt pockets.  In this method, the jets are folded over the seam allowance, so that the seam allowance stays in the marked box; whereas in welt pockets the seam allowance is folded out of the way with the welt seam allowances.  This pocket opening was shown as curved on the Marfy pattern.  I toyed with idea of cutting the jets on the bias, but decided that there would be enough give in the twill fabric for such a shallow curve.  I chose to line the yoke facings with nude lining, but I should have lined the front yokes with nude lining, so that none of the yoke seam allowances would show.  The pocket bag was sewn with French seams.

I sewed the front pocket as a welt pocket.  The pattern showed a curved opening but I made mine straight.  I have never sewn a proper welt pocket before, and I didn't practice one when I was practising pockets, but today I was feeling a little bit brave (now I am feeling like the Gruffalo's child...who was feeling a little bit brave and a little bit bored whilst the Gruffolo snored and snored...).  I used the method demonstrated by Kathleen at Fashion Incubator.  It was a bit more stressful than the window-pane method or jetted pockets, but it worked out okay.  There are a few puckers in the corners, but that is because I could not see the white stitching on white fabric particularly well and I was a bit conservative when cutting (and the Gruffalo's child did scurry on home at the end of the story).

This time I lined the yoke with nude lining.  I did not have any nude binding tape, so I just folded the lining edges of the pocket over the fabric edges.

Whilst these photos were loading, I basted together the side seams and tried them on.  Actually I tried them on with about 15 tops.  I never can wait until the sewing is finished before I am trying things out.  I am pretty happy with them, but there is still a bit to go...side seams tweaked, yoke facings, hems, buttons and buckle.

Marfy Summer Pants Construction 1

For a while now I have had a mental image of the "capsule" wardrobe that I will take on summer holidays with me.  Shame is, this mental image includes quite a few items that I have not made yet, including a pair of white linen pants.

I chose a Marfy pattern for these pants.  These pants have a angled waistband, wide on one side, narrow on the other, with a buckle closure.  The pant legs have front seams.  Instead of a front fly, the pants have a button opening in line with one of the front seams.  There are welt pockets on the front and back waistband, but these are shown on the pattern pieces as curved openings, not straight ones.  Also, the pocket pieces hang below the waistband, which I am not sure how to address,  If you are having trouble picturing these pants, check out Sigrid's blog post where she drafted her own version.

I never appreciate how much I use the pattern instructions until they are not there!  And seam allowances...whoa, no seam allowances means a lot more concentration during cutting.  I pondered the construction of these pants, then cut them out a few weeks ago.  I practiced a few different types of welt pockets, and then life got in the way and I didn't get to them.  Now I have to rethink all that construction and only the sewing gods know which welt construction method I decided to go with.

First of all, the front pocket construction.  You would think that this would be straightforward, but something has gone wrong.  I sewed the pocket bag with french seams, but I think to do this, I should have made the pocket extend beyond the opening towards the CF.  It is a little bodgy there, but that will be in the seam allowance, so I am going to ignore it.  It also looked like I attached the side piece slightly off-grain, so I have thread traced the seam allowances to make sure that the size of this piece is right, even if the grain is slightly off.  After making these errors, I went back and tailor-tacked a lot more of the marks to assist with construction.

 

I have used a nude coloured lining for the upper part of the pocket bag, to minimise show-through in the white fabric.

 

Then onto the pants opening.  This all went better than expected.  I have lined the opening facing with nude lining to prevent show-through here as well.

This inside view shows that everything fits together nicely.  The edges of the pocket sit neatly under the "fly" extension.  I catch-stitched the fly extension to the pocket bag.

Then the front seams, inner leg seams and crotch seam and I have something that resembles a pair of pants.  Next up, I will start on the waistband details.

Typically, I am too lazy to post construction photos, but I have put these up today because I need some help.  What colour findings should I use?  White buttons would keep it all sleek, but should I be making a feature of the unusual opening?  Navy buttons would give a jaunty, nautical look, but I am not the jaunty, nautical type.  Maybe wooden buttons could be considered neutral?  I went to buy metallic button, but Spotlight failed to deliver (there is a little local independent haberdashery but I have not had a chance to visit).  I could use jeans buttons.  I need to decide on this before I continue construction, because I need to decide on buttons or snaps for the welt pocket flaps.

 

 And then, what about the buckle?  I have a lovely wooden buckle, but I don't know how it will cope with washing, and being white pants, these are going to need washing.  I also have a bodgy metal one.  Should I cover a buckle?  I think I have a threads article on how to do this.  Can anybody recommend a buckle supplier?

So, this is one way to make summer sewing a drawn out affair!

A brief post

My daughter needed flesh and white coloured full briefs for under her dance costumes.  I thought that it might be quicker to make them than do the rounds of the shops to find knickers that weren't pink or blue or covered with pretty motifs. 

These briefs are worn over stockings, and possibly other undergarments, depending on costume changes, to keep everything up and together.  I tried out a few different patterns which I will review here  (I realise that this post will be of interest to a very, very small audience...but at the end I will put links to the skirt in the last post that a few of you asked about...scroll straight there if you like).

This first photo shows the comparison between Jalie 2915 and Jalie 2564, both made in Sz J.  The underneath pair are made from 2915, which is a pattern for a leotard and tutu skirt.  I thought that this pattern would be ideal, but for my daughter, there was too much fabric bunched up around her bum cheeks.  Jalie 2564 is a briefs pattern.  The circumference is narrower and the legs cut higher.  I was worried that it would not give enough coverage, but they fit her really well (she does not have much of a bottom...genetics can be strange).

Then, out of curiosity, I thought I would compare them to Stuart's children's block, which is what I use to make her leotards. I cut this next pair with a lower waist line, as she is not used to full briefs and kept pulling them down.  Stuart's block is not as full across the bottom as 2915.  Its leg line is a little lower than 2564.  The back is very similar to the 2564, but the front differs.  For Stuart's block, the front and back are the same width.  2564 has the front narrower than the back, which you can see in the seamlines in the top photo.

I compared the patterns to Jalie 2447, a tankini pattern.  Jalie 2447 has a curvier leg line, but I didn't make it up.  I have since made some swimmers using Jalie 2792, which is very similar to Stuart's block, with a little more negative ease...review to come!  Can you tell that I am a teensy bit obsessed by patterns?  Most people would have just made one, and modifed it to suit. 

In the end I made a fourth pair, which was mostly based on Stuart's block, but using the higher leg line from 2564.  I can't find these today to photograph.  I didn't ever think that I would bother to make girl's knickers, but these were not too hard and look cute, so I may just sew these again to use up scraps of fabric.  I should keep some elastic in stash as elastic is way overpriced at Spotlight.  The beige elastic used here was from BoobyTraps, the ivory from Bra-makers Supply and the white from Spotlight.

Now it seems I have more readers these days.  I love connecting with other people who sew, so welcome to my little blogspace.  I love getting comments, although sometimes they make me feel slack because I don't comment on as many other blogs as I would like to.  My relaxation time these days is to look at other people's sewing, but it is usually in 5 minute grabs, so I don't always get to comment.

The skirt in the pevious post was reviewed here.

Here are links to some of my more funky sewing, that you may also like, if you liked that skirt.  Enjoy!

Layer skirt

Skirt with retro pockets

Remnant skirt

Pleat detail skirt

Lace detail skirt

Twinkle camisole

Twinkle tunic

Embellished Tank

After the success of my ruffled tank, I was keen to whip up a few more.  The main fabric for this one is from Tessuti.  The dotty mesh embellishment is from EmmaOneSock. I cut a long strip and gathered each side to make one large ruffly bit for the front of the tank.  I didn't use the usual method of binding the edges.  Instead, I applied the mesh edge the same way I sewed ribbing onto sweatshirts when I was a kid.  I sewed the short edges of a long, narrow strip of mesh together to form a circle.  I then folded it in half lengthwise, being careful to fold the dots in half.  I lined up the raw edges with the right side of the neckline (or armholes) and stiched using a narrow zig-zag.  I then top-stitched around the neckline to keep the raw edges on the inside.  It was actually easier than applying a binding, which was good because binding knit edges is one of my least successful sewing skills.

Swimmers for me

I have a lot of fun sewing swimwear, so I probably own way more swimmers than most people, but every year I like to make a couple more.  I get to try out different styles, and each year my techniques are refined a little bit more.  Some swimmers only make it to my back yard pool whilst the more modest ones make it to the beach.  Some are just for looking pretty.  Others need to be able to stay up in the surf!

I have been playing around with a photo program, so that I can show you the swimmers on my body, without having to put my body out there on the internet!  I need a bit more practice at the program, but I hadn't even opened it until this morning, so I think these pictures are not too bad.

These one-pieces were self-drafted, using the information over at Stuart's site.

First up, a surf-friendly style.  This pattern was based on the tank suit.  I cut off the pattern at the empire line and made a cross-over V neck front, then added the frills.  It is very girly! The fabric is from Tessuti.  They do not have lycra listed in their on-line shop, so you will need to contact them if you want samples.  I purchase my lining and elastic from Beach Bubble Swimwear. 

This next one will probably only make it to the back yard.  It is an asymmetrical style that I have been wanting to try for a few years.  It took a bit of effort to do the drafting.  I would like to get to the point where I can draft in Corel draw, but I admit I gave up on these and used paper and pencil.

I changed the spagetti strap to a cut-on strap so that I didn't have to mess around with binding elastic.  I think I should have placed the strap on the other side, to create an "S" shape to the swimmers rather than the one-sides asymmetry.

Again, the fabric is from Tessuti.

Liberty Tunic

What do you wear when you get home in the afternoon?  Do you continue to swan around in the outfit you put together so carefully in the morning, looking the part of the domestic goddess, glass of wine in hand as you prepare dinner?  Not so me.  The more stressed I am, the quicker I reach for my comfort clothes.  For me, it is a loose fitting purple floral 70's tunic that I picked up in an op shop.  I have re-sewn most of the seams on this tunic, as the thread did not last as well as the fabric.  Only now the fabric is starting to wear too.  Time to find a replacement.

The pattern:  A Burda tunic, previously made here.   The pattern was originally tunic length, but I only traced off a shirt length.  When I lengthened it this time, I widened it to accomodate my hips, so I ended up with more of an A-line shape than the original Burda tunic.  This kinda reminds me of the lady on the "children crossing" sign.  I have always loved the silhouette of her short dress, though when I was a child I often wondered why they did not update the woman to reflect current fashion.  I think it would be groovy to have a different "children crossing" sign for each decade.
 

The fabric:  A Liberty cotton lawn. I love the feel of Liberty prints, but sometimes I find the prints to be a little busy, not allowing the eye to settle.  I added a hand-dyed ric-rac from a local craft store Pom-Pom Rouge.  I didn't stitch it on the hemline, which would have been neater, because I wasn't sure if it would look too childish and I would have to remove it (being easier to unpick if it wasn't on the hemline).  It doesn't look too childish, but I don't think it offers enough contrast.  I think I maybe should have used a contrasting print on the yoke?  Like previous Liberty garments I have made, something is not quite right.  Perhaps small scale prints are not for me.

Last holidays, my visiting sister was hanging out my washing and she asked why so many of my clothes were unfinished on the inside.  Some of them were unfinished because I made them on holidays when I didn't have my overlocker.  Others were children's clothes, finished with a zig-zag stitch because I was too lazy to change the thread colour on my overlocker for such a small garment.  Others were made from lightweight fabrics.  On lightweight fabrics I sometimes find that an overlocker is too clunky, so I use other techniques, such as french seams, zig-zagging the edges, or using a double row of stitching.  In the photo below, you can see that I used a zig-zag stitch to finish the inside yoke of the tunic.  It still makes for a neat finish, especially given that Liberty prints do not fray much.

The verdict?  It sure is lovely and cool to wear, and I have worn it a handful of times already, but I don't love it as much as my 70's tunic.  It actually looks better worn over jeans, but it was way too hot yesterday to get the jeans out for a photo shoot.  It was hard enough just putting shoes on.  There must be a thunderstorm on the way soon.