My uniform

 

There was not much time for sewing this weekend, as we were building the kids a skate ramp, but I did manage to whip this skirt up in 10 minute intervals.  I'm a pretty conservative dresser, and although I have entended myself in recent years, I like having my fallback "uniform" of printed, cotton, a-line skirts and a t-shirt.  It gets me through most kid-orientated activities without flashing my knickers or exposing my bra.

The pattern is the "Skyline Skirt" from Twinkle Sews, which is a cute variation on an A-line, gored skirt.  The front and the back of the skirt are identical, to keep all the jagged lines even.  The pattern is for a lined skirt, but I didn't line mine and I added a narrow waistband.

The upper fabric is a tablecloth that I picked up at Vinnies.  The lower fabric is a Japanese cotton from Tessuti.  The 2 came together in a serendipitous moment when I was re-sorting my stash (a.k.a. a therapy session).  I love this spotty fabric, and although I bought it for a skirt, I didn't want a huge expanse of dots across my expansive rear.  I think the jagged lines in the skirt design were the perfect solution for this problem.  In order to get the tablecloth edges lining up with the jagged edges, I had to cut it off-grain, which has resulted in the top sections twisting as I wear it, but I don't think that matters too much.

I'm having trouble deciding what tops to wear it with.  I have green t-shirts which exactly match the leaves, but still seem to contrast too much with the peachy base.  I have tried yellow, mustard, peach and grey, which are all okay but need some accessories that I just don't have.  I have a hot pink / peachy striped top, which is good for bright days!  My favourite is a blue/ brown striped top, which is not a co-ordinating colour at all but seems to be the right colour intensity...and perfectly matches a blue / grey pair of heels that I bought last week.  Ahh, the dilemnas of not wearing neutral basics. 

Chameleon dress

I promised myself that I would conquer my fear and sew blouses this summer...but why sew blouses when dresses are easier??  What I most love about dresses is that they don't have to match up with anything else, nor do they have to by tucked in and yanked into place throughout the day.  This is my latest dress, in maxi length.

The pattern is the "Chameleon Dress" from Twinkle Sews.  I'll pop the pattern details in my pattern review.

The fabric is just gorgeous.  It is Nouveau Bloom from Tessuti; a silk/cotton voile border print..  It has a beautiful wood nymph-ish feel about it.  I'm always a sucker for a wood nymph fantasia theme.  One of my first fashion influences was a huge glossy book, possibly published in the eighties, showcasing Australian designers (hazy memories, but I'm thinking Morrissey, Trent Nathan, Adele Palmer, Carla Zampatti).  There was a double page spread of a dark forest, with all these girls wandering through the trees in flowy white dresses.  It was a library book and I'm pretty sure I kept it way overdue.  I would love to stumble across it again.

I lined the dress in cotton voile and the bust cups and neckline trim were from my remnant drawer.

 

If you have this pattern, you might be thinking that my dress does not look quite like the original.  Well, you would be right.  The bust cups are in sideways.  I'm sure many of you are familiar with the process.  Layout the pattern pieces, check once,  check twice, sew, sew, sew, sit back and congratulate self on quality of edgestitching (or topstitching, or understitching), then almost immediately realise that it is upside-down.  Or back-to-front.  Or you have sewn 2 left legs because the fabric is reversible.  Etc.  I discovered this mistake when I had sewn the neckline trim to the cups and before they were attached to the dress...so not too late to fix it up...but I confess, I left it as it was.  I have been unwell lately, and the only reason I was sewing at all was because I was too ache-y to sleep.  So the dress gathers onto the bust, instead of the other way around, but, as you can see, I don't exactly need a lot of gathers over the bust.

I sewed a beautiful invisible zipper.  I applied whisperweft to the seam allowances, overlocked the edges and then basted the zipper tape in place before sewing it in.  Which was all superfluous, because then I forgot to leave an opening in the lining and in a moment of extreme laziness, overlocked the lining edges together.  Did I mention that I was feeling poorly?  I left that too. 

In spite of all that, the dress worked out fine, it just slips on over my head.  It has been so hot here that I have worn it 3 days already this week.

Details, details....

Hello All! 

A few people have asked questions about my raincoat.  I should have put a link to the first post on my raincoat, which answers all those questions.  Here it is. 

Also, I want to thank everybody for their compliments on my assymetrical dress.  I was really undecided about it, so I especially appreciated the compliments.  Thanks, :)

Rainwear II

Well, the sound of rain on the tin roof at night was enough to motivate me to finally sew those buttons on.  Here it is...

 

  

I keep changing my mind as to whether I like it or not.  Today, I like it.  I think the not-liking is because the construction is not quite to the standard that I would like.  The welt seams were going all very well until I hit the curved seams.  Sadly, the curved seams are in very prominent places, being the tops of the shoulders.  I had lots of trouble with the pockets, as mentioned previously.  I have noticed that the Burberry cape that was my inspiration piece does not have pockets.  Obviously, their designer knew that the pockets would be difficult!  Also, my buttonholes could be improved.  I only ever do regular button-holes with regular thread, but I think perhaps a different treatment was needed for this fabric.  Ahh, the fabric.  I do love the fabric.

Now, if only it would rain when I was out and about and not when I am curled up in bed.

PS for pattern and fabric details, see my original post.

A slip of a thing

What I love most about the old-time movies is all the gorgeous slips that the screen sirens wear.  To me, glamour is a drawer full of silk and lace slips.  I have been gathering supplies to make couture lingerie  since I read an  article on this topic in threads 135 (Feb/Mar 2008).  I was quite disappointed that Pattern Review was having their lingerie contest at a time in my life when I did not have time for couture techniques, so I put it to the back of my mind...but clearly not completely out of my mind, because just before lunch yesterday I found myself driving across town to get some silk to match a recent lace purchase. The competition was designed for completion on Valentines day, so no time for couture techniques, but I had a few other ideas in mind...

I spent the afternoon happily cutting and stitching, ignoring the stabs of guilt about all the work I was supposed to do for Monday (I guess Sunday will be a late night).  By school pick-up time I was really rather jaunty, pleased with the progress I was making and happy with the 1920's vibe of my slip.

By 5 pm I was downcast and downright grumpy, beaten by the bias and by delicate fabrics that would not hold their pins.  I was thinking that it was time to change my ways and become one of those people that make meticulous muslins, or, at the very least, prepare their patterns properly, instead of starting to snip with only a half-formed idea and not much more of a pattern.  I had to go out, so I left the slip to sit on my paper tape dress form overnight.  This morning I basted the 2 layers together and completed the sewing, with hours and hours to go before the deadline closes.

Project details:

Fabric:  Lace from EmmaOneSock, silk satin from Spotlight
Pattern: The underlayer is a self-drafted pattern, the over layer is based on the slip pattern that came with Vogue 2797.

My thinking was that silk bias slips are all very gorgeous, but distort so much over the hips (well, for some of us), so I would get the effect of the bias slip without the distortion by only having a front and back panel in bias.  The underlayer is cut on the straight grain.  Having a square neckline as well as the bias slip gives it a 1920's vibe (well, to me, I am no expert in period dress).  My lace did not have a pretty scalloped edge, so I have just turned up a hem and turned in the neckline.  The bias layer has narrow hems all around and is machine-sewed to the underlayer.

Asymmetrical Vogue

This dress is an out-of-print Vogue, 2797, that has been idling in my pattern drawer, waiting for the right fabric to come along.  The style is looking a little dated, but it seemed a shame not to make it up after all this time.  There are asymetrical dresses around at the moment, but they tend to have much bigger sleeves.

I have included a few photos, so that you can see all the asymmetry in all its glory. 

I sewed it at my mother-in-law's kitchen table whilst on holidays.  I have started taking my sewing machine on holidays with me.  This was a good dress for holiday sewing because it needs no notions...no interfacing, no zips, no buttons, no clips, no stabilisers...it is just fabric.  The pattern is cut on the bias.  The diagonals in the fabric do not line up with the bias, so I was not sure whether to cut it on the straight, or to match the diagonals or go with the bias.  Rather than dilly-dally with indecision, I just cut it on the bias as indicated by the pattern.

The off-the-shoulder section is cut as a different piece than the sleeve-and-shoulder.  Amazingly, this dress does not gape at all, no matter which way I bend and twist and turn.  I am wondering if this is because the 2 bust sections are cut on opposite biases?

I'll pop the details in a pattern review, for anybody who has this pattern lurking in their collection.

Out with the old...

What do they say...until you try, you don't know what it is you cannot do?  Well, I didn't know that I couldn't put in-seam pockets into a welt seam until I tried to do so on my raincoat.  This process was made a little more complicated by wanting the inside edges all bound because the fabric frays and the coat is unlined.  It has thrown me all off kilter.  I didn't want to keep working on it, but I didn't want to move onto a new project.  Meanwhile, it rained and rained and rained.  Now that it has stopped raining, I have nearly finished... just some flaps and then sewing on the buttons.  It is so hot and muggy here that I am certain some more rain is not far off and I will get to wear it this wet season.

In the meantime, I have done a little procastination sewing...replacing the old and worn with new and bright.  First up, a pin cushion.  The old one didn't have enough stuffing in it and the pins and needles often came out the sides or bottom.  The new one was made following a tutorial by Heather Bailey. Much groovier.

(ps I'm having trouble searching Heather's blog to find the tutorial.  I know it is there somewhere.  You might have to read the whole blog to find it, but that's okay, there is lots of good stuff to distract you on the way.)

Next a soft bag.  The old one has been used so much, the linen on the side you can't see is all torn.  The new one is Amy Butler's Covington Bag.  Only, this new bag is not such a good replacement as it can not hold nearly as much as the old one.  It is a strange pattern, because the lining does not have the pleats that the outer bag has, so it is actually a lot smaller than the bag.  I want a bag to be roomier than it looks, not the other way around.  The top panel is an Amy Butler fabric and the main panel is a canvas from Otilly & Lewis.  I only bought a small piece of canvas because this fabric is ridiculously priced.  At about half price, it was $85 / m.  I just wanted to see what the fuss was about.  It is supposed to be mildew resistant and less prone to fading than other canvases, but at that price, I don't think I will be putting it on my outdoor setting any time soon.  Nice stripes though.