My husband and I had a Hawaiian vacation the first week of December last year and I had a long list of items to sew for that getaway that included a lot of easy to wear beachy dresses.
I love a good wrap dress and the Seamwork Reggie has been on my ToSew list for a while, so it made its way onto my vacation list. But, because I can’t ever just leave well enough alone, I decided to make it fully reversible.
The solid blue is a cotton gauze that I had long enough to forget where it came from and the floral is a mystery fabric that I got from Seattle ReCreative. It feels mostly cotton, but it could be a blend and it has a lovely texture to it.
I basically just made two copies of the dress, omitting all of the facings and adding the waist tie to the opposite side waist seam from where I basted the front tie on both copies, then put both dresses together, right sides together and sewed with a 5/8″ seam allowance. Except for the hem, which I sewed at 1 ¼”.
Then I trimmed the seam allowance all the way around with my pinking shears then turned it through one of the arm holes. Turn the sleeve hems under and topstitch everything all together and voila! Easy peasy!
As it turns out, the dress is a little big on me. It is still wearable, but the way the ties are attached, I can’t get it to be more snug. Because of that, I don’t wear it much and I only actually wear the print side.
Even though this one didn’t turn out as great as I’d hoped, I would like to make some more reversible dresses. They are nice for traveling, although I don’t seem to travel as much for work these days. Have you ever made a reversible garment?
I wanted to make a new knit dress because it’s been a while since I’ve made a new everyday dress, but I was having decision anxiety over what to make and which fabric to use. So, I made my husband come into my sewing room and pick a fabric for me to use. He picked this lovely purple cotton lycra knit that has been in my stash long enough for me to not remember where it came from.
I only had 2 yards, so that limited my pattern selection without needing to color block. I keep my patterns indexed in Evernote, and one of the tags I use is “2 yards or less” to indicate that I can make the pattern with less than 2 yards. So, when I filtered my pattern list on “dress, pdf, knit, 2 yards or less” I got 14 hits. Several of them are ones I haven’t even made yet, so I need to fix that someday, but right now, I was looking for something I knew I could make in a day. So, I decided it was time to make my old favorite TNT Lady Skater pattern.
I have had great love for the Kitschy Coo Lady Skater and have not bothered to hide it! I hadn’t made one since I lost weight and I had originally made some changes to the pattern to get a better fit, so I actually thought this might be a good time to find a different pattern for this simple dress silhouette to try out. But I actually couldn’t find another fit and flare knit dress that could be made with less than 2 yards.
So, I reprinted my beloved Lady Skater, which was the first PDF pattern I ever made, and realized how far along PDF patterns have come since that one! The pattern doesn’t have layers, which is fine because at least half the time I forget to go turn off the sizes I’m not cutting anyway. The pattern has no line distinction for the sizes and only uses different colored solid lines. I only have a black and white printer these days, so it was very obvious that the pattern isn’t great for printing in black and white. Luckily, the pattern is simple enough that it wasn’t actually a problem. But I did go over the size I wanted to cut out with a highlighter anyway, just to be sure.
My measurements fit squarely into the size 6. Previously, I made the size 8, which is the biggest size it comes in. The changes I made to that size 8 were: I took the shoulders in a bit, I raised the waistline by an inch and I did a small swayback adjustment. I compared the size 6 to the size 8 and the shoulders were not as wide as my adjusted size 8 shoulders and the waistline was the same as my adjusted waist on the size 8. So, I decided to just make the size 6 once as is and do all the fitting over again.
I added pockets, using the Colette Moneta pocket piece placed 4″ from the top of the skirt pieces. Because, of course all dresses should have pockets!
The fitting changes I want to make to my next version:
take a bit of width out of the shoulders, because I hate having that little bubble on the top of my shoulder when I lift my arms.
sway back adjustment to remove some of those wrinkles on my back
maybe I need to add a bit of length to the back of the skirt to allow for my bodacious booty.
Do you have any patterns that are worth starting over with?
I have been wanting to make a 4th of July dress for some time now. I have purchased a few fabrics for that purpose, some a little more subtle than others. I had a dance party that was encouraging patriotic outfits, so I decided to go quite literal by using these two fabrics:
I had visions of what I wanted to make and was planning on using the Colette Moneta. But, as it turns out, I only had one yard each of those two cotton lycra fabrics, which isn’t quite enough for the Moneta. So, I decided to colorblock a Seamwork Mesa again and created a sketch of what I was envisioning.
Once I had a sketch that I liked, I basically just followed the same steps I did for my rainbow Mesa a couple years ago. The main difference in my process this time is that after I printed out two copies of the front dress piece, and taped it all together to make the full front piece, instead of cutting up that piece, I just drew in the lines I wanted for my two sections and I traced each piece onto Swedish tracing paper, then added the seam allowances. That way I still have that full sized front piece to use for the next time I color block the Mesa. (Spoiler alert: I already have the next one planned and sketched out.)
Ripley loves to help!
I cut a neckline band out of the blue and white, but then thought it might look cuter with a red and while one, so I laid it out to see and decided that was the way to go.
I also usually put bands on my sleeves too, so I just made them opposite on each sleeve too. I really love how the dress turned out. I was a bit concerned that the “waving” line would be hard to get to lie flat, but I didn’t have any problems with that at all.
I managed to get the stripes to line up pretty well on the left side. The right side, not so much, but it’s the shorter seamline for the stripes, so it’s not all that noticeable and I’m not concerned about it.
I like that I can just cut out each piece double with this pattern to make the front and the back of the dress without needing to modify each pattern piece separately.
We didn’t leave the house, other than to take these photos on the actual 4th of July. But I went to my party on the 5th and got a ton of compliments. I like the way this dress turned out and I’m glad I finally have a patriotic outfit to wear for when the occasion calls for it.
I have a special place in my heart for the By Hand London Anna. First of all, my daughter’s name is Anna, so that alone would make me interested in taking a look at anything named after her. Plus, when it first came out, all the photos I saw were stunning. I’ve made 3 versions already and I was incredibly pleased with each one. So, when I needed a formal gown and didn’t have a ton of time to mess with fitting, I decided to go back to my beloved Anna since already I knew the pattern pretty well. I wanted to add some extra drama, and I sketched up a couple quick silhouette options, including one with a neckline capelet and had decided to go that route.
Previously, I had to grade up a size to a ~US 18 and I didn’t bother doing any other fit alterations. But I’ve lost a significant amount of weight since I last made an Anna, so this time around, I decided to make a size US 14 with a 3″ FBA. I read up quite a bit on other ladies’ experience with doing an FBA on Anna and decided to not do it the way the BHL blog recommends, since I was adding a large amount. I just used the normal Y method that I usually use, then rotated the dart and absorbed it into the two pleats, trying to distribute it equally. It’s very hacky looking, but here’s what the finished piece ended up looking like.
This dress was going to be for the awards dinner of a dance event and it is always a formal evening with a theme and this time the theme was Viva Las Vegas. I had this periwinkle/black/white shimmery animal print crinkle chiffon fabric that was gorgeous and just screamed Vegas to me. So, I decided I had to go with it.
The fabric was too transparent, so I looked through my stash and I found a black charmeuse satin to underline it with.
I thought the shiny side would feel nice against my skin, so I put the fabrics wrong sides together and I cut them together and cut a single layer — not on the fold. I also hand basted the fabrics together to keep the chiffon from shifting around too much and I’m really glad I took the extra effort to do so. It made it so much easier once I started sewing all those skirt pieces together! I made cut and sewed up the bodice first and I finished the arm holes with black packaged bias binding, hand stitching it to the underlining layer only, instead of turning and sewing the edges in place as the instructions direct. This is the first time I’ve done it this way, because I usually line my Anna bodice and I also have always added sleeves before, but I really like how clean this method came out.
After I made up the bodice, with the neckline unfinished, waiting for the capelet, I put it on my dressform and was looking at it sitting there, already second guessing my plan. I was chatting with a friend/coworker who was working late out of town and sent some photos, she didn’t agree with my plan either, so I started thinking of other ways I could add some extra drama to the dress. I started thinking about cutting a V back and draping some long flaps from the V to create a little back cape thing (yes, I REALLY want a dress with a cape of some sort!!) and so I unpinned the back of the bodice to see what it would look like with a V back….
…and the fun side effect of underlining my dress with the shiny side of the charmeuse on the inside meant that the good side showed in the flap that folded out once I unpinned the back. I LOVED IT! So I ran with it. I took out the basting stitches and stitched the two layers together on those edges right sides together and pressed. I finished the skirt, attached it, inserted a shorter zipper and figured out where to insert it where it would cover up my normal bra. I somehow misjudged and had to improvise, because by this time, I was running out of time before I had to pack it up to go to my event and there was no way I was going to unzip that invisible zipper. So I found 3 big, shiny black buttons and added them so that I could close the V a little higher than the zipper did, just to cover up my bra. The top one is the only one that actually does any real work. The other two are only for show. They get a little lost in the pattern, so now that my event is over, I might make some sort of change there. Either use different buttons that stand out more or redo the zipper to be about an inch higher, I’m not sure yet.
But with no further ado, here are the professional photos that I conned the amazing Heather from Maude Productions to take special for me.
I have decided that this is my new favorite dress. It feels amazing to wear. It’s so slippery and nice against my skin. And the fit feels just about as perfect as it gets. I got several compliments on this dress. People are well used to the fact that I often make my own dresses for these things, so the first question is usually, “Did you make this one?” and I was very proud to say “Yes I did!”
Oh hey! It’s been a while. I have actually been sewing all this time since that last post. I’ve even been occasionally posting my makes over on Instagram. But I miss having a nice write up on my work that I go back to look at, so I decided to dust off the ol’ blog and start posting again.
I am a programmer, not a graphic designer, and I have never really been happy with the look of my blog. So I’ve been changing it up over the past couple of weeks in anticipation of getting back into actually using it again. I am liking this look much better, but there are still things I’m not happy about and I will still be doing more work to improve the look and functionality. Please leave a comment if something doesn’t work right (and what device/browser you are using) or if you just have any suggestions or feedback.
I had the great pleasure of getting to pattern test the latest pattern from Helen’s Closet, the Suki Kimono.
The official description is as follows: The Suki Kimono is a luxurious and comfortable robe, perfect for everyday use. It wraps around the body for a flattering waist fit and flares out over the hips. Kimono sleeves offer a classic look while still being a practical shape and length for getting ready in the morning. Inner and outer ties keep this robe closed so you can move around freely. The outer ties are anchored to the back of the robe so you will never lose them and inseam pockets ensure your phone is always at hand. Two lengths are provided and you have the option of contrasting front bands, sleeve bands, and ties. The Suki Kimono will surely be your new favorite lounge-wear!
I held off on posting about my Suki because I had hoped to use it as part of an outfit for The Monthly Stitch’s last contest for Indie Pattern Month. But alas, I haven’t had a lot of sewjo lately, so I didn’t get my “work from home” outfit finished in time.
The fabric I used was a 4 yard pre-cut poly crepe de chine I got from Fabric Mart for $3.20 back in February. I didn’t love the fabric once it arrived, but I decided that made it perfect for this test, in case things didn’t work out. It frayed more than any other fabric I’ve worked with so far. Although, to be fair, I have way more experience with knits than wovens.
Not the clearest photos, but yeah, that’s fully half of the seam allowance frayed away. 🙁 I did french seams on the body and I had to increase the seam allowance to allow for the fact that my seam allowances frayed away. Helen advised using spray starch next time I’m working with a woven that frays. I’ll definitely need to remember that tip!
Also, the instructions say to put the Rouleau loops in the side seams so the ends are encased in the seam for the belt loops. However, I was extra frustrated by my fabric fraying and I stupidly started a couple of my french seams the wrong way round, which exacerbated the problem. So, in all my frustration, I was a bad tester and I forgot to actually check back to the instructions and I missed attaching the belt loops and the hanging loop at the time I was supposed to. I just left the hanging loop off, but for the side loops, I just attached them flat with the ends folded under. I might actually prefer it this way, but for my next version I’ll try the right way so I can compare.
Even though I didn’t like the fabric much at first and I had problems due to my fabric choice that made this a frustrating sew, the finished kimono more than makes up for it all my issues. I LOVE this robe! It’s very warm in Seattle this summer and this is 100% polyester, so I’m not wearing it right now. But once it cools off, I’ll be living in this thing. I definitely plan on making more and I already have plans for a summer friendly version and a slightly hacked version that I hope will give off the essence of an old Hollywood dressing gown.
This is the tester version, but the only real difference between what I made and the final release is fixing some minor mistakes to a couple pattern pieces to make construction easier.
I definitely feel very glamorous with this kimono on. Since I’ve been working at home for the past 2 months, I find that I usually don’t bother getting dressed. So this kimono just goes on over my lounging clothes for when I need to answer the door for a package or step outside for some reason or another. And the sleeve length is perfect for not getting in the way of daily activities, like sitting out on the back deck drinking coffee.
If you haven’t seen them yet, you really should check out the rest of the versions from the tester roundup on the Helen’s Closet blog. And today (August 1, 2017) is the last day the Suki Kimono is on sale for 20% off! So get it now! And while you’re there, pick up her other two patterns too, which are both equally as wonderful.
So, the rainbow dress I made for Pride in 2015 is a little too baggy on me now, so I decided that I needed a new one. Instead of just repeating what I did before, I decided to try something different.
I sketched out what I was hoping to achieve.
I decided to use the Seamwork Mesa for my starting pattern. I’ve made it twice before and I knew it fit pretty well. I did go down a size from my previous ones and I think it’s even a better fit now. I compared the front and the back of the dress pattern and decided that they were close enough in size/shape that I’d be ok just making two fronts and sewing them together, which made this hack much easier. So first I printed out the dress front piece twice and taped them together to make a full piece.
You can see above that I sketched in the lines for the rainbow pieces. I did a combination of eyeballing and measuring to get them to roughly appear even. I then colored in the stripes to help keep which piece goes with which color fabric once I started cutting out the pieces.
I then cut each piece apart and added seam allowances. I even added actual notches like a good seamstress! As you may have noticed in the photo above, I messed up my rainbow coloring. Luckily, I figured it out while I was still adding the seam allowances and fixed the colors with some permanent markers over my colored pencil.
The fabrics I used all happen to be in my ginormous stash. I have a bunch of nylon/lycra active wear fabrics that I pick up on sale from Fabric Mart and Fashion Fabrics Club whenever I can so that I am able to make a ballroom gown on a moment’s notice, if I were to so choose to do so.
Since I made the decision to just make two front pieces and sew them together, I was able to just cut a double layer of each color.
I then just sewed each half of the main dress together and cut one red and one yellow sleeve and sewed it all together. I would have liked to split the sleeve into yellow and green like in my sketch, but I was doing this the day before I needed to wear the dress, so I got a little lazy.
And the back is just a mirrored image of the front.
I didn’t take all that many photos of the actual parade, but I did get particularly misty eyed when I saw Wizards of the Coast walking, so I had to grab a photo. I had just left a couple weeks before and had been in a lot of the planning meetings for their first ever appearance in the parade. I’m so proud to have been a part of that company.
After the parade, we had dinner downtown with the kids and then the hubby and I went to see Romy and Michele the Musical. He managed to get a couple not terrible shots of me on the streets of Seattle.
You can see a little of the stripe matching on the side.
In front of the show poster that is cut off and obscured. haha.
I’m quite proud of this dress and I’ll be happy to wear it again next year and I might even decide to just wear it around because it’s a pretty awesome dress. I also plan on reusing the pattern for a striped version, possibly in Seahawks colors.
However, I have been struggling with what to make lately. I have so many choices that sometimes thinking about all the pattern options and fabric selection ends up giving me decision anxiety. I end up procrastinating by sketching and touching all my fabrics and I end up wasting all the time I had to sew! I actually had another Seamwork pattern in mind to make for this contest, but in looking for two fabrics to go together, I decided that this lovely orange and navy paisley lawn needed to be featured in its own dress. So, I picked the Seamwork Arden because it had a retro feel to it that I thought fit the fabric nicely.
I had hoped to make the entire dress out of the lawn, but I only had 3 yards and couldn’t squeeze the entire thing out of it, and I happened to have some navy cotton lawn in my stash that matched perfectly. So, it all worked out.
I made a straight size 16, which I chose due to my bust measurement. The waist and hips of the dress are flowy, so I wasn’t concerned about those measurements. Plus, I was too lazy to do an FBA.
I made the long sleeves originally, but after attaching them, I realized they were slightly too short for my long monkey arms and also, the point of this dress was really to have a lightweight cotton dress to wear during our little Seattle heatwave. So, I ended up chopping the sleeves off and added navy cuffs. I definitely like the look of the long sleeves of the pattern, so it was a bit tough cutting them off, but I’m happy to have a nice, cool summer dress. But if I make this pattern again, I’ll probably keep the long sleeves and just add about an inch to their length.
My other adjustment is that I added in seam pockets! I really do need pockets in all of my dresses. Or at least one pocket for my phone. And what’s the point of sewing my own clothes if I can’t customize them to be exactly what *I* want?
I made a small fit modification of taking in the two center front darts to add a little more shaping and to not tent quite as straight down. I’m not 100% sure I sewed the darts correctly in the first place since I’m terrible about actually marking my fabric pieces. But I took each of those darts approximately 1/2″ deeper at the waist line, tapering out to nothing at the top and a few inches from the bottom of the darts.
Overall, I really like the look of this dress. I hate sewing darts and this dress has 4 very long darts in the front and 4 in the back. There is a bonus modification that uses gathers instead of darts that I might try in the future, but I like this dress enough that I might just be willing to deal with the darts. I also didn’t really know how much I’d like the bow, since I’m a little worried about adding extra bulk to my already busty figure. But I actually really think it’s very flattering, so I’m definitely glad I took the chance on this dress.
I have plans for each of the 4 Indie Pattern Month contests, but I’m already almost done with my project for week 3 (Hack it!) so I’ll definitely finish at least one more. Are you planning on entering anything for the contests this year? I’d love to hear what you are willing to share (or tease) about your entries!
So much has happened since my last update that kept me away from sewing, so I barely even thought about my blog!
I started out trying to document my Me-Made outfits in May on Instagram. As I suspected, I didn’t really have enough me-mades that fit me to be able to wear them every day. And even then, I didn’t always remember to get a photo when I was wearing one of my makes. So, here are the ones I did manage to get:
May 4th: My first Colette Wren. I had a job interview down in OR that day and this photo was taken after I got back home.
May 5th: My first Seamwork Mesa, which I started a blog post about, but never posted. I didn’t like it when I first made it, but I like it quite a bit now that I’ve lost a little weight and it doesn’t hug my tummy so much.
May 22nd: My 2nd Seamwork Mesa that I managed to make in May.
May 28th: I also wore it again when I went to Vancouver, BC for my daughter’s 21st birthday.
Well, there you have it. All the photos that I have, most of them terrible. We finally got our old house fixed up and rented, so hopefully I’ll FINALLY have some time to sew and catch up on my blog. I have made a 3rd Seamwork Mesa that I hacked that I’m excited to blog about soon. If you follow my Instagram, then you’ve already seen the spoilers.
I haven’t posted in a while, mostly because I haven’t really made much that I’m super proud of. Since my last post I made another Blackwood Cardigan just like my blue one but this time in a lovely mango sophia double knit that I picked up from the sewing expo. I do love that sweater and both of my Blackwoods get heavy rotation in my wardrobe and will likely be seen in my MMM photos this year. (In fact, I’m wearing my blue one today.)
I also managed to throw together a couple costume pieces that I’m definitely not proud of, but got the job done. And as it would be I don’t have any photos of either costume, but I do have this video of my Ursula dance wearing a dress I put together using the Jalie Bella dress pattern.
I took out a lot of width in the skirt flares and just didn’t sew the panels all the way to the bottom to make the panels somewhat resemble tentacles. I cut two of the center front panel, adding a seam allowance, and hacked it into a sweetheart neckline with a purple netting at the neckline and sleeves. I hacked this together quickly the day of the event and I didn’t finish the edges, so the netting at the neckline has all run. I also split the center back panel so that I could add a zipper to the back. This dress uses the leotard from the same pattern so that I don’t have to wear separate dance pants.
Now for the main topic of my post today. Me Made May 2017! I signed up with a realistic pledge a while ago, and, of course, I hoped (and still do) that I’ll be able to make and/or alter some items to fill in where my wardrobe is lacking this month. But here is the pledge I made:
So that’s my pledge. I’m going to do the best I can. I have a few dresses that still look ok on me — my Monetas and my Wrens. I made my first Wren knowing that I was going to be losing a lot of weight, so I intentionally made it a size smaller than I would have otherwise at the time, so that helped. And I think the Monetas just were snug enough that they just are a little loose now.
Here’s a photo of what I wore yesterday on May 1. It’s the first Kitschy Coo Lady Skater that I made. A wearable muslin. I took a relaxation day after my dance competition last weekend, so I was just lazying around the house and running errands, so I didn’t mind that it was fairly loose on me.
And this is today. A Moneta and my blue Blackwood.
I will be back to document more me-made outfits soon.
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