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Category: Seamwork

Pride dress 2017 edition

July 20, 2017 / / 1 Comment

This is my (hopefully) first entry for the Hack It! contest over at The Monthly Stitch.

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.
And here we are on the Link light rail, heading down to Seattle Pride.

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.

Indie Dress!!

July 7, 2017 / / 2 Comments

It’s Indie Pattern Month over at The Monthly Stitch.  So that means contests!  Week 1 is dresses, which I am always up for.

Seamwork Arden

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!

A Painted Perry

November 14, 2016 / / 1 Comment

When I made my camouflage Seamwork Perry, I liked it so much that I immediately cut out another one from a cotton Spandex knit from a previous Girl Charlee* knitfix fabric.

I couldn’t do pattern matching when cutting the dress out, so I decided to just cut it out however I could then I used some Jacquard Textile Color* to paint colored stripes onto the fabric to try to mask the pattern mismatch.

I started painting the pieces way back in May.  I did some additional painting some time after that, but then I finally just finished it a couple days ago.  After it was all dried, I heat set it with the iron following the directions.

I cut bodice lining pieces from the same black cameo thermal knit fabric I used to line my Fabricista sweater dress.

I liked the elastic loop and button I used for the camo Perry, so I decided to do that again.  Since I planned this before sewing the dress together, I basted a loop of elastic that I’d colored with a blue Sharpie to the back bodice piece before sewing the shell and lining together at the neckline so that the raw ends are enclosed.  Then sewed on a blue button the finish the closure.

Also I couldn’t find a couple pieces – the front pocket piece and the sleeve cuffs.  I swear I cut them out, but it’s been so long and they aren’t with the other pieces, so either I’m remembering wrong or they got lost.  So, I cut the missing pocket piece from that same black cameo knit and instead of replacing the sleeve cuff with a different fabric, I just hemmed the sleeve 1″ to create a channel then cut pieces of 1/2″ elastic and fed it through the channel.

I also sewed all of the vertical seams with 5/8″ seam allowance instead of 3/8″ to try to size the dress down a bit.

I’m not super happy with the fit of the waist elastic.  I followed the instructions and cut the elastic to my waist measurement minus 2″.  But I must have stretched it out while installing it, because the waist doesn’t have as much definition as my camo one.

There are a few spots where I missed fully applying the color.  When I started with the blue, I was trying to go for a hand painted look, so the missed spots were a feature.  But now that it’s all put together, those spots are a little distracting to me.  Also, some of the coloring between the pieces don’t quite match shades, or the color lines across the seams aren’t exact.  So I may end up doing another pass of the painting.  Although, I am pretty happy with how it looks as is.

*affiliate link – I gotta try to help support my sewing habit somehow.

Perry Camo

June 21, 2016 / / 0 Comments
My current favorite dress is one that I made out of slightly flawed camo fabric that I got in a bargain bundle from Girl Charlee.  I wanted to try out the Seamwork Perry, but I wanted to use my inexpensive fabric that I didn’t care about, in case it didn’t turn out.  It turns out that this dress is just darling and I love the fabric choice!
I don’t think I ever would have paid full price for camouflage fabric, but I just love the way it looks as a dress.  And I’ve gotten several compliments on it the few times I’ve worn it so far.

The fabric is fairly on the thin side, so I lined the bodice with the same burnout knit I used to line my velour Skater Anna, just to give it some extra coverage so my bra doesn’t show through.

I love the sleeve detail.  At first, I thought I might have made a mistake cutting out the band because the it was way shorter than the end of the sleeve, but I just stretched that band extra hard as I sewed it on and now the sleeve has this lovely little poof at the end that I think is just cute as can be.
The back called for a hook and an eye to close the keyhole opening, but I thought it would be cute to use a button and a loop of elastic.  As it turns out, the neckline is well big enough that I don’t ever have to undo the button, but it is functional just the same.  I found a green button that matched perfectly in my stash and I used a bit of white elastic cord and used a black sharpie to make it match.

 I then took the ends of the cut elastic cord and used my 3 step zigzag stitch and stitched them together side, but side, into a loop.  Then I hand stitched that to the back opening, making sure to make the stitches on top of the (crooked) top stitching so they don’t show too much.

Here’s what it looks like closed up.

And here is how it actually looks on me.

The shoulders are cut a little narrow and the sleeve head comes way up onto my shoulder, so I widened the shoulders on my pattern a bit so that hopefully next time they will look a little better.

And here’s a photo of my Perry on my dress form.

This was a quick make, even though I didn’t quite take the 2 hours the pattern says it’ll take because I lined the bodice and fooled around adding the button and loop detail and also just because I’m a bit of a slow sewist.  But I have already cut out my next one and plan to make a few more.

Fabric Mart Pinterest Contest!

April 1, 2016 / / 6 Comments

I love a good challenge.  I don’t always finish in time for “official” challenges.  But guess what?!  I squeaked in just under the deadline for this one.

Fabric Mart was running a contest to sew up a mystery bundle.  It sounded fun, so I bought one of the 6 yard fashion bundles.  Here’s what I got:

2 3/4 yards of a nice, thick black and white double knit, 1 1/2 yards of a strange gray-brown crinkly poly (I’m guessing, I didn’t do a burn test) fabric and 2 yards of a lovely blue chevron lace.

I immediately fell in love with the knit and knew I wanted to try making a Colette Wren out of it.  I had already printed and taped the pattern together, so I was ready.  The fabric was a dream to work with and it was 70 in wide, so I even have a nice sized chunk left over.

I made a size smaller than I normally would have because I’ve lost 18 lbs in the last 2 months and I’m planning on continuing to lose, so I wanted something I could wear come fall, since this fabric weight and color are suited more for cooler weather.  I can’t really tell from that photo, but the dress is very tight right now, but it should be perfect come fall.

I also wanted pockets in my dress, but since I was making the slimmer skirt, I didn’t think my go to in-seam pocket would work well.  So I cut the side front panel to put pockets in.

I don’t know what you call these kind of pockets, but I drafted them similar to the pockets in my Ottobre dresses.

They are plenty deep enough to fit my phone and that makes me happy.  Although, I think they are a tad too high to put my hands into comfortably, so next time I’ll lower them an inch or two.

Next, I decided to make a Seamwork Osaka from the gray/brown fabric and pair it with a blue, white and brown plaid cotton lawn I had in my stash.

The Osaka is a reverse wrap skirt and you can use 4 different fabrics, but I just used the two and swapped the placement on the reverse.

I like the skirt alright, but, again, I made it a size smaller than I actually am.  Also that fabric is strange and doesn’t press well, but it also doesn’t really look like it’s meant to be crinkly.  I’ll likely wear it with the blue plaid on the bottom and a shirt untucked.

And last I used the blue chevron lace to make a Patterns For Pirates Summer Kimono.

I love how this turned out.  I used the selvage edge as the hem and I just turned the edge and used a straight stitch along the front/neckline and the sleeve hem.

So, there you have it.  My random fabric makes.

So, what do you think, do you enjoy the challenge of making something out of a fabric you did not choose?

12th Man Seamwork Mojave

August 16, 2015 / / 0 Comments

I decided some time ago that I was going to go to Ocean Shores for the 12’s Fan Fest weekend to celebrate the end of NotFootball season with other Seahawk fans.

When planning my wardrobe for the weekend, I knew I had lots of jerseys and t-shirts I could wear, but i wanted something a bit more special.  Now, I have my Seahawks Lady Skater Dress, but that would only get me through one day.

I decided to try to sew up a Seamwork Mojave in some Hawks colors in my stash.

The green is some sort of poly blend woven and the blue is a cotton broadcloth.  I drew up my sketch with my awesome art skills.
It was a pretty easy pattern to cut out.  My only problem is that the pieces are too long for my cutting mat, but that was easily fixed by just using my scissors on the bit that hung over.
While I was sewing up the green panels in the front, I got the idea that it would be a good place to add a little pizzazz.  So I tested out some of my decorative stitches on a couple scraps of the green with my blue thread.

It was a tough decision, but this is the one I decided on:
Then I sewed the rest of it up according to the directions.
I wore it today as a swimsuit cover-up on the way to the hotel pool.  

It’s definitely not anything I could wear by itself as a dress.  It also just didn’t look good with any of my tanks under it.  But it looks cute as a cover-up.  I’m pretty pleased with how it came out overall.  My measurements were right on the border between 20 and 22, so I went with the bigger size.  I could easily get away with the 20, I think.

I’ve decided that I’m going to attempt to put a little elastic in the back waistline at some point after I get home to see if that helps give it a bit more shape.
It was fun to add a little decoration to a cute item.  I need to go back and make all the previous Seamwork patterns now, since I’ve made two so far that I’m happy with.  (The other is still unblogged because I need to figure out a design detail that I’m adding.)

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