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Category: Woven dress

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!

3 Zeenas

August 16, 2016 / / 4 Comments
I started making my first By Hand London Zeena that I got as part of The Monthly Stitch Chill Out Bundle with the intention of entering the Indie Pattern Month bundle contest.  Unfortunately, my free time seemed to completely dry up just as I got everything cut out and ready to sew.  After I did finally get it sewn up, I knew I wanted to make another, so I decided to just go ahead and make 3 and use that as my offering for the August challenge.

I made my first version from a fun floral 100% Rayon faille with the bodice lined with a bright yellow voile.  My current measurements (49, 38, 48) put me in the size US 16 with a 4″ FBA. Well, I was a little confused how to do the FBA without a side dart, so I sorta did it the normal way, adding a side dart, then rotated it into the kimono sleeve a little and the bulk of it into the waist pleat.  However, after I cut my fabric, I realized in all my research and confusion, I forgot to halve my adjustment amount and ended up adding 4″ to the pattern piece, which means I added 8″ total to the bodice front.  Doh.  And my method also didn’t add any length to the piece.   So the waist seam is way too high in the front.  But I ended up fiddling with the pleats quite a bit and moving where they are in the original pattern until I thought the dress didn’t look too bad.

I thought it would be a fun thing to try adding a waist stay.  I read up quite a bit on how to do this and I decided to go with the method shown in this Sewaholic tutorial.  This dress didn’t have a heavy skirt or a strapless bodice, so I mostly wanted it to take the strain off the zipper at the waistline and to make it a bit easier to zip up myself.  But you can see from the pictures above that the front of the waist seam is much higher than the back.

I’ve worn this dress twice and got several compliments on it both times, so i guess I’m not the only one who thinks it doesn’t look too bad.

So, I fixed the FBA issue for my second version, which I made from a 100% cotton double gauze in blue plaid.  But after wearing it to work yesterday, I think I need to take a little of the length of the front bodice back out.  It’s not really very noticeable in these photos, but the waist seam stays pretty much right where it’s supposed to and the bodice poofs out a bit right above in a way I don’t like.

I cut the fabric trying to match the plaid at the center front, completely forgetting that the skirt has a pleat right in the front.  However, when I first basted the bodice and skirt together, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the plaid was very close to matching up. 

So I fiddled with the pleats a bit to just shift the fabric around within the existing pleats to make it match better.

So much better!  I love how it turned out.

After my blue plaid Zeena was already mostly assembled, I noticed that when I wore my brown floral Zeena the zipper bulged out a bit at the lower back where it could use a sway back adjustment.  So, I took a 1″ wedge out of the center back bodice for my third version, which I made out of a lovely ikat stripe print Rayon Challis (sold out) from Fabric Mart.  And, of course none of the photos of the back of this dress turned out.  But I do have dressform photos.

While cutting out this third Zeena, I had some issues because the fabric’s pattern repeat is pretty large, so I couldn’t cut the full midi length skirt (which is actually knee length on me.)  And of course, I didn’t notice until I had already cut the skirt front and went to cut the back, matching the stripes.

I cut it as long as I could with the fabric I had, and it ended up about 3 1/2 inches shorter than the other two.  But I think it was fortuitous since the shorter length paired with this fabric comes off nice and sassy, while the longer length makes the brown floral dress look classy and gives the plaid version a lovely 50s housewife feel that I am totally into.

I’ve made 4 Anna’s, and 3 of them are dresses!

May 10, 2016 / / 0 Comments

My (almost 20 year old) daughter is named Anna, so the dress I made for Portland DOR was my 4th Anna, but the 3rd By Hand London Anna.  I haven’t blogged about either of the other two yet.  I made a floor length red and gold one last year for the Banff DOR’s Red & White ball.  That was the first one I planned to make, but it ended up being my second one.

My first was an unplanned make that I ended up needing to wear to a funeral.

Both of them were sewn with French seams (the first time I’d ever done that!) and lined bodice.  The black dress (lovingly referred to as my Melissa dress) also has a skirt lining that hangs freely.

I love the way they fit and, unfortunately I don’t have any good photos of either of them on me.  But I do have this one with my dance instructor, Ya-Ya, and some real life Mounties.

At some point in the past I purchased some of this interesting looking velour from Morex Fabrics with the intention of making a muslin of the Seamwork Camden that was inexpensive but still pretty enough to wear if it worked out.

When it arrived, I discovered that velour is stretchy, which I should have known, but didn’t occur to me for some reason.  So I instead, for some reason, cut a bodice for an Anna, removing the back zipper seam.  I sewed it up to see how it fit in a stretchy fabric and then I put it aside.

Fast forward a few months and I need at least one more dress for my long weekend of dancing, but I’m having trouble deciding on what to make.  So I decided to cut a skater style skirt to attach to this waiting bodice.  I took the Anna front skirt pieces and lay them out with the center front on the fold and the side front piece overlapping the center front piece by the 5/8″ seam allowance.  I then placed the skirt piece from my Lady Skater pattern on top for comparison and spread the side front piece away from the center front piece, keeping them connected at the seam line.  I did that until the side seams were parallel.  The Lady Skater piece was more narrow, but I wanted the waist seam of the Anna skirt to stay the same.  I then cut the fabric out around both pieces, lengthening the skirt a bit.  (I’m sorry I didn’t think to take photos!). Then did the same for the back skirt.

I also lined the bodice with some white burnout knit fabric I had from a  Girl Charlee bargain lot.

I decided to hem the dress with horsehair braid to give the skirt a little bit of extra body.  It’s pretty subtle, but I really like how it turned out.

But I finished my newest Anna in time to take to Portland.  I wore it the first night for the bus tour and dinner cruise.  Then I took these photos in my hotel room afterward.

I got several compliments, which always makes me feel good.  Most of the people from my dance studio know I make a lot of my own clothes, so I usually get some, “Did you make this one?” type questions.

This dress was really quite simple though and I really like how it looks.  I think I’ll try making another in a fabric that suits itself for everyday wear.

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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