One Week One Pattern Round Up

This was my first year participating in the One Week One Pattern challenge and I must say it was nice to wear some clothes that are not in my normal rotation. I chose to wear my Roza tops from Kate and Rose Patterns. I ended up wearing four blouses on five separate days.

Day 1 (Saturday 9/6) & Day 7 (Friday 9/12): I wore my University of South Carolina Roza. It is football season after all!

Day 2 (Monday 9/8): No Roza 😦

Day 3 (Monday 9/8): I wore my Gingham Embroidery Roza

Day 4 (Tuesday 9/9): I wore my Birthday Roza.

Day 5 (Wednesday 9/10): No Roza 😦

Day 6: (Thursday 9/11): I wore my Monogram Roza

This pattern is such a great starting point for all kinds of creativity. I recently developed an interest in smocking so I think my next Roza may incorporate that technique. Thanks Jane for coordinating the challenge. Can’t wait until next year!

Pattern Review: Colette Patterns Myrtle Dress

As with the previous two Colette pattern releases, the Myrtle dress is designed for knits and ranges from XS to 3XL. I am so happy to finally be able to simply stitch up a pattern without having to do a significant amount of mind bending math and grading.

The pattern has a few lovely design features. Most notable is the wide draped neckline and shoulder tabs. My version was made with a lovely floral knit fabric I snagged from Girl Charlee during their 40% off sale over the July 4th holiday.

Things I liked about the pattern:

• It comes in my size range!
• The bodice draping was interesting. The front bodice piece is very long and actually drapes onto itself to become self lined.
• Button tab shoulders

Things I struggled with and modified:

• The waistband just did not work for me. The instructions state to fold down part of the bodice to create a casing but the result was NOT pretty. I ended up taking that out then simply zigzag stitching a piece of elastic to the seam where the bodice and skirt came together. The result was not perfect but looked better than my first attempt.
• The bodice ended up being a bit short. Next time I will add 2 inches to the bodice length so the dress sits closer to my natural waist. I must note that I am pretty short waisted so for others the bodice may need to be lengthened even more.
• Overall length of the skirt. I added about 4 inches which is a common modification for me on Colette patterns. I’m almost 5’8″ and don’t typically wear dresses above my knees. This is my personal preference and I want to be able to wear them to work.
• I started with the pockets but thought they added to much bulk at the hips so later took them out and simply stitched up the sides.

Overall I really like how the dress came out. It is comfortable and can easily be dressed up or down depending upon what shoes and cardi I wear. There is definitely another Myrtle in my future!

Pattern Review: Jennifer Lauren Vintage Bronte Top

After my success with the Afternoon Blouse, I was excited to see another vintage inspired top from Jen and I knew this one would be perfect for my upcoming July 4th parties.

Unlike the Afternoon Blouse, the Bronte Top pattern is intended for knit fabrics. As a relative newcomer to sewing with knits, my first attempt is by no means perfect but has already seen heavy rotation in the three weeks since I sewed it up. I have another version planned soon!

Things I liked:
1) Tiling of the pattern allows you to print specific pieces
2) Long sleeve and short sleeve versions
3) Very clear instructions!
4) Button details at the collar can really showcase unique buttons. I used vintage buttons I got for 50 cents at a quilt show a few years ago and I love them.

Things I had issues with:
1) The sleeves were a bit short for me so I had to lengthen the fold over part. Heather had the similar sleeve length problems which she provided a super helpful tutorial here.
2) Keeping the front neckline from stretching out was a big issue. I think next time I will make the neckline binding an inch shorter so the neckline lies more flat.
3) Easing the sleeves was hard for me and I didn’t get it quite right. The very top of the sleeve pokes up a bit but not so much that I won’t wear the top.

 

 

 

 

Dolly Clackett Mini Me? Yeah Baby!!!

Sarah of Rhinestones and Telephones decided to host a Dolly Clackett Sewing contest in honor of Nic and Roisin’s upcoming wedding. Unless you live under a rock, I’m sure you’ve seen all the lovely dresses Roisin wannabes have been posting lately.

The rules were simple and only required you to sew a dress similar to something Roisin would wear. The contest ends today so without further ado, please check out my “Dolly Clacket Mini Me” dress!

Roisin is probably best known for her cheerful printed fabric and gathered skirt dresses. She is going to Paris for her honeymoon so has been whipping up Eiffel Tower dresses like mad. In honor of her traveling spirit and my upcoming trip to Italy, I decided my Mini Me dress would require an Italian print fabric. I found the perfect choice at Hawthorne Threads. The fabric is from the Dear Stella Va Bene collection and includes many famous attractions from around Italy. Isn’t it wonderful?

The dress pattern is an upcoming release from Kate and Rose I was lucky enough to pattern test. I will do a proper review once Kati releases the pattern but can tell you now this is already a TNT pattern for me and will see heavy rotation in the coming months!

Top 5 Hits and Misses of 2013

Gillian of Crafting a Rainbow had a great idea about posting top five hits, misses, reflections, inspirations and goals of 2013. Since I think that is a great way to sum up my crafting activity, here goes…

Hits: I discovered a new (to me) indie pattern company, Kate and Rose, early in 2013 and went on to make three tops using the Roza pattern. This pattern brought my love of embroidery together with garment sewing and resulted in three of my top five hits for 2013!

Also making the top 5 hit list was my Sewing Cake Cabarita top. This was the first time I had sewed anything from Steph’s company but would definitely not be the last. Her original take on sizing is refreshing and significantly reduces the amount of modifications required.

I also took part in Colette Patterns Laurel contest and ended up wearing this version all summer! This was my most fun challenge all year and resulted in many cool versions of this rather simple pattern.

Misses:  There weren’t many but unfortunately I have to put my Pantone Anna Dress from By Hand London in the “miss” category. I have never worn it and it is a shame. I think the biggest issue was my fabric choice. The bodice flops out a bit which makes the cleavage a bit too pronounced. I haven’t given up on giving this pattern another go since I do think the overall shape is super flattering!

Another FO making the “miss” list is my Monthly Stitch It’s Elementary My Dear Watson cape. There is nothing “wrong” with it but living in South Carolina doesn’t lend itself to wearing capes often. Perhaps I need to start a new trend…

Probably my worst fail of the year was the Maria Mexican Folk Dress. I had such high hopes for this dress. I wanted to marry my love of embroidery with sewing but it was NOT to be. Better luck next year!

Tomorrow I will continue the list with reflections and inspirations from 2013!

 

The “Pantone Anna” Dress

The Facts

Fabric: Silky 100% polyester something or other from the clearance bin at Hancock’s $8

Notions: None!

Pantone Challenge colors: Acai, Carafe, Linden Green, Deep Lichen Green, & Turbulence

Pattern: By Hand London Anna $23

Year: 2013

Time to complete: 4 hours (including unpicking the zipper twice!)

First worn: For these photos

Wear again? Absolutely

Total Cost: $31

This is my submission for the Sew Weekly Reunion Pantone Challenge. When the theme was announced I realized I didn’t have anything in my stash that would suit so I decided to check out Hancock’s clearance sale to see if I could come up with something. I immediately snatched up this fabric for $2.47 a yard! Sew Busy Lizzy posted several versions of the By Hand London Anna dress so I jumped on the bandwagon and ordered the pattern from We Sew Retro to cut down on shipping costs.

The Anna dress is deceptively easy to sew. I had to grade up the pieces to fit my hips and make the arm openings about an inch longer but other than that the pattern went together well. Anna does call for an invisible zip but after a couple of tries I wasn’t happy with how it looked (more sewer than pattern!) so I simply stitched up the back and called it a day. I think the main reason my dress didn’t require a zip is because I am extremely pear shaped so it was very easy to get over my head.

Though the fabric colors fit perfectly with the challenge, I don’t usually work with such slippery fabric and it was a P-A-I-N to sew. The fabric also raveled like crazy so I had to serge everything just to get the dress together. I am not completely satisfied with the seams along the waistband so next time I will try my hand at french seaming to see if the look is more streamlined.

Overall though I think the dress is very flattering and I especially love the bodice. The pleats work perfectly to accentuate a smaller waist while giving you enough room in the bust. I already have the fabric for two more Anna dresses and may even try the maxi length with the thigh high split like Heather Lou’s fabulous version! Have you tried this pattern yet? If so, how did you like it? If not, what are you waiting for???

 

Sewcial Bee & Miz Mozelle Pattern Review

I ignored my UFO pile this weekend but decided to participate in the Sewcial Bee monthly challenge. Kat posted a helpful list of current challenges so I checked out Gillian’s post regarding the Sewcial Bee challenges. I missed the one last month but was definitely all over it this time around. The challenge was posted on Saturday morning and the intent is to sew something over the weekend that meets the challenge requirements then post your make to flickr. This month’s challenge was determined by GidaStudio and had to be inspired by food. My make was actually inspired by the link to HeatherB’s blog where Heather made a cake that inspired her dress. I happened to have some black and red floral fabric in my stash and the Miz Mozelle pattern on my “to sew” list so I went for it. As you can see, I not only made a similar dress, but also a similar cake. Thanks Heather for the floral icing tip!

Now onto the pattern review…

This was the first time sewing a Jamie Christina pattern so I am a bit late to the party. Most of her offerings are not my style but the Miz Mozelle dress seemed like the perfect pattern to pair with my fabric. The fabric is some sort of rayon blend I bought at Hancock’s awhile back. I think I originally planned to use it for my Mad Men Challenge dress but opted for a vintage cotton sateen in psychedelic colors instead. The pattern had to be graded up quite a bit but the fit of the dress is relatively forgiving so it wasn’t much of a problem.

The instructions were well written and clear. The only issue I ran into was sewing the keyhole. I must have stretched the fabric and bias tape too much when stitching because I could not ever get the bottom part of the loop to lay flat. I finally ended up stitching the bottom closed so that it formed more of a “V” instead of an oval.

The waist is not fitted but instead utilizes a casing and elastic. The pattern called for 1/4″ braided elastic but I opted for 3/4″ non-roll elastic instead. This did cause the casing to be much more obvious but distributes the gathers better in my opinion. I also did not make the sash but plan to use a black elastic belt I already had. I tried it both with and without the belt and like it either way. I will definitely be making this dress again but perhaps in a solid color.

 

Sewing Mojo, UFOs & a Giveaway!

I had a few days off at the first of July and spent the time organizing my sewing space. I went through my fabric and pattern stash, happily making plans to get both under control. After completing several items though, I feel like I really should finish all of my UFO’s before starting something else. I am not looking forward to fixing all of the issues that prevented me from finishing each garment in the first place so I keep putting them off. The pile is growing and at my current rate the UFO pile will be bigger than my fabric stash soon! Any ideas on how to keep my sewing mojo (or sewjo as  Lizzy calls it!) going while also reducing the UFO pile?

As an added incentive for both you and me, I am going to give away a pattern of your choice from my “willing to share” stash to the person with the best idea for keeping my sewjo going and conquering my UFO pile. The giveaway will close on next Wednesday, August 14 and I will announce the winner next Thursday so get those ideas coming!

My current UFO’s include:

Colette Crepe in vintage navy dotted swiss. This dress has been in the UFO pile since early 2012. I got as far as adding the piping then got stuck. The dress has a sweetheart neckline so it requires some finesse to get the piping and facing to lie flat. After trying a couple of times, I got frustrated and tossed it. In order to finish the dress, I would need to unpick the neckline and restitch the piping then sew the sides seams and hand hem.

Colette Ginger in embossed suede microfiber. This was my second attempt at this skirt and has been in my UFO pile since mid 2012. The first one is a tad too tight in the hips so it rides up. In an effort to correct that issue, I cut a larger size expecting to simply add a few back darts so the waist would fit appropriately. Unfortunately the fabric is so thick and stiff I can’t get the waistband to lie flat and get all these weird puckers. In order to finish the skirt, I would need to unpick the waist darts and figure out how to get the waistband to fit properly. The skirt also needs to be hemmed.

In House Patterns Blossom in Amy Butler sketchbook voile. This blouse has only been in my UFO pile since early spring but the fabric is so lovely it is a shame to have it languish. There are a couple of issues with getting this one finished. First the back neckline gapes so somehow I need to find a way to “tighten” it up without removing fabric from the shoulder area. I also didn’t have enough fabric to grade up the sleeves as the pattern is written so I opted for a tulip style instead. I got the first side on correctly but struggled with the other sleeve so much I put the whole blouse away and never came back to it.

Colette Hawthorn in minty green eyelet. Not so much a UFO as a hard to get started. I have all of the pieces cut out but can’t seem to wrap my head around how to line and add the facings. The fabric is scalloped along the button edge instead of the hem so any ideas on how to get the facings and lining stitched without losing the scallops would be most appreciated!

Kate and Rose Roza Blouse Pattern Review

I am definitely on an embroidery kick lately and my wardrobe has grown by two garments this past week. The first is the Roza blouse from Kata of Kate and Rose.  I originally found her through the Colette patterns flickr group when she posted an embroidered Sorbetto. After checking out Kata’s blog and trying her free embroidery pattern (originally discussed here) this indie pattern designer is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

The Roza pattern is sold through Kata’s etsy store and is available in both paper and pdf versions. I bought the pdf version because I wanted to wear this blouse to my son’s graduation party last Saturday with my Hummingbird skirt and I didn’t have time to wait for the pattern to be mailed. The pattern is a basic raglan sleeve with several options to allow for customization.

• View A is a long sleeve, gathered front top
• View B is a short sleeve flat front top with a high-low hem
• View C is a short sleeve flat front dress

I actually mixed and matched the views to make my blouse. First I had to grade up the pattern in the bust and hips since the XL was still a bit smaller than my measurements.  I chose the flat front short sleeve version but decided on a straight hem.  Luckily the sleeves were large enough so no modifications were necessary to the raglan portion. The sleeves actually have a band and are supposed to be gathered but I prefer the look of plain sleeves so I simply used a small hem instead. I also blind hem stitched the bottom hem by hand.

The fabric is from Joel Dewberry’s Notting Hill collection and is a cotton voile Pristine Poppy in Citron. Not only is the perfect weight for our hot and humid South Carolina summers, it was also part of my stashbusting sewalong pledge! For the embroidery, I knew I wanted a swirly monogram so after searching MANY monograms, I chose a free font called Monogram KK. I then used a tutorial from Project Wedding to intertwine my initials. I printed the monogram, traced it onto a piece of white linen using my light box then stitched it by hand using three strands of DMC embroidery floss. I love the result!

Since I was short on time, I did not make a muslin (who am I kidding, I never make a muslin!) but next time I will probably not grade up the sides as much as I did on this version. The blouse hangs a bit in the front as you can see in the photo below but not enough to make me want to go back and modify anything this time around. Overall I am very pleased with this pattern and already have another one planned using the Hungarian braided chain stitch and this embroidery pattern for the front panel. If you haven’t ever incorporated embroidery into your garment sewing, you should definitely give it a try!