Almost Fall Easy Summer Dress

Remember when I said I had an idea for taking my copy of the summer RTW dress and making it with jersey? A couple of weeks ago I pulled it off, and I love how it turned out!

This is me, attempting an Oona-esque shot.

I used the skirt from the Easy Summer Dress, and then adapted my Wendy Mullin Sew U Home Stretch bodice by turning it into a deep V-neck. With the right bra, this neckline is a bit dangerous (mrow).

That's right, I'm dangerous. Watch out.

 The fabric is from GorgeousFabrics.com, but it is sadly out of stock. It's a thick, slightly sweatery jersey and I fell for the colors (more magenta, please). I hope it can be a good transition dress as it's starting to cool off here in the Midwest. As I was cutting it out, I got really excited about the stripey action in the selvedge. I wanted to use it somehow (hem? neck? create some kind of cording?) and finally decided to use it to bind the sleeves and neck. I wasn't sure how this would work as it had ZERO stretch, but I like the way it turned out.

Button is covering the joint.

So not much more to say about this one, except that my Sew U Home Stretch book has certainly turned into a good investment. It's my go-to whenever I want to create something new with knit/jersey. What about you? What are starting to sew for fall?

I'll leave you with my figurehead shot. I'm a ship!

On the Importance of Stretch

I made this top up a couple of weeks ago but had to wait to finish it because my coverstitch/serger was in the shop. One of the air threading tubes got clogged. I tried my best to clear it on my own but in the end I had to pay for a service. I don't like being thwarted by the machines . . .

I found this wool jersey at the Great Textile Discount Outlet when I went there last fall with Gail.  On a previous visit I found a teal version of this stuff, and was so excited to see it in this raspberry/violet color. You may have noticed that I have a thing for jewel tones, especially those in the magenta-fuchsia-raspberry-purple family. I love that family.

I was going to buy 2 yards of the stuff until I heard the price, "Did you say $2.95/yard?!? Then I'll take 5 yards, kind sir!"

Since I have 5 YARDS of this, I decided I could afford to whip up a quick long-sleeve version of my peplum top (drafted using bodice from Sew U Home Stretch plus slash/spread of skirt - see here for the first couple versions of this top and the steps for how I did it).  What I didn't take into consideration was that this fabric has some crosswise stretch but NO (zip zero nada nothin') lengthwise stretch.  When I first tried on the bodice (before adding the peplum) it was silly short.  Empire waist short.  So I decided this version would have a bodice band and I cut a 2.5" wide rectangle and slapped a double layer of it between the bodice and peplum. Why a double layer? I'm not sure, it just seemed like the right thing to do.

Then the sleeves ended just where I wanted, leaving nothing to hem.  (They were also a tad tight, but with a 1/4" seam allowance, there was no fixing that.) I thought about leaving the sleeves raw or doing an explosed serged/roll hem stitch.  But in the end, I went for binding the sleeves just as I did the neck (1.5" wide bias strip). I've been wanting to experiment with using the coverstitch function on my serger to finish the neck binding, and so I tried out two different versions on this top.  Stitching on both sides of seam:

And below the seam:

I think I like the stitches best when they straddle the seam line of the binding.

And now for a little accessorizing show:

Zebra belt - thrift store find

With necklace - see below for info

Infinity scarf made from leftovers from the wrap dress -
will probably end up in my Etsy shop

So the necklace is something I bartered for with my friend Julie.  She is an artist, and she makes art tile necklaces from images of her art.  You can see more of her work in her Etsy Shop - JulieFreeneyDesigns.  I love this necklace and I was so glad she asked me to hem a tablecloth for her!  (I think I got the better end of this deal.)

Lesson learned about stretch!!

Jalie 2921 - Top to Dress

I was very pleased with this dress when I first finished it, but now I'm not so sure.

I love the fabric - Italian Rayon Double Knit in Rhumba red from GorgeousFabrics.com.  It feels great, nice stretch and recovery, and a beautiful deep red color.  My regret is that I didn't make the skirt more flared when I did the whole slash and spread.

I was going for the Lady Skater look but with the Jalie 2921 top, but I kinda skimped on the spread, I think. It's wearable, but when I make this again I think I'll use a 1/2 or 3/4 circle for the skirt to give myself more twirl.

Meh twirl

So here's how I hacked the Jalie 2921 pattern to make the dress:

First, after making the magenta top, I figured out where I wanted the waist to be and then measured down from the bottom of the armscye to know where to mark on the pattern.  I then copied this onto a separate sheet of pattern paper and added an extra 3/8 in the side seams (the double knit wasn't as stretchy as the magenta fabric, but I didn't actually need it - I ended up taking the top back in once I tried it on).

Back

Front

Close up of front

I took my trusty Sew U Home Stretch skirt and made a copy of the front and back.  I then added four lines for spreading (so five sections total) onto the copy.

I then cut up the lines leaving 1/4" intact near the waist.  I spread each section 1 1/4 inches apart and then taped the sections in place on my cutting mat.

I placed a new sheet of paper over the top and traced out the new pattern.

And then I sewed up the bodice and the skirt and joined them at the waist.

It's fine, just not quite my vision.  Luckily, I've got enough knit fabric in my stash to try again!!

And I include these photos just for fun.  I've been experimenting with taking pictures while I'm moving (I set my camera to take five photos on the self-timer) because a good friend told me I look better in motion.  This has given me some better shots, but also some really silly ones!

Invisible hands!

Not sure what I was going for with this look . . .

Next week I'll have the Vogue 8379 wrap dress to show you that I made for a client.  I like it so much that now I want one for myself!

P is for Perfect

And it is also for peplum and I am in love with this style top!  Oh, Peplum, where have you been all my life???

I can't believe it took me this long to make one.  I could have been wearing these tops for at least a year now!  I think they are just pefect for us inverted triangle shapes - boosts the hips, nips the waist just like I like it. 

This is the first one I made.  The fabric is a ponte knit I bought from Fabric.com ages ago.  I like how the peplum forms with this weight of fabric.  This is the second version of this top - I first made the peplum with a 3/4 circle skirt but it was too full for me.  So I ripped that seam out and re-made the peplum closer to what I had in mind.  I kept things simple and finished the neck and arms with black fold-over elastic (stretching just a little as I sewed).

I had to add back darts to get the back to fit well in the upper back, but hey!  They worked!

And the next day I made another one . . .

This one is made from a crepe jersey I purchased from GorgeousFabrics.com (yes, it's also the fabric I used in my Garnet Hill knock-off, and yes I might just have enough for one last top).  This time I finished the neck with neckline binding using a bias strip of fabric.

I extended the bodice on this one and it's a little too long in the back.  I should rip and re-stitch, but we'll see.

I used the bodice, skirt, and sleeve patterns from Wendy Mullin's Sew U Home Stretch.  To make the peplum, I traced the top 10 inches of the skirt pattern, then drew two slash lines (dividing the skirt into three sections, two equal sized sections and one half as big at center front/back).  I spread each slash 1.75 inches and the new pattern pieces look like this:

You want to see the pieces with the slash & spread?  Yeah, sorry about that.  I crumpled them up and tossed them in the trash before I thought about taking a picture.  Oh, well!

For the elbow-length sleeves I morphed the short sleeve pattern and the long sleeve pattern in the book to get the look/fit I wanted.  I can't really describe this process.  I just played around with the two pieces, tracing them and re-tracing them until they looked right (ie., looked similar to the Silhouette Pattern #195 sleeves that I often use as a base).

I like this look so much that it might inspire me to try a dress with a full skirt, something I've long avoided.  Who knows?  This could me a turning point in my wardrobe and next thing you know I'll be making one of these:

Vogue 2960

I do love this.  And I actually own dear Vogue 2960.  I just can't see myself actually wearing this to anywhere except tea with the Queen.  And as of yet, I haven't been invited.

What's Up: Pencil Skirts! (And mini-tutorial)

I am head-over-heels in love with pencil skirts right now.  As long as they fit well, they are super flattering.  I think they are the most universally flattering skirt shape, in that they tend to make everyone look taller and more slender, while still feminine and curvy.  You'll be seeing more pencil skirts from me in the upcoming weeks as I have seven (!) on order from various clients.

During my last couple of weekends of personal sewing time, I made two pencil skirts for myself, and I plan to do a third (with coral ponte and apricot stretch lace) this weekend.  The first is a lined denim pencil skirt using the "corsetted" style that I copied off that was inspired by an Ann Taylor skirt I spotted last year:

I'll write up a step by step tutorial of how I drafted and sewed this skirt if there's interest - leave me a comment if you want it!

Here's the version I made for myself:

I don't have great photos where I'm wearing it - the self-photography just wasn't working out for me that day - so here's the best I could do:

 

I wore these shoes when I got married!



I lined the skirt with some gray polyester fabric that someone gave to me (and was likely intended to line a curtain, since that's what she makes) and faced with some cotton fabric scraps so that it would stay put on my waist and not circle around me:

The second skirt is a simple ponte knit skirt with an elastic waist.  You'll recognize the fabric from my last post! 

I was really lazy in drafting this skirt so I am especially pleased that it worked out.  I started with the skirt pattern from Wendy Mullin's book Sew U Home Stretch.  I had already adjusted the basic pattern to fit me (graded from a size medium in the waist to a size small in the hips and size extra-small in length).  Instead of tracing the pattern and adjusting the sweep, I measured in 1.5 inches on each side at the hem line, used my french curve to blend this line into the hip and then just folded the original pattern along this line.

From this:

To this:

When I cut out the fabric, I squared the side seam a bit where it hits the bottom of the skirt.  I also made sure that the front skirt and back skirt ended at the same point on the chevron pattern so that I could approximately match the chevron stripes at the side seams.  I made a casing out of a strip of fabric 5 inches wide (folded in half) and inserted 2-inch elastic.  I like my skirts to have a wider elastic in them to compress that post-babies muffin top action!  And, ta-da!

This is what you get when you cram picture taking with toddler time.

And I should also mention the cardigan.  I followed a tutorial I found at Forty-Two Roads ages ago and turned a turtleneck that I really didn't like into a caridgan that I did.  All it took was some scissors, home-made bias tape, elastic thread, and a button!