November 2019 - Handmade by Carolyn

a cute little floral frock

27/11/2019 6:55 pm \ 3 Comments \ Carolyn

Oh hey. I made a dress. Wot a surprise! No seriously, how cute is this dress? Like, I think it’s rather cute, eh.

did I make my shoes too? why yes I did! thanks for noticing!

But of course what am I here for? but to provide the exact deets on how you can procure such hacked cuteness for yourself too. AND; be happy about how you not only made it yourself but that if you do so, you’re also raising funds towards an excellent good cause too… and did I mention there is a competition? with prizes?! No? well you could be in the running for a sewing machine, or an overlocker machine! Check out all the deets here!!

So, a few months ago I was contacted by Rachel of the Foldline re taking part in this thing, the third annual sewing blogger “hacker” tour with Simplicity/McCalls. Hacker? yes, I can tell you’re immediately interested, since all of us who sew also LOVE to ~~hack; butcher; ham-fistedly riff upon~~ add our own little “something” to a design, yeah? well, the tour is an initiative where proceeds raised from the sale of a small range of Eminently Hackable (TM) patterns nominated in the tour will go towards the Eve appeal charity… In all seriousness the Eve Appeal is a truly excellent resource to raise awareness of gynaecological cancers, and to provide a port of call for those wishing to seek information about the condition and the community. The site helps people with where to go and what to do, who to call for medical and non-medical cancer advice and support, should that situation arise in their lives. Like everyone else, I have very close friends and relatives who have gone through this dreadful experience, so I know sites like these can be a very soothing thing to turn to, when your closest loved ones just don’t know what it’s like or what to do…

I’m like, well GOOD ON Simplicity for being a part of this! here is the list of Simplicity sewing patterns that are part of the hackathon for the appeal…

S8378 XXS-XXL
S8658 XXS-XXL
S8700 XS-XL
S8701 H5 (6-14) U5(16-24)
S8888 XXSl-XXL
S8929 XXS-XXL
S8930 XXS-XXL
S8991 XXS-XXL
S8992 XXS-XXL

btw, the patterns I’ve listed above are all directly linked to the Simplicity website, but are NOT affiliate links, I would always disclose an affiliate link and in any case have so far had a super impressive, grand total of ONE affiliate link in all my decade of blogging – my goodness, how time flies! – but anyway, rest assured I am not making a single cent out of this! it’s all going to the Eve appeal!

Anyway, I chose Simplicity 8658… which is a pretty nice, loose, basic raglan sleeved tunic top, with some optional ruffle action going on… and I made a dress. Of course, one doesn’t have to “hack” the pattern, if you just want to make it up just as it, that’s fine! However, I couldn’t resist a few tweaks, here and there, just because not only do I love a good hack-attack but also I do love a cute little summer frock and could see how this pattern could so easily become the CUTEST summer frock imaginable! and I think it turned out ok too! … and I have thusly, and dutifully, documented any and all such tweaks in excruciating detail, right here because well, I am a blogger after all… Bloggers, must blog. It’s what we do (shrug)

I used this beautiful navy blue floral, cotton and linen single gauze from Minerva to make my dress. I’ve always waxed lyrical about how much I love navy blue and pink as a colour combo, so no need to bang on further, it’s just… CUTE, that’s all. Navy blue, and pink; am I right? And the texture of this stuff is just as lovely as it sounds; almost exactly like nani Iro double gauze, except it’s a single gauze, so not quite as “cosy” which is a very good thing in our very hot summers! and still with the same, super soft and exceptionally lovely light-as-a-feather touch to it. I love this fabric so much!

When I opened the pattern I was pleasantly surprised to find included a large sheet of grid paper, printed with 1″ x 1″ squares all over. Obviously to make your pattern-hacking plans just that much easier!

After some thought, I decided to make the following hacks:

cut the back on the fold, as one piece
cut the front as two separate pieces, with an overlapping V-neck opening. This would have little self-fabric loops and self-covered buttons to “close”. Inverted commas around that “close”, because actually the V-neckline is wide enough that I can just pop it on over my head, no need to undo any buttons at all #cleverNON?!
use the lower ruffle but lengthen it considerably so it actually transformed the tunic into a full-blown dress #DOUBLEclever…NON?!!
put in pockets. Because, obviously, pockets.

So above are my cut-out pieces. Additional pieces to the pattern are the two front facings, which have exactly the same profiles as the front opening edges, at 5.5cm wide not including seam allowances. I added a 1cm seam allowance to both the front opening edges, and the facing front opening edges too. I applied lightweight iron-on interfacing to the facing pieces. And, the pocket; which is basically self-drafted, though I can barely even write that with a straight face. I laid my hand down and drew around it for heaven’s sakes. It’s pretty big, because I have big ungainly hands. This is seriously my most used pattern piece, of all time. I use it in every single thing that I possibly can!

First step: stitch together the sleeve pieces, as directed. I opted to overlock all seam allowances to finish, using my overlocker and navy blue thread.

Stitch the back sleeve pieces to the back piece.

Belatedly stay-stitch the back neckline (woops!)

Interface the front facing pieces and finish the raw edge on the overlocker (or HongKong seam, or bind, or turn under and hem, whatever)

Make a skinny rouleau or “spaghetti strip” for the button loops; by cutting a 3cm (1 1/4″) wide strip on the bias, folding right sides together and stitching to give a 6mm (1/4″) tube, turn right sides out (a more detailed description on how to make rouleau strips here)

Cut into 5cm (2″) lengths for the button loops, and spacing them evenly; stitch them into place along the opening edge of the right front.

Lay facing pieces over the bodice front opening edges, and stitch.

Trim, and clip into the point. Press open, under stitch.

Cut a 2.5cm (1″) bias strip, and apply to the entire back neckline to finish, including both sleeves as well as the back piece (this technique described in more detail in this post here).

Pin the front bodice pieces to the front sleeve armscye, abutting the neckline edge of the sleeve hard up against the front/front facing seamline. Fold the front facing back over the front, right sides together, and enclosing the front sleeve between the two. Pin, and stitch. (apologies for the photobombing camera strap)

Trim corners, grade seam allowances, and turn out.

Attach buttons to the left front bodice piece, corresponding with the button loops. I used self-covering buttons, purchased at this etsy store here; and covered them with the same floral fabric as I used for the dress.

Measure where you prefer your pocket pieces to lie – this is a personal preference determined by your own arm length – and attach the pocket pieces to both ruffle/skirt pieces, front and back. Stitch side seams of ruffles, going around pockets (inseam pocket insertion described more fully in this post)

Apply gathering stitch to top edge of ruffle/skirt, draw it up to fit the measurement of the bodice. Stitch, over gathering stitches. Hem sleeves and ruffle, and yay! it’s finished!!

I’m so happy with this dress! and really enjoyed brainstorming how I could transform the basic pattern to get the look I wanted. Let’s be honest; hacking IS fun, and is always something to consider as part of the creative process for those of us who make our own clothes. I would absolutely love if my dress here inspired anyone reading this post to perhaps join in with the hack-along… it’s open to everyone throughout the world! and what’s more runs all the way through January so there’s still plenty of time to get involved. You can share your creation on social media and use the hashtags #hackalongday #hackalongparty #hackalongvintage in order to be in the running to win one of the pretty generous prize pool … see all the deets here.

Please let me know if you do join in!

Here’s some more inspiration from the other bloggers taking part, using other patterns from the list, please do visit and check out the very creative and interesting hacks from these very creative and interesting ladies!

1. Thursday 26th September
Juliet, from Sew So Natural
https://sewsonatural.com

2. Thursday 3rd October
Abi, from Crafty Pinup
https://www.whatabimakes.co.uk

3. Thursday 10th October
Rachel, from The Fold Line
https://thefoldline.com/blog/

4. Thursday 17th October
Susan, from Susan Young Sewing
https://susanyoungsewing.wordpress.com

5. Thursday 24th October
Brittany, from Brittany Jones
https://www.brittanyjjones.com

6. Thursday 31st October
Bianca, from Sleepless in Bavaria
https://sleeplessinbavaria.com

7. Thursday 7th November
Amy, from Almond Rock
http://almondrock.co.uk

8. Thursday 14th November
Victoria, from Victoria Lucille Anne
https://www.victorialucilleanne.com

9. Thursday 21st November
Sara, from The Sara Project
https://thesaraproject.com

10. Thursday 28th November
ooo, that would be ME! haha

11. Thursday 5th December
Rumana, from The Little Pomegranate
http://www.thelittlepomegranate.co.uk/

12. Thursday 12th December
Emily, from Self Assembly Required
http://selfassemblyrequired.co.uk/

13. Thursday 9th January
Marie, from A Stitching Odyssey
http://www.astitchingodyssey.com

14. Thursday 16th January
Portia, from Makery
https://makery.co.uk

15. Thursday 23rd January
Barbara, Lisa and Louise, from The Pattern Pals
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChdhdeKB7n39vstdMNGgX3w

16. Thursday 30th January
Jen, from The Gingerthread Girl
https://gingerthreadgirl.co.uk

Details:

Dress; Simplicity 8658 modified, single cotton/linen gauze
Shoes, my own design and made by me, details here

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, simplicity 8658, tutorial

box of socks; the November edition

24/11/2019 6:26 pm \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

I finished my November pair of socks; yay! And actually within the month of November too.. double yay!

So I bought this Utterly Divine Yarn #capitalswarranted in San Francisco during mine and Yoshimi’s holiday there… we visited this fantastic little yarn store called Imagiknit in the Castro area and of course I had to buy a souvenir! Yoshimi did too, and finished hers super quick… see here!

This is actually my very first wearable souvenir of my US trip to be made up and realised, just a little more than a month after coming home but given my current workload I consider that to be not too bad, not too bad at all!

The yarn is Urth merino sock yarn, col 2002, made in Turkey; I did look out for some US made/grown yarn but simply could not walk away from this colourway once I’d spotted it.. isn’t it just the most glorious set of colours?!! I couldn’t resist winding it up during my stopover in Auckland on the way home, hehehe; yes; it’s weird to wind yarn in public BUT; killing time, and doing something constructive towards my next pair of socks, well seems like a good idea to me! Two ladies separately came up to me in the lounge and we had little chats about knitting and yarn, which was really nice! Aaah, knitting…. the great equaliser.

contemplating winding in public

it’s kinda rare to get a view like this while you’re winding yarn

and… done! I thought it fitted right in with the decor of the Air New Zealand business lounge

I so enjoyed knitting this up; as each little section of colour came up I drooled anew every single time. That dusky plum-pink! that rich chocolate-y purple! that sharp acidic safety-vest yellow!! SO GORGEOUS!! REOUUUWW! – that’s me ripping into the ball of yarn with my teeth and gobbling it all up; it’s just that yummy…. metaphorically speaking, obviously!

It’s a wondrous thing to not tire of the yarn before finishing the socks; usually you do get just a wee bit over the colour before the end but in this case I was just as fully in love with it at the last grafting-off as I was when I first spotted it on the shelf.

le Box of Socks…

Now just one final question comes to mind … is it possible to squeeze that one last, 12th pair of socks into the box, mmm?? This remains to be seen… stay tuned!

Posted in: knitting \ Tagged: Knitted, knitting, Patons knitting book C11, socks

Carole in blue velvet

20/11/2019 4:49 pm \ 8 Comments \ Carolyn

Should that be “Carolyn” in blue velvet?? well I think it should! Because this thing is so very very me! LOOOOOOVE!

Actually, this is the Carole pattern, from the new issue of Fibre Mood magazine, available for purchase here.

The fabric is a totally GORGEOUS deep blue velvet that I bought at the Morrison fabric sale from.. ooh, maybe a few years ago? I forget. This also happens to be the only piece of fabric I had big enough for this pattern. Lol! Same as for the Faye dress, this pattern is a HUGE fabric hog! It doesn’t show up too much, but there is a centre back seam on every back piece; the bodice, the middle piece, and the skirt piece. This is not ideal, but was completely unavoidable. The skirt piece alone is ginormous! Even trickier; the pattern is designed for fabric 150cm wide, which my fabric was NOT ahem; it’s important to comply with this simply because the skirt piece is too big to cut out with fabric any narrower. I only managed it by flipping the skirt pattern piece by 90 degrees and having a centre back seam.

Even one of the front middle pieces is also pieced down the centre, but I sneakily arranged for it to be the left front, the one that is covered up once the dress is all wrapped up closed. You could never tell! except that I’ve now told the whole internet, right here, woops…

Technical deets: I omitted applying iron on interfacing to the skirt opening edges. Well, I did actually apply it, but thought it looked too stiff and did not allow the skirt to flow and undulate elegantly in the way I desired it too… so I peeled it off. I think the skirt turned out so much better without it!

I had precisely zero velvet left after cutting out the main dress pieces, so cut the bodice and neckline facing from an old pair of Sam’s work trousers, which was the perfect shade of inky navy blue. I’ve previously used these same trousers for the piping and buttons on this dress here. Waste not want not!

For the ribbon tie closure, I bought a length of navy blue cotton twill tape, and zig-zagged the raw ends so it won’t fray. The hem is hand-slip-stitched in place.

I absolutely LOVE this dress! I almost, almost wish the weather was colder, so I could start wearing it in earnest… but well, I could never truly wish for colder weather, really. Not with a straight face. However, I shall very much look forward to wearing it next year. Truthfully, I actually finished making this quite a while ago… like a few weeks ago #oops but have been completely unable to take a picture of it. Partly that’s me being lazy. It’s been so hot! unseasonably so, and I just didn’t want to put it on. I did try to take pictures indoors, at my now usual photo spot; but they were terrible. I LOVE velvet but obviously it’s like a black hole when you photograph it, soaking up all light and basically looks just dark and completely featureless. This is an example of what I’m talking about…

hehe, only including the picture because it’s got my beautiful Sophie in it, really…

Another thing is .. well, you guessed. The wedding dress. As well as the wedding consults and planning. We helped a lot with advice and as a sounding board for Tim and Kelly when they were planning theirs; and now of course, Cassie being our daughter, and the lion’s share of planning a wedding generally falling to the girl; fair or not that’s just how it is! well of course we’re fully into the details of this one too. I’m just getting more and more behind on everything! and my sewing/blogging schedule is all over the shop. I’m not complaining, far from it! but just explaining I suppose. Life is currently quite FULL, for us.

Hmmm, got carried away and off the subject just a little bit there… I should just delete all that, but I’m currently in the mood for stream of consciousness blogging, so I guess it should stay. Ha! That’ll teach me!

Details:

Dress; the Fibre Mood Carole dress, in deep blue velvet
Tights; made by me, details here
Boots; Sempre di, from Zomp boutique

Also, I’m part of a link party… check out the other creations people have made from the magazine!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: Carole, dress, fibre mood, pattern review

I made a cool white dress

17/11/2019 5:25 pm \ 11 Comments \ Carolyn

O haiiiiii!! As per the title of this post I have indeed made a cool white dress. Noice, huh?

IN other news, in an attempt to be more time efficient I am now aiming to write this blog post in the swiftest time possible, and with minimal to-ing and fro-ing and correcting and proof-reading. Since normally I’m about as slow as a wet week. Let’s see how I go… it is now 16:17…

So this is Burda 08/2017; 119; also known as the “miscellaneous dress” on the Burda style website. I was idly browsing on the website and spotted it, and instantly fell in love. I almost almost clicked buy now for the pdf, when I thought to do a last minute check on the Burda magazines I have in my collection. Bingo. Of course I already have it. WIN!!

I had a length of white cotton sateen sent to me by Minerva; it’s very thin and a little crisp, and perfect for a highly detailed little summer dress like this design, I think, with some twists and folds and pleats and things that are perfectly highlighted in a plain colour. Or,should I say, non colour? with black and white, I never know whether it’s technically correct to call them colours actually, but my personal feeling is that both ARE colours and should be awarded that title. Why should the most commonly used shades in apparel not be considered official colours anyway? Weird. But I digress. I’m never going to write a nice swift blog post at this rate!

So, my dress.

I love designs with a twist and/or something unusual/asymmetric/weird about them, which is the reason I chose this design since; it’s chocka with stuff like that; obviously it has that belt/cummerbund thingy at the waist, and there is also an apparently full length asymmetric fold running all the way from the left shoulder right down to the hemline. it’s not really a full length fold, that’s just an optical illusion since it’s chopped off and restarts in the waistline, but I love how it does look like it runs all the way through.

This Burda pattern is quite a challenge actually, and I scratched my head several times as to what I was supposed to be doing. My advice is to mark the seam NUMBERS carefully and accurately; yes, those corners on a Burda pattern where there is a 1, 2 etc; those are the seam numbers which are often used in the instructions. In my view, having them marked in this pattern is imperative to success. Attaching the front bodice and skirt to the ride side middle piece and the right front middle piece, and the tab piece is pretty darn tricky to get your head around. I’m not even sure if I got it exactly right in the end, but it “looks” pretty good and that’s all that matters really.

And truthfully I love a challenge though, something you can really get your teeth into 🙂

Clara asks; does my bum look big in this?

I also have a little feeling I should have done some sort of small bust adjustment, but am probably just splitting hairs here; I’m actually very happy with the final result and am positive I’m going to wear it a lot. You know one of those dresses that it’s almost impossible to take a bad picture of it? It felt a bit like this when I was reviewing the pictures of this one.

The fabric had just a little bit of stretch, just enough that I risked sewing up most of the centre back seam, and only put in a short, 15cm zip at the top end near the neckline, enough that I could fit my head through it. This worked out great, I can pull the dress over my head and it stretches just enough that I can wriggle into it just fine!

The back is really pretty plain; kinda blah with nothing special going on at all. I think in a perfect world I would have chosen for this design to have something equally visually interesting at the back too, but well, you can’t have everything.

The first day I wore it, I paired it with my handmade slides/sandal things that I made at my first shoe camaraderie workshop… I love how they look together!

So that’s it! It is now 16:45; not too terrible… oh but I haven’ t counted the time it took to take and upload pictures. Damm!

I am actually in this picture here, posing like a boss somewhere back there. There just happens to be a subtle, unobtrusive bit of photobombing going on at the same time…

Details:

Dress; Burda 08/2017;119, in slightly stretchy, thin white cotton sateen
Shoes: white slides made by me! details here

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Burda 08/2017;119, Clara, daily outfit, dress, pattern review

how to make a tulle petticoat

10/11/2019 10:46 pm \ 18 Comments \ Carolyn

… so, I mentioned Cassie’s engagement? and of course I’m completely thrilled to be asked to make her wedding dress! Thrilled, maybe tempered with a little nervousness, shall we say? but still nonetheless thrilled. I might even have been anticipating this very thing every since she was born!

Anyway, I’ve made a start… with a coupla petticoats. Yes, petticoats, plural. I shall now proceed to explain…

First of all; a stiff, tulle petticoat, to give plenty of volume and oomph to her bridal ensemble.

I’d read a blog post YEARS ago about making a petticoat but couldn’t find it, and so I just plowed ahead and made the above petticoat with what I could remember. But I do hate not giving credit, so after hunting and following links for what seemed like ages I finally found it!! this post here by Sugardale. I remember being very impressed with Sugardale’s post when I first read it, but I still somehow neglected to bookmark it or save any useful details that would enable me to find it again upon the occasion that I would need to use it. But eventually I did find it. And straight away realised that I had failed dismally to follow any of her instructions when making my own petticoat, so hmmm, there’s that! For example; Sugardale recommended an odd number of tiers, I made mine with an even number; Sugardale recommended working from the bottom up, I, in fact, worked from the top down. Honestly? I don’t think these issues are a big deal, I think either, or even any way is probably going to work out just fine…

After making a muslin for Cassie’s dress – two actually – we determined the length of the skirt would be 87 cm. I decided upon 4 tiers, with the following finished heights: from top down; 20cm, 21cm, 22cm, 24cm… staggered heights just because I believe it looks better and more balanced to have the lower tiers wider than the upper tiers.

I did remember enough of Sugardale’s instructions to know that the tiers started at 2yds from and top and needed to double in circumference with with each tier down; and the tulle I scoped out in Spotlight had a width of 126cm (49.6inches) So I calculated the following dimensions for my pieces:

Please note: tier 4 only has 1 single 1cm seam allowance added to the height, since the bottom edge is the lower edge of the petticoat and doesn’t need a seam allowance.

You can see by my calculations and measurements of the tulle I bought, that one and a half cut lengths measures 189cm which I decided didn’t need trimming down. Yes, my tiers were going to end up with a wider circumference overall than recommended, but I decided that a bit of extra volume was definitely not a bad thing. It is in fact a very good thing!

How much tulle to buy?

So, according to my calculations; I was going to need:

(2 x 22cm) + (3 x 23cm) + (6 x 24cm) + (12 x 25cm) = 6.6m of tulle Allowing for errors, I bought 8m of ivory tulle.

I used my rotary cutter and mat to cut the pieces as cleanly and as neatly as possible, and I cut and finished all gathering and stitching of each tier completely at a time before proceeding to the next tier, so as to not mix up the pieces. I can tell you, by the time you get to the bottom tier of 12 pieces, you do NOT want to get them mixed up!!

For the top tier, (circumference 189cm); I stitched it not fully closed, but leaving an opening of about 15cm from the top edge, so that Cassie can step into the petticoat. The seam allowance either side of the split opening I simply folded down and topstitched it down on either side of the split. I then ran a gathering stitch around the entire top edge and pulled it up to roughly fit Cassie’s waist measurement. I cut a bias-cut strip of white cotton poplin, measured off Cassie’s waist measurement of 63cm and pinned to mark, and gathered the top tier (189cm) into this length.

After stitching each tier, I topstitched the upper seam allowance of each tier to the skirt above, approx 7mm from the stitching line. I think this gives it a bit of strength, and lends a bit of pretty visual structure to this ethereal thing too. Not that it’s meant to be seen, but well, you know…

Sophie checks out a weird THING

To finish the waist tie, I pressed the raw edges of the waistband strip into the centreline, then pressed the strip in half, and topstitched in place, about 2mm from the opening edge.

When putting the petticoat on, Cassie steps into the skirt, then the long ends of the waistband are pulled across from each other, wrapped around her waist and tied in a simple knot or bow.

It stands up by itself!

I stuck it up on the kitchen bench for a while, while I had to do something else, and I dunno, the sight of it gave me such a laugh! Like a little tulle volcano, or something. Mt Petticoat!!

Because bare legs against a scratchy tulle petticoat will probably become very uncomfortable very quickly, I also made a simple full circle petticoat to be worn underneath, using ivory cotton voile from Spotlight.

This is also 87cm in length, and for this I bought 4m and used every single bit! I cut this length in half, and then cut the half circles for the two halves the skirt by the “fold into halves, then quarters, then eighths, then again” and cut across the lower edge to get a rough, but good enough curve; method.

The waist opening is made by cutting off the top, just 8cm from the tip. When stitching together the two half circles of the skirt, I again made sure to leave an opening of at least 15cm so she can step into the skirt!! and same as for the tulle petticoat, to finish the slit edges I simply pressed down the seam allowances either side of this slit and topstitched them into place.

To finish the waistband and for closure, I again made a bias cut strip of the same fabric, and stitched it to the waistline, leaving long tails either side, pressed the raw edges to the middle of the strip and stitched it closed, same as for the tulle petticoat. By the way; I usually stitch this; right side of strip, to wrong side of skirt; this means when you fold the raw edges of the strip over you’re actually topstitching from the right side of the skirt, which of course ends up looking much neater from the right side. Which is just what you want.

For the lower edge of the fabric petticoat, I overlocked the raw edge to provide a stable and even width guide for hemming; then folded the overlocked edge under twice and topstitched it down.

The two petticoats! I think they look so pretty together!

LATER EDIT:

I made a second, voile petticoat! It’s exactly the same as the first cream coloured one, except it’s white; because I think I cleaned Spotlight right out of the cream, whoops! This will be worn over the tulle petticoat and be like the lining to the dress. So the layers Cassie will be wearing, from the inside out are: voile petticoat, tulle petticoat, voile petticoat, DRESS!

petticoat… junction…

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: lingerie, own design, pattern tutorial, petticoat, skirt, tutorial, wedding dress

deep golden Faye dress

02/11/2019 3:24 pm \ 14 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve just finished making this dress… it’s rather gorgeous, isn’t it?

Just before going away, I was contacted by the lovely Sophie, who asked me if I’d like to make something from the autumn issue of the Fibre Mood magazine… would I?!! Fibre Mood is a newish Belgian sewing magazine, with a nice variety of designs suitable for different sewing skills, some quite simple, and some more funky and cool with interesting details. I chose the Faye dress – I have to admit partially influenced by the totally divine sample! printed it out before going away, but got no further until the day I got home again …

and literally as soon as I got home, like the very same day… I got onto it and finished it. Again, maybe influenced by the sample; I dug out from my stash this silk crepe in just about exactly the same colour. Copycat? Moi? Well, I may have also been influenced by the fact that it was literally the only piece in my stash large enough for the pattern layout too! I’d originally bought it from Tessuti’s in Melbourne, during one of my girls’ weekends over there with my Mum and Cassie.

It’s so autumnal!! I’m incredibly into autumnal tones right now, I think probably influenced by all the beautiful fall foliage images we’re getting from the northern hemisphere right now, but also of course because I am an “autumn” myself. I do think these tones suit me pretty well 🙂

“pockets!!”… in a hoarse drug-dealer-on-the-street-corner voice…

The design is slightly 80’s, in a really good way in my opinion! reminding me of the comfortably loose-fitting midi shirt-dresses with gorgeous wide and swishy pleated skirts from ralph lauren 80’s collections… the Faye design IS a true shirt dress too actually; with a long concealed button band, and with both the bodice and skirt pleated into the waistline. And, of course, and at the risk of sounding fanatical; HUGE pockets in the side seams, above 🙂

The bodice has what look like pocket flaps on the front, but which are actually faux flaps, and are more of a design feature. The back bodice has a matching horizontal seam, and a rather cute hanging loop as a purely visual feature. I love small interesting details like this!

well, hello gorgeous! Sophie likes the dress too… 🙂

I didn’t have matching golden buttons in my stash, and am trying to use my stash rather than always buying new – holiday souvenir shopping notwithstanding!! – so I dug out some black buttons from my stash. It may sound counterproductive to stitch very visible buttons underneath a button band constructed specifically to conceal them! however I actually like this look of them peeping out a a lot.

The sleeves are stitched with a very wide hem, which is then turned up to for a self-cuff. I really love the almost “safari” shirt vibes of the bodice. This photo also shows the nice pleats in the bodice and skirt fronts.

The only part of the design I found a little too scantily explained was the hemline… there were basically no instructions as to how to finish the hemline with that concealed button band as well as the button band itself either. I know from past experience this is something you do have to address a lot earlier than the very last step! this sort of thing requires stitching the corners right sides together and turning out, and at least a little bit of hand-stitching things down. The instructions for Faye pretty much leave all of that entirely up to you. I also decided to hand stitch the concealed button band pieces together at the lower edge too, to make it all look a bit neater and seamlessly finished off.

Also, in my opinion, the nature of the button/buttonhole band construction makes for a very thick area at the front of the waistline… because the button band and concealed buttonhole band are cut-on with the bodice and skirt, and then seamed together at the waistline… when you create all those multiples folds that are inherent in a button band, not to mention that of the concealed buttonhole band, well let’s just say there’s a heck of a lot of layers in there. If I was going to make this again, I would probably cut the button/buttonhole bands separately and in one long piece, no waistline seam, and attach them to the centre front edges of bodice and skirt after they’re joined together. The way it’s done in Faye is not actually terribly terrible, because this is the kind of dress you wear a belt with it, and a belt hides the waistline anyway; however I think this approach would make for a less bulky and cleaner waistline.

The hem, I made as a super skinny rolled hem, finished with tiny fell-stitches. My crepe is the kind of fabric that when you press your very narrow finished hem, thus flattening it out from 3D to 2D, it morphs out to a much wider hem, seemingly by magic.

Summary; I love my autumnal new dress! and may even dare to wear it as a spring-time dress… I think it will work equally well!

Details:

dress; Fibre Mood “Faye” dress in a golden silk crepe from Tessuti’s in Melbourne
Tights; self-drafted using my own custom fit pattern and black polyester stretch from Spotlight
Belt; super old one from Country Road
Boots; Officine Creative from Zomp boutique, a birthday gift from Craig

the swish is amaaaazing! I’m so into the swish right now!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, faye dress, fibre mood, pattern review

box of socks; the October edition

01/11/2019 1:16 pm \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

I meant to post this yesterday, however I’m … ok I’m NOT going to complain about being busy. The dreaded B word. It’s annoying. Sorry!

However, ta da! I finished these socks during my holiday away in the US with Yoshimi. Here is the incriminating evidence of me in the act of conversational knitting while in San Francisco with Shams and Yoshimi… and I can assure you we’re actually sitting in our air bnb here and I’m NOT actually humiliating us all while out in public..

I took my bamboo needles away with me, because I knew airlines are ok with skinny little bamboo needles. However I did not knit one single stitch while on the plane!! Nope, upon getting on the plane I proceeded to watch movies, eat dinner, sip champagne, and sleep. I did absolutely nothing constructive whatsoever. Ha!

it’s a tough life but somebody’s gotta do it

I bought the sock yarn while I was in Japan in April… it’s Opal yarn in the Van Vincent Gogh “Vase of Sunflowers” colour way 5432; and the pattern is kinda my own, heavily adapted basic sockette pattern in a Patons pamphlet from the 60’s, no C11. I completely adore the warm swampy mossy yellowy, browny greens. So very moi.

#thePerilsofBeingaPetOwningKnittingBlogger

Before I drag out ye olde updated box of socks picture, I just want to put up this picture Tim sent through.. I’m rather thrilled he’s still wearing that outfit for Hallowe’en!!

Also I thought I’d share here my own Hallowe’en post for this year although you could not call this a costume, it’s just an outfit that I would wear on any other day. Sophie makes the whole thing, imo… that darling little powder puff.