Cassie Archives - Page 6 of 10 - Handmade by Carolyn

Future Grrrrl!

22/06/2013 1:10 pm \ 65 Comments \ Carolyn

Whoa! who is that babe?
It’s FUTURE GRRL!
So; Cassie was going to a Futuristic party… and had a firm idea of how she wanted to look. To make this sartorial vision a reality she wanted a flamboyant and luxuriously textured coat.
Mission accomplished!
She took her inspiration from an Alexander McQueen outfit, and looks kinda Blade Runner I reckon. We bought the fabric and pattern together. Wait, wait what am I saying? I bought the fabric and pattern. She buys her own clothes now, but I do pay for her fabric when we’re out together… I’m hoping to encourage that creativity and DIY spirit. Well, that’s the theory, anyway!

below: Alexander McQueen Fall 2010 RTW

source

Fast forward a coupla weeks and Cassie having spent hours and hours and hours of her free time on meticulously hand-sewing another friend’s costume for him to wear to the same party (he looked very cool too, btw) suddenly realises the night before the party that she has to work the next day, and so there is absolutely NO WAY she can get her own costume finished on time. Daughterly pleading with promises of chocolate followed. *sigh* Mum to the rescue. I did not want that fabric and pattern to just sit there and not even get to the party!

Hehe, I’m joking of course, I was very happy to step in and take over the making of this ultra glamorous jacket. Isn’t it rather gorgeous?? And, she did construct most of the shell herself. Probably we each did about half the work involved.
btw, this is NOT the fab, self-indulgent, frivolous thing for myself I mentioned in my previous post… I had to abandon that for a while to make this! That is yet to come!
The pattern is Butterick 5144, a reproduction 1948 pattern. My, but this is a wonderful silhouette, isn’t it? Fortunately I’m allowed to wear it too if I want 😉
The fabric is a heavy Chinese brocade from Spotlight; emerald green and gold and black, with dragons writhing all over, and lined with black polyacetate lining fabric.

Cassie made her own “sunnies” too. Aren’t they amazing? She tells me there was another girl at the party with homemade mesh sunnies on. They met up and were like:
Hey cool sunnies!
Hey, yours too!
Can you see anything?
Nup! Can you?
No!
cue massive rofl…. in that way that girls at a party have…

Details:
Jacket; Butterick 5144, Chinese … silk? (can’t remember for sure) brocade
Sunnies; made by Cassie
Cami; Country Road
Skirt; Manning Cartell
Stompin’ boots; bought in Japan

Pattern
Description:

Very loose-fitting lined jacket has shaped front and flared back, shawl collar, side seam pockets, two piece sleeves with turn-back cuffs and shoulder pads

Pattern
Sizing:

16-24, unfortunately the only size the shop had. I graded it down to a 10.

Did
it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished
sewing it?

Yes.

Were
the instructions easy to follow?

Very! This is rated easy, and it is!

What
did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
Oh My Gosh, you guys. I was doubtful at first when my daughter chose it, but now I could not possibly love it more. It could be the most glamorous thing in the house! The shaped hemline is chic and looks quite high-end, the draped back is elegant, the long and very wide sleeves look lovely. It has pockets! and is overall a surprisingly simple make.
I have no dislikes.
Fabric Used:
Chinese brocade (I think silk? but am not 100% sure of that)
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
Unfortunately the only size in the store was a 16-24, and my daughter had her heart set on it. However I did not find it difficult to grade it down to a 10; there are 11 pattern pieces which are quite basic and the instructions are simplistic and straightforward. No fiddly or difficult bits at all.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
My daughter and I made this one together for her, and I think I would like to make one for me now! And, yes!
Conclusion:
Very very cool. This is a 1948 reproduction pattern, so at first glance it might appear a bit costume-y but in this unexpected fabric it manages to fit beautifully into a funky modern wardrobe. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out. This one is for my daughter, and me? I’m dreaming of one in lightweight camel wool… or maybe in black or chocolate coloured velvet… (sigh)

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Butterick 5144, Cassie, coat, jacket, pattern review

Pisces

21/02/2013 5:00 am \ 79 Comments \ Carolyn

… the fish. Look at my little silver tiddler!

So, a few years ago, at the annual Fabulous Fabrics
Christmas sale, I was moved by some mad irrational impulse to purchase 2m of silver sequined
stretchy fabric. Exactly why is mystery to me now… since silver sequins are completely unsuited to my colouring and just about everything in my wardrobe. Must have had a brief
“ooh, pretty shiny!!” moment,
compounding the alluring thrill of 50% off euphoria. But anywho I succumbed, and it has since been sitting in my
stash taking up shelf space for too too long. February’s stashbusting theme is to make something for
someone you love. So I made
something for my daughter.

Fortunately she looks utterly fabulous in silver. I must have unselfishly and subliminally planned it 😉

Now, I know it seems like I am making a lot for
Cassie lately, and not much for any of the boys in my life… well, I tried. I offered the sparkly silver fabric to
each of my boys, really I did.
Inexplicably they did not respond to its sparkly gorgeousness with much enthusiasm. I only
wish I could capture and show here the expression on Sam’s face, when I showed
him the fabric and straight-faced said I was planning to make him a silver sequinned hoodie …
priceless!!! You’ll just have to
imagine it for yourselves…. still giggling about it….

Anyhow; the only person in my family who leapt upon
it with cries of joy was Cassie.
So (shrug) it couldn’t be helped. I’ll have to make it up to the boys somehow 🙂

My lucky daughter has the ideal year ahead for her
to make good use of a sparkly silver cocktail dress. She has masses of 21st’s on the horizon. Word; she goes out a lot anyway, lucky little social butterfly that she is.

I adapted a pattern that is one of my oft-repeated standbys …
Burda 8511. This is a plain and
simple sheath dress pattern, with two bust darts in the front and two long
shaped vertical darts in the back.
I’ve found this an excellent style to adapt to individual shapes, just
by subtle alteration of the darts and side seams.

For Cassie’s dress; I sewed up the side seams and
left off any zip closure… the fabric is stretchy and doesn’t really need a
closure. The dress pulls over her
head quite easily, like a fitted Tshirt dress. It looks tight but it’s actually not at all, she really is quite tiny!

At her request, I custom fit the dress to skim her
figure closely, and fully lined it with a sewn-in lining. I redrafted the pattern pieces to eliminate all darts in the lining, and used a soft, stretchy, grey marled
jersey knit, leftover from this drape drape dress that I made for myself. Note how the lining looks completely
skewiff??? That marle/stripe in the
fabric really is printed on that random slant.
The lining is cut perfectly on grain, I assure you!

The neckline, armscyes and the lower hem are turned
under and hemmed by hand.

Actually, a word on that. Remember my sparkly gold cardigan, that I stitched entirely by hand?? The thought of doing more of the same was inducing a slightly depressive status, so I consulted with a lady in Fabulous Fabrics who I recalled had made herself a skirt of similar stuff. She reckoned a denim needle worked fine. So I tried it out… and hehe, of course it was. (blushes) Not that I regret stitching that cardigan by hand …… much. No, really; I guess it does me good to slow down and spend loads of ~~unnecessary~~ meditative time on a project every now and again. Teaches one humility, yo.

Repeating that like a mantra to retain some shred of self respect.

So, stashbusting, yeah!! (air fist punch) Actually, the dress did not take up the entire 2m of the silver fabric… so there might be some more silver sparkliness to appear here, anon.

‘Til next time, lovelies!

Details:

Dress; Burda 8511 modified, silver sequinned stretch fabric

Sandals; Betts

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burda 8511, Cassie, dress, evening wear

Clarissa

09/02/2013 2:05 am \ 28 Comments \ Carolyn

Remember I mentioned I had bought something rather exciting, which I was dying to show off here??
Well, here she is!
Yesterday was Cassie’s birthday, and I knew that she has coveted a dressmaker’s dummy for a while. Actually I have been searching in a lukewarm sort of a way for a few years; ever since her birthday two years ago actually (eek!)…. poor Cassie! Well, this birthday is an important one so I got serious at last. And I didn’t want to settle for something tacky; I wanted to get her really nice one; solid, well made, classy, attractive; one to last a lifetime. In my opinion, a good dress form is just about indispensable to the serious seamster. And even if you’re not, they can just look nice standing in the corner displaying a funky dress or scarf or necklace too!
Cassie has named her Clarissa. She is the small Lady Valet, from Wm. C. Jackson and Co; an Australian company. She is height and width adjustable. Isn’t she gorgeous?!
It couldn’t have been easier, I put in an order, paid, and a box turned up a week later on my doorstep. No fuss, no hassles whatsoever.
Well, no hassles if you don’t count that it took me a few years to find her, that is!
My first port of call was to check out Dummies WA, the local business that made my own beautiful, solid-as-a-rock Bessie, who has appeared here on my blog loads of times. But her maker has retired and the business is no more :((
I looked briefly at the ones in Spotlight, but they only had some very ugly, very flimsy models, covered in dreadful bright red nylon. Aesthetics are important to me; and of course you can make a stretch knit cover to hide a hideous colour; in fact I will probably make a cover for Clarissa too. But flimsiness cannot be fixed!
So I ventured online.. scary stuff. I’m nervous about purchasing something big and expensive online. I prefer to buy local, deal with a real person, and have the thing right there and then; but I couldn’t!
There were some really good European and British companies, which did not seem to post to Australia. And probably would have been astronomical if they had. I found a few really beautiful Japanese ones, but I couldn’t work out how to translate the websites.
So I was pretty relieved when I stumbled upon this one. She seemed perfect in her picture online, and she is!
Cassie is thoroughly stoked; therefore so am I 🙂
Incidentally, Cassie is wearing here her own version of the Burdastyle 05/2010 sundress 114. I made another version of this same pattern for her here, and one for myself here.

Please note: this is not an endorsement; although I am a very happy customer! and I did not receive any freebies or discounts.

Later edit: below, a better picture of Cassie’s dress. I forgot I had taken this one, from last Christmas 🙂

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burdastyle magazine 05-2010-114, Cassie, dress form

Shell-pink pleats, please!

05/02/2013 12:01 am \ 63 Comments \ Carolyn

I have made a little top for Cassie to wear to work. Or wherever she pleases, of course 🙂
This is Vogue 1142, which I made in yellow silk for myself last month. Cassie admired it so I offered to make one for her. She enthusiastically accepted. A daughter loving the clothes I make?? gets me fired up with the zest to sew unselfishly straightaway.
I didn’t have anything suitable in my stash so I visited Fabulous Fabrics and bought a piece of lovely shell-pink viscose crepe. I think the soft delicate colour is a beautiful compliment to her pale peaches-and-cream complexion. Plus: viscose = wash-and-wear of course, so another ideal addition to her professional working wardrobe!
As in for my first version; I edge-stitched each pleat in place. The 100% viscose crepe is quite crisp and stiff compared to the thin silk I used previously; and it presses and pleats like a dream. I think those sharp regular pleats look absolutely wonderful in this more crisp fabric. I’ve taken lots of photos of those pleats and that artfully and prettily crinkled neckline because whilst I do love the slight floppiness of my own top I really really love how crisp, sharp and sculptural the pleats look in this fabric. It looks quite formal and business appropriate.

A little tip for working with this pattern: this time, as soon as I had edge-stitched the outer sets of pleats on each of the front and back I immediately pinned the pleats in place and stay-stitched along the shoulder stitching line. This makes it much easier to handle the big pieces, and having that stay-stitching makes sewing the shoulders together a bit easier too.

Also; this must be like the easiest pattern in the world to grade for size. Seriously!

Oh, you might be wondering if Cassie has barely had a single thing to wear since she got her job and I’ve contributed only one measly skirt to her working wardrobe?? well of course she has not gone without all this time! She does have one very nice pencil skirt that she has made for herself (un-blogged), and I have made a little woollen pencil skirt for her previously. Both suitable for the office and she has been rotating between the three skirts. And since I pledged to wear only my own handmade clothes this year, there is a nice little selection of shop-bought cardigans and random Metalicus items that she has joyfully transferred to her own wardrobe. At least my RTW clothes are not going to waste 🙂

Details:
Top; Vogue 1142, shell-pink viscose, my review of this pattern here
Skirt; Vogue 8363, black wool mix, details here and my review of this pattern here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Cassie, top, Vogue 1142

Broderie anglaise

26/01/2013 4:00 am \ 35 Comments \ Carolyn

Fulfilling a filial request…. Cassie wanted a pretty little sundress for some upcoming parties. Actually she was totally planning to make this herself, honest. Well, that’s her story and she’s sticking to it! but her new career has left her with not as much free time as she thought she would have.

Ahh, the disquieting little thought-readjustments that come with one’s first full-time job.

Fortunately she has a Mum, willing (sorta) and able to step in.

The pattern is from Burdastyle magazine 05/2010, dress 114; a pattern I have used before to make this sundress for myself, and Cassie has used the same pattern for herself once before also. It is an utterly fantastica design for very hot weather; cool, practical, comfortable and pretty, and we have each independently and joyfully discovered that our dresses never fail to draw compliments. Subsequently, Cassie wanted another. Well, when you’re on to a good thing…. 😉

I made the same modification to the back bodice that I did to my own dress to give complete lingerie coverage.

The lower tier is sewn to a separate, slightly shaped lining piece, which is sewn to the bodice lining and which lies underneath the top tier. So in this latest version of the pattern the two tiers are completely separate from each other.

Cassie chose the fabric, two different types of broderie anglaise cotton voile from Fabulous Fabrics, and I used a little of my precious horde of plain white cotton voile too.

The buttons and butonholes on the bodice whilst functional, are essentially decorative; since the dress is put on and taken off with a long invisible zip set into the side seam.

Above; note the ubiquitous hair-lacky bracelet. I frequently wear one of those myself, too.

Voila, we have party dress. Ees time to part-ay.

Details:

Dress; Burdastyle magazine 05/2010, dress 114, slightly modified; of white broderie anglaise, my review of this pattern here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burdastyle magazine 05-2010-114, Cassie, dress

As blue as; Cassie’s Christmas dress

28/12/2012 11:00 pm \ 35 Comments \ Carolyn

Last up: Cassie! and I made a dress for Cassie for Christmas this year; this is the loose drape tank-top from drape drape by Hisako Sato. I used a thin cotton jersey, printed in an interesting fractured pixels design of ocean blue upon powder blue. I bought the fabric from the Fabric Store in Melbourne during our trip there in September.
I think the tank-top is designed to just be a summer cover-up, the only explanation for its skimpiness and bra-revealing nature; so I also made a matching little tank top; that is, the regular kind of tank top! to go under it, just in case Cassie decided she wanted to wear it anywhere other than the beach. I based the shape of the tank top on a well-fitting Tshirt that she owns already.

For the drape drape tank-top; I edged the neckline and both of those big big armholes with a cross-cut strip of the jersey, attached right-side to wrong side on the inside, and then flipped out to the right side of the dress and stitched down on the outside; so the raw edge rolls up on itself and over the stitching. I can go into more details of this finish with a pictorial tute, if anyone is interested… ? Looks quite nice and kinda cute, and is appropriate for a casual little summery thing, I think.
The regular tank-top neckline and armhole edges are just finished by turning under a narrow hem twice and top-stitching on the inside face.

The lower edge of both pieces are finished with a hem, turned under twice and top-stitched.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Cassie, drape drape, dress, top

LBS

17/12/2012 11:00 pm \ 28 Comments \ Carolyn

The amount of Christmas “creating” going on around here has been insane lately! I have been sewing like an absolute madwoman… !
but this Little Black Skirt is not a part of that. This is a sorta urgent extra! aiyiyi…
My daughter has completed her undergraduate degree and successfully secured her first “real” job. She will be returning to uni next year to do her Masters, but will probably continue to work concurrently in the firm she has just joined…
So, just prior to her interview we attended to a detail of paramount importance: her wardrobe.
For the past few years she’s been a university student, with an appropriately fun and funky colourful casual wardrobe and lots of crazy shoes… hmmm. We assessed everything and came up with one or two smart and stylish little separates that she can wear in the office, but identified a few holes that I will have the pleasure of addressing over the next few weeks… the biggest of which is the ubiquitous LBS.
So I made one for her. It may not look very earth shattering, but I wanted this skirt to be a long-term goodie, a wardrobe builder; a simple, streamlined and smart basic, high quality enough to last for years and years; and also sturdy and practical enough to cope with being tossed in the washing machine.
I used Vogue 8363, and a very nice quality washable wool-mix suiting fabric from Fabulous Fabrics. The skirt is fully lined with black polyacetate lining fabric, also from Fabulous Fabrics, and I juggled the various views of the pattern to give the skirt a one piece darted front, to have those satisfyingly deep, slanted hip pockets, and to have a central back invisible zip opening. I shortened the skirt to hit at a very workable just-above-knee-length. This is both mine and Cassie’s favourite skirt length; suitable for both summer and winter wear.
An easier-to-see view of the pockets can be seen on another version of this pattern I made previously; here.

The hem is finished with a black bias-cut cotton strip.

I adjusted the lining pieces to incorporate an extra few inches of width at the widest part of the hips: since in my experience this is the first part of a pencil skirt to show strain, particularly in a skirt that one is seated in for long periods of time. The darts in the lining are not stitched, but simply folded in position and stitched along the top, for that little bit of extra wearing ease.

Below; the inside view of the lining, skirt back.

The skirt has one shaping dart at the front, two at the back; all the better for that slight sway back adjustment

I worked a bound buttonhole (seen above) for the single waist button.

She owned literally one pair of suitable shoes for the office, so we also bought a new pair of Misano ballet flats in beige and caramel, with black feature strips. These are exactly the same as my own ballet flats, just in a different colourway. These neutral shades are going to be the backbone of her new working wardrobe.
Cassie made her charcoal jersey jacket herself, and blogged about it on her own blog here.
I’m actually rather excited about helping to add to Cassie’s working girl apparel! what to make next, what to make next? but any new pieces may have to wait until the seasonal mayhem has subsided….. 😉

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 8363 modified, black wool-mix suiting; my review of this pattern here
Camisole; supre
Jacket; made by Cassie, and blogged here
Shoes; Misano, from Hobbs

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Cassie, shoes, skirt, Vogue 8363

A pretty little thing

14/11/2012 11:00 pm \ 26 Comments \ Carolyn

Cassie made a top.
I know, yes; it really does say handmade by me at the top of this blog and I did not make this lovely, but wait; there is a logical explanation…
I am posting it here mostly to show the fabudabulous Merche, because a short while ago she very generously sent Patrones no. 7 magazine over to me; muchísimas gracias Merche! And Cassie’s top is the first cab off the rank… The pattern is number 20, a little camisole blouse with a shirred back and a shoestring strap threaded through the top of the bodice to gather it up. It closes with an invisible zip in the side seam. Cassie elected to cross over the straps at the back, but otherwise the blouse is made up just to pattern.
She used a very lightweight cotton from Potters Textiles; thank you to Vanessa for alerting me to the Potters sale last year! This is the first time a Potters Textile has appeared on my blog here. Ack-choolly…. 🙂 this is the very first Patrones magazine I’ve got my clutches on, and the very first make from it, using the first piece of fabric I bought from Potters Textiles and the first time a Potters fabric has appeared here on the blog…
So this pretty little top represents a veritable avalanche of firsts… woot!

Cassie also made her own skirt, using Butterick 5488 and cotton denim from Fabulous Fabrics.