Tag Archives: Drape Drape

some tops

16/03/2014 5:03 am \ 27 Comments \

I’ve made a couple of new tops lately  🙂

I’ve made this design once before  so I knew I’d like this new one too. It is a modified version of the
loose draped top from drape drape, by Hisako Sato.  Modified in that A; I removing a
wedge of the width in the neckline drape both front and back, so I could fit both pattern pieces
onto my small-ish piece of fabric, and B; this time I made it as a double layered top, since my fabric is so thin it’s thisclose to sheer.  This was a rayon/linen remnant bought from the
Morrison’s fabric sale, a grey-ish ivory/bone colour with a very subtle, paler, knitted-in stripe which barely shows up at all in the pictures!
It’s a basic; but I think it will be quite good with all three of the busy, feature-laden skirts I have made for my autumn/winter swap.  The thing I’m most pleased with is that I got all the seams of the top enclosed inside the two layers; and only had to hand-stitch one short bit of the hemline closed after turning it all through, right
side out.
I’d made Cassie’s Christmas dress the same way only a few months ago, but I still had to stop and
think step by step, how to do the double-layering! so I took pictures and am writing a little how-to on my method so I don’t forget for next time.  Appearing here soon  🙂

 lingerie straps; essential in this design

The next top above: I’m very meh about this one.   It’s amazingly boring and unprepossessing  given that making it has been a freakin’ saga and a half.  This is version two; I first made it as a very big and very loose tunic-y style top.  Valuable time and energy and a piece of fabric was dedicated to making a rather hideous top.  So I fixed it.  And re-made it into a marginally less hideous top.  Yay!
this is the least revolting “before” picture … 

I think it’s that the fabric, a knit remnant from Potter’s Textiles was just not suited to an oversized silhouette, being both heavy and weirdly clingy at the same time.  The combination as a whole was instantly frumpifying, like a hospital gown; or looking like you had to borrow your man’s ratty Tshirt from his gym bag in the car because you’ve ruined your dress, or something.  The exact opposite of chic.   

In anticipation that some kind people might express approval of the “before” version, please know that these are the very least offensive pictures, and let me point out that any vestiges of appeal are probably due to the fact that my hand is in a pocket/on my waist, giving it an appearance of shape that it did not have.  Other photos where it’s hanging straight and loose had the hospital gown/grotty man’s gym Tshirt vibe.  
So I cut out of it my much more fitted, regular tried-and-true custom fit Tshirt.  It’s still pretty blah but least I don’t unequivocally hate it now.
I’m thinking it will be ok for warmth or whatever during winter.  Heck, another layer’s another layer.  We’ll see how it goes!



Details:
Ivory top; the loose drape top, from the Japanese pattern book drape drape by Hisako Sato, ivory rayon/linen
Chocolate top; ultimately, my custom fit Tshirt pattern, chocolate jersey knit
Shorts; Burda 7723, charcoal stretch gabardine, details here and my review of this pattern here

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Drape-ity drape

19/01/2013 11:00 pm \ 53 Comments \
I have made a new top and a new skirt!  and am combining the two new garments in one post; since they kinda go together so well and all, and actually the skirt is so… well, bland and basic that frankly it doesn’t deserve its own post. My top is a modified version of the loose drape top, pattern no. 1 from drape drape, by Hisako Sato.  I used a soft slightly crinkly white cotton jersey, bought from the Fabric Store in Melbourne during my most recent trip.  Regarding the design; I really loved those lovely soft drapes of that front and back neckline, however, like JenC noted in a comment, this top made up as per the pattern is a … er, raaaather revealing garment.  As in, very very revealing.  The photographs in the book have been carefully selected, but it’s plain to see that the model is a hair’s breadth away from being topless.  And more, the top would be falling off one’s shoulders, only like, all the time. 
But I thought it would be pretty easy to alter the pattern to be less revealing while still maintaining the essence of those beautifully soft falls of fabric at the neckline.  I took out a good 20cm in width from the horizontal line of the front drape, and close to 30cm from the back drape, re-drawing in the armhole and side seams to be the same as the original, tapering out to the same hemline, and keeping those neckline edges cut straight on the cross so as to keep the self-facing as part of the same pattern piece, on a fold.  Terrific design feature btw, for those frightened of finishing knits this is an excellent easy way out!
Reducing the width has given me a top with the same flavour that attracted me to the original, but with coverage… yes, I may have some nice lingerie now, but I don’t want to be modelling it out in public for everyone on the street!
The side seams are flat felled, and I hand slipstitched the facings and armhole bindings in place for a smooth clean look on the outside.  I also added lingerie straps to the shoulder seams inside to prevent the top slipping off my shoulders, since in spite of taking out a whole lotta drape it is still that kind of design!
And I’m very happy with the result.  Such a cool and elegant design.  I can see this being lengthened very successfully, to make a simply gorgeous little cocktail sheath; how lovely would that look? 
The skirt.  Less exciting.  But ironically, its the bland and boring stuff that often turns into the amazingly useful and versatile stuff too, though; don’t you think?  The skirt is self-drafted, and identical in every way to this charcoal skirt from a few years ago, that has been utterly indispensible for layering and mixing and matching in my handmade wardrobe.  Indispensible, I tell you!  I used a piece of mystery fabric, part of the bundle given to me by my friend C from her late mother’s stash, and it is also the leftovers from this little Pattern Magic jacket.  Thus qualifying it for an itty bitty stash-busting garment!  Actually the top was also made using an itty bitty piece of fabric, less than 1m, but since I bought that fabric only three months ago I don’t know if it truly qualifies as “stash”  What do you think?  How long should fabric be in the stash before one can safely attribute it Stash Status??  One month?  Six months?  More than a year?
But the skirt is a definite stash-buster… goodness only knows how old that fabric is.  This grey side is the reverse side to that I used for the “wearing a square” jacket, a smooth, blue-grey colour, with a double-knit look to its texture.

Details:
Top; modified version of the loose drape top, pattern no.1 from drape drape by Hisako Sato, white cotton
Skirt; my own design, blue grey double-knitty type of stuff.
Sandals; c/o Misano

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As blue as; Cassie’s Christmas dress

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

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.

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A fluttery cloudy thing

04/12/2012 11:00 pm \ 32 Comments \

This wasn’t actually supposed to be a real dress.  I was playing about.  I have to confess to a few struggles
with my fabric… that had a mind of its own and a recalcitrant disposition.  If fabrics can be anthropomorphised;
this fabric would be a will o’ the wisp, absent-minded girl with a head full of
poems and fairy tales and dreams, given to wandering barefoot on sunkissed
white beaches and forgetting that her library books were due back.
But it has been coaxed into a coolly flitter-y
flutter-y dress, which I think it wanted to be all along in its heart of hearts.
This is the Loose Flare Drape Dress; pattern no.11 from the
Japanese pattern book Drape Drape by Hisako Sato.
The fabric is a very lightweight, very soft, pale grey
marle jersey knit, part of a massive quantity I bought from the Morrison
remnants sale.  A fabric I picked
up because I liked the soft cloudy-grey colour and the slightly fuzzy texture,
but was actually extraordinarily flimsy and difficult to work with.  It clings and flutters and slips all at
the same time, it is very drape-y and almost sheer.  It likes to curl up tightly on itself, and the sketchy “stripe”
in the fabric is whimsically slanted at a slight diagonal.
But happily ever after et cetera; the thin floatiness
of the fabric is a near perfect match for this pattern… I’m thinking of
rustling up a halter-neck bra to wear with it, but in the meantime it’s being stoushed
in the beach-bag to do duty as a cover up.  
It may even stay there if I don’t get around to the
halter bra, since it is just the right shape and style to go over my
bathers.   And it is so ethereally summery; a
flattering and exceptionally easy-to-wear dress, edgily short and cute-ly
flippy.
The dress is an A-line halter neck dress with a wide
and swing-y skirt; and a full length, full skirted lining for which I used the
same fabric.  The loose flare piece
referred to in its title is a separate piece attached in with the halter neck
at the left side and sewn into the armhole, to flow free and loose across the
front of the dress.
This piece is what makes the whole dress, of
course.  The extra piece is a very
simple idea, and it swishes and flutters so prettily against the dress.
The only adjustment I made to the pattern was to
leave off the zip and just to sew up the side seam.  Well, it’s stretch fabric.  I’m currently of the opinion that zips in a stretch garment
are a complete waste of money, time and effort. 
Naturally I reserve the right to change that opinion
any time it suits me. 
The fabric isn’t the only one here subject to
whimsy.
Details:

Dress; the loose flare drape dress, pattern no.11 from
Drape Drape by Hisako Sato, made of lightweight grey marle jersey knit

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Melbourne; a travel wardrobe….

09/09/2012 4:51 am \ 20 Comments \

Last week we popped off for a short holiday to Melbourne… and since I know how much we all just LOVE to see what other women choose to pack for a holiday away … or is that just me?  Well I like to have a good old squiz at the capsule wardrobes other ladies put together for going away, but that’s because I am an incurably nosy busybody, hehehe.  But just in case others secretly like it too, I am sharing.
Plus, for myself for future holidays, I like to know too how successful was a particular selection and how well it all worked together.  So:

Time away: 
5 days
Where to:
Melbourne
Season:
the first days of spring.  Going by previous sojourns in Melbourne at this time of year I anticipated pretty cold conditions and was not let down, but we were pleasantly surprised by a few almost warm afternoons… The mornings were very brisk and the daytime highs ranged from 16C to 21C
Expected activities:
lots of city walking, art galleries and shopping
wining and dining each night
Colour scheme:Mostly muddy neutrals of charcoal grey, chocolate brown and khaki; with ivory, and just one spot of colour in my mustard cowl.

What I packed: (each garment is linked to its original construction post)

(left to right; top to bottom)

Ivory twist top; doesn’t impress laid out flat like this but I assure you it looks real nice on  🙂
Charcoal grey coat; worn every evening and most days

Ivory stretch velvet dress; worn every evening
Mustard cable-knit cowl
Charcoal grey twist top; again, not so good off , but looks great on
Black motorcycle boots; worn every day
Chocolate brown leather gloves from DJ’s
Chocolate brown tights

Black tights
Black high heeled suede pumps; worn each evening
Charcoal grey top with obi belt
Chocolate brown cardigan (below; I forgot to put this in the main picture, woops)

Not shown, but obviously I also packed the pj’s and my bathers.  I always take my bathers on each and every trip away, they don’t take up much room and you just never know!  As it turned out, the hotel had a sauna and a spa so taking them was a good decision  🙂

Verdict:
This was a near perfect cold-weather wardrobe for a short city getaway: I had plenty of choices, everything went together really well, and I felt appropriately smart and urban enough for Melbourne  🙂 
The shorter sleeved charcoal top with a self obi belt I packed just in case of a warm day, but  the weather was never warm enough for this top and it didn’t get worn even once!  Everything else got worn on at least two days each; I mixed and matched the two tops with both the little chocolate skirt and the khaki jeans, sometimes with either my grey coat or chocolate cardigan; and the mustard cowl on the one really cold day.  I wore the boots each and every day; and I confess here my feet did get a bit tired of wearing the boots! but they were comfy and practical and they went with everything.
I wore my ivory dress and the mustard cowl in the evenings out to dinner, with black tights and the high heeled black suede pumps.

Now onto the most important question uppermost on everyone’s mind; yes! I did pay a visit to each of my favourite Melbournian fabric stores, and yes, fabric has travelled home with me … plus this!
The Japanese version of drape drape by Hisako Sato was half price at Tessuti’s, how could I possibly resist?  It is a birthday present from my son, which I was to choose whilst I was over there  😉  Yes we are very practical gift-givers in my family…

I was pretty thrilled when a lady working in Tessuti’s recognised me and greeted me by name, and complimented my blog: thank you for serving me just into your lunch break, and also for your kind words!
Also Kazz was more sharp-eyed than I, and spotted me around and about too…   Kazz makes fabulous things showcased on her gorgeously detailed blog … hi, Kazz!  It would have been nice to hang out!

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