dress Archives - Page 19 of 34 - Handmade by Carolyn

Libra

23/09/2013 4:12 pm \ 89 Comments \ Carolyn

… the sign of the scales.

So at first sight there may appear to be absolutely nothing scales-y or balanced or anything at all even vaguely Libran about my ensemble. So what on earth is the Libran element here… ? Well ME! Yes, it is my birthday today. And I have made for myself a birthday dress, especially for socialising like the flirty sociable little butterfly that Librans are supposed to be. Hehe, I can’t help but laugh at that description since I am the complete opposite of a social butterfly, seriously! It’s a miracle that I’m not still tucked in the corner of the laboratory hunched over the HPLC, but actually do have friends, and a husband! Although maybe I just swapped the HPLC for the sewing machine? Yeah. I think I totally did. You just can’t escape your true nature…
However, socialising has been had. Monday I had a delightful morning tea with friends, who gave me a Fabulous Fabrics voucher…. aah they know me so well! And I intend to make a nice dinner and cake to have with my fambly tonight.

But, enough blahdy-blah… my new dress. Florals, for spring. I know right? soooo innovative! 😀 But everyone loves to have a pretty new dress for the new season, yes?

This is Vogue 1194, a pattern I bought not long after it first came out and have just never got around to it. I made it pretty much to the pattern except with just a few minor variations… I folded the excess fabric at both shoulders and also at the centre of the skirt back into pleats, pictured below, rather than have gathers as per the pattern. I’m afraid I just do not like gathers very much, poor things. And I have shortened the sleeves to elbow length, more suitable for our warm weather.

The fabric is a gorgeous watercolour-y printed stretch knit from Fabulous Fabrics. So, actually I originally wanted to make this fabric into a lingerie set, and the day I bought it I was meeting my friend J for lunch and showed it to her. She seemed slightly horrified that its loveliness was never going to see the light of day and urged me to make a dress instead. I went away a little thoughtful, a little dampened, but still fairly determined to make lingerie. I showed the fabric to my mother, and to Cassie next, both of whom vehemently agreed with J that to make it into lingerie was the silliest idea they had every heard. Well, they put it more tactfully than that but that was the gist of it.

I felt even less certain about my lingerie plan.

The final kicker though was when I laid down my fabric and pattern pieces and discovered that the Vogue 1194 skirt pieces plus a few others pretty much fitted perfectly and I only needed to buy a bit more to get out the remainder of the pieces.

The universe was telling me something and I was finally getting it.

So I cut out the dress instead natch… and ended up making my lingerie set from my poppies print instead, so all’s well that ends well, no?

After all my talk about slips and linings the other day, maybe I should mention that the dress is unlined, but that I am wearing my beige satin petticoat underneath. Hope that’s not tmi. Or course the petticoat cannot be seen, which is just the way things should be, yes?

Details:
Dress; Vogue 1194, floral stretch fabric
Petticoat (not seen): Burda 8071, beige satin, details here
Tights; self-drafted, of black merino wool, details here
Shoes; Django and Juliette, from Zomp shoes

Pattern Description:

Pullover, mid-knee length dress has loose-fitting front pleated and gathered bodice, bands (twisted front), raised waist, A-line, front pleated and back gathered skirt, side pockets, stitched hems and long sleeves.

Pattern Sizing:

Size 8-14. Other reviewers noted that the pattern runs a little big so I went down a size from my usual and cut a size 8. This was a good decision.

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

In essence, although I wanted a springy dress so cut my sleeves to three quarter length.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Very! and also it is rated an Easy pattern by Vogue

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I have always liked the simple softly draping pleats on this one, and the flattering V-neckline. The skirt is full enough to allow deep side pockets and yet still appears slimline and not pouffy or bulky.

The look of the gathering on the skirt back on the pattern envelope caught my eye in a not-good way, fortunately it is easy to instead fold the excess fabric into a sleeker-looking box pleat.
For my size the pattern stipulates that 1.9m of fabric is needed. Cutting the sleeves to elbow length, I found 1.3m of fabric to be sufficient.

Fabric Used:

Printed stretchy fabric

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I pleated the excess fabric in the front shoulders, and also I folded a symmetrical box pleat centred on the skirt back joining seam, thus eliminating all gathering in my version of this pattern.

I hand-stitched the sleeve and lower hems.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

OK, so I always say yes I will sew it again and then only occasionally do I follow through, but this is such a basic and classic silhouette and so easy to run up very quickly, so I am absolutely certain that I will, soon 🙂

And yes, highly 🙂

Conclusion:

Easy, stylish and flattering, this basic yet prettily feminine design is very lovely in my opinion. I’m very happy with my new dress!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, pattern review, Vogue 1194

Beachy polka dots dress

13/09/2013 12:30 pm \ 78 Comments \ Carolyn

So, we had some purr-fectly dee-lightful weather last Monday, allowing me to wear, and take some piccies of, my dress. The product of my giant beachy polka dots fabric, screen-printed by moi. Um, I’m completely satisfied with how it turned out. And I can think of nothing further to add. Not like me, I know 😉

OK, just a few things.
I used the pattern for dress F from the Stylish Dress Book by Yushiko Tsukiori, chosen because I wanted an almost featureless tunic dress, with no darts and minimal shaping to interfere with my print, but still had a certain je ne sais quoi. This design, with a short neckline split and two piece open sleeves with a discreet but pretty little ribbon to tie them closed, was exactly what I wanted. I cut out all the pieces before printing and sized my print to fit the pieces.

A stylistically simple design, like my stylistically simple print. I added the obligatory-to-me pockets, ahem; deep inseam ones. These are cut from the same sand-coloured cotton/linen fabric as the dress, but unprinted obviously. The same goes for the bias-cut sleeve ties, and bias neckline finish and the neck facing. There are advantages to printing your own; you can leave it off all the “invisible” bits of your dress, and that is a vast improvement… nothing to show through!

It’s been a thoroughly satisfying project in that the result truly matches my vision. I’m going to really enjoy wearing it.

The creativity demon inside has been sated… for now 🙂

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, own design, printing, Stylish Dress Book

Autumn leaves sundress

07/09/2013 3:26 pm \ 46 Comments \ Carolyn

I made a sundress using my autumn leaves fabric, screen-printed by me here. Those who like wonky weird imperfect prints are going to like this, if you don’t, then avert your eyes!

The pattern is an adaption of dress T, from the Stylish Dress Book, the design Reana chose for me to make my sew bossy dress here, which now looks like this. That one is such a great dress to wear; so comfy and easy to throw on it has quickly become one of my favourites 🙂

For this new dress I didn’t have enough fabric to make up the pattern as is. I left off the sleeves, and removed about 15cm in width from the centre fold of both the skirt front and back, so there is no gathering into the bodice … that’s a whole foot taken out of the skirt’s circumference overall! and there was still plenty of room in the skirt for me to have inseam pockets. I cut these from a much nicer, lightweight white swiss dot cotton.

The front neckline of the bodice has been scooped out a bit deeper than the pattern, and I split the front bodice and made a little placket, with buttons and buttonholes. Just because, I dunno (shrug), something to focus on other than those weird and wonky leaves. The front and back bodice each have a full facing, cut from a lightweight plain white cotton.

Hehe… would you believe I’ve only just noticed, when I uploaded this picture? that one of the leaves on the front of the bodice is missing its stem?? Only just noticed! LOL! And while drawing them in I checked and checked… I’ve fixed this up now, but didn’t bother to take another picture.

I’m a bit meh about this dress, partly because my print is … funny; and partly because the fabric itself is a pretty poor quality. It is a bit stiff and almost calico-like in texture. Now I’m kinda kicking myself I didn’t take the risk and buy a finer quality cotton in the first place, problem was, I had no confidence in myself and started out with the assumption I was going to stuff it up. I will wear the dress, because it’s airy and cool and will be great to have in the wardrobe in the hottest days of summer when I just want to grab something casual, and I’m hoping it will soften up over time with wear and washing. The thing is, I usually judge my self-mades by posing the question; would I buy this if I saw it in a store? And realistically I would probably pass this over, laughing at its hideousness. Oh well.

A thought… I can always use it as an apron, for future screen-printing sessions?! Ha!

I did learn something pretty important in printing and making this dress… Cut out the pattern pieces before printing!

This approach is hugely superior to printing a length of fabric and then deciding what to make with it, like I did here. Several reasons…

There is less wastage of fabric ink and your own effort, since you are not printing fabric that you won’t use.

You can make sure that the print is properly covering the pattern piece as you are going along.

You can if desired place the print just exactly how you want it to appear on the piece.

It’s guaranteed that you will have enough fabric printed to make what you want, there’ll be no laying down the pattern pieces and being disappointed that you underestimated just how much you would need.

Another consideration… there will be no angst when cutting into your precious print since it is already cut out and ready to go!

And, learning from my own mistakes… yes, I have already sewn together my giant polka dot pieces too, and I’m pretty happy with that one….. Stay tuned! 🙂

Details:

Dress; based upon dress T from the Stylish Dress book by Yoshiko Tsukiori, screen-printed ivory cotton

Hat; Vogue 8844, ivory corduroy, details and my review of this pattern here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, own design, Sienna, Stylish Dress Book

Virgo

25/08/2013 3:25 am \ 58 Comments \ Carolyn

… the
sign of the maiden.

I have made a maidenly new dress 🙂
This delicate feathery ivory lace fabric was a very long term resident in my stash. It’s a tricky customer; sooo cobwebby and so sparse that it has absolutely no structure or form whatsoever and it both stretches and collapses upon itself. For years I’ve wondered what on earth I could do with it. Finally I just decided a simple dress would do, and then tried to work out how its wayward flightiness could be tethered into some sort of “dress” arrangement.

Essentially it’s a shirt-dress. The backbone of the dress is the collar, the shoulder and armscye seams, and the front button and arm bands: these are the only stable elements in the dress; and the lace fabric just hangs loosely from those structural components.

The white lace is from Fabulous Fabrics years ago, and for the bands and collar I used a perfectly colour-matched
ivory swiss dotted cotton voile with sparsely scattered fluffy dots, bought at Potters Textiles
last year. The buttons… ah, the
buttons! They are lovely, antique
mother-of-pearl beauties that were given to me by ElleC… thank you so much
ElleC! I used two of these buttons
previously in this blouse and now this new dress uses the remainder… and, yes! It
was really really hard to cut them
off their little card, but I decided that they are too lovely to sit in a
button tin forever and they deserve to be seen! I think the marquise shape of the buttons is a purr-fect match for that same-shaped motif in the lace 🙂

I had
finagled the number of buttonholes to use every single last one of the buttons
so I was pretty darn devastated when the shank of one broke as I was stitching
it on… noooooo! And a snowflake’s chance in hell of ever finding another one!
So it was oh-so carefully super-glued together before stitching on, however I was still worried about it so
I’ve super-glued it and its
buttonhole together and to the dress.
Now the left sleeve can never
be unbuttoned and I expect I will be obsessively checking to see that that
button is still in place forever and ever after. (sigh)

I stabilized the shoulder seams with a
strip of the same ivory cotton, and the armscyes and side seams are encased with Seams Great, a gift from velosewer; thanks Maria! the Seams Great is a sheer and flimsy creamy-coloured tape and is virtually invisible from the right side of the garment.

inside view

I experimented with a few different finishes for the lower edge of
the dress and all my results were just too hideous for words so the lower
hem is simply cut straight and left unfinished. This does leave quite a nice ethereal lightness and floatiness to the
lower hem, and fortunately the fabric will not fray.

The pattern is Burdastyle magazine 05/2010 dress 111, which I have used once before to make a completely different style of dress! Technically, this new version of this pattern has a few slight variations: the front bands are
narrowed to a finished width of 2.5cm; which is visually more in keeping with
the delicacy of the lace fabric. the sleeves are shortened and I sewed a very
narrow band as a one piece sleeve-band placket, pictured below.
The front bodice was rotated to eliminate the bust dart because the fabric is so delicate sewing darts would have been difficult and they would have looked weird too. I cut the
sides to be a straight and wide A-line from underarm to the lower hem.

Details:

Dress;
Burdastyle magazine 05/2010, 111 modified, ivory lace and ivory cotton, my review of this pattern here

Petticoat;
Burda 8071, powder blue silk, details here

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burdastyle magazine 05-2010-111, daily outfit, dress, Sienna

the Panellist

10/07/2013 7:09 am \ 113 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a new dress! a dress comprised of panels and bands. This is Vogue 1316 and I made it using three pairs of old corduroy jeans, ivory, chocolate and a faded black; plus a piece of new black corduroy, itself a leftover from my black corduroy flares-now-bootlegs. Ha! hanging on to those old jeans and leftover scraps payed off… eventually. It can be seen by the mangled leg of the jeans on the left that these have been partially harvested previously, when I made the Black parliament…

I managed to get the pieces for the dress, following the grain AND the nap (no small feat) from these jeans, with only a few piecings necessary. The original hem has been retained and incorporated into the lower hem of the skirt in each of the ivory and chocolate brown lower skirt panels. The widest panels I cut from the leftover piece of black corduroy, because that piece was the widest… the bonus is that this is the hip area and the darkest fabric situated here gives a slimming effect.
The lower band of the dress is a very wiiide piece, and since jeans legs are not wide, this required joining three pieces together. But hey, I don’t think the joins scream “hey lookee here, seam!” very much, so I think I get away with it.

Also the lower front is cut over the side seam from a jeans leg, with the old side seam in the new centre front.

So, it can be seen above that my dress has luvverly deep pockets. The pattern does not provide for pockets. When I first saw the picture on the pattern envelope I thought that it did. That side band curving down from the waist and around to the back was situated in perfect hip pocket position, so it was a reasonable assumption to make. Perusal of the fine print revealed that I was sadly mistaken. Early elation (and it has pockets!) turned to disappointment (oh it doesn’t have pockets), turned to a dawning realisation (hey, it could so easily have pockets) turned to a firm resolve put those missing pockets back into the design where they were so inexplicably lacking (dammit, that dress really should have pockets!)

Adding them was not very difficult. I cut the skirt pieces to be bigger, grading from my usual waist size out to between one and two sizes bigger than my usual choice at the hips to accommodate having hands in the pockets. Then drew a rough, my-hand shaped piece onto paper, added this to the inner edge of pattern piece 13, the middle side front, and cut this composite new piece from the fashion fabric for the pocket. I cut the hand-piece from woven cotton for the pocket lining. I interfaced the corresponding section of the full-sized fashion fabric side band piece with iron-on interfacing, as this was to be the pocket opening and so needed stabilising, and joined all the pieces in the normal pocket way, the pocket lining to side band with a narrow seam allowance so the fashion fabric continues over and into the pocket within the fold. Additionally the pocket opening is under-stitched, to prevent the lining from rolling out.

I am unreservedly thrilled with how the pockets turned out, they really are in the perfect position, and I cannot understand why they were not there in the first place. Vogue would do well to include pockets, or at least the possibility of pockets, in all their casual designs imo , since they are clearly high on the list of Most Desirable Features in a Design, wouldn’t you agree? It’s certainly something I always look for in a casual pattern, or at the very least, the potential for finagling pockets if at all possible. I reckon this dress is only, like, a hundred times better for having pockets? Rough guesstimate, there.

The dress is fully lined; and even in a casual, toss-it-on-for-whatever, day dress like this I prefer the clean and streamlined minimalism of an invisible zip, so used one.
The fit… there were minor issues. For a “fitted” pattern I reckon it runs quite big and boxy throughout. But this was easily fixed, mostly through that handy back/side section seam, pictured below.
I am super happy with the dress, it was an enjoyable puzzle to put together and is very comfy and easy to wear. I love washed and worn corduroy, such a beautifully soft and warm texture in a winter dress. And it always makes me feel good to re-use old textiles constructively like this. 🙂

More ~~inane drivel~~ thoughts about this pattern can be found in my pattern review below if anyone is interested.

Details:
Dress; Vogue 1316, fashioned from 3 old pairs of cotton corduroy jeans plus another piece of cotton corduroy in another colour.
Tights; self-drafted, black merino, details here and my tutorial for drafting your own custom-fit tights pattern here
Boots; Andrea and Joen, bought from the now re-branded Uggies in Dunsborough

and merely because I find these pretty amusing… the Vogue pose

Pattern
Description:

Fitted
lined dress has several shaping bands and multiple panels, a central back zip
and walking vent

Pattern
Sizing:

Size
4-12. I cut my usual size 10 in the bodice tapering out to between a 12-14 at
the hips. This hip is larger than
my usual size, but I wanted to incorporate pockets into the design, which
requires a bit more room in the skirt.
In my opinion the pattern runs a little big, since I had to take in the
bodice quite a bit, and might go down to a size 8 in the bodice next
time.

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

Yes.

Were
the instructions easy to follow?

Yes

What
did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I was
attracted to the complex banding and panels design, lending themselves to
pattern through the use of tonal solid colours.

I was
disappointed that it did not have pockets, considering that the side
band is perfectly positioned to have a pocket tucked under it. But I knew the
design would be very easy to adapt so that I could have my beloved
pockets. And it was, and so I have them 🙂

The
lining is not done in the best way, in my opinion. I don’t really love lining being sewed straight to the shell
of the dress like this. It is
under-stitched to help keep it all inside; but if I was going to make this
again I would instead make self-fabric facings for the neckline and underarm
and attach these to accordingly modified lining pieces.
For the lining, the pattern stipulates 1.8m. In my size, I found 1m is sufficient.

Fabric
Used:

Cotton corduroy in four different colours

Pattern
alterations or any design changes you made:

Pockets! I was
determined to incorporate pockets into the dress, so modified pattern piece 13
to be a pocket piece, and also drafted another piece to be a partial facing for
piece 12 with an integrated pocket lining. To accommodate hands-in-pockets wearing
ease, I drafted the skirt pieces to taper from my usual size 10 at the waist, out
to between 12-14 at the hips.

I
raised the height of the centre front by about 1cm, and am glad I did. Next time I might raise it even higher!

Step
19-23: I prefer an invisible zip in my dresses, and I always install an
invisible zip before stitching the remainder of the seam below. I reckon this gives you a much better
and smoother finish.

Sizing; I find the bust of Vogue fitted patterns to be drafted too big for
me generally, so I pre-emptively shaved about 1cm width off the bust curve of both pattern pieces 3. Even so, at Step 24: sewing the back to side section seam; I found the fit still quite boxy and not
close-fitting enough for my tastes around the waist, so took out several inches in
width from the underbust and waist, graduating out again to the bust and hips.
Ultimately these alterations left me with a distinctly more A-line skirt than the pattern intended, and I am happy with that.

Would
you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

Oh my
gosh, I always say yes I will sew it again, and then I’m immediately distracted
by new patterns like a toddler with a shiny new toy! But I certainly would not rule out sewing this one again. This one is just going to be casual, everyday, winter’s dress. I’ve been thinking about the idea of using several bright clear colours demarcated by black bands, like a licorice
allsort. Wouldn’t that look cool?

And
yes 🙂

Conclusion:

I
really love how it turned out! The interesting and unusual seaming pits the chosen colours against each other to dramatic effect. I can picture a multitude of
possibilities for colour-blocking here.
I am especially pleased with how my pocket alteration turned out, to be honest I
probably would not enjoy wearing a dress without pockets so much as one with,
so to be able to incorporate them so easily into the design was a very happy
bonus.

Without
any fitting modifications I would not describe this as a fitted dress. I had to take
my usual size in quite a bit.
However it is quite easy to do a lot of final fitting through the back
to side section seams.

….photo-bomb!…

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, pattern review, photo-bomb, pocket, Sienna, vogue 1316, Wardrobe Refashion

Browning a couple of things

10/06/2013 4:30 pm \ 53 Comments \ Carolyn

Remember my Sew Bossy dress, below? It was very… sweet, wasn’t it?
I mean, I wish I could wear really pretty things like that, but I think I cannot! But
I thought it had promise, it just needed de-twee-ing.

before

I lopped off
the sleeves, so now they are plain little cap sleeves; and then dyed the whole thing
brown, using iDye, colour Brown.
So, I didn’t do very much, but it’s definitely made a ginormous
difference to my resolve to actually wear it! I kinda love its new look, still with an old-fashioned charm, but in a less cute and more prosaic way, reminiscent of peeling sepia-d wallpaper in a decaying old farmhouse, or something.

Since I had used ivory
coloured polyester thread to sew the entire dress, after dyeing the hem
stitching really stood out and looked awful. I unpicked all the visible ivory top-stitching and re-stitched
using coffee coloured thread.

The little quirk of
dyeing is that you cannot always predict exactly what your results are going to
be. I found it interesting that
the ivory based print has come out a slightly purple-y shade of brown, while the
white cotton I used for the neckband and hemline piping has come out more of a
yellow-y, coffee colour. Aaah, the lucky
dip that is dyeing!

And while I had the dye pot and
dye out I also re-ombred the top of my red velveteen skirt, which had lost a bit of its intensity
since I first dyed it a year ago.

I’m a big believer in the transformative powers of brown dye. Such wonderful stuff.

Details:

Dress; dress “T’ from the
Stylish dress book by Yoshiko Tsukiori, original post here; with short sleeves, blue sprigged cotton dyed brown. My tutorial for basic one colour dyeing is here.

Tights; self-drafted, of
denim look jersey knit, details and my tutorial for making your own custom fit tights here

Shoes; Francesco
Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

Skirt; Vogue 1247, red
cotton velveteen dip-dyed with iDye in Brown, details here. My tutorial for dip-dyeing is here.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, dyeing, Sienna, Stylish Dress Book, Wardrobe Refashion

Cancer, the sign of the crab

13/05/2013 3:54 pm \ 53 Comments \ Carolyn

I have made a new dress.
And here I am wearing it to scramble about on the rocks, just like a, er, crab….?
…..?
well, it’s a tenuous little link!!
I made it using a new-to-me pattern Vogue 1317. I have admired previous versions of this dress on shams and more recently Catherine, and my own version has been cut out for months and getting worked on in miserable dribs and drabs for waaaaaay too long! But it is finally finished. Like a lot of Chado Ralph Rucci designs, this is not a make-it-up-in-one-day garment 🙂
The fabric I used is a lovely silk/linen mix from Fabulous Fabrics, bought for me as a Christmas present by Mum and Dad. The shade is a gorgeous deep, grey-y, green-y blue, like gunmetal, or the colour of the ocean under a thundery sky. It’s lovely stuff. I’m kinda tempted to go into Fabulous Fabrics and buy up every colour…. must resist….
I must say I really love this silhouette and this style; the bodice is flatteringly streamlined, the sleeves are a nice shape and length, and the skirt is flippily cute and figure flattering. I’m happy with how it turned out, I love the (modified) pockets!
I did make a few tiny alterations to the pattern when I made it up; and when I use this pattern again I will make even more changes.
The changes I did make:
Even just looking at that front skirt piece I thought that the pockets are situated too close to the centre front, which would lend a sort of hands-over-the-crotch appearance to when you put your hands in the pockets. So I widened the skirt front piece by about 2.5cm (1″) on each side. This alteration also enabled me to make the pockets slightly bigger, mine are about 1cm wider and 1.5cm deeper each. Now they are situated over my upper leg and I think they are perfectly big enough to be usable 🙂

The front centre front bodice slit looked a tad low-cut for my taste, so I sewed up the bodice front and the corresponding facing pieces by an extra 4cm. Now the opening hits at a more flattering and modest point.
I spliced the skirt pieces together to cut a three piece skirt lining (one front, two back pieces with a CB seam), using dark grey polyacetate lining fabric. The pattern doesn’t call for a lining, but if there was not one then in a windy situation…. see?
I think a skirt lining is imperative 🙂

I cut the waist ties to be much much longer, because I like the idea of wrapping them around my waist and tying them at the back. I prefer a back-tie, over a front-tie sitting in a big bow right in the middle of my tummy!

I also added about 2.5cm to the skirt length, and reinforced the zip stitching lines with narrow strips of self fabric cut on the grain for stability.

Changes I did not make, but would if I was making this up again:
The inner corner of the bodice front, at the small circle point, is, I hate to say it, badly designed, there’s just no other way of putting it. The dress as it is is fine for sitting at a desk, working on a computer all day, or say, going to a concert, a movie or the ballet. However I want to wear my dress all day, for the kind of activities I do everyday, including hanging the washing on the line, putting groceries in the fridge and pantry; in short, activities that require me to raise my arms above my head! Lifting my arms over my head does not work as smoothly as it should.

The next time I make this pattern up, I will re-draft both the front and back bodice pieces to be roughly more like this illustration… opening up the underarm at the inner corner to let the sleeve sit out horizontally at the cutting stage. This will help eliminate that unnecessary strain on the fabric at that turning point.

The hems are finished with an interfaced facing, which is turned in, double top-stitched and trimmed close to the stitching. This is quite nice, the double top-stitching matches up visually with the copious quantities of double top-stitching that is all over the rest of the garment; but I don’t know if I love it. I might brainstorm something different for next time.

But these are mere petty quibbles. I do like my new dress!

min 11C, max 21C, fine and sunny

Details:
Dress; Vogue 1317, dark blue/grey silk/linen mix
(not seen): handknit socks
Boots; Enrico Antinori, from Zomp shoes

Pattern
Description:

Dress has low neckline slit, close-fitting bodice cut-in-one with sleeves (slit), side back bodice extending into underarm gusset, lined midriff, single-layer tie ends (wrongside shows), skirt with side front/side back seams, side front pockets/vents, invisible back zipper, stitched hems, and self-bias binding. Topstitching and edgestitching.

Pattern
Sizing:

8-16; I made my usual size 10 and needed no alterations for size

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

Yes.

Were
the instructions easy to follow?

as is usual for Chado Ralph Rucci patterns, yes the instructions are easy to understand, but not necessarily easy to follow!

What
did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I fell in love with this dress style from very first sight of the envelope. Who ever said there was no such thing as love at first sight? Poppycock!!
The style is very chic; a funky modern interpretation of a vintage silhouette.
There are quite a few things I do not like; that I intend to change on future iterations of this pattern; and yes, there will be more!
The shape of the bodice front and back, at the small circle point, is, I hate to say it, but badly designed, there’s just no other way of putting it. The shape of the pieces here means that lifting your arms above your head while wearing the dress does not work as comfortably as it should here.

Fabric
Used:

Silk/linen mix

Pattern
alterations or any design changes you made:

I thought from looking at the pattern piece that the pockets were situated too close to the centre front; ie, meaning that when your hands are in the pockets, they are hovering right over the crotch region… neither a ladylike or comfortable position. I widened the skirt front piece so that the pockets are more to the side, so my hands are resting on the front of my hips while they are in the pockets. Widening the skirt front also enable me to cut my pockets bigger and deeper, a bonus side effect 🙂
I stitched the front bodice and corresponding facing pieces seam to be 4cm longer; the opening now hits at a more flattering and modest point on me.

I cut the waist tie piece to be much much longer, so that I can wrap it right around my waist and tie at the back. I prefer this to having a bow or knot sitting at my front.
I cut the skirt pieces about 2.5cm longer each, and lined the skirt with a lining that does not have that wide open flap at the front; for reasons that become obvious when you sit down and cross your knees in this dress.

Would
you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

Probably! I recommend this pattern to an advanced seamster, who likes an updated “vintage” silhouette, and who lurves topstitching with a passion.

Conclusion:

Well, I love it! and with just those few minor adjustments I am looking forward to making this pattern up again 🙂

Now, just because it always gives me a big laugh when other sewing bloggers do this, like Jilly Be and chenille; I give you… the simple casual elegance of the Vogue pose! Now this I think can claim to be crab-like!
source

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, MMM13, pattern review, Sienna, Vogue 1317

she’s the boss

27/04/2013 11:00 pm \ 47 Comments \ Carolyn

So, you might be thinking that this is not my usual style of outfit. And you would be right! I did make my dress, but it was chosen by another.
But, how is this so?

Have you heard of the Sew Bossy initiative? This is a fun game dreamt up by Heather of Closet Case Files and Oona of oonaballoona. Heather paired up Reana Louise and me as one of her fantasy picks! So after e-introducing ourselves to each other, Reana Louise and I mutually agreed to choose for each other something from the Stylish Dress Book, by Yoshiko Tsukiori; since we both had the book already. Exactly which something, and what fabric was left up to the other. I sent my package off, and then waited with bated breath.
Very soon, I received this in the mail.

This is dress “T”, from the Stylish Dress Book. Reana Louise chose for me a soft lightweight ivory cotton meadow sprinkled with delicate blue flowers, and with a solid blue cotton for the contrasting neckband and cuffs.

So OK. Floral, and puffy sleeves. Hmmm. I am being fair dinkum catapulted right out of my comfort zone here! But Reana Louise has exemplary taste and always looks quite lovely on her blog, in her handmade creations. I had to trust her guidance.

I did make a few teeny minor changes (forgive me, Reana Louise!) I thought a wide block of the blue for a neckband might be a bit strong against the delicacy of the sprigged floral, so I dug out some lightweight Japanese cotton in my stash, originally bought from Potters Textiles. This is pure white, with an irregular pattern of tiny white paisley motifs as well as little fluffy white spots scattered over. I used this for the neckband and for the sleeve cuffs, and just used a narrow, folded bias cut strip of the blue cotton sent by Reana Louise as a demarcation line between the floral and the white.

Similarly, I broke apart the hemline with bias cut strips of each white and blue together as well. I really like the look of these borderlines in the design, a subtle geometric statement against the pretty floral.