dress Archives - Page 23 of 34 - Handmade by Carolyn

Weddings, parties, and other special events…

27/08/2011 4:23 am \ 11 Comments \ Carolyn

… seem to be the only times we ever took any photos of our family. So thank goodness for those!
I didn’t do a heck of a lot of sewing when I had three tiny children. I do have an excuse. I had three tiny children…
But I did manage to churn out a few little things. Oh including, come to think of it, the quilts for all our beds. They were major. So I guess I still got a lot done.
Here are some other things:
Book Week wasn’t a big thing when my children were little like it seems to be now. But I recall a few sporadic requirements for costumes. I didn’t make this fabulous dog costume, loaned from a friend, but I did make the little top and pinafore that my grubby little daughter is wearing in the background. Another TopKids pattern.

Here on the left is an outfit made just for Sam (see, he didn’t miss out!), a tartan button-up shirt and some navy corduroy jeans with some of the tartan using in the detailing, to make it a co-ordinating “outfit”. I was into “outfits” for my kids back then, and always made tops and bottoms to match each other. Both were using TopKids patterns.

Following are three little dresses I made for my daughter, using the same Simplicity pattern, a very nice design which had a button-up front bodice, and a sash inserted in the side seams to cinch in the waist with a lovely big bow at the back. Or a rough knot of some kind, depending on how busy her mother was that morning…

I customised the pink gingham version with lace edged pockets. It was one of my favourite dresses for her at this time.

The blue one here had gold stars printed on the fabric, and I sewed on a single star shaped button at the top, like a brooch. In this picture, her first day at pre-school, she is standing beside a white wooden chair that Craig made, and I painted. It was made of jarrah, so it weighed a tonne!

And my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding… I made the two bridesmaids dresses and the flower girls dress. And yes, now I do wonder at my own sanity at attempting this feat when I had all those little children underfoot at home… but I managed it! (Sorry about the grainy picture, but this is the only one I have of all three of us)

(This isn’t necessarily illustrating any extra in the way of handmade-ness, but I included it because I just really love this picture. This is my wonderful family, including my parents, my two brothers and my two sisters-in-law)

The two bridesmaids dresses were from a Vogue pattern, and had boned bodices, with a lovely and very flattering folded portrait neckline. I hand-sewed on all that gold lace, and miraculously got the motifs to fit perfectly on the two different sizes so I would not have to chop any in half. Cassie’s little flower girl dress was adorable, and had a miniature sweetheart neckline, big puffy sleeves, cascading ruffles down the back of the skirt and a big bow tied in the small of her back. Sigh… both my dress and hers have been passed on, and I only have C’s dress (the other bridesmaid), which is pictured below. It is a bigger size than Bessie who is modelling it here, thus necessitating Cassie’s hand you can see there unobtrusively pulling it in at the back to illustrate what it actually looks like when it fits the wearer.
Of course now I look at it and see multitude little imperfections, but at the time I was pretty darn proud of myself.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ancient history, bridesmaids, Cassie, childrens, dress, Sam, Tim, Topkids

Purple sheath dress; 6 different ways

06/08/2011 1:41 pm \ 21 Comments \ Carolyn

I made this silk hessian dress using Burda 8511 about a year and a half ago and yes, this dress has appeared here in a number of mixes already. I have found the simplicity of the design to be a wonderful canvas for accessorising and layering, and the colour has proven itself to be trans-seasonal. (look at me, pulling out all those professional-sounding stylist-type words there, hmm?) Trans-seasonal, meaning the soft violet colour is quietly pretty enough to fit in happily into a neutral cold weather ensemble, but still has enough personality to hold its own with the stronger colours of the warmer seasons; and I’ve worn it on all but the hottest of days. Being fully lined it is kind of unsuitable for the full-on heat of summer, but it’s been such a goodie for any day of lesser temperatures. So here we go…
Firstly, and feeling uninspired, I went to my go-to smart/casual winter styling for this dress at left. Hmm, well maybe it is a tad ho-hum, well of course any dress goes with all black accessories… at right my next, more summery attempt at styling this dress; well now lookeee, it goes well with ivory too! T’ank you Captain Obvious. I’m all set if I ever get an invite to a garden party here. Anyhoo, you can see what I mean here about the neutral-friendliness of this colour…

OK, so now getting more adventurous with colour and thinking about the warmer days ahead here… how I would wear this for a typical day spent walking along the beach?, well like this, at left. As well, the shape of the sheath is not overly fitted so the dress can work successfully as a tunic, and for a more dressy event on a summer’s evening it can be worn over a slightly longer A-line skirt for an extra layer of colour, and with an equally colourful necklace and heels to dress it up.

And finally for the cooler days we have been getting during winter, at left the colour is not an overwhelming look-at-me shade, so that it blends OK with other smudgy neutrals, at left; and at right, on a particularly cold winters day I can really rug myself up with a scarf and denim jacket, and with some bright cheerful tights to visually punch it up. This last look is the one I am wearing today in soccer mum and weekend going out-and-about mode. It was cold this morning, 5C!!! I’m so over winter, sorry…

And happily my wardrobe brainstorming session has given me some new inspirations for different ways to wear this dress to see out winter and to welcome in the warmer days of spring!
Which look here do you like the best?

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: 6 different ways, Burda 8511, dress

Another trip down memory lane…

31/07/2011 8:59 am \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

… Remember when I said I had only once before made Cassie and myself matching clothes? Well this is Cassie’s dress, that was made from the leftover scraps of a dress I had made myself. Her little dress, made using a TopKids pattern, has a white Peter Pan collar, and a miniature faux man’s tie in turquoise fabric, itself the leftovers from these shorts (so you can see how long I hang onto scraps…!) I’m sorry it’s not a very good picture, and what’s more I have no pics of my own dress in this fabric; but imagine this maroon, deep turquoise and red large-scale plaid in one of those 90’s style shirt-dresses with a high small collar, long sleeves and a big full gathered skirt. Something like the red version of this pattern at right… yes, very very very 90’s. I hope I haven’t shattered any delusions of myself as a style maven now! At least I never liked shoulder pads so never used them.

So I’ve got that going for me… (Can anyone recognise that quote?)

Tim is wearing here a little jumper here that I knitted for him using scraps of wool from other projects… rather cleverly eked out if I say so myself, so that the front, back and both sleeves had the same colours and in the same proportions! Knitters will know this is not necessarily a simple thing to achieve when you are working with scraps… It went from the dark shades of purple, blue and green at the bottom through grey, then pale blue then the palest yellow and back to navy blue at the top, and the colours were not in defined stripes but faded together in an ombre effect. I did this by knitting two colours together per row in the fair-isle knitting method.

In this picture, Tim is wearing another jumper I knitted, and I can’t recall now if it was from a pattern or if I took the embroidered teddy bear design from a cross stitch and just transposed it to a knitwear graph… yup, memory not what it used to be! Again using scraps for the teddies. Cassie is wearing a little dress I made for her using a TopKids pattern. It was in two different white and navy blue prints, one a polka dot and the other a floral. The fabric was slightly fluffy, brushed cotton, and I sewed in white piping around the collar, sleeve cuffs, the single curved breast pocket and around the dropped waistline where the buttoned-up blouse joined the skirt part of the dress. It was quite cute, no? and a nice and warm little number for winter!

And the quote? From that great 90’s cinema classic, Caddyshack.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ancient history, Cassie, childrens, dress, jumper, knitting, own design, Tim, Topkids

Pattern Magic, revisited

29/05/2011 8:17 am \ 36 Comments \ Carolyn

This is my second attempt at this pattern; the design from page 10 of Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi; my first was here. I loved the design, but unfortunately that first dress was kinda disastrous. Firstly, I didn’t love the fabric I had used, which was a super-cheapy thick-ish polyester selected for its colour only from the remnants table. On top of the doubtful quality of the fabric and the fact that it didn’t drape very well, my finishing off of that dress was of equally doubtful quality… I didn’t have enough of the blue to cut facings, and used instead a tobacco coloured fabric, a too-thin and also-nasty scrap of polyester. And I didn’t fit the dress properly to myself, and allowed too much seam allowance around the armscye, but sewed a normal width seam allowance, resulting that the dress dug into my armpits in a painful and irritating way, and to unpick the stitching plus understitching around the armscye just seemed all too difficult, since I had sewn them up scrupulously well, and combined with the nasty fabric quality… (deep breath) I guess in hindsight I was treating the dress like a muslin, which is how it turned out as I wore it precisely two times. I know, I’m embarrassed by my wastefulness, too… I can only hope that someone at the Salvos with smaller arms than me saw something good in that thing…
Enough with the saga of sewing failure…
The good news is that I still loved the design enough to really want to have a go at a better one, using nice fabric. Et voila!

side views (one is more interesting than the other…)

Details:
Dress; drafted from the Japanese pattern book Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi, in slightly nubbly, charcoal-marle polyester/wool suiting
Petticoat; (honestly can’t really remember the pattern I used for this), black satin, another picture here
Top and tights; Metalicus
Boots; Andrea and Joen, from Uggies in Dunsborough

back view

Dressmaking details:
There is only one front piece and one back piece, but the shape of the pieces is such that the bodice area is on-grain, but the skirt section is on the bias. Resulting in that lovely ripply drape.
This time I carefully measured the bodice area, armscye and the hip area against an old favourite Burda 8511; and made the necessary fitting adjustments to the armscye. The fabric is a rather nice thin and very drape-y, but still a bit nubbly wool/polyester mix suiting fabric in charcoal marle. For the cord casing around the “hole” I made bias tape from the same fabric. The cord is a 120cm brown/black bootlace.
I cut the facing pieces from the same fabric so that the fabric selvedge edge forms the lower edge of the facing. These pieces are not interfaced; I think the fact they are cut on the cross-grain, while the bodice is on-grain will provide enough stability to this area, and I love the softness of the finished bodice. The neckline and armscyes are under-stitched and not topstitched. The other raw edges inside the dress are overlocked to finish, and the hem is hand-stitched.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dress, Pattern Magic

Oo la la

24/05/2011 5:20 am \ 44 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a new dress for winter!
This fabric, a sort of very roughly spun and woven silk, with some very stiffish almost stick-like pieces woven into it, was one of my Christmas presents; that I bought so the children could have some things to give me; hehe, I know, so thoughtful of me… I always wanted to make some sort of unadorned sheath dress with it, something that was plain-ish, yet still chic and polished, that could be dressed up or down to suit a multitude of “looks”. And in an ideal world, pockets would be in there too somehow. But how to incorporate pockets into a sheath dress? It is almost impossible, without resorting to the ol’ patch pockets, which are not very chic and not a very polished look. I wanted “polished”, in case if I so desired I just could wear my dress to semi-formal do-es. Occasionally, I do so desire. So when I saw this pattern, dress 128 from the 08/2009 Burdastyle magazine I realised that while the dress did appear quite fitted and sheath-like, the pleated fullness at the front of the skirt meant that inseam side pockets were a distinct possibility. So I tried out putting some in, and they worked out pretty good, imo. Yes! (self high five) Is that a case of having my cake and eating it too, or what?!
Apart from the inseam pockets, I made a few other small modifications. Firstly, I have a slight pet aversion to dresses that have a waist seam on the front and not on the back. Just privately, it bothers my pernickety need for order and continuity… so I cut the back pieces to have a corresponding waist seam at the back, corresponding to fit with the front waist seam. This also enabled me to make a slight sway back adjustment easily, a double win.
Also, my dress is fully lined with acetate lining fabric, unlike the pattern, which stipulates a bodice lining only. Why would you have a lined bodice, and not go that small extra step to line the skirt section? Hmmm… imo, a skirt lining is mandatory in a winter dress, so it doesn’t stick to your tights. For my dress lining pieces, apart from the very top neckline and sleeve bits which are to the pattern, I used mostly the lower portion of an ol’ faithful Burda 8511. So apart from the bust darts at the front, and long double ended body darts at the back, the lining is quite plain.
I also opted to line the sleeves, for extra warmth. But here I made a small error of misjudgement, although I know that sleeve linings need wearing ease, at this stage I was happily whizzing ahead in my blissful little sewing trance, and didn’t incorporate enough into mine. Agreed, I should know better by now… still, this is only a problem for that one moment in my day when I am trying to zip up the thing at the back, you know when you are twisted in that position with one arm up and one arm down behind your back, trying to hold that back centre seam in place with one hand and grab the zip pull with the other to pull it up? I’m sure this is one of the main reasons yoga was invented. I mean, the need to stay limber enough so we can get our back dress zips up by ourselves, naturally…
The fabric is that sort of silk that frays like a madman, fraying all by itself just seconds after it has been cut. So I edged all the straight raw edges in HongKong seaming, while some of the “hidden” ones up inside the bodice and in the sleeves were just overlocked to finish… did someone just say “lazy?” Who, moi? On the bottom hem, I made a wide strip of bias binding to make a divinely wide hem… just look at that hem width, and not a raw edge to be seen anywhere. Couture heaven, no?!

Details:
Dress; pattern no 128 Burdastyle magazine 08/2009 with some modifications, silk
Sandals; akiel, from an op shop

Below is my pattern review, if you are interested…

Pattern Description:
This figure-following sheath dress constitutes a tribute to all Paris fashion designers; the bodice remains plain while little waist tucks lend the skirt a refined tulip look (don’t you just love Burdastyle descriptions…!)
Pattern Sizing:
36-44, I sewed a 38, and graduated the skirt pieces out to 40 from hip height down because I wanted to incorporate inseam side pockets.
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 straightforward and easy
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
There’s nothing not to like about this pattern! I made a few slight modifications to suit my personal taste.
Fabric Used:
A roughly spun and woven silk, with acetate lining
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I incorporated inseam side pockets. The slight flare at the front of the skirt provided by the waist pleats made this an obvious modification, and very easy to do.
I cut the dress back pieces to have a waist seam, corresponding to the waist seam at the front of the dress. I prefer the continuity of this look, and it also enabled me to make a slight sway back adjustment.
I fully lined the dress, including the skirt and sleeves. For the dress lining pieces, I used a plain shift dress pattern I already have; which does not have the shaping of the main dress pieces. For the sleeve linings I used the pattern pieces, although, note to others who plan to do this, be sure allow some wearing ease here!
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I highly recommend this to others!
Conclusion:
This is an easy dress pattern with a lovely, flattering and classic shape.

below; side view, with pockets in action…

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burdastyle magazine 08-2009-128, dress, pattern review

Clad in plaid

29/03/2011 4:39 am \ 21 Comments \ Carolyn

I deemed today cool enough to wear one of ma newbies; a plaid shirtdress made using pattern no. 111 from Burdastyle magazine 05/2010. Naturally with a one or two little adaptions…
The brushed cotton is stash fabric I’ve had for yonks, and have finally got around to using… actually initially intended for a shirt for one of the boys but I decided to be selfish and waylaid it for my own devious purposes instead, mwahaha. The reason for my lack of motherly thoughtfulness; when I was out shopping the other week I tried on a delightful little plaid shirtdress in Country Road and fell in love with the style. Had to have one. Just had to. So searched through my pattern collection until I found this suitable candidate and added to it some features that were absent from the pattern but are nice finishing touches for a classic shirtdress.
My alterations to the pattern were namely, the addition of buttoned arrowhead tabs to the shoulders and also inside the sleeves so the sleeves can be rolled up and buttoned to elbow length (probably the way I will wear it most of the time!), the addition of inseam side pockets (well, really, why are these not in the pattern anyway, hmmm? tut tut, just no excuse, imo), and hemming the lower edge in a nice classic shirt curve. Plus, instead of the straight up and down side seams of the original, mine is shaped slightly to give it some vague hint of a waist.
Also I left off the belt carriers, which in the magazine photograph (below right) show the belt to be at a supremely unflattering spot just above the hips, and just underneath the tummy. Err, no… And incidentally this is right where one would want one’s pockets to go anyway. If I am going to wear a belt with this dress, it will be up around the waist where it should be. I love Burdastyle magazine, but just occasionally their styling options leave a bit to be desired…
Oh, and please note, it may not be obvious from the photo but my plaids front and back match up perfectly! Plaids not matching up is one of those little things that I find pretty irritating if I see it… (yah, neurotic, I know)
Below is the review I submitted to Pattern Review, if you’re interested.

Details:
Dress; Burdastyle magazine 05-2010-111 with minor alterations, brushed cotton
Shoes; Bronx, from Zomp shoes
Sunnies; RayBan

Pattern Description:
Slightly flared shirt-waister with long front polo fastening and flapped breast pockets
Pattern Sizing:
38-46, I sewed a size 38.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished sewing it?
Pretty much. I added some bits and made a few variations.
Were the instructions easy to follow?
yes
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I like the basic pattern. It was a bit too basic for what I had in mind, so I added a few details.
Fabric Used:
brushed cotton
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I added buttoned arrowhead tabs to the shoulders (purely decorative) and also to inside the sleeves so the sleeves can be rolled up to elbow length and buttoned in place.
I added inseam side pockets.
On my version the straight up-and-down side seams are slightly shaped to give some vague hint of a waist.
I omitted the belt carriers because I saw no need for them, also to put the inseam pockets at this level of the dress. If I wear a belt with this I will have it around the waist.
I put only one button and buttonhole on each of the breast pocket flaps, because I thought the two buttons per flap looked a little fiddly and would be annoying to open and close.
The lower edge I hemmed in a nice curved classic shirt curve.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
If I needed another shirtdress I probably would use this pattern. And I would definitely recommend it to others as a good basic pattern.
Conclusion:
Great pattern, very easy to make, and I love it! I wasn’t initially excited by the picture in the magazine of this dress, well to be brutally honest my first impression was that it looked awful, and outdated. I think the belt was the problem. But with the little added extras, lifted from RTW mens’ shirts and ladies shirtdresses I’ve seen around, I’m now super happy with how it turned out.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burdastyle magazine 05-2010-111, daily outfit, dress, MMM11, pattern review

A new sundress

21/02/2011 7:41 am \ 29 Comments \ Carolyn

I made a new sundress for myself… using the summer-weight cotton fabric I had bought during our shopping day out in Tokyo with Yoshimi and Novita. Japanese fabric! This now is one of my wearable souvenirs from our trip…!
The weather has been so so so so hot! that I still need some light little sundresses, even though perhaps I should be starting to think about autumn and winter sewing now, with days as hot and dry as we have been getting it is hard to believe it is ever going to get cold! Dabbling my feet in the water here was so nice I really didn’t want to leave this lovely little spot and get back to my daily chores, plus a mountain of office work that I’ve been putting off… woops, sewing has been so much more interesting to me lately I forgot I had to do actual work as well!
I used a Burdastyle pattern, dress 114 from the 5/2010 issue… and have to say I like using the patterns from this series. It’s economical and feels a bit more of a challenge to make stuff this way. It’s not as though I’m new to this sort of tracing-out-of-patterns, as I made many many things from the Topkids magazine when my kids were little, but I haven’t done it for a few years so it feels a bit new. And yes, as a commenter said on one of my posts previously, the pattern instructions are usually a lot more challenging too, because you are not walked through with helpful little illustrations like the conventional envelope patterns. I think I’m very visual, because I find that way heaps easier.
Before I hemmed this dress I tried it on and it felt a bit too short. Which is funny, because it’s not as though it’s actually any shorter when compared to many of my sundresses, but because of the very wide pouffy swirly A-line skirt it did feel shorter… if that makes any sense… so I hemmed with a very narrow hem and also made some little shorts to wear underneath from the leftover fabric. Fortunately I just had just enough leftover to squeeze out one pair of shorts… and so I am perfectly safe from a strong breeze showing the world the colour of my undies. Back when I was little my mother used to make me lots of little dresses with matching bloomers to wear underneath, and this is the same principle. Except these are not bloomers but tailored shorts with a zip and welt pockets, and all… I’m not showing the shorts off here, because I have way too much class to lift my skirt on purpose… you just have to trust me that they are there and I will show them off on a future post.

Details:

Dress; Burdastyle 05-2010-114, Japanese cotton

Shorts; (worn under) Burdastyle 10-2010-111, Japanese cotton

Hat; Country Road

Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, from Hobbs shoes

Pattern Description:
A-line sunback dress with empire seam under the bust has a skirt of two gathered tiers, and side seam zip.
Pattern Sizing:
34-42, I made size 36, and made it a little wider at the bust
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?
It is super easy! There are only two pattern pieces to trace out, the skirts are just rectangles.
I love the loose flippy feel of it, it is a comfortable and lovely style well suited to our hot dry summers. This same super-flippiness however also compelled me to make a little pair of matching shorts to wear underneath! If you wanted to, the instruction provide dimensions for a third tier to make the dress a maxi length. I didn’t think the maxi-length would have suited this print, however.
The only thing I didn’t like, well, it’s my own fault, I wanted pockets and inserted them in the side seams, and that lower tier falls at just the wrong place, just where I wanted the pockets to go! No biggie, the pockets just sit a few centimetres lower than I would have preferred.
Fabric Used:
Cotton
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I cut out the back bodice wider and higher to have more coverage, I did this to to avoid bra-strap exposure.
I added inseam pockets, which sit just at the top of the lower tier. As I mentioned above, this is a tad too low, but I can live with it.
I added about 3cm to the length of the lower tier, and I’m very glad of this little bit of extra length.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I probably would sew this one again. I highly recommend it as a very easy, pretty and feminine little sundress.
Conclusion:
Great little dress; cute, very comfortable, feminine, cool and breezy. I am going to enjoy wearing this one!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burdastyle magazine 05-2010-114, daily outfit, dress, pattern review, Tokyo fabric

The colours of Valentine’s Day

14/02/2011 2:42 pm \ 14 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve been off colour for a few days, and feeling blue… but I’m not complaining, as things are definitely looking more rosy today… This evening my husband and I strolled down to the river together for a picnic under the paperbarks to celebrate Valentines Day. We don’t go out just the two of us very often at all, so it’s nice to make the effort once in a while, no?
As well, last Friday we went to a BIG party where some good friends celebrated their silver wedding anniversary, so it really feels lately like romantic celebrations are in the air…! I wore my Sandwich Bag dress and it was the perfect dress for partay-ing in a sweltering summer evening.
But for today, what could say romance more softly and prettily than pink? so I dug out the most romantic pink dress I own and put some pink champagne in the fridge to chill. And after yet another oppressively hot day like today, it was enough to just chuck some chook on the barbie, chop it up into a green salad, chased down with a few dark chocolate truffles for afters… a simply lovely feast!
Wishing everyone an equally gorgeous Valentine’s Day evening …