3rd February – 8th February
(if you’re new, I’ve pledged to wear only clothes handmade by me this year and to sketch my daily outfits in my Fashionary. I’m calling this the paper doll project)
A thought:
would it be helpful for me to list the garments with links to the construction posts and real life photos?
A quick head-count and I realised I’ve made enough more of these shirts to put together another Rogue’s Gallery of Burda 7767’s…
This is hands down my most used pattern evah… I have used it 27 times!! My first Burda 7767 Rogue’s Gallery contained 14 shirts and now this new gallery features another 13 shirts. Will there be more…? of course!
It is so easy to add little bits and bobs to this most classic of patterns to create a variety of shirts each with their own distinct character… each shirt is linked to the original construction post, and my variations to the basic pattern are listed after the link. My original review of this pattern is here.
version fifteen: a linen army style shirt for me. Added epaulettes, two bellows breast pockets with flaps, sleeve tabs, folded-out button band, curved hemline.
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
28th January-2nd February
(if you’re new, I’ve pledged to wear only clothes handmade by me this year and to sketch my daily outfits in my Fashionary. I’m calling this the paper doll project)
… the water bearer!
So this dress incorporates the design from page 56 of Pattern Magic 2, by
Tomoko Nakamichi. It is described as “a flip turn draped design tie appears from the
slit in the front bodice for a complex and beautiful effect.”
When I was playing with ideas for the Aquarius theme I had in my head; I imagined that front panel as a swimmer shooting out of the watery waves that are embroidered around the hem of the dress, up the front of the dress, and diving back into the water at the neckline. Yeah, I do occasionally have an overactive imagination…. 🙂
To represent the Aquarian waves I embroidered a running stitch sine wave around the lower hem of the dress, and on the full-length front panel. I originally had lazy-daisy water droplets going down the side of that front panel too… but the family veto-ed that one, thought they were naff. Hmf! 😀
Details:
Dress; partly self-drafted, based on the flip turn design from page 56 of Pattern Magic 2, by Tomoko Nakamichi, blue cotton
Sandals; la soffitada Gilde, from Zomp shoes
It is photographed here on Bessie who is bigger than I am, so it does blouse out more blousily on me. The back of the dress is quite plain…
The dress is put on and taken off with a long invisible zip in the left side seam, and that long front panel is invisibly stitched down to the dress at the waistline.
Actually, I think the colour of my new ballet flats and scarf is more ecru than taupe, but the name printed on the side of the shoe box was “taupe”. So I’m running with it. Seeing as not much at all rhymes with ecru. 
The latest addition to the Navel-Gazing Fashion Blogger’s Society photo collection.
(if you’re new, I’ve pledged to wear only clothes handmade by me this year and to sketch my daily outfits in my Fashionary. I’m calling this the paper doll project)
Some more navel-gazing; this time about the outfit fourth along… (seen first here) this was one of my earlier refashions from Wardrobe Re-fashion days. This is one that I sometimes forget to wear, because it is “old”, isn’t conventionally pretty and is even a little strange… and sometimes I have to wear a thing for a day to decide whether I still love it or not. But whenever I do wear this skirt and top ensemble I’m reminded how much I do love slightly weird clothes. I think I want to get back to making interesting things again.
Anyhoo, I decided again that the men’s shirt ensemble is definitely a keeper. The same cannot be said for something from the previous week, which I am taking the scissors too… pretty soon 😉
I’m very happy with this latest set, I just feel like I am getting happier with each one!
The bra is made using KwikSew 3300 (my review of this pattern here), the undies with lace across the top are my old faithful McCalls 2772, and the other pair with the two diagonal strips of lace are from a pattern copied from a rtw pair.
The latter is very cute, it fits somewhere between a bikini and a boy-leg style, a hybrid of the two. The construction was a bit more involved than the McCalls bikini but it’s nice to have some variety. I really liked how the back leg edge is on the fold, a bit different and a really interesting feature.
The set is made from a blue marle cotton-mix jersey (leftovers from this hoodie) and a lovely creamy lace, with creamy yellow lingerie elastic throughout and cream satin ribbon bows for decoration. The lower bra cup is lined with a thick-ish, stable, non-stretchy knit (leftovers from this skirt), and the bra centre piece and underwire casings were made with lightweight beige cotton voile (leftovers from this top)
The bra sewalong organised by Amy has been absolutely brilliant! If you are new to sewing lingerie I highly recommend checking out her detailed posts on construction. Her passion for lingerie is sincere and very inspiring! I’ve been keeping up with everyone’s fitting stories on the Flickr group, and the advice and tips given have been invaluable.
The nitty gritty about my bra; this will be of interest to my fellow lingerie nerds only….
This is the sixth time I have made up the KwikSew pattern, and the first time as a 32A and without a moulded cup insert.
I lined the lower cups with a thick-ish, stable, non-stretchy knit; overlapped with and then sewn to the seam allowances.. This gives a bit more needed oomph to that flimsy blue jersey fabric..
The straps: usually I go with a plain, non-adjustable bra strap relying on the stretch inherent in the fabric to provide the ease factor…. (did someone just say “slacker!“?) this time I followed the instructions and interfaced the straps, then satin-stitched a piece of elastic to the lower back ends to allow for the stretch. Here’s where things get creative…. my elastic options (and well, everything else too) are kind of limited here in Perth but I do still want to stubbornly but loyally support my local shops. My lace is a lovely ivory creamy colour so I chose the “skin tone” lingerie elastic to go with it. But the lingerie elastic is not very heavy duty on its own and I worried it would not stand up to strains of bra strap duty. So I zig-zagged a strip of more heavy-duty, braided 8mm white elastic to the back. This provides hidden strength, and the colour from the right side still matches everything else in the set.
The straps are adjustable… and if there is one thing I’m super disappointed about it is that the only sliders I could get are pure white… not happy, Jan! To my eye they stand out like a sore thumb.
For the same reason (limited colour choices) I had to choose a one-hooked, hook and eye closure; this being the only size available in cream. I’m actually fine with that, not being of a figure type that needs heavy-duty support in the chestal region, ahem. At least the colour matches! I just trimmed the back pieces to fit.
I cut the centre piece backing and the underwire casings from small scraps of beige voile, and yes, I did obsessively switch between blue, beige and white thread so that the stitching matches the fabric.
I used cream-coloured satin ribbon to stabilise the lace upper cups, the same ribbon that I used for the decorative bows on all three items.
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…. 😉
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.
