After what felt like 2 monster projects, I needed a pick me up!
The first one is a pattern that I’d wanted to try for a while, & now that the weather’s cooler I had the perfect excuse! They’re the Vuokatti tights which you can download for free :o) Aside from some sketchy instructions, this pattern is a winner! When I pulled them on they fit like a glove. They are so comfy and warm and I will definitely be making myself more of these. I made these up in ponte, and sewed them with flat fell seams, just for that très professionnel look.
The second one came about after I mentioned at sewing class last week that I was running out of steam. Enter the t-shirt dress! When I was sewing this up I was wondering if it was going to be teal overload, but I think this colour actually suits me & I really like it! It definitely needs a belt & maybe some other accessories, just to break up that BOLDNESS! (Note to self: time for some new accessories) This one is also made from ponte- the perfect winter knit I reckon!
2 projects in 2 days- mojo well & truly restored!
Utterly deflated. I should be (and want to be) beside myself with excitement that I made a coat! But instead I look at this with disappointment and wonder if I will ever wear it outside the house. I can’t believe it! This coat is just not me.
So here’s the quick low down. This coat has been the latest project in my sewing class. As always, we used the teacher’s blocks to create our own pattern. Mine has princess seams coming from the armscye on both the front and back. The collar was self drafted but inspired by Retro Butterick 5747. It has deep pockets (yay!) coming out of the front princess seams. And it’s fully lined (yay again!)
The first thing that bothers me about it is the style. I feel like I should be wearing this in 20 or 30 years’ time. Yep, it makes me feel old. Not a good start. The second thing is the fit. The shoulders are way too wide and that alone makes the whole thing look really sloppy to me. There are also a whole lot of weird fabric folds going on around the boob area. I’ve tried a few fitting alterations but am still pretty non-plussed.
The third thing is that I invested so much in this- here are the stats folks:
Wool Viscose coating- $90
Lining- $30
Covered buttons (from Buttonmania)- $15
Thread- $6
Block of 5 sewing lessons- $250
Time- around about 6 weeks
Ouch. Now I’ll be the first to say that it’s not all about money, BUT I am struggling to chalk this stupid kind of expense up as purely a learning experience. I want something really outstanding to show for my effort too!
Anyway, in the spirit of learning and positivity, let me bolster my spirits with the good bits!
I made a coat!
It was made with a whole lotta love and patience- it’s been a real slow-down-and-get-the-details-right kinda project. A good habit to get into.
Which leads onto the next bit- this coat is so well made! It’s not often I can say that, but the finish on this is perfect! Everything looks smooth and professional, woop!!
It’s the first time I’ve done a bagged out lining. I might not be able to do it perectly again without assistance, but I think I’ve got the basics covered!
It’s a comfy fit across the back
It has 5 kick-arse bound button-holes. Would you be surprised if I said I spent a whole afternoon on these babies?!
5 awesome covered buttons to go with the 5 awesome buttonholes!
I like the colour. Ha, I feel like I’m 6 all over again.
Hmm, so looking at this it would appear that there’s more things that I like about this than I don’t. Maybe if I did something about the shoulders I might be able to live with it?
At this point I should say a big High Five! to my friend & work cohort Kate, for a really fun photo shoot & lots of laughs!
And now, just because I love them so much, may I introduce you to some new lovelies that I picked up at the same time as the covered buttons…
Yes. Lovely :) I recently downloaded the Bella pants off Burdastlye and think these will be just the ticket paired with dark blue denim.
Ha, ha, maybe not so deflated after all! ONWARDS!!!
This dress is what I call a lesson in patience! It’s amazing how much time you can spend on one project when you decide you’re going to do it PERFECTLY! Lucky for me I chose an easy pattern :0) I think I owe the success of this dress to the fact that at no stage did I sit down and do a big session on it. I just did a little bit at a time and put it down when I started to get frustrated. This is when I usually make mistakes!
Since my test run of this pattern was pretty successful, the construction of this dress went really smoothly. I did do a few things a bit differently to the pattern instructions, mainly because I insert invisible zippers with a lining/ facing the way I was taught in class, and also because I wanted to have the skirt lining attached to the hem of the skirt. I should say that I think attaching the lining in this way has actually made the hem sit a little weird, but I think it would be easy fixed by unpicking it and hemming it just a bit shorter. I also attached the sleeves before sewing the side seam (so much easier than the traditional method!)
Aside from this, the other alterations that I made to the pattern are:
- Shortened sleeves by 4cm
- Added a cuff with a button instead of elastic casings
- Lengthened skirt by 5cm
- Lined sleeves for even more fullness!
- Lots of fitting alterations
And now the list of things that I learned:
- While having a contrasting lining may be fun, changing bobbins and thread all the time is…. not.
- Not the first time I’ve done this, but a reminder that winding 2 bobbins of each colour before you start is a really awesome favour to do yourself
- Don’t rush
- I can do it! Yay!
Filed under colette patterns
For some reason or another, I haven’t really tended to blog much about my sewing class. It’s odd because it’s actually one of my favourite parts of the week. For the past few months I’ve been taking part in the Monday sewing classes at Dancing Queen in Melbourne. It’s such a fun environment to have classes in- the motley collection of machines are set up right in the middle of the shop and the classes are kept to a maximum of 6 people so it’s small enough that we can all have a bit of a chat and a laugh as we go. The classes are based around learning to work with blocks, so they’re a combination of theory (patternmaking) and sewing. We work off blocks that the teacher supplies and we learn how to use them to make all manner of things!
At the moment we’re working on our first winter coats. You can imagine my excitement when not days after deciding that I was going to attempt my first coat, the teacher asked us if we’d like to have a go at making coats! Thankfully the answer was a unanimous ‘YES!’, and now we’re up to week 3 of coats.
For mine I found a really lovely purple wool/viscose blend from Tessuti, and a fun polka dot lining from Spotlight. After scouring the internet for inspiration, I decided I’d make my coat with princess seams and a collar similar to the one on Retro Butterick 5747. I’m not sure how long it will take to finish it off, but hopefully I’ll get it done next week so it’s ready for birthday shenanigans!
The Minnie-Mouse-(Hand-Me-My-Oversized-Novelty-Shoes)Dress
So there was a slight change of plans! I thought it would be easy. The plan was to use the block pattern from my sewing class and alter the shape of the neckline and make sure that the armscye was the right size for the sleeve. Sounds easy in theory, but it turns out I didn’t know as much as I thought! When I lay one pattern on top of the other, there were all sorts of differences in them, so I decided that I would do myself a favour, forget the fiddling and just use the Licorice pattern as-is.
It turns out it was a good move. I don’t know what I was so worried about- I’ve only had success with Colette patterns in the past. I am now confident enough to know which adjustments I need to make and how to do them. And this is the (nearly) finished product!
As far as the style & features of the dress go, the only things I changed were the length of the sleeves (I made them 4cm shorter so they were a bit fuller) and I replaced elastic sleeve casings with contrast button-up bands.
I did end up making quite a few alterations to the fit. The most important change that I made was fitting the back. I almost always end up having a lot of excess fabric, so before I cut out the pieces I added a concave curve to the centre back seam. Once I had sewed it up and tried it on, I also extended the back darts all the way up to the collar. I did a whole other lot of fitting and I think I’ve actually made it little bit tooooo snug around my belly, but that’s easy fixed and the rest of it feels really comfy, so I’m pretty pleased with the result.
Except for the part where I feel like a comical mouse. I know it was only a practice effort, but, you know, I would still have liked to be able to wear it without feeling quite so…
Filed under colette patterns
Thinkin and a plannin.
I don’t usually do anything for my birthday. I’m not one to make a fuss and I’m usually pretty happy to fly under the radar. Not this year though! This year is going to be different.
And to celebrate, I think a new frock is in order!
This dress has been on my to-do list since I received my copy of the Colette Sewing Handbook at the end of last year. The Licorice pattern caught my eye straight away- that polka dotted version has got my name written all over it! I found the perfect fabric for it almost without trying- it’s a silk crepe that I bought from The Fabric Store in Fitzroy, and will you look at that, it just happens to fit perfectly into my A/W palette! What a happy coincidence :)
I already have a few ideas for this dress. After looking a bit closer at the pattern I realised that the body of it is almost identical to the shift dresses that I’ve been banging on about from my sewing class. Since I’ve had success with the fit of all these dresses so far, I was thinking that I’d substitute this pattern for the original one from the book. Of course I’ll be needing to do a spot of testing before chop, chop, choppin into the silk, just to make sure that the sleeves fit the armscye. I may also need to alter the shape of the neckline so that the collar fits. Also, the original pattern calls for elastic casings around the bottom of the sleeves, but I think I’ll replace this with a cuff with a button loop that I will gather the sleeve into instead.
Oooh, this should be fun! But in the meantime I have a skirt to finish…. I will not be distracted!
Filed under colette patterns
Bad vibes. That’s what I’m putting it down to….
It’s o.k. You can say it. I’ve thought it. I’ve said it. And now I’m writing it. “What’s going on there?!!!” It’s o.k., I’ll own it. So my vision didn’t quite translate. Instead of a really awesome dress (in colours that fit my Autumn/ Winter palette perfectly I might add…) I was left feeling like a bit of a quilt crossed with a piece of 80s luggage. Too much.
Like I said, I got waylaid by the vibes. I’d spent the morning having an inner rant. You know the ones where you get a bee in your bonnet and it goes round and round and round and…. It was no biggie, but it made me determined to make this dress a real winner! I’d been reading some of my favourite blogs, only to be beaten around the ears about “Oh I’ve just bought this amaaaaaazing fabric at Tessuti this, and I love Tessuti that, Tessuti, Tessuti, Tessuti!!” Blah blah blah. Now I like Tessuti as much as the next person, and if I could afford to make everything out of Tessuti fabrics, then I probably would. But I can’t, so I don’t. At this point I decided to affectionately name this loverly dress-in-the-making the ‘I shop at Spotlight so Shoot Me! Dress’. Blinded I was. Blinded by the determination that I could make this Spotlight Spesh stack up against all those pretty frocks made out of, yes, Tessuti fabric. So I swallowed my words/ rant.
Anyhoo, I got the scissors out, hacked off the bottom and made me a top. The end.
Errrr, was it really 5 weeks ago that I started this dress?!! Where does the time go? And where has the sundress-wearing-weather gone? That will learn me for getting distracted…
All in all, I’m pretty happy with how this dress turned out. I’ll make a few tweaks next time- I’ll bring the straps closer in, maybe attatch them with buttons, lower the neckline a few centimetres and increase the bust dart… again. I can’t wait till Spring weather rolls around, this one will definitely be coming out as soon as it warms up again!
The week that was… OWOP!
When I put my name down to take part in OWOP, I didn’t really give it a whole lot of thought. I guess my main motivation was to get more involved in the sewing blogosphere. I never actually thought that it would end up being a challenge and that it would open my eyes to the way I dress.
It all started on Day 1. Saturday. Last day of my working week, and probably the one where I put the least effort into what I wear. I figure that since I change into a uniform, that what I wear to and from work is not really a big deal. Saturday was the last day at work for my friend Cazzie, and a few of us went for impromptu-ish drinks after work. Yay! It’s always nice not to feel like a complete slob when you’re out having a bevvie or two! Anyway, I was happy that my effort had been rewarded!
Day 2 was the hard one. Sundays are usually my stay-at-home-in-my-pjs day of the week. Sometimes I go outside, sometimes I don’t! This Sunday I needed to go out to Spotlight to grab a zipper. Usually when I feel like this I’ll just throw on something boring and functional without thinking. I was so tempted! Not to mention that the first half of OWOP was a tad on the chilly side and I didn’t really feel like braving the elements in a dress. Anyway, I put my thinking cap on and managed to style a dress into a warm-enough outfit- not something that I would normally be bothered doing. Same went for Day 3. Cold-ish day, what to do?
I guess I realised that I wear my clothes in a very seasonal way and that I rarely think about how I can style them differently for different seasons. I also realised that I dress very habitually and often without a whole lot of thought or effort. I’m wondering if any of this will actually change anything, but they do say that awareness is the key to change!
I’ve really enjoyed this week, thanks to Tilly for hosting :)
Filed under owop
OWOP! Intro…
Sewing blogs have been going mad for it! I’ve been going mad for it!
The deal has been that for the last 7 days, you choose one pattern that you have made up several times and wear one version, styled diffrently, every day of the week.
I chose the shift dress pattern that we made from blocks in my sewing class. I’d already made up two dresses at the time Tilly launched the idea, and since then I’ve also made up two more versions (but just of the top half). This is they.
I just don’t think it quite works when you go too matchy matchy with accessories. But hey, I’m no style guru, so never mind me
What with the multitude of amazing sewing blogs out there, it’s easy to get inspired by what other folks are doing, get sidetracked, and lose track of my own sewing plans. Add to this my weakness for buying patterns and fabric, and really, my projects are all over the place! I’ve been pretty excited about the progress that I’ve made in the past few months, but when I look at what I’ve made, there isn’t really a whole lot of cohesion and I still can’t find stuff to wear with other stuff!
So with the season well and truly changed, I’ve embarked on the beginning of some plans for projects for the cooler months. I’ve started with a palette which is possibly a little ambitious, and not very me, but also very un-Melbourne (read: colourful), and it’s pretty fun! (Ummm, I wanted to add a kind of rusty orange in here, but am not a pro at Colour Lovers. Here is my feeble attempt….)
Next I’ve been trying to decide on what things I might actually need. It pains me to say it in March, but I know what’s coming this way, and it’s cold!! So again I’m going to be ambitious and throw a few challenges in there. I’m yet to make a coat or fitted pants, so those are on the top of the list: Burdastyle cropped wool jacket and Colette clovers. I’d also like to try out some of the patterns that I seem to buy but never use, as well as making up some of thoses that are tried and tested!
And now for the fabric shopping, uh oh..
So I finished another top using the top half of the shift dress pattern from my sewing class! This one is inspired by a dress I found on ModCloth- the Today’s the Day Dress and again I’ve surprised myself that I actually pulled it off! I’m calling it a bit of a ‘faux-wrap’ because I installed a zipper in the side and the cross-over piece with the buttons does’t actually serve any purpose other than looking lovely! I think I may finally be getting the hang of this sewing caper :)
So the thing is, is that I find it really awkward taking photos! It probably seems like I start a whole lot of stuff that never gets finished. No, I just have a whole lot of stuff that I need to photograph, so maybe that will be my task for the next few days. I just don’t know what to do with myself- as you can probably tell from these…
Anyway, I’m really happy with how this experiment turned out. This is the one I started last week when I pivoted the darts on the front into princess seams. The fabric is quite thin so I decided to mount it onto some lining and then sew as one. I used binding to finish the seams and also instead of facings. In the absence of an overlocker, you just can’t beat those bound seams!! I love them!
I’m tired and it’s wet outside.
That’s my excuse for staying inside today.
My sewing progress this week feels like it’s been going in the backwards direction. A couple of projects are destined for not only the UFO pile, but specifically the UFO pile for projects that seem to be a lost cause. So I just try not to be too precious about the fabric, and move on.
Last night I decided to join the One Week One Pattern challenge that Tilly is hosting, and have chosen to use the shift dress from my sewing class as my pattern of choice! I’ve nearly completed two versions, and today I thought I’d try out something new to see if I can’t make up a few more before the 24th.
The pattern in question has vertical darts shaping the body as well as bust darts. So my task for today is to try and pivot the darts and turn them into princess seams. Sounds easy enough, but have a look at that pattern and tell me you’re not just a little bit confused….
And that’s just the front! The back will be staying as-is for now because I’m really not sure how this one is going to turn out…
