So simple: Tessuti amara vest

After finishing that tailored green jacket I needed to make something really quick and simple - the Amara vest by Tessuti patterns was just the thing. It probably took me longer to print out and assemble the pattern than it actually did to sew it!

It's a very shapeless and boxy style but still drapes quite well so it doesn't make me look like a child in adults clothing. I made the smallest size and while it's quite wide across the body which is only really noticeable when my arms are up, but luckily I don't need to use my arms robot style too often:

The fabric I used is a felted wool bought from Addicted to Fabric in Canberra last year on a road trip with some Sydney Spoolettes to see an exhibition on the costumes from movie The Dressmaker. This pattern is exactly the project I had in mind when I bought this fabric, I just had to wait a while for someone to draft a pattern for me! 

Because the wool is felted I knew it wasn't going to fray, so I've left the bottom hem unfinished and instead of binding the neckline and sleeves I just sewed on strips of the fabric and left them on the right side. I was going to turn them to the inside and topstitch them down, but I quite like the look of the bands even though they are roughly cut so I decided to make a feature of it instead.

The shirt I'm wearing underneath is one I made a few years ago but never blogged for some reason. It's made from a vintage Simplicity pattern:

Given that it's a learn to sew pattern it was super simple. The fabric is a crisp stretch cotton, and I found some black and white buttons which is just perfect for the fabric.

I even managed to find some photos from three years with the same jeans - they are a bit blacker than they are now, I'm about 5kg lighter and I was still taller than my children. The good old days!

So all in all a lightning quick but great project. It's surprising warm wearing a wool layer even though it's sleeveless. It might be my inner nanna coming out, but I do like a comfy vest so I can see a few more of these vests in my future.

 

A Sydney blogger making a Sydney jacket....groundbreaking

Judging by my instagram feed, it seems practically everyone has made Tessuti's Sydney jacket at least once (some people several times even!). As usual I am late to the game - due to my contrary nature and my delight in avoiding what is popular!

However I wanted a lightweight jacket and I had some lovely wool coating fabric I bought at Easter on my mini-holiday this year from Darn Cheap Fabrics in Melbourne so it seemed a logical thing to do. The part of Sydney that I live in has barely a month of 'real' winter where it's cold enough to need a substantial coat but it is a bit chilly on my early morning commute to the city so the thought of wearing what is almost a blanket draped around my shoulders really appealed.

And when you are standing still while wearing this jacket it does drape beautifully and the pockets are at the perfect height to stand around slouchily with your hands hidden in the depths of the folds.

But, it's not really a practical jacket and to be honest I found it quite annoying to wear. I've been wearing this jacket for the last week in some windy weather and without any closures on it I felt I was continually wrapping it around me and constantly re-adjusting the fronts. And I found myself walking around with my arms crossed holding the fronts close in to prevent them flapping around, but that's not an ideal way to wear your clothes.

In terms of sewing it did take a bit of head scratching to figure out how the pieces join together. I didn't think there were enough markings on the pattern to make it quickly obvious which bits all joined together so I had to lay them out like a jigsaw puzzle to visualise how it worked, especially with that lower sleeve piece joining the upper sleeve/back yoke piece and side seams. But once that bit is worked out it's a pretty straight forward sewing project.

It also required a bit more precision sewing than I normally do, because instead of just sewing the seams right sides together the pattern requires one layer to be laid over the other and then top-stitched. First attempt I just winged it by measuring and pinning but that wasn't too successful as you can see below:

So I had to unpick that seam, and then mark chalk lines along all the seams. Actually that's not too much effort, it's just an extra step I don't need to do! But it did help get the top-stitching evenly in the centre of the overlapped edge and looks neat from the outside:

So overall, this isn't a favourite piece in my wardrobe simply due to the fussiness of wearing it. Whilst I really the look of the draped front, I like to put on my clothes and not have to re-adjust them all the time. I do however love this blue wool fabric, and I think next year I may pull it apart and remake it into a simple coat with a button front for next winter!

Australian Sewing Guild featured member - me!

The Australian Sewing Guild has just launched its website with a much needed fresh new look and guess who just happens to be one of the first featured members? That's right - it is me! My husband thinks it's super hilarious, admittedly the photo is rather large and prominent on the website. Have a look for yourself here.

I was one of the lucky ducks who got to spend Saturday sewing at the Tessuti Surry Hill's store for the day and I made a lot of progress on my white blazer. It was so inspiring not only sewing with lovely ladies like Sharon, Maria, BeaJay and other non-blogging sewing ladies, but also to be surrounded all day be beautiful fabrics and creative people shopping there all day was also encouraging. The lovely Colette is so genuinely lovely and  friendly with all the customers, and it was a real pleasure to be there.

It was also lovely to be recognised by a blog reader, who was equally excited to see Sharon and they got talking about some project or other. And the funniest thing was when a mother dragged her daughter over to us wearing her school formal dress asking for our opinion as to how to make it more modest - it was a one shoulder strap dress that she wanted to somehow add lace sleeves to it.

Of course I couldn't escape without making a fabric purchase (or two!). I'm not restricting my fabric purchases although I am trying to sew from the stash as a first priority. But I already have plans for the two fabrics I purchased so they sort of don't really count as additions to the stash!

On the left is a Michael Kors rayon (which doesn't seem to be in the online store) that I'll make some sort of dress for work from, and on the right is a viscose jersey (Boardwalk Jersey) that I am planning to make a simple t-shirt style dress.

Hopefully I'll be back in a few days with a photo of my finished white blazer - I think that by putting it down here in writing I'll be forcing myself to come up with the goods!

Oh and can I finish with a whinge (yes Renata I'm going to whinge about Burda!) - my November issue still hasn't turned up and it's now more than half way through the month. How can I keep to my Burda challenge when they are keeping me hanging on like this?

Liberating the Liberty

Wow - thanks everyone for leaving a comment on the last post about my red jacket. I think that is the most comments I've ever received, except for those times when I made a baby, so I guess that jacket is the third most special thing I've made!

I haven't done much sewing in the last week but I'm finally getting around to blogging a shirt I made a few weeks ago, the last garment I made in my stash busting entry actually. At our very first Sydney sewist's/blogger meet up back in November 2012 I only bought three pieces of fabric - some blueberry ponte and Liberty cotton from Tessuti, and some blue floral cotton voile from The Fabric Store. After making the ponte and cotton voile into dresses (here and here) I am pleased to announce I've finally used the Liberty cotton thus using up all the fabric I bought that day!

I only bought 1.5m of the fabric at the time thinking a blouse would be the best use (and because it's quite expensive) but I hesitated every time I went to use it because it's just so lovely. But then I realised it's only cotton, and I can easily buy more to replace it if I stuff it up so I should just get on with it. So I bit the bullet and made it into a long sleeved button down shirt that I've made several times before:



The print I bought is Liberty Wiltshire, which has been in their classics line since 1971 and was originally designed in 1933. It doesn't seem to be available on Tessuti's online shop but you can buy from Shaukat & Company.

You will laugh when you see the pattern I've used, because frankly it's an ugly 1980s pattern that is rightly OOP and should never be sewn as intended unless you were going to a costume party. But it's a size 6 which is the perfect size for my narrow shoulders and small bust - I just add width from the waist down to make sure it fits over my waist and hips. Ok, are you ready for the pattern reveal?

Yee ha! It's a cowboy inspired shirt which is just plain wrong. You can see I picked up this pattern in an op shop for the princely sum of 20c!! Obviously I made this without the attractive yoke or bow tie and also resisted the urge to add any fringing! I've made this at least 3 times previously that I can remember (pre blogging days), and I still frequently wear one that I made in a textured white cotton so I just knew it would be an easy sew. At some time in the past I actually traced the pattern and made it into a personal block pattern for my go-to shirt pattern.

It has an extra wide cuff that uses three buttons instead of two, which is a nice point of difference to an otherwise standard pattern (ignoring those cowboy points of difference that is):

Although I usually prefer to wear my long sleeved shirts folded up for a more casual look.

And in that fountain of knowledge that is Pinterest I discovered (after taking these photos) that there is a special way to fold up your sleeves so that the cuff is still visible - the J Crew method that apparently is the "perfect way".

I love this shirt - I wish I didn't take so long to take the plunge to make it! I've worn it to work under a boring dark grey suit, I've worn it casually with my green skirt to make it a very colourful combination, as well as the more standard combination of a denim skirt and dark denim jeans. I realy like wearing lightweight long sleeved shirts in summer to keep the sun off my skin, so this has been perfect for a few really hot days we've had recently. And look - I've braved the nosy, quizzical looks of onlookers and took a photo of myself out in public!

Won't be doing that too often though, I felt a bit silly doing it!

Tomorrow is my ASG sewing day - hopefully I can knock over my September Burda project and make up for my lack of productivity this week. I'm itching to make some summery dresses now that our weather has really heated up, you know the usual - so many projects so little time!

Last minute craziness: Tessuti awards dress entry

I didn't think it was going to be possible, but I managed to make a cocktail dress in 8 hours over two nights to enter in the Tessuti awards by the deadline, and it doesn't look too shabby either!

I hadn't planned on entering this year because I was lacking in inspiration and they usually get so many brilliant and creative entries from very talented people. But when I read their blog post last weekend pointing out that they had received only a few entries, I decided to make an entry after all. The only problem being that I was in Brisbane visiting the inlaws last weekend, and I didn't get a chance to buy the fabric for the dress until Monday at lunchtime (seriously, check out that receipt below). And I might have accidentally picked up two other pieces while I was there - I can never pass by the remnant table!

So on Monday and Tuesday nights, working from 8pm to midnight on both nights I managed to finish my dress, take some photos on Wednesday morning and upload them to the competition website in time for the lunchtime deadline. Unfortunately with such a rush to get it finished it meant that I had to take boring self photos in my loungeroom again instead of some fantastic location, so I think that like the last time I entered I haven't presented my creation in it's best light. Oh well, I'm still happy with it.

Of course by the time I uploaded my entry there were lots of other entries added too, including some really stunning and detailed entries. But I'm not in it to win it, in fact I'd rather get third prize - $500 worth of fabric from Tessuti sounds far more appealing than the first prize of a $2500 travel voucher at this point in time (travel with two small children is just not fun!).

The competition called for a knee length cocktail dress, using either a specific black or red fabric from their store. I was going to sew a simple fitted sheath dress with a deep cowl on the back neckline using Simplicity 9218, now OOP, which is exactly the type of dress I would wear to a fancy soiree. But this is a design competition afterall that will be judged on design and creativity as well as fit and technical skill, so I thought that I should try a little harder to make some different. But not so different that I wouldn't wear the end product though.

So in the end I decided I wanted something with a bit of volume using pleats and darts and tucks because the fabric has a bit of stiffness to it and I thought a dress with structure would work better than trying to get it to drape.  My dress is a combination of the bodice from a vintage 1975 Simplicity pattern that I've been wanting to sew for a while, the pleated skirt from Burda 8/09 #128 (not online unfortunately) which is one of my favourite dresses of all time and some self drafted cap sleeves.


The triangular waist panel looks a bit Wonderwoman-ish, but unfortunately my chestal region lacks Wonderwoman's impressive assets so the top is a little puffy and the keyhole opening at the front is not so va-va-voom.

At the back I used an invisible zip, and made a keyhole opening at the neckline - not only does this echo the front of the dress, but it also solves the problem of those rounded edges I always seem to get at the top of invisible zips:

 

I managed to get a very good fit at the back and I lined up the waistline panels at the sides and the centre back too. I also added a vent at the centre back to make walking in this dress possible, the original Burda pattern doesn't have one and it's so difficult to take proper walking length steps when wearing it!

I just love those waistline pleats. It seems counter intuitive that extra fabric at the waistline would be flattering, but somehow the angles of the pleats gives the skirt volume but not bulk, and they fall gracefully from the cinched in waistline so it is a flattering silhouette:

The sleeves turned out a bit more puffy than I wanted, I feel a bit like an American footballer with the exaggerated shoulder armour! I guess that's what happens when you self draft something and don't have time to muslin test them first....



If I had allowed myself enough time to make this properly I might have added some piping around the midriff band and possibly the neckline, but I think it has turned out alright for a spur of the moment, spontaneous project. I didn't prewash the fabric either, not having the time, so fingers crossed it doesn't shrink too much because it's already a very close fitting dress!

And now for a bit of a rest before I get back to my regular sewing. Although this demonstrates why I can never commit to SWAPs or capsule collections - something always comes up and I it seems I like sewing on a whim best!

New Look 6968 again, and again another winner

I've found another reason to love New Look 6968 in addition to the great fit and cute neckline options: it's very economical too.  I bought this gorgeous Japanese cotton from Tessuti's last year when I bought the fabric for my failed entry in their annual competition:

I originally bought it to make a dress for Anna, but then I thought the fabric was too nice for a 2 year old's dress who would either grow out of it quickly or ruin it so I decided to make myself a top instead, probably a sleeveless shell top like one of these I made recently.  Luckily I didn't get around to making something from the fabric too soon, because after making that last New Look dress I thought a dress would be better because then the fabric in all it's prettiness could be seen instead of being hidden under a suit jacket.  See there is a good reason for stashing your fabric!

Since I had originally planned an eeni meeni toddler dress, I only bought 1 metre and it is the usual width of 112cm, so I didn't have too much fabric to play with but thankfully it didn't shrink too much after pre washing it.  Choosing the sleeveless and collarless version of this dress, and cutting one pattern piece upside down (there's no nap to the fabric so it was ok to do that) I managed to eek out this dress:

Please excuse the flash photos, but we're having torrential rain and extremely grey days at the moment so it was the best I could do.  In fact I cranked up the heater just to take this photo, and I have no idea when I'll be wearing this dress out, although I could layer it up big time and just dream of summer weather.

To say that I love this pattern is an understatement, Carolyn and Judidarling you are both so right when you say this could become my TNT dress pattern!  I managed to cut out and sew this in two evenings (about three hours in total) because it is such a simple but well fitted pattern.  Because I only just squeezed the pattern pieces out I didn't even try to match the print figuring that the print was so busy no one would notice, so that saved a fair amount of time (and sanity!) just sewing the side seams without trying to line up the print.

Besides which wearing a belt helps in hiding any noticeable pattern mismatching at the waist seam:

although to be honest it's probably only perfectionists that sew our own clothes that would either notice or care.  But I do think that a dress with a waist seam looks better with a belt or tie of some sort around it, so I'll wear it belted regardless.

The pattern called for lining the bodice only, and sewing on neck and sleeve facings, which I found a little bizarre because from what I could see the lining extends to the neckline and the facings are just sewed onto the lining. Instead I chose to fully line the dress, leaving off the facings and constructed it using the sleeveless dress lining method (ie sew at the neckline and armholes, turn inside out, sew the centre back zip and then the side seams absolutely last).

So all in all I am extremely glad I made this pattern acquisition, even though my pattern stash is out of control and I am trying hard not to buy more!

Jacquie - I'm ashamed to admit that I rarely leave Spotlight without purchasing a fabric, even if I have only popped in there to get a zip or some thread! They do have a large range of fabric which makes me feel sad for all the cotton and other fibres that were sacrificed to create such ugly fabrics, but at the moment they do have a lovely range of stretch cotton sateens and some printed cotton lawn that they are claiming to be Japanese.  I'm also lucky that my local Spotlight is relatively new so it is spacious, well laid out and generally tidy so you can actually see all the fabrics.

Katherine H - I too love Cue and I have a few of their suits because I think its worthwhile investing in a well fitting suit, but otherwise I find their clothes extremely expensive for what they are.  But thank you for the lovely comparison!

KID, MD - thank you for naming the 'ink blot' tests, I never knew what they were officially called but now I do.  And Jean, you crack me up!

And Cidell and Sewingprincess, what can I say? Thank you so much for the very flattering comments - you both made my day!

please vote for me!

Yay, I finally have my entry uploaded to the Tessuti Awards competition. Now I want everyone to go and vote for me HERE, and get your sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, neighbours and co-workers to vote for me too! Ok, I was just kidding about that last bit, and really you should check out all the entries on the site and choose the best dress to vote for. But the prize for most voted dress is $500 fabric and you all know how much I need more fabric (yes seriously!)





Far out it's difficult to photograph a black dress and get enough detail without lightening the photo so much that it looks washed out. We had gale force winds here today, so I had to settle for indoor photos, and I hope my photos do the dress justice because it really does look beautiful in real life and fits my friend perfectly. It also helps that she is a gorgeous Italian with beautiful hair, and even though these photos were taken on a Sunday morning she still looks glamorous:


It's such a weight off my mind to have the dress finished and entered. Even though I don't think I have any chance of winning the main prize since there are some amazing entries from fashion college students, I am happy with myself with for just finishing the dress and entering it. And I also conquered this pattern too, since it foiled me last time I tried to make it so I'm also very happy about that too!z

Now if only I can muster enough energy to make another version of this dress for myself, perhaps in the fuschia wool crepe I planned to make it previously......

black dress all finished!

The black dress I've been sewing to enter the Tessuti Awards is all done, and it turned out very nicely if I do say so myself! Now all I need is for my model to come around to take some photos - we had made a few times last week to meet up but for various reasons she couldn't make it. I've had a few dramas myself last week - both my husband and I got food poisoning from lunch last Saturday and were quite unwell for a few days and then I managed to cut the tips of a finger on both hands which makes sewing quite difficult with bandaged fingers!

Thanks for your suggestion Jean of doing a double layer for the drape to match the sleeves - I can't believe I didn't think to do that since I'm so matchy matchy in all other things I sew! But it turned out fantastically. I made the top layer slight smaller than the bottom one so the two layers are visible, I sewed pleats into both layers and then I joined them at the top using a French seam. Again, I've just used a brooch to attach it to the dress, I think it's more versatile having it detachable and it is in fact how the original pattern was designed.

And I managed to get the puffiness out of the hip area by taking in the side seams dramatically so it's now quite a snug fit. But since it's wool crepe it has that little bit of stretch to make it still wearable and I think it fits the style better to have it extremely fitted:

So this is my version of the LBD - a short length suitable for a cocktail party, fluttery sleeves for fun and a flattering fit to the body. Hopefully the next photo you see of this will have a body in it!

And thank you all so much for the advice about being paid for sewing - you're all completely correct that I should use my sewing time to sew what I want otherwise the joy might be drained out of it. I do earn enough money in my day job to not need any extra income, but like all of us I could use more time to do the sewing I want for myself and Anna, let alone anyone else. So I've decided firstly not to remind this friend because she has a tendency not to follow up, but if she does I'll only do it this once. And I'll charge her 50% of what the original plus she has to provide the fabric - it's quite a simple full skirt with waistband she's after so I should be able to knock it out quickly but she's still getting it much cheaper than at retail. Hopefully this way our friendship is maintained and I can get on with my ever-growing to do list!

check out my sewing space

Denise over at the Blue Gardenia is doing a great series on people's sewing spaces - she has just previewed Erica B's space and next up is Carolyn's, but today is me! I've been meaning to take photos to share here on my own blog, but it was always so terribly messy that I put it off. So I spent a few hours during the week to give a clean, but I'm sure it will only stay that way for a short time so I'm glad I took the photos for posterity's sake. I'm also very glad that Carolyn will be following me, because she will have at least twice as much fabric stash as me!

The Mad dress is about 90% finished - it needs a hem and taking in a little bit around the hips but otherwise it fits my friend who will be modelling brilliantly. Here it is sitting on my mannequin:

It is a proper black colour, I've just lightened these photos so you can see the detail (and also all the lint - this fabric attracts fluff like nothin' else). In the photo below, you can see the diagonal darts on the bodice which give it a lovely fitted shape, but also the poufiness that is happening at the hip line. I think it because I've used a different back bodice pattern to the front skirt pattern which means the hip curve doesn't match identically (aka my dodgy pattern drafting skills), but also because the way the 'belt' is tucked from the skirt fabric it just ends in a bit of excess fabric.

For the sleeves I opted to make two layers from the silk organza, finished with a rolled hem on my overlocker which made it even more fluttery. I'm delighted that my overlocker managed this - last time I attempted a rolled hem it threw a massive protest and needed to be serviced.

I'm not too sure about the drape though, I think it looks a bit silly and I might leave it off. It looks good on the pattern envelope, but once again I think it is a case of an illustrated pattern picture instead of a photo sucking me in.

I ended up leaving off the self fabric belt that starts on the front skirt, goes around the sides and finishes tucked under one of those diagonal darts on the front. The instructions were really vague and difficult to understand, and I couldn't get a good finish on it at all, so I've just left it off and basically all that is happening is the darts and draping on the front and the back is plain. Which means that there is no continuity of the belt for the drape to give the appearance that it is hanging from:

Also the silk organza may not have enough weight for it to hang in folds:

I just pinned it on using a brooch for the above photos, which may make it look even more obviously wrong than it it is, but I think without the drape the dress looks like a sleek, simple cocktail dress with some nice detailing.

So the plan is to finish it over the weekend and photograph it next week, in time for the September 7 deadline. Now my only other problem is that the friend I sewed this for loves it so much she now wants me to make her other things gulp! She said she will pay me, but I don't know how much to charge, plus I am always way more finicky making something for someone else than my own stuff that it becomes very stressful. Hmmm, I might have to think about it before I agree. Do any of you sew for others, and if so how do you decide how much to charge?