Not Burda for a change: Butterick 5600

Whilst I'm immensely proud of myself for keeping up with my Burda a month challenge, it does feel like all I'm ever sewing these days are Burda patterns.  I have a few non Burda patterns on my to do list, but they keep getting pushed back each month when the new magazine arrives.  But since I'm still trying to decide on the fabric for the December Burda dress, I decided to make view c (the green dress) of Butterick 5600 which has been on my list for ages because it's a breastfeeding friendly dress:

Aside from the button up front, I like the longer sleeves with the button tab, the collar band and the waist ties.  Too bad then that I picked a fabric that pretty much hid all of those details!  I used a cotton poplin with a small black and white small floral print from the stash which is a good summer weight fabric for a simple summer dress, but the print was far too busy for any of those details to be obvious:

I did think about making the collar band and front band in a plain white fabric to contrast with the dress, but the print is actually a creamy white and all the white fabrics I had were too stark to match properly.  I then thought about putting some piping around the edge of the collar band and front band, but it was the same issue really with the mismatch in colours.

This is the perfect summer dress for me: the longer sleeves and higher neckline give me the sun protection I need but since it's made from cotton poplin it's still cool enough to wear on a hot day.  These photos were taken after I came home from a playgroup christmas party - two hours of standing around holding Toby (who is still sick and clingy) whilst being in the middle of a horde of small kids around a table of far too sugary foods, a jumping castle and a token dad dressed up as Santa handing out presents on a very hot day and it still looks pretty good!  Admittedly I did brush my hair to take this photo, but the dress remained pretty much uncrumpled.

And the dress is very practical, with two in-seam pockets.  I used to hate side pockets on my clothes because it adds bulk to a place where don't require any more bulk thanks to my saddlebag thighs, but these days practicality wins out and pockets are always useful these days to carry around the bits and pieces that are needed with small children (just got to remember to take those tissues out before washing!):

That side view isn't too flattering, but as you've all pointed out in the past in real life we don't often stand around posing like our photographs! Overall though, I'm pretty happy with this dress, and it works really well for nursing.  I only had to unbutton the top two buttons to be able to feed so there wasn't acres of skin on display.  It is a simple style and easy to sew, but it seemed to take ages because of all the little pieces involved and my inability to sew on the waistband casing straight twice.  If I make this again I would probably use a solid fabric and do a ton of topstitching around those bands, and maybe lengthen the sleeve a little so that it is a real folded up sleeve with a button tab instead of it being hemmed to the length of the tab.

The funniest bit about taking these photos is that Anna insisted on having her photo taken too, and then she proceeded to pose just like I had been! Her mannerisms are so grown up sometimes it's scary:

  

UFOs are hereditary.....

It's no secret that I am prolific at creating UFOs (unfinished objects). But now I realise I can't fight genetics: when I was putting away some fabric I inherited from my gran I came across quite a few UFOs, and my mum, even though she doesn't care to admit it, has her fair share of UFOs as well. The last thing I need are more UFOs of someone else's making to add to my ginormous to do list, and since my gran seemed to have a fancy for shiny plastic fabrics, I was happy to shed most of hers. However, she had started this one dress made from a lovely textured cotton that had been basted into a loose fitting shift so I decided to finish off.

This must be at least 20 years old or more, because I certainly don't remember my gran wearing dresses or when she was a large lady, but this dress was so large that I was able to cut a completely new pattern from it, so I guess in a way this is a refashion as well. I've made my dress from a 1968 McCalls pattern (McCalls 9193) which is a misses shift dress. I chose this pattern because not only is it in my size (yay, no more grading headaches!) it also appeared to be front opening so I could wear this dress during summer while I'm still breast feeding Anna.

However what makes this dress "easy to sew" is that the button front band and those pockets are fake, as in they are just top stitched down, which is of no use to me. Easy fixed though, I just sewed the front seam closed below the band, and attached the band to one side of the dress by wedging the dress fabric between two layers of the band and then top stitching it to the dress, and putting an extra band of dress fabric on the other side to sew the buttons on to. I did top stitch the bottom of the band to both sides of the dress though, just to keep it neatly closed. Some buttons from the stash (which is why there are only four buttons and none on the pockets) finished it off.

I thought about making pockets behind those pocket bands, but in the end chose not to since I certainly don't need extra fabric and bulk around my hips and thighs. But to add to the illusion of the pockets being real, I top stitched it down on the sides and bottom of the pocket band, leaving the top to gape open slightly. I think it might fool people:

I also added some darts to the front and back, and also took in a few inches at the back seam to add shape because this dress was very shapeless and a bit potato sack looking. The dress only had one dart, which is weirdly placed halfway down the armhole that points downward, which is the first time I've seen a dart like that. I'm thinking maybe because this is a misses pattern and pattern makers in those days thought young girls don't have busts to shape around,but are flat chested (which I practically am now). Because the vertical dart I sewed on the front came close to the end of the weird dart, I decided to join them up in a faux princess seam, ending at the pockets. Some more fakeness for you, but it actually looks pretty good.

And speaking of fake, I've started playing around with Photoshop and while I haven't been able to work out how to make me look slimmer or tanner as yet, I have been able to create this digital mischief which I think is pretty funny:

jumping on the Ottobre bandwagon

As if I don't have enough expensive European sewing magazines laying around the house unused (well read and thumbed through but still unused) I ponied up $23 (eek!) to buy the 2/2009 issue of Ottobre Woman from the crafty mamas website (fantastic customer service from them by the way). After seeing the great creations that Belinda over at Sew 4 Fun has been making for ages, and the fact that this issue had a nursing top pattern I was convinced to try it out.

At first I have to say I was a little undewhelmed by the magzine. It has far less patterns than BWOF, and look at these two patterns:

Hmmm, it's a little bizarre and if you want to put on as many layers of bulky and unflattering clothes then this is for you. But if it's not your style, thankfully the magazine does have some other lovely patterns, such as these two dresses:

I'll be putting these two on my sewing wishlist, but since I did buy this principally to make the nursing top, I thought I should make it first so I could wear it whilst I am still breastfeeding. The top has a cross over front and a modesty panel underneath the lapped portions that has the sides cut out so you can access your "girls" without exposing your bra too much. The pattern looks like this:

It was very easy to sew, but I wasn't too happy with the outcome. First up it was really long on me, almost tunic length which I don't really like in a clingy jersey type fabric over jeans. But reducing the length of the bottom half of the top made the proportions look all wrong, so instead I took the midriff band off completely which made it a much better length. I'm also not too happy with the self fabric binding to the neckline because it made the top much less stretchy and actually quite difficult to push the top aside to get access for nursing. The pattern suggests using clear elastic and self fabric binding, but I think I shall take the binding off and just turn and topstitch the edge over the clear elastic. And here's my version before I have taken the binding off (I'm a little hesitant at doing more unpicking as you can imagine!):


The fabric I used is a deep red jersey that I thought I had prewashed, but soon realised I hadn't when my fingers turned pink and stayed pink for several days, my white plastic sewing machine turned pink, the bathroom towel turned pink after I washed my hands trying to get the dye off, and even the next load of washing I did after washing this fabric came out with a pink tinge. My husband isn't too impressed with the now pink trim on his black shorts and navy blue t-shirt...

I vow to finish this off this week so I can start wearing it soon, although honestly Anna doesn't often want to feed when we're out and about in public because she's far too distracted by what's going on around her. In fact she is so interested in everything these days that she has practically stopped having daytime naps altogether. She was always a short napper during the day, but now she barely has one 30 minute nap a day which is driving me crazy! I seem to spend all day singing Twinkle Twinkle little star to get her to have a nap..... It makes me a bit angry actually, because not only can I not get anything done all day it is frustrating wasting so much time trying to get her to sleep but when she looks like this I can't stay mad for too long:

Finally some sewing

Well I have officially upgraded my birth experience from painful to traumatic: I spent most of last week back in hospital after suffering a post partum haemorrage due to some retained placenta. It was an extremely scary few days but it has all been resolved now without the need for a further operation (a D&C). On the bright side however, Anna and I got to stay in the airconditioned hospital during the hot weather Sydney has been having (I feel for you Vicki, Melbourne has been ever hotter) and whilst the hospital is pretty noisy what with those annoying buzzers going off every few seconds it had nothing on the noise my builders create around here so a few days bed rest in hospital wasn't a bad idea in the end.

But the enforced rest gave me some time to finish sewing a top I have been making for the last two weeks and just needed to do those pesky handsewing of hems that we all seem to put off. I've made this pattern a few times before and I can get it done in about 2 or 3 hours, but now with all the interruptions thanks to a certain little miss who has suddenly taken to exercising her vocal cords loudly and often it has taken me two weeks. But slow and steady gets you there in the end, just ignore the lack of hair brushing and make up in this photo!:

I really need some half decent breastfeeding clothes to wear out on the few occasions I do leave the construction zone that is my home, and while I did make a few dresses that are b/feeding friendly last year, I wanted to make some seperates that I could wear with pants and that would be ok for the rest of the year as well.

For Elizabethe who is having her own baby in 5 months and expressed interest in seeing how I would modify patterns for b/f clothes (there's a challenge if I ever I heard one!) or for anyone else who wants ready access to their breasts (the mind boggles but you never know.....) I based this top on an Elizabeth Lee design. This pattern company are one of the few that do specific nursing patterns, and whilst I think the patterns use really clever techniques to enable access for nursing, the actual styles themselves aren't really me, so I decided to modify some patterns I already had inspired by these designs.

Using Simplicity 4589, I modified it based on this technique:

source: Elizabeth Lee designs

I used a crisp cotton pale yellow with khaki green leaf print fabric that I've had in the stash for a few years, from Spotlight originally I think. I also changed the pattern by making the sleeves a little longer because cap sleeves aren't so flattering on my chicken wing arms, and I also lengthened it a litle, but added slits to the bottom of side seams for movement ease. The print fabric was a good choice too, because by lining up the leaf print the opening is barely visible, especially since I topstitched the opening closed at the top and bottom along the vertical black lines:

I tested it out and it does actually work so I am pretty pleased with the outcome. I gave it a generous overlap so that there would be no peep shows, but it hardly gapes at all. I will make this again, but I will delete the gathers across the front and back under the yoke which are part of the original pattern because I think it adds volume around my middle and since my stomach is going back to pre-pregnancy shape (not my rear end though) I don't really want clothes that make me still look preggers! Of course if I'm going out somewhere fancy I could always put on a belt and cinch it like this:

And in exciting house news the works are nearly finished except for a little bit of wall lining and electrical work to do. Then we get to do the fun bits: painting, laying the flooring and setting up furniture. Well it's fun for me because all I have to do is pick out the colours and sit back while my husband and dad do the hard work LOL!

i'm still alive and kicking.....

Well after a week of solid lounge surfing, I almost feel normal again. It's funny how a simple cold really knocked me around last week, but I guess when you're pregnant every ache and pain is amplified and having a pesky cough further stretches my already stretched stomach muscles.

Anyway I finally finished sewing up my latest dress in my summer SWAP. Which is good timing because have you seen that the delightfully funny Livebird has announced December as Dressember? She has been coming up with some gorgeous dresses over at Sew Retro, including this collared full circle skirt dress and this graphic print dress, so now I feel the need to keep up with her mammoth efforts. Although, I'll be on maternity leave in December and will most likely spent most days wallowing in my pj's, but I do vow here on this blog to wear a dress whenever I do go out, and wearing a granny nightie whilst in labour still counts as a sort of dress, right?

So back to the latest dress, I actually finished it about two weeks ago but wasn't overly happy with how it turned out so I had to do some adjustments. I used dress pattern 117 from the BWOF 5/08 magazine, and made a simple modification by adding extra width to the front piece to cater for my now ginormous belly (which you can see in red line below, how high tech am I?)

This is such a simple dress, having two pattern pieces and three lengths of ribbon but on my first sewing up of this dress I didn't gather enough of the extra width below the centre front ribbon so it was very shapeless, and I also found it to be waaaaay too low cut, which is typical for BWOF styles. So I had to take the ribbon off (it was just topstitched on anyway), gather it a bit more and sew the ribbon on, which now gives it a much nicer shape. And because I wanted this dress to be nursing friendly, I actually used buttons to join the ribbon straps to the front instead of sewing them down, so it was a simple matter of moving the buttons to hoik the dress up a bit in the front. And here's the final product:

It's made from a cotton voile purple leaf print (not stalks of corn as I'm sure it looks) on grey background with little green lines through it, bought some time ago from Spotlight (at least 2 years ago?). The ribbon straps are made from some navy blue grosgrain ribbon that came from a Crabtree and Evelyn gift basket that my husband once gave to me (note to husband who sometimes reads this: another one of those gift baskets wouldn't go unthanked!). Funnily enough a navy blue ribbon was just right for the colours of the dress:

In other good news, our lazy builders finally poured the concrete slabs for the house extension, and even started the framework. They still claim it will be done by Christmas, but I won't believe it until I see it, because they are certainly the little boy that cried wolf! So now our disaster zone still looks like a disaster zone, but there is progress:

And in even better news, I only have 9 days left of work before I start maternity leave. I actually have two weeks to go, but being a true public servant I am taking a flex day next Tuesday LOL.

Vireya - I got my tax return early last week which is impressive for the ATO at this time of the year, although I only got $180 back so perhaps Vicki I should see a professional like yourself! My tax is so simple (one source of income only) that I've always just done it myself, whereas my husband has such complicated tax affairs he sends off a whole box of papers and scored a pretty good refund. But next year our tax affairs will be merged because of the family tax benefits and the like, so I guess my days of lax accounting are over.....

I've just noticed that the photo of the dress above makes me look a lot smaller than I am (which is good), but here is a belly shot taken today with my scruffy husband who is trying to grow a mo for Movember:

Check out that belly! If my husband wasn't pointing in a helpful manner you would never have guessed, right? And you can see why I think this baby is going to be huge - my husband is a giant and I was a 9 pound something baby!

why is it raining?

I'll tell you why - because I am in the middle of building works and have a tight schedule! Seriously, most of Australia doesn't receive enough rain, and we have been in drought for years but as soon as I start demolishing part of my house it starts raining and now I'm hoping the tarps over the roof keep the rain out. But I can still hear the builders out the back excavating and banging and cutting and making other building like noises, so that sound (whilst annoying) is comforting to know that work continues.

Yesterday though I was not entirely happy - I came home from work to discover building supplies stacked up in the front yard and down the sides of the house, so much so that the path to the front door was completely blocked and I had to crawl on hands and knees beneath a small tree to get in the house. It must have been quite a sight, a 7 month pregnant women wearing a dress crawling in her front garden! Anyway once inside I discovered that we had no water or sewer connection, lucky we have great neighbours who let us use their toilet and shower last night.

But the real problem was that the dog is being kept in an enclosure down one side of the house during the day when building is occurring, and I could hear him crying and barking to get out but I couldn't get to him because of all the building supplies! I had to walk around the block to get into the backyard via our back lane, climb down through the excavated section which was all muddy, move some building supplies to let him out. Then the little princess wouldn't walk in the mud so I had to carry him out to the back lane - remember this is a big dalmatian weighing nearly 30kgs!

So today I'm home from work on sick leave - feeling a bit sore and exhausted, I guess being pregnant is finally catching up with me! The water and sewer have been reconnected, work is continuing and all is well again. But since it is raining it is a good time to lay on the lounge writing and reading blog posts.....

And what better to lounge around in than new pyjamas? I could have done the simple thing and bought some new pyjamas, they are relatively cheap after all but why do that when I have so many cottons in the stash and patterns just waiting to be used? So I made four pairs of pyjamas using the kimono top pattern from BWOF 12/07, and for the pants I used a now OOP Style 1012 simple elastic waist straight leg pants pattern.

Both patterns are extremely simple and quick to make, and oh so comfortable! Although the wrap top sits a little awkwardly because I need to tie it either above or below my huge belly, neither positions are where the tie is supposed to sit so it gapes a little, but I won't change it because it will fit fine post pregnancy. And being a wrap top it is ideal for breastfeeding - I've heard that new mums spend loads of time in their pyjamas, so now at least I'll look decent! The fabrics I used are all from the stash:

The yellow polka dot and green floral are both thrifted sheets, while the yellow gingham and red polka dot are garage sale scores, and the pink floral and multi colour jumbo polka dot are long term stash residents. I just need to find a contrasting fabric for the jumbo polka dot so I can put the bands around the pant leg and kimono top and I'll be all done.

The antenatal class on Sunday was really great - yes the videos of actual births were graphic and horrifying, but I guess educational and the midwife running the course was fantastic. She was very informative and reassuring, and we got to do a tour of the hospital which is quite new so everything is spacious and modern. All the birthing rooms have big bath tubs, windows that overlook a nice garden (though I doubt I'll be admiring the view when the time comes!) and the hospital is the main maternity hospital in NSW (RPA for you Sydneysiders) where sick women and babies get transferred to from all over the country, they have a full time surgical team and anaesthetist on the ward if an emergency arises or an epidural is needed ASAP!

The funny thing is there were four other ladies there who are due on the same day as me (by the way Jean the estimated due day is Christmas day) and we were all worried about the same thing: staffing levels due to the holiday period! But we were told its business as usual so it makes no difference. And the other funny thing is that we were all so different in size, I've said it before that I feel huge but see other women bigger, well these others at the same stage of pregnancy were way more ginormous than me so I shan't whinge again. That said, my belly has rounded out nicely now, and yesterday morning the bus driver told me I was a sexy mum to be which is a bit creepy actually but still made me feel better at 7am on a Monday morning......

Summer of the Dress: sewing with a plan

To reassure you all that I don't see always see fashion in shades of grey, I thought I would share with you my planned fabrics and patterns for the summer of the dress challenge. For my work clothes I do tend to sew in neutral colours like grey, black or navy blue because I work in a conservative office environment, I like to wear matching tops and bottoms, and I like to add colour through wearing brightly coloured heels, scarfs and handbags (point in hand - I don't own a black handbag and my coloured shoes far outweigh my black ones). But since I'm pregnant, have 2.5 months left of work for at least another 12 months, I'm trying to make more casual style dresses so I'll be using all the great colours and prints that are sitting in my stash.

Now, I haven't really been one for sewing with a plan (SWAP) even though I have greatly admired those organised inviduals that do, so I'm not sure how successful I'll be in keeping to this, but at this early stage here are the proposals in no particular order:

First up is a simple cotton dress in a white with brown floral print that I already have cut out and will sew up this weekend. I plan to add a little more volume across the front to make it maternity friendly and I already have a white cotton jacket to wear with it, so I guess I'm being a slave to the pattern photo on this one!

A 1960s empire line wrap dress, to be made in a linen in a black and beige/yellow print. This should be large enough to wrap around my preggy belly, and also it is a good style for easy access to the 'girls' when I start breastfeeding.
The 'azalea' dress downloaded from Burda Style, as modelled here by the beautiful Maya511 on the Burda Style site and from her blog at the incurable homebody. I have shamelessly copied her colour scheme because a) I love it and b) I happen to have an apricot/orangey cotton voile with small brown hexagon squares in the stash. This will have enough volume for my belly, and I'll make it nursing friendly by making those straps openable with button attachments at the front.

A simple BWOF dress which I will make nursing friendly by making the straps openable, probably with a button closure, and add extra width to the front if those pleats aren't enough to go around my belly. This will be in a vibrant red floral cotton voile, that has a navy blue border print.

Another BWOF gem, this one should be low cut and stretchy enough to pull down the top for nursing, and should stretch nicely across my belly.

And yet another BWOF (gotta get my money's worth!) with a zippered front which will be ideal for nursing, and I may raise the drawstring section a little higher to sit above my belly and add extra width below that for gathering. To be made in a purple and green leaf print cotton voile.

The Mila dress downloaded from Burda Style, to be made in a blue and purple print cotton that I picked up in one of my recent op shopping sprees, with a contrasting centre panel in white similar to the Burda Style creation photo. This one might have to be post birth and return of waistline, or I'll add some pleats to the front under the bust line to accommodate my current extra girth.

And last but not least, a modern BWOF that I will make in a modern graphic print cotton that I've had in the stash for a few years after buying it off ebay and then not knowing what to make with it. I'll use a bright red cotton for the contrast panels for the pocket, armhole, waistband and central placket. To make it maternity friendly I will continue the pleat that starts below the pocket to the waistband to give extra width across the front. After my belly goes away and my waist comes back (fingers crossed!) I can sew down the pleat and reduce the volume.
Thanks to Suzy and others for pointing out the need for nursing friendly clothes, I'm now looking at all my patterns in a new light but lucky there are quite a few patterns that fit the bill or are easily adaptable.