Burda1/2011, skirt 113 done

Sorry for the recent blog silence, we had to take an unexpected trip interstate to visit my husband's parents as my father in law has sadly been diagnosed with esophageal cancer.  Even though it's a quite small growth because it was discovered early, esophageal cancer is an aggressive cancer and he's been told that he has about three years even with radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

And on top of the trip I've had my own very minor but annoying ailments to contend with: tonsillitis again, a severe migraine and now a stuffy head cold.  Bring on spring I say! So I'm sure you can all understand why I've had nothing to report around here, not that I expect you all to be waiting on tenterhooks for wise words - I know I'm not that interesting.

But I did manage to finish sewing the hem on my recent project: Burda 1/2011, skirt 113:

I even made mine from some glenplaid wool just like the magazine photo, which of course led to frustrations in pattern matching.  Here's my finished product:

I think it looks ok, although I think the waistband yoke is either too wide or I should have made it a bit smaller so it sits higher on my waistline because it looks a little off to me.  And looking at these photos it seems the hem may not be straight either because it looks to be sitting higher at the back than the front, although that could be my dodgy posture though.

The pattern was super easy and would have been quick to sew if I didn't make it from a plaid fabric.  The skirt is excessively long though - there are two versions in the magazine, a long (calf length) and a shorter one (knee length), but I found that I had to lop almost 15cm off the length to get it sit anywhere near my knee.  Which of course meant I had to take out the godet and resew it in higher up the back centre seam.  I also put in a centre back zip instead of a side zip just because I find side zips tend to ripple over my lumpy hips and thighs so I like to avoid that!

Pattern matching on the side was a success:

and successful on the front too, but I should have lined up the apex of the yoke with a stripe instead of having it off centre - I should have paid more attention when cutting out the front skirt on the fold.

Pattern matching on the back was a mixed result - vertically pretty good but horizontally it is way off.  But as many of you have pointed out before no one should be staring at my butt enough to notice that anyway!

I'm pleased to have finished this project, but it certainly doesn't hold the same excitement for me as a newly finished dress I have to say.  Next up I'm working on some pants for Anna since she just won't stop growing taller, and I'm pretreating some wool fabric for a jacket for myself which is the least exciting part of a project but must be done to save tears later right?

when things turn out even better than expected

 After that last project failure I decided I wanted something not only quick and easy to make, but also something that would actually work out! So I started out by taking up the hems of two pairs of jeans that I've had sitting in my mending pile for at least a year now.  Isn't that terrible? In the time it's taken me to sit down and hem them I've made god knows how many complete outfits from start to finish, yet it's taken me this long to spare the 10 minutes it took to cut and hem my jeans!

But still feeling a little worn out and wary of another failure, I decided to make a simple skirt.  I really want to expand my smart casual wardrobe, so I don't just always wear jeans and a nice top when I go to the movies or out for a coffee but it really is a big hole in my wardrobe at the moment.  I settled on my fast becoming favourite shape, the tulip skirt from Burda 9/2007, skirt 116:

I really like this shape because it looks less like office wear than a pencil skirt, but a little different to a plain a-line skirt too.  Plus it is surprisingly flattering even though it has extra fabric around the hip line, which I suspect comes from emphasising the waistline.  And since I've made this before, I knew it would fit so it was a winner on all counts.

This time I've made it from black wool crepe, lined in black bemburg:

Handily it has pockets too, so I can stand around looking too cool for school:

And so even though I just wanted a skirt to wear in casual situations, the wool crepe fabric has made this skirt look really quite good so now I'm thinking of making a cute cropped jacket to go with it from the same fabric so I have a funky skirt suit as well. 

The fabric was a total bargain too - I bought a huge length of it from a garage sale for a couple of dollars, but when I got it home and opened it up I realised that there were moth holes along one edge of it.  This fabric is very wide, so I just cut off the ruined part and washed the rest of the fabric in a warm cycle in the machine.  Normally I would treat wool crepe with more care, but since this was cheap and almost ruined anyway I took a risk.  It only felted up a little but didn't lose too much of its drape so no harm at all.  I did keep the fabric in a big zip lock plastic bag though in case there were still moths or eggs in it, because I didn't want to infect the rest of my fabric.

So all in all, the fabric and the skirt turned out better than I had planned.  Now I just need some cute tops to go with it, which is another big hole in my wardrobe!

Thanks for all your commiserations re my last failed dress project.  It was my first Project Runway pattern, so not an auspicious start but I am contemplating making another Project Runway pattern but this time a girls dress for Anna, so hopefully that turns out better.  And to assure you Gail that this dress is too small, this is as far I can get the zipper up:

Beyond saving I'm afraid!

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?

eye spy with my (pink) eye

Well actually it's not me with the pink eye, it's Anna. She's picked up conjunctivitis from her daycare centre, so I'm home from work looking after her until it's cleared up. She seems happy enough despite having manky stuck together eyes, although getting eye drops in her eyes is a bit challenging! Jodie, I would love to be able to say that her sleep issues have been resolved, but no she is still waking frequently through the night and pretty much sleeps in our bed all night every night because that's the only way to stop the screaming. However, I have resolved to stop fixating on it - I fear I was becoming a dreadfully whingy bore always harping on about how she never sleeps. There are worse things of course, like this incredibly sad tale of a sick little girl and her amazingly strong mother, so that helps me put it all in perspective.

There are many good things about being home in the middle of the day, including being able to snare some daylight time during our currently very cold and overcast winter weather to get a photo of my new skirt on me. And here it is:

I've been looking for some smart casual clothes to wear on my days off work, clothes that would work equally well in the playground as well as swanning around cafes and shopping. After a bit of snoop shopping, I found this skirt over at ModCloth which I used for my inspiration:

I figured this would be a good choice because it's not so tight fitting or restrictive that I can't bend down or crouch down at the playground, but it's also not so full skirted that a breezy day wouldn't cause me grief. With a bit of tweaking to a basic pattern, a now OOP Vogue 9615 - adding extra width for gathers at the front and adding some faux pocket flaps, I managed to get a pretty close knock-off.

I used some red herringbone pattern wool fabric from the stash, and because this fabric was picked up from an opshop I only just had enough fabric to cut out the skirt pieces, so the gathered section in the middle is actually a separate rectangular piece cut against the grain because I didn't have enough fabric width to cut it with the grain. But the change in pattern isn't overly noticeable, and sort of looks like a deliberate design feature:

The vertical seams for the centre panel are visible, but oh well I managed to get what I wanted out of the fabric I had, so I'm happy with it:

For the lining I just made the a-line skirt as per the pattern, which I hope prevents that problem of gathered and full skirts bunching up between your legs when you walk if you're wearing stockings or you're walking into the wind (or I am the only one that happens to?).

Even though this is a pretty bright red colour, it surprisingly matches well with other clothes already in my wardrobe and I'm glad not to have made an orphan skirt for a change. In fact the only problem I have with casual skirts is what shoes to wear with them, because I always wear heels with skirts otherwise I don't feel properly dressed and my legs look stumpy, but of course heels aren't the best option for the playground. Hmmm, sounds like some shoe shopping is going to be required soon!

Thank you for all the tips on the overlocker problems, I will definitely try them out. I have been using the big cones and not the little spools, but they are just Birch threads and not expensive thread because that's the only type of overlocker thread for sale in Spotlight. Same with the needles, I think I was just using some universal type needles, so I will look into whether there are specific Toyota needles I should be using. Sherry your tip of winding the thread around the dial twice sounds bizarre, but I shall try it since you've had success with it. I shall report back soon people!

the lonely skirt

I've called it quits on the UFO jacket that I butchered last week, it was just not salvagable at all due to some hasty and careless cutting on my part. I started this jacket in about 1999 I think, along with a dress and a pair of pants in some lovely black lightweight wool suiting bought from Fine Wools Direct when they used to be in St Peters (as some of you Sydneysiders may remember). They were duds from the start, and in fact the only reason I held onto them for so long is because the fabric was lovely and it would be a shameful waste to chuck them.

The jacket I made from New Look 6725, which is not only OOP but the number has already been reissued. It is a short button front jacket that I chose to use a zipper closure instead. The problem being the only open ended zips I have seen available retail are chunky plastic ones, which was way to heavy for this jacket and it hung badly. So it sat as a shell while I searched for a better zipper, which I never have found. So a few weeks ago I took the zipper out, put a bit more interfacing in it and made a lining for it. It fitted really well, except that the shoulder were a bit too wide, since I have narrow shoulders and generally take at least 2 cm out of the shoulder seam width. Well, whilst I was wearing the jacket I marked where I wanted the shoulder seam to finish, unpicked the sleeves and then (and here's the stupid bit) cut the jacket along the marked line, not allowing for a seam allowance! So when I sewed the sleeve back on, of course the shoulders are too small now and I can barely move my arms and it just looks stupid. And that was the end of the jacket. But I do like this style, so I may one day make another.

The pants aren't even worth mentioning, except to say they fitted very very badly.

The dress I made from New Look 6882, another OOP pattern that has also been reissued. My mum actually sewed the halter neck version on the right in a floor length version for my year 10 formal school dance, when I was all of 16! I made the short sleeved version in the middle, and it was so dowdy on me: too short, too tight through the hips, too loose through the bust and that seam line that runs across the bust line in real life just looks wrong.

Since it was too tight through the hips I couldn't just cut it at the waist to make a skirt from it, so I decided to make Vogue 7937 from it, which is a multi panelled skirt so that I could get it to fit. I also borrowed some fabric from the legs of the doomed pants, but since thelegs aren't very wide I couldn't cut the back panel of the skirt on the fold, and instead put in a centre back zip which is a better fit for me anyway. And ta da, one lone skirt salvaged from a three piece suit in only about 10 years.....

I made the View B which has tabs and a button on the side, just for decoration:

And you can see the back view, which should be cut on the fold and have a side zipper but I have put a centre back seam instead. I also mitred the hem, which I had to look up and found a great tutorial on the Threads website since I'm not a quilter and always forget how to do that.

So this skirt may be the one that breaks me out of my matchy matchy ways, maybe a nice cardigan with a belt for smart casual at work.

And in bunny news, I made a new one for Anna from a tutorial over at Revoluzza, although I wish I saw the Martha Stewart version made by Ramona before I started on this one because it's pretty cute too. Anyway, this one is appropriately scaled, I made it from half the stuffing from the giant bunny's head:

It's made from a soft houndstooth wool in light grey, with a felt face and some dodgy handstitching on my part. My husband thinks it looks funny without whiskers and a nose but Anna seems to like it:

Happy easter everyone, remember calories from easter egge don't count on easter Sunday (but you have to take responsibility for any eaten before or after!).

just getting on with things.....

I've decided I've done enough whinging about not doing any sewing for myself, and thought it was about time I did something about it. I like to have a whinge as much as the next person, but eventually you've gotta either do something about it or just shut up and accept it. So for the last three nights instead of laying on the lounge dangling my feet in husband's face in a not so subtle hint to get him to rub my feet (doesn't always work sadly!) I traced off a BWOF pattern and made me some new pants.

Now I know a few posts ago I said I was crap at making pants that fit, but since the last pair turned out alright I'd thought I would make another since we are coming into the cooler months now. I used BWOF 11/08 pattern 121, which Burda describes as a "high waistband, low-set waist pleats and wide legs provide these trousers/pants with a slimming effect".

Hmmm I think that slimming effect works best if you are already tall and slim like the BWOF model, because these aren't slimming on me at all. They are completely different to the style of pants I normally wear which are low waisted, flat front bootleg style, but I had nothing to lose except some fabric from the stash.

I made these from a grey wool crepe like fabric (it's been in the stash too long for me to remember exactly what it is or where it's from....) which I thought would help those pleats drape fluidly. It's just that I think I'm too short and bottom heavy to wear light grey wide leg pants with pleats. Which is a pity because they fit really really well, the only change I made to the pattern was to include two small darts at the back to make the waistband fit more snugly otherwise the pattern is just perfect and was very easy to make. Althouh I did ignore the BWOF instructions completely because they usually make me too despondent and just made them in the usual order of pants making, and again I used the Sandra Betzina method for the fly zipper because it's practically fail proof.

I might try these pants with different tops and shoes to see if I can find a better combo, or make these in a darker colour before I give up on this pattern completely.

Another thing I really liked about this pattern is that it has one of those nifty side hip piece that extends past the pocket to join with the fly extension - this gives a much smoother line to the front of the pants and stops the pocket scrunching up every time you take your hand out:

And the other good thing is that I've justified the purchase of the November 2008 BWOF, now onto all the rest I've bought but not used.....

a sunny Sydney Sunday

phew - try saying that phrase a few times quickly! After a few days and nights of continuous and torrential rain, Sunday turned out to be very sunny, somewhat warm and just perfect for some photos for the completed garments that have been piling up in the last week (now to think of some witty blog posts for each!).

First up is my youngest / shortest / least lengthy UFO (oh you know what I mean) - I started this at the end of June so only two months gestation for this one. I cut this skirt out from Vogue 9615 (well and truly on it's way to being an all time TNT for me) at the same time as the black check skirt I posted about here, meaning to sew them both one after the other production line style. The black one came together quickly with no problems but for some reason the back waistline of this skirt became absolutely huge, maybe from matching the stripes at the side and not the notches, or it just stretched while I let the bias hang. Either way I let it sit for a while until I figured the best...ahem easiest and quickest.... way to fix it.

So I put two darts on each side in the back piece, which kept the hip line wide enough to slide over my hips, but narrow enough so that the back wouldn't bunch up when I sewed some stretch cotton elastene fabric in white for the yoke part of the waistline. Luckily this worked well, and now it is finished:

I do need to give it a thorough press or maybe even a wash because a quick iron didn't get that horizontal crease out of the front of the skirt that you can see near the hem, caused from years of being folded up in my stash. I must remember to get my fabrics out and refold them more often to minimise this. And yes I know this is grey, but there is a fair bit of blue and white in there too!

And for the belly watchers out there, check out this watermelon I'm carrying:

I wear what I sew: blue wool suit

I was going to do a post on what I wore during the week to see how many of the clothes I have made I actually wear, picking up the idea from the discussion over on Pattern Review and posts on few other blogs, such as the Lean Mean Sewing Machine and Two On Two Off. I have to say that I actually wear everything I finish (and as you know not everything gets finished!) at least once. Sometimes after an initial wear things may need a little further tweaking (and sometimes those garments end up in the UFO/WIP pile!), but mostly I fix them and wear them again.

But I realise that most of the things I wore last week were made in my pre-blogging days and hence haven't been mentioned here. So instead of one big post, I'd thought I would post them individually so I could give the details about the patterns and fabric for each one.

First up, on Monday I wore this suit I made last year from Vogue 2641, a 2002 Donna Karan pattern which is now OOP. I really love the peplum style, I think it is good style for a pear shape because it was easy to nip in at the waist but flare out to skim over the hips. I also made the matching knee length straight skirt, but with a wider waistband to get that high waistband look. I realise now that I find high waisted clothes very uncomfortable and I plan to take the waistband off and either replace it with a narrow waistband or just with inside facings instead.

Anyway, this is a really great pattern which I have made four times now, so I guess it classifies as a TNT pattern! The fabric in this suit is a wool blend, in a royal blue with black flecks, and a golden thread check running through it, purchased from the Remant Warehouse (which is moving to Botany Road in Alexandria on 2 June for all you Sydneysiders reading this). The button is lovely blue vintage button purchased specially from a shop down in the Rocks called Buttons Buttons Buttons, which as the name suggests sells nothing but buttons, but they literally have thousands to choose from so they are a good spot to pick up something unusual.

On Monday I wore this suit to work with the Burda WoF blouse from my last post, but after I had taken the photo in the last post I had somehow gotten make up on the collar, so I had taken it off to soak before I remembered that I neededto take a photo of the suit. So here it is shown with a RTW top, but in reality Monday's tally was three from three - 100% so far! And the shoes are vintage purchased from ebay, a navy blue leather with cream piping and a silver buckle, which have a low chunky heel that are very comfortable and sensible for those days when I can't bear to squeeze my feet into a real pair of heels!

winter white dress

I have been so busy this week that I didn't finish a new garment over the weekend / through the week as I have been endeavouring to do this year. So far so good though, we're currently in week 19 of 52, and I have completed / refashioned / finished UFOs for a total of 24 items plus muslin, so I'm still on top of that new year resolution.

Anyway, the cool weather here in Sydney means it is time to pull out my new favourite winter dress that I made last year and have already worn many times. It is made from Vogue 2538, a Montana design, which is already OOP but I just checked and it's a 2001 pattern so I guess it's not that new! I can't remember when I purchased it, but I do remember buying it to make the jacket which I never ended up doing.

I love this dress - the simple styling with well placed darts and shaping to the dress at the waistline is very flattering without being clingy. I used the sleeves from the coat instead of the little cap sleeves since it is a winter dress after all, but cut them off at the elbow and used a narrow band to create a bit of puffiness to them. The fabric I used is a cream wool with a light grey brown check pattern - yeah even though the pattern said it was not suitable for obvious diagonals, plaids or stripes I used it anyway! Fabric thrifted of course, from some op shop or other and washed in some eucalptus liquid wash it came up like brand new.

I usually wear it with some black opaques to get a mod look, and worn with one of those thermal spencer tops underneath it's very warm to wear and it certainly stands out in winter when everyone else is wearing black, black and black. You know, I never realised until I started blogging how much I like to go against the grain and avoid conformity, particularly in fashion, but I don't think that's a bad thing and it's certainly a major reason that I sew - to be individual and stylish, not a slave to fashion trends.

Vintage Butterick 3738 dress

This lovely Butterick 3738 pattern is undated, but it must be around 1966 because that is when the currency in Australia changed from pounds & shillings to dollars and cents, and if you notice on the pattern the cost is 6'/- or 60c. There was even a jingle at the time to help people remember and understand the change, my mum remembers every word and can still sing it even though she would have only been about 10 at the time!

Anyway back to the dress - it's a simple shift with a gathered front panel with a long centre dart that extends from the bust to the hem. I made this from a lovely navy blue wool, lined with a polyester type fabric in navy blue with white polka dots, both purchased for bargain sums from op shops.

As per the pattern measurments, my bust fit perfectly but my hips should have been 4 inches too big, so I added a bit extra to each seam allowance to provide more room. Big mistake - I should have remembered how much ease these vintage patterns have because the dress turned out to fit perfectly across the shoulders and bust but is a little roomy everywhere else! But cinched in with a belt at the waist, it's wearable until I am bothered to take in all the seams:

Despite this being a little too big, I actually like the extra volume so I may leave it like it is. This dress reminds me of the clothes in those Japanese sewing books, clean simple lines that look a little austere but definately not boring. Whilst in plain navy blue it is very simple, I made this dress to wear with this very cool navy and cream cropped print jacket purchased from Veronika Maine last year, which it goes perfectly with:

Also, navy blue is such a versatile colour, as well as pairing it with red shoes and belt, I have a brown leather and linen belt and shoes that work equally well:

Also a yellow belt and yellow shoes, although to tell the truth I've never actually worn this belt because it's too wide to be comfortable, so lucky I bought it from Target for the princely sum of $5!:

All in all I'm very pleased with this dress, it's so comfortable and I got quite a few compliments at work yesterday so it's definately entered rotation in my wardrobe!