Things sewn in 2020: dresses

I had a very prolific sewing year in 2020 - I finished 62 projects, used up 87m of fabric (including all the pieces purchased in 2020) and only bought 56m of fabric. This wasn't reflected on my poor neglected blog though - too much sewing and not enough time blogging! But I do like to record my output for future posterity, either because I'm trying to remember what pattern I used for a particular garment or I'm about to use a pattern again and want to check how I felt about it previously. Plus I always google a pattern before I use it to see how it turned out for others, so I feel I should give back to the internets.

I don't have time to do 50 or so blog posts for each finished project though, so I'm going to wrap them up in one bumper post for each category. Today's post is my favourite garment - dresses! I made 12 of them last year, so this will be a longish post.

My favourite dress is this vibrant green and navy blue scuba fabric that I made into Vogue 9167 in early December. The colour is gorgeous, the fit turned out well with minimal alterations and it has pockets! I haven't worn it yet unfortunately because due to Covid I only had one very casual and small Christmas function to attend. This dress is quite simple to make, and has clever cut outs at the waistline pleats to reduce bulk which was important for this thick and spongy fabric.

My favourite pattern that I made three times is Simplicity 8014 - a shirt dress with an option for a straight dress, curved hem dress or flared skirt dress. This may be one of the few times I've made all views of a sewing pattern - I made it in a navy and red floral linen, a black linen, black and white flannel gingham, and a blue and white crisp cotton shirting fabric. All versions turned out great and have been worn a few times this year already:

My most frequently worn dress is a very simple dress made from gingham linen in a mustard colour. It's the Style Arc Olivia, which I changed up by sewing the bodice on the bias. I've made this previously and I knew I had to make some fitting changes to it because I find the neckline to be too low and wide, and the bodice too long on me. This is a casual pull on dress that was perfect for the stay at home casual lifestyle of the last year.

My least favourite dress is probably this very bright printed linen that I made into a vintage Simplicity from 1978. It feels a bit frumpy and the neckline feels like it is choking me so it's currently sitting in my alterations pile to re-do that neckline and possibly shorten it a little. I did like that the cut on sleeves have a sleeve facing, which is a more sophisticated finish than the Style Arc dress which just has turned under sleeve hems.

And finally some dresses that I really like but haven't worn yet this year because they are either work dresses or party dresses, and in a year of work at home / stay at home there was just no occasion (yet!) to wear these. Firstly, a fit and flare dress in Vogue 8667 made in a navy blue bonded crepe, which feels a bit like scuba but presses better:

A swishy dress made in a red textured woven mystery fabric - I can't remember the fabric composition but it drapes well and holds a press. This is another vintage pattern, this time from the 1980s and it turned out surprisingly lovely. I did shorten the bodice because it was designed to puff out over the waistline but with the centre back invisible zip that just made me look like a hunchback. I also shortened the skirt because it was originally almost ankle length on me and then the hem drooped even though it wasn't cut on the bias, so I had to shorten it even more. Still looks great - I just need an occasion other than posing in front of my Christmas tree!

A fitted work dress in a black and white plaid bengaline made into New Look 6144 with pleats at the neckline that are only just visible in this busy fabric. I've made this dress before plus this fabric is quite stretchy so there were no fitting problems at all (not often I get to say that!):

Earlier in the year I made a dress that I found super difficult with very puzzling instructions that I blogged about here. It's McCalls7429 made in a polyester knit fabric that I am still on the fence about:

And finally, I made a dress for my daughter's birthday in January as I do each year. This year's dress was not such a big hit - it turned out a bit frumpy even though she loves the fabric which is a cotton sateen with a cool pineapple border print dress. This is from New Look 6320 which I altered by making the bodice shorter so that more of the skirt fabric was used. I think it might be the sleeves which make it a bit boring - it looks like a bit of a corporate style sheath dress instead of an eleven year old summer dress, so I may modify it in the hopes she will wear it this year at least once.

White shirt: Burda 10/2008 #113

 

A white shirt may never go out of style, but it can certainly get grubby and stained beyond repair which is why I make a new one at least once a year. I wear a lot of sunscreen, and that tends to turn the cuffs and collars quite brown that even bleach can't remove. Usually I make a simple fitted button up shirt, but this time I decided to try something a little bit different with some cool details. This pattern is from Burda in 2008 when they were still Burda World of Fashion. I've made this shirt once before for my mum, and have been meaning to make myself one for at least the last decade.

This shirt pattern not only ticks all my boxes - three quarter sleeves with a button tab, raglan sleeves, vertical darts for fitting - but it also offers a little bit more with a looped tab down the front covering the button placket. It certainly adds quite a lot of interest to an otherwise simple shirt. The pattern is 10/2008 #113 which I can't see is available for download, but if you ever see this issue for sale I can highly recommend it, there are quite a few good patterns in it.

That looped strip was really quite simple to make - it's essentially just horizontal lines sewn to the shirt halfway between each buttonhole, and then press the fabric downwards towards the hem.

I did mess up the sewing order though - the strip should have been added before the collar, so that the top end of the extra strip would be enclosed within the shirt stand. I added mine after I had sewn the collar on, so I've done a dodgy fix of just topstitching it close to the collar stand seam line - it's clearly visible in the photo below but I doubt anyone else will get close enough to notice.

The fabric I've used is a thick textured white cotton that is probably a bit too stiff for a shirt, but it helps give the looped front and sleeves a bit of structure. It means the back puffs out a bit, which I could fix by making the vertical darts a bit deeper, but I think I'll leave it because it's not too bad.

I also find the way the raglan sleeves meet together as a point on the shoulder very satisfying - it's those little details that people who don't sew will never see but it makes me happy.

I found the sizing of this shirt to be quite generous - I made my usual size 34 at the shoulders and grading out to a size 40 at the hips. There is a lot of excess fabric around the arms - the armscye sits quite low and the sleeves are very wide. I think in a softer fabric with more drape this would be fine but it does feel a bit bunchy in this thicker fabric.

I think this is a fantastic pattern, and I can't believe I waited so many years before I made it! I think the loop strip could be added to almost any shirt pattern, and ribbon could be used instead of the shirt fabric so possibly another one of these style shirts is in my near(ish) future.

Shoulders that will poke your eyes out: New Look 6013

One of the great things about sewing is that you're not limited to what's available in the shops - you can make what you want. One of the less great things is not finding out until after you've put in some time and effort that what you're making really isn't you!

I do like my work jackets to have a bit of interest about them - either a bright colour other than navy or black, or an interesting cut like a shawl collar rather than a standard notched collar. Which has led to my recently finished jacket - a shawl collar, a minty textured wool and formerly some crazy shoulders:

I say formerly because I ended up pulling off the crazy sleeves and re-sewed on some normal fitting sleeves which is what you seen in the photo. This is New Look 6013, a pattern that is now OOP. I made the dress once before in 2018 from a polka dot linen which I still wear thanks to it being not too fitted. 

 

The sleeve heads have an inverted pleat at the shoulder head which looks good on the model and on my dress form but just looked ridiculous on me. They shoulder head sticks out quite high above my natural shoulder level and to top it off the sleeves were quite wide and baggy too:

Instead I used a standard sleeve off another New Look pattern to cut out some normal sleeves to sew on. You can see the difference in shape in the photo below.

Even though the sleeve head of the new sleeve eased nicely into the shoulder seam, I can see there are terrible drag marks on the sleeves indicating that I need to reshape the shoulder slightly. Well I won't fix this, but it's good to know for the future.

For the back view instead of cutting on the fold I added a centre back seam so I could shape the seam better to suit my curves. This together with the princess seams means I got quite a nice fit in the back:

I made faux welt pockets because the jacket is so cropped it's unlikely I'll ever put my hands in them and the pocket bags would be so shallow anyway. The welts add a bit of interest to the front and even though I was worried they sit too close to the hemline I think overall they still looked balanced.

The final change I made to the pattern was to insert a lining. The pattern is meant to be an unlined jacket, but with several layers of interfacing in key places like the shoulder area, princess seams that need to be clipped to be pressed open and the messiness of welt pockets I think a lining is really necessary to cover up all that internal structure. Plus being a wool jacket it will wear better with a slippery lining.

This fabric was a total bargain - bought from the Sewing Basket charity fabric store earlier this year for a few dollars. When I spied this fabric in it's beautiful minty loveliness, I was reminded of one of my favourite costumes from the movie The Dressmaker:

All I need now is some cream wide leg pants and an awesome hat and I'll be set for a glamorous return to the office when it reopens! After all these months of casual wear whilst working from home I'm actually quite eager for a bit of dressing up on the few days a week that I'll be in the office.

So my final thoughts: if you like a bit of drama then I can highly recommend this pattern to you! The shawl collar is easy to construct, the princess seams make it easy to fit and overall it's quite a nice little jacket. If like me you prefer your clothes to be a bit more subdued, the sleeve is easily interchanged and you can still have a great jacket without the wow factor.

 

Brain busting dress: McCalls 7429

I don't often sew with knits but other sewists rave about how quick and simple they are for projects. So I thought I would whip out a quick long sleeved dress whilst it is still cool here in Sydney, not that I have any where to wear it or any compelling reason for making a new dress other than for the fun of it!

However, the joke was on me because this dress was not quick, simple or fun to make. At all. I like to think I'm pretty experienced and skilled - I sew Burda regularly and manage with their befuddling instructions after all! But this pattern - McCalls 7429 - took all the brain power I could muster to get it finished. It's a fairly plain straight dress with a twist in the front:

The pictures in the instructions and the text telling me to "pleat in fullness on lower portion of the front to fit between large circles on upper left front" just did not click for me.

Thankfully Brittany Jones  has done two blog posts and a video on how to construct this dress which was really helpful, but it still took me several attempts to figure out how to gather the fabric in the middle and sew the right seams together. In fact I had to unpick the seams a few times before I finally got it right - is there anything more tedious than unpicking a lightning stitch in a knit fabric? Happily once the front bit of the dress is sorted everything else is pretty easy to finish.

It's also not very often that I don't recommend a pattern, but this is one of those times. Other people seem to like this pattern, but there are a few things that annoy me.

Firstly, the wrap part of the lower front dress is not very wide and tends to flap open when I walk. Luckily the under layer extends almost the whole width of the skirt so you aren't flashing too much leg, but it is annoying having it flap around. Also, my fabric is white on the wrong side so it's pretty obvious when it flips to the outside: 

I also don't like how the gathers from the centre waist seam tend to bunch up between my breasts and form a pleat in the front. Maybe that's caused by my rather flat chest and the fabric not needing to be stretched open across the bust, but I feel that the gathers in the front just sit weirdly. 

The gathers and twist at the front of the dress create a bit of bulk over my stomach, which is one area I don't need to add any bulk to right at the moment. The fabric I've used was advertised online as a ponte, but it's rather thin and more like a double knit. I think a thicker fabric like a firm ponte would be even worse, and it's probably best to stick with thinner fabrics for this pattern.

Finally (as if all that above wasn't enough moaning!) I find this dress to be really short. I'm only average in height, and I was surprised when the raw length of this dress without the hem turned up barely reached my knees. The pattern envelope (I know, I know - you should always be sceptical about those!) shows the model's dress hitting her knees so I expected the dress to be a little longer on me. 

So all in all, this is not one of my favourite patterns and I probably won't make it again. I'm sure Burda have done a similar style, and while their instructions are probably just as likely to be as confusing I'd rather take a chance with their drafting than use this pattern again if I feel like I need another twist front dress in my wardrobe!

Ready for summer - wide leg linen pants

I had absolutely no reason to make a pair of summery linen pants since we've had torrential rain and cold weather lately (which is great, because we need all the rain we can get!). But since I'm at home going nowhere with more clothes than I currently need why not make whatever takes your fancy? Plus I know the warm weather is only just around the corner and this time I'll be ready if I ever go back to working in an office, going out with friends or just doing anything other than working from home.

These are Burda 10/2016 #113, which I first made as one of my Burda of the month challenge projects:

After years of wearing skinny pants, it does feel strange but also freeing to wear wide leg pants. Thankfully these aren't too wide - more just a straight leg from the hips down.

A few years ago I was on a mission to perfect pants fitting and used a whole 10m bolt of calico making multiple muslins and I still didn't make a pair I liked. I've realised that wide leg pants like these suit my lumpy legs best the fabric just hangs straight down, but still every time I make pants I continue to make fitting adjustments.

This time I used the crotch curve of the largest size but the leg and waist sizes in my normal size, and I also increased the height of the back rise by adding a wedge and spreading the dart open to keep the crotch curve correct - I didn't do this properly last time and it made the pants gape open at the back. I've read so many resources on pants fitting I can't remember where I learnt this from, but this is what it looks like:

I do love the wide curved waistband - it's quite comfortable and sits over my mum tum because these are high waist pants (well probably at the natural waistline which feels high to me!).

And how nice is this white top? I bought it from an op shop without even trying it on thinking I could salvage the fabric for a refashion but it turns out it fits perfectly and looks smashing with these pants:

The only thing I'm not sure on is the length of these worn with heels - these days I tend to wear flat shoes most of the time so that's the length I hemmed these to. They are perfect when worn with sneakers and flat sandals, so I guess that's what I'll have to wear with these pants

It's not often that I make pants and like how they look, but this pattern is a winner in my books. I've made these two times previously - firstly in 2016 in a white pinstripe cotton that sadly no longer fit and then again in 2018 in paprika linen which I do still wear frequently.

I never thought I'd be wearing and loving a pair of pale pink linen pants but it turns out that pink is a neutral that goes with just about any colour. As much as I love winter and the cold weather, I'm slightly looking forward to summer now so I can start wearing these pants out more than just the quick dash to the supermarket I did today!

Cozy winter dress - Simplicity 8014

It's the middle of winter here in the southern hemisphere, although it doesn't really get that cold in Sydney which means anytime of the year is the right time for a new dress! Especially when it's made from a brushed cotton / flannelette (are they one and the same?)

It's not very often that I make all the versions of a pattern, but Simplicity 8014 is firming up as a favourite pattern for both of its styles of shirt dresses. I've made two versions of view A/B with a full skirt and now I've made view C. Literally I have made view C - even using the same fabric as the illustration!

I wasn't sure how this pattern would turn out because I know with my wide hips and smaller waist that patterns with a waist seam work best and look the most flattering on me. So I cut the pattern out a size larger than I needed below the waist to make sure that it would flow and drape around my widest part rather than strain across my hips and thighs. So it's a little wider than the pattern illustration but still not as wide as the full skirt version of this pattern. 

 

Without a belt it doesn't look too frumpy, but it does have serious night gown vibes so I think I'll stick to wearing a belt with it.

I really like the button tab on the sleeves to wear them folded up - it makes it look a bit more casual. 

And even though I intended this as a casual dress I couldn't help but match the plaids - it makes my eyes twitch when it doesn't work out but thankfully on this dress it did. After pre-washing this fabric it was really off grain so I had to iron it back into shape which I'm glad I did because all those seams match. Not on the shoulder seam though - matching sleeves to the bodice is super super hard!

 

I think I've really got my money's worth out of this pattern, especially since I would have bought it during one a pattern sale. I can definitely see a few more of these dresses in both versions in my future.