Fall Essentials Sewalong!

It has taken me awhile to completely make sense of the cool and sort-of group sewing activities out there.  Who starts them?  Who passes along the word?  It also took me ages to figure out how to get the buttons on my blog!  Not to mention joining Flickr and pinterest.  Have I really been that out of touch with technology??

So now that I'm discovering this great new world, I decided it was high time to join the Fall Essentials sewalong, as well as the wrap dress sewalong put on by Miss Dibs.  My fall basics are actually my spring/summer basics and they will be stressed to the hilt since I'm travelling for all of January in hot climes.  So this is a chance to make basics that I want to travel with, and that will travel well...and not things that hit the op-shop the minute I leave town.  (As have some of my previous not-so-success dresses.)  Not to mention it's a chance to use lots of local merino wool!

-Another Renfrew tshirt.
-Thurlow jeans
-Minoru spring jacket
-Colette Sorbetto tank top (actually, WHY has it taken me so long to get around to this?  I am reminded by how AWESOME everyone else's look!)
-Papercut Coppelia
-Skater dress in merino wool

The first few weeks of November are quite busy for me, but I've already got a couple of these projects well underway so I'm hoping to make it by the end of the month!

Not to mention my two wrap dresses - the Colette Crepe, and Vogue 8784, which seems to be the Vogue dress everyone wanted to make when it came out...and then no-one made! 

Here's to fall (or spring!) sewing together!

Deer and Doe Belladone - finally!

I was in love the minute I saw this pattern-it was the first indie company pattern that I bought.  In fact, I was sure that I was fated to make 12 of them.  But although I bought it right away I suffered from panic that I wasn't ready to make the dress...and mess up my fabric.

Feeling a bit more confident lately!  Besides if I want to make 12, I have to start somewhere : )  This was definitely not up at the top of my to-do list last week but all of a sudden I had an unquenchable need to start cutting.

Wrinkly - after a full day of work plus wine club...hence the oddly dramatic photos!  During normal wear with my arms down I don't think the neck gaped like that. 

I made a size 38, although my waist at 27 is slightly larger than that.  I thought I could let the seams out a little at the waist if need be.  My fabric is a rose twill, with irregular white spots and just a touch of stretch, that I got from MacCulloch & Wallace a few months ago.  It's very nice and stable.  I got the bias tape at the same time, and it was supposed to be cream silk, but it's very white.  Oh well, I used it anyway. The size actually feels quite loose on, but comfortable.  

Overall the instructions were very clear, but this is the first time I've used so much bias tape so I got very grumpy about a few things.  Possibly experienced sewists wouldn't have this problem - I stopped the bias tape at the end of the straight edge, instead of curving it to the entire end of the piece.  I vaguely assumed it would be covered by the seams.  Nope!  SOOOO...all these loose ends hanging out.  I see that most sewing bloggers didn't use visible bias tape on the back, so they avoided this problem entirely. I saved all these loose ends til I finished the dress to decide what to do.  In fact I dithered for days.  ARG! stupid loose ends!!

I also used seam tape on allll the seams, which means the dress took about 100% longer to make.  But it's so pretty inside : )

My fix for the bias tape was to open up the side seams and add little additional bits.  At the neck I just couldn't come up with anything so I just zigzagged the raw edge. 

Also, do I not know how to do pleats?  Am I doing my pleats inside out?  Pleats make me feel pregnant because of something in how they stick out and nobody else's Belladones do that.  I have checked everyone else's pleats and they seem to pleat toward the outside.  Opinions?  Help!

When I got to the zipper I had to pause for a few hours, which made me realise that somehow I've entered a zipper-panic state.  Every time I put in a zip I'm pretty sure it's the worst one I've *ever* done.  How to remedy this?  I need remedial zipper classes!  But I think I'm going to tutorial my way through the invisible zip foot and start using that instead.  I didn't have an invisible zip for this one so I went ahead, and it is...wearable.  I can't see the back, hah!  So I don't have to look at my bad zips.  But yeah, the zip is pretty bad.

Doing the facing for the bottom was cool, I like that finish.  For my next Belladone I will probably raise the hem another 2 inches, but I couldn't be bothered for this one.  Yeah, already planning more!  

I loved wearing this dress!  I'm excited to fix my mistakes the next time around. 

Papercut undercover hood, take 2

I had enough green merino left for a second undercover hood.  Except for the hood lining - I did that in blue cotton knit leftover from my Renfrew tshirt.  (The bright sunlight washes that out but it is blue!)

This time I made a few changes - I shortened the body and the sleeves each by 2 inches.  I did the XS again.  After working with leather and the walking foot it was a bit strange to get used to a stretchy knit again...but this pattern is easy and satisfying!  It took about 2 evenings to complete and that was with taking quite a few breaks to do other things.

I used the ballpoint needle, and I stitched normally and finished the edges with a zigzag. 

Probably the XXS would have fit better in the body, and next time I make it will shorten the pocket bottom by an inch because I don't like how it hangs.  This knit merino is also very light so the hoody might drape better in a heavier knit.  But I love the blue hood lining!  I didn't understitch it because I liked how it is cozy around my face that way.  

By Hand London Polly top

So if you haven't seen the new pattern out from By Hand London, here it is!  And it's a free pdf download!  I had the perfect pieces of fabric to do this so it hopped straight to the top of my list, and took one evening to make (once I did the boring part of cutting and taping).

I used a greyish green raw silk for the body and a scrap of Mitzi Liberty for the front and the bindings.  The directions are awesome, as always for BHL, and they are correct in that it's hard to put that front panel in without a lot of careful easing and a mess of pins.  I had to redo a few spots and one edge still doesn't sit quite perfectly.

I cut a size 6/10 as that was true to my measurements and it's what I've used for their other patterns.  This is a much looser fit and probably would fit best on a tall person (or anyway, someone who isn't short-waisted.)  I did a quick fix by removing 1 inch from each side of the shoulders, which brought the armscye and the shaping up to my bust level.  The shirt is still quite long but as long as I think of it as a tunic I'm pleased - it has a great shape along the side seams that keeps it from being shapeless.  The hem is really exciting since it's rounded, and it was fun to do, too.

My awesome friend Angela conducted a great photo shoot.  Thanks, Angela!  We even paired Polly with my incredible suede Victoria (which I haven't taken off in the week since I made it, seriously.)  Overall the Polly is a cool make, with some thought required. 

Sewaholic Renfrew - knit tshirt

This was an easy make that I squeezed in between more arduous pieces.  I shortened it at the waist by 2 inches, and cut a size 4.  I did a size 6 Lonsdale but with this being a knit I didn't want too much ease.  Maybe I got too excited with all those modifications!  I think when I make a v-neck version I might do a shoulder-widening and only shorten it by 1 inch.

But how do you iron cotton knit?  When I put the iron on it, it shifts, and then just irons in wrinkles...so I gave up and cut it wrinkly.  I recently introduced some weights to my sewing table and since they were handy, I used them for cutting this as well.  I had some trouble getting pins into it so the weights were great!

After that it was pretty easy.  I might also cut a shorter neck binding because it was just a touch floppy.  And I had forgotten to cut out the arm bindings so those had to wait a day - otherwise this is a quick few hours of sewing from beginning to end.

While I was posing inside the ferry a guy came up and tried to participate so Ellie got some action shots.  Thanks Ellie for taking photos for me!

Yay for awesome basics! 

By Hand London Victoria blazer - lambskin suede

Get ready for a long and detailed post...I have never spent as much time and effort on a project as this one and I tried to document it as I went along.

First of all thank Kim for the inspiration!  I found these lambskins on sale at Michael Levine's in LA.  The "on sale" means that they had about twelve sticky tags on them, and I couldn't use the tagged bits.  In my head, three skins was definitely equal to the back, sides...and one sleeve of the Victoria blazer so I already sensed a challenge.

In Auckland I got some advice about needles and heard a refrain that I'd heard before..."but you'll need a walking foot."  Crap what's that?  So the skins sat for a few more weeks while I thought about how I actually didn't want a short sleeved Victoria blazer.  And finally one night I had the strength of will to tackle this terrifying prospect, and start looking at the pattern pieces.

I traced the back piece flat so that I didn't have it on a fold.  By doing that I could maximise my space usage.  With very clever space use and...oh!  pins don't go through suede...I scavenged for some weights. At this point I understood something else the girl said in Auckland - double stick tape?  Why would I need that?  Ohhhh because I can't use pins!  Right.

I squeezed out everything except the front lapels and I thought they could be out of silk or maybe silk backed suede - I really wanted the cuffs and the collar to be suede though, and I fit those on!  And one sleeve had to be sewn together in the middle from two different pieces.

After that crazy cutting I had to take a break.  And buy a walking foot.  Pricey little bugger, so I threw in an invisible zipper foot just because.  Maybe I'll finally have awesome zippers now??  It took another half-week before I was ready to actually consider sewing the leather, but I finally got tired of the suspense.

 This is what happens when the double sided tape touches suede.

 Inside...leather is nice, it doesn't fray!

 After the dart/seam.

 Using double sided tape.

Applying the collar.

I would have been better off cutting out the lining right away and sewing it together first, to get a sense of how the pieces fit together.  I sewed my first pieces together wrong, and had to undo it.  It took awhile to get used to using double sided tape and not sticking it to the sewing machine as I sewed.  I used a normal needle - the jeans needle was actually too thick and the machine didn't mind a normal needle.  I did not even buy a leather needle because it was so much bigger than the jeans needle.  But this suede is pretty supple and thin.  When I had to go through 4 layers at the seam, it did hesitate slightly.

With the sewalong open at my side, I managed the big neck seam/dart but I had to do it in pieces, with the dart last, so that I could get all the sticky tape off first to maneuver better.  While I was working on the sleeves I realised that by completely ignoring the nap, I was putting some beautiful pieces to the inside, but there was nothing to be done for that.  At times it was necessary because of those sticky tags.  Any piece of double sided tape that I stuck to the jacket left a mark, so I placed them only in the seam allowance.

The first sleeve took a looooong time to ease in.  This was also because of some bad luck - my sleeve piece was thin and eased a lot, whereas the jacket piece was a slightly thicker and less stretchy leather.  So it was slow going but success at the end!  Also I'm not sure why I expected the lining to be easier to work with...silk is soooo slippery and I suffered trying to ease the arms in.  I did a full lining.  I made the lapels from silk and they are so pretty...but I didn't actually want the lapels to be out of lining material and when I taped them on I still didn't like the look.  So I made a second set of lapels that are leather front and silk back (I didn't have enough leather left for full leather lapels).  I interfaced the silk.  The walking foot was not totally marvelous here - when I sewed the leather onto the interfaced silk, it still slid forward some.  That luckily didn't influence the final size of the lapels and they fit fine.

 The hardest part was attaching the silk to the leather because the tape didn't stick to it as well.  That was when the walking foot was almost certainly necessary.

 Lining in!  I understitched the lining, but then also turned everything in and understitched the leather side too. It's not really visible when wearing the jacket.

 Actually not much trouble with the cuffs but there is a tiny gap.

 I haven't sewn the lapels down but I am tempted to.  Wanted to wear them out for a weekend first and see what I thought.

But now I have a set of pretty silk lapels.  What to do with them?  Any ideas?

As for finishing - I had some trouble getting the front corners tucked in and I had to hand sew them.  But really the less said about hand sewing leather, the better.  I have holes in my thumb to prove it...was very wishing for a thimble!  I didn't iron the silk seam up so I was guessing as I went and the lining in the back does fall slightly low when I wear the jacket, but I don't care!

My jacket is awesome!  I wore it all weekend in Auckland, including to the opera, and my fabulous friend Ellie took the photos posing in Newmarket station.

Vogue 8755, the dress this time

This was a little more involved than my last few makes - I used a wool-silk blend, and the pattern calls for lining just the bodice of the dress.  I figured it would be good to get my fear of lining over with.  Since I hate facings, and all.  Both the fabric itself and the brick red Bemberg that I used for the lining were very shifty.  But they both had give and so it was easy to get the pieces to match up.

I cut a size 10 assuming that Vogue was lying about their final measurements.  (I went down one size from my listed final measurements.)  I did this last time with the Vogue Rebecca Taylor pattern, and the dress was still too big.  But I cut the size 10 when making the corresponding pants in this pattern so I thought that would be my best bet.

I had some weird hope that this dress would turn out perfectly without a hitch.  And I got all the way to the zipper before things went weird.  I've tried a few methods for putting in zips.  One method has been to baste the entire seam and put the zip in, then open the seam.  That's what I did here and it went badly.  This method has never worked for me and so I think I won't do it again.  Of course I wanted the waist to match up...but the waist seam itself then opened and separated along the zip.  Then while trying it on I noticed that the dress, while being really comfortable, is too big...especially below the waist.  I had to take a day off to think about all the undoing work ahead...then I re-evaluated, fixed the waistline and left the rest of it alone.  It fits great above the waist but from my perspective looking down, the pleats make me look pregnant.

The pattern said to sew the skirt together from the bottom up to the zipper end, leave everything else open, and sew the zip on that way.  I've done that before and I think it works best.  The final option, of putting in the zip, then sewing the bottom of the skirt, has led to weird things happening at the zipper bottom.  I can't ever get that bit sewn shut properly.  Also that method makes it hard to match up the waist seam.  But I've just bought an invisible zipper foot, so now I have even more permutations for messing up zippers!

The final steps of finishing - I put some hem tape along the lining and I used some lace hem tape on the bottom of the skirt (although I'm certain I didn't use it the way you are supposed to.)  I just machine stitched the hem because I wasn't convinced this dress would be very good looking on.  And I raised the hem about 3 inches.  I would have liked to seam bind the waist seam but the fabric falls apart so fast that it was impossible to get two layers into one piece of seam binding.  This would have been an easy dress to fully line, and I think a full lining would be very nice.

It's super comfortable - if I had the desire to make it again I would probably grade down below the waist but keep the top half the same.

 yeah, pregnant.  I told you. 

My apologies for hideous photos, again.  I actually made quite an effort - arranged a photoshoot at lunch with a girl from work...but I didn't check the camera settings and it was on indoor light.  The resultant pics are so blue that the colour can't be fixed.  So here's me with my bum timer again, this time on the upstairs balcony.  And rather unflattering.  I'd already gotten covered in spiderwebs and was becoming grumpy.

Hm, maybe a few blue pictures after all.  They suddenly don't look quite so terrible.  And I show off the dress better...but don't trust the colour, the photo up top is best for that.