Merchant & Mills Camber Set

Ah, who doesn't fall in love browsing Merchant & Mills website?
Had to give this a try.  Not too many reviews online though.  Now that I browse them again after the fact, I suspect I could have approached this pattern with something resembling a...MUSLIN!!  It is cut super narrow in the shoulders.

Size 10: based on my bust measurement.  I was annoyed that there are no final measurements available.
Fabric: double gauze by Kokka, found in Berlin.  Great to sew, ungreat to unpick.  Disintegrates like mad when it's not staystitched.
Length: hacked off about 6'' from the pattern length.  (I cut at the final tick mark.)

Opinion: No trouble with the burrito neck instructions except at one spot right at the middle, where you really need to sew only up to a certain point on the center shoulder.  Hence the unpicking.  If you do it wrong, the front doesn't line up with the back at the shoulder quite right. I ironed a lot to get things to behave and I was fairly satisfied overall.

Here at the intersection of the arm and the body is this persistent sleeve fit problem of mine.  I don't know how to fix it.  Some suggestion is that I need to actually bring the armscye closer to my body, but my range of motion is already terrible in this dress.

sorry I didn't get a better back picture.  It does hang straight.

Final opinion: Hm.  Shapeless sack.  If I took a direct 2'' chunk out of the middle of the front, the dress fits better.  Also, the shoulders.  Terrible shoulders.  They have a stupid pouf behind my shoulder, they restrict my movement, they look too narrow...I'm wishing for a fairy godmother to appear and tell me what I need to DO to fix the shoulder, but this is what I suspect would help:

-1'' shoulder widening
-and I think this is time for the forward shoulder manipulation.  By moving that high point of the shoulder forward, I would regain movement and would have height where I need it.  Although I believe you can also just remove that excess fabric.  It is my least favourite feature of shoulders...gathering! puffiness! uck.

Plus:
-I would take that 2'' straight out of the front.  Lower the front neckline to compensate, it is quite high.

I am dissuaded from doing this because of the two piece back!  There is a chance I will come back to it as I am determined to eventually find the perfect shift dress pattern.
The photos don't look as bad as I feel, but this one is still probably looking for a new home.

Deer and Doe Sureau

Impatient for the Cinnamone to come out but it has been delayed until fall.  Instead, I combed the Deer and Doe website wondering what else I could make. I love my Belladones and I suspect that Deer and Doe drafts for exactly my body shape.

The Sureau really didn't initially stick on my radar, and only recently I realised that it has *fake buttons!*  Score!  No button placket after all! They always gape on me, another reason I don't own any button up shirts.  The idea of the Sureau grew on me.  The black bird fabric from Atelier Brunette has been hoarded since last summer and it was time for it to become something that I had a low chance of messing up on.

I cut a 38, which I used for the Belladones as well.  I found the instructions straightforward and the process simple.  Even the gathering went along without a hitch.  I had been debating making various shoulder and sleeve changes, but based on how well I suspected this would fit, plus a quick measure of the shoulder width, I was convinced to make no changes at all.  I sewed the top 2'' of the zipper side seam ahead of time, and although that isn't usual for an invisible zip, it worked super well and meant my waist seam needed no help lining up.  The facing is well attached at the sleeves, and doesn't flap around.  I finished the innards with a zig zag.  I would have loved to like, bias bind them or something, but the cotton is quite light, almost voile, and that seemed like overkill.  I did one crazy thing though.  The seam allowances of the front placket, once it's sewn in, overlapped. I hand sewed one over the other for a clean finish, and then I hand sewed the flappy front facing down to that.  The front facing really needs to be held down because at that one key spot - the center front - there are something like 5 layers of fabric.

Black really doesn't photograph well!

Sorry, gratuitous photo of my hair which I have just cut off.

In the mirror it almost looks like the back is too wide, but I can't see any obvious wrinkles.

Pros: Easy.  I really like it.  I think the black gives it a touch of serious to undo the girly factor of the front gathers.  I even left it the normal length.

Cons: This feels to me like a dress that looks homemade.  Also, should I be a DD cup to fill the gathers??  They look kind of empty and I'm not sure it's just me.  When I look in the mirror the back side sticks out way a lot because it's gathered...but in the photos it looks ok.

Final word: I love it anyway.  But I'm not going to make four more. 

Waffle Dropje in flannel and fleece

After making my friend a Dropje vest I was envious, but I had a sea of ideas involving quilting or interlining, and I couldn't come up with something that sounded manageable.

Finally I realised that what I so coveted was the fleecy vest interior!  I felt overwhelmed at trying to quilt something, and I wanted the details of the vest to stand on their own.  The tweed that I was thinking of for the outside just didn't seem right.  So I decided to use the soft flannel (initially the lining) as the exterior instead, and picked up some thick black fleece in Chur for an absurd 30 franks per meter.  Sewing with fleece had some unexpected perks...like cleaning my flat top to bottom three times to collect the Black-Plague of fleece particles that escaped and stuck to every surface...

I decided to make a size 36, instead of 38 according to the size chart, because the 34 fit me ok (taking into consideration that it was very stretchy fabric).  I shortened the 36 about 2 inches and used the belt waistband piece from the 34 which was slightly shorter.  To line it I: made two copies (excluding interior pockets) and then sewed the hood together, followed by the zipper, and this time I did sew the armholes together as well instead of using a facing.  The hem facing covers up the lining and I top stitched that down.  Unfortunately I got very excited during the process and so I didn't understitch the hood.  I also naturally sewed the first armhole wrong and got a möbius strip that I had to undo.

As I mentioned with the first version of this vest, the instructions are truly a joy!  

End result: I still feel like the shoulders are too narrow cut, and the front is baggy in a way that doesn't please me.  To avoid the front bagginess I would have needed thinner materials and to cut a smaller size again.  The vest is cozy as desired and leaves me with good range of motion.

   

Burda 8237 miniskirt

 This is such an easy skirt pattern that anyone could presumably draft it themselves (but we don't want to!)  It has two back darts and an inside waist facing.  I cut the lining exactly like the main skirt, then basted the lining and the facing together.  I applied them to the skirt as one, and then folded the bottom facing edge in and sewed that down.  It makes it look almost like it has a waistband.  I finished the zip by sewing the lining to the zip tape in the seam allowance and for once my zip sits nicely at the bottom. Must be...my new sewing machine!  Maybe I will talk more about that some other time.

When I assessed my theoretical size on the chart (12) and measured the pattern piece (waist 30! 3 inches of ease, crazy people.) I decided to cut that size anyway so that the skirt would hang just above my hips, and it does.  It is perfect.  The back waistband is curved and the front waistband is flat, so for me that evades the whole swayback issue.  I did not change the length at all, although by wearing it lower it's de facto a touch longer.  I'm 165 cm so keep in mind that this is a MINIskirt for sure on people with longer legs. 

I finally have my sewing groove back after being sick and making boring projects from last year.  I have absolutely no need for a skirt with racing horses on it.  I love it!!  I also am wildly in love with Steel & Cotton, the fabric company.  I'm not sure how I've gotten brainwashed to be in love with fabric companies, but I also stalk Art Gallery fabrics, and I am so so so sad that I can't access any of their pretty fabrics in person.  I have finally started very slowly buying a few things on etsy.  It's frustrating to do without seeing it, but even with extortionate shipping to Switzerland (really, does it cost $20 to ship 2 meters of fabric??), it's cheaper than trying to source here.  (a meter of Art Gallery knit was selling for 35 franks in the shop.)

But anyway, I got these horses in 1000 Stoffe in Berlin.  The shop was small but amazing and I had a delightful chat with the girl who works there.  I fell in love with this fabric immediately and knew it was fated to be this skirt.

The lining is silk charmeuse.  Live a little...it makes my skirt feel expensive.  It's from the garment district in LA, when I cleverly bought about 5 meters of totally useless colours that I now have lying around.