French Navy Orla Dress in Orla Kiely stems

I got sucked into the excitement of anorlaaffair, which was an Instagram sewing challenge, in July.  I mean, a simple woven dress!  Free pattern!  Yeah, it was easy to get sucked into.  It was just the middle of July when my sad departure from New Zealand didn't feel too impending and I was going wild with patterns and fabrics and random ideas.

So I cut this out in a size XS.
The size chart for the XS: 81-63-87
My actual measurements: 83-67-94
The size chart for the S: 85-67-91.

Can you note some foreshadowing?  I have been sewing a lot of knits...but I'm not sure that's any excuse.  I know I have wide shoulders after all so on a dress like this if anything I should size up.  Oops.

The fabric is another piece of Orla Kiely stems, from Saved Fabrics etsy shop.
I really adore this rainbow fabric and I was totally excited about this dress - enough to try a few things.  I french seamed the side seams, although I still held off from doing so on the sleeves.  I assume you can't french seam a gathered waist but I remain puzzled how to finish it in a nice way.

I moved the back zip to the left side so that I didn't mess up my stem pattern.
And I skipped gathering the sleeves and just made haphazard tucks as I came to the top of the sleeve.

Well I got to nearly done and popped the dress on and realised it was a solid 4" too small.  I mean I could not get this dress on.  No chance.  And so it wilted into a UFO on my floor until I realised it might fit my friend's daughter.  (His 8 year old daughter.)  But still it sat there because now I was galvanised by moving panic and too many projects in too little time. 

It ends up I sewed this literally in the last hour before I had to put my sewing machine into a box.  I do give things to op shops when I'm not satisfied with them, but having a project nearly done, and a potential - and potentially excited - wearer, I just couldn't box it up undone and leave it for 6 months.

So here's the failed Orla:

In the end it didn't fit the 8-year old, but another colleague at work had daughters who it does fit, and they love it!  The best bit is that this colleague is Irish so the Orla Kiely connection seems like a match made in heaven.

Cocoon Cardigan x 2 by Patterns for Pirates

I saw a reference to this cardi, and to this pattern company, a little while ago and completely discounted it for a very good reason: you have to measure and cut out your own bands!  Quel horreur!  Couldn't be doing any of my own measuring, no chance, and so I never considered the pattern more attentively.

And then one day at work I realised my radiographer in the office sewed and she was wearing a beautiful grey cardigan...by the end of that shift I had the pattern printed in my hot little hands.  I cut a size XS.  I had to have a friend over for moral support when I made the pattern piece for the bands, but I survived just fine (it's not hard.) 

My first version has been showcased here.  I wanted to get an idea of how the pattern came together, and I knew that long and grey were in its future.  I used the short body, with the wide cuffs, long sleeves and long sleeve cuffs.  No pockets.  I thought it was a bit silly as it's really short and doesn't come around to the front very much, but in truth I started wearing it the minute I made it and I wore it, um, until I made the second one.

Which I know took exactly an hour and 20 minutes to make, because I made it before work on my last shift before vacation, and I was late to work. 

In this version, I used the long body, wide band, long cuff and long sleeve, I think. Plus the pockets, which are totally amazing.  I made it for my birthday, took it to Australia with me, and wore it every day.  This fabric is a blend of merino and silk, I snapped up 3 meters at Designer Textiles in south Auckland - where I went on a fabric field trip in early August.  Because of the silk in the fabric, it drapes really nicely.

Then I had to make a striped one which is exactly the same as the grey one (except in plain merino):

 I was getting a bit rushed so some ironing of the band didn't happen - that really helps to make it lie flat.  But do you see something amazing!?  Do you see that I managed to match my stripes?  Including on the pockets?  I think I must be on a roll as I also got working on a plaid Archer around the same time.