Tilly and the Buttons Zadie dress review

I was enthusiastic about this pattern when it came out and bought it shortly afterwards.  It was separated from me for a long while and I just got it back! 

I had read many reviews on this and knew that it runs large, but still went ahead and sewed a size 3. The measurements for a size 3 on the envelope: 34-28-37 so I was already being generous sizing up.  I'm 33-27-37. Caveat there - My front bust is probably more like 32, the rest is my wide back.  Unlike everyone, my upper bust is larger than my bust, thanks to my fondness for upper body calisthenics (ie surfing.)

I used upcycled tshirts for this venture so some piecing creativity was needed. I can note a few things: the shoulders hold the weight of the dress, so it's best if that fabric and seam is strong.  (I used a rather worn tshirt for that bit, unfortunately.) Also it's good if the pockets match the dress because the pocket fabric does peek out a bit, though that might depend somewhat on how precise you are when sewing the 3-way seam at that juncture.

I found the instructions annoying - I really don't like colour photos as instructions - but they were fine. I didn't have any trouble with any steps, though that could also be that this was a muslin and I didn't care.  Things always go better when you aren't trying hard...

Possibly the colours of the V at the side seam are supposed to match up, though mine don't.

I'm not sure why I'm gracing you with so many photos, I don't really find this project that exciting!

Finally: this looks surprisingly ok in the photos, but it is huge.  It fits decently through the shoulders and is way too big from there down.  I will make a size 1 for my next version.  (More upcycled tshirts.)  I do worry that the size 1 will look small across the shoulders, but I think overall I'll be happier with it.  I'll also shorten by 4 inches or so. 

Simplicity New Look 6429 and Japanese gardens

I cut this pattern out in size 10 mainly because my pattern didn't go smaller. Thank god I did!  It's true that big 4 size patterns aren't always true to the envelope, which puts me a size 12, but lately I'm in the habit of sizing way down because I've been making a lot of knits. That really doesn't turn out well with wovens. 

The fabric is from a little shop I found in Hilo, Hawaii.  I was in love with this shop, which had mainly Japanese prints, and I couldn't resist buying a few.  This dress was part of a dress project I started although I had to give up halfway down the list because I ran out of time before moving...(again.)

This pattern seems to have really good reviews. In order to test it to the max, I went with a version that had sleeves, view A.  It is so hard to fit my shoulders, and the idea of the dress project was to find some patterns that really had hope, that might need multiple muslins/attempts but that will end up being building blocks for the future.

The pattern is straightforward.  In this version, the yoke is interfaced, and the inside of the yoke seam allowance is ironed out of sight before topstitching.  It is easy to have a clean finish, and I could have done entirely french seams, although I didn't because I thought of it as a bit of a muslin.

 I hesitated after putting the yoke on the dress, thinking that the pattern placement was hideous, and overall I had to leave this dress as a UFO while I debated what to do.  At that point I could see that the fit was surprisingly good, and I thought maybe I needed a different fabric yoke.  However, it's hard to match quilting cotton with anything else, so eventually I gave up and decided the pattern placement, while not optimal, wasn't terrible.

My final estimation is that this dress fits me perfectly from the waist up.  And while inspecting it I realised that the bottom of the dress fits great too.  It's the middle 7 cm that I don't need.  So I realised that this in fact is a perfect dress for me to work on - by removing 7 cm from the middle, on a pattern that has no lengthen-shorten lines, and that has a french dart in the middle of the to-be-removed section.

I think this pattern would fit perfectly on someone who is long waisted.  And I am still pretty blown away at how well it fits me above the waist. I think the pictures don't quite show how much the middle is wrinked due to being totally extraneous.

I planned a second version right away and was really hoping to do it too!  But I had to box it up as it got close to moving time.  This pattern is one I'll return to. 

Most Amazing Papercut undercover hood & Named Geneva raglan tee

I'll just smash these into one post since I made them the same day!

First was a Geneva Raglan tee, by Named patterns.
Done here.
I wanted to see if the size I've been making, 36, would work for a more sweater-type feel.  I was even armed with wrist and hem bindings.  I used up some scraps, as you can see.  Unfortunately I wasn't paying close attention and the left arm fabric had a right and wrong side...which I flipped thinking that there was a notch when there wasn't.  The right arm is made of ribbing, and didn't have a right and wrong side, so I didn't notice until it was too late (I did wonder why I had to ease the arms in so much on a raglan tee!)

Ridiculously, this worked out really well.  I did have to take in the arm with the ribbing, as that ribbing has proven to be really loose and floppy.  (See my Geodesic).  I ended up cutting about 2 inches off the hem and the hem binding looked stupid so I took it off and just zig zagged the hem and the wrists.  I'm not sure how well that will hold because the left sleeve fabric is kind of terry cloth and sheds, but I will see.

Then I made my Undercover hood which I've been dreaming of for weeks!  I have to majorly thank the Fabric Store, as I ran in straight from the airport with ten minutes before closing time and dithered over the knits, (Ah plus the new patterns from Papercut!  Exciting!)

I had envisioned an orange hoody.  But the orange wasn't the right shade and right next to it was...this.  It's drapey, thin weave merino and basically is a sweater weave.  Heavier than usual merino.  It so happens that I adore this colour, which is a dusky terra cotta. This thin, but drapey fabric, I know from experience, is totally the wrong thing for the Undercover Hood, which works better with moderate structure...

So I doubled the front and back.  I lined the hood and the pocket with a leftover, also merino, also from the Fabric Store, that was more stable, and I used the changes that I have written on my pattern from ages ago.  It's XS, with 1 inch removed from the length and from the sleeve length.  I narrowed the front body by about 2 cm but not the back.  If I had read my notes I might have been encouraged to shorten it by 2 inches as I still think it's too long, especially as this drapey fabric pulls down.

Anyway I think despite the length this is the most fabulous undercover hood I have ever made.
Plus I have an embarrassing admission to make. Until now, I have always used a straight stitch for all my knits, all the time.

For some reason I thought I'd try a very narrow zig zag.  And my mind was totally bent.  I somehow had never realised that was the way to fix knits which are just too tight in the seams!  I thought any zig zag would show up and look silly. 

So I have stretchy cuffs and a fabulous hoody.  It's a bit sad to me that these unglamorous basics are the things I wear All.The.Time but that is my life...

Atelier Vicolo no. 6 All Together pattern

This exciting pattern popped up on my radar sometime early this year.  I thought it might be just the right amount of gathering.  Plus a free dress pattern! Plus by an Italian sewist!  How exciting.

The pattern is here. 
There is a video tutorial but no instructions.
There are seam allowances included, thank god.  Things never go well for me when there are not seam allowances already included.

I cut an Italian size 40, which is about usual for me.
My exciting quilting cotton is an aboriginal print! I got it at the quilting shop in Sedona after seeing online that they stock it.  I have a few more which you will be seeing soon.  The ladies were a bit befuddled by an excited garment sewist in their quilting shop but they were very gracious as I pulled out every single bolt and strew them across the floor of the shop to help make my decision.

The only mess I made was that I decided not to add sleeves, since cap sleeves have a 2% chance of not looking ridiculous on me and I didn't want to mess this one up.  But I didn't really plan ahead with that and I sewed the neck and the sides of the straps with the lining before thinking about how I needed to burrito in order to get a good clean finish.  So I had to use the terrible Vogue method of sticking one strap back through it's front and sewing that tiny tube together.  This method is bad because it's hard to get a good finish on it, but I guess overall it's as effective as the burrito method.  I did some understitching on the neck but not on the sleeves (laziness, and so awkward).

My zip went in ok more or less.  I'm using a borrowed Janome now (hence no more complaints about the borrowed Singer) and I noticed something: the invizible zip foot on the Janome doesn't have a centered needle.  So on the right side of the zip, it eats the invisible zip into the stitches, and on the left side, it's not actually invisible.  In fact, my Janome in New Zealand did the same thing.  Food for thought.

The lining is just for the bodice, and I thought about how to tack it down.  The only place it can be attached at the waist is at the gathered patches, so I pinned it down to figure out whether I could stitch in the ditch, but I haven't done it yet.  It would be tricky to make an entire lining for this dress without copying a bunch of pattern pieces to get rid of the gathers, although certainly possible.

Anyway I like my dress!  It's sort of a muslin as I didn't finish the seams of the skirt, but I'm moving really soon so it's part of my crazy rush to get things done.  I think the aboriginal design is a bit too busy on this - I would use a solid color on the side panels next time and leave the center to be the wild part.

Verb for keeping warm Endless Summer tunic

I discovered this pattern - and this pattern company - while looking for a US source of Merchant & Mills patterns.  This is the place I found.  The pattern seemed really cute on everyone who has made it and I'm looking for nice top patterns to use some of my Liberty fabrics and to layer with leggings.

The smallest size is 37, so that's what I cut.  I used a leftover piece of Liberty from a project which is cut but not sewn...

I found the instructions to be lacking in many spots and to be weirdly worded.  I had to follow the instructions because I just didn't know what it was doing things in the order indicated, and the construction feels fiddly and backward. Near the start as I french seamed the fronts and backs together...I couldn't find the v-neck because I had sewn it shut!  I did not do French seams on the sides because I didn't feel like managing that with pockets...I thought Carolyn had made a nice tutorial but anyway there is one here, somehow it's like French seams when attaching the sleeve to the body of a top - just feels like I'm not ready. 

Another little irritation: the pattern doesn't tell you to leave all the seam allowances open on the yoke, so when you are inserting the body into the yoke, I had to cut those back open.

The fronts and backs have to be cut as two pieces because there's some shaping in that seam - a way to avoid darts, along with the gathers at the shoulder.

oops!  Butt wrinkle...there were no other good back pictures

But my verdict after the growing pains: I like it!  Definitely more of a dress than a tunic on me.  I would make prettier gathers next time, and use something a bit drapier.  Initially I didn't like the pockets but they are kind of handy (haha).  It's not form fitting but I really like the shape, and by the end I did appreciate how the instructions came together.  It's hard to appreciate the lightweight cotton lawn in the middle of winter (I was freezing) but I think this material is a good match for the pattern if you plan to make a lightweight tunic/summer dress or coverup.  However in a heavy, drapier fabric I could see this being a great year-round dress.