So sew easy In a twist dress hack

During me made May I saw a hack of this dress on Instagram, @katrynarae. She blogs at Boots and Cats. Here is her post about this dress.  

I was immediately in love and wanted to copy it straightaway.  I didn't realise that it would require a lot of different moving parts...I read her blog post a few times and mainly got the point that I would put together the tshirt part of Plantain with this dress. Seemed easy enough.  I neglected to think about how she had a lot of trouble doing all this!

The pattern for the dress is here: https://so-sew-easy.com/twist-front-dress-pattern/

I would never have considered this pattern.  I don't like it.  The tank top cut and the length don't appeal, and the website makes me suspect you're getting a low quality product because it's full of ads.  I did have to pay money to get this pattern.  

I was not at all impressed with the pattern.  Considering that I did pay money for it, I expect a PDF to be relatively painless to put together.  A painless pdf has a marked line at the border of the pattern, showing you were each piece ends and where the overlap is.  A painful pdf has no such lines.  This pdf didn't provide any edges so I had to literally tetris edges together, cutting at the edge of the marked lines to approximate pages.  It took about 2 hours instead of 15 minutes.  I would not recommend this pattern. I now see there are knot front tutorials and I think it would be more educational and less painful to do it yourself.  

I cut a size 2 based on the size chart but sized up to a 3 on the back piece only below the waist.  This was good and matched my plantain size ok.  (I use size 36 in Deer & Doe most of the time.)  

I did possibly overthink things.  The dress had a 1/4" SA and the plantain had a 5/8" SA so I took off the tshirt SA before I overlapped them. (I'm not sure it mattered since I was using the plantain above the waist in its entirety.) I matched them at the underarm, then using only the plantain above that, as well as the shape of the plantain until it matched the dress which was halfway to the waist.  

This year I am trying harder to use fabrics I've hoarded, so out came these lemons which are precious to me.  

The instructions were ok. I think I have already stated how much I passionately hate instructions which consist of colour photographs so I don't need to dwell.  I find the knot part unsatisfying because it leaves a lot of edges raw.  There's a triangle to the right of the knot which, when I wear it, makes me feel like I have a belly pooch.  Overall the dress is really interesting, it's longer than I usually wear, fits perfectly well, and looks good.  I also went ahead and used my new and terrifying coverseamer on the sleeves and hems so although they are not perfect, they are STRETCHY!!

Droopy triangle visible on the left here

The result: might take a full summer of wear to get a verdict but I'm glad I made this and I will probably never do it again.  Not everything deserves a muslin.  Also I was reminded how awesome the Plantain is and how I should do frankendresses more often. 

Deer and Doe Plantain: new and upcycled versions

I have made a lot of Plantains.  See here and here, always a size 38, plus a dress version.
But I thought of it as a different category than tshirts, for some reason.  Like it did not occur to me to shorten the sleeve.  I read someone else's blog and they were wearing Plantain tees and I was really startled that I'd somehow missed the obvious.

When I found a massive skirt by Metalicus at an op-shop in Napier, it screamed to be made into a Plantain because I could keep the original hem.  The skirt was pretty unappealing at first look.  It's a heavier fabric of theirs and I think it might have wool in the blend because it's really warm.  And it was covered in cat hair or something.  But Metalicus!  And so much yardage!

It did indeed turn into a perfect Plantain (with enough left over for some shorts!) and it washed up just fine, no more animal hair.  I cut a size smaller than I have used in the past (36) and I forgot how long the Plantain is.  This top was pretty loose, I guess because of the fabric.  I shortened it a bit since I didn't need a hem allowance but I do wish I had shortened it more. 

So I did that on my second Plantain, a beautiful drapey fabric from The Fabric Store.  I don't recall if it's cotton or a blend with rayon.  It is very light but not a tissue knit, it has a bit denser feel.  I zig zagged the hems for some visual interest but otherwise followed the pattern as usual, and I ended up cutting off about 2 inches.

Interestingly the green Plantain pulls in the armpits pretty noticeably.  The size larger never did that, and I do like the fit otherwise, so I'm curious to see how it wears.  I don't think it looks particularly bad but it's obviously something suboptimal in the armscye/shoulder fit. 

Upcycling and fun with knits

I started to feel stressed in life and the result was a bunch of knit projects and stress-free upcycling.  It was great to get these things taken care of! 

#1: the success
Mission tank top with stretch lace binding.  I widened the straps a bit by eyeing my pattern (I've done this lots of times but never put it to paper) and just zigzagged the lace on.  The ribbing I used for this tank is really heavy, I think it's rayon, so I'm not sure it's going to last long before it stretches too much, but it's a perfect sized, comfy tank top.  I'll keep an eye out for thin rib knits to make more of these, because this is something I often buy to wear under other layers.  Because I'm nice, I sent it to a friend who also wanted some layering tank tops.

that's dirty camera spots, not dirty shirt spots

#2: The Mission dress upcycle:

This started out being a size XL Roxy surfergirl dress - with triangle top and an empire waist and it went on forever, because I guess Roxy surfergirls are all 6 feet tall...and I upcycled it into a Mission.  I wasn't sure how things would go with the ruffles - in fact, I started to suspect quite early that it would be a total fail.  I was curious if I could get the ruffle in the right place to add some volume to the skirt of the dress without it being right on my hips.  And in the end I rather like it although I'm not sure I totally succeeded - I went into this project expecting nothing, which can sometimes be really freeing!

#3: selfless upcycle:
My cousin asked me to upcycle some old sweaters into Plantains.  Here's the first one (the second will be for another Hawaii trip, I suppose...) It's a size 38, no modifications except to use the original cuffs and the neck binding is the original binding cut narrower.  I cut the bottom to the plantain pattern, and then hemmed it with a zig zag which created the ruffle - and my cousin says she loves it!  Here's to lucky design features!

#4: selfless tees x2.
These aren't too interesting as I cut them in Munich last April, so they are exactly the same as versions I made for the same two friends last year : )  I guess I'm on track to give my friends one shirt per year!  The men's shirt is the Strathcona by Thread Theory, and the girl shirt is a Briar, size S, with the high-low hem made more subtle.  In this interlock knit the Briar turned out super nice and I'm considering making me some!

Yes these are mostly fold marks from being packed for nearly a year...

#5: Desigual dress to skirt
I love this dress.  Of course I forgot a before picture.  Ebay has provided instead:

I got the dress in Barcelona when I ran the Barcelona marathon, and so my memories of it are tied up in the pain of that terrible terrible race course, haha.  But the dress, beautiful!  It also had this stupid overlapping triangle top, and it was really tight.  Like, I gave up wearing a bra, no matter how skinny I've gotten those green stripes under the bust were super tight.  And no matter how I tried, I just don't feel covered going out wearing two triangles over my chest, unless I'm at the beach. (In which case no problem, actually all my favourite swimsuits are nothing but two triangles...)  So what to do?  I decided to try and make it a skirt with a fold over waistband.

Lo and behold - it worked!!!  I cut it across just above my hips and left the zip in place, thinking it would help to get it on (doesn't) and made a tube of my green merino, and just sewed it on with a lightning bolt stitch.  I had to shorten the green initially cause my guess of the circumference was wrong, and I was mainly lucky that I can squeeze the dress over my hips - but I didn't want to cut lower and lose the pattern.  Anyway this is a magical save as I love the skirt. 

Sleeveless Plantain Dress, by deer and doe

I was planning to make an Ondee out of this quilted soft cotton jersey from Paris.  Bindings are a contrasting shade of lilac in organic jersey.  I wasn't sold on the combination, exactly...but that's what happens when you look at fabric for three days and go craaaazzzyyyy!!  And I couldn't think of any contrasting colour that would look better. And I do love my Ondee in Navy (the stripes went to a friend.)

But....still not sold on the combination, not to mention I think one Ondee is enough actually.  I guess I don't really really really love it.  So on a day dedicated to cutting out (I seem to work lately like this: one day of wild cutting craziness, followed by a few weeks of sewing,) I brainstormed making another long dress Plantain.  Except, of course, without sleeves because 1 meter fabric and it's hot outside.  I used the contrast fabric and thread after all and I reckon it matches much better than I had imagined. 

No big surprises.  I had actually made a pattern piece when I first turned the Plantain into a dress.  I just drew the line out into an A-line skirt.  The quilting, however, makes this into a warm, cozy dress.  Not what one really desires on a 38 degree day!  I love it though.  I think this is my perfect not-summer dress to wear with a cardigan at work.  In retrospect it would have made a nice Ondee too but I don't regret the change.

Deer and Doe Plantain dress

I promise this is my last Plantain to show you!
I have all this cotton stretch fabric from the 1euro/kg bin in Milano.  I am sure it's mostly cotton and have no idea what else, maybe some creepy polyester and a decent amount of stretch.  It has decent recovery and is the same on both sides.  I thought a cozy Plantain dress would be just the thing.  I drew the curved line out for about 20 cm to lengthen the shirt into a dress, and didn't make any other pattern alterations.  It's a size 38, as before.

There's not a lot to say about such a simple modification.  It took about 2 hours to sew, if not less.  It's a bit more shapeless than I expected, but a good lounge dress, which was the main goal.  I still have a lot of dresses to sew from my New Zealand (!) backlog, and it's demoralising to sew things I can't wear.  I'm struggling with that lately, since I have a work uniform now, and a 1 minute commute to work.  The only time I need clothing is for lounging, or doing sports.  My tendency to make lists of sewing projects and have all the fabric ready ahead of time is a liability right now, as I feel obligated to complete the list even when the projects are kind of obsolete ideas.

How to keep sewing totally fresh and present?  How to avoid being overwhelmed by AMAZING new patterns and fabrics the minute I discover them?  I am still constantly tempted by new dresses.  

Missoni Plantain by Deer & Doe

I originally purchased this Missoni fabric from emmaonesock in order to make a cardigan.  I had a Burda pattern that I thought would work, but adding seam allowances was such a catastrophic step that I never did it.  I also wondered whether some gathering necessary in the pattern would suit the fabric, so I waited.

While I made my birthday Plantains, I realised this fabric would be a perfect plantain!  Easy to put together, and I thought the drape of the fabric would accentuate the nice flare this shirt has.  I was right, and I love the results.

My only changes: I lengthened the sleeves as long as I could on my fabric, and they ended up just wrist length.  I also used the selvedge as my hemline, which meant that I changed the flare slightly since I didn't cut up at the sides of the hem.  I cut my fabric on the cross-grain in order to have horizontal stripes, and to make use of the selvedge.  I used the same size 38 as before.

First lesson: I cut my neckband short, assuming that this loose knit fabric would have more stretch.  But I mixed up mechanical stretch with stretch caused by elastic fibers like lycra - in fact Missoni knits have NO lycra type stretch, and so my neckband was about 3 inches too short.  I learnt this the first time...when I sewed the band on inside out.

Next lesson: it is total torture trying to unstitch Missoni knits.  First of all your eyes cross looking at the pattern of the fabric.  It's hard to even see one single layer of the stuff.  My machine stitches vanished deep into it and trying to remove them without making holes was not entirely successful.  I had to take off the entire neckband and put it on right side out.  That was when I realised there was no way the band was long enough, so I put a pleat more or less mid back.  While I like the pleat and all, it pulls the shoulder seams and puts additional stretch on them.  (Apologies for the smiley face!  My nurses did it!)

Good news: for the most part the sewing machine had no trouble with this fabric.  It is heavy and dense enough that the feed dogs worked well, and it didn't shift around.

Pattern matching:  My technique is sadly unscientific.  I cut out each piece starting at the same stripe of the pattern, and tried to account for seam allowances, vaguely.  (So the top of the side seams, plus the top edge of the sleeves were at the same spot.)  I'm really happy with how it turned out, although I'm aware that a more sophisticated approach would have matched the stripe positioning better...