Wrap blouse

So, rather late, but I'm catching up on my Burda challenge for April. I have to say April's Burda magazine isn't terribly exciting (and May is even worse), but there were a couple of patterns that caught my eye. One was this wrap blouse: I need more separates, and this looked to add variety to my wardrobe, as well as being a shorter length that is more suitable to wear with skirts (I prefer hip-length tops with trousers/jeans, but this can look an odd proportion with a skirt).

Pattern description

BurdaStyle Magazine 04/2013/113: Wrap blouse with front pleats, low-cut V-neck and short puff sleeves.

Pattern sizing

34-44. I cut the 42 at the shoulders/bust and blended to a 44 at the hip. (Woo! I've lost weight!)

Fabric used

Cotton lawn purchased many years ago at Abakhan Fabrics, on a shopping trip with my mother-in-law! It's very lightweight, with a smooth finish and a slight sheen.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope/sketch/idea when you were done?

Mostly. Mine isn't as close-fitting around the mid-section as in the photograph on the model, and I'm not entirely sure why.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

I thought the instructions were fairly good for this pattern. The steps were clearly explained and there wasn't anything missed out or glossed over. The only thing that isn't explicitly explained and you might need to think about is the way the button loops and tie are sandwiched between the bodice and facings, so that they end up the right way around (i.e. sticking out the edge rather than inside the garment!).

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I'm not a huge fan of puff sleeves, but I actually quite like the sleeves here. The gathering into the sleeve band is not too much, and the excess at the top is taken out with pleats rather than more gathering, meaning the sleeves don't end up being too saccharine.

For me, this top is very short. I lengthened it here by 2cm, but I found that was only just enough (I ended up taking a narrow hem allowance, meaning I effectively lengthened the top by a total of 3cm). The top really is very low cut too, which combined with the wrap design and woven fabric means that it's a little flashy. And not in a good way... I also found the pleats sat very oddly, although this is also as much (if not more) from poor fitting rather than poor drafting (I did a rather slapdash adjustment for a full bust).

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made

I made a muslin to roughly check the fit (without the sleeves or facings), and found it fit in terms of ease across my bust, but the neckline gaped horribly. I pinched out the excess into a dart pointing toward the bust point, then transferred this to the paper pattern. The excess was then rotated out into the pleats, the neckline smoothed, and the the facing re-drawn. This seemed to work fine for the muslin, but I think a slightly less rough and ready fitting over the bust would have been a bit more flattering. Amazingly, the back fits pretty well without any changes at all (it's not actually as wrinkly as the picture would imply, I think it's a bit caught up, or the way I'm standing).

I did my usual forward shoulder adjustment on the shoulder seam and sleeve head. I didn't reshape the armscye at all, but I think scooping a little at the front armscye would have improved the fit a bit, as there's a bit of excess bunching there, which isn't helping the slightly odd pleats.

As mentioned above, I also lengthened the top in the pattern piece by 2cm, although the actual top ended up being 3cm longer as I took a narrower hem. I also drafted the sleeve bands 1cm longer so they weren't so tight on my upper arms.

Construction details

This was mostly constructed on my regular machine, with exposed seams finished on my serger. Instead of using fusible interfacing on the facing and sleeve bands, I used an extra layer of self fabric, and stabilised the neckline (as well as the armscyes and shoulders) with Vilene bias tape. Using self fabric also meant I could easily finish the facing edge neatly (by sewing right sides together along the outside edge and flipping the right way out before attaching to the main part of the bodice).

Rather than stitch in the ditch as suggested to finish the inside of the sleeve bands, I slipstitched this down by hand, as for me this was faster and neater. I did however use the machine to sew the facing to the shoulder seams, the facing to the hem, and the inside tie to the side seam, following previous lines of stitching in each case to hide the stitches.

As it's very thin fabric, I stabilised behind where the buttons were sewn on with small pieces of self fabric (sorry, I forgot to take a photo of this). I also added a snap at the neckline. I actually need to lower the snap placement a little, but wasn't in the mood to fix this earlier as I'd already sewn the buttons on three times before I was happy with the placement.

By the way, when the instructions say to baste pleats etc, I highly recommend doing so; it makes the pieces much easier to handle and put together accurately. It's also helpful to baste or otherwise mark along the seam lines at the corner of the front bodice pieces when attaching the tie and button loops so that placement is easier.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others

I'm unlikely to sew this again, although I may reuse the sleeves and the back bodice. To be honest, I don't think I would recommend this, at least for ladies with a fuller bust. I think it may well work better and be more flattering on a smaller chest, as it would remove a lot of the fitting issues. To my eyes, this top also has a slight whiff of maternity wear on me, I think because the fastening is above the waistline, and this effect would also be lessened with a smaller bust.

Conclusion

This top was pretty quick to make, and isn't terrible, but there's something a bit off about the fit that means I'm constantly having to adjust it whilst wearing it. I will wear this to see how I actually like it (after altering the snap). This is unlikely to make it into my regular wardrobe, but I can see it being useful as maybe a cover up when I'm off to the lake to swim, and it's also useful to know a style for me to avoid too! And it's another month done in my Burda challenge. (Speaking of Burda, the June edition appeared in my postbox today, and it looks great - so much better than the last couple of months... Can't wait to get sewing!)

Me-Made-May '13 round-up: days 13-19

Day 13

Sadly I didn't wear anything me-made on this day, although I did wash plenty of me-made things: it was laundry day after the trip to the UK!

Day 14

Top: me-made, but not yet blogged (modified Sorbetto) | Skirt: me-made (self-drafted) | Necklace: Accessorise | Sandals: Hush Puppies

Worn: to go for drinks and dinner with friends. It was a lovely sunny day, but I was a bit overenthusiastic with the bare legs as it was actually rather nippy in the evening. This is the fifth version of the Sorbetto I've made, although I haven't yet blogged about it. It's lovely and cool to wear (it's rayon challis), but I think I might take it in a bit at the waist on the CB seam and maybe the side seams too as it's a bit shapeless as it currently is. You can my previous Sorbettos here, here, here and here).

Day 15

Top: me-made (self-drafted) | Apron: me-made, but never blogged (a free online pattern that seems to have disappeared)

Worn: around the house, and to do a bit of sewing - I've made a start on April's Burda challenge! I actually wear this apron nearly every time I cook, so I've realised this is also a very well-used me-made item.

Day 16

Top: me-made (Sorbetto) | Vest top and jeans: H&M | Necklace: eBay (I think?)

Worn: to do shopping and prep for a dinner party the next night.

Day 17

Top: me-made (Sorbetto) | Vest top and jeans: H&M | Earrings: Accessorise | Limoncello: courtesy of Matteo, and delicious...

Worn: for dinner and drinks with friends. Lots of drinks. I invited two other couples round for dinner, nominally to say thank you for cat-sitting, but really to try some of our friend's homemade limoncello (made with proper Amalfi coast lemons!). I can happily report that the limoncello was very very very good. We had a super fun night, I made vast quantities of curries and chutneys. I can also happily report that there was some left over so it's been a curry-tastic weekend here. This should have been the theme Friday (hats), but I've postponed my participation - I have a plan but it involves going into town, and I spent all of this day in the kitchen...

Day 18

I didn't actually get dressed this day (did I mention the drinks?), so nothing me-made. Oops.

Day 19

Forgot to take a photo as I was just hanging around the house watching MotoGP and IPL, but I wore my leopard print batwing top, never blogged properly, but seen here.

Me-Made-May '13 round-up: days 1-12

Right, I'm finally back at home and looking forward to catching up with my sewing, gardening and housework (well, maybe not looking forward so much to that last one...). Sewing-wise, the first thing is to catch up on documenting Me-Made-May '13, and the next thing will be to do my April (and May) Burda challenge.

Day 1

Pyjama shorts: me-made

Worn: to go to bed. I was spending the day packing and tidying the house before 10 days in the UK, and ended up not wearing anything me-made during the day. Then I remembered I still had these pyjama shorts hanging around, so I was able to sleep in a me-made style!

Day 2

Necklace: me-made (and rather wonky in the photo!) | Top, cardie and jeans (!): Uniqlo | Bag: Kipling

Worn: to fly to Liverpool. I still love this necklace, it goes with a surprising range of outfits, and I'm pleased that it didn't end up looking too "craftsy" or homemade. I'm wondering here if I remembered to pay for my parking. Then remembering that I arrived by aeroplane.

Day 3

Top: me-made (self-drafted) | Jeans and jacket: H&M | Necklace: local shop in Hammersmith, London | Bag: Kipling | Shoes: Pesaro

Worn: for an afternoon out in Liverpool, then to see friends in Birkenhead. Today was Theme Friday: water! Here I am by the Albert Docks in Liverpool, with the Three Graces (the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building) and the Museum of Liverpool in the background.

Day 4

Top: me-made (modified Sorbetto) | Cardie: Uniqlo | Jeans: H&M | Shoes: Pesaro

Worn: for a day out in Chester with a friend and her children. These are her new chickens - they are adorable, and have fluffy tails that look like beehive hairdos. I've finally got around to redoing the yoke and sleeves of this top, and it's now completely wearable. I am sure to be wearing this again soon, so when I do I will take a picture to show the alterations.

Days 5 & 6

I didn't wear anything me-made on 5 or 6 May unfortunately. 5 May I was at a wedding, where I had intended to wear my birthday dress. Sadly I ran out of time after coming back from holiday to have it dry-cleaned and do the alterations needed, so wore RTW instead. 6 May was a day of travelling from the Wirral to Sussex (via an ice cream in the sunshine by the Dee in Chester), and I ended up not wearing me-made again.

Day 7

Top: me-made, never blogged (self-drafted) | Skirt: me-made (self-drafted) | Shoes: Pesaro | Sunglasses: prescription from Alan Afflelou | Book: Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen

Worn: to chill in the garden during the day, then out for a pub dinner with my parents in the evening (although I changed into jeans for the evening as it was a little chilly). This top is rather on its last legs: there is a small hole and weird stain at the front of the neckline, the grain has gone twisty, and it's generally sagged a bit all over. However it's still very comfortable to wear when I don't need to be too smart. The skirt is also rather worn now and the stretch denim has gone a little odd at stress points. However, this has probably been my most worn item ever, and I'm thinking about making a replacement soon - I just need to decide on the style.

Day 8

Top: me-made (self-drafted), never blogged properly, but seen here | Cardie: Uniqlo | Trousers: C&A | Shoes: Pesaro

Worn: to harass the cat during the day, then to travel back to London and eat curry in the evening. This is one of the cats I grew up with. He's now 17, but fortunately still in pretty good health.

Day 9

Top: me-made (BurdaStyle magazine) 02/2013/127 | Jacket: H&M | Necklace: local shop in Hammersmith, London | Bag: Kipling

Worn: to a lunchtime cello recital at LSO St Luke's.

Day 10

Top (just seen): me-made (modified Sorbetto) | Jacket and scarf: H&M | Jeans: Uniqlo | Shoes: Bata | Bag: Kipling

Worn: to do a little bit of shopping, and to snooze in St James's Park. The second Theme Friday: sewing spaces. I was away from home, but was going to the wonderful MacCulloch and Wallis to stock up on some notions whilst in London, so thought this was an appropriate interpretation! I will do a photo in my own sewing space at some point soon now I'm back home...

Day 11

Necklace: me-made (only just seen, you'll have to take my word for it that it's there!) | Jacket and scarf: H&M

Worn: to travel back home to Switzerland. I used to come and watch planes at Gatwick with my uncle, and I still find the monorail just as exciting as when I was seven (I once spent over an hour riding back and forth on it with my nan). Although, nowadays, it also makes me think of this.

Day 12

As it's the first day in weeks where I don't have to get up and dressed and go out and do things, I am spending the day in my me-made pyjama shorts, a vest top and my dressing gown. And no, you're not getting a photo of that!

Me-Made-May '13 sign-up

Hooray! Once again it's that time of year! Zoe has launched the Me-Made-Month - and this year it is May.

I actually only spotted it last week after returning from holiday, so I haven't had a lot of time to plan or consider my pledge, or to inventory my me-mades in order to make it a bit easier during the month. (Yes, I know there's no planning or panic sewing required, but I like to be organised!) There's a few things I want to achieve with this month, but I'm going away again on Thursday for a week and a bit, so I need to factor that in as I won't be able to wash and repeat so easily! I think this will actually be quite useful though, as it will be handy as a measure of how versatile my me-made wardrobe actually is.

So, without further ado, here is my pledge and corollaries:

I, Dilly of Dibulous, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made item (clothing or accessory) each day for the duration of May and June 2013, starting from 12 May.

• I will be away from 2 May and only return home on 11 May. During this period I will endeavour to wear a me-made item as often as possible. This is unlikely to be every day...
• Because I'm starting later, I've decided to extend this into June.
• The challenge always highlights any holes in my wardrobe, but this time I want to actively note these and work on filling them. During my me-made-month-and-a-half, I will make at least two items from the following list: a pair of casual trousers, a pair of shorts, a new denim skirt, a cardigan or sweater, a pretty/interesting jersey top, a casual summer jacket.

Hopefully see some of you there!

A slightly crazy skirt

I had a half day of spare time before I left to go on holiday, and decided to make something fun to wear when I got back. Separates are always handy, and I've been wanting to try this pattern for ages. It was super quick to make - I did the whole thing (tracing, cutting and sewing) in an afternoon and evening, and if you didn't need to do pattern matching across the seams, it would be even quicker. This is one of my makes for the PR pattern stash contest, but I've realised it could almost be part of the Pantone contest too, as the print contains no less than four of the Pantone spring 2013 colours! (Emerald, Tender Shoots, Monaco Blue and Poppy Red for those interested). I obviously have an eye for forecasting these things... ;)

Pattern description

BurdaStyle magazine 07-2012-120. Pencil skirt with high waist, shaped diagonal front darts and back slit.

Pattern sizing

34-44. I cut the 44.

Fabric used

Stretch cotton sateen from Fabric.com.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope when you were done?

Fairly similar - I converted the back slit into a vent.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

The instructions seemed pretty straightforward, although for most of it I just glanced through as apart from the curved darts it's a fairly basic skirt. One thing to note though: it says at the beginning of the instructions that the skirt sits 5cm below the waist; it does of course mean 5cm above the waist.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I really like that this skirt is drafted to be pegged at the bottom - it's by a decent amount too, which seems to be pretty rare. I also like the shaping of the waistline. I don't normally go for skirts without a waistband, but this may have converted me!

I'm not entirely convinced about the front shaped darts. I like the feature, but I think I need to adjust the width a bit as they're not completely flattering over my stomach as they are.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made

Apart from converting the back slit into a vent, I made no other adjustments or changes. This was even the same length as given.

Construction details

The waistline facing pieces were interfaced with fusible tricot to provide stability but maintain the stretch, and the zip opening reinforced with straight grain tape to ensure it didn't stretch out. I serged the edges of the pieces (apart from the enclosed seams under the facings) and sewed the seams themselves with a very narrow zig-zag stitch on my regular machine.

I always sew my invisible zips after sewing the seam as I've found this pretty much eliminates the bump at the end of the zipper. I use Els's tutorial - her English isn't perfect so the descriptions aren't completely clear, but if you follow along with the photos too it's pretty straightforward.

I also used her tutorial for sewing the facing so that it was finished cleanly. Again, this requires a couple of reads through, but is fairly straightforward once you've worked it out, and also provides a neat way to attach a loop for a button, by sandwiching it in the seam with the facing. The only step I needed to fiddle a bit was the step to sew the final few cm of the facing and waistband. It took me a couple of goes to work out the correct way to fold everything so that it turned neatly, but I took the picture below so that I would remember.

You can see the facing on top, with the zipper tape and skirt seam allowance folded back on top of it. Clipping the corner and doing a bit of enthusiastic seam grading meant that the finished result from this configuration was fairly neat. As this skirt is unlined, I covered the end of the zipper with a piece of matching fabric.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I have plenty of skirt patterns to try out, so I don't know whether I'll sew this again, but it is a very easy but effective pencil skirt, so I would definitely recommend it. If you wanted to make a feature of the curved darts, it would be better in a plain fabric.

Conclusion

Despite its craziness, I really like this print - it was originally purchased for a dress. I still have plenty left over for a dress too, but that really will be quite loud! This was a very quick and satisfying make. I've lost a little weight over the holiday, so trying this on today I realised I need to take it in a little at the side seams, but that shouldn't take too long. It's very comfortable to wear, I just need to work out what to wear it with!

Seersucker shirt-dress

I've been on a kick of summer clothes lately with all the holiday sewing, and something I've been wanting to make for a while is a seersucker shirt-dress - I had a lovely sleeveless one from Monsoon a few years ago, but it never really fit that well (anything RTW button-up is unlikely to fit that well for me, unfortunately), so it went to charity. I have a ton of vintage shirt-dress patterns, but most of these need grading up in size, and I wanted something a bit quicker, so I had a look through my commercial patterns. I settled on BWOF 05/2010/137, as it had pretty much all the features I wanted: wide neckline, A-line skirt with pockets, and short sleeves.

Pattern description

Shirt-waist dress with notched collar and in-seam side pockets.

Pattern sizing

44-52. I cut the 44.

Fabric used

Black and white striped cotton seersucker, with plain white polycotton for the pockets.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope when you were done?

It looked like the line drawing. Although this dress looks gorgeous in the photo (as do nearly all the plus size dresses in this issue - possibly helped by the gorgeous model!), it's actually quite hard to see details of the fit, especially around the neckline - she has the top few buttons undone. Be warned that in addition to the usual Burda low-ness, the neckline is also very wide.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

I had a couple of issues with the instructions for this dress: the collar and the pockets.

As the instructions have it, the edges of the facings are not properly finished, and there is just a vague mention of "neatening the edges" after the collar is sewn. I finished the edges of the facings before attaching them, and then sewed the collar on with the serger to finish it at the same time. However it's done, the finishing needs to be done before turning the facings and lapels the right way out.

I have to say, I've never come across instructions for attaching the pockets like those given here. Burda instruct you to sew the side seams first, leaving a gap, then sewing the pockets together and somehow fiddling them into place. I ignored Burda, and sewed on the pockets in a more sensible fashion (Sewaholic has a decent tutorial if you haven't come across in-seam pockets before). I also reshaped the pockets so that they were caught in the waist seam to help keep them in place.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I really like the sleeves on this pattern (after my changes, detailed below), they are probably the best fitting sleeves on anything I've made so far.

My only real dislike is the very wide neckline combined with a fairly low neckline. Combined with the overly stiff interfacing I used (doh), this means it gapes a bit around the collar. If I made this again, I would raise the neckline slightly, and shorten the lapel section of the collar so these don't push the collar open so much.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made

I made a 3cm FBA, but somehow ended up needing none of the length added. This was the first time I've made a BWOF plus size pattern, so I don't know if these patterns are drafted slightly differently. Of course, this was also the time I decided to skip the toile... In making the FBA, I added a bust dart as well as the waist dart. However, when I sewed these both up, the waist dart looked absolutely terrible, not least because of the weird interaction with the stripes on the fabric. I decided to convert each waist dart into two unpressed pleats, and I'm actually really happy with how this looks.

I made a forward shoulder adjustment on shoulder seam and sleeve cap, and also removed half the sleeve cap ease (a huge 4cm originally). I didn't reshape the armscye at all when I made this adjustment, and it's worked the best of my forward shoulder adjustments so far.

When I finished up this dress, the combination of the shirt-dress style and the fabric meant it looked a leeeetle like a nurse's outfit. To help counteract this, along with switching from white to red buttons, I added a tie belt, held in place with thread loops at the sides.

Construction details

I sewed this with my regular machine, with the seams finished with my serger. As mentioned above, I finished the edges of the facings before the pieces were assembled, finished the collar/lapel joining seam with my serger, and made the pockets in a more sensible fashion. To keep the facings in place, I stitched along the shoulder and waistline seams, meaning the stitches were hidden from the outside.

I used fusible interfacing for the collar and facings, but these ended up a bit too stiff. This is the lightest weight white fusible interfacing I have. It's bog standard Vilene from John Lewis; I think I need to source some better interfacing...

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I'm not sure I will sew this again immediately - I definitely want more shirt-dresses, but I have a ton of patterns I want to try, including many vintage ones. I would still recommend this pattern, although I would also recommend making a toile to check whether you need any adjustments to the neckline.

Conclusion

Although not perfect, I'm still pretty pleased with this dress. The fit around the neckline is a little off, and it's a little tight around the hips, but these are not major issues. I'm pleased with the quality of finishing on this dress, and I think it will be a handy summer dress.