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.

Two jersey tops

I'm not doing a full review for these tops, as they are super simple. They are both self drafted and I made both in one afternoon - each is just three pieces, plus binding strips for the neckline, sleeves and (for the stripy one) the hem.

Batwing top

This is the third version of this top that I have made (I never blogged about the first two, but you can see one of them here). It's a very comfortable and flattering style, and nice and cool too because it is loose under the arms.

It was super simple to draft from my knit block, and just needed a little refinement in the width of the body and depth of the curve under the arm after the first version. The fabric is a cotton/viscose jersey from Tia Knight.

The neckline and arms are finished in my usual way. Cut a strip a little longer than the length of the edge that is being finished (normally on the horizontal grain so it is stretchy), fold it in half with the right side facing out and press. Serge the raw edge of the folded strip onto the right side of the edge, applying a little tension to the strip but not the garment. Flip the strip up and press in place. I also topstitched the neckline binding here to keep it in place, and used a wide strip at the wrists to give a wide cuff effect.

I normally leave one seam open on each edge I'm binding, then sew the binding in one with the last seam to finish it all together, as it is much easier to cut a strip the approximate length you need rather than guessing how much shorter the binding should be and trying to apply it in the round. This meant the order of construction here was:

• Sew CB seam and one shoulder seam.
• Bind and topstitch neckline.
• Sew second shoulder seam.
• Bind arms.
• Sew side seams.
• Finish hem.

Underarm drape top

This was drafted from my basic knit block, using this tutorial for the sleeves. I cut the top on the bias for some interest with the stripes, but it didn't work out quite as intended - the CB seam and the drape on the sleeves make the diagonal stripes look a bit odd. I had also intended for the stripes on the back to be going in the other direction (i.e. so that they made chevrons at the sides where front and back met), but I cut it wrong. Neither of these issues particularly bother me much though.

I do like these sleeves, but they don't seem to drape as much as Rhonda's. I have a feeling some of this might be because the fabric is on the bias, and I think next time I will also spread the slashed sections a little more.

This fabric (a jersey of unknown fibre and forgotten origin!) has some stretch lengthwise as well as crosswise, so I cut the bindings lengthwise to add some extra interest. The hem was also bound for the top, so the order of construction was:

• Sew CB seam and one shoulder seam.
• Bind and topstitch neckline.
• Sew second shoulder seam.
• Bind arms.
• Sew one side seam.
• Bind hem.
• Sew second side seam.

The sleeve openings on this top are quite deep, and it does show a little bra at the side. However, it's only really occasional glimpses as the draping falls in such a way to hide it most of the time, so it's not at all uncomfortable to wear.