Birthday dress

This is a pattern I've been wanting to sew up for some time, and after making a few ponte dresses recently, I realised this would also work well. I didn't have a huge amount of time to make a dress for my birthday, so it occurred to me that this would be a good time to try it out - ponte dresses are a little more forgiving of fit so I tend not to muslin them, which would save time.

Pattern description

Vogue 8667: Lined, princess seamed dress with fitted bodice, A-line or straight skirt and back zip. Options of cap sleeves and bias-cut collar.

Pattern sizing

8-24. I cut the 16 at the bust, grading out to 18 at waist and hip. I'm glad I checked the finished measurements on the pattern pieces - it is described as a "fitted bodice", but has 3 inches of ease at both bust and waist, which seems like an awful lot (especially given I was making this in a stretch fabric). I cut it a size smaller than would be indicated by the size chart.

Fabric used

Printed ponte from Fabric.com

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

Yep.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

I didn't look at the instructions much, but I did do a read-through and they were mostly ok. I did have a couple of quibbles though from what I saw though, one more minor and one a bit bigger... For all Burda's terrible instructions, at least they do normally tell you which side to press the seam towards. I was following the pictures in the instructions here and pressed the princess seams in the bodice towards the side pieces. It was only after I'd graded them and couldn't get them to lie nicely that I realised in the following pictures they were shown pressed open. Duh. And sort of annoying as I didn't need to grade them so much if I'd pressed it correctly.

The other issue I had was with the insertion of the lining. Although I didn't line this dress I did look at the instructions for future reference. The way they suggest to the lining is inserted in sections is really bizarre, meaning you would end up with exposed seams at the armscyes and a really ugly looking zip. I don't quite understand why they wouldn't suggest the lining was made up completely separately and inserted after the zip was put in.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

Likes: The drafting is nice and all the style lines flow nicely from bodice to skirt. I really like the pleats at the front of the skirt, I think they are very flattering - as is the neckline.

Dislikes: As already mentioned the method of inserting the lining is bizarre. For my preferences, there is also too much ease as drafted.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made

I made an FBA, rotated the back shoulder and neckline down to adjust for swayback, took in the back slightly at the waist, and made my usual forward shoulder adjustment to the armscye and sleeve head. I omitted the zip given I was making the dress in ponte, and therefore cut the centre back bodice on a fold. I decided not to line the dress as I would be wearing it with a slip (and I don't much like knit linings).

Construction details

As this dress involved a bit of easing in the princess seams and the sleeve caps (and the fabric doesn't fray or ravel), I constructed it all on my regular sewing machine, using a very narrow zig-zag stitch (avoiding the serger was also for ease of unpicking in case of adjustment, as I didn't want to make a muslin). To be honest, it probably would have been better to make it on the serger (or at least finish the seams on the serger), as this would have looked much neater on the inside. As it is, it's u-g-l-y on the inside. Oh well.

I finished the neckline with bias strip facing, topstitched down, and also finished the armscye seams with bias tape as they just looked way too ugly to be left unfinished. The shoulder seams were reinforced with grosgrain tape. I found that the sleeves and the hem were exactly the right length before finishing, so I finished these with stretch lace and bias tape facings respectively. The bias tape on the hem is reasonably heavyweight, so it also gives the hem a nice bit of structure. I used the "wrong" side of the lace on the sleeves as it is smoother.

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

I may well sew this again as I do like the fit and the shape (although the fit over my bust needs a bit of work), and I would like to try the collar. I will probably make it in a woven, with lining, if I do make it again. I would definitely recommend this to others - it is quick to sew and is a very flattering dress.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed wearing this for dinner and drinks with friends, and got a lot of compliments on it. I might try to adjust the fit over the bust a little before I wear it again though - whilst it's fine when I'm standing or sitting up with good posture, it looks a bit odd and wrinkly when I lean forward or slouch... (Just don't slouch then?). I love this print and colour, and the fabric is super comfortable to wear. All in all, a pretty successful make.

Vintage pattern pledge

You may have noticed a new badge over on the right there - yes, I've signed up to a new challenge this year:

During 2014, I, Dilly, will sew up at least three of my vintage sewing patterns.

Now, I don't have the greatest track record in completing challenges, but I'm actually feeling quite inspired by this one. In fact, the day before I came across this challenge, I had been considering my (embarrassingly large) collection of vintage patterns, and thinking how sad it is that I haven't sewn up more of them - partly because I would rather like to be wearing them, and partly because it seems so melancholy for them to be sitting in boxes. If I own them, I should use them!

In this frame of mind, I had already re-traced a vintage pattern I had been struggling with before Christmas (having had a new idea about fitting it), so even before signing up, I'd made a good start!

I've kept to just three patterns in my pledge, as I've wanted to keep things realistic. I tend to muslin vintage patterns (as the sizing and fit can be very different to modern patterns), which takes up a fair amount of time, and I don't want to be sewing just vintage patterns this year! Although if I end up making more than three, that is of course a bonus...

Good news about the pattern I'm working on at the moment though - with just the adjustment I had been mulling over (lengthening the bodice and sleeve in the top part of the armscye), the bodice fit perfectly - without an FBA. I've had a bit more of a struggle with the sleeves (if you follow me on Twitter you'll know about that...), but I've got them fitting well enough that I'm about to start cutting the real fabric.

Split sleeves from Christmas dress

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Trena asked if I could share how I drafted the sleeves for my Christmas dress, so here it is! This dress was made super quickly as a bit of an experiment, so the drafting was rather rough and ready... Rather than redoing the draft to show the steps, I've done a pretty picture to show the main steps!

The red outline shows the original sleeve shape (after my adjustments for forward shoulder, and removing the ease), plus the "centre" line, which is dropped from the shoulder point. I decided how much to have the pieces overlap and marked these lines parallel to the centre line (shown in grey), then drew in the curves for the new shape (shown in blue). After that, it was simply a matter of tracing off the two sides, with balance points marked, and adding seam allowances.

You'll notice that I ended up with two pieces. This is because I decided to shape the underarm seam slightly. This was really completely pointless (and possibly contributed to the halves pulling apart too much when wearing the dress) - I would recommend just putting the two pieces together at the underarm seam (remember to mark this as a balance point on the pattern piece!) and cutting the sleeve as one piece. I would also probably increase the overlap. I think these would also look nice with a pleat or gathering in the overlap to add a bit of drama to the shape.

Hope this is helpful!

Another batwing top

So, this is the December Burda Challenge from last year. The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice there's not been a November one... So close to completing my challenge, but so far! I think Burda fatigue had well and truly kicked in by then, and despite objectively liking a few of the patterns in the November magazine, nothing really grabbed me enough that I wanted to spend the time making it. Oh well, I WILL complete this challenge, just not in twelve months as I'd intended. In the spirit of just getting it done already, I chose this pattern as a quick one to sew up (although it's ok, I do need some comfortable but slightly more dressy tops...).

Pattern description

BurdaStyle magazine 12/2013/128: Batwing top with long cuffs.

Pattern sizing

34-42. I graded up to 44.

Fabric used

A sheer sparkly knit, plus bamboo jersey for the cuffs.

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

Mostly, although with the fabric I used mine was a lot less drapey.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

I didn't really use them as this is a very simple top, however, from my quick glance through, they seem fairly straightforward.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I really like the long, narrow cuffs, I think it streamlines the casualness of the batwing sleeves. No dislikes!

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made

I made a swayback adjustment using the quick method of rotating the back shoulder and neckline down (I could have taken a bit more off here actually) and added a bit more width at the hips as my fabric wasn't super stretchy. This sparkly fabric is also a bit itchy, so I decided to use a contrast fabric for the cuffs. This meant that the cutting layout would have been very wasteful, so I cut the back piece with a centre back seam. I narrowed the cuff sections a fair amount as they were quite loose as drafted, and I finished the neckline with fold-over elastic instead of the suggested binding strip.

Construction details

Seams were sewn on the serger, with the neckline elastic and hem finished with my regular sewing machine. FOE is much easier to apply (especially narrow ones like this) when sewn in two passes: first sew the inside half with a zig-zag stitch, then fold over and stitch the outside down (I used a straight stitch as it didn't need to stretch much).

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

I might sew this again in a drapier fabric - it will be a nice quick project as a palette cleanser between others! I would recommend this to others, it is nicely drafted, and super quick to make up.

Conclusion

Despite the itchiness of the fabric, it's actually fairly comfortable to wear out, and not too hot either. This wasn't quite the fabulous way I was hoping to finish this challenge, but it is still a useful top that fills a hole in my wardrobe.

A quick top and two quick dresses

A couple of things from the end of 2013 to catch up on, all quick makes.

Sweater-knit batwing top

I'd been fiddling around with a skirt that ended up being a time-consuming wadder, so I wanted something quick and palate-cleansing, and a knit top always fits that bill. I also like doing this sort of quick thing between longer projects as I'm trying to replace my RTW basic tops with nicer and better fitting self-made ones. This was super simple: just the sleeves from a Burda dress frankensteined onto my stretch block, with a low-ish round neckline.

This is made from a rayon-poly sweater-knit from Fabric.com. The neckline is stabilised with fusible bias tape, and finished with a strip of self fabric turned to the inside and topstitched (the same way a bias facing would be applied). This looks nice, but was a bit fiddly with this fabric as it doesn't press terribly well, so needed basting, which sort of defeats the purpose of a quick top... The sleeves and hem are finished with a three-step zig-zag. You can see me wearing this top in the picture from when I met Melissa.

Doubleknit dresses

These were whipped up before going back to the UK in November, with the intention of being warm and comfy travelling outfits. The bodice is based on the Burda peplum cardie-jacket, and the skirt is just a simple A-line. I left the darts in the back of the skirt, but used my usual method for a dart-free bodice. I think in this heavier and less stretchy fabric it would have been better to add bust darts.

The shoulders in both are reinforced with grosgrain tape and the waistband with clear elastic. I've actually replaced the clear elastic with regular elastic in the grey dress - it's a slightly lighter weight fabric and the clear elastic just made it look ripply and horrid. The neckline is stabilised with fusible bias tape and has a (purchased) bias facing, which is finished by hand to avoid visible stitches on the right side. I decided to finish the sleeves and hem by hand as well, to keep the look nice and clean.

I think the black one works better than the grey one, there's something about the latter that just seems a bit frumpy. I'm trying to put my finger on it so I can change it - I think I will make a matching tie-belt to soften it a bit, and possibly shorten it a bit. I haven't actually worn these as much as I thought I would. One reason is that they could really do with having pockets, and the other is that they don't look very good with the winter coat I have. It's an "egg"-shaped one (as Burda like to describe it), so anything that's not slim at the bottom gets all bunched up. Maybe time to make a winter coat...?

Burda Challenge

Err, yeah. I got stuck on November's issue. There were several things in there that I liked well enough, but nothing I really needed enough to want to spend time on. And then I felt I couldn't do December's until I'd done November's, and then Christmas came along and blah blah blah... So, November still hasn't been done (although I did cut out the ponte trousers: disaster), but I've made December's. A full review coming up, but here's a sneak preview:

Christmas 2013

So, before I join the masses with the Top 5 lists, I'll squeeze in a quick Christmas post (well it is still before twelfth night - just). There's actually a few me-made and sewing/knitting/crocheting/crafting-related things to show you, so let's go in chronological order I suppose!

Ivy wreath

I made this wreath at the beginning of December, intending for it to go on the door to our flat. However, I hung it up for some pictures before I put a nail in the door, and decided I actually liked it far too much for it to go outside, where I would only see it intermittently. The wreath base is shop-bought, and I made the decoration with felt, covered wire, and ribbon.

Christmas dress

I bought some cute retro printed cotton in November to make this year's Christmas outfit, and this dress was originally started (but not completed) for some pre-Christmas drinks with friends. As it was by that time only a week to go and I hadn't made a start on a Christmas dress, I figured I'd just finish this one, it being suitably festive (and also stretchy: key when doing the amount of eating I tend to do at Christmas...).

This is a bit of a bodged together pattern, a modified combination of a BurdaStyle Magazine pattern, and my stretch block. The lapped curves of the sleeves and the skirt were judged by eye rather than properly drafted, but they work well enough (well, apart from the skirt needing a leeeeetle more overlap - there is a safety pin preserving some sort of decency in these photos).

It is made from a fairly hideous velour knit that was given to me by my mother-in-law. I cut them with the nap running from bottom to top to minimise the shiny-ness, and it actually doesn't look too bad made up into a dress. To finish the neckline, hem and sleeve hems I just turned the edge under and topstitched it, first stabilising the neck and hem with bias tape.

The bodice ended up being a bit too short, so I just added a strip of fabric as a sort of midriff band. I underlined this with powernet, hoping that this would give a nicely defined waist on the dress, but the strip was a bit too long and this didn't really work. Never mind! I covered this up with the sash from my Budapest dress, which didn't look quite as glamorous as intended - it would have looked better with a slimmer waist, but I work with what I have! All in all, this isn't my best ever make (and was only ever intended to be a stunt dress), but was comfortable to wear and definitely festive.

Gifts for others

I only made a few small bits and pieces for other people this year. Once again, I'd intended to make a shirt for my husband, but once again time slipped away and it didn't get done... Oops! I've promised it as a new-ish year gift instead, so we'll wait and see if it does appear. Other than that, I made a necklace and a brooch for my mum, a pair of earrings for my sister, a pair of earrings for a friend, and a scarf for my husband.

The necklace is identical to the one I made myself a couple of years ago, as she's always admired it, and shares the same taste as me for bold and bright jewellery. The brooch is crocheted, just "freestyle", starting with a chain loop. The backing is interfaced felt. I made Mum another brooch ages and ages ago (before starting my blog), and she's always asking me to make more. Unfortunately I freestyled the first one and can't remember quite what I did... I'm not as pleased with how this one turned out, but Mum still likes it.

The two pairs of earrings are both effectively just covered hoops, but done in slightly different ways. The turquoise pair (for a friend) are made from wooden curtain rings, covered, then another row of singles worked around (or maybe doubles, I can't actually remember). They're quite large, about 2 inches across. The black pair (for my sister) use a smaller "silver" jewellery hoop, and I included black glass beads in the second row of stitches.

The scarf for my husband is almost exactly the same as the one I made for my dad last year, just shorter (2 balls of wool rather than 3) and again joined with a twist so it sits better when worn.

So, I think that's Christmas done and dusted, I'll leave you with my new favourite mug (a gift from my husband), which of course I use solely for Earl Grey tea, hot...