Complete: Homage Skirt

...Because "homage" sounds much nicer than "ripoff" ;)

I'd planned to write this post earlier this week, but it's been an unusual few days. As any Australian readers will know all too well, we've been sweltering through the hottest stretch of weather since 1908- that's the Victorian statistic anyway. And in Australia, that typically means bushfires. We didn't quite get to the point of evacuation, but friends just 3km away did. As it was, the car was packed with bare essentials ready to go at any point. Five separate "incidents" - official term - within 20km of home is pretty spooky for a most-of-her-life-suburbanite! In any case, blogging kind of slipped down the list of priorities....

But it was kind of enlightening, looking at the sparsely packed car, to realise how few material things in life are genuine essentials. Evidently my decluttering journey still has some way to go.

But, on to sewing. This is actually my last make of last year; I wanted something new to wear on Christmas Day. And ever since I saw Sarah of Fabric Tragic's Monet on Acid Charlotte Skirt I've really wanted something similar of my own - a bright floral with a design solid enough to look great as a summer or winter skirt. A trip to Rathdowne Remnants yielded me just the thing; a cheerful (slight) stretch cotton, bright florals on a black background. (I was meant to be helping to look for bridesmaid fabric, but the bride didn't mind me diverting for just a moment.)

Now I do have Charlotte Skirt pattern, and have used it, but I decided to go with New Look 6107, which I used just recently for my sequin skirt. (Which, by the way, has already has several outings. I love it more every time I wear it, and I can't believe I forgot to include it in my official Top 5). I like the lower waist band on this pattern for a more casual skirt, plus it's easier to walk in than the Charlotte. Also, using a different pattern made me feel a little less mindlessly imitative!

I wore it Christmas Day with my white Rowe top tucked in - which was actually my first Me Made Outfit. (I'm not sure if you can call a dress an outfit, can you??) It felt good - I can make coordinating items!!

I made it up exactly as I did the sequin skirt, with the same sizing and (minor) modifications. I have noticed though that this skirt, if I've been sitting down for any stretch of time, tends to get that horizontal fold in front. (You can see that in the front photo above) I'm not sure whether that's because it needed to be graded a little larger at the hips, or if it's just creases from wear. I think it's the latter; my sequin one certainly doesn't do that, and that fabric (plus underlining) is a good deal thicker. Although it may have a bit more stretch to it...Funny how different fabrics behave differently.

I did underline the skirt with a black voile, because I wanted to make sure the fabric was sturdy enough for the skirt style (and didn't create a VPL). On reflection though, I probably negated the stretch by doing so. I've worn it a couple of times since Christmas, and the fold really only happens after a few hours of wear. To be honest, it doesn't bother me too much anyway. Just something to note for next time :)

I did taper the back seam down to 2cm in from the seam allowance at the hem, like I did previously. I prefer the line that gives the skirt - it's just that little bit more shapely. But it still allows for things like, er, walking freely...

The one genuine regret I have is that I used the voile as the waistband lining/facing. I think that I was overcompensating for the thickness of the sequin one's waistband. But this one could have done with being a wee bit firmer, plus the voile is a little too transparent for that particular ask. Am I regretful enough to redo it? Not so much, no.

On the whole, I'm really happy with this, and it ticks the boxes for being a practical, wearable, versatile make. Nice to finish the year on a good note!

Finally, thank you to all of you who expressed interest in my fabric/yarn giveaway. the winners, as drawn by my man are:

Mika of Savoury Stitches  -  the Japanese lawn.
Gillian of Crafting a Rainbow  -  the navy gingham
Sarah of Fabric Tragic   -  The Abuelita yarn

Congratulations, and may your makes be satisfying and enviable! If you could email your address to me at daniellekrivan@gmail.com I'll get those parcels winging their way to you all ASAP.

Have a wonderful week :)

Danielle oxo

Complete: Style Arc Rowe Top ( & Rowe Top...& Rowe Top...)

Hello all! I'm grabbing the first spare hour I've had in over a week to sit and post - honestly, December this year is feeling like a massive To-Do list. I think I'm usually pretty good at keeping things fairly relaxed over the festive season, but I've gotten right out of whack this time :/  Must remember for next year ... simplify!

I do have some big (for me) news though - I have made friends with knits! I've been genuinely intimidated by the notion of knit fabric for "ordinary" clothes. Even though I've made plenty of costumes using knits, I didn't really think I could achieve a nice, professional-looking finish on everyday wear. So even though I cut this pattern out back in - wait for it - May, it sat on the desk until two weeks ago. (Yup, this was one of the four projects I pledged to make for MMM. Oops.)

Two weeks ago though I decided it was ridiculous to be defeated by fabric and had a go. And in doing so I discovered my new favourite pattern! This is Style Arc's Rowe Top / Tunic. (I'm having trouble linking to it, but googling that should take you straight there :) ). I've been wanting a slouchy tee for a while, but a lot of the RTW ones I've tried on are very boxy, which is a look I really like - but only on other people. Also, a lot of them seem to gape at the neck, and I wanted something comfy I could move in without having to constantly glance down and check on.

It's nice and slouchy, but has a nice shape at the sides ( not that you can really tell on the hanger...) And I'm not sure how the fine folks at SA did it, but the neckline sits flat at all times. Hurrah! This was straight from the pattern with no modifications.

You know when you tell yourself you're only making a muslin, but you're actually really hoping it turns out to be a proper wearable garment? Here 'tis :)

The sleeves are finished with bands of the same fabric, which makes for a really nice finish.The only change I'd make from now on, and this is purely personal preference, would be to take a bit of volume out of the sleeve hem. 4cm / 1 1/2" would be just about perfect.

I like the design line on the back; I think it's a nice little added feature. Plus, it would lend itself to colour-blocking very nicely.

I had a bit of trouble getting a smooth stitching line at first - as you can see on that back seam above. But what I was more worried about was getting the hemline to look right (you know, not "homemade"). This was the main intimidation factor, after all! But my machine's instruction manual had this strange, random-sounding little tip that I'd never heard of before: If stitching line is not smooth, sew with a sheet of paper underneath.

I gave it a go, even though it sounded a bit like some editor was bored and having a laugh. You know what? It works! Below you can see the one of the first practice pieces lying over the top of the sewn-to-paper piece:

Who'd have thunk it! Mind you, I'd also like to add that you need to be very careful as you're tearing the paper away afterwards...One side at a time works best I found :)

A few months after I cut that one out I bought a beautiful remnant of a neutral coloured wool jersey (about 1.5m, I think). I bought it with this pattern in mind, hoping that one day I'd actually be brave enough to attempt it. Then I happened to notice that colour-wise it worked quite well with the sequin fabric I made my last post's Festive Skirt out of. I'm trying to get a bit more creative with leftover project scraps - I really hate waste - so I experimented a little. And I think it worked!

 From memory, the sleeves are 5cm / 2" shorter than the pattern, and hemmed rather than finished with the bands. I also combined the upper and lower back pieces into one pattern piece. This is easy - just match up notches and make sure the seam lines are laid on top of each other, rather than laying the pattern pieces edge to edge:

I generally cut out pattern pieces pretty frugally (a legacy of years of costuming on minimal budgets!), so once I'd done the one above I thought I just might be able to squeeze another top out of what was left over. This fabric is so soft and fine and warm, that it seemed a shame not to have a long sleeved top for winter out of it... And, as luck would have it, there was a post I'd read by Grainline a few days earlier that explained how to convert a short sleeved pattern into a long sleeved one. There was just enough to make it work!

There's probably a bit too much volume in the lower arm; I could have graded it in a bit so it was more noticeably 'batwing". And in a perfect world, I would have finished off the hem with a band also. But these are pretty small niggles overall, especially given I got my two tops out of one remnant!

So there you have it; my new go-to comfy pattern! Don't you just love accommodating patterns??

Do you have any "blank canvas" dependables like this one? Or any more tips for sewing with knits? Do share!

Have a wonderful week :)

Danielle oxo

Inspired by: Jacket/Kimono/Shruggy Thing

Hello all :) I've been doing some thinking since finishing my Sew Weekly Reunion dress. It was really satisfying going "off-pattern" like that; I haven't done that for a while. And since joining Pinterest I have hundreds of pins I love the look of. (Pinterest is basically a sewing inspiration board as far as I'm concerned...) Now, while I don't want to fall into the trap of feeling like I have to make everything I see, there's no real point in collecting inspiring images if I don't ever do anything with them.

So I've decided to do an "Inspired By..." make on a semi-regular basis from now on. I'm thinking I'll wait till I notice the same kind of garment cropping up over and over in my likes/pins and go from there. I'm hoping that'll keep it manageable!

And here's the first one. I admit that "jacket/kimono/shruggy thing" doesn't sound all that alluring, but I have LOTS of pins like these below:

As we're moving into Spring weather already (I swear the weather has been watching the calendar here: 1st September and BANG! it was Spring) this seemed the perfect project to kick off with. Plus, I saw a friend the other day who was wearing a similar garment the other day, mentioned to her how I was wanting to make something just like that, and she immediately passed it over and told me to use it to draft a pattern. (she's a very good friend :) )

This is her jacket: (night time photo, I'm afraid). Believe me, it looks much nicer on, but this gives an idea of the actual shape. It was a bit tricky sketching out the pattern, because the pieces don't lie flat, and then the band (formed by two pieces) that extends right around the edges pulls the main pieces in still further.

 I used a multi-coloured chiffon with an almost abstract feather print (about 2m in all), and as much as I genuinely loathe working with chiffon, it's perfect for this kind of floaty jacket. 

We ended up with this:

I actually love it! It's exactly what I wanted it to be, and I think it's going to get a lot of wear this season, and right through into summer (great for early mornings or late evenings). In fact, it'll probably see me through into Autumn as well. Woo hoo!

For anyone who's curious, this is what the pattern pieces look like. The smaller piece is the front - this sits over the top of the larger back piece. The straight edge on the front is the opening; the small slightly jutting out sections on both pieces form the sleeve openings.

The top of the back piece folds down so that there's a straight horizontal seam at the front, just above the bust.

Below you can see the back folded over to meet the front piece, which is laid over the top. I guess you could eliminate this and just have a "normal" shoulder seam, but as is it seems to drape really nicely over the shoulders when worn. And I think it's quite a nice design detail. :)

When I cut the (9.5cm wide when folded, plus seam allowance....22cm width total) two edging bands - these sew together at the back centres at neck and hem - I broke the "rules" and cut them across the grain. This was because if I can avoid cutting chiffon (nasty, slippery stuff that it is) I will. Cutting across the grain meant I could make a small cut and then tear the rest, which gave me PERFECTLY straight pieces with almost no effort. Gotta love that!

You know my favourite part of this make? Apart from ending up with something I'm going to wear until it literally falls apart around me, that is. The whole project, even including drafting the pattern and doing french seams on all seams, took three hours. Total. It's the first thing I've ever whipped up after a full day at work. This has never happened before, so I think that's worth celebrating a little!

There's one other thing I'm going to trial with this post. Me Made May '13 showed me that a lot of the things I've made (and was planning to make at that stage) didn't really go with anything else I had. This is an issue for someone who's trying to gradually replace her existing wardrobe with a hand-sewn one! Since then, I've tried to only buy fabric if I can think of at least three other things I already have that it will go with. It's actually been extremely helpful! So I'm going to try from now on to show that in each post - see below. Plus, I'm hoping it will give me some much needed practice in styling - not my forte at all!

 I think it'll also work really well as in the first photo at the top of this post with cut off denim shorts. I do have some, but it's far too early in the season to show any leg above the knee - the winter legs above are quite blindingly pale enough as it is!

What's inspiring you at the moment? Do tell!

Have a wonderful week :)

Danielle oxo

Sew Weekly Reunion Challenge - Complete!

Yup, by the skin of my teeth and at the eleventh hour, 'tis done!

 I think I'm supposed to start off with The Facts, so here they are:

Fabric:  Cotton sateen. (Haven't worked with this before - loved it)

Notions:  Zip, button.

Pantone Challenge Colours:  Mykonos Blue and Deep Lichen Green.
(The blue in the photos has come out a whole lot lighter than it actually is IRL. Plus the green can look quite brown next to the blue - on its own it's definitely green... You'll just have to take my word on that!)

Pattern:  Salme Sewing Patterns Peplum Top. (Adapted to dress)

Time To Complete:  About 6 hours.

First Worn: Not yet! But will be worn to a high tea for a bride-to-be later this month :)

Wear Again? Yes! I'm thinking I can dress this up or down, so hopefully it'll get a few airings. It's a fairly classic style, which means it should be good for several years.

Total Cost:  I already had the pattern, which helped. The fabric was on special for $6 a metre (used 3) and the lining cost $6. Zip was $2.50, and buttons (pk 6) were $4. So, total cost was $30.50. 

 

I left my involvement in this challenge up to to chance a bit - I REALLY wanted to do it, but August was a ridiculously busy month. Sc I'd decided I'd only jump in if I could find fabric in the right colours. When I saw this striped sateen I remembered one of my pins on Pinterest:

Love! I already had and had made up the peplum top, so had sorted out the fit and adjustments. The skirt, since it had to fit in with the stripes, was simply two rectangles sewn together and gathered to fit at the waist. Finding the fabric and having the adjusted pattern were the only reasons I was able to get this done on time!

I like it. I did have some trouble with the zip at first - aligning the stripes was tricky on the machine. In fact, it didn't work at all. So I ended up unpicking and then hand sewing it in, which was much neater. Though it wasn't without gritted teeth and a few "I don't have time for this" snarls!

I had planned for this to be my dress for the wedding I'm sewing for at the moment. (That was one more way to justify being involved!) But now I'm not sure. I keep coming back to another Pinterest pin....

(Insert sigh of delight here...) Think it'll come down to whether I can track down emerald lace... We'll see!

One question for all you stylists out there: What colour shoes would you wear with this stripey dress? I don't like black; they look a bit "heavy". I tend to go for neutral shoes generally, but Deep Lichen Green is quite tricky to match. Any suggestions gratefully received!

Have a wonderful week :)

Danielle  oxo

Completed: Audrey Jacket

It's been a little longer between posts than I planned, sorry, but I haven't had proper internet access for a good two weeks. In the meantime though I finished my coat/jacket (Style Arc's Audrey Jacket pattern) I was going title this post, "A Fail Or Not A Fail?", since that was my question, but we'll get to that! Here 'tis:

(Huddled under the eaves in this shot - the rain and wind were evidently competing to see which could be the most energetic...)

And a back view for Nessa! Wish I'd adjusted my top first... :(  And for all of you lovely people who commiserated with me on the Buttonhole Debacle (and thank you, by the way - I would take you all out for coffee and cake if we lived nearby):

Hooray! Bound buttonholes sewn AND positioned correctly! So why was I thinking Fail? Well, it all went together fine (eventually...) but when I tried it on, I didn't like it on me. Painful moment! I loved the slightly retro shape of it in the pattern picture, but it's not a style I've ever worn before, and it just felt wrong on. I didn't make a muslin, so I guess that's my own fault. If I'd tried it on in a changing room I'd have rejected it immediately. Can you call it a successful project if you don't end up wearing it?? Has this ever happened to you?

The collar bothered me too. It still does. It's supposed to sit up like this (back view below):

(That looks uneven in the photo - I promise it's not!) But at the front it collapses in on itself a bit. If I ever make it again I'm going to fuse the collar - at least the front sections - twice. It's fine around the buttonholes, which have the extra fabric patch sewn in to make the welts, and that's what suggests to me that the front collar needs a bit more reinforcement. It just doesn't seem to be holding the weight adequately. I'm wondering too whether buttons with a shank wouldn't be a better choice, as much as I like these red ones. I have some dull gold ones in the drawer - might give them a go. Any thoughts???

So it sat there for a week or so. And, because I really do love the fabric, I tried it on every now and then. And slowly, it began to grow on me. I still don't think it's a perfect style for me, but I don't think it's the unmitigated disaster I thought it was at first. It is wearable, and having worn it to work yesterday I can attest that people don't point and snigger. It fills a wardrobe gap. So, I'm calling it a cautious success.

Although I don't consider myself remotely qualified to post tutorials, I am going to show step by step below how the hem lining went together, mainly because I would have loved to have this two weeks ago! Not sure if it's the standard procedure, but it worked. That's the thing about Style Arc patterns - I love their designs, but the instructions given do assume you know what you're doing. I've decided to take that as a compliment.

All was going fine till I got to the point of sewing the lining to the jacket. (Aside: I really wanted a striking print for this, a la Claire's Lady Grey jacket, but couldn't find anything that looked right. And then this silk lining went on sale. Couldn't resist. And that's another reason I kept trying the thing on - wool coat with silk lining....) The instructions said "Sew lining to jacket continuing around hem." Looked down at this:

Thought I'd cut it out wrong at first! Checked. Hadn't. Reread instructions. Didn't help. Googled. No love. So I went to the wardrobe and looked at the way other wool coat linings had gone together, and worked it out from there. This one has an overlocked edge on the front facing - mine's folded under. The lining is sewn at hem and folds down over itself. It started to make sense.

First I had to unpick 3cm of the front facing/front lining seam. This allows for manouevering room when you sew the lower edges.

 Then I sewed the jacket front/front facing seam, stopping directly above the right angle where the jacket front extends downwards. After that (not pictured, oops) I pulled the lining down to meet the jacket's lower edge and sewed them together. Imagine another finger pointing to the edge below - that seam.

This left a 'hole' where these two horizontal seams don't quite match up. The photo shows the reverse side of what's pictured above (i.e. the interfaced part you see below is the jacket facing - imagine the jacket in the above photo has been lifted up towards you.) My thumb is on the jacket front/facing seam, and my first finger is on the lining/ lower jacket edge seam.

When you bag it out, it looks like this, with the lining folding down over itself, hiding the actual seam.

 Hope that makes sense!

In wedding sewing news, we've had the bride's first fitting, and it seems to be coming along nicely. Which is making me rethink my "one sewing challenge at a time" rule.... All of a sudden there seem to be all these online sewalongs and challenges I really want to have a go at! I would love to be part of Thread Theory's Jedidiah Pants Sewalong. And the Sew Weekly Reunion Challenge is waking me up o' nights (Can you be part of a reunion if you weren't there the first time around??)... I know I have a tendency to take on too much at once though. And I think I really need to ensure that wedding sewing is as stress-free as possible. On the other hand, I planned to make a dress to wear to it anyway, and the colours of the SWRC are sublime. Think I'll leave it to chance - if I find suitable fabric next time I go shopping I'll jump in and go for it!

Are you taking part in any challenges or sewalongs at the moment? Do tell!

Have a wonderful week :)

Danielle oxo

Hmmm.... Links don't seem to be working, sorry. Will fix ASAP

Ginger Skirt, Take Three

First of all, thank you to everyone who commented on my last post, and made me feel so much better about ditching (at least for now) the work-in-progress I was wrestling with - you were all absolutely right! A week of knitting instead has been just what I needed; my tunic is almost done done AND I'm getting excited about sewing again. :) I have a couple of refashions planned that I'm hoping to get done over the school holiday break...here's hoping, anyhow!

In the meanwhile, I thought I'd post my third version of Colette Patterns' Ginger Skirt. This is the chevron stripe version, view 3 I think. I really meant this to be a muslin, just to get some practice in working with stripes, but commandeered it into service during MMM simply because my options were so limited. And as it happened, this skirt was one of the most commented on / favourited of all my Flickr posts. Go figure!

Here 'tis:

It's quite a heavy cotton (I want to say twill, but I'm not sure...), but very soft, and not stiff at all. It's hard to tell from the above photos, but the stripes are fairly intricate; red, white, yellow and aqua, in varying widths - very good practice for stripe-matching! And I'm pretty happy with the job I did on that score:

I added pockets to the side seams, using a navy poplin - nothing fancy or exciting. One thing I should have done was sew some stay tape or similar into the pocket section - because the side seams are already cut on the diagonal I have a feeling that over time that part is going to stretch out of shape. Especially since I can't seem to keep my hands out of pockets if I have them. I'll know that for next time!

But there is one other thing I'd love some advice on - the side seams. Now, I thought I'd cut the fabric out according to the pattern piece directions, and the stripes on the front and back seams align very nicely. But why (why??) do the side seams look like this??

It didn't matter how I pinned or manipulated those pieces, they simply wouldn't match up. Is this normal? Should the side seams align properly also? Or does the angle of the A line skirt make that impossible? I'm stumped and I can't work it out!

Does anyone know of an online tutorial on this? The ones I looked at (and admittedly, I didn't look very hard...) were all focused on matching up the front or back seams. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! I can't fix this one, being out of fabric, but I'd really like any future versions to be better than this.

In the meanwhile, have a wonderful week :)

Danielle oxo