Tag Archives: dress

lily/anna separates

Two years ago, I stitched up a By Hand London Anna in paisley Liberty. I loved that dress dearly and wore it hard for over a year, but last winter it developed a rip above the bust. I’d like to blame my impressive circus muscles, but it was more likely caused by poor posture and subtle fit issues that put too much strain on the bottom of the armscye. Whatever the reason, I wasn’t about to give up on such a beloved dress and so I stuck it on my “to-fix” shelf for a few months. It needed a new bodice, but I couldn’t use the Anna bodice again unless I was prepared to tackle the fit to prevent further rips. Eventually I decided to use the bodice of the Colette Lily, which I got on extreme sale and hadn’t yet made up. I, like pretty much everyone else, have struggled with the fit of Colette bodices/sleeves, but the Lily is delightfully sleeveless.

The muslin fit quite well out of the envelope (graded from 6 at bust to 4 at waist to 10 at hip), though I had to pinch out a bit from the side seams in the bodice. The skirt is great and I will make it up in the future–I love the pockets–but unfortunately is probably not very bike-friendly.

I stitched the bodice onto the skirt, but I wasn’t loving it. The simplicity of the a-line skirt seemed at odds with the little flap on the bodice, but without the flap it was a bit boring. So I made a last-minute design change. Separates! I cut the new bodice off the skirt and added a circular peplum, and trimmed down the top of the skirt until I could wiggle it over my head, then added an elastic waist. A regular waistband would have been preferable, but I didn’t want to deal with a zipper and didn’t have enough fabric to make a waistband piece anyway. It turns out, I love the elastic waist. It stays put better than a woven one, and since it’s only barely gathered around my waist, it’s not bulky underneath sweaters or shirts.

I love my separates, which make a cute outfit together and can be styled apart as well! They feel unique and a little bit avant-garde in my fairly traditional wardrobe. An added bonus is that the bodice will still be wearable with other high-waisted skirts after this skirt inevitably wears out, having a whole year more of wear in it.

I tried to have a little bit of fun with my self-timer phone-camera photoshoot, and pulled out 20,000 Years of Fashion to use as a prop, but it turned out to be so big it obscured a lot of the dress and I had to go propless for the rest of my photos. I’m trying to get comfortable enough in front of a camera that I can at least take pictures of myself without feeling awkward, and then maybe I can graduate up to asking other people to take pictures of me.

twenties lawn party

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I have always loved to dress up. I relish any excuse for a costume, and almost as much as I love to wear it, I love to create it. The opportunities feel few and far between in my workaday life, so when my friend mentioned a weekend-long, 1920s-themed lawn party on a grand country estate, I was ecstatic!

My plans started out extravagant: I would need two complete ensembles (one for each day), to say nothing of period correct undergarments, and of course a three-piece suit for Ryan.

In the end our grand weekend excursion shrank to a single day trip, and I had to make certain concessions to practicality, but I think our outfits turned out rather smart regardless!

I wore a thrifted slip, thrifted nude heels, a one-hour dress that I whipped up in a mere four and a half hours, and a thrifted hat that I unsuccessfully tried to reshape as a cloche and trimmed with bias tape to match my dress. I had been pretty unsatisfied with the one-hour dress, which I felt was too twee and boxy. But! I loved wearing it! There are definitely things I would change, construction-wise, but I was pleasantly surprised by how put-together and confident I managed to feel in such a rectangular garment.

Ryan wore a thrifted suit–a real stroke of luck! I was just putting in the zipper on a pair of grey linen trousers for him, we had thrifted a gray vest, and had resigned ourselves to no jacket, but a last-minute trip to the thrift store turned up a wool three-piece suit in this lovely vintage-looking brown color. The suit itself probably dates from the 70s to judge by the cut, but passed quite well with the rest of the ensemble. I let out the pants and stitched in buttons for the suspenders, but otherwise the whole outfit was assembled by Ryan so I can’t really take credit there.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of pockets and a dying phone battery, I got almost no pictures of this event. Fortunately, our friend took this one of us that more than makes up for it.

The estate the party took place at was on the ocean, and absolutely stunning. I will definitely be back next year for the party, and hopefully before then too for some wandering!

shift

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This summer, I dreamed of shift dresses. Big 60s florals, bell sleeves, mini hems! The actual 60s patterns in my stash had been purchased without a true sense of my own measurements, so I turned to the Sewaholic Alma to satisfy my shift dress fantasies, extending the hem to a suitably mini-dress length. I cut according to my full bust measurement instead of trying to fiddle around with FBAs and guessing at cup sizes, and it fit surprisingly well out of the envelope–except for the sleeves, which I quickly dispensed with in the name of 90-degree days. My first version was sewn up in a bold, blue-and-white, surreal floral, but the fit needed tweaking (more fullness at the hips, less at the waist) and the color didn’t feel “me,” so I gave that dress to a friend and shifted my vision from mod to hipster.

This dress then, is my second shot at the shift dress style and it’s been a huge hit. Simple and versatile in a navy swiss dot, I can wear it with sandals and pendant necklaces in the heat, and cardigans and oxfords when it’s gray and drizzly. In fact, it’s been in such heavy rotation this summer that it’s already starting to fade around the seams and across the bust where my purse strap rubbed against wet fabric in a summer storm. I’m not sure how much longer it will last, but I do know I will my making another version when it finally does give out!

The pattern is the Sewaholic Alma, but I grafted on the sleeves of the Anna dress and mashed the necklines together for something a little broader and shallower than the Alma. Obviously the hem has been lengthened considerably (I can’t remember how much), but I tried to keep the lovely curved shape of the shirt hem. I omitted the zipper, as it slips over my head easily, french seamed the insides, and bound the neckline and sleeves in my Liberty bias-tape. The whole process from start to finish couldn’t have taken more than a few hours–as close as it gets to instant gratification!

anna in liberty

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Well! It’s been a long time since I dusted off this old blog. As long as it’s been (9 months!), it’s been just as long since I sewed something that wasn’t theatrical in nature. I’ve sewn dresses, vintage swimsuits, and biblical robes galore for at least three plays. I’ve altered countless pairs of trousers, I’ve taken dresses apart only to re-sew them, and I’ve torn beautiful tomato red wool to shreds with sandpaper. But, with the exception of an ill-fated tweed miniskirt that ended up several inches too large in the waist, I haven’t sewn a thing that’s meant to be worn in real life since Ryan shipped off to Morocco with a new shirt sometime around the first week of January.

Until now! We had a long stretch of house-sitting in which my sewing machines languished unused, my Kenmore gave out, I purchased a new one, and I discovered that all my machines were broken!–until I realized that I’d simply been threading my Featherweight from the wrong direction.

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So finally, I have a dress, and it’s destined to be a hit, I think. How could one go wrong with a TNT pattern and paisley Liberty?

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The fabric was given to me sometime last summer by my then-housemate’s mother, though why anyone would get rid of paisley Liberty I can’t think. I can’t find any information about the print, except that if I wanted, I could buy sneakers to match my dress.

With a fabric this precious I wanted to make sure it was really the right garment. After wearing my turquoise Anna for most of the weekend at Pickathon, I knew I needed another. I had hopes of finishing it for my birthday, but a month later is not so bad! It is a perfect late summer dress, being cool enough for hot days, but the colors will go with nearly all my winter clothes and with layers I can wear it right through to next summer.

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The pattern is By Hand London Anna, of course. I’ve made it twice before and wear the other versions a lot in their respective seasons. I like the simplicity and the shape and have to do very few alterations to the pattern as I cut it. For this version, I shortened the pleats by 1/2″ to make a little more room for my bust and it is just about perfect now.

Grisly Details:

The insides are all french seamed, except for the back seam which is bias-bound in self-bias tape (catching the edges of the zipper tape for a super neat finish!). I used the same bias tape to finish the neck and arm holes. Neck, arm holes, hem, and zipper are all topstitched, but the pattern is busy enough that it’s barely noticeable, and I have greater confidence in its durability than if I had hand sewn them. The pattern in my size used a little over 3 yards of 33″ wide fabric. I could have got it out of less if the print wasn’t directional, but I still about 50″ left, enough for little bits of lining/bias tape.

So that’s that! I am back on the bandwagon, I hope! I have plans for my next two projects, both skirts. I got rid of a lot of my clothes in a panic while moving, so I am trying to slowly rebuild a grown-up and cohesive wardrobe. Here’s to layering season!

ashland, v.2

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This dress was the labor of more or less an entire semester, plugged away at in bits and pieces for a couple of months. It’s been finished for a couple of months, and I wear it often, but I only now have got around to taking pictures. It’s even harder than usual in winter, as the light goes so quickly.

I wanted to make a comfortable, simple dress that could be worn with layers and boots for winter. My ideal winter silhouette is a short, a-line dress with long or three-quarter sleeves, ideally cuffed. I love sweater dresses but I can’t seem to find good sweater-knit fabric anywhere, so woven it is.

The pattern is the Sew Liberated Ashland, which I initially was not too keen on, but I wear my other version fairly regularly, so I guess I’ve been won over. The fabric is an extra-long twin bedsheet, but I’m pretty sure it’s sateen. It’s 100% cotton, anyway.

I sewed the same size as before, size 2, D cup, and my only real issue came with adding the sleeves. When I finished the dress I couldn’t put it on! I could barely wriggle my arms into the sleeves and couldn’t raise them at all. I did an upper arm adjustment to add an inch, but I could add more. One thing I’ve also noticed is that the bodice ends about half an inch above the underwire of my bra, so I could probably safely size up to a 4. The shoulders seem about right though.

I don’t have any pictures of the guts, as they’re not really much to look at, but they’re sturdy. I used a combination of lining, handsewing, bias binding, and zig zag (now that I finally got my zigzag machine to work! I have to warm it up with a hairdryer before use). I’ve washed the dress a couple of times and it’s holding up well.

This dress is more or less exactly what I wanted it to be. It’s simple, pretty comfortable, and goes well with a variety of tights, scarves, and sweaters. I never feel like I’m lacking the right shoes or coat or accessories to make an outfit with the dress, which makes it the sort of easy-to-wear piece I want more of in my wardrobe.

a blue dress

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It seems as though nearly everything I sewed this summer was blue. My Lisette lawn Anna, my Alice dress (since disassembled and waiting for pattern inspiration to strike), my nautical shirtdress, two bridesmaid dresses for my friend’s wedding… And this dress, which I actually made over a month ago for the Summer Sundress Sewalong, but am only just blogging now!

In the middle of sewing the bridesmaid dresses, I decided that I wanted to sew myself something. Naturally. But what with full time work I didn’t feel like I had a great deal of time to sew at all, much less things that weren’t related to the fast approaching bridesmaid-dress deadline, and so my dress came out a little slapdash and messy as I tried to cut corners.

The fabric is a Lisette lawn that my mother gave me, with rough, almost diamond-shaped white polka dots that have little teal polka dots in the centers. The pattern is a mash-up of my own invention. I knew when I saw the fabric that I wanted a fit-and-flare with a sweetheart neckline, a waistband, and a bias-cut skirt (a la the Sewaholic Hollyburn). The bodice was easy, as I used a heavily modified version of McCall’s 5927 (I added the sweetheart, and scooped out the back, and shortened it to accommodate a waistband), which I used for my bridesmaid dress–that way I could call it a wearable muslin! The skirt was trickier–I wanted a Hollyburn skirt, but I can’t justify spending money on such a simple skirt pattern that I could draft myself. BUT, I couldn’t just draft it myself without feeling guilty, because you’re supposed to support indie pattern designers and all that, rather than blatantly copy their designs. Which I would love to do, if I could afford it, but I can’t.

In the end I went with a slimmer bias-cut skirt pattern that I took off of a RTW skirt last fall, and I really like the shape. I wear a lot of full skirts but lately I have been feeling that I want a slimmer line. The bias-cut nature of the skirt turned out to be quite disappointing, as I realized after cutting the first piece that the polka dots are printed on diagonally, so that rather than forming a nice V on the center seams, they would go straight up and down. “Ah, whatever,” I said, and kept cutting. (I did actually consider making the skirt into a half-circle cut on-grain, but my fabric conservation instincts got the better of me, and I decided not to waste the skirt piece I had already cut.)

The slapdash nature of this dress means that it is definitely not without its problems. I need a giant swayback adjustment to my skirt pieces, and the hem is longer in front than back due to the swayback (easily fixed though). The bodice is a little tight in the bust (and after looking at these pictures, damn it is low cut), and the waistband is about half an inch too long. I made a hot mess of the zipper since I didn’t want to “waste” too much time handsewing, and the pattern matching on the center seams is, frankly, abysmal.

Another thing I noticed is that the back gapes whenever I put my shoulders back, which does not exactly encourage me to improve my posture!

Normal (bonus trying-to-look-into-the-sun face):

Shoulder back:

See? Gaping! Any suggestions on how to fix this? Should I take out width and risk it being too tight, or is this just normal on low backs?

OH WELL! I still think it’s pretty. And since we will eventually be going into cooler weather, the flaws will mostly be covered up by sweaters, so no harm done.

And the insides are tidy. There will be some retroactive seam finishing when I get my zigzag machine back from the shop, but it hasn’t fallen apart yet, so we’ll count it as a win!

nautical shirtdress

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Last winter I decided to make this nautical broadcloth into a breezy summer shirtdress–isn’t it funny how I always have the urge to make sundresses in the dead of winter, and once summer gets into full swing all I can think of is tweed and tights? In any case, I was without a sewing machine for a solid three months, and so by the time I was able to realize the dress, it was practically summer here in Portland.

The pattern, of course, is McCall’s 6696, as that is the only shirtdress pattern I have. (I’d like to try the Hawthorn, but I don’t really know if Colette patterns will ever fit my small upper body.) I made some adjustments from my green shirtdress, taking in the waist, lengthening the darts, and trying to make the whole thing generally smaller without tracing a smaller size. I also left off the sleeves, obviously, but the armholes are somewhat too large. I left the back gathers, but combined with the too-big armscyes and my forward shoulders, I feel like it makes the dress look too big and my shoulders look very round. It may be too late at this point, but I might go in and take some of the gathers out because I just don’t care for the way it looks.

(In this photo: my terrible posture, and probably half the reason for my square shoulders. I don’t even notice when my shoulders are around my ears, it’s so habitual.)

I used a circle skirt instead of either of the pattern options, because it looks good with a petticoat, and I don’t need a pattern piece for it (the truth comes out! I wear circle skirts all the time because I’m too stingy with my tracing paper to use patterns).

I gave the waistband some negative ease, because that’s what I like, but unfortunately forgot about the inevitable gaping that would result. A couple of hooks and eyes fixed that easily enough.

When I started this dress I was using only my straight stitch machine, and dreading the buttonholes. Then I found a vintage Kenmore with an awesome buttonhole attachment for only $20! Now it’s broken, and I’m not sure how to fix it, but at least I got two garments worth of buttonholes out of it… And the buttons match so well!

What else… I put the armhole binding on flat, thinking it would be easier that way, but neglected to understitch, so it rolled. Oops. Luckily it’s a busy print. I also tried to fix the collar drafting issue that my last iteration of this pattern had, but even with pinching an inch out of the collar and collar stand pieces, they were still too long! It’s a good thing I never button the top button anyway. I didn’t even bother making the buttonhole functional.

Overall, it’s not perfect (nothing ever is), but I like it a LOT. It’s a good casual dress (worn here with my fantastically grubby Converse), but it also looks great with red lipstick and red heels, and as soon as Zappos restocks those red saltwater sandals in my size, it’ll be a perfect summer outfit! It’s also lots of fun to wear with my giant red petticoat. I’m not sure how well it will transition to winter, as there is a distinct lack of red cardigans in my closet, but it’s definitely a winner for hot weather.

Aqua and Lavender Anna

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This fabric is a Lisette lawn that my mother bought for me nearly two years ago, which I have been saving until my sewing skills improved. It was originally destined to be a maxi-length McCall’s 3246, but I have yet to get that pattern fitting perfectly. Or maybe an Ashland? But in the end, it was paired with Anna!

And I think they suit each other very well.

There is relatively little to be said about the process. I narrowed the neckline by about 1/4-1/2″ on either side, to fix the gaping I got on my last Anna. Neckline and sleeves are bias-bound, with decorative turquoise prick-stitching, which also features on the zipper and the hem.

The inside is entirely french-seamed.

On my last Anna, I had stitched the side-seams at 1″, but as this one doesn’t have any stretch, I stitched them at 3/4″. I must have forgotten to do so on my skirt seams, or something, because none of the seams match up at the waistline, but luckily the fabric is busy enough that no one is likely to notice.

I have about a yard left of the fabric, which may actually be plenty for an Ashland if I felt like it. Or a high-waisted gathered skirt…? Or something else entirely.

alice dress

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Every year, the theatre department has a big dinner and party at the end of the year to celebrate the graduating seniors. There is food, entertainment, and lots of speeches–and a theme. Last year was Harry Potter, the year before was Space. This year, the theme was “Down the Rabbit Hole.”

Being named Alice, I have always sort of identified with the Alice books. When I was ten or eleven, my mother made me a fantastic Alice-in-Wonderland dress for Halloween, out of a sheet she had dyed blue herself. I wore it constantly until I developed too much of a bust to squeeze into the bodice anymore. So the senior dinner seemed the perfect opportunity to recreate my favorite childhood dress.

While in London, I went to Goldhawk Road, searching for the perfect fabric. Buying something solid blue seemed too boring, but I found three meters of this beautiful cotton lawn, and it was perfect.

For the bodice, I used McCall’s 5927, a somewhat bland pattern that happened to be in my stash. After much deliberating on what size to cut, I finally settled on a size 4, C cup–which fit better out of the envelope than anything I had ever made before. I shortened the darts by 1/2″, lowered the armhole by 1/4″, and graded out to a size 8 at the waist. It fits more or less perfectly, though there is a little bit of gaping at the back neck, and the waist could be a smidgeon smaller (a matter of personal preference, I like very little ease at the waist). I also deepened the neckline in front, not because it didn’t fit, but because I really don’t care for such a high neckline.

I stole the puffed sleeves from an old 70s pattern I had lying around, and the skirt is simply twice the width of the fabric, gathered. The entire dress is lined, for decency’s sake, in the only white fabric I had lying around–a poly-cotton sheet. Breathability, therefore, is low.

I took great care with the finish of the dress. All the bodice seams are enclosed, and the lining is hand-stitched to the armholes and the skirt.

I edge-stitched around the neckline…

Hand-picked the zipper…

(Oops, loose thread there.)

And hand-sewed the hem.

It is really the nicest-finished dress I have ever made, and one of the best-fitting as well. The only trouble is that it is a little too adorable. Better suited to 10-year-old Alice than 20-year-old Alice…

I might remove the sleeves, and possibly lower the neckline a bit more, which would make it more of a quirky sundress, and less of an Alice-in-Wonderland costume. Alternatively, I could take it all apart and salvage the gorgeous fabric, but that seems like a sad waste of many hours. Or maybe I don’t care that it’s a dress a little girl could wear with equal composure… Thoughts? Suggestions?

(I just saw my neighbor looking at me from over the fence, and got all self-conscious.)

crazy paisley dress

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Well folks, it’s my first(ish) post on the new blog AND my first post from Dublin, where I’ll be living until mid-April! How thrilling! I promise there will eventually be photos of my handsewn items in Dublin, but first I have a couple of garments that I photographed before I left Portland.

The first of these, I actually began working on close to a year ago, and finished last summer. The pattern is McCall’s 3246 from the early 70s.

photo credit: vintage pattern wiki

I have made this dress before, back in the days when I thought you just cut a pattern out and it fit perfectly without modification. That was the dress that taught me that’s not true (also, that quilting cotton is not always a good choice of fabric). It looked okay in pictures, but I felt restricted and uncomfortable wearing it, and the crossover bodice gaped like mad, so I gave it to my mother to use in quilting. I really liked the idea of the dress, however, and when I was given this crazy poly/wool paisley border print, I knew it was meant to be.

The fabric is very loosely woven and pretty sheer, so I underlined it with a poly cotton bedsheet. Given that I had actual 100% organic cotton bedsheets lying around, this was a dumb choice. The underlining was stiff and hated to take a press, while the fashion fabric was floppy and unstable, and also hated to take a press. Consequently, my darts are a bit, well, lumpy. Luckily, this fabric hides all the flaws in its mad pattern.

I did make a muslin for this dress, but be warned, dear readers: if you don’t do a muslin right, it is a waste of time. I didn’t put sleeves on my muslin, which would have alerted me to all manner of problems. I also didn’t put a waistband on my muslin. Lastly, I made too large of an FBA, but rather than addressing this directly, I just sort of pinned the bodice front pieces together where it looked least bad. It was all very foolish, as I realized when I stood in front of the mirror a couple of months later with a half-made bodice in my fashion fabric. I lengthened darts, I shortened darts, I lengthened them again… in the end I did an SBA to my altered pattern piece and carefully cut the new bodice piece out of the old bodice piece. It was a mess!

(I don’t know why there are so many pictures of me looking down my nose at the camera. It’s a major trend and I don’t know how it happens.)

Other changes I made, besides the FBA:
• I took a total of two inches (I think!) out of the bodice width, and altered the waistband accordingly. The bodice is fine but the waistband is a bit snug so I must have done something wrong.
• I made the shoulders narrower by 1/2″ each
• I added darts from the waistband up, as part of the FBA
• I made the skirt a lot shorter, thinking I would be wearing it with rubber boots (I prefer to wear rubber boots with miniskirts). I have yet to wear it with rubber boots but I do like the length!

I will admit I don’t love this dress. I feel super cute in it and I do wear it sometimes, but the fit is still weird, especially with the sleeves and the slightly-too-tight waistband. The polyester also gets pretty gross to wear in humidity, but I live in a humid climate… all this combined means I don’t reach for it too often, unfortunately.

Here is a detail of the crossover bodice and one cuff. The sleeves and cuffs of this dress are probably my favorite thing about the pattern.

I tried to have a bit of fun with this photoshoot (if it can be called that…) since photos are fun and I hate looking awkward in front of a camera. If you don’t feel awkward, you don’t look awkward! Still, I’m always a little worried that one of my roommates is going to look out the window and see me posing by myself in the backyard.

Oh, and since I am in Dublin, here’s a picture of me in a pub: