Do y'all remember my pledge, made at the very last minute to participate in Self-Stitchted-September 2011? No? Well, let me refresh your memories. (Let me just confirm that no, I do not, nor have I ever, lived in the south of America. But, I did live with a lovely Texan girl for a year when I went on exchange a few years back, and picked up y'all from her.)
Here's my pledge once more:
'I, fyre fairee, sign up as a participant of Self-Stitched-Sept '11. I endeavour to make at least 6 clothing items, and wear them in September, as well as wearing an additional two self-stitched garments each week for the duration of September 2011'
In other words, I need to wear 8 existing self stitched items, and sew an additional 6. I did okay with the challenge, although for the first two weeks I kept forgetting that I was meant to be wearing extra outfits AND should be photographing them.
I actually managed to sew 9 new items, and wore 7 other items, so I managed to exceed the 14 I wanted for the month.
So, let's break it down.
Self Stitched In September Items
1.Bias Tape Skirt
2. Strawberry Cheesecake dress
3. 1950s skirt
4. machine embroidery feather (to be turned into a betsey bag)
I'm a little in love with this dress. It was really easy to make, and didn't take long - all made on the overlocker!
The only change I made to the pattern was to shorten the sleeves and not include the ruffles. Otherwise, I actually followed the original pattern.
This dress is for the At the Races (Ascot) sew weekly challenge.
The Facts
Fabric: .5 metre Black knit $12.95/m, 2 metre black and white knit $12.95/m Pattern: thrifted McCalls 5408, view C $1.00 Year: c. 2007 Notions: Thread Time to complete: 2 hours First worn: September 2011 Wear again? YES! It was super comfy Total Cost: $33.40
Although I'm trying really hard not to buy any fabric, and to use the things in my stash (unless I'm buying things like linings and underlinings that I need in order to finish something from stash materials), I have to admit that I bought new fabric for these shorts. Or at least, I bought thrifted fabric, with the sole purpose being making a pair of denim shorts. I had seen the denim in the thrift store closest to my house, and had left it there, because I didn't really have a use for it. And I'm not adding to my stash, remember?
Then, I was looking through the challenges for the Sew Weekly. In particular, I was looking at the 'And the Winner Is...." challenge, celebrating the costume designers nominated for an Oscar. I went through the list of all the nominations, and discovered that I have seen a very small number of the films listed. And even fewer of them spoke to me in any sort of way. The list was narrowed down to Moulin Rouge, Across the Universe and Pleasantville. A nice cross section of styles, wouldn't you say?
I pondered using my red corset, full circle skirt, can can petticoat and calling it Moulin Rouge inspired. But although I sewed that outfit as a costume for a Moulin Rouge dance party, it seemed lazy somehow. Which left Across the Universe and Pleasantville. For Pleasantville, it would have been fairly easy to make the walk away dress, but for the life of me, I couldn't find my copy of the pattern.
So, my decision was made. Across the Universe it was.
I did a quick search for images and realised that while I loved the film, a lot of the costumes were too much part of the era for me to comfortably wear them. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against wearing vintage and vintage inspired clothing. But I just didn't think I'd wear anything that was inspired by the film. It was almost back to the drawing board for the challenge. I decided to give Across the Universe one more chance, so I youtubed a bunch of clips from the film. And realised that for the most part, I was right. I wouldn't wear most of the costumes.
Until I got to the 'Dear Prudence' scene. Lucy is wearing a plain white tank, and denim cut offs. And my mind strayed back to the denim I'd seen in the thrift store.
I went back, (and as three days had passed, and decent fabric tends to get snatched up) hoped the denim was still there. And, just my luck (or perhaps, luck was on my side for this one?), it was!
You get a good view of Lucy's outfit at about 55 seconds. It's a really simple outfit, but I like it. And, there is the contrast between the simplicity and normalacy of the costumes and the surreal sky they end up in.
The pattern for these shorts are another one of my love-hate relationship with BurdaStyle magazine patterns. On one hand, the patterns usually end up looking fairly good. On the other, the instructions suck and they don't always include seam allowances (luckily this one did). For the ruby shorts, I read and re-read the instructions, and I'm certain that at no stage did they talk about how you attach the placards and facings for the buttons. But the do give fairly long and detailed instructions about how to put in the bound picket (which I decided not to to put in).
I added a second patch pocket on the back. I use back pockets usually for my keys and phone, so I like having two of them. I lined the patch pockets with a paisley fabric - I still love this fabric, and even though no one else will see the lining of the pockets, it makes me happy to know it's there :) .
I also didn't include the belt. I folded the hems up to the outside, so the overlocked edges were exposed. I graded the pattern so that the hips were a size 40, and the waist was a size 36.
I'm happy with the way these turned out, but they are just a touch tight. I should probably have made a 42 hip and 38 waist. But that's okay, I'll just make 1cm seam allowances next time I sew it.
Fabric: Thrifted denim, $9.00
Pattern: Burda Style Ruby shorts pattern $3.00
Year: 2011
Notions: Thread, from stash; Thrifted Buttons, $3.00
One of the most recent challenges for Sew Weekly was the Autumn palette challenge. As it's going into Spring here, it seems a bit silly to be putting together a Autumn palette, so I've put together a Spring palette. I have been buying three colours lately: oranges, pinks and reds. So, I have three palettes: Burnt, Rose and Blood
I've been thinking about making a bias tape skirt for a while now. I've seen them worn by people a few times, but I've never seen one for sale. So, I thought I would make one myself. I fell in love with the fabrics I used to make the bias tape while standing in line at Spotlight. It's quilting cotton, and were pieces designed as 'stash builders.' And, perfectly suited to my 'burnt' palette. I ended up making 44m of bias tape for this skirt, and used almost all of it - I think I have about 2 meters left.
I used my A-Line skirt pattern for the basis of this skirt, and just held the bias strips in place as I sewed. I sewed the bias strips on closer together near the hem, and further apart as I got higher. (Please excuse the rumpled shots: I had worn the skirt on Friday night, forgot to photograph it, and it spent the weekend crumpled at the end of my bed)
The Facts
Fabric: for bias tape: 3x 110x70cm pieces@ $7.00 each, total $21.00; remnant of orange poplin, $ 3.50 Pattern: Self drafted A-Line skirt pattern Year: 2011 Notions: Zipper, $3; thread from stash. Time to complete: 4 hours First worn: September 2011 Wear again? Yes
This dress got off to a shaky start. BurdaStyle magazine patterns and I haven't always gotten along in the past. There is the lack of seam allowances, the weird sizing (or, 'standard' sizing that never fits me, ever) and a few other things that we have disagreed about in the past. But, I'd had some success with BurdaStyle patterns recently (my Kasia skirt, the one piece kimono tee and the ruby shorts), so I decided to give the magazine patterns another go.
So far so good. I'm feeling happy that the patterns work, even if they miss like half the steps in the instructions. I can totally do a magazine pattern. So, when I downloaded the BurdaStyle Drapé Dress pattern the first time, I cut the pattern pieces out without adding any seam allowances. Fail.
I downloaded the pattern again, added my seam allowances, took out some facing folds (replacing them with full lining) everything was going okay. Then, after 5 or 6 attempts, I still couldn't get the drape waistband to sit how it should. So, I cut my losses and gathered the cotton gauze onto my poplin lining. I even stitched it down for good measure (or, so it would survive being thrown in the washing machine. Whichever you think is more... correct). Again, so far so good.
I added the bodice pieces, pleating them by hand (mainly because I didn't feel like dealing with gathering stitches anymore), and sewed the skirt on. Then I tried it on, and it was super tight. Like, I don't think I can sit down tight. Not the best way for a dress to start, really.
But, given that this was acting as my test garment, I kept going.
The next hurdle was the shoulder seam. It was much much to long. Like, 8cm to look. I divided this into three tucks, which I don't mind the look of. And, I even remembered to alter the pattern s the next version doesn't have too long shoulders.
Fabric: Thrifted Blue flower cotton gauze from stash; 4 m blue poly cotton $18.20 Pattern: Burda Style Draped dress pattern, $5.40 Year: 2011 Notions: Thread, 5 spools $3.25 each, total $16.25 Time to complete: Too long, with the troubles I had with the waistband! First worn: September 2011 Wear again? Yes
I’ve had some red Swiss dotted cotton sitting in my stash for maybe 9 months now. I bought it when I was trying to sew myself a professional wardrobe, and then (rightly) decided that it wasn’t really appropriate for work – a bit too informal. So, it’s just been sitting there. But, along with my attempt to work my way through the Sew Weekly challenges, and my Self-Stitched-September challenge, now seemed like the perfect opportunity to use it. I had always intended the fabric to be a dress, and as I was looking through the challenges on Sew Weekly and my style pinboard on pinterest, realised that I had the perfect fabric for the Day After Dress from ModCloth. They seemed to be the perfect combination for the 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery' challenge. Yes, I know that ModCloth items aren’t that expensive, but when you add in international shipping, they tend to become just a bit outside of my price range, and the Day After Dress is sold out. So, I don’t feel quite so bad about ripping it off.
Now, I probably could have drafted the dress from scratch, but I was feeling lazy. So I went through my pattern collection, and came across this pattern from 1978. On first glance, it doesn’t look too much like the Day After Dress, but it has the important neck band. So, all I would have to do would be add the waist band and shorten the sleeves. Simple!
I pulled the pattern out and realised that the pattern didn’t have either the hips or the natural waist marked. So, I kinda held it up against me, and figured that the cutting line for the shorter version fell at about my hip height. My waist is about 30 cm from my hip level, so I drew a line to mark the new ‘waist’ following the cut line. I traced out the pattern, added seam allowances, (including a seam allowance to the centre back), shortened the skirt pieces about 6cm, and used the piece I had just cut off the bottom as my waistband. For the sleeves, I really liked the raglan sleeve look, but it was way too long. So, I traced off the sleeve pattern, marking the cut line/hem as between the notches. And voila! I had a pattern for my very own Day After Dress. Most of the work for this dress was in sewing on the piping. I made about 8m of pining, and 30cm of cording for the button loops at the back. That’s a decent amount of bias strips to make, but so worth it. For the bodice, I used a self facing, but the skirt is unlined. I gathered and sewed, and added buttons, and hemmed. And then, I was done. One Day After Dress.
It’s not exactly the same as the original – the main difference being that the back, with the open centre back seam, blouses out a lot more. I’m not a fan of the exposed bra look, so I’m probably going to have to sew a couple of hook and eyes on to keep things in place. But otherwise, I’m really happy with the result.
Fabric: red swiss cotton from stash; 1/2 m white poplin $2.30 Pattern: Simplicity 8412, with alterations $0.50 Year: 1978 Notions: 5 m piping, $3.50; zipper $3.00 Time to complete: An afternoon First worn: September 2011 Wear again? Yes! This dress is super comfortable. But I will add some hook and eyes to the back so my bra isn't exposed. Total Cost: $9.30
The vintage pattern was available for free download, and reminded me of the anthropologie skirt. Although, I was never into the yellow colour of the anthropologie skirt (yellow is a colour that isn't in my wardrobe anywhere. It just isn't my colour).
I made just the skirt from the pattern. I forgot that vintage patterns tend not to include seam allowances, so just sewed it up with my normal 1.5cm seam allowances. The original hip measurement was for 106cm. My hips are 100cm, so with the seam allowances, it ended up being a perfect fit. And not the perfect-around-the-hips-but-way-to-big-around-the-waist fit I'm used to with modern patterns, but a perfect fits-my-waist-and-hips-fit. I was shocked and pleased.
See, the entire reason I have no high waisted anything in my wardrobe, is because if it fits my waist, it doesn't fit my hips and vice versa. So for this pattern to fit first go was so surprising, and nice, and well, I think I'm going-to-make-again worthy. It wasn't the easiest pattern to make, but totally worth it.
And here is the point this skirt became a UFO. I had made the skirt up to the point where I needed to make button holes and hem the skirt. I knew I wanted to make bound button holes, but somehow I didn't do it. I know I started this skirt in the first week of July, because I started it the weekend before my last week at my public service job. And, I finished up to the no-button-holes-or-hem point. Then I hung it on a hanger, put it on the hook behind my bedroom door... and sorta forgot about it. Well, more, I put clothing on top of it. Then, I was tidying my room this week, and actually put the thinks hung on the back of my door into the wardrobe. And the skirt resurfaced. So, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to finish the skirt.
For my fashion course, I am making a jacket with bound pockets and button holes. So, I made samples to go in my folio for class, and then used the technique I'd just learnt to make 5 buttonholes in my skirt. I sewed the buttons on (with a fancy thread shank and everything!), and hemmed the skirt. And getting the pleat hem length even was hard.
And then, I had a finished, wearable skirt!
I wore this skirt on Wednesday, and was amazed just how comfortable it was. I kinda felt like I had stepped off the set of Mad-Men (not having ever watched that show, it was more the secretary-vibe I got from the outfit). I have even worn it again - to a job interview on Friday. Although the weather is warming up, so soon the skirt will just be too warm to wear, I have a feeling it's going to become a winter staple for me.
I am a using this skirt as the Sew Weekly UFO item, as well as being the second item I have sewn for Self-Stitched-September '11.
The Facts
Fabric: Thrifted Wool from Stash Pattern: Downloaded vintage pattern from Neu4bauer, available here, free. Year: 1950s, I think Notions: Thrifted buttons, $2.00; thread Time to complete: I honestly have no idea. Finishing the hem and button holes probably took about 4 hours. First worn: September 2011 Wear again? I already have - to a job interview on Friday.
As you remember, I have pledged to make (and wear) 6 new items for Self-Stitched-September this year. To give myself a bit of focus to do this, I have decided to use challenges set by the awesome Mena at Sew Weekly. I'm going to be doing a bit of picking and choosing, and although I want to get caught up with the challenges, I may not actually achieve that. And to get caught up, I may cheat and use things I have already sewn (although, I won't be counting them towards SSS '11).
The first thing I planned to make was a skirt inspired by the Piped Sailor Skirt from Anthropologie. It's been pinned to my pinterest style board for a while now. I love the contrast of the dark piping lines and warm skirt colour. The buttons add just that little bit of 'pop.'
I used the free Kasia pattern from BurdaStyle with some thrifted red corduroy, and black piping.
Extending the straight line down from the pockets, I added a line of piping. I also got rid of the pockets (I tend not to use pockets) and, the front bib, instead putting in a centre back zip. I had to resize the gathered front panel after getting rid of the pockets, and resized the yokes, so that the piping would line up properly.
I have, up until this point, tended to steer clear of high waisted skirts. The simple reason for this is that there are generally 4 sizes between my waist measurement and my hip measurement. For this pattern, my waist was a 36 and my hips were a 40. I decided not to do a muslin (really not sure why) and to just cur a straight size 40. Which, no surprises, was miles too big for me around the waistband. But the hips fit really well. So, I took a bit in from the side seams, and a bit in from the back seam. Most of the excess was taken in from the centre back seam, as the gathers on the hip accentuate the hips a bit, and I really didn't want to accentuate them any more.
I even managed to get the piping to line up on the zip!
I really ummed and aahed about which challenge this should fit into. Should it be Rule, Britannia? Or Ahoy, Matey!? The piping gives it a nautical feel, but the red makes it feel more British... Part of my conundrum was that I don't like most of the 'sailor shirt' styles. I can do stripes, but those collars just put me off. I'm trying not to buy anything new, and I know that I don't have any striped knits in my stash, so that ruled making a striped T-Shirt to go with the skirt. Then I saw this.
Just enough of a stripe and detailing to make it feel nautical, but not so much that it has the costume-y collar look. So, that became my inspiration for the top. Although I usually go for a more fitted style, the high waist of the Kasia really lends itself to a less fitted style that gets tucked in.
Using the free 1 piece Kimono Tee pattern, I redrafted the neckline and added a seam below the bustline to allow for the navy stripe. I also shortened it about 10cm. I made a plain version of this up (which I'm planning on counting towards another Sew Weekly challenge), and it came down to my hips. Which is fine, but leaves just a bit too much excess fabric to have ride up during the day when it's tucked into the high waisted skirt. Less length is less to ride up, and it's still long enough for me to tuck in. I'm really happy with how this turned out, even if I did manage to (completely by accident) draft the line straight across my nipple line. Oh well. And, I'm really please with the look of the crepe scraps with the solid knit.
The Facts Fabric: Thrifted Red Corduroy from stash; White Cotton knit from stash; Navy crepe fabric scraps
So, it's 1039pm on the 31st of August. Which makes tomorrow, the 1st of September, the first day of Self-Stitched-September, once again hosted by the lovely Zoe from 'So, Zo...'. I've been ummming and ahhing about participating, but now, almost at the eleventh hour, I've decided to participate this time around again.
So, here is my pledge:
'I, fyre fairee, sign up as a participant of Self-Stitched-Sept '11. I endeavour to make at least 6 clothing items, and wear them in September, as well as wearing an additional two self-stitched garments each week for the duration of September 2011'
Now, I know this pledge doesn't have me wearing something everyday, but a decent amount of my self-stitched clothing are for an office environment (I no longer work in an office), or are not quite warm enough. So, I'm aiming to wear something each day, but being realistic with what I actually have.
So, let's see how I go!
And, hopefully, I'm not hindered by this situation too often this month:
