S.E.W.N.

10/02/2012

Tigerlily Maxi

S.E.W.N.

Australian fashion label Tigerlily are pretty much as ‘Aussie’ as backyard bbq’s. They make beautiful, slightly exy swim-wear and clothing that I used to pine for seasonally, in my pre-diy era. I am blown away that a new fabric store in town (The Fabric Store) are stocking the exact Tigerlily fabrics from their collections…by the yard! This seems kind of unusual, but complain I did not. Grab the bolt, race to the counter, shoulder checking along the way, I did. I recognized this geometric polyester knit from a dress in their collection a few summers ago. A dress that I wanted bad enough to cut and paste it into a word document…these were the days before Pinterest.

I knew I was onto a good thing with the Mission Maxi Dress pattern after I wore the ‘test run’ for three days straight. A bit feral now I think about it. But it’s just a great pattern, especially for lazy girls at heart! For minimal time and effort you get a super flattering, easy wearing summer maxi dress. This version using view C with godet, really grabbed my attention and I assumed my geometric print would make a spectacular godet version. However, in my case, the print had so much happening already that the godet doesn’t really stand out. It’s seems more visually effective to use a plain fabric, like stripes, and get creative with changing the direction of the fabric.

So I may have mentioned in a recent Kniterviews, something to the tune of ‘I don’t change much at all when sewing with knits laa laa di da’. Which is all well and dandy until I tried to sew this really stretchy fabric with a regular straight stitch. No surprises, it puckered like a you know what! Usually I avoid my machine’s stretch stitch function ( uneven stitches?) but in this case it was ten times better than straight stitch. I tried so hard to line up the print but it was ta-ricky. I’m declaring polyester knit as the eel of stretch fabrics, and after much wrestling I still couldn’t get it to match at the center back and side seams. Lucky its a busy print and hides it well. So don’t look too close you lot!

Now I have my own, friendlier on the budget, Tigerlily dress!

23/01/2012

Land down-under dress

S.E.W.N.

So there we were, heading into the outback for a New Years Eve wedding, sans kids. And here I was, in the passenger seat franticly hand stitching the lining and bodice of a dress I started the week before. As is the way, I had a good few months to prepare aaaaand got distracted.

After all that, I’m not head over heals for this dress. I did a bit of a naughty in buying Vogue 1102, knowing it compromised the number one rule for my shape: high neckline. I’ve been dabbling in some ‘research’ to figure out the what styles suit and what patterns I should go for. By research I mean, watching Trinny and Susannah’s ‘What Not to Wear’ and trying on clothes that aren’t necessarily ‘me’, just for thrills! Apparently, I’m an upside-down triangle. Broad shoulders and chest and narrow hips, means pencil skirts yes, high necklines no. Turtlenecks: BIG NO! Anything with an expanses of fabric across the chest make me look and feel boxy.

Rules Schmules she said! I had a vision of this dress in aqua linen-blend and I thought maybe, just this once I could overlook the neckline. There was even enough of this thrifted fabric, 4 yards! The stars were aligned, it was meant to be. And I love this style, really I do, but sadly not on me. I changed out of it and into a backup dress between wedding and reception. I just felt uncomfortable. Perhaps Vogue 1102 is better suited to girls who are petite up top. If you are full busted or broad shouldered or both, save yourself the heartache and go for a Vogue 8280 type neckline. Or just make it up anyway to reconfirm what you knew you already knew!

Excuse my underwear but this was too good not to share. Have I been living in a bubble? Did you know there is such thing as a ‘low back bra extender’? I was just about to buy some alarming stick-on cups when I saw… a piece of elastic with bra clips/ hooks on each which attaches to one side your bra, wraps around your tummy and hooks onto the other side, dragging it down below the line of your dress. The best part is it attaches to your own bra (and it was a third of the price). You can’t beat the security a proper bra in the event of shimmying/ leakage. As it turns out, 15 hours without breastfeeding led to some seriously engorged boobies. I just wanted to get home!

This lesson was a goodie: When the directions on the back of the fabric marker packet say ‘remove pen marks before ironing’, they’re not kidding!-

09/01/2012

Love Me a Wiggle Dress

S.E.W.N.

What do you get when you mix this pattern with this piping and this dress inspiration?

…You get this one…

…a vintage-inspired

…nautical

…Rockabilly

…Pin-up

(insert other)

…WIGGLE DRESS

Hands down, this is the best outcome of last year’s new-clothes-free year. Usually I would be devising a scheme to get my mits on that gorgeous Etsy dress. And it was only because buying wasn’t an option, that I even considered sewing. Now it seems crazy to have ever considered buying!

Which came first, the pattern or the piping? I bought this pattern, found the piping and fell in love with that ‘nautical wiggle dress’ in three unrelated incidences. True. I snapped up Vogue 8280 after first seeing it here and there it sat in the stash waiting for the right fabric… and for me to grow some balls. I jumped on a review site and found lots of lovely but very sensible versions for the office. I was still hanging out for a cheeky wiggle dress and when I saw this cute fabric with little jolly-rogers and anchors…Vogue 8280 was free from her shackles!

I had a good feeling about this one. A pattern combining a fitted bodice, sweetheart neckline and pencil skirt is a guaranteed never-fail for broad shouldered, narrow hipped, up-side down triangle shaped girls. Choosing the right size was kind of important since I am yet to figure out the making of a muslin and some of the reviews recommended you size down. According to the pattern I was between a 12 and 14. I cut the 14 to be safe but when I held up the pieces it just seemed too big, so went back and cut the 12. So far I seem to be getting away with shrinking seam allowances down if I’ve cut too smaller size rather than entirely re-fitting a bigger size. For now.

The bodice fit perfectly and with pinning help from an obliging girl at the fabric shop, I took in the sides of the skirt and changed the shape. Not leaving without my wiggle!

And yes they are fake…eyelashes. I was SO excited about how to style this dress to capture its retro rockabilly spirit. Yet to get in touch with my inner ‘girly-girl’, I had to search Pinterest for ‘pin-up’ style make-up and buy some basics. According to this tutorial you must have pin-up eyebrows so off they went for a wax. The beautician was not familiar with these so called pin-up eyebrows but somehow we nutted out that they had to be long and thin, with a high arch, please. As you can probably tell, I had fun hamming it up for the camera in a deserted (at least I think it was) carpark. Not hard to do when your eyelashes are an inch long.

One of the reviewers said she highlighted all the instructions for the particular view you want to sew because they jump about. Which it does. Invaluable. My personal tip is: write yourself encouraging messages along the way, which is especially good for sewers previously brought to tears by a vogue pattern.

24/08/2011

‘Call me’ party frock

S.E.W.N.

This might be my proudest sewing moment to date! It’s the Macaron Dress by Colette patterns and it’s intermeeeeeeediate, which loosely translates to ( maddening )pockets, pleats and an invisible zip. I went in blind. I had to un-pick and re-adjust and un-pick and re-adjust. I didn’t merge the bust, waist and hip measurements. I spent $26 on an invisible zipper foot that I had no idea how to use. I wanted capped puffed sleeves and no contrasting waistband. And for the last two weeks from measuring to sewing the final hem I was prepared for ‘sack dress with dodgy zip job’.

I’d seen from other versions of the Macaron that it could look a little boxy so took measurements with no room to spare. But when I came to fit the dress, the ends of the waist wouldn’t meet! Luckily the pattern’s generous 5/8″ seams allowed a little room for those of us who forget to merge waist and bust measurements. Re-stitching a 3/8 ” seam saved the day and gave the small waist I was after. Phew!

Now, if I was really clever I would have thought to create some sort of ‘lift the flap’ option for breastfeeding. There’s no physical way to wrestle a boob out any opening without freaking out the other guests so its a short stint only frock. There was a lot riding on this dress. If it didn’t work out I would have happily resigned myself to a future of kiddie clothes sewing…

… but the love I have for this dress, with its minty, retro telephones, silky cream fabric, little puffed sleeves, small waist and pockets, runs deep. So deep that I’d pay good money for it in a shop. Plus it goes with my new fringe. So, with anticipation and a little more confidence I’m venturing forth into the world of adult patterns.