New Look 6097 for summer

Tags

New Look 6097, summer dress

Go figure. Instead of working on my skirt suite I made yet another jersey dress. We had a couple of days of warm weather which inspired me to make an outfit suitable for summer. I like the New Look 6097 pattern because of the wrapped bodice and the casual skirt with pockets. For me it gives a vibe of tropical glamour. I choose to make view A which have a collar and half length sleeves as it makes it more feel like a complete outfit. As the summer in Sweden is not very tropical – to say the least – sleeves will come in handy also in mid of July.

I also choose this busy animal-like print fabric from my stash. It is almost too busy for the camera to focus… Off white and brown is normally not colors I feel comfortable wearing, but the strokes of burgundy made me dare to try it.   

Below are some detail shot of the bodice, sleeves and the belt.

The sleeves have a flap from the inside to hold the edge of the sleeve up with a button. This was actually the first time I tried out the automatic buttonhole function on my Husqvarna Viking Opal sewing machine. You are supposed to be able to give the diameter of the button and then the buttonhole will be sewn automatically in accordance to that measurement. But this proved to be a challenge in stretchy knit fabrics as the fabric tended to stretch while sewing, making the buttonhole up to 5-6 mm longer. This even though I had a stable underlining to stiffen the flap. I did practice a number of times on a scrap but also had to  unpick the sewn buttonhole on the flap a couple of time before I could get it good enough.

I made the belt that goes with the dress as well even though I’m not actually sure I will be using it. However, i made the extra effort to go ti a speciallty shop for sewing notions to find a buckle with a retro feel and matching buttons.

The pattern itself doesn’t call for a lining. However, I choose to put in a lining for the bodice and the skirt in a light weight off white rayon jersey. I did this for a couple of reasons. The pattern called for a quite thin neckline facing which i feared would flip and show. I,d then rather have something more pretty than the inside of the fabric to show. I also wanted to eliminate all risks of see through, both in the bodice and the skirt. But above all I just feel it more luxurious with the extra weight and substance of a lining. This is what the lining looks like.

I made the lining for the skirt as short as I thought practical as the lining tended to get too heavy. I think now it does the trick.

The dress has an elastic band in the waist wich I think feels comfortable and make the dress sit as it should. I finished all seams with a false overlock seam. With the extra layer of the lining , the pleats and the elastic I had to struggle to make the waistband not too bulky.

And this is what the dress look like on me, with and without the belt. At least I feel glamorous in it and can’t wait to get the opportunity to wear it.

Fining the right size when sewing garments in stretch I find to be a great challenge. I know I need to have negative ease if I want the garment to fit close. But how much negative ease is the question. For this dress I based my choice on the garments measurements given on the pattern pieces. I made a size 12 for the bodice and 14 for the skirt. According the given measurements a size 12 bodice is 9 cm smaller over the bust than my own measurements and it close to matches my measurements in the waist. The size 14 skirt is a couple of cm larger than my hip measurements which was good since I did not want the skirt to cling. For the skirt this turned out fine, but the bodice was first too large – which is not attractive or practical for a wrap neckline as it tends to make too much show. So I had to take in the sides first by sewing 1 cm inside the original seam and then another cm. This meant I ended up taking in the bodice about 8 cm (!). On the first picture above you can see that the wrap would be even a bit tighter in order for the lining not to show. I’ll experiment with putting in a hidden snap closure where the wrapping pieces meet in order to keep covered up.

To match the intake in the sleeves 4 cm which you can see was also good. So note to self is to try making a size 10 in New Look knit patterns next time.

Here are some more pictures of me posing in front of the mirror in my new dress.

I will make a review of this pattern on PatternReview.com which I hope you will be able to read here.

Until next time, happy sewing everyone!

/Annika

Me made monday – working from home

Tags

Me Made Monday

Today I’m working from home, listening to some interviews I’ve conducted for a research project. A bit boring work so I amused myself by posing in the hallway on my way to lunch.

I’m wearing another BurdaStyle Magazine 10/2012 #119 wrap top, this time in mauve purple. this was my first less successful attempt with is pattern. I’m comvining it with my Levi’s jeans, ballet flats and a scarf from ETRO.

Me Made Monday – at the hair salon

Today I was wearing my blue Simplicity 2364 top with a pair of jeans and sneakers – as I got my hair cut. It was about time. This is the “after” picture if someone was wondering.

What I’m working on right now II

Tags

dress, knits, New Look 6097

My sewing has not been very focused lately. Spending more time planing future projects than actually sewing. I have so many ideas, the possibilities are endless but time is so limited. Yikes!

But today I cut into the fabric of another dress. We suddenly got a few days of (almost) summer here so I got inspired to make something a bit lighter for the spring. I’m making the three quarter length sleeved one, belt included.

New Look 9067. Images from http://www.simplicity.com.

And this is the fabric I’m using. A beige and burgundy and brown rayon jersey (my favorit) in a animal-like print (though it’s not).

I’m also including a lining in a plain beige rayon knit fabric, just to give the dress some extra weight and in order not to make things too easy for myself.

Now, fingers crossed I will be able to stay focused and that the sewing Gods may be with me.

Happy sewing!

Annika

Me Made Monday and three new patterns for my collection

Tags

McCalls, McCalls 6752, McCalls 6756, Me Made Monday, New Look 6150, Vogue 1351, Vogue patterns

For Me Made Monday today I’m at work wearing my new New Look 6150 striped top paired with a pair of Levi’s jeans.

When I got home I had gotten a package from the McCall Pattern Company (again). It had three patterns from the new summer collections, one from Vogue Patterns and two from McCall’s.

The new Vogue Pattern I chose is the V1351. A cute knit dress with simple lines, designed my DKNY. I love the Vogue patterns from DKNY in general and this one looks so easy both to sew and to wear. It is lined and I have a chocking pink viscos knit to make it in.

From McCall’s I chose M6756, a pattern for shorts in varying lengths. I like these because they do not have the front pleat that many short patterns have and it ends on the waistline rather than on the hips.

The other McCall’s pattern is M6752, yet another pattern for a knit dress or top. But I like these because they are quite flowy in the design, but it still chinches in at the waist.  I feel a bit repetitive when writing about the need to define the waist, but I hate feeling boxy and shapeless in my clothes.

This was the last incoming pattern order I have for now….so may I put in some new orders now? I have had my eyes on some OOP patterns on Etsy.com.

/Annika

Organizing my sewing patterns

Tags

Butterick, Kwik, McCalls, New Look, organizing, sewing patterns, Silhouette, Simplicity, STIL, The Sewing Workshop, Vogue patterns

My sewing pattern collection was starting to take over my apartment. I have a small one bedroom apartment and any clutter make it look like a big mess. This is how my pattern collection looked earlier today.

To help me get organized I bought two carbon boxes from the store Granit.  Granit have storage boxes of many sizes and styles to choose from but I chose these ones as they will accommodate even the largest patterns I have. These boxes cost 99 SEK each and measure 23x30x27 cm, allow me to store even the larger Vogue patterns standing. Apart from using them in sewing I view my patterns as collectables that inspire and tell a story and I want to take care of them as well as I can. For this purpose I found some plastic covers to store the pattern envelopes in. However the store closest to me only had one pack of 5 plastic covers left, so I have to find some more at a later stage. 

This also gave me an occasion to make an inventory of all the patterns I have collected so far. To date I have 64 patterns. WOW! And I have another 3 coming in. Here they all are divided by brand.

Vogue Patterns – in the regulare size envelopes (measures 14,5×21,5 cm)

Vogue Patterns – in the larger size envelopes (20 x 25cm) Here I used the plastic covers which fits perfectly.

Butterick (14,5 x 21,5 cm). I particularly like the Lifestyle Wardrobe patterns on the top)

McCall’s (16,5 x 21 cm)

New Look (15 x 22 cm)

Simplicity (15 x 22 cm)

Silhouettes’ patters (16,5 x 21,5 cm)

One Kwik Sew (16,5 x 21,5 cm) and one The Sewing Workshop (16,5 x 21,5 cm). Both part of Craftsy.com online sewing classes.

My old STIL/Neue Mode patterns (13,5 x 21 cm)

And here is the final result after having gotten the patterns organized by brand. As you can see, still some room to grow the collection.

The two boxes will be stacked on top of each other next to my white cabinet in my living room. There is also room for a third on top if needed.

I would love to hear how other sewers out there store and organize their patterns. Specifically if you live small like I do.

/Annika

Me Made Monday

My Simplicity 1716 top with a pair of black slaks (RTW from Marella).

Which I had sewn more trousers and skirt to wear on Mondays.

Me Made Monday

Thought I’d start this habit of wearing something me made on mondays and reporting on it here. Today I’m wearing a my blue BurdaStyle Magazine 10/2012 #119 wrap top paired wirh a RTW black pencil skirt (from Sand) and a black skirt. I’m spending the day at a conference at Södertuna castle. A beautiful environment to be in.

Two new tops in April

Tags

clothing, knits, New Look 6150, Simplicity 1716, stripes, style, tops

I’m so sorry! I’ve been neglecting this blog and you all.

However, I have been sewing and working on a couple of different projects. One larger one – a skirt suite using couture inspired techniques – which I will write about in a separate post and a couple of more tops. My favorite!!

The first top I made from some of the beautiful fabric I had left over from the making the Simplicity daydress. It’s this flattering sleeveless top made with Simplicity 1716, the same pattern I used for this top. The first version I found to be slightly to large so I just folded a 2 cm off of the original pattern front and back pieces making the top overall 8 cm tighter. For a sleeveless version this is perfect and it is very flattering over the midriff, as you can see below on my new friend Valery. The top as super easy and fast to do. I finished it in a day, cutting included.   Here you can also see some of the details and lines. I have already worn it to work – under a navy blue pant suit – and gotten some complements on it. One sweet colleague and friend even asked if she could commission me to so something similar to her. We’ll see.

The second top is a spring inspired mauvypink/cream color striped cotton top. It is made based on New Look pattern 6150, view E. This one was also quite easy even though trying to match the stripes both in cutting and sewing took some extra time. As you can see the stripes match almost perfectly in the center back seam and the sleeves. However, the side seams were a bit harder to match. I did initially hand baste the side seams to match the stripes, but because I ended up having to move the side seam almost 5 cm inward – making several incremental changes and then trying on for fit –  the stripes got misaligned in the process. Well, well.

And here is a picture of me wearing the top.

The fabric is a soft ribbed cotton jersey. Nice, but with the disadvantage of having a tendency to stretch out. I like the boat neckline and the ruched sleeves , which have an elastic along the ruching. It’s a great basic pattern and I probably use it again, in one or two sized smaller and with three-quarter length sleeves. One red and white and one in blue and white stripes would be great for spring and summer here in Sweden.

I promise to be better att posting here on the blog. Coming up are posts on my new dress form, a progress post on my skirt suite project and a show and tell about pattern and fabric purchases I’ve made recently.

Happy sewing everyone!

Annika

Fun and colorful day dress

Tags

colorful, day dress, knits, Simplicity 2145

Finally I finished another garment! It’s the Simplicity 2145 dress from the Project Runway pattern collection. I wanted to make this dress for a while and also had found a fabric that I thought would make it justice. I like the shape of the dress, that it has a wrap neckline, a defined waist, a flirty skirt and long sleeves. Even though the pattern doesn’t call for a knit fabric I again used a rayon blend knit fabric with a lot of flow. I’m quite happy with the result.

My new Simplicity 2145 dress

The dress wasn’t to difficult to make though some of the steps were time consuming. It has quite a few pleats both in the neckline and in the skirt, both front and back. Some of the pleats where folded from the right side of the garment which gave me some conundrum of how to make the marking for the folding lines. to avoid marking with a pen on the outside of the garment I tread traced these markings by hand. When making the folds I also chose to bast them in place my hand instead of on the machine. This way it was easier to take out the basing tread in the later stages, but the hand sewing took some time.

The upper bodice

Basted pleats

Before cutting out the fabric I adjusted the pattern some:

• First of all I lowered the shoulder seam at the neckline 2 cm, tapered out to nothing at the shoulder. I don’t think I have particularly straight/boxy shoulders but I have found that I like to make this adjustment on tops in order to avoid gaps in the neckline. I had to make the adjustment both to the bodies piece and to the facing.
• Also I raised the neckline about 1 cm in the wrap in order to get better coverage and make the dress more appropriate for the office. 

I didn’t follow the pattern directions to the minute but saved the underarm and side seams as the very last step before hemming. In this way I didn’t need to give up fit to chance. I made french seams under the arm and on the sides (as well as in the shoulders and sleeves). For french seams on knits I use a tutorial by Amanda on Amanda’s Adventure in Sewing. Before stitching the french seams I basted the seams, by machine this time, to make sure the fit would be good. This was a very exiting step as it was the first time i could try it on and you never know what your labor so far has ended up with… It had turned out great but I decided to take in the sleeve 4 cm and the top of the bodied (top 5 cm) about 3 cm on each side for it to be even better. The pattern suggested a standard zipper, but I chose to use an invisible one instead. However, since it is a knit fabric I could have done without a zipper and still get the dress on and off. But there is something about zipping up dresses…

I like how the neckline fits me and the look of the waistband, even though it could have been i a little tighter.

Front of the dress

Here I make sure it also looks good from the side and the back. Yep, the length is good as well.

Side/front of dress

This is the first of many dresses I am planing to make that is appropriate in the day, at the office (or in the classroom as I’m teaching at the university) in a climate like ours in Sweden. I’ll be able to use it already now with a jacket or a cardigan on top and later in the spring on it’s own. Here I have styled it with black tights and black shoes, but the colors in the dress make matching with other colored accessories a nice option.

Styled

That is it from me for this time.

Happy sewing everyone!

Annika