The Liveaboard Takes the Suburbs

McCall's 6696 in Liberty Poplin

2015-09-05T15:01:00.000-04:00

Are you tired of 6696 yet?

Cause I'm not!

I first heard about Liberty poplin on Roisin's blog and I immediately knew I had to have some. I bought this on eBay (along with a single yard of Liberty poplin with smaller flowers -- it became a sleeveless button-down blouse). This is the same as the fabric Roisin used, I believe, but the flowers are on a different scale. I am fairly certain I've seen a few versions of this pattern in the same fabric, though. (If you're one of them, please let me know, so I can credit you!)

Liberty poplin is a dream to work with. It sews up so and presses very crisply. You can really tell that it's high quality fabric!

Mood recently has started selling Liberty poplins, by the way, and they really have some lovely ones. I bought a pretty blue and grey one in my last order.

The buttons I used were from a lot of vintage buttons I bought on Etsy. I had exactly the right amount and then I cracked one, so there actually isn't a button at the very top of the button placket. I never button that last button and the way the collar folds hides it anyway, so hopefully no one will notice!

I matched the button-sewing thread to the buttons, which I think looks really nice.

I have recently discovered glue sticks for fabric and they are really wonderful for shirtmaking -- I feel that my shirts look much more professional and cleanly stitched when I use glue.

I glue the collar stand facing down before I sew it and it works so much better than pinning. I also used it for the waistband and button placket.

The glue helps keep everything in place much better than pins, but it does tend to gum up the sewing needles a bit. I've noticed that when I use glue I need to change my needle before I make the buttonholes.

I love my Pfaff -- the topstitching is beautiful -- but it really does not like to make buttonholes unless I've very recently treated it to a new needle. I'm batch-making button-down shirts this weekend, and I can just imagine how many needles I'll go through!

The botton of the collar stand could be stitched a bit straighter, but I'm really pleased with this collar and collar stand!

And a dress-guts pic! I serged all the seams with white thread.

I think this is my last 6696 for a while, and I feel like it's my best effort yet. I love how making the same pattern several times garners better and better results with each sewing.

Now I'm off to work on those button-downs. I've got four on the go at once, trying to make some more work clothing!

What are you sewing this weekend?

New Look 6262 in Seersucker

2015-08-20T07:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Seersucker Thursday!

I first learned about Seersucker Thursday when I worked for Roll Call and the paper covered a Seersucker Thursday event in Congress. Entire staffs of certain representatives dressed up in seersucker on the same day. It was hilarious. Of course, this summer, even though I no longer work for Roll Call, I knew I needed my own Seersucker Thursday outfit. Because D.C.

I bought this particular seersucker from Fabric.com. It's beautifully light for summer and, shockingly, doesn't need ironing. Seriously. I pull this out of the dryer, hang it up and wear it without ironing. That is RARE, ya'll. And it's wonderful. I think I've worn this dress at least once a week all summer.

The pattern I used is New Look 6262. I know I've said this before, but I love New Look for basic dresses. You don't even have to wait for sales -- they're just $4.29 all the time.

This dress is unlined, so the arms are finished with pre-bought bias tape and the neckline is finished with a facing, which I topstitched down about half an inch from the edge.

The skirt is slightly gathered -- enough to provide a small amount of fullness and comfort without adding too much poof.

In terms of sizing, I cut an 8 at the bust and a 10-12ish at the waist. I normally cut to a 10 at the waist, but I wanted this dress to be a bit loose in the waist.

I am appreciating ease more and more (although I still don't need the 4 inches most Big Four patterns include, thanks!) as I spend more time sitting in an office, frequently slouched over. It's just more comfortable this way! I think going partially to 12 at the waist gives me about three-quarters of an inch ease. Maybe an inch, depending on the day.

I finished the seams with the serger. I always finish all potential seams BEFORE I sew the garment up. The one time I tried to serge everything post-sewing, I sucked the blouse I was working on into the serger and almost cried. Back to pre-serging my fabric!

Hilariously, my invisible zipper ended up between two white stripes, so when viewed from the back, it looks like my zipper is partially visible, but I promise it's hidden!

Overall, I really enjoy this dress and I will definitely make this pattern again. This is the only v-neck dress I own and it's a fun change from my usual boat and scoop necks -- it provides a nice background for necklaces!

What are you all wearing to work this summer? I'm all dresses all the time! I have a few other new ones to post soon, too, before fall starts making its presence known.

Casual McCall's 6696 With No Collar

2015-07-09T17:02:00.000-04:00

McCall's 6696 strikes again!

Readers, I, like so many before me, have fallen in love with this pattern.

This is version three for me (you can see the other two versions here and here).

For this one, I omitted the collar. Originally I intended to do a collared version, but I had a small issue with the pattern: I lost the back yoke pattern piece.

No problem, I thought -- I could trace off the piece from one of my finished dresses!

So I did.

It looked fine. The dress came together fine.

Until I tried to add the collar stand, which was comically and ridiculously too small for the dress.

Woops.

Bias tape, as usual, saved the day. I bound off the neckline the same way I bound off the sleeves and decided to call this dress "casual."

The missing/redrawn yoke piece seems to have caused some fitting issues in the back of the dress, You can definitely see some drag lines heading toward my armpits. But I don't think you'll be surprised to learn that this does not bother me.

For the first time, I added the belt loops to the waistband and I'm very pleased with the way they turned out.

I also decided to topstitch the entire dress with white thread.

The fabric is a lovely shirting from Blackbird Fabrics, but I had a very difficult time finding a thread match, so I decided to do contrast topstitching and buttons to match the topstitching. The bias binding I used inside also is white.

(The buttons are shirt buttons from Fashion Sewing Supply -- their site might look a bit sketchy, but their quality is great!)

Overall, I'm pleased with this dress. I find it appropriate for work on casual Fridays and very comfortable.

I've also worn it swing dancing a few times!

I think the moral of this dress is that one need not be dismayed when disaster strikes: An ill-fitting collar stand might turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

And don't worry -- I've since bought another copy of this pattern!

Sewing Fail: Sewaholic Yaletown

2015-04-24T16:26:00.003-04:00

I've been debating whether to share this finished dress or not, because I have a love-hate relationship with sewing fail posts.

On the one hand, I love to see that everyone -- even the sewists I respect most -- have sewing fails, too.

On the other hand, I mainly look to sewing blogs for inspiration and encouragement. They're a slice of happy in my day.

I don't think I'll be doing fail posts often, but I do think I learned some good lessons with this dress.

First off, I am the first to admit that I'm a bit of a Sewaholic patterns fangirl. Their patterns usually fit me nicely and flatter my shape. So perhaps I was not super judicious in choosing this pattern. I figured if Tasia said it would be a good look for the Sewaholic girl, then it would look good on me.

That was my first mistake.

The top is super blousey and the v-neck is very wide. In addition to this, as you can see in some of these pictures, there is a big lump on the side where the top layer of the faux wrap is gapping really badly. No idea why this is!

The one thing I like about this pattern is the hidden button at the bottom of the v-neck, where the layers cross.

But my normal go-to look is fitted top, full bottom -- and there's a good reason for that. It looks good on me and it's true to my personal style.

I mean, let's be real here. Look at that first picture. I look like a lineman.

My second mistake was this fabric. It's a polyester from Blackbird Fabrics. And there's nothing wrong with it per se. I don't hate polyester as a rule or anything like that. Polyester definitely has its place. But this was not my favorite fabric to work with and the skirt has some major static cling. Which is sad, because Blackbird's stuff is not cheap. I've bought some awesome shirtings from Blackbird, but both of the poly prints I bought just did not turn out. (I bought some of the flamingo print and it got sucked into my serger. It wasn't pretty.)

Overall, I don't think I'll be saving this dress. The look, to my eyes, is very '80s, which is one fashion era that does not suit me.

And I don't think I'll be using this pattern again either.

My plan at the moment is to hack the skirt off, make a waistband and get a little wear out of it that way -- but we'll see when I get to that.

How do you feel about sewing fail posts? Have you made anything recently that just wasn't wearable for you?

McCall's 6696 With Vintage Fabric

2015-04-04T08:30:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter!

I am so glad that it is finally starting to feel like spring here. Dress sewing has kicked into high gear!

This dress is my second version of McCall's 6696, which is unquestionably one of my favorite patterns lately.

[I'm still struggling with a variety of blog issues, so in the meantime, I've decided to continue on with my backlog of completed and photographed outfits. The show must go on!]

I made this version with some 1940s rayon fabric I purchased on Etsy.

The fabric is very soft and has a fantastic drape.

I originally bought it thinking that I could wear it with tights and a sweater for the end of winter, but as soon as the dress was complete, I realized that this dress is unequivocally a warm-weather dress. It's just too floaty and drapey for cold weather. And the fabric is quite thin, which will be nice when it starts to get hot. (And for swing dance!)

Overall, this fabric was fairly easy to work with. It is rayon, but it's not very shiny or shifty, so it was fine to work with.

The only trouble I had was picking a thread color!

I finally settled on dark grey as somewhat of a contrast.

The blue has so much white in it that none of my blue threads really looked "right" to me. Dark grey seemed a good compromise.

The top-stitching on this dress is not quite perfect (I'm not used to working with rayon) and the dark thread does help disguise that, which is a side benefit.

This dress is a little big in the waist -- more so that my other version, which is just comfortably loose. The interfacing in the waistband and placket is what I normally use for shirts, but, in retrospect, I should have used something lighter. The waistband sags a bit sometimes. Honestly, though, it's kind of a "look." It looks a bit more casual/drapey like that.

I also had trouble picking buttons. I went with white, but I might change them out at some point. They are a bit more of a contrast than I expected.

Overall, though, I like this dress! It's the first time I've worked with real vintage fabric, so that was really fun.

Have you all tried working with vintage fabrics? Where do you buy them?

Brown Circle Skirt and a Blog Update

2015-03-25T16:44:00.002-04:00

First, the nitty gritty: I have been delaying putting up a post for TWO WEEKS now because I have been locked in a battle with Disqus. I was so happy when I initially switched to Disqus comments, because Blogger has a nasty habit of eating comments (several readers complained of this before I switched -- and by "several," I mean three).

Well, Disqus has now eaten all but one comment!

I switched URLs a couple of weeks ago, finally purchasing www.theliveaboardtakesthesuburbs.com, and Disqus ATE all my comments in the switchover.

I have one more trick to try, since Disqus support has been so much less than helpful (it's been a bit rage-inducing, to be quite honest) and then I'm giving up and just saying goodbye to the 130-some comments I'd racked up over the past few years. Le sigh.

Anyway, enough turmoil.

I present a small sewing project to tide you over until my next real post.

I've made many circle skirts before. It's a silhouette I love and I find them both comfortable and flattering.

This one is made from brown twill I ordered from Mood.

[Note: This is not an affiliate link or anything fancy, but I am going to try to link to specific fabrics when I can from now on, because I frequently find myself wishing for such links while I am reading.]

That Pfaff top-stitching, though...

The "pattern" for this skirt is a stolen circle skirt pattern piece from Butterick 5748 and a big rectangle for a waistband. (Basically I made the waistband 3 inches wide and my waist measurement + 2 inches so I could use it to enclose the zipper.)

I serged the insides with black thread. I am trying to get better about buying a greater variety of serger thread in the interest of pretty guts (because pretty guts make me happy!) but I don't have any brown yet.

I serged the hem and just turned it under and top-stitched for a narrow hem.

Voila! An easy-peasy work look. And it's almost warm enough here to wear it like this, without tights. Almost...

I'll keep ya'll posted on the comment situation. Let me know if you have any helpful hints!

McCall's 6696 Shirtdress in Scissor-Print Fabric

2015-03-02T11:30:00.000-05:00

Hey there, hepcats!

I made this dress with swing dancing in mind. I've mentioned before that Greg and I have been taking ballroom lessons. Well, we liked the swing unit of our ballroom class so much that we decided to try out lindy hop classes as well.

The swing scene where we live is very active -- we take class once a week and go social dancing at least once a week as well. It's really fun! (We take classes from this group, in case you're local and interested.)

By the way, the saddle shoes I'm wearing are swing shoes from dancestore.com. G.H. Bass & Co. makes similar shoes that are street legal. (Swing shoes have suede soles and are meant to be worn inside only. They will be very very quickly ruined if you wear them outside.)

The pattern for this dress is McCall's 6696. Finally! A shirtdress of my very own!

This pattern has definitely made the rounds in the blog world -- and with good reason. It is everything I could ever want in a shirtdress pattern.

It features a nice, full skirt with pleats, a waistband, an option for belt loops and several sleeve options. There's also a straight skirt option, but we all know that I won't be making that one. :-P

The shirt styling is very traditional -- it includes a collar with a collar stand, and a button placket made from its own pattern piece (as opposed to the fold-over type).

In the upper back, which is where most shirts have some pleating detail, there is a lovely gather, which is repeated above the waistband in the back. I think this is a very feminine detail. You could easily swap it out for a more traditional pleat, though, if that's more your style.

I think I might not have eased the sleeve caps correctly. In some pictures, including the one above, it looks like the sleeve heads are poofing strangely. I'll have to be careful with that if I make another version with sleeves!

In terms of sizing, this is a pattern with bra-cup sizing. I made a C cup bodice and graded from an 8 at the bust to a 10 at the waist.

I could probably cut a straight 8 in this pattern -- the waist has a bit more ease than I normally use, but I find that comfortable for dancing.

The button placement suggestion from the pattern does not have a button at the waistband so that there's room for a belt. But since I left off the belt loops here, and do not intend to wear a belt with this one, I rearranged the buttons so I'd have one at the waist.

Speaking of buttons, these are vintage buttons from Etsy. Originally, I was going to use plain white shirt buttons, but I decided they didn't look quite right. I posted some different options on Instagram and Facebook and black was the clear winner in my informal poll.

These are plastic buttons from 1930. I chose them because I thought they nicely echoed the dots between on the fabric.

Speaking of the fabric, it's from Emma One Sock. Another blogger (I've forgotten who -- oops!) posted a picture of this fabric on Instagram and I asked where it came from and ordered it immediately. Sometimes you just know what you want!

The fabric is cotton blend that's a bit sheer and slightly stretchy.

I don't particularly mind the sheerness. I have on a very simple white cotton skirt slip under this and that, along with a nude-colored bra, is good enough for me.

I was unable to match the pattern perfectly, but the print is on a small enough scale that I think that's OK.

This dress is definitely a favorite and I've already made another using this pattern and am about to cut a third. It's a winner in my book! Have you made up 6696 yet? Or are you abstaining from this particular blog trend? ;)

Reminder: I'd still love to hear your thoughts on my new series on sewing fiction! I'd so appreciate it if you'd stop by and leave a comment and let me know what you think of this idea. If you've already sent me some feedback, thanks! :)

Sewing Fiction: Six of Hearts

2015-02-27T17:00:00.000-05:00

I get so excited when I discover a good book that features sewing, knitting or crafting.

Fun fact about me: I am a voracious reader. Completely insatiable. There are weeks when I easily read seven books.

Lately I've been on a romance novel kick, but I also love science fiction, fantasy, mysteries and young adult literature. I also read the occasional piece of literary fiction.

In the sewing blog community, there are a lot of different bloggers who review sewing books, but I confess that I am usually much less interested in these. I like a pretty book as much as the next girl, but I don't really buy/read many of these books.

What I do love is fiction. And I imagine some of you all feel the same. Or at least I hope so!

So I've decided to run an occasional blog series to highlight sewing (and knitting!) in fiction. All the books will be cataloged here -- and if you have a book you'd like to recommend, let me know!

The header for each of these posts will be "Sewing Fiction: Title." So if you aren't interested in book reviews, you can skip these posts.

Now! On to the review!

"Six of Hearts" by L.H. Cosway is what I would describe as a suspenseful, smart romance. (I love stories about people falling in love.)

By day, Matilda works as a legal secretary at her dad's law office, which handles mostly small-time cases. (By night, she spends quality time with her sewing machine.) The very handsome illusionist Jay (insert eyebrow wiggle) comes into the office looking for representation in a libel case. A newspaper has published an article insinuating that someone died as a result of one of Jay's illusions. Matilda's father refuses to take the case -- but when Jay says that he's looking for a room to rent, Matilda's father offers Jay the spare room, which had been recently renovated for just such a purpose. Matilda isn't sure how she feels about Jay living in the room next door, but it seems she doesn't have a choice.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a "new adult" book, which I think is a fancy way of saying that it contains explicit sex scenes, so if those bother you, you'll want to skip this one.

The writing is easy to understand and the book is an easy read. Which is good, because I was unable to put it down. There are some typos, at least in the Kindle version, but nothing terribly egregious that had an effect on my desire to read the book. (Disclaimer: I am a professional copy editor, so I notice this stuff.)

I recommended it to one of my (non-sewing) girlfriends last week and she's already finished it and also loved it.

If you're looking for something light that has a plot, some twists and turns, and a hefty dose of romance, I highly recommend "Six of Hearts."

The Details

Sewing

The protagonist in this book is a seamstress by night. She has an Etsy business where she sells her designs and she dreams of being a costume designer.

Plausibility of sewing

So-so. The book doesn't go into a lot of detail, but in the beginning of the novel, she wants a new sewing machine and is trying to save $800 for it. Her sewing machine proceeds to just... die. I mean... she's not going to try to have it repaired? I'm giving this one the side-eye.

Best sewing detail

She wears the dresses she makes and they flatter and are vintage inspired, which sounds like most of the sewing bloggers I follow! Also, he loves to sit with her while she sews. Which is just adorable.

Genre

Romance / New Adult

Other information

Check it out on Goodreads! [This is not an affiliate link. I just really like Goodreads.]

Recommendation

Two thumbs way up.

I'd love to hear your feedback about this new feature -- positive and negative feedback are both welcome. Leave comments below or use the contact page to send me a more-private message. Thanks!

New Look 6266 Button-Down in Mousey Grey Polka Dots

2015-02-21T18:57:00.000-05:00

The recent button-down shirt/shirtdress trend in the sewing blog community?

Well I guess you can call me trendy, because I am all about this one.

I'm still very much interested in sewing more clothing for work and I've developed a bit of a uniform of skirt, button-down, cardigan and tights. Endlessly mix-and-matchable!

This is New Look 6266, which I've blogged about once before.

This time, instead of creating a hem that is split at the side seams as instructed, I sewed the seam shut all the way down.

I liked the split hem on my seersucker version for sitting, but the hem split tended to get folded up against my chair and get all wrinkly.

The one error I made on this version is that I didn't have/feel like making normal bias tape, I had quarter-inch bias tape masquerading as half-inch bias tape (ie it was double fold, but not folded in half, if that makes sense). So the underarm is bunching a bit more than usual because only about half of the seam allowance was folded under.

I didn't think it would make that much of a difference, but it totally did!

The fabric I used was a one-yard remnant of mouse grey fabric from Blackbird Fabrics. When Caroline posted on Instagram that she was selling off some remnants, I hopped on and saw this for $5.

I have had a lifelong obsession with polka dots and I adore anything grey.

I did all of my top-stitching with white thread and used opaque white buttons from JoAnn Fabrics -- they kind of look like giant polka dots, don't they?

On the inside, I finished all exposed seams by serging with white thread. I keep meaning to sit down with one of my sewing books and read about flat-felled seams, but I've been lazy.

I finished the hem with the same bias tape I used on the armholes. I do like the look of a bias tape hem and it preserves more of the length.

I am definitely still in love with the top-stitching on my Pfaff. The stitches come out so clean and even. It makes me want to topstitch all the things!

I have another button-up blouse and a couple shirtdresses to share coming up here. Greg and I finally reordered the guest room so that we can take indoor winter pictures again (the guest room is the only room in our house with suitable natural light for blog pictures!) My apologies for the long absence! We photographed five outfits today, though, so get excited for some blog posts coming up. ;)

I'd love to know what you all think of the button-up trend -- and sewing blog trends in general. Are you all about them? Totally uninterested? Or somewhere in between?

A Classic Sewaholic Robson Trench Coat

2014-12-29T15:46:00.001-05:00

I made a trench coat, ya'll!

This is definitely one of my proudest and most challenging makes of 2014 (the top slot, of course, goes to my wedding dress!) so prepare yourself for photo overload.

This is the Sewaholic Robson coat, made in a straight size 8 with no adjustments.

The fabric is a water-resistant cotton blend in "pumice stone" color from Mood Fabrics. The buttons also are from Mood. The buckle is from G Street Fabrics. Bias binding for the seams was purchased at my local JoAnn Fabrics.

Normally, I talk about the pattern first in blog posts, but the biggest challenge with this coat was the fabric, so I'll start there today.

The main quality that made this fabric desirable for a trench coat -- its water resistance -- made it a bear to sew. I used a heavy duty needle (several of them, actually -- more on that in a moment), and the machine really tried to make a go of it, but this pattern includes a ton of layers in some parts, such as the shoulder seam, so there was much cranking on the hand wheel to start those parts.

The fabric also tended to produce a kind of waxy dust when sewn, which I can only assume comes from the water-resistant coating.

Oddly, the fabric didn't seem to have any issues with ironing and lots of steam, although the fabric tended to trap steam, another hazard, I suppose of water-resistance. The main issue with ironing, though, was that the fabric refused to hold a crease.

The absolute biggest challenge with this coat was the buttonholes. They were a NIGHTMARE.

I had the coat all done up to the buttonhole stage, and I was feeling pretty proud of my work. I really took my time on making this coat nice. Up to the buttonholes.

The machine was just NOT having it with these buttonholes. It kept skipping half the buttonhole and making huge jumps in its stitching. I tried messing manually with the tension, with the stitch length -- with everything I could think of.

In despair, I posted a picture on Instagram and the ever-brilliant Brooke suggested that perhaps I needed a new needle. All of a sudden, my problem was fixed! I think I needed two more needles before the project was done. If I had to guess, I'd say that the coating on the fabric dulled or gummed up the needles.

It all worked out in the end, though.

Except for the part where I incorrectly placed all of the buttonholes, so there are some buttons sewn on top of buttonholes and some buttonholes that go separately through the main fabric and facing.

I think by the end, I was just exhausted. This project really took a lot out of me.

The only "change" I made to the pattern was to pick up a buckle for the belt. The buckle came from G Street and was fairly inexpensive. I just sewed it on to the end of the belt.

It doesn't exactly match the buttons, and looking at these photos, either the beltloops are uneven, or I didn't pull the coat down correctly. I'll fix it sometime. Maybe. ~~Never.~~

One of the coolest things about this pattern is the opportunity to use a fun contrast bias binding on the seams. The coat has no lining, which I appreciated, because the number of layers I had without the lining was enough for me!

I used a bright blue for a pop of color. Don't tell anyone, but there is a slightly different bright blue on the insides of the sleeves. I bought the wrong color on my third trip to JoAnn for more bias binding.

I definitely needed much more bias tape than the pattern recommended, that's for sure.

The pockets seemed oddly placed to me at first glance, but I started surreptitiously examining the trench coats on my morning commute (creeper status!) and I discovered that most trench coats have these pockets. I had ample opportunities to examine a large variety of trench coats because it seems as though they are the go-to for commuters in the fall here.

I had a bit of trouble getting the sleeve to ease nicely, but at this point, I'm just calling it a feature.

I am super proud of this project -- and glad to finally have my own trench coat -- but boy am I glad to call it finished! Do you ever have projects like that? I made a nice, simple skirt after this and it felt like a breath of fresh air!

A Christmas New Look 6223 in Winter Cardinals Fabric

2014-12-23T23:39:00.003-05:00

Happy holidays, readers!

Over Black Friday, I shopped a bit online, including at Modcloth, which so helpfully let me know it was having a sale.

Now, we all know that nearly all 100 percent cotton dresses at Modcloth are made from easily attainable quilting cotton, right?

I saw a dress made from this winter cardinals fabric and just had to have it. I found the fabric online at Hancock's of Paducah (which had the best price -- $5! -- but did trigger a fraud warning on my credit card since it's apparently a local store in another state!) The fabric is Timeless Treasures Season's Greetings Winter Cardinals in ivory.

It's a lovely drapey quilting cotton.

The bodice is lined in plain white lawn, which I buy at least 5 yards at a time. I line nearly everything with white cotton lawn!

All in all, the fabrics were perfect for a structured dress like New Look 6223.

New Look 6223 is a favorite basic pattern of mine -- though I may need to buy a second copy the next time New Look patterns are on sale, because I seem to have misplaced the sleeve piece. Originally I wanted to do this dress up with cap sleeves, similar to my Oscar de la Renta dress, but I went without after I couldn't find the sleeve piece. (I know, I know, Frankenpattern, etc., but as I've said before, homegirl ain't got time for all that! it's just not fun for me.)

The pattern is exceedingly simple. It's a six-dart bodice with a pleated skirt. In this case, I gathered the skirt instead of pleating. I also forgot to put in the pockets (I now have two white lining-fabric pockets on my cutting table). Woops.

I cut an 8 at the bust and graded to a 10-12 at the waist. I left a bit of extra ease in the waist since I wanted to wear this dress dancing.

I didn't bother pattern-matching in the back or at the waist (I am of the opinion that matching a pattern like this across the waist just looks wrong and I just didn't feel like matching on the back seam and wasting fabric). The only pattern adjustment I made was to be sure I wouldn't have two red cardinals placed in, shall we say, compromising positions on my chest.

This dress was an easy make -- I spent my afternoon in my sewing room on Saturday and worked on it while watching "Rehab Addict" on Netflix and I was finished in no time.

In fact, I wore this dress for the first time Saturday night to a ballroom dance. We have monthly social ballroom dances at the place we take classes. With my small cotton crinoline underneath, it was perfect for an evening of dancing. (I know it probably seems strange to wear a sleeveless dress with no stockings in the middle of winter, but trust me when I say that after a couple hours of dancing in a well-lit art gallery, you'll be sweating!)

I plan to wear this again with black tights and a cardigan for a Christmas Eve showing of The Nutcracker as well.

When I wear it, with the red, green and gold colors, I feel festive!

Even when it's cold outside!

Do you have Christmas sewing plans? I'd love to hear about them!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all. <3

A Wintry Owls Sweater and Sewaholic Hollyburn Skirt

2014-11-30T00:32:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I hope all my American pals had a fantastic Turkey Day. (And I hope my international friends had a lovely Thursday!)

Mine was super low-key and relaxing, which was just fine by me. My Black Friday, though, was slightly more exciting.

Greg and I have been taking ballroom dance classes for the last few months and the place we take classes, Workhouse Arts Center, is insanely awesome.

The arts center, which has everything from yoga, to glassblowing to comedy shows, was a prison until 2001. It's called the Workhouse because it's a prisoner-built prison. Is it a bit creepy that we take dance lessons in cell block 11? Possibly. Is it also cool as hell? Most definitely. I'm a super nerd for old buildings with interesting history and the Workhouse complex certainly fits the bill!

Anyway, the Workhouse had an open house on Black Friday, which included an hour-long ballroom dance practice session/exhibition thing. (I swear they don't pay me -- I just think this place is super cool.) So I convinced my dad that he should come with Greg and I.

Of course, I had to wear a new outfit for the event and have Greg photograph it at the Workhouse. A change of venue is always nice, right? I'm sure you all get sick of seeing my front yard.

This is the Owls sweater by Kate Davies and the Hollyburn skirt by Sewaholic.

I'll talk a bit about the Owls first.

I knitted the majority of this on a train trip Greg and I took from Washington, D.C., to Seattle in August for his sister's wedding.

We were on the train for four days and I knitted the entire body and one sleeve on the train trip.

(Funny story about how the day of the trip I sent Greg to the yarn store with a list because I finished my previous project and wanted to start this one but didn't have the correct size needles! I swear to god my husband is the best sport ever.)

This sweater is made with bulky yarn, so it is an incredibly quick knit. I used Billow from KnitPicks, which is a 100 percent cotton and it is SO soft. Sadly it doesn't do a great job holding its shape, but its softness totally makes up for that.

This was also my first experience with cables, and I found them surprisingly simple! I opted not to sew on the button eyes, though, to make the design seem a bit subtler so the sweater would go with more outfits.

I also left the body short so I could wear it with my high-waisted skirts. I don't really wear pants that often, so I usually want my sweaters to go well with skirts.

The most difficult part of this sweater for me was trying to figure out how to connect the body to the sleeves in order to knit the yoke.

I'd never knit a bottom-up sweater before, so I was a bit at sea. I ended up first getting everything set up backward. Ravelry sorted me out though: I posted a thread asking why I couldn't use the instructions for the yoke (I was set to knit in the wrong direction.)

The eventual solution?

I was reading the directions and thinking about MY left and not the SWEATER'S left. Oy.

After that, though, it was fairly easy to finish! Ha!

This past week, I decided to whip up a quick Hollyburn from black twill I got from Mood. It's a Theory fabric and it is lovely.

These pictures were taken on second wearing -- I wear most of my full skirts with a very minimal cotton petticoat and tights for warmth, so there's no point to washing after every wear -- and despite the twill's slight stretch factor, the skirt still looks great. The recovery is great.

I also put in my very first centered zipper on this skirt. I don't know how I've never done one before, but I hadn't. Surprisingly simple! I usually put invisible zippers in everything, but since I've made this skirt several times already, I decided to challenge myself a tiny bit.

Here's a pic Greg snapped of the outfit in action, as I was trying to waltz with my dad.

And an outtake my dad snapped of Greg taking pictures of me. So meta.

What did you do for Black Friday? Hit the stores? Hit the dancefloor? Something else entirely?

Halloween Week Costume Series: Renaissance Festival Outfit With Truly Victorian 110 Corset

2014-10-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween and welcome to the final post in my Halloween costume miniseries! (See posts 1 and 2.)

While I'm not planning to wear this costume for Halloween this year, I did make and wear it recently, so I thought I'd post a bit about it.

Two years ago, one of my friends took me to the Maryland Renaissance Festival (don't ask how I lived my entire life in Maryland and had never been before -- I seriously have no idea) and I was instantly and irrevocably hooked.

Fast forward to this past spring. One of the ladies in my sewing group is very interested in Civil War-era garment construction and offered to give a little class on corset-making.

A corset is not something I generally have need of in my daily life, but I figured I could turn it into a Renaissance Festival costume and learn some interesting construction techniques, so I went for it. I'm going to put this out there now: My costume is in no way historically accurate -- it's just for fun.

The corset was made from Truly Victorian 110.

In class, we made mockups -- for which I ordered the cheapest possible white coutil from corsetmaking.com. It was still fairly expensive, but I had never worked with fabric of this type and weight and wanted to try it.

I made my mockup in a straight size C, and it was fairly obvious that I needed to grade out at the hips, so my final version was a C-D-E size.

For my final corset, I chose a tea-colored coutil.

This corset is far from perfect -- for whatever reason, you can definitely see some of the notches I cut in the seam allowance to make the seams lie flatter. And there's a few places where the fabric could be a bit less wrinkled, which probably would be fixed with more boning and more flat steel boning (as opposed to spiral steel, which is used for the majority of the boning on this corset.)

By far the most difficult part of this project was getting the boning into all the channels. There are definitely a few channels I sewed ever so slightly too small.

For the back, I bought corset lacing and size 00 grommets. The lady who led the corset class brought her grommet setter -- so fun!

You can even lace this type of corset by yourself -- though it can be difficult to get the lacing even (you can see above how the gap down my back isn't exactly even and parallel).

The binding is just plain homemade white bias tape. I wish I had been able to find a close color match to the corset fabric, but nothing seemed close enough. I kind of half-assed the binding because I was in a hurry to finish -- hopefully I'll find some nicer binding at some point and redo it.

The rest of the costume I bought at the Renaissance Festival. The shirt and skirt are from Wolfstone Kilt Company, a local Virginia company.

I also wore a knee-length underskirt/slip I made from a bedsheet a couple year ago to provide a small amount of poof.

I know it's totally "cheating" to buy pieces of the costume I could easily make, but I've got a lot of projects going on at the moment and the clothes at the Festival's Wolfstone booth are just so inspiring and beautifully made. Tough to resist!

As for accessories, I bought the little brown hat at a hat booth at the Festival. The basket probably once belonged to my mother but has been in my various bedrooms for at least the last 10 years. The cloths inside the basket are napkins I dyed for our wedding (and are covering my cellphone, sunglasses, wallet and lipstick!) The blue shawl in the first picture was made by my mother (I wore this costume for the first time two weekends ago and it was a bit nippy!)

All in all, I had the best time wearing this costume. So many people go to the Festival in costume that it's easy to pretend to be in a fantasy novel -- so fun!

Halloween Week Costume Series: Candyman Vest, Bow Tie and Sleeve Garters

2014-10-29T05:30:00.000-04:00

Continuing this week's Halloween costume series, today I present the candyman to my candy corn: my husband, Greg.

I had in my head that I wanted to make a candy corn dress, and I needed a costume for Greg that coordinated. So what did I do?

Subjected myself to another vest and tie set!

At this point, after making six sets of vests and ties, plus a sample, for my friend Ashley's wedding, I am basically vest expert. Or at least as much of a vest expert as I care to be. :-P

This is Simplicity 4762, inspired by the candyman in the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (coincidentally one of my absolute favorite movies growing up.)

I definitely wanted to do a striped fabric and black bow tie. After some intense searching, I found lots of theatrical productions of Willy Wonka that included sleeve garters, so I decided to work up a set of those, too.

The pattern includes a simple four-button vest. I lost the pattern piece for the back waist adjuster, so I eyeballed it. (That is going to be a theme for this costume.)

I didn't bother to match the pattern at the back since the stripe was so small, but this did result in a larger-than-normal white stripe at the center back.

For the buttons, I used some of the cover buttons left over from the vests I did for the wedding. I love the clean, well-matched look of cover buttons.

As for the fabric, I used quilting cotton for the striped fabric and a heavier quilting cotton for the black accessories.

The lining is a lining sample I bought for Ashley's wedding from Fabric.com. It was one of those times where a swatch cost 75 cents and a yard cost under $2, so I just bought the yard.

The black sleeve garters are made the same way I made scrunchies as a kid -- a small loop of elastic in a fabric tube.

The bow tie is essentially a tiny bow belt (it's a fake tie) with a button at the back of the neck.

I'm definitely pleased with the way this came out -- it's much more comfortable than a jacket would have been (and a lot less work!) Perfect for dancing!

What do you think? Are matching costumes too cute or too insipid for words? :-P

Halloween Week Costume Series: Candy Corn Dress

2014-10-27T23:29:00.002-04:00

This year, I've really gotten excited about making costumes, and, since it's Halloween week, I thought I'd post a miniseries of three posts on my recent costume makes.

First up? This year's Halloween costume. Greg and I dressed up as a vintagey candy corn and candyman.

I'll post about Greg's candyman costume on Wednesday and my costume from this year's Renaissance Festival on Friday, all in time for Halloween. Sound good?

But today, my vintagey candy corn dress!

Surprise, surprise. This is yet another version of Butterick B5748. I seriously cannot quit this pattern.

I've worn versions of this dress in two weddings (including my own!) and made a general version from bedsheets -- and I wore it frequently this summer.

At this point, I can make this pattern in my sleep.

For this version, I took one of the skirt pattern pieces -- since it's a circle skirt, the two pieces are the same, I felt I could sacrifice one of them -- and measured to find it was 25 inches. At 13 inches, I made a mark on each side and the center and eyeballed a curve between them.

Since the skirt is on the long side, I slashed at the curve I drew and didn't add seam allowance, just used the new pieces and sewed them together with a 3/8-inch seam allowance.

For fabric, I used plain old quilting cotton from JoAnn. Total, for both my costume and Greg's, plus some thread I needed, I came in under $30, despite the fact that I used the nicer, more drapey quilting cotton.

I lined the bodice in self fabric, but didn't bother to line the skirt since I knew I'd be wearing a petticoat. The seam allowances are all serged.

After making Greg's bow tie, I decided to make myself a little bow belt so we'd match a bit better. This is a simple bow, belt and button assembly.

To give myself some floof, I wore one of the petticoat crinolines from my wedding. This is the Modcloth Va Va Voluminous short petticoat in white. The net is soft and it provides a lot of lightweight floof.

Plus, it gave me a more triangular, candy-corn-type shape.

Looking a little wrinkled from the back -- we tried really hard to get good jumping and spinning shots, but it didn't work out, which is why I'm a bit wrinkled in this picture,

We wore these costumes to the Halloween dance at the local arts center, which is where we take ballroom classes. Not to brag, but we were totally one of the three couples who won the costume contest. ;) We had so much fun! We're new to ballroom, but I am loving the classes. Our teacher is a hoot!

What's your Halloween costume for this year? Got any exciting costume projects coming up?

Simple Sewing: Grainline Scout in Japanese Double Gauze

2014-10-06T23:04:00.001-04:00

After the epic projects I've done lately, I needed a major break. (I also made a bridesmaid dress that has gone unblogged -- and several other projects that will be coming soon to an RSS feed near you.)

Enter the Grainline Scout Tee.

This pattern is an absolute breeze. It's loose and comfy and required no fitting.

I bought it as a PDF on a whim when I was buying the Archer shirt last year and until now, I hadn't made it up.

Since it's such a simple pattern, I figured it would be a good time to experiment with a new-to-me fabric.

(Oh! By the way! I cut off all my hair. Ha!)

This is a Japanese double gauze purchased from the Miss Matatabi Etsy shop.

I've admired Nani Iro prints for a while now, but I'd never worked with double gauze before. I decided to order some (cheaper) plain double gauze so I could experiment before trying to work with the good stuff.

Double gauze is a really neat fabric -- it consists of two layers that are some how bound together. It reminds me of a soft, loosely woven version of surgical gauze pads.

It wrinkles like mad, but luckily it irons well. You should see this shirt when it comes out of the wash, though. It's wrinkle city!

The fabric takes stitches very well -- they sink in and are nearly invisible, which is cool.

See? Can you even tell that that sleeve is hemmed? Cool, right?

This is just a natural cotton color. What better to go with jeans? I managed to squeeze this top out of a single yard, though I did have to really work to make the neckline binding work. Luckily this fabric is pretty stretchy whether it's on the bias or not.

I finished all the insides with my serger -- white thread was a close-enough match for me!

All in all, this project was exactly what I needed for my mental health.

Up next, I'm working on a trench coat and I've got some other super cool projects to share (including a corset, some pants and a suede jacket.)

Not going to lie, though, sometimes simple projects feel so good! It was such a relief to make this easy, instant-gratification top after all the tough projects I've been working on lately.

How about you? Do you sew the simple stuff? Or do you just go balls to the wall every time? :-P

Sewing Formalwear: Vests and Ties for a Friend's Wedding

2014-09-16T16:12:00.000-04:00

Recently, my sewing time has been consumed with an epic wedding project for one of my good friends.

I made vests and ties for all the men in the bridal party -- six vests, five neckties and one bow tie.

Ashley, the bride, has been a good friend of mine (and sorority sister!) since college. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding and made the most beautiful guest book tree for our guests to sign. Not only that, she helped do the dishes after my wedding. Now that's a friend right there!

When her husband-to-be told me that she wanted vests for the wedding to match the bridesmaid dresses, but that the shop was trying to charge an obscene amount for them, I, of course, said I would make them.

I apologize for the quality of the photos -- they were taken in the wedding tent, late at night, when we were several hours into the reception. And I took them with my cellphone. But I just couldn't resist sharing this project!

This was one of the most thoughtful, beautiful weddings I've ever been to and it was done at the home of the parents of the bride. Ashley planned out the most lovely minute details, from the table dressing, to the flowers, to these vests.

For most of these, I used Simplicity 4762. The tall guy on the right got Simplicity 1506 (basically the same pattern but in big and tall sizes).

The patterns actually worked out well for sizing. I made a muslin for the fellow in the bow tie (he was a bridesperson, which is why his tie is different) since he lives close to me and would be available for fitting, but, happily, the envelope size for his suit size was a great fit. For the rest of them, I just went with their straight suit sizes and the vests all fit well (especially when they don't have their arms up -- I promise they were all long enough!)

Since I knew I'd need multiple sizes, I traced off the pattern in each size and ended up making two smalls, a medium, two larges and a 1XL. The ties were all identical, so I was able to batch cut them and sew them up in a couple nights. The bow tie (it's actually a fake bow tie and is held on with hand-sewn plastic snaps) was super quick to sew up, too. The ties are all a bit flimsier than normal store-bought ties, but they were fine for the one night.

As far as fabric goes, the bride requested some shiny, textured fabric, so I ordered a large amount of swatches from Fabric.com. When she came to visit, we could not believe how exactly this fabric matched the bridesmaid dresses (plum Alexia Bridal dresses). It looks like the exact same fabric (and maybe it is!) I ordered 15 yards while the fabric was on sale -- I knew I'd need around 12 yards and I wanted a little wiggle room just in case I made a mistake! The fabric came in a giant bolt. It was a pretty intense mail day, let me tell you.

For lining, I used black pongee lining, also from Fabric.com, since it was only $3 a yard. Not the best stuff on the planet, but cheap and it got the job done.

The entire front of each vest is interfaced with medium weight interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply. (The only real "splurge" of this project at $6 a yard -- I was worried the cheap stuff would cause massive wrinkles in the poly shantung and I'm really glad I went this route.)

The buttons are cover buttons purchased from Etsy. On the backs of the vests, which I didn't get pictures of, there are gold vest buckles from JoAnn.

All in all, I think they turned out well! And I managed to keep them cheap -- around $35 per vest/tie set. Which is at least cheaper than the $90 the shop wanted to charge -- and I think that was for vests alone! It was a tough project, just because of the scale of it, but with a little bit of wine and a lot of movies, I made it through.

The groom looks happy with them, right? It must be the vest he's happy about. Or I guess it could be the whole wedding thing. ;)

Now the only question is what to do with all that leftover purple poly shantung!

A Birthday Suit for My Favorite 4-Year-Old (New Look 6257 and New Look 6576)

2014-09-03T00:04:00.000-04:00

When I received the birthday wishlist for one of my favorite little friends, I was tickled to see that he had requested not only clothes, but "a birthday suit."

The list also included such gems as "a gold-colored bike that moves" and "a balloon that has a string." But of course I fixated on that birthday suit.

The Birthday Boy's current Favorite Thing is, of course, balloons, which served as the party's loose theme.

You know where this is going, right?

BALLOON FABRIC BIRTHDAY SUIT, BABY!

And, of course, a matching dress for his 7-month-old sister, my Goddaughter, who is much adored by her older brother. So much adored, in fact, that he included presents for her on his birthday list. What a generous guy!

I wasted no time in ordering a pair of Michael Miller balloon fabrics from fabric.com. These are quilting cottons, which mean they are easily washable (always a relief, I imagine, for parents.)

I also got some turquoise rayon Bemberg from Hart's Fabric. The buttons were a guessed match at fabric.com, but I think they turned out to be fairly close to the turquoise balloons on the fabric.

The pattern I used was New Look 6257, which includes pants, a mandarin collar jacket, a vest and a dress pattern.

Yes, this outfit is possibly a bit clownish and maybe even a bit girly. But Birthday Boy's parents are about as interested in gender norms as vegetarians are in meat -- and if you can't wear crazy clothes when you're 4, when can you wear them?

One of BB's grandmas was kind enough to measure him for me. He's a bit small for the size 3 (which was the smallest one in the pattern), but I needed to cut an extra inch or so to account for his height.

The pants have an elastic waist. I cut the elastic exactly to his waist measurement in the hope that even if the pants were big on the leg, they'd fit in the waist.

It turned out I didn't need to worry -- the pants fit fairly well!

The jacket was pretty easy to assemble -- more so because it had only a mandarin collar and didn't require a full on collar or lapel scheme. I used cuff and collar interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply to interface the collar. The button edge is interfaced with light fusible, also from FSS.

The pattern was fairly difficult to match because of the scale of the repeat, but I managed to get some climbing balloons onto the button area.

I also got to work on my technique for bagging linings, which was nice. I have a new winter coat planned and, silly as it may sound, I feel much more confident about the lining now that I've accomplished it on the small scale.

I love rayon Bemberg for lining -- it feels so luxurious!

At the last minute, I decided to make another pair of pants from a slightly stretchy khaki I have in my stash. These pants use so little fabric that I think I can still get a skirt out of the yard-plus of khaki I have left.

You can't really see it in these pictures, but I realized as I was pressing everything that I could not tell the back from the front of these, so I sewed a small grosgrain ribbon tag into the back of both pairs of pants. It's hard enough to dress a preschooler -- who would want to do it twice because the pants went on backward the first time?

All in all, I'd say the balloon suit was a hit. BB wasn't too impressed at first, but then his mom asked him what was on the pants and you could see his eyes light up when he took a look and proclaimed them to be "BLOONS!"

And so he put it on, in the middle of the living room, right then and there, in front of all the guests. (Who were mostly all family, but it was still amusing.)

Of course, it's difficult to resist making little girl clothes, so I made a matching dress for BB's sister.

This is New Look 6576, made up in size small. It's got shoulder buttons to make it easy to take on and off. I imagined it would be cute for the end of summer -- it's finally getting hot where I live -- just to wear over her diaper. Probably a shirt and tights could go under it, too, though its a very summery fabric.

I broke the first button I tried to sew on -- hit it with the needle and snapped it in half, so she got some random buttons I found in my stash that were the same size since I had exactly six of the turquoise buttons. I'd already made the buttonholes, so we were pretty much stuck with these, but I do think the purple looks nice.

I never got measurements for this, so I just eyeballed based on the pattern paper -- a dangerous proposition -- but it worked out and fit perfectly.

I've been absent from the blog a bit lately because I've been tackling a huge project for a dear friend's wedding, so it was nice to take a little break and do some fun kid sewing. Both of these projects were easy to turn out and very very quick. The pants each took about 45 minutes from cutting to finishing, as did the dress. The jacket took a bit longer, maybe a couple of hours.

Do you all sew for others? I enjoy it -- as long as the expectations aren't too high. This was a nice, low-stress project. Like a little sewing vacation!

Things I've Sewn Lately: Deer and Doe Robe Belladone

2014-08-15T17:37:00.001-04:00

Bonjour, Robe Belladone!

Believe it or not, one of my undergraduate degrees (yes, I'm insane and I have two) is in French. So of course I love Deer and Doe patterns. They have instruction books in French and English and it's really neat to look through the French ones.

This dress is an unlined sundress with a cutout back detail and was a lot of fun to sew up!

I will say, though, that fun does not always equal perfection. If I make this dress a second time there are several things I'd change.

For one, the dress is SHORT. Really short. This is the absolute longest skirt for the largest size done with a very narrow hem and while it's not indecent, let's just say that I am constantly worried about bending over, if you know what I mean.

Also, the back opening gapped horribly on me. Luckily, I was able to unpick, cut out some of the fabric (I just eyeballed it after I made Greg pin it) and made it work. I added a small loop of fabric to the center back there to hide the unsightly join in the bias tape that appeared.

Similarly, the waist is very high. Now, I love a good high waist, it's true. But this one has slash pockets that are pretty much unusable. I'd definitely lower it and/or omit the pockets.

The pleats I made were supposed to be going the other direction, but I thought they'd look better this way on me. (They do.)

Also, there is no way I could think of to line this dress. I know some folks have managed it, and I bow down to them. But I could not figure out a way that didn't make me want to tear my hair out. So this pattern sat on the shelf for a while as I pondered my options, since most of my sundress fabric requires lining.

Happily, I managed to find the perfect fabric for an unlined sundress. This is a quilting cotton I bought when Charlotte was destashing. It's a bit stiff, but I like the way it holds its shape.

I did a double line of top stitching everywhere just 'cause. This was the first dress I sewed on my new machine (I know, blogging out of order!) and I wanted an excuse to show off the lovely top-stitching. And that zipper! Can we all take a minute to just enjoy that super invisible invisible zipper? The Pfaff zipper foot is the best tool in my sewing room at the moment.

I also flipped all the bias tape to the inside, rather than leaving it exposed. I made matching bias tape, but I nearly always prefer the look of having it flipped to the inside when I use it for bindings.

While there are lots of things I'd change about this dress, I definitely wear it a ton. It looks nice with my chocolate brown hand-knit sweater, which is a bonus for sure. Not a high recommendation, but if you like the detail at the back, then it's definitely worth a try!

Things I've Sewn Lately: Seersucker New Look 6266

2014-08-04T12:01:00.002-04:00

I love sleeveless button-up blouses. It's easy to wear them with a cardigan (no need to worry about stuffing your sleeves into your sweater) and they look nice and summery.

And you can never go wrong with seersucker -- just ask the U.S. Congress.

The pattern for this blouse is New Look 6266.

I tend to sew New Look more than any other major pattern brand. The looks are pretty simple, the patterns are cheap even if they aren't on sale and the block fits me fairly well.

For this one, I cut my standard 8 at the top graded to a 10 at the bottom.

The construction was very easy -- though I have some experience making button-up shirts, which is always helpful. After making three Archers this past winter, I can do a collar and collar stand in my sleep.

The armholes are bound with bias tape I made from some soft white quilting cotton.

The stripe is super small, so I didn't work too hard at matching, though I did match up the shoulder panel just for fun (I'm such a nerd.)

The pattern features a nice slit up the side for wearing ease, which makes it very comfortable to sit down in.

I serged all the exposed seams with white thread and for the hem, I just did a simple turned-under narrow hem.

The fabric for this shirt was a remnant AK Fabrics that I picked up at Male Pattern Boldness Day last August. There was about a yard and a half left, which they gave me for the price of half a yard.

I am really happy with this shirt and I'm sure I'll make the pattern again. It's a great staple. I wore it to work last week with my navy circle skirt and my Myrna sweater -- I love it when my handmades mix and match easily!

Outfit Along: Myrna Sweater and New Look 6184

2014-07-30T08:00:00.000-04:00

For the most part, I don't join sewalongs. But when I saw that Andi Satterlund and Lladybird were joining up for an Outfit Along, I was sold. The idea behind the challenge was to knit a sweater and a sew a dress.

Andi Satterlund has a lot of sweater patterns designed to be worn with retro, high-waisted dresses. Sounds like me, right?

I didn't start working on this until almost a month in because my wedding happened right at the beginning of the challenge, but I still managed to finish it, helped largely by the fact that I now commute on the metro and get an hour for lunch every day. Lots of daily knitting time!

This sweater was just as easy as promised. I managed to knit the entire thing in just over a month, despite the fact that I'm still a relatively new knitter and knit fairly slowly (well, I purl fairly slowly anyway -- a row of purling takes me twice the time a row of knitting takes!)

I made this with KnitPicks Comfy Worsted cotton yarn in Whisker. Isn't that the cutest color name? My poor old light grey J Crew sweater had just about died, so I was super pleased to find my perfect light grey yarn.

I bought buttons for this sweater at my local yarn store, Uniquities, but I have been unable to find matching petersham. I've also worn this sweater twice now and have not missed the buttons yet -- I almost never wear sweaters buttoned. Maybe I will just leave them off forever?

The back of the sweater has a cute keyhole detail; it gives a little peekaboo of my dress. Saucy!

I definitely made a few mistakes in this sweater (like not picking up enough stitches in the button band, which apparently means the band is a little small -- who'd have guessed?! -- which I suppose I should have known.) I fully admit I'm still learning. But I definitely think it will get a ton of wear.

The dress is New Look 6184. I adore this dress. It has a pleating detail at the neckline and the armscyes are nice and deep. No alterations there necessary!

I cut an 8 at the bust and a 10 at the hip -- my standard New Look alteration.

The skirt is lovely -- it's a half circle cut in seven pieces, which was perfect for my 45-inch-wide fabric. The fabric is Michael Miller Madrona Road Wild Carrot in blue. It's a really soft and drapey quilting cotton fabric and I just adore the pattern. I didn't bother to match the pattern at all, but I did place carefully to make sure I didn't have any questionable yellow dots in inappropriate places on my bodice front.

Instead of lining, I went with facings, as directed (for once!)

This dress was super quick to sew up. I cut all the pieces, fused my interfacing, serged all edges and then sewed it up all in one night!

Greg's comment on this outfit was: "400% you!" which, in terms of compliments, is really the best I could ever want.

I feel so good in this outfit -- I may never take it off!

The Great Reveal: Sewing My Own Wedding Dress and Giveaway Winner!

2014-07-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

This week, Greg and I will have been married two months -- high time for a post about my wedding dress, am I right?

All photos in this post were taken by our fantastic photographer Ian Sbalcio (I highly recommend him!)

I went through quite the trial leading up to sewing my wedding dress. I started out with some lovely silks from Mood and the By Hand London Anna bodice and a big skirt -- but that dress just wasn't working out. I wanted a big floofy skirt, and the fabric I used was so light it showed every bump in the crinoline.

After a quick mental breakdown, I had a good night's sleep, regrouped, ordered new fabric and went with my backup plan: basic white sundress.

The pattern I used it Butterick 5748, which I've made twice before.

The outer fabric is Robert Kaufman silk cotton sateen and the lining was just plain light cotton lining fabric. Both were ordered from Fabric.com about a month before the wedding -- and, in a moment of insanity, I only ordered four yards of each, which is about exactly what you need to make this dress. (The ribbon was a plain satin ribbon from the stash I used to decorate the wedding area.)

I didn't start the dress until two weeks before the wedding. I was pretty exhausted by that point (we had an at-home wedding at Greg's parents' house in Leesburg, Va., so there was a fair amount of work involved) and I was not super excited about sewing ANOTHER wedding dress.

But I finally put on a movie a zoned out and got this mostly done in a day.

But can you see my major error in the above photo?

Me neither -- but look at it again and you'll see it.

I am fairly sure I forgot to staystitch the neckline and the super light fabrics just streeeeeeeeeeetchhhed out. Really badly. And I didn't have enough fabric left over to make a second bodice.

I mean, God bless the sewing community. I posted on Instagram for help and was immediately offered tons of advice and offers to go and look for lace to cover it up. It really calmed me down a lot. And then a lady on Pattern Review (I posted for help in the wedding/formal sewing forum) suggested I steam it into submission. I applied tons and tons of steam, but ultimately, didn't make enough difference. Finally, I just made a strip of bias binding, sewed it on, flipped it to the inside, stitched it down and called it a day.

Oh, and I also, in my panic, got a little makeup on the neckline. So I dry-cleaned it, which got the crud off the neckline, but also made it bubble and flip to the outside. I was pretty mad about the pressing job our dry-cleaner did(n't), actually, but I brought it home, pressed the hell out of it and it was fine.

I don't have much to say about the construction -- this is a super simple dress to put together. As with previous versions, I put the zipper in the center back, rather than the side (which the pattern tells you to do) because underarm zippers annoy me.

Because the fabrics were light, I used a microtex needle. I originally planned to hem by hand, but when I got to the end, I was ready to be done, so I just trued the hem and did a plain old narrow hem on my machine.

Underneath the dress, I wore a crinoline from Modcloth made from soft polyester and on top of that, I wore a House of Oliver cotton and lace petticoat, which maintained the smooth lines of the skirt. I definitely plan to wear the cotton petticoat again -- it doesn't provide much floof, so it's not too costumey and it was very comfortable.

The sewing moral of this story? Staystitch your necklines.

The life moral of this story? Making my wedding dress was 100 percent worth it -- I'd never have gotten a dress like this in a store. No one noticed the wonky neckline. Or if they did, they didn't say anything.

I had the absolute best day of my life, the exact wedding I wanted. I wore Keds to the reception and danced to a fantastic bluegrass band all night. And, best of all, I got to marry Greg.

So all the pain was worth it!

And, finally, here's our winner for the House of Mouse Caroline Dress from Indiesew!

Congratulations to Erin Goh:

It's such a pretty dress, especially the cute little sleeves and the high neckline.

Thanks, Erin! Send me an email and I'll pass it along to the folks at Indiesew for your pattern. Enjoy!

What do you think? Would you ever sew your own wedding dress?

House of Mouse Caroline Dress and a Giveaway from Indiesew!

2014-07-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

Another work-appropriate dress? Yes, please!

This is the Caroline dress from Mouse House Creations, a new-to-me indie pattern designer.

A few weeks ago, Steve from Indiesew, a new online retailer/community dedicated to indie patterns, contacted me and asked if I'd like to work with them. We decided to do a pattern review and giveaway, and they let me pick the pattern.

After carefully browsing the patterns to find one that I would actually be willing to buy -- I got this pattern free, but I wanted to choose something I'd buy for myself even if I weren't getting the pattern free -- so I chose the Caroline Dress for several reasons. The price is not outrageous; it includes several options for different looks; it fits my personal style.

And also, I was intrigued by these cap sleeves. Aren't they interesting? They're not set in as sleeves at all, but instead are created as part of the bodice. The seam is slightly curved so that they lie well on your shoulders.

The pattern comes with long-sleeve, short sleeve and cap sleeve (seen here) options. It also comes with four different length options: above the knee, at the knee, below the knee (seen here) and peplum. Finally, it has two different necklines. I made the high neckline, but there is also a scoop neckline, which I'll probably try out at some point.

The skirt doesn't actually have a pattern piece -- just dimensions -- but, there are instructions for making either a pleated skirt or a gathered skirt. I chose to do pleats. I used a very heavy fabric for this, and I didn't think gathering would work well.

And you'll never guess what that side seam is hiding....

Pockets! My favorite!

The dress is fully lined, which is my preference for most dresses.

The lining is a lovely cotton batiste in a nice slate blue. The main fabric is a fantastic mystery fabric that I bought from Charlotte. She was destashing and once I saw this fabric, I had to have it. It is fairly thick linen-look cotton, but very soft. But I don't mind the thickness, because my office is FREEZING!

The best thing about this dress, I thought, was the fit. This is a straight-from-the-paper fit -- the only tiny change I made, which I make to every single pattern ever, was grading from one size at the bust to the next size at the waist. Not bad fit-wise, eh?

Now, while there are lots of similar patterns on the market, the huge strength of this pattern is the amount of hand-holding in the instructions. It has color pictures of every step -- this would be a perfect pattern for beginners, and I'd highly recommend it if you're learning (or if you're like me and are addicted to new bodice options).

I'm definitely a fan.

But now, the fun part! Indiesew has agreed to give a digital copy of the Caroline Dress to one of my readers. Yay!

To enter, leave a comment here and I will randomize next Friday, July 25, for a winner.

Good luck and happy sewing!

Things I've Sewn Lately: Navy Blue Circle Skirt (With Bonus Previously Unblogged Blouse!)

2014-07-01T22:37:00.000-04:00

In my quest to make more work-appropriate separates, I realized fairly quickly that in addition to blouses, I definitely needed some plain, solid-colored bottoms.

I bought this fabric, a very slightly stretchy twill, when cottons were on sale at Fabric.com recently. I don't have a large stash, and I definitely don't have very much in terms of bottomweight fabric. Or actually anything for that matter. I have lots of blouse fabric and dress fabric (though in terms of stashing, I don't have very much in general, by sewing blog standards!)

This material was right up my alley! Thin enough for summer, but thick enough to have some body.

I used Mettler thread (purchased from Sun Sew Vac when I bought my new sewing machine!) This was my first time with Mettler thread, which everyone says is fantastic, but I didn't notice too much difference. The color of the thread was an absolute dead-on match though, so there's that.

See?

I serged the insides with white thread. I don't stock any serger thread besides white or black unless I have a special project. But white and navy look nice together and the contrast seam finish adds a little something to the inside of the garment in this case, I think!

I used a black invisible zipper in the center back. One of my friends gave me a stash of black and red invisible zippers, and the navy is so dark you can't really tell that the zipper doesn't match, can you?

In terms of pattern, I used the Cake Patterns Pavlova circle skirt pieces (why draft your own when you have a pattern that already did it for you?) and made my own waistband.

The last time I made the Pavlova skirt, I was unhappy with the waistband. This time, I slightly more than doubled the waistband and I cut it much larger than recommended. I don't know why, but for some reason, the 30-inch waist piece on my pattern in no way matches the skirt (the skirt is several inches wider at the top than the waistband is!) I don't know if I got a misprint or what.

The Pavlova top was perfect (I wore it yesterday!) but the skirt just didn't do it for me, so I doubled the height of the band and then added a few inches to get to 30 inches with seam allowance so that I could enclose the zipper at the top, a la Colette Ginger.

I wore this skirt to work today and I must say, it's very comfortable. I love a circle skirt for wearing ease! And in this outfit, I feel very Ulyana Sergeenko.

In addition to the skirt, I should probably mention this blouse. It's a New Look 6808 that I made last year soon after I started sewing (and somehow I never blogged it!) The fabric is from G Street and they had only a yard, but I was in love, so a blouse it was!

I eliminated the back darts so that I could leave out the side zipper. Hilariously, the seams are all pinked and therefore beginning to unravel. Every time I wear this blouse, I swear I'm going to remake it before I wear it again, but I never seem to get there. One day!

Miss Celie wrote today about adjusting to "work appropriate" in her new job and her post rang so true to me. I have worked in D.C. for the past several years, but my new job seems much fancier in terms of dress than my old job. Both had the same stated dress code for the most part, but everyone at my new job always looks very corporate. (Not to mention the fact that I spent the entirety of last year working from home in my leggings!)

It probably doesn't help that all I see on the Metro and on my walks into the office are pencil skirts and silk tops and I just don't have much of that. I'm just not a pencil skirt kind of girl. So I've been struggling to define "work appropriate" in terms of my personal style and comfort.

It's a process!

How to you handle the intersection of home-sewn and work-appropriate? I'd love to know what you think!

New Sewing Machine: Pfaff Ambition 1.5

2014-06-27T09:30:00.000-04:00

It's official: I'm now a Pfaff owner!

My Singer Quantum Stylist (only a year old) had a computer malfunction of some sort after I sewed through my finger making a giant teddy bear mat for my God-daughter. The machine had been purchased for $189 on Amazon Gold Box deals for my birthday last year. My mom owns the same machine and doesn't sew during the school year, so I borrowed hers while I figured out what to do.

Let me put it bluntly: Singer sucks at warranty repairs. There is no Singer warranty service place available in any of five states nearest me. I contacted Singer and asked what to do. They informed me I needed to pay to ship it to a warranty repair facility. Huh? Do you know what it costs to ship a sewing machine?

In terms of getting repaired without a warranty, the local repair place wanted $50 to even look at it and said the repair would be a minimum of $100.

And so, I decided it was time to shop for a high-quality machine. These days, I sew daily. It's a frequent refrain for sewing bloggers, but I wish I'd bought a higher-quality machine in the first place.

To start the process, I figured I'd go to a couple of dealers. From scouting around online, I was fairly certain I wanted a Pfaff or a Bernina.

I set my spending limit at about $1,000 and went to see what that would get me.

At Pfaff, that amount of money bought a lot of machine. There was the Ambition 1.0 for $1,000 and the Ambition 1.5 for $1,400, but the saleslady told me she could come down to $1,100 on the 1.5.

The Ambition 1.5 had a fancy touch screen, more stitches and a few more options. For $100 extra, it definitely seemed worth it.

Next, I visited the Bernina dealer at G Street Fabrics. $1000 gets you a lot less at Bernina. The machine was nice, but had many fewer features. And I didn't think the stitch quality looked any better. And the Bernina didn't have a one-step automatic buttonhole, which is a feature I love.

The Bernina also lacked a hard cover. Not a deal-breaker, but something I really love to have.

So the following weekend, I went back to the Pfaff dealer with a handful of swatches -- silk, suede and cotton -- and met with the owner of the store (Sun Sew Vac in Alexandria, Va., if you're interested!) to test my swatches.

Spoiler: Everything looked beautiful. The secret? Pfaff machines have a built-in walking foot. It is an incredibly beautiful thing. I folded my suede twice, so it was at four layers. The machine went right through it like it was cotton. No tension changes, nothing. Right from silk to suede. And the stitches were perfectly even.

Needless to say I was impressed.

And it turned out that Pfaff had just announced the Ambition 2.0 quilter's special -- and they were discontinuing the 1.5. So the store owner told me I could have the machine for $1,000. Win!

I treated myself to two feet that weren't included with the machine. Above is the rolled hem foot.

And this little lady is a 5/8-inch foot. I had never seen one of these before, but one of the salesladies said she loved it for garment sewing. (Spoiler alert: I used it on a skirt last night -- it's awesome!)

The machine also came with five feet, including this zipper foot. This foot is different from zipper feet I've had in the past and let me tell you. It makes the most invisible zippers I've ever done. The forked part goes toward the back (so you can pull down the walking foot) and you reposition the needle to hit in one of the cutouts. It's amazing.

Needless to say, I'm very very happy with my purchase!

What are you sewing with these days?