I fell in love with the texture and heft of this fabric from Pitt Trading.
It’s wonderfully thick and strong, verging on canvas like. However I was completely perplexed as to what to make from it? I knew I wanted a dress but the fabric isn’t flowing or likely to gather well?
After some time, I decided to use the bodice from Simplicity 1652
Construction wise it was really straight forward. I didn’t use any lining as it would make the dress too hot. Here it is at work in the Pitt Trading store.
The internal neckline and back cut out are all finished with bias binding. I didn’t have enough of the one colour so it’s a bit of a mish mash of patterns which I really like!
The invisible zip went in like a dream. Am so glad I have my technique figured out for those now it makes everything easier when it comes to finishing up a dress.
I was hoping to get a back shot of the dress today but it is all grey and rainy. So I popped it on my mannequin so you could see the back cut out. I’m bigger than my mannequin so the dress doesn’t fit her but I suspect that gape at the zip occurs on me too and that’s one of the sections I’d pinch out next time I make this one.
Alterations: mixed the 2 patterns together. Next time reduce the back width at the top of the zip by 1cm total and the top of the cut outs by 2cm total.
A few weeks ago I was doing some procrastisewing (you know, procrastinating by sewing). I’d decided it was suddenly vital to empty the work in progress box and get some of the half mades into something wearable or decide of they were just terrible and cut them into something else.
This dress has been sitting there since this post where I detailed how I’d cut the sleeves upside down. Well it got put away in a huff and it’s been pulled out a few times but every time I tried it on I felt huge in it. A high neck and sleeves are not my thing. So I pulled out the sleeves, cut down the neck and tried it on again.
Good enough. I finished the edges with bias binding and popped an invisible zipper into the back. I’ve not sewn in an invisible in an age and was ever so pleased when it went straight in. I use my regular zip foot not one of the special invisible zip foots as I find them way too much drama. Regular zip foot, nice and slow is the way for me.
So I was all excited I had a pretty new dress to wear. I’ve worn it a few times since and until this morning had no idea that this happens at the back.
What an ugly ugly wrinkle. We took these photos on the way out this morning and since coming back I’ve been trying to figure out how on earth I missed such an obvious and fixable wrinkle (back length needs shortening). Well it appears that when I try on my dresses and look at my back in the mirror I round my shoulders. By doing this I lengthen out the back panels and the wrinkle disappears! So lesson learnt, stand up straight and alter that back panel.
You know how sometimes you should just go back to bed and pull the cover over your head and hide? Yeah? well that was my week.
I managed to ruin an entire pot of quinoa (yes it’s water and a grain and yes it was really ruined). This was on top of a few cooking disasters earlier in the week.
Then I was merrily finishing off a dress when I realised I had upside down sleeves
So I packed up my machine, had a nap and then a cup of tea to contemplate what had happened.
I purchased my normal amount of fabric for a dress. This is Japanese Lawn from Spotlight which I use a lot, so I know exactly how much I need. But I normally don’t have sleeves and this is a directional print. Am sure when I was cutting it out I only just had room for the sleeves and had assumed that I had cut them so they were the right way round. Clearly I hadn’t.
So I can either try and put the sleeves in back to front, they are shaped so this may lead to some fit issues? Or cut the armholes and neck to be the same as my current sleeveless versions of this pattern and not have the higher neck and sleeves.
Either way am not rushing into anything because I really don’t want this to be a disaster dress, it’s too pretty a fabric for that.
So tell me, did you have a disaster weekend too or was it just me?
Now we all agree that Roisin has incredible style and how awesome is it that everyone has been able to jump in the deep end and wear everything from shellfish to tea cups in glorious waisted dresses with big swishy skirts.
I have to admit I was on the fence about joining in, didn’t want to crash the party as I don’t know Roisin in real life. Thankfully on a trip to Cabramatta the wonderful Sydney Sewists practically slapped me silly if I didn’t join in and they even found the amazing fabric.
But first the dress.
Simplicity 1873 is a style I have made before and I had planned to do the sleeved version for this make. At the cutting stage I decided that there was no way the slippery fabric would behave well enough to deal with sleeves so the sleeveless version was the only choice.
I cut a straight size 14 except I added in heaps of extra fabric into the skirt. The back skirt is basically twice the width it should be and I doubled the front skirt panel too. This adds plenty of swishing possibilities but was slightly tricky to figure out all the pleating with the slippery fabric.
I had planned to move the centre back zip to the side seam but then it didn’t fit? So I moved the zip back again and did an exposed zip to make up for the fact I had just slit the centre back panel. I usually make this style in a cotton and the sizing works but in this rayon cotton blend it was just not working at all. I had to shuffle some seam allowance around and nip some darts but nothing major. Honestly if I hadn’t left the make to the last minute I’m sure it would have all been fine.
Now the fabric (have I mentioned it’s slippery? Am not a fan of slippery fabric) it has a wonderful hand feel and drape it’s just a bit unwilling to stay where you put it and likes to grow in some unusual ways. But all of that is forgiven for this wonderful print.
The secretary koalas are planning their holidays. Tossing their paperwork in the air, leaving the type writers behind and donning flower leis for their exotic destination of the Gold Coast, Darling Harbour or Bondi Beach.
For those unfamiliar with Australia the Gold Coast while it can be nice, is known for hordes of drunken teenagers on a spring break style vacation, Darling Harbour is in Sydney and is essentially a near empty shopping mall with tacky tourist gift shops and Bondi Beach is packed with people it is by far the nicest of the three destinations.
Thrown into this mix of office working koalas desperate for a holiday is a platypus wearing floral pants and saying cooee. It is unclear if the cooee is his “hello ladies” line or not? But I like to think it is.
Oh and the tag line written on the print is the rather nonsensical “Manufactured under the sun, somewhere down there”.
So on that rather cryptic note there is nothing else to say other than congratulations to Roisin and Nic, hope you have a wonderful wedding and have thoroughly enjoyed the few hundred brightly dressed virtual gate rashers to your party.
This is not from the stash of fabrics but the stash of unfinished objects of the sewing kind.
I’ve previously made this fabric up into a dress. When I was cutting out the dress I also cut out a skirt. At the time I didn’t have enough fabric for a waistband out of the same fabric and had planned a contrast waistband. Anyway life happened and the skirt never got made. The dress however got worn a lot and faded really really quickly and was soon quite a lot paler.
When I found the cut out skirt I almost didn’t make it up, as I didn’t want the whole faded thing to be an issue. But it’s hot and I’m stashbusting so I thought a quick no nonsense style skirt might be handy in the summer? And if it only lasts the summer due to poor quality fabric then that’s ok too. I also wanted to try out the skirt portion of this Simplicity pattern as I really like it as a dress. You can see on the hem where I have allowed for the fading by using a paler pink thread. This way the fading won’t be so obvious this time round.
So after a quick sew I used a wide elastic for the waistband (hello 80’s style) and it was done. It’s good for kicking about and I may perhaps make this style of skirt again if I find appropriate fabric in the stash.
Sometimes you just need a dress, not a fancy dress or even a complicated dress. More of a “it’s been hot and I need something to throw on” type of dress.
On Saturday I went to take a look at the Follow Store closing down sale (so sad Sydney is losing yet another independent retail store). They had suitcases filled with vintage remnants they were letting go at bargain prices. So naturally I picked some up, which is totally a violation of the no adding to the stash rule of 2014. Despite this, I was determined that it should not remain in the stash long.
So on Sunday I cut out Simplicity 1873 which I have made a few times before. It’s simple but looks good and I make it faster by not doing any facings or linings but instead using bias binding to finish the neck and armholes.
By late afternoon I was done and had a new dress to wear. It’s nothing fancy, just simple and practical and the fabric is pretty. In the spirit of using up things from the stash I put an exposed chunky zip at the centre back and used what bias I had for the neck and armholes.
Overall I am pretty happy with the make and look forward to having a comfortable dress dress to pop on when I am at home.
After last week’s musings on skirts I decided to jump right in and make one on the weekend.
I had this pattern from one of those buy one get one free sales that Spotlight occasionally has. I had thought to make it up as a work skirt sometime?
The fabric is a vintage cotton with the pattern being printed on (including the green lines that appear to be the weave of the fabric, all printed!). I picked this up years ago at a thrift store and there was miles of it! So far I have made caps out it, dresses, this skirt and there is still heaps left. It is a great sturdy weight cotton and sews up a dream.
Now to the skirt. I omitted the waist tie as I thought this fabric would be too bulky for it to look good, and I added a contrast bind to the top edge instead of a self bind. Just for a bit of a pick me up on the duller green of the fabric. Fit wise the high waist takes some getting used to and the skirt is a bit too straight to be able to ride in (admittedly only an important factor if you ride your bike to work) but for general wearing is quite good.
One thing I didn’t factor in though? All my tops are prints! I have absolutely zero to wear with this skirt that doesn’t make me look like some kind of colour explosion (and I mean more than I normally do).
So I’ll be keeping an eye out for something to match to this and in the meantime will also be keeping an eye out for other potential skirt patterns?
What a wet and wild weekend here in Sydney. Wet weather is perfect for sewing….then again what weather isn’t perfect for sewing?
Finished up this Simplicity style which is yet another Cynthia Rowley design (I do like her style). The fabric is from Cabramatta (a suburb of Sydney well known for it’s bargain fabric shopping) and I think the entire dress cost like .50 cents?
Now this one may yet end up a disaster. I have made the exact same pattern before and it fits well. So bouyed by the success of the last time I made this style I went ahead and finished the whole dress without trying it on. It was only when trying it on that I realised the fabric has zero give in it. I actually got stuck in the dress when trying to get out of it. Minor panic attack time.
I’ve now gone back and reduced all the seams, let out the darts a bit and even moved the front opening. It’s still a bit tough to get in and out of but it looks good. Am hoping that with time it will relax a bit? Sadly that wasn’t the only downfall with this make.
Now I love my sewing machine, it is simple and a super hard worker and I treasure it as it was a present for my birthday/doing well in fashion college from my parents. But I don’t love it’s buttonholes. They are a bit wimpy. Just not enough stitches to create a nice polished look. I generally end up doing 2 buttonholes one on top of the other to make the buttonholes stronger. With the buttonholes being quite literally front and centre on this dress it just makes me go hmmm a bit and wish for a more professional finish.
Despite setbacks of not quite enough give and not quite professional looking buttonholes, it looks good and will be a welcome addition to the work wardrobe.
I thought each Monday morning it would be nice to have a bit of a recap on my weekly weekend sewing adventures.
This weekend I finished a project that has been on the almost done pile for quite some time.
It is a mushroom,white and lilac Japanese print cotton I picked up at Spotlight about 2 years ago. It’s super cute as there are little tiny birds in the print. The dress was a breeze to put together and I love love that all the Cynthia Rowley patterns have pockets in the dresses. I’m guessing that the bow will become slightly annoying to keep tying it each time I wear the dress and am toying with the idea of getting it right once and then just hand stitching it in place?
Despite being a breeze to put together it wasn’t until I went to photograph this dress that I realised I had made a mistake. I’ve added the zip to the non bow side. Getting in and out of it is a 2 person job! So last night I unpicked the zipper and will be installing it on the correct side today, thank goodness for a long weekend so I can finally finish this dress.
It’s a sunny Monday morning and while the air is still just a tiny bit crisp, summer is about to hit and after such a mild winter it’s looking like a long hot summer! Yay!
I love summer, they always feel so full of potential (though inevitably in a few months I could do with a break from the constant heat).
As always, my plan this year is to get as much sewing done as possible before it gets too warm to even consider unfolding the fabric to cut it out.
So this past weekend while the sun was shining, the kitty was basking in the sun and the bread was rising I got to sewing.
First up this cute Simplicity built by Wendy pattern (now out of print).
This series came out years ago but quickly become one of my favourite tops to sew. Not only is it a breeze to make the fullness of the style means it is perfect for summer when sometimes you need a bit more ventilation and air around your body. I love pairing it with jeans or shorts. It is an essential piece in my travel wardrobe as it can be dressed up or down and can survive being crumpled in a bag. It’s also my go to top for a quick spin on the bike when I am off to the shops or the farmers markets.
As is usual for me with this pattern I have chosen a lightweight Japanese cotton. I love their hand feel and they are lightweight but not see through which is just about perfect for summer. This one was a lucky find at my local Spotlight.
I’m normally a very bright colours kind of dresser and it felt a little flat so I added a cute zig zag in a neon contrast thread.
In fact I have a whole packet of neon Madeira Threads so expect to see some more of them in future creations.
The second sewing project for the weekend was this Cynthia Rowley Pattern. Again it’s another tried and tested pattern for me.
It fits me perfectly with zero adjustments being needed, so it is really a case of cut and sew and bam! Job done.
It’s very pink! And when I sent a quick happy snap to one of my best friends her response was “well if anyone can wear that colour it’s going to be you”.
And so it’s Monday and I am on the train to work, and already I am thinking, what I can make next?
Shop
Hello!
Hi, I'm Susan. A designer and sewing teacher living in Sydney, Australia.
Here I share tales of my sewing, my pattern collection and insights into what it's like to work in the fashion Industry.
Other recurring themes include cat photos, an ever changing hair style and knitting.
