The Adventures of B5882 (Part 1)

A wee interweb search of B5882 will quickly reveal the challenges that this pattern has provided - but who doesn't like a challenge right!  However, I didn't realise this until after I had committed to making two of them for daughter #1.

As always I started with a muslin anyway, so no biggie, I would just work out all the fit issues at that stage and then enjoy the construction.

Finally Wearable - French Jacket #2

I didn't realise how long it has taken me to finish this and get pictures.... back in December 2014 I shared my progress with my second French Jacket here. It was 99% finished back in December, but it look me forever to put the buttons and the chain onto it.

Refining the Granville

Third time lucky ... well so the saying goes anyway.

This is my third Granville Shirt. The first was HERE and the second HERE.  But even though this was the third I felt that there were still further adjustments I needed to make to refine the fit.

For this version I left all the previous adjustments in place, you can get that list here, and then made the following tweaks

• Added 1/4" to front side seams
• Added 1/4" to the side back side seam - both these adjustments were so I could get more room around the body.
• Added 1/4" to each side of the sleeve under arm seam, tapered to existing wrist edge - again giving me more room around my arm.
• Added 1/2" to the length above the waist.
• this time I added 1" to the original pattern length of the sleeve.

Although minor, the fits feels better and I'm much happier with the length of the shirt.

The Knit Shift Dress

I've never really thought about where I fit into the style spectrum, I just make and wear what appeals. Oh yes, I've done the whole "what's in fashion now" thing, then look back at old photos and wonder what on earth I was thinking at the time?!

Now that I've done 2.5 years of ready to wear fasting I look at my wardrobe and realise that the shift dress, or variations of it, is a 'thing' for me. This probably explains why I've made two knit shift dresses in a month.

This is Mesa, one of the patterns issued with the June 2015 edition of Seamwork. It is described as "The flirty knit shift that's as stylish as it is comfortable", and I agreed 100%. Apparently it should only take 1 hour to make. It took me longer than that but that probably because I decided to line it.

I picked up 1.5 metres of this medium weight jersey double knit from Fabric Barn specifically for this dress.  The pattern suggested light to medium weight knit fabrics with at least a 25% 4-way stretch. Personally, I think that a light weight jersey would show all the 'lumps and bumps' underneath - No Thanks!

Channelling my inner Olivia Pope!

I'm not gonna lie, I was completely inspired by a winter white coat worn by Olivia Pope, while I was engrossed in a Scandal watching marathon!  Would it fit in my wardrobe and would I have anything to wear with it - who cared, I was making it anyway :-)

The coat itself has been a bit of a marathon make.  I already had the Robson Coat by Sewaholic Patterns in my stash. My first attempt at this pattern had been a complete disaster, for a couple of reasons but anyway if I was going to make this one work I needed to get a muslin sewn up and work out the fit issues. So that happened in February 2015.

Going for Casual

This is my most recent make, because blogging about things in the order I make them just isn't the done thing!

Sophie is the new pattern release by Muse Patterns.  Sophie is a cute, sporty cardigan - a fitted style, which curves gently in at the waist and flares out again over your hips. Raglan sleeves add a casual touch and also give great opportunities for mixing fabric, which is exactly what I did.

#NISM2015 I'm going, what about you?

This is gonna be fun! A weekend to just sew some new clothes and hang-out with other cool people doing the same. There are loads of other things planned, all revolving around sewing of course!

It's time to get out from behind our computers/mobile devices and come face to face with all our social media friends as well as new ones. If you don't want to come alone, that is understandable, but all you have to do is convince a friend to come to - easy!  I'll be there, so there will be at least one person you cyber know.  I'm sure you also know the organisers as well, The Curious Kiwi and Flossie FT.

All the details can be found HERE, while you're there sign-up and come join us on 1-2 August in Rotorua.

 See you at NISM2015 :-)

Ponte Morris Blazer

The Grainline Studio Morris Blazer is the ideal casual smart clothing item that fits perfectly into my wardrobe. The appeal of this pattern is that it is intended for a knit fabric (or a stretch woven). I imagine that it would wear like a cardigan in a knit.

I downloaded the PDF pattern from the Grainline Studio website, dug out some black ponte from the stash and set to.

I traced off a size 10 and made just one alteration.  I'm not really a 3/4 length sleeve kinda girl, so I lengthen the arms by 6 1/2", allowing for a 1" hem.  I did away with the sleeve facing because I thought the ponte would behave better with a turned up hem.

Granville Shirt Muslin

Shirts haven't really been a thing that I've been busting a boiler to make - not something I have in my wardrobe either. Maybe because I haven't really found one that fits comfortably. When the Sewaholic Granville shirt was released I was instantly drawn to the shape that it gave the body ... and the best thing about sewing is that there's the opportunity to tweak the fit if it's not working.

Rather than make a true muslin, I picked up 2.4m of cotton voile for $14.00 to make a wearable muslin.  To begin a took some measurements of the pattern, checking that the darts weren't too high, that the body length wasn't going to be short.  I did length the arms by 2".  I cut a size 8 and narrowed to a size 6 at the hip on the side seam.

I'm happily sewing along, following the instructions and feeling pretty pleased with myself and how fantastic the seam allowances looked on the inside with a french seam finish.

Belcarra Tunic

When I purchased the Belcarra from Sewaholic I knew that it would be such a versatile pattern that I could manipulate to get multiple looks. This is my third look from this pattern.

This time a tunic!  I walked into The Fabric Store on 12 September 2014 and immediately fell in love with this border print.  I was there for another quite specific purpose, that alludes me just as this moment - coz every trip to the fabric store is for a specific purpose right!!!

It wasn't cheap at $36 for 1 length which was 1m x .95cm, but it was crepe de chine and felt soooo nice. After wrestling for some time with my inner voice I gave in a bought a metre. The border print is filled with pretty dresses in pretty colours ....

It's been sitting in the cupboard for a wee while because I couldn't decide what to match it with, until a few weeks ago, when I was back at The Fabric Store, I found some black crepe de chine on special for $10p/m.

Silk Granville Shirt

After finishing my wearable muslin (which I haven't blogged yet, oops! but will explain more soon...) I immediately made the following changes to the pattern pieces of the Sewaholic Granville Shirt:

• moved the side dart and waist down 1/2" using the cut and slash method above the bust on the front pieces and the two back pieces.
• I didn't want to change the length of the shirt, so I removed 1/2" at the high hip on all three pattern pieces.
• I added 1/8" at the waist by the front and side back pieces, created an additional 1/2" of ease all round.
• I added 1" to the original sleeve pattern piece.

This shirt is a little difficult to get a true read on fit because the silk is so mobile, but it is feeling like the changes worked.

Chiffon Marfy Top

This top is a really old make that I've been trying to decide whether I make again or not - this was my wearable muslin.

I picked up this colourful chiffon for $3p/m at a Fabric Direct Sale last year, and not just a couple of metres, oh no, there was 5 metres left of the roll so I got the whole thing! I paired it with some simple black chiffon that I got at the Arthur Toye closing down sale for $5p/m. So you can now see why I'm calling this my wearable muslin.

The pattern is Marfy 3450 from the 2014/15 catalogue, the first that I ever bought. What drew me to this pattern was the neckline with slits down the raglan sleeve. I cut the fabric exactly to the pattern in a size 46. The overall fit is fine, even the sleeve length is perfect.

Maxi Shirt Dress

I didn't think a shirt dress was really my thing but when the Wellington Sewing Bloggers Network (WSBN) started throwing ideas around about a shirt dress challenge, some of the patterns really got me inspired.  I did look at a few patterns, but kept coming back to one already in my stash.

Butterick B5920

However this pattern needed some modifications to replicate my vision....

I really like the neckline on this pattern and the front gathers that don't extend around the hips - uh-hm I don't need to make them any bigger than they are! I wanted the front placket to extend the full length of the skirt so I could wear it unbuttoned to just above the knee. I also wanted the back of the skirt to replicated the front by having gathers that didn't extend to the side seam, rather than the full skirt the pattern provides.

I'm pretty happy with the final look ... that neckline is just so pretty!

Electric Blue Pavot

I made this soooo long ago that I almost don't know where to start.... hmmm...

The pattern, let me start there.  No, let's start with "these photos are s**t", which is why it has taken me so long to post this, but taking new photos just ... well just! 

Back to the pattern, this is the Pavot Jacket by the French designer Deer & Doe.  I ordered this pattern over a year ago, I think, with every intention of making the full length version.  I knew I needed to make a muslin to check the fit - just as well I did because there were a number of changes I needed to make.  At the muslin point I decided that the full length jacket looked all wrong and wasn't working for me.

Jeans! a learning journey

I am on a crusade to find / create the perfect fitting jean pattern that I can then use to make a whole draw full of jeans, cause in my opinion you can't beat a great pair of jeans!

I have only ever sewn jeans using the Jalie 2908 pattern.  There has been something about the crotch of the Jalie that I haven't been able to figure out, so I've got three new jean patterns to try so I can try and work out what I like or don't like about the fit of each and then produce 'THE' jean pattern for me.

First up is the mostly recent release, the Ginger Jean by Closet Case Patterns.  I had been stalking other blogs, to get a heads up on anything to watch out for.  But as other blogs have indicated the pattern is well drafted and the instructions are thorough.  So let's take a look at the final result ... I made view A: low rise with stovepipe leg.

First impressions: I think they fit reasonably well and don't look too bad for a first attempt of the pattern.  This is my 'wearable muslin' if you like.

Rigel Bomber Jacket January ft Dragonflies

When it comes to a bomber jacket no longer is it the stereo type of two toned solid colour with a stripe in the cuff, which may have been the 'in thing' when I was back in High School!  Skip a few decades and the bomber jacket is still popular but the variety is far from stereo type.

One that really caught my eye recently was worn by Gwen Stefani during her time judging on "The Voice", but do you think I can find it anywhere on the net - NO!  But what I did start was a inspiration board on Pinterest, if you're looking for something to spark your bomber craze.

After all that inspiration can you believe it, I settled on a black ... but hey it's got silver and white Dragonflies!

About this time last year I made a satin bomber jacket for my daughter using a Burda pattern.  While it was relatively easy to put together what I didn't like was that the zipper was sewn directly to the bottom band and when you put ribbing under the machine foot it squishes and stretches.

Wonders happen overnight ... sometimes!

I must say that I've never done this before ... cut and sewn a new garment, literally overnight! (no sewing fairies were available during the making of this edition, due to holidays)

I think it was Wednesday evening, when I arrived home from work I was at a bit of a loss ... I didn't have to cook dinner and kids were all taken care of, so that just left me and my sewing corner :-) But I couldn't carry on with my current labour of love (B5882) because it needed a fitting and the body needed for said fitting wasn't home.  What to do???  Pull out a quick and easy project on the to do list, of course!

This is the Jenna Cardi that I first made back in September and have worn endlessly ever since. The cropped version with long sleeves is spot on for me.

Summer is for Maxi Dresses

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for a maxi dress ... so when Named Clothing released their latest collection 'Ritual' the Ama Cowl Neck Frock was immediately on my MUST HAVE list.

I'm not a fan of an elastic waist band but the back of the dress bodice is 'killer'!  I've not seen this before in any other pattern, so the uniqueness of the design was also a big attraction for me.

Ignore the bra straps that poke out from the top - they are not part of the frock!

Denim skirts never get old

The denim mini skirt never dies! Although believe it or not, this is the first denim skirt that I've ever owned, but it's never too late, right!

Why now then? Two reasons: 1. the monthly stitch challenge for January is "denim never dies" and 2. I previously made the Moss Mini which was a perfect fit straight out of the packet - gotta love that!

I have major jean making plans, with three jean patterns lined up in an effort to find the perfect pattern for me. Trying to find appropriate weight denim with a 2% lycra content in a colour that I like is a bit of a mission, even with all the fabric shops in Wellington! All three of the patterns call for a small lycra content, which I'm happy with cause they aren't so restricting.

The perfect summer cardi

I had so many good intentions to get all my 2014 makes, posted in 2014 ... but here I am on the evening of the second day in 2015 and I have five posts backed up :-(  Oh and today I finished my first make of the new year, which increases the count to six!  Let's get a wiggle on then ...

The Jenna Cardi: the first pattern released by Muse Patterns (a very talented local Wellington designer).  I didn't pick this pattern up until the end of September, when I was looking at a light but warm cardi that would see me through spring into summer.