Playing catch-up.

First off - thank you so much to everyone who gave me some styling tips on my last post!  Lots of great ideas in there; I'm sure I'll be trying some of them out in the future.  Please excuse my laziness in not answering each comment separately.  Some days are just like that :-)

I've spent part of the morning today updating my 2014 Sewing FOs page.  I hadn't added any finished makes since May!  There was a lot of catching up to do.  I realized that some of the things I made over the summer I never even posted about - partly because I was so busy, but also because a lot of them are the same patterns I've been using for a while, just in different fabrics.  I find myself using Instagram more these days for show and tell, and this space more if I have something I really want to say about a pattern, process or make.

That said, yesterday I wore two of those unblogged makes and really liked how the outfit came together, so I snapped a couple of bathroom-mirror selfies to share.  This is the kind of outfit I feel right at home in.  Of course, it's based on some slouchy jeans :-)  But on top of those jeans is an item I made early in the summer that actually filled a hole in my wardrobe:  a plain white Renfrew!

I'm sure it will come as no surprise that I completely fell off the Stash Diet wagon over the summer.  One day I was at my local fabric shop getting zippers or something, and my eyes fell upon a lovely 2-yard piece of silk chiffon in the remnant area.  It came home with me, and a couple days later I sewed up the long edge and then sewed the two ends together to make a huge infinity scarf.  Honestly, it's a bit too big, but by keeping the yardage intact I can change my mind later and make it into something else if I want to.  It's kind of a Moroccan tile print in lavender, yellow, white and black.

And because it was chilly when I left the house in the morning, I added one of my favorite jackets, purchased probably 15 years ago at Loft.

Rounding out the look were some simple silver jewelry and a pair of quilted black block-heeled shoes.

After I came home from my coffee date with a friend and an impromptu lunch date with Hubby, I finished up my second Alabama Chanin project.  I do have a couple of things to say about that one, so I'm hoping to get some pictures of it over the weekend.  Stay tuned, if you're interested in that stuff!

My Robson

I was very diligent last week, and worked on my Robson coat for a couple of hours every day.   On Friday I managed to finish it up.  It ended up being a lot more work than I'd expected, but I'm really happy with the end result, so it was worth it!  And really, none of the tasks were especially difficult.  It's just a lot of length and weight to shift around toward the end.  I really felt like I'd gotten a workout on Friday after I finished up!

I started my Robson journey with a tissue-fitting of the pattern:

Based on that tissue-fitting, I made the following adjustments to a size 6, which is where I fall in Sewaholic Patterns:

1.  Removed 1/2" from the length of the sleeves at the bottom.
2.  Removed 2" from the coat length at the bottom, as the belt loops and waist fell in the right place for me. (I am 5'4", and neither long- nor short-waisted.)
3.  Did a 1/2" sway back adjustment to the back piece.

It's interesting to note that I didn't have to do broad back or forward shoulder adjustments as I often do.

To make this coat I used this lovely organic cotton twill.  I wouldn't hesitate to use this fabric again.  After the pre-wash, it almost didn't need ironing!  It comes in so many beautiful colors and is quite economical.  I bought 5 yards but only used 4 yards for my coat, so I have enough left over for a skirt!

I toyed with the idea of making my own bias tape, but fell in love with an orange tape I saw at JoAnn's.  I really love orange and blue together - they're so complementary!  Marrie also made a Robson (out of this same fabric!) recently, and she very kindly posted a tutorial on how to line the sleeves.   It sounded like a good idea, so I picked up some bright orange lining to match my tape and did the same:

I hadn't been able to find buttons I liked before I left for Toronto, so I bought some there, with Andrea's help.  I really love these buttons!

For my coat, I used 7/8" buttons for the back flap and front, but 3/4" buttons on the epaulettes and sleeve tabs.  I think it looks a little more in scale with the tabs.

I made keyhole buttonholes throughout.  I thought about not cutting open the holes on the epaulettes and sleeve tabs, but then decided to go ahead and do it, since it will be much easier to iron the coat in the future if they can be opened.  I stabilized all the buttonholes with Fray Check before cutting them open with my chisel.

Not sure why this photo is so washed out!

These colors are true!

Here's the whole thing, front and back.

I think it's interesting that on the hanger, it looks like the back is much shorter than the front (well, it actually is!) but on my body, my sway back takes care of that and the hem line is even!

Believe it or not, I didn't try this on after finishing until yesterday!  I had ironed it so nicely that I didn't want to mess it up until I'd taken these photos.  The coat is quite heavy and not the easiest thing in the world to iron!  And I ended up being under the weather all weekend with sinus/allergy stuff - again.  And I still was when I took these pictures yesterday, so you just get a quick selfie in the mirror, with my sinus-headache face.  But I'm smiling because my coat is awesome and fits well!

Like everybody says, the pocket openings are quite small.  I have a hard time getting my large hands in there.

I'm hoping to get some better pics of this coat in action in NYC next weekend, along with my sew-along partner Shar!  I hope we don't get too caught up in gabbing away and forget to take pictures of our coats!

Bias Binding Foot

Although you've not seen any photographic evidence of it (unless you follow me on Instagram), I've been slowly working on a Robson coat for the last month.  A while back I posted a picture of the bias binding foot I was using for finishing the edges, and it got quite a bit of interest.  So yesterday as I was using it I took some video to show you guys how it works.

First off, here are some pictures of what the foot looks like.  There are a couple of different styles, and this one was included in the set of hemming feet my mom gave me for my birthday this year - just like the ones I oohhed and ahhed over at her house this fall!  My foot already has the binding threaded through it so you can see how that goes.

Before I read the instructions for this foot, I thought all those openings on the side were just for decoration, or to make the foot lighter in weight.  But they serve a purpose!  You thread your binding through the one closest in size.  Here I'm using 1/2" single-fold binding, and it goes into the biggest slot.  So I'm not sure this foot is super versatile; I don't see myself ever using any binding narrower than 1/2". 

Still, it made applying the binding so much quicker.  It took some practice to figure out the right configuration for my task, but not nearly as much as the narrow rolled hem foot (which I still haven't mastered).  I was able to use this for all but the bulkiest and most curved of my edges, so probably 75% of my edges on this coat will have been bound this way by the time I'm done.

What I found to be the most important thing while using this foot is to keep both the fabric and the binding lifted upwards as they feed in, and to keep the fabric edge right up against the inside of the foot, like this:

(Note that in the above photo, I'm pulling both the fabric and the binding down so you can see the foot.)

Once you've gotten used to holding them that way, it's pretty easy actually!  I just made sure to sew slowly, constantly checking to see that everything was in line.

Here are two little videos showing the foot in action, shown from slightly different angles.

Do any of you have this foot?  Have you used it?  Are you tempted to get one?  I've really been having fun playing with mine!

Navy & Kelly

This morning I made a Renfrew.  It's navy and kelly green, and really soft and comfy.  I wanted it for a long time, and I finally made it.

That is all.

Baby's First Pattern Hack

I finally sewed something that's not a quilt!  (There's been a lot of quilt-sewing going on around here lately - I've already started a new one.)

A couple months ago I was reorganizing my fabric stash, and came across a lovely floral knit I'd completely forgotten about!  I bought it in spring during a sale, but it's really more appropriate for fall so I set it aside.  After I found it, I spent some time thinking about what it should become, and I finally settled on a scoop-neck tee with medium-full sleeves gathered at the wrist. 

So out came the Renfrew, and I gave the sleeve the ol' slash and spread.  And I took pictures along the way in case you'd like to try it too.

After tracing my sleeve pattern, I drew some lines parallel to the grain line, about 1.5" apart.

I also drew in the seam allowance on the sleeve head.

Then I cut up all the lines except the center one, almost up to the seam allowance line.  It looks like an octopus, doesn't it?!  There are 7 strips though, so I guess it's a heptopus . . .

I cut in from the outer edge almost to the seam allowance line, to create a little hinge at the top of each strip.

I order to get everything lined up nicely, I decided to tape my original pattern to my mat, and then tape the slashed pattern on top of that.  Then I decided how wide I wanted my sleeve to be at the wrist.  I didn't want it to be too full; the original sleeve measures about 10" across at the wrist.  I went for 19", just under twice the width.  I measured out from the center to get that width, then lined up my outer strips and taped them down.  Then I distributed the rest of the strips as evenly as possible.

Once I had everything positioned the way I liked it, I traced over the whole thing again.  I felt that was easier and quicker than taping pieces of paper into the spaces.

Here are my two sleeve patterns:  hacked sleeve on the left, original sleeve on the right.  It was a very easy piece to draft, but I'm still super proud of myself for doing it because usually I'm too lazy to do this sort of thing!

Then I went about constructing the top in the normal way.  Once I had the shoulder seams sewn and the sleeves attached, it was time to gather the bottoms.  I thought of getting out my sewing machine, but then decided to try out gathering on the serger.  It's one of those things I knew you could do on a serger, but had never actually done.  And it's really easy!

I did a few samples with different settings on the differential.  I started out with the dial all the way up, and then worked my way down, notch by notch.  It was interesting to see the samples get incrementally less gathered.

What I didn't do though is to measure my beginning and ending width, so I didn't know the percentage of gathering on any of the pieces!  I decided to gather my sleeves like the middle piece, but once I'd done it I felt it was still too wide, so I went back over it with the setting turned up as high as it goes. 

And then I continued with construction as usual.  For this look, I wanted a narrower wrist binding, so I cut the pattern piece in half. 

And here's the whole top:

I think it's really pretty.  I love this fuller sleeve.  The only thing I wish were different is the wrist binding:  my fabric doesn't have a lot of stretch, so the binding doesn't hug the wrist as much as I'd hoped.  Next time I will probably add in a little elastic there.  But still, I'm very happy with this make!

I had a terrible time getting a good picture to show the puff of the sleeve while wearing it.  Here are three mediocre snaps, because it's all I have time for!

Trust me, it's blousy :-)

I dressed myself!

Look how pleased with myself I am!

It's been two weeks since I finished this dress, and this is the first time I've put it on - I didn't even try it on for fit after I finished it!  But tonight we're going out for dinner with some friends and I wanted to wear it.  I tied the bow myself, and it really wasn't that hard!  I used the "rabbit ears" method ;-)  Look:

And I'm sitting back on my chair as I type this, and the bow is not digging into my back, so that's a great thing!  I have a feeling that has a lot to do with not interlining the straps.

Here's a full pic of the front and back so you guys can see the fit.  I probably could have taken a little more in on my swayback adjustment, but the fit of this dress depends a lot on how tightly you tie the bow, I found.

I like the length, but I think I'd be better off with a shoe that doesn't sit so high up on the ankle - it really shortens my legs visually.  But I'm sticking with these for tonight because I can drive in them, and while I like them, they're not my favorites, so if it storms later like it's supposed to and they get a little dirty, I won't be too upset.  Do you guys go to that level with your wardrobe planning?

In case it's cold in the restaurant, I'm wearing a shrug I knit years ago.  I like this pattern so much I made it three times!  It's loose enough that the bow doesn't look like a weird lump in the middle of my back:

One thing I forgot to mention in my construction notes is that I fit this bodice to the strapless bra I'm wearing.  I know several people added bust cups to the inside of their dresses, but I really didn't want to fuss with that, and strapless bras don't bother me.

I'm very happy with the fit!

Here's one last photo, because you can see the texture of the shrug better in this one.  It's really just a big feather and fan rectangle, folded and sewn a little at two edges, with stitches picked up and worked in rib for the sleeves.  Sadly, the yarn has been discontinued - it's a lovely, drapey linen/cotton/rayon blend.

And that, my friends, is the delighted look of a lady who has a pretty new dress, and is a mere two hours from a fantastic Ethiopian meal!

Lonsdale Construction Notes

Again, more for me than for you!  But maybe these notes will come in handy for someone - you never know!

I did indeed finish my dress today, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would, mostly because I decided to do a fair bit of handwork.  But as I mentioned yesterday, my Lonsdale adventure started over the weekend when I made my muslins.

I almost didn't make a muslin at all - Sewaholic's body measurements for size 6 match mine exactly, so my first tendancy was to just make up a size 6 in that Maasai Mara fabric I've been talking about (I'll show it to you soon!).  But I love the fabric so much I decided I'd better play it safe.  And wouldn't you know:  the size 6 was a bit large overall!  Whew - bullet dodged!  But not before I spent a fair bit of time pinning here and there, trying to make the size 6 work, LOL!

So on Sunday I started over with a size 4, and the fit there was much more to my liking.  I'd noticed the need for a swayback adjustment on the first muslin and was hoping that going down a size would eliminate that, but no.  So I went ahead and did the darn thing - a first for me!  Rather proud of myself actually . . .

During all this muslin-making, I started thinking it might not be a bad idea to make a test run of the dress first in a non-precious fabric.  My reasoning here was twofold:  of course I didn't want to ruin my cool Maasai Mara fabric, but I also had some doubts as to how well quilting cotton would work for this dress given that the bodice and straps are self-lined.  Then I remembered a piece of cotton lawn I'd purchased about a month ago and decided it would make a great Lonsdale:

When I started cutting out my fabric for the dress, I realized it was much more sheer than I'd originally thought, so I decided to underline the whole dress.  EXCEPT the straps - I wanted those to remain as fluid as possible.  In the top picture from yesterday's post, you can see that I extended the underlining up onto the straps only about 2", so there's a little structure where the knot is but the rest of the strap is very soft.

Because I changed my plan mid-stream, I had to run to the fabric store yesterday to pick up more batiste for underlining the skirt and the right color zipper.  I've really become a convert to underlining, so I bought 5 yards, which I washed when I got home.  And that meant that before doing anything this morning, I had to iron all five yards . . .   And then cut out the skirt and pocket pieces and baste them to the fabric pieces.

Instead of following the instructions from the pattern envelope, I followed the instructions in Tasia's Lonsdale Sew-along.  This is a very easy dress to construct and most of the information was not new to me, but I did learn about using stay tape on the top edge of the bodice to keep it from stretching - a really great trick!  The posts in Tasia's sew-along are so thorough that I think even a novice sewer could follow along and make this dress.

Before I decided to underline the dress, I'd thought I'd do a turn-and-stitch seam finish instead of serging, just for something different.  But once I had a couple layers of fabric I felt it would just be too bulky, so I went with serged seam finishes again.  I also wanted to keep as much of the length as possible on the skirt, so I serged along the bottom edge then folded it back just a little and worked a hand catch-stitch for the hem.

For some reason this fabric has a '70s vibe to me, so I thought a longer skirt would be fitting!

And finally, I did something I've been wanting to try out for a while:  a hand-picked zipper!  I really enjoyed doing this and think I'll be using the technique again in the future.  I've always preferred the look of invisible zippers, and they are the easiest to install I think.  But I've been so intrigued by the hand-picked zippers I see around the interwebs, so I'm really glad I gave it a try!

A couple other details:  it took me a while to figure out that if I was underlining the skirt, I also needed to underline the pocket piece!  I'm really happy with how the pockets came out - understitching used to be my nemesis, but I'm getting better and better at it.  And I stitched the inner waistband down by hand rather than do a stitch-in-the-ditch.  Somehow, having a fair amount of hand-stitching on a garment makes me feel like it's more special.

And here are a couple shots of the dress.  I realized once it was done that I couldn't hang it on a hanger to take a picture, so I laid it out flat on the bed.  Needless to say, I'm not ten feet tall, so I couldn't get the whole thing in the frame at once!  I will NOT be adding hanger loops - those things drive me batty!  I always cut them out of RTW dresses.  I'll have to figure out a good way to store this dress.

Now my only problem is that I can't actually put this dress on by myself to take pictures!  Well, I can put it on but I can't tie the ties in the back.  So I'll have to wait til Hubby is around to dress me, LOL!  I'm hoping to be a little analytical when I wear it, to really take note of the weight and drape of this fabric before deciding whether or not to make another with the quilting cotton.

Meanwhile, if you've made this dress, did you use quilting cotton?  And if so, was it fluid enough?  I'm worried about the bow tie being too stiff and creating a huge lump in the middle of the back that would make it very uncomfortable to sit back against anything!

Yet another Cambie.

I finished my Cambie #4 on Monday morning.

This one is made from a fabric I'd been ogling for quite some time on Fabric.com; a month or so ago I decided to just go ahead and buy it.  It's called Bromley Voile Arbor - I bought the teal/navy combo and it looks like there's still some available. 

I love blue and orange together.

Several shades of blue, pink, orange and coral - just beautiful.  The fabric also has a very soft, silky hand.  I'm tempted to try out the citron colorway, but I have a feeling it would wash me out.

A week or so after I got the fabric, I went shopping at the Textile Discount Outlet with Lisa of Poldapop.  I went looking for lining for this dress and picked up a deep coral polyester which looked like a good match under fluorescent lighting, but turned out not to be at all in natural light!  No matter - the color is lovely and it's super soft.

And then I got started.  I took this picture, just because I liked how it all looked spread out on the table:

For this dress, I used my straight neckline front bodice and the full skirt.  I even added the in-seam pockets!  In an effort to overcome the chest gape I've gotten with all my other Cambies, I offset the center front by 1/8" from the fold at the top, angling down to on-fold at the waist.  I really thought this would work, because when I pinned out just such a tuck on my other dresses, it cured the gape.  But no:

I've tried so hard to get rid of this.  In addition to the adjustment I did here, I've also tried interfacing the seam edge and easing it slightly.  All of these help a little, but don't eliminate the problem.  I'm starting to think that this might be happening to me in part because of my fabric choice:  all four of my Cambies have been made from very lightweight voile.  It could be that my wee little chest is just too broad an expanse for it to hold its structure.  I'm wondering if underlining the bodice would make a difference.

The other option I have is to rotate that extra into a bust dart, but since it's so little when pinned out, it hardly seems worth it.  At least I notice this on other Cambies I see around too - not all, but some.  Otherwise I'd be getting a complex about it!  More experienced sewers:  any words of advice?

I really love full skirts, but I HATE doing gathering!  It always seems like such a nuisance to get the gathers even, especially across an entire waistline.  On this dress, I decided to make things a little easier for myself and stitched my gathering lines for the skirt front and two back pieces separately - it worked like a charm and I'll likely be doing it this way from now on.

Nice, even gathers.

On my two latest Cambies, I've also cut two waistbands from the outer fabric and used one on the inside.  Not super original, but I think it looks pretty.  Here you can see my vibrant lining:

This lining washed and dried very nicely, but it was a pain to work with!  It frayed like crazy, and no matter what I did, my serger just ate it up.  So I ended up using French seams on the skirt and hemming it with my narrow rolled hem foot.  Even that had some iffy moments:

I am getting better at using the foot though.  I also did a narrow rolled hem on the outer fabric to give myself a little extra length.  And also because, by the time I got to the hem, I was really ready to be done working on this dress!

Here's my dress hanging up:

When viewed from a distance, the dress appears dun-colored.  I guess I should have expected that, since that's what you get when you mix blue and orange!  Here's how it looks on - I couldn't decide on which picture I liked best, so I'm posting them all, as usual!

I like this length for such a full skirt.

As you can see, I've got some fit wrinkles on the back bodice.  I have such a hard time analyzing these things - I really don't have the foggiest idea what these particular wrinkles mean.  Anybody?  They won't stop me from enjoying the dress though.

Using my pockets.

And finally:  the twirl test!

I just have to add:  every time I get out these lovely coral sandals I get sentimental, because while I was in the store buying them 8 years ago, I got a phone call from Hubby letting me know his sister was pregnant with our second niece!  These shoes always make me think of my sister-in-law and my niece!