Nicola

Yesterday, after almost two weeks of work, I finished a dress I'd wanted to make for two years:  Victory Patterns' Nicola.

I had to do a fair bit of adjusting to get this one to fit me well, and then work slowly on my construction with this beautiful silk georgette.  I have lots to say about this make, but I promised my Instagram friends that I'd show the good stuff first, and save the details for later :-)

So here is my new dress.  My new favorite dress.  I have to say, I'm not 100% happy with these photos because I don't think any of them really do the dress justice.   It is so beautiful, and I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can wear this someplace.  I've made Hubby promise to take me on a date just so I can show off my new dress.

I realize that it's really hard to see the design details in this busy print.  In the first few photos, I'm wearing the dress with a vintage full slip, which you can see peeking out at the neckline and front center hem.  I'm going to talk more about this slip in another post, because it's special to me, and I always had a vision of pairing it with this dress so the bits of lace could peek out.

The hemline dips down a bit in the back, which I love:

I got a flattering and comfortable fit across the back - hallelujah!

The sleeves are quite long under the arm, coming down below the waist.  When my arms are down, it hides how slimming the lines of the dress are.  Here you can see the shape of the body a bit better.

I lined the skirt in black silk, and when I walk or there's a breeze, it flutters a bit and shows.  So lovely!

I also took a couple of pictures with a half slip, so you can see the neckline uninterrupted.  For these I added a belt and hot pink pumps, which sadly don't match each other or the pink in the dress.

I think this dress looks great belted or unbelted, but the belt does help define the waistline with this busy print.  I'm going to try to find a belt that works better, color-wise.

You can see the sleeve a little better here:

And even better here, although my eyes are closed and I look like a goof!

I'm so glad I finally made this dress up.  And I'm also glad I waited as long as I did.  I'm not sure I could have produced a dress of this quality a year ago.  Having learned some fitting tricks and some tips for sewing with silk (thanks to a Craftsy class) made all the difference, I think. 

I'm not really sure how many dresses like this I need, but I do think I'd like to sew at least one more in a plainer fabric, so that the details show.

Weekend Archer #2

Here's the other one, which I wore yesterday because the print makes me so happy.  Like everyone else, I'm chomping at the bit for spring to arrive; this fabric lets me pretend it already has.

Yes, it's more of the same Anna Maria Horner voile I used to line my coral coat last year.  After I made my coat, I couldn't stop thinking about how much I loved the fabric and what a great shirt it would make, so I ordered some more.  In two different colorways.  And yes - I fully intend to wear this shirt with the coat once the weather warms up!

I did the prescribed sleeve placket on this one - not that you can really see in with this crazy print:

And used these sweet peachy-pink buttons:

For this soft voile, I used Pro-Sheer Elegance Medium to interface collar, cuffs and button bands.  It gives a bit of structure without too much stiffness.

For my pictures, I decided to experiment:  I paired the shirt with some boyfriend jeans and nude heels:

NOT!!

How ridiculous and awesome are these Seychelles Strike A Chord heels?  I bought them last summer because I loved the neon yellow surprise at the back, but they go with almost nothing!  But I loved them too much to send them back.  Even Hubby wanted me to keep them!

So, the remainder of the photos are really all about the shoes :-)  I'm not 100% sure I'm down with the whole boyfriend jeans + heels thing, and my lifestyle isn't very heels friendly at the moment.  But I love them so.

I also tried out the "half tuck" and I'm not sure about that either.  But it's fun to experiment, don't you think?

In real life, this shirt probably will be worn with jeans or a denim skirt, but with flats.  Yesterday I wore it for running some errands with my trusty, clunky Dansko Professionals (snakeskin print, natch).  So here's one more heels photo to remember them by:

What do you guys think of the heels + rolled jeans look?  Can an older lady (such as myself) pull if off?  I always love it when I see it on other people, but felt pretty awkward wearing it myself!

A Two-Archer Weekend

From Friday to Sunday, I sewed two more Archer shirts.  These two had been on my list for a long time, and the fabric had been prepped and ready to go for several months.  But I wanted both of them to be perfect, so I didn't let myself make them until I'd gotten the fit just right with this pattern.

Today I'm showing you the first one - a very plain chambray shirt.  I cannot tell you how many times over the last couple years I've been trying to put an outfit together and wished I had a chambray or denim shirt.  I went shopping many times to try to buy one, to no avail.  Nothing ever fit right.  So I am thrilled that this shirt turned out so perfectly.  It really fills a hole in my wardrobe.

I've talked about the construction and fitting on this shirt ad nauseum in a few other posts, so I don't have a whole lot to add.  I'm proud of myself that I took my time and concentrated on getting everything just so.

For this shirt, I used Pro-Woven Shirt Crisp (which happens to be on sale this month) on the collar and cuffs for a more substantial, menswear feel.  On the button and buttonhole bands, I used Pellon SF 101 for structure without stiffness.

When I make shirts out of voile or lawn, I prefer the sleeve placket given in the pattern - it feels more feminine to me.  But on this heavier fabric, I decided to do a tower placket, again more in keeping with a masculine feel.

And for topstitching the cuff, I used a little trick I'd noticed on some of Hubby's business shirts.  Rather than stitching all the way around, I stopped just short of that super bulky spot where everything comes together.

One of the items I "needed" this shirt to go with is that velveteen pencil skirt I made a while ago.  I LOVE how these work together.  The grey/blue of the chambray is the same as one of the background colors on the skirt.

And since what is important to me when I put together an outfit is the shoes and lipstick (truly!), here are the deets:

Shoes:  Frye Carson Pump in Charcoal
Lipstick:  NYX Perfect Red Matte Lipstick
"Statement" necklace:  Francesca's - the statement being that I'm cheap - or rather, that I prefer to spend my money on shoes
Earrings:  plain pearl studs

I played around with adding a belt, but I'm not so sure I love it.  What do you guys think:  belt, or no belt?  Because I went with the straight waistband (rather than curved) on the skirt, the waist is a bit big for me, so the belt helps in that regard, but I can't decide if I like how it looks.

And here's a little FYI for you:  I've worn this pencil skirt a time or two already and discovered something that did not occur to me when I made it:  if you don't put a vent in your skirt, you can't pull it up over your hips if you have to pee!  Aaack!  I found that out the hard way!  You have to take the whole skirt down like you would pants.   Did you guys know that?

Up tomorrow:  weekend Archer #2, which I'm actually wearing today!

Strathcona Henley Muslin

Conversation a couple of weeks ago:

Me:  "Do you like kelly green?"
Hubby:  "I never met her."

hahahaha - I love that man!  He always makes me laugh!

I had a piece of kelly green cotton/lycra jersey I'd purchased to make a dress that ended up being too lightweight for said dress.  It had been sitting in my stash for about a year and I just couldn't think of a use for it (I already have a couple of kelly green t-shirts), so I decided to use it to make a muslin of the Thread Theory Strathcona Henley.

Why muslin a t-shirt?  Well, Hubby has some fitting issues too.  He's very broad through the shoulders with a thick neck, but narrower through the chest and waist.  And he's got short arms.

The sizing info on the pattern goes by chest measurement and would have put Hubby into a medium.  My original plan was to trace a large at the neck and shoulders, and grade it down to a medium at the chest and waist.  But then I took a look at the finished measurements and discovered that there's 1.5" negative ease built into the size medium.  So I got out one of his favorite t-shirts to compare and realized that the medium would have been smaller than he prefers.  And at that point, I took a look at the pattern again and noticed that the description says "slim-fitting t-shirt."

In the end, I decided to trace a size large throughout for the muslin, as a baseline for future changes.  And as it turns out, it fits pretty well as is.  He's happy with it, at least.

Uneven shoulders, just like me!  We're made for each other!

Hubby isn't a big guy, he's just got a muscular build.  So I wonder if bigger guys will be sized out of this pattern - he's in a Large and the pattern only goes to XL.

The Henley version of the pattern is designed with hem bands for both the bottom and the sleeves.  I knew Hubby wouldn't like the hem band at the waist, so I didn't even trace it.  I did cut out the sleeve hem bands, but after he tried on the shirt he told me he didn't want them.  Of course, the sleeves were too long for him, as they always are.  This is the sleeve sans band, just turned back 1" and hemmed on the coverstitch machine.  I had to cut 4" off the bottom of the shirt, and then turned back 1" for the hem there as well.

One thing I liked about the pattern is that all the pieces are full size, and are cut from a single layer.  However, it does make for a large number of pages to print out.

The placket was the most difficult and time-consuming part of making this shirt, as you'd expect.  The instructions were very clear, I'm just not a fan of sewing knits on the regular sewing machine, and even less of sewing buttonholes on knits.  My placket looks OK, but not perfect - which is good enough for a muslin of a t-shirt.

I accidentally cut off a bit too much of the inside placket before stitching down the X, and some of it popped out on the inside.  So if you make this shirt, be careful of that.  You can see it here at the upper left of the X.

Overall the instructions for this shirt were really good.  The only thing I'll change the next time is the shoulder stabilization.  The pattern says to place the stay tape on the back, and then press the shoulder seam toward the back once it's sewn.  My stay tape is a bit stiff and doesn't like to bend, so I always apply it to the front and press my seams toward the back.  On this shirt I did apply the stay tape to the back, which means that my shoulder seam is pressed toward the front.  Again:  not a huge deal.  It's a t-shirt.

Finally, my friend Shar and I were comparing notes on this pattern.  She told me that she'd had to raise the neckline by an inch, as her husband found it to be too low.  As I said before, Hubby has a muscular neck - it's one of the things that makes buying RTW shirts for him a challenge.  I didn't change the neck at all and it's a nice, close fit on him.

So keep your guy's neck size in mind if you decide to make this pattern.

Now that we know this one fits him, we can move on to colors he actually likes!

Have any of you tried out this pattern?  Do you plan to?  I'm planning on making him the Jedediah pants one day too.  After I make myself a few more things :-)

Magenta & Silver

I spent all day Monday sewing.  Come to think of it, I spent the better part of Sunday sewing too!  I seem to have a lot of projects on the go at the moment, but I'm just going to show you one today, as it's the only one that's finished!

This is my second Burda 7866, which appears to be out of print now.  This one is made from a magenta wool jersey - one of the fabrics that both Andrea and I bought at Fabrications in Michigan.

This top is just slightly different front to back.  I've found when putting on my leopard one that it takes me a bit of time to figure out which is the front.

The neckline on the front is a teensy bit lower.

BTW - this is closer to the true color

I was tired of having to spread the top out on the bed to figure out which was the front, so this time I added a little tiny tag at the back - made of some of my leftover selvedge from the binding of the quilt!

I like having a little bit of hidden leopard :-)

For such a simple design, for me this is surprisingly tedious to make, because I use all three of my machines.  The neck facing is sewn to the neck opening using the sewing machine; the seams are done on the serger and the hems on the coverstitch machine.  It's a lot of getting out and setting up, then putting away.

I like this one, but I don't like it as much as my leopard print one.  The fabric is less drapey, and since it's wool it's a tiny bit scratchy against my bare skin.   Also, I find that I have to ruche it around my tummy just so, in order not to draw attention to the little bulges there - both from my body and from the jeans button.

Still, the solid color makes it a great backdrop for some nice accessories.  I decided to dig out a couple of my old hand-made pieces that I thought went nicely with this top.  First is this drusy necklace:

Years ago when I was working in the studio, a friend purchased a bunch of drusy cabochons.  She offered to give me one in exchange for setting one in a bezel for her, so I chose this one and made this necklace for myself.  I also created the "chain" from sheet metal, giving a rough finish to the links, and formed the clasp.

I love this necklace, but don't have a whole lot of things to wear it with, so my new top fills that hole.  I layered it with another simple necklace I made - a super long chain interspersed with highly polished silver bars (again, cut from sheet) that I can wear doubled or tripled.  Here I wore it tripled.

And you may have noticed that I wore the top with my Jamie Jeans - I am loving these, and plan to make at least a couple more.  AND this top takes care of another piece of fabric from my stash!

Breaking News: Feather Bed Quilt FINISHED!!

After we got back from our trip, I had a lot of catching up to do - as you do after being away, even for a bit.  I didn't feel like I had the time or energy to start a new sewing project, so instead I concentrated my little bit of free time on my knitting and on finishing up my Feather Bed Quilt.

I didn't have a whole lot left to do on the quilt.  I spent about 2 hours on the remaining quilting over a couple of days, and finished that up early yesterday morning.  I was so excited to be nearly done that I scrapped my plans for the rest of the day and trimmed the edges, cut my binding, pinned and sewed it on, then hand-slip stitched it, for a total of about 4 more hours work.  I was so engrossed that I didn't even take any in-progress shots! (Except one of the binding that I posted on Instagram.)

I finished up at about 4:30 yesterday afternoon, and immediately popped my new quilt into the washer.  After piecing, my favorite part of quilting is that final wash and dry - I love seeing how the quilt wrinkles up around the lines of quilting.

Here's the final reveal.  Honestly, it looks pretty much like the in-progress shots I've been showing all along, except that now it has a binding.

My backing is one full piece of Anna Maria Horner voile:  Coordinates in Saffron.  It's deliciously soft and silky.  My finished top measured 53" by 70", so I bought a two-yard piece of this 54" wide fabric.  However, I got some shrinkage after the pre-wash and my backing ended up a bit narrower than I needed.  So I got creative and incorporated the printed selvedge into the design; my love for the selvedge has already been documented!

I think I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I made this quilt smaller than the "twin" size given in the pattern.  For my quilt, I made 22 feathers rather than the 38 given in the directions.  This yielded a quilt exactly the size I like.  Here it is on top of my king size bed, to give an idea of the size.

My feathers were made using all the prints from the Patina colorway of the Field Study quilting cotton line.  For the binding, I used another piece of the same leopard print as in the feathers.  I cut my binding strips 3" x width of fabric, and then attached it with a 3/8" seam allowance rather than the 1/4" usually used.  I did it that way partly because I wanted the leopard-ness to be a bit wider and more noticeable, but also because it just feels more secure to me.

I'm so pleased with this quilt.  I will say though, using the linen/cotton blend as the background of the feathers makes it quite a bit heavier than if I'd used quilting cotton - heavier than I like really, so I'm not sure I'd use it again, although it's a lovely fabric. 

And now I'm having fun imagining what my next quilt will be . . .  I actually have another one started, which will be pieced and quilted entirely by hand.  I save that one for when I feel like doing some hand work.  So I think I need another machine-pieced project to have around, and I already have a fat quarter bundle in my stash from which it will be made.  Pink and orange . . . mmmmm!