Gertie's Butterick 6322

I've made a lot of dresses this summer and blogged only a few. Mostly because I've been taking pictures and then they don't look as good as I thought they should. So I'm just gonna show this dress even though the pictures aren't top notch. 

This dress is Butterick 6322, another dress from Gertie's pattern line. I really like the corset detail and the waist and the peasant style bust. 

I spent most of the time on this dress plaid matching. The fabric is a very light-weight almost seersucker cotton. It matches up on all the sideseams, the entire center back and the corset part is cut on the bias, and the plaids match there too.

I added 2.5" to raise the bust, otherwise it would have been quite indecent. It does fall off my shoulders a little bit so I would gather the neck a little more and make the bias tape a little shorter to compensate. I also had to hem it twice, the first time it was way too long and unflattering. 

Adding the grommets to the corset was easy, except that I felt they were a little loose and went back and hammered them on a hard surface and half the paint fell off. Then it was hard to get the ribbon I originally picked out to fit. I used an 1/8th inch ribbon in hot pink. 

I sewed this dress in under 24 hours in the beginning of the summer so I guess it was quite easy.  I've been wearing it once a week all summer, so its been a successful make.

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Butterick 5814: Complete!

Ok, I'm in love. THIS DRESS IS LIKE MY DREAM. The wedding was this Saturday, and I finished the dress Wednesday. Like fully finished, hook and eyes, three narrow hems for outer, interlining and lining, and a waist stay. I usually would leave those kinds of those kinds of things until the the last minute, so progress! 

I am thrilled with how the pattern alterations came out. The bodice fits like a glove, after I fixed some minor problems with the front right drape. There was too much fabric and it was pooling by the waistline and the side seam. I had to take the skirt off and undo the side seam a bit and sew the extra fabric in the seam.

 That was the most stressful part. It was coming out perfectly and then I went to try it on after I put the invisible zipper in and EEK! But with the helping hands of a friend, she was able to pin the excess fabric for me while I was wearing the dress. The problem was solved easily after that. Not sure why it didn't show up in the muslin stage, must be the difference in the drape of the fabric. 

The fabric for this dress is a Liberty of London silk, fully underlined and lined. The bodice is underlined with a drapey rayon. It was the only fabric I found that still let the bodice have the drape it needed. The pleated circle skirt is underlined with a silk faille. It gives it body like a taffeta would but without all that taffeta noise. The dress is fully lined with rayon bemberg in a coordinating blue. 

The skirt is my first official pattern draft! Its a basic circle skirt and then you make the waist bigger so it can be pleated. And of course it has pockets! I will do do another post on this if you guys are interested.

The wedding was really fun, my hubby was an usher in it, and we accidentally matched! His tie was the perfect match to the blue in the fabric. I can't wait for another chance to wear this dress! 

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Butterick 5814- Making the Bodice

I'm in the mood for couture, darlings! It has been such a long time since I have made a project, taken my time and done anything really special. I have a wedding coming up this month, and with this Liberty silk from my stash it was the perfect opportunity to make something fabulous.

I bought this fabric from Fabric.com, months ago, when it was on sale, and I used something like an extra 15% off it, so I snatched up four yards. Plus, I used ebates so I got 3% back!  I love hydrangeas, and I thought it was the most dreamy print ever. I was expecting the Liberty tana lawn magic to be translated into silk magic, but it is only a regular silk. It's not especially dreamy like Liberty cotton. Oh well, I'm still crazy for the print. 

I've been searching the internets for the perfect pattern for this fabric, nothing was the right floatyness, or the right style or whatever. This wedding is fast approaching so I decided to muslin the bodice of Butterick 5814, a pattern by Gertie. I like the bodice, but the skirt is not what I was picturing so I have to think of something to do for that. 

I started with the size 18 for the bodice, and just made it just like the pattern, expecting scary results. Woah that baby is low, like REALLY LOW. Not suitable for anytime. But other than that, the fit is ok. The sleeves are a little tight on my giant guns, and my bra straps show in the front. 

The first thing i did was to raise the front pieces so the neckline would be about 3" higher. Then I did a 1" FBA. But I didn't want a bust dart, so I would stick to the original look. My pattern looks a little crazy in the end but I swear it works. 

I cut the silk out backed with a roll of unprinted newspaper. Cutting through the paper and the silk helps it from wiggling all over the place. The silk doesn't have enough body to drape on it's own so I knew I had to add underlining. It was a bit of a debate of what fabric to use. Silk organza was too still, just plain muslin wasn't quite right either and then I remembered about rayon! Fabricland has plain white rayon, which had the perfect amount of body and is something like $7 a yard, score! I hand basted all of the bodice pieces to the rayon pieces. I also stitched twill tape to the neckline pieces, like Gertie demonstrated on her blog. 

After I was done with all the hand stitching, the actual machine sewing came together quickly. I pinned it to my dressform to have a look. Still have some hand-sewing to do, and then I can move on to the skirt. I've already drafted it, and will explain in another post. 

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Plaid Crop Top: Butterick 5895

Happy Independence Day! 

I needed something cute to wear to celebrate, and I've been eyeing up this crinkle cotton plaid at Fabricland for a while so a patriotic crop top was in order! The top is Butterick 5895, one of the Patterns by Gertie. 

I didn't make a muslin for this one, just some paper pattern fitting. The only change I made was to lengthen it about 1.5". Otherwise it would have been obscenely cropped.  The pattern does not have a lengthen or shorten line, so I added the length just under the french darts. Right now it hits just at my natural waist, so it goes perfectly with my Freddie's of Pinewood Jeans! 

The top comes together super quickly, there is no separate collar. It's one piece with the bodice and created with a dart and the facing. The trickiest part is getting the facing in the right place. The directions could have been a little clearer with better pictures. Since I lengthened it I added an extra button, and to make it extra patriotic, alternating red and blue buttons! 

To match up the plaid i was just careful cutting it out and matched up the corresponding notches on the same color stripe. I'm not that confident matching plaid, but it matches on the shoulder seams as well as the back. The side seams aren't matched up because the french seam kind of ruins it. 

This was a super fun make and a perfect addition to my summer wardrobe. To further celebrate the Fourth, I have American flag nail polish and I made some patriotic wreaths! It's gaudy and I love it. Tonight I am heading down to the beach with my family to watch the fireworks! 

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Cotton + Steel Border Print Butterick 5882

     

 Omg. I hate computers. I have been sewing up a storm, but MIA because of my dumb laptop. I can't get the pictures off the camera into the computer. Computers are so much harder to control than fabric. I finally borrowed/stole my Mom's netbook so I can show you my new favorite dress!

Our two year anniversary was coming up so I wanted to make a special dress, just like last year I made my Rick Rack dress. I loved this Cotton + Steel cotton lawn border print since it first came out but I have been trying to think of something cute to make with it. The pink border is rather skinny, so it finally occurred to me to make a shelf bust dress with it. I loved Gertie's gathered bust version of Butterick 5882. So i decided try and make my own.

The shelf bust goes above the apex, and then I made the gathered piece so I have some coverage. I followed the fba tutorial from Gertie's blog, and then made a gathered piece to sew across the top. Even though the bodice is a little bit different than what I usually wear, but it's more flattering than I thought it would be.

We even went back to where we took our wedding pictures for the second time, but this time we had our new puppy,Rockford, in the picture! If you follow me on Instagram (erikamadeit) you know I am obsessed with this little guy. 

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Pencil Pencil Skirt

 I found this tiny vintage remnant of a cotton pencil print, only 3/4 of a yard. I loved the print but it was too small to make much out of clothing wise.  Then I had the idea to make side panels and the pencil. pencil skirt was born. 

For the base of this pattern I used the skirt from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing. I made it up in orange last year, so I knew it would work. After that I used a hip curve ruler to make a pattern for a black panels on the sides of the front and back. I used a red rayon bemberg for the lining, I love a surprise on the inside of garments. 

I also tried a couture method on the waistband, found from sew daily. I used hair canvas and organza to sew channels to stabilize and the facing is covered in red ribbon. It definitely makes a waistband that does not curl under and was rather comfortable at work all day. It was fun to do, but mine did not look nearly as neat as the picture! 

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Tiki Dress or Sweetheart Sundress #2

This is my second sweetheart sundress from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing. I loved the tiki variation so much I had to make my own version. This fabric is a Marc Jacobs remnant, which I blogged about here, has been in my stash for a while resting until I came up with the perfect project to use it. I only had about 1.5 yards of it, it came from Fabric Mart, not sure why I didn't get more! To make it work I mixed it with a lipstick color linen, that matches it perfectly. 

I shirred the back in this dress, in the solid linen, used the pencil skirt pattern from Gertie's book as the skirt and even had enough left over add a skirt drape. That's my favorite part of the dress, my boss Nancy helped me drape it with the leftover fabric I had, she has magic fingers! We even worked it out so I have a pocket! I attached the drape piece to the front of the pencil skirt with the side seams and the top seam, and hemmed it with the narrow hemmer foot a few inches shorter than the rest of the skirt. 

So now I have the perfect tiki dress, and someone needs to invite me to a luau! 

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Umbrella Sundress

I've been eyeing up this fun beach umbrella fabric ever since Fabricland got it in. It's a quilting cotton, which I am usually hesitant to use, but this one is just so well suited to a summer dress. I was originally thinking about a romper perhaps, but this sweetheart sundress from Gertie's Book for Better Sewing will get so much use this Summer. 

The book only has the pattern pieces for the bodice, the skirt you draft yourself. It's just a drindl skirt, 2 rectangles sewn together and gathered.  I also shirred the back, a technique from the book and I absolutely love it. Shirring is sewing rows and rows and rows of elastic thread to the back bodice pieces. It's kind of tedious, but watching it shrink up under the steam of the iron is SEW FUN.  It gives the bodice such a snug fit. I'm totally addicted now. The straps and front accent are a red and white polka dot voile cotton fabric. I also added my favorite thing RICK RACK, to the hem, 2 rows of it of course. It's not just any Rick Rack it's a white and navy stripe, so adorable. 

One of the things I love about Gertie's book and patterns, is that somehow they just magically fit me, with no alterations. It makes sewing her dresses like 100% faster. I'm already working on 2 more versions! All three have different skirts. Remember the Marc Jacobs fabric I had in my stash? I'm going to make a tiki dress with it. And remember this disaster of a dress?! I'm making this bodice to go with the circle skirt! So get ready to see a lot of this bodice. 

The pictures were taken on the bay side of the Jersey Shore, (hence some of the rubble on the beach) This part of the island seemed beautiful and untouched, while only a short walk away houses are knocked off their foundation or burnt to the ground. It is still very sad to see, not the usually busy weekend with everyone outside, on the beach or riding bikes. 

My Mom and I took a ride down this past Saturday to see what we may have left in the shore house, and managed to take these pretty pictures. My family's house unfortunately has to come down so hopefully I will be wearing this dress next year at the restored shore! I am picturing myself lounging on the deck with  a drink...ahhhh. 

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