By Hand London: Kim Dress

After the long long winter, I needed to make something that was springy and fun for Easter. I got the Kim dress pattern by By Hand London for Christmas, and it was finally time to make it. 

The fabric is a Cotton + Steel cotton lawn from Fabric.com. It's the fabric I bought and got cash back on with my Ebates, when I wrote about my latest obsession (I'm still obsessed). 

I made a muslin for the bodice, and the fit was fine, with the exception of the length, which I had to add about 2". I'm not entirely happy with the fit even though I made a muslin. The finished product is defiantly different. If I make it again the shoulders have to be taken up, the waist is too big and the sweetheart neckline is just a little too low for me. 

My favorite part of this pattern is the skirt. It very gathered, and I love the detail of the folds at the hem. The skirt was a little too long for me, which I discovered after I made the pleats so I took 1/2" off of the waistline seam. 

The dress went together very easily, but I'm not totally in love. Its more wearable with a cardigan over it, even buttoned up so it looks just like a skirt. I'm feeling a little off my game. I hate sewing ruts. Do you ever feel "Meh" after you finish something?

Brian's Negroni

 For my brother's birthday I was in the mood to do some selfless sewing.I know shocking, right!  He is always wearing camp style shirts so a Negroni would be the perfect thing. I was hesitant to make a men's shirt because it's easy for it to look a little homemade, but he couldn't believe I really made this shirt, it looked so profesh. Actually this is my first official men's sewing project (pj's don't count).

His measurements were in the size L, and I also stole one of his shirts to compare the size too. I wanted it to still have a slim fit on him. I used the shorter size M length, because that was a smidge longer than his RTW shirt. The fabric is a cotton + steel linen/cotton blend home dec weight, with all the names of the US states.  I've been eyeing this fabric at work (Fabricland) for a while, and finally thought of the perfect project. He loves America, and this is a rather subdued print for him, I thought it was safe for my first official mens project. 

To give the collar more shape, I pinned it around my pressing ham and steamed it to give it shape. This kept it from laying flat, and looking homemade. I trimmed the undercollar about 1/8", so it won't roll over. I then decided to topstitch everything so that wasn't really necessary. 

I used the free download of the alternative pocket, which happened to match up perfectly on the sides if you notice :). The facings were very wide, I compared them to his shirt I stole, and took 1.5" off the width. I also sewed the facings down the front, so they wouldn't flap around. I tried to make the shirt as durable as possible, my brother is notorious for being rough with clothes. I just serged the seams inside, instead of doing flat felled seams, I didn't really read the directions and missed that part. OOPS.  I was too lazy to make the button loop for the top and just sewed an extra buttonhole there. I cut the yoke on the cross grain, so the states would go vertical.

The biggest difference I made was the sleeve length. I cut out, sewed, and hemmed the original short sleeve pattern in, put it on my husband just to see and OMG nerd sleeves! They were about four inches too long.  I cut off the excess and hemmed them to a less nerdy length. 

Well he loved it, and I think it fit him pretty well. Here we are looking like a happy cotton + steel family. (I will blog my dress later this week). Happy Birthday Bri!