Colette Rue

One of the benefits of working for a fabric store, is that I've known about Rue for WEEKS. I kept a secret, that never happens! A super cute secret too! We ordered copies of the pattern right away, but I printed out a pdf so I could get started on the store sample. 

I know some people love pdfs but I am not one of them. I taped together 70 pages. It took all morning. And then there is no good way to fold and store them! So when the real copies came I made used one of them, so much better!

This is version 1, the short sleeve with the pleated skirt. The other version has long sleeves with a more fitted skirt. The dress comes fully lined, with separate pattern pieces for the lining! Love that. 

The fabric I used is a Cotton and Steel halloween-ish print which I think is cute all year long. If you look closely the bottles say things like eye-of-newt, but if you are not looking closely they look like perfume bottles and flowers. I also used piping on the neckline instead of the bust piece, it would  have been weird for me with a fuller bust. 

I had a couple issues with the pattern, but nothing too major. The bodice meeting at a "V" was a problem. If you just pin the pieces together and sew the "V" ends up below the seam line. I had to fudge it so it would land on the 5/8"s. 

I made a size 14, and a bodice muslin, so when I attached the skirt and the bodice and the waist was too big, I was not so happy. I had to take it in an inch on each side to fit. I also took off quite a few inches off the skirt before I cut it out, which I rarely do. I think it might have been 3"! So beware of that.

I also need to tinker with the bodice fit a little more. I think if  I lengthen the "v" shaped bodice so the tucks sit a little lower it would be better. I had to get this project done in time for the release and I was too excited to spend the time to tinker!

I also chose to only line the bodice. Way less fabric, and easier to iron, when it's a finished product. I used a green cotton, that is so fine it's almost like a cotton-silk blend. It's so divine, I want to line everything in this.

All the supplies for the dress are from Fabricland, (the NJ one, Canada). My dress will be on display there untill November, when we are having a class for Rue! I am teaching it, so it will be super fun!

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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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Yarn Dress, another McCall's 6887

It's finally spring! Time for sundresses everyday. I made another version of McCall's 6887, my third version. The other dresses are Halloween and fall appropriate. M6887 is just a simple scoop neck princess seam bodice with a paneled full-ish skirt. Sometimes it's just time to whip up something you know will fit and be cute. 

The fabric is from the Cotton + Steel Cat Lady collection. It has dancing yarn balls on it! This is basically what my house looks like. Just yarn in every corner. So obviously I had to incorporate yarn into this dress somehow!  I took a Madelinetosh Unicorn tail in the color Pop Rocks, and knitted a 4 stitch I-cord. I knitted almost the entire skein, cast off and then did another cord for the bow. 

I then gave the I-cord a really good steaming, hopefully that shrunk it up, making it ok to wash. The cord was pinned and machine stitched into place after the front bodice was assembled. (I promise that is not a pucker in the princess seam, just an unfortunate wrinkle after wearing it all day). 

The neckline is finished with bias tape, mine is navy polka dot of course. Just a cute surprise you can see when it's hanging on the hanger. I love this dress because it combines two craft universes. I might have to knit trim for every dress now! 

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Cashmerette Appleton Dress

Here it is the famous Appleton dress! When I saw the announcement for a new pattern line from Cashmerette of a new pattern line where you wouldn't have to do a fba I jumped at the chance. Then I saw that there was a kit, so I quickly clicked buy before it sold out. I am tired of making decisions lately and a kit sounded perfect to me. 

The fabric is a black rayon spandex with white birds flying all over it. The fabric is lightweight and thin but not too thin. It's not the softest fabric, but it is still nice to wear. Looks like its sold out right now, so I guess there will be a lot of twins on the internet! 

I used the largest cup size, in size 14. I initially graded out in the hips but it made a weird bubble, and wasn't working, so I trimmed it back down on the serger. The 14 fits fine in the hips so I guess I didn't need to grade up.

The wrap definitely hugs the top and stays closed. I did wear a tank top under it, I'm not used to wearing a top so low. Next time I will make a full bicep adjustment. I was hoping I wouldn't have to being a knit, and that these patterns are for curvy ladies, but I guess I'm too curvy in the arms. Bleh, I think I hate adjusting sleeves as much as an FBA. 

The printed pattern came with the kit, and I love the way it's set up. The colorful book, the envelope, its all adorable. My only quibble is the glue on the pattern envelope. I had such a hard time trying to open it! Anyone else have this issue?

I made the whole thing on the serger, and used a double needle for all the hemming and topstitching. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen me using wonder clips with the serger. I still feel the need to pin with knits, especially with the sleeves and matching up notches. And using wonder clips instead of pins is a foolproof way not to run them over with the serger. Pins are easy to overlook, but not wonder clips. 

The directions were clear, the only part I had to stop and think about was sewing the ties to the neck pieces. But after my coffee in the morning I read the directions again, and got it. Late night sewing is not a good time for direction reading. The neckline is stretched to fit, and the fabric wouldn't stay still so I basted it with the machine first and then serged over the basting. 

I wore this dress out on Saturday, which was a cold and windy night. Woo, you have to be careful in this dress when the wind blows! I am happy to have a basic wrap dress that fits well and I can rely on to throw on and go out and look gooooooood. This dress came together in two short sessions, I actually made two dress this week, this one and my cotton and steel picnic dress, so it is a quick and satisfying project. 

 

I am so excited to see what pattern Jenny is going to come out with next. Maybe a button down shirt? Wouldn't that be amazing with no fba? 

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Vintage Butterick 9566: Cotton + Steel Picnic Dress

AHH! This dress came out better than I expected, don't you love when that happens?  I have been dreaming of this dress for months waiting for the Cotton + Steel fabric to arrive at Fabricland (we had to wait for the second printing!). I just love the vintage vibe to it, I mean it has Pyrex on it! When it finally arrived the print was a lot bigger than I was imagining, so I was stumped of what dress to make with it. Finally I remembered Butterick 9566.

This is my second version of Vintage Butterick 9566. The first one is my Christmas dress, which is one of my favorite dresses, so I thought another one was in order! The bodice was already fitted, I did an FBA, and made the sleeves bigger than the original pattern. I also angled the bust dart more like a french dart, which I think gives it such a good fit. There is only thing I need to change about the pattern if I make it again, the sleeve has too much ease, it's hard to get it to fit without any blips. 

 What I like most about the pattern, is the opportunity to add my favorite thing: RICK RACK.  I think I bought 6 yards of this rick rack which is woven in different pastel colors, and that still wasn't enough. I was planning on doing another row at the hem so I might go and buy some more for that. The rick rack is all around the neckline, down the front of the buttonhole side bodice, around the sleeves and all around the hem. 

The buttons are adorable and very special. They are from the world famous sewing cave of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic! Thanks Carolyn! I had these in my stash and they are the perfect thing, so lucky!

Needless to say, I am very happy with the dress and thinking of more versions of it! 

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Vogue 8972 for my Momma

It is super hard to find cute dresses out there people. That's how I got guilted into making this dress for my mother. Last September my parents had a wedding to go to. She was looking for a dress for over a month and couldn't find anything. We live 15 minutes from three different malls. She looked in Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, like everywhere. She was getting so desperate she was trying on $500 dresses just to see! There are no dresses out there. Ok, the dresses that are out there are either navy, which doesn't look good on her, looks like a Real Housewife dress or are totally frumpy. So finally I said "UGH, fine I guess I have to make you a dress".  Aren't I just the sweetest?

We choose this fabric Rayon asian inspired fabric from Fabricland in NJ. They even had the perfect crinkley silk chiffon print for a luxurious wrap to match. After searching in the pattern books for a while we finally settled on Vogue 8972. It is a simple shape, I like how it has the different cup sizes, so it would be easy to fit. 

I'm so used to fitting myself it's weird doing it to someone else. I cut out the C cup bodice, and made her a muslin. After a little tweaking, the dress came together quickly. It's fully lined in rayon bemberg, and all the seams are topstitched. I used my new edgestitch foot to get the seams perfect. 

The wrap is a yard and a half of fabric, and I just used the narrow hem foot all the way around to finish it. 

She had another wedding to go to this past weekend so I finally got a chance to take her picture. The fabric has a sheen to it so it seems lumpy in places, but I promise the fit is perfect. There are a lot of seams in this dress, and they intercept at the hips, so I had to go back and trim some more before she wore it again and everything lays flat now.  Well I think she looks very glamorous, and she feels good in it too! Don't get used to it Mom, it's back to selfish sewing for me!

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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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DKNY Vogue 1448

Woah summer has just flown by. I missed the whole month of August on here! Well I've still been sewing, just haven't got a chance to photograph anything. 

So I'm back with something a little crazy. I got this BRIGHT rayon from Fabricland, it was only 8.99 a yard. I scooped it up as soon as it came into the store, that's the benefit of working in a fabric store. I rarely pick out fabric with no plan, so I was flipping through the vogue book for ideas and I saw 1448, which was something a little different for me. Of course my fabric choice would turn it into a Carmen Miranda style dress. 

                       

                           

I made a muslin of the bodice, and obviously I needed to do an FBA. But uh oh there is no dart. I could have added a dart, but I wanted it to look like the original. All the cool kids can go around with no darts, so that's what I wanted to do! I cut and slashed and added a third pleat to accommodate the excess. Now I can be cool with no darts. The only other thing it needed was a little tack to keep the wrap together. 

The bodice is lined, I couldn't find a color that was right for the yellow so I went with white. My go-to lining is Robert Kaufman Savannah. Omg its the lightest softest cotton, and perfect for lining. It's only like 6.99 a yard or something. 

The skirt is the most fun. It is three layers of skirt on the front and the back, all with a narrow hem. I am very thankful for the Bernina narrow hem foot, which I finally mastered. It has these pockets in the front, which don't even fit a phone, so they are kind useless. 

PLEASE NOTE: I found a mistake in the pattern, The front peplum piece 6 should say cut 2 not cut 1. GRRR. I didn't figure that out until I was piecing the skirt together. AND I WAS OUT OF FABRIC. If I didn't have to go to work that day, and knew we had more of the fabric, I would have been in trouble. (I have emailed Vogue about the mistake and they said they are fixing it in future patterns.) 

It was fun to make something a little more complicated than the average dress. It's a fun dress to go out to dinner in, and I wore it a lot on my trip to Italy this summer. 

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