Tag Archives: Sewing

Pink-errific Bias Cut Renfrew Top!

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Catching up on posts, catching up on posts (sung in sing song-y voice)…yeah!

I’ve been making lots and posting nothing! So I have a backlog!

I think it was one of the first days that we knew that my mom was in the clear, that I took my long awaited Sewaholic “Renfrew” class at Made Sewing Studio. Since I had bought a serger and taken a class on how to use my serger, I had been wanting to take a knitwear class. I had also seen Lladybird’s multiple Renfrew tops and knew I wanted to make that at some point as well. So imagine how delighted I was when Made Sewing Studio was offering Ladie’s Knitwear: The Renfrew Top. Perfect!

Made Sewing Studio is also where I went to the book signing for the Colette Sewing Handbook, so I had been there before. It’s in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle and hasn’t even been there a year. It was a small class, just three of us, taught by Carissa, the owner, with help from Julia (an employee or co-owner… not sure). Anyway, they were both great and super helpful. They have everything there too. I brought my serger, just because I wanted to get to know it better, but I didn’t need to. They have sergers, sewing machines, and really nice, big, tall cutting tables that you can walk all the way around (something I don’t have at home). Swoon. I will probably end up doing more project classes again, just to be in that nice big space with all the stuff!

I had traced my pattern ahead of time, so was able to complete the cutting and sewing in the class.  I asked about muslins for knits and was told, by Carissa, that sewists don’t typically do muslins for knits as the fit is way more forgiving. This shirt certainly didn’t need one, so that saved time. It was supposed to be a 5 hour class, but it ran a little late. Carissa let us stay and finish though.

I cut my front fabric piece on the bias to get the cool diagonal stripes. I then lined up the stripes and cut the back fabric piece with the diagonals going the opposite direction to get a chevron effect on the sides.

They actually matched up when I sewed the two pieces together. Amazing!

I want to make a bunch more of these. The pattern is awesome too because it can be mixed and matched to have three different sleeve lengths (short, 3/4 and full) and three different neck styles (scoop, v-neck or cowl). I want to make a longer one, with longer cuffs and waistband. It would also be cool with a solid color neckband, cuffs and waistband.

I love sewing knits now. I had thought it was going to be way harder than it was. Besides my serger bending needles repeatedly, it was actually pretty easy and I loved that it was something I could complete in one day (versus these dresses that I have been making that have been averaging 30 hours for me to complete). I left there joking that I was going to sew nothing but knits now and therefore wear nothing to work but yoga pants from now on. And a knit top of some sort, I wouldn’t go shirtless! ;)

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Palette Challenge update: Crepe dress

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We’ve been having some pretty nice weather in Seattle lately, so I’ve been doing more gardening than sewing lately.

My dog Charlie, is usually my garden helper. He likes to sit out in the garden with me while I work, or just roll on his back in the grass. He’s nine now and starting to get lumpy, as Labs tend to do. So we just had to have one of his bumps removed. Since Charlie is recovering and can’t really go outside much right now, I have a good excuse to stay inside and catch up on some sewing.

Now Charlie is my sewing helper!

My second project for the Colette Patterns Palette Challenge, that I have been working on, is the Crepe dress.

This is great advice. Thank you Sarai! I think I will take my time!

The fabric I picked out for this dress is a bit see through. Luckily, I found a series of blog posts on Gertie’s New Blog for Better Sewing, from a sew-along of this dress she did a couple of years ago. It’s a pretty thorough sew-along, with instructions for every step of making this dress, from fitting the muslin, to underlining it, to facings and so on.

The post on underlining is here.  I can already tell that this is going to be very time consuming and I hate hand sewing. I think it took me an hour just to hand baste one piece and I have nine pieces to sew.

I think this could be a really cool dress, as I really like the fabric and the fact that it is wrap dress. And the underlining has helped add opacity, so I think underlining it is worth doing.

I also spent quite a bit of time fitting the muslin as well. I even made two muslins this time (of just the bodice), to make sure I had it right. I used Gertie’s tips on bust darts from her Crepe Sew-Along. I love her reshaped curved dart technique, it totally worked.

So this dress make take me awhile to finish. At the rate I am going, I think I have at least 7 more hours of hand basting ahead of me, but that’s okay. I’ll just take a deep breath, try not to think about my sore needle poked fingers, and remember Sarai’s advice!


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Palette Challenge Project #1- Truffle Dress

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I completed my first project for the Colette Patterns 2012 Spring/Summer Palette Challenge and I couldn’t be more pleased. I have to be honest, as my third ever handmade garment attempt, I kind of needed this one to be a win. I liked my Meringue skirt for the fabric and the piping, but structurally it had issues. I learned so much about fit making the Pastille dress, but realistically, I don’t see it being something I will wear very often. If I was going to keep spending time making handmade clothes, I really needed to make something I adored, to make it worth it.

Luckily, I love my Truffle Dress! I had read several reviews online, about this particular pattern from the Colette Sewing Handbook, that all said the same thing. That upon looking at the picture for this pattern in the book, it was viewed as the least favorite, but after making it, [the authors of the reviews] were pleasantly surprised about how much they actually liked the dress they had made. This was my experience as well.

I love the lining… and the fabric. I looove rayon. I want to make everything out of rayon now.  It’s soft and forgiving and wasn’t hard to sew with at all. It seems to come in a lot of cool prints too.

I recently took the free class at AAA Vacuum and Sewing, that came with my serger, from a fabulous teacher, Jeanne McDonald. Seriously, if you are looking to buy a sewing machine or serger, I cannot recommend this place enough. They are super nice there and have great deals on machines. The support (like the free class to learn how to use your machine), and warranty and upgrade programs, make it totally worth it. So not only did I get to utilize the awesome rolled hem I learned how to do, but my serged seams suck way less this time. Thanks Jeanne!

I have always liked dressing up, but more in a costume/theme party, wear something silly kind of way, than an accessorize and be girly kind of way. I have to say, making clothes is bringing out my inner dress up.

Yes, these are the shoes and the hat from my mood board (which was featured on the Colette Blog by the way- so honored!). I had recently bought the shoes and the hat, that’s why I put them on my mood board, and now I keep finding myself looking for the perfect shoes and accessories, for everything I have and plan on making.

As far as fit goes, I followed the same size pattern grading as I did on my Pastille muslin. The only adjustments I made were to lower the bust darts an inch (thank you to those who replied to my question about that on the Colette forum). I also lengthened the skirt and drape an inch.

This is going to be a great dress for me this Spring and Summer and I foresee myself wearing it a lot and maybe even making it again!

And now some bonus chicken pictures!

I actually kind of hate having my picture taken*, but want to see me smile? Put a chicken in my hands!

She matches my dress!

…and she’s got something in her beak!

*Special thanks to Matt Everett for the lovely photos. I never like photos of myself and I love these!

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2012 Spring & Summer Palette Challenge

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Woohoo! I’m going to do a sewing challenge! Apparently, twice a year, Colette Patterns hosts seasonal wardrobe “palette” challenges.  For this one, the idea is to pick a color palette for Spring and Summer, make a “mood board” (with examples of your colors, fabric, inspiration, etc.) and then make as many garments as you can, in 8 weeks.

Here is my mood board (I totally had fun making this by the way):

I already had the first two fabrics and had been eyeballing the third.

The first fabric swatch, going from left to right, is a vintage fabric that I bought from Etsy. The listing was for a 60s style back satiny fabric, possibly a polyester nylon blend. I am just learning about fabrics, but it really is silky and smooth to the touch, so maybe it is a silk polyester? Whatever it is, I think it will make a great Violet blouse.

The second fabric (the yellow and red peacock looking print) is from Joann Fabrics and is rayon challis. I have discovered that I love rayon. I was already planning on making  the Colette Truffle dresst next (it is the third project in the Colette Sewing Handbook), so this will be the first garment I make for this challenge.

The blue and pink fabric is cotton lawn from Pacific Fabrics and I will be making the Crepe dress out of it.

The accessories in my mood board are mostly from Forever 21. The pink shoes are from ModCloth and the other two shoes are Miz Mooz. I love Miz Mooz shoes. The red and brown sandal is already on it’s way to my house!

It took me a week to make my Meringue skirt and about three weeks to make my Pastille dress, so I think I can make three garments in eight weeks. I hope I am not getting in over my head. If I pull this off, in just eight weeks, I will have three new handmade garments for my Spring/Summer wardrobe!

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A Pastille for Easter

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I completed my first dress (my second garment and the second project in the Colette Sewing Handbook), just in time for Easter dinner at Flower’s house!

My inspiration for the fabric and the trim was from this post from the Nashville blog, Lladybird. The author, Lauren, makes the cutest clothes and always seems to find the perfect fabric for each project.

To steal a saying from Monica, the owner of the West Seattle Fabric Company and author of the blog Bursting the Seams, my new dress is “happily imperfect”. Most of my mistakes are on the inside though (my surged seams suck) or are barely noticeable unless I point them out.

I am pretty happy with the fit though. If you missed my post about fitting the muslin, you can read about it here.  I got rid of the hunchback.

It fits pretty good in the bust too. I moved the waist darts in and that helped the bodice fit better. In hindsight, I probably should have pivoted the bust dart down as well, so it actually points to the apex of the bust, but you can’t even see that unless you look closely. I also think I put the trim on backwards. The other side was shinier and looked more finished, but no one would know that unless I said something.

I’m pretty proud of my pleats! The hip adjustment I made to the skirt seems to have helped as well.

It looks cute with a jean jacket too!

Full disclosure,  I didn’t really play horseshoes that day. Flower was making me pose. But I could have!

Easter Dinner

It was a Mexican themed Easter dinner. Flower and Val roasted a turkey and made homemade horchata, tortillas and mole sauce to go with it! It was so delicious! I only got a little bit of mole on my dress. It made it through the wash though, so all in all, I would say this dress was a success!

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Sew-along Tag-along: Pastille Muslin

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There is currently a “sew-along” happening, where fans of the Colette Sewing Handbook, are “sewing along” with bloggers Rhinestones and Telephones and Miss Crayola Creepy as they sew all the projects from the book, in order. I had never even heard of a sew-along, but when I heard about it, I thought to myself, “I am a fan of the Colette Sewing Handbook and I have already made the first project, the Meringue skirt!”

Unfortunately, when I found out about it, they were already moving on to the third project in the book, the Truffle dress, and I was just starting the second project, the Pastille dress. I do like the idea though, of doing all the projects in order, and was planning on making at least the first three projects for sure (I already have my material for the Truffle dress). So I am still kind of sewing along with them, only they don’t know it and I am a little behind. One nice thing about being one dress behind, is that I get to read about their experiences and see their completed dresses before I make mine!

The first project, the Meringue skirt, covered such topics as following a pattern, cutting out fabric and some basic construction, such as installing a facing and a zipper. The next section of the handbook, goes on to talk about making  and adjusting a muslin and then altering your pattern.

One thing I learned from making the Meringue skirt, was that I probably should have graded the pattern, since the waist fit well, but the hips seemed a little wide. I also wanted to try tracing a pattern as opposed to cutting it out. So when I went to trace the pattern, I graded the pattern from a size 6 in the bust, to a size 12 in the waist and down to a size 10 in the hips. I based that on the size chart in the back of the handbook. I guess I am pear shaped and I didn’t know it! The author, Sarai Mitnick, says in the book, not to get too hung up on stuff like that. If figuring out my shape results in a dress that fits me well, than I think it’s worth knowing! Besides, I like pears.

Since I cut out a size 6 bodice, I was worried that the arm holes might be too small, so I tried on the muslin bodice before I sewed it to the skirt. I’m glad I did, because the waist darts on the bodice were not flattering on me. I felt that they weren’t lining up right and they need to be moved inward. I ripped out the waist dart seams on bodice of the muslin and then sewed the darts about an inch more in on each side and it looked better. I then cut out the corresponding darts on my pattern pieces and moved them over an inch, to reflect my adjustment on the muslin. I had to alter the front skirt pattern piece too, by moving those darts in an inch each as well, so that the waist darts would still line up.

Another great resource, for the projects in this book, is the Colette Patterns Forum. I logged on to look at other completed Pastille dresses and there was a post about people having problems with the back of the dress poofing out, so I already knew that was a possibility before I even made my muslin. Low and behold, mine did the same thing. The great thing was, I already knew how to fix it, thanks to those posts.

There are really clear instructions in the handbook on how to make a sway back adjustment to the pattern, which is what people were saying needed to be done to fix it. So I followed the instructions in the book to adjust for that.

Even with grading the hips to a size ten, the muslin still seemed a little big in the hips. Following the directions in the book, I did a pivot adjustment to the hip width of the skirt pieces of the pattern. I’m already loving tracing my pattern over cutting it out, as it seems so easy to make adjustments to the pattern. I’m not afraid to cut it, move pieces around and add to it if I have to, because if I screw up, I can just trace it again and start over!

I have since started working on the actual dress. I have most of the bodice completed and just attached the skirt today (I will post when completed). I haven’t installed the zipper yet, but it is already fitting way better!

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