Remember the dress I made for the Vintage Vogue competition?
The deadline was today, so yesterday after work Paul and I rushed out to take some pictures. This is the one that I sent off to accompany my entry.
Tag: sewing
Butterick 5250
I started making these trousers back in March, when I started my new job. Then I decided I didn’t like them, and they went on The Pile. Last weekend I was going to a party, and I wanted to wear my Jeffery~West shoes, so I thought it was about time I finished off the trousers to go with them.
The trousers are Butterick 5250, view D, in a herringbone linen blend.
Now that I’ve made the sway-back adjustment, I really like them – although I did make them a little bit too small around the waist which is why the waistband’s gone wrinkly. I know it might look daft to be wearing trousers that sit so high on the waist, and there’s probably a “rule” somewhere that says short-waisted people shouldn’t wear high-waisted trousers. I say never mind the “rules”, they’re really comfortable, and I plan to make another pair. And a matching little bolero-type jacket to go with these.
I think the only thing I’d change about them is the pockets – they’re just not quite big enough. Also, whilst the trousers look nice enough with a fitted t-shirt, I think that what they really need is a shirt and tie to go with them. Maybe a bow tie. (Bow ties are cool.)
Vintage Vogue
I think this is going to be my entry to the Vintage Vogue competition. I’m not 100% certain whether it’s finished, or whether the seams go on the inside or the outside. I’m going to wear it and live with it for a bit before I decide. I also need to take lots of photos, which I’ll send off for the competition.
I realise that this doesn’t look like a terribly spectacular dress, especially not for entering a competition. But what I wanted to do was to keep the 1940s detailing (the gathering and the curving seams on the front), but translate them into a dress that would be comfortable and wearable and modern. I also wanted to break a few rules.
The pattern envelope says that the design isn’t suitable for stretch fabrics, or stripes. So that decision was easily made! Stripey viscose jersey. I eliminated all the fastenings and facings, drafted out the darts, and chopped off a rather drastic twelve inches from the hem. The stripes are matched at the centre back and side seams, but they can’t be matched on the front (which is why the design’s considered not suitable for stripes). I decided that putting the seams on the outside would draw attention to the structure of the dress, and also make it less noticeable that the stripes don’t match up. But then I turned the dress “inside out”, so the seams are on the inside, and I rather liked it. I think I’d be happy to wear it either way around, so I’m calling it reversible.
I feel as though it looks a bit boring, now it’s done. I don’t think it says “competition winner”, anyway. But hey. I’ve got a nice new dress, and I think it’ll be lovely for work if I wear it over a pair of black trousers. There’s still a month or so before the competition ends. That should give me time to decide whether I’m going to enter this dress, or maybe make something else.
Silk summer dress
As promised a couple of days ago, here’s an almost-finished Burda 7808. Just the hand-sewing and thread-neatening to go, and then it’s done.
As it turns out, I followed the instructions more than I expected to – although there are a few things that I’ll change next time. I added extra gathering to both the front and back panels, to make the skirt more full. I also added longer and wider ties, and attached them to the front panel rather than the back. I decided to make the sleeves, but left off the cuffs because I happened to like the shape of the sleeves left loose.
I think the only additional change I’d make is to round off the neckline and also raise it a little. I have a favourite necklace which is my guideline for where a neckline should sit, and this one’s just a little bit too low.
Half way through putting the dress together I had a worrying moment. I looked at the dress and suddenly panicked that I was accidentally making a dress for an eight year old bridesmaid. Thankfully I think the sleeves and the collar have rescued it from looking too much like a child’s party dress. I’m hoping that the ivory dupion looks summery without being too weddingy – although my own wedding dress was bright pink chiffon, so this doesn’t seem terribly bridal to me!
I’m sure that making a dress with a collar and sleeves during the hottest day of the year must seem quite mad, but I have a lot of walking in the sun to do this week, so I need to be cool but covered in order to avoid frying myself. This should do the job very nicely indeed.
Summer Outfit
This week’s been a pretty hot one, as far as weather goes in the UK. I’m sure most people are thrilled to bits (in fact I can hear them all outside, laughing and enjoying their barbecues in their gardens), but unfortunately for me, I’m really not very good at hot. I get sunstroke very easily, and just generally don’t cope very well with the heat.
All my usual work clothes are making me much too hot, and all my summer clothes aren’t really smart enough to wear for work. Everything in the shops appears to be made of polyester, which is not a nice fabric to wear in the heat, so I decided it was about time I stopped moaning and tried to figure out something I could make quickly and wear all summer.
I started with an idea for a loose kimono-sleeved jacket, although the prototype didn’t come out very well. More work needed on that one. So I moved on to a very loose, draped top. This will definitely work better in a softer fabric, like a linen or a lawn, but I think it works nicely with a belt. A bit martial-arts-looking all in white, but I think that effect would be reduced in a different fabric or a different colour.
The trousers are a simple wraparound style with a drawstring waist. They’re so cool and comfortable, and they were extremely easy to make. These would definitely be lovely in a nice soft, crinkly linen or a handwoven organic cotton.
I think if I can get the fabrics right, this would make an ideal “smart-casual” outfit for work.
Altering some new trousers
I like Henry Holland, and he had some trousers in Debenhams, and they were pink tartan, so obviously it was compulsory for me to buy them.
(Yes, I know they look ridiculous. I have every intention of wearing them anyway.)
But!
Because these are tapered trousers, the legs were much too tight in my usual size. So I tried the next size up, which were much more roomy in the legs but ridiculously enormous around the waist.
So I looked at the trousers and came up with a solution.
First I carefully removed the fake pocket welts from the back.
Then I wrapped the resulting strip of fabric around a length of elastic, and sewed them together many times.
I tucked the elasticated strip underneath the belt loops, and sewed it into place. Now the trousers can’t do that annoying gappy business at the back!
I also slipstitched down the inside pleats on the front, so that it didn’t look as though I was carrying inexplicable balloons in my pockets.
Ta-daa!
New trousers.
Andrea Katz Objects
This afternoon I went and had a little look at the Vogue Patterns website, to see whether they had any patterns I could modify for a dress idea I was thinking about. Before I’d even got that far I discovered that the new season’s patterns have been released, and this is one of them.
It’s a jumpsuit by Andrea Katz, who has a few designs with Vogue at the moment. Andrea’s clothes are described as “Architectural Objects for the Body”, which is precisely what I love about them. The jumpsuit is originally from Andrea’s Spring/Summer 09 Collection, which also contains such beauties as this bustled coat and a draped dress with the most bonkers pockets I’ve ever seen.
I can imagine it in plain black linen, or the chocolate brown herringbone linen I’ve ben using lately, or maybe a lovely soft wool crepe. I can imagine it with knee socks and brogues, or tall Doc Martens and stripy sleeves.
I know perfectly well that people will probably point and laugh at me in the street if I make and wear this jumpsuit. The question is – do I care?
To be honest, probably not.
Although my husband has just kindly informed me that “it looks like a clown outfit. From the eighties.”
*sigh*
McCalls 9456
New job, new dress! I imagine this theme will continue for quite a while, until I’ve got a wardrobe full of clothes that I’m happy to wear to my new job.
This one is McCalls 9456. I’ve had the pattern for years – so long, in fact, that it’s now gone out of print. It’s just a basic princess-seamed dress, designed for knit fabrics.
There’s plenty of ease in this pattern, so I made a size 14, and it’s still a little on the generous side. Next time I might trim the pattern down a size. It’s supposed to have an integral tie belt, but I left that out so I could layer it without the belt getting in the way. I also left off the sleeves, and finished it off with a lettuce hem.
The fabric is supposed to be a cotton lycra, but I picked it up in rather a hurry, and it isn’t quite what I was expecting. I thought it would be like a heavyweight t-shirting with more stretch (which is what I came home with the last time I bought cotton lycra), but this feels more like a pair of extremely thick cotton tights. Thankfully you can’t see through it, and the fabric drapes very nicely. I’m disappointed that it’s so flimsy though.
At the same time I also bought several metres of a bright printed cotton jersey that was apparently made for Monsoon. It has shades of lemon, lilac and pink, so it’ll go beautifully over the top of my three new shirts – or make a pretty summer dress in its own right. I also have a few fabrics which would be perfect to make a shorter version for layering, including a burnout stretch velvet and a grey mesh with a butterfly print.
The pattern went together very easily, and the dress is wonderfully comfortable to wear. I think I’ll be making quite a few of these!
California Pants
This is what’s been keeping me busy for the past few days – Laughing Moon #106, California Pants.
These pieces are just the linings and facings for the pockets, waistband, gussets and fly.
As you can probably tell, I’ve still got a long way to go with these! My plan to try and make two pairs before starting my new job is going to have to be abandoned, I think.
Bobbin Support.
This is why I’ve been quiet lately – my sewing machine’s been out of action, and I’ve only just got it back!
Before Christmas it had started acting up a bit – the upper thread would get caught in the bobbin mechanism, and I’d have to disentangle it all every few minutes. I mentioned this when I took the machine in for its annual service, and the lovely Sue at Sewmaster told me that they’d replaced the entire bobbin support casing.
I was a bit worried that this would have added quite a lot to the price of the service, but the extra cost of this repair turned out to be a grand total of £3.98. A bargain!
Now to work on a couple of test pieces until the extra oil from the service has worked its way through the machine, and then I can get on with some proper sewing!