Impulse pattern purchase: McCalls 8252 in pink gingham

As soon as I said I almost always start with fabric rather than a pattern, I remembered all the times this isn’t true. Like the second dress in my last blog post.

And this dress.

Felicity saw McCalls 8252 sewn up and on display at my local Spotlight. And said how good it would look in the blush pink gingham linen I had in the stash. Matching patterns to fabric like a pro. Of course I bought the pattern for her!

I made View C, initially, although we both thought we’d end up with View A’s skirt length. And we did!

It actually looked great in this length on Felicity too. But the shorter skirt was definitely more fun. So out came the dressmaking scissors and off went the length.

The other change I made was to add 2 cm to the base of the bodice from the side seams back to zero about three quarters the way from the side seam to where the bodice was gathered onto the ring at the front and to all of the bottom of the bodice back.

This is because I made a toile in calico of the straight size 16, and as I suspected, because I usually do an FBA for Felicity, the top was a little short and showed a bit of the bottom of her bra.

The shoulder fit seemed okay. The back was a bit too wide and blousy so I removed about 2 cm from the center back at the base angling back to zero at the slit.

I started with a size 16, because that was the smallest size in my local store and I thought I could make it work. Given the shoulder fit, looks like it did! Looking at where the skirt is sitting, perhaps not – the pattern pieces could have been narrowed here because it is sitting a bit low. But Felicity was happy with the toile, so I left it as it was.

I reinforced the top of the skirt with iron-on interfacing strips before binding with premade bias binding. Quite a bit of the skirt ‘waist’ is on the bias, and there’s only one bit attaching it to the top. It seemed like a bit more structure might be useful!

You can also see some basting on the right in the image above. This was a guide for the part that was gathered onto the ring.

The ring feature is fun. I was super surprised that the pattern does not refer to the diameter of the ring anywhere or at least I could not find any reference. And diameter is sort of important!

Luckily I am not the first person to make this dress – Erica Bunker says in her review of this pattern that she used a 3 inch ring. I had one almost that size in the stash. For what reason or where it was from I have no idea, but I do love it when my stash comes good like that!

Construction was a bit clunky for this bit – I folded the fabric over the ring, aligning the basting line with the inner side of the ring, pinned and then stitched close to the other edge of the ring. Mostly but not completely without puckering – there’s a lot of fabric gathered into a small awkward space.

And here she is, taking that dress out on for an evening of late summer fun!

I’ll leave you with my sewing room floor at the cutting out stage – love that I was wearing my yellow bold gingham linen dress whilst cutting out the corresponding blush pink bold gingham linen fabric! Both lovely linens from The Fabric Store

Lemon Sherbet dress for Felicity: BurdaStyle 07/2021 #119

The other wedding guest dress.

This one was sewn in a delightful rayon nylon blend from The Fabric Store. This is what The Fabric Store say about it (and it still seems to be available – this is not a sponsored post – I just love the fabric!)

A deadstock rayon blend in a lemon yellow horizontal stripe. This lightweight fabric has been woven with a clear nylon warp and a striped weft in varying stripes made up of lemon yellow, candy pink, fine black and white. This unique structure creates a subtly textured fabric with great bounce. A semi-sheer fabric with a subtle sheen and no stretch.

The pattern is BurdaStyle 07/2021 #119

I cut out a straight size 40 but with the main skirt piece (its a rectangle) cut the full width of the fabric (150 cm) rather than as drafted (126 cm). I lined the dress with cotton batiste. I didn’t line the sleeves.

I cut the rectangle bit of the skirt lining the width of the batiste (about 130 cm) and then had the annoying task of having to gather the outer fabric onto the lining and then gather both of them to fit onto the bodice. Oh well, the bit of extra fullness in the skirt was probably worth it!

I lined to the edge of the neckline and slit and then treated the lining as an underlining for the rest of the seams – I sewed the front and back bodices together at the shoulders for each of the lining and the outer fabrics and then, with right sides facing, stitched the lining and outer fabric bodices together at the neck and slit before clipping, turning and under stitching. No interfacing – the other fabric is light but tightly woven and hasn’t stretched out or distorted. Yet!

The neck is a bit tight and high. I’m glad I left the slit open rather than adding a button – that button would never have been used! The bust darts are a bit too high too.

Melissa for Fehr Trade posted about this dress recently and also found the bust darts and the neck too high. So I’m calling out the drafting as being a bit off.

The fit is loose, as you’d expect from the line drawing. So I added thin ties, attached where the side seams of the bodice meet the skirt, to create a little more shaping at the waist

The sleeve ‘cuffs’ are cute

I’m very happy with my unintended but quite excellent strip matching across the bodice to the sleeves!

And its a thumbs up from Felicity!

And this is the dress that was worn on the day!

Here she is on her way to the ceremony. With bare legs and the most delightful pale pink shoes that coordinated so well with the dress… and if you are a shoe lover – you’ll want to take a closer look at these. Fortunately they’re featured in another wedding post

I’m so pleased the weather cooperated and she wore this dress to the wedding. It was my favourite out of the two.

Eucalypt Merino wool knit dress for Felicity: BurdaStyle 11/2021 #115

In March, Felicity and I started planning what she was going to wear to a wedding at the end of April.

We ended up with a shortlist of these three Burda dress patterns:

BurdaStyle 07/2021 #119, BurdaStyle 12/2020 #103 and BurdaStyle 11/2021 #115

After shopping the stash, no appropriate fabrics were found. I know. Amazing…

Off we went to The Fabric Store, and found many lovely fabrics. And came home with one that would work with 07/2021 #119, the white dress on the left, and another that would be fine for 11/2021 #116, the mint knit dress on the right. And some other fabrics for other projects which I might get to in the next ten years. Fabric shopping is dangerous!

The plan was to make both dresses and then pick which to wear on the day depending on the weather…

The end of April is usually cool and can be rainy in Adelaide. So I hedged my bets and made the long-sleeved knit one first.

This is Burda Style 11/2021 #116 in one of The Fabric Store’s many lovely 100% merino knits.

It’s a size 40 with a 1 cm dartless FBA – made using the pivot and slide method. Lots of great resources online on how to do this- I used this one on oliver+s’ blog. I also made the sleeves full length.

I like the simple neckline on this style

I used a light weight fusible knit interfacing to give a touch more stability to the collar. First time I’ve interfaced a knit. Always something new to learn!

I also added strips of interfacing to the shoulder seams and to the insert square bit that you can’t see where the collar joins the bodice.

I’m pleased with how it turned out. Let me show you a closer view. Two reasons – the awesome label from Kylie and the Machine and my lining.

Yes I lined this dress with power mesh! I only had this off white colour – a darker colour would’ve been better because there is some shadowing of the knit facing and seam allowances. But this is much less obvious IRL, and in the photo taken below on a different day

Using power mesh was another first. I immediately purchased more (from emmaonesock – 80% nylon and 20% spandex- much superior quality to what I can purchase locally, and less expensive, even with exchange rates and shipping to Australia). Fabulous stuff! Gonna line all my knit dresses with it now!

Here’s a back view. This also shows that the skirt lining is shorter by 6 cm and all the hems are done with a double needle

Felicity says the knit lining feels gorgeous – secret pajamas if she ditches the belt..

And the other dress? Yep, made that too. And another blog post is coming soon about its story

Christmas dresses

Using Jocelyn Proust Christmas themed Australian animal prints to make Christmas dresses has become a tradition.

This year, wombats and waratahs became a Sew Different Tulip dress for me.

The whole menagerie of Australian animals was made into another version of B6677 for Felicity.

Yes of course there was a matching mask!

If you follow me on Insta you know my dress was not as successful as Felicity’s

It seems perfectly drafted to emphasise full tummies

Sewing details

Felicity’s dress was made the same as previously except only the bodice was lined and this is style A of B6677 without the flouces. I followed The Insouciant Stitcher’s tip and used an IKEA Nattjasmin cotton/lyocell bed sheet for garment construction. Excellent lining material for quilting weight cottons!

Three dresses in and I’ve only just worked out that Felicity can pull this on without unbuttoning. Next time I’ll omit the back neck slit and button! The shiny red button above the smiley wombat does makes me smile though.

I like the smiley wombats on my dress too. Even though they are more hairy.

This is the Sew Different Tulip dress

https://sewdifferent.co.uk/tulip-dress-multisize-sewing-pattern-available-paper-download/

Mine was a size 18 which I then added a bit of extra width to after construction by taking the side seams out about 5 mm above and below the pockets (because the pockets were already sewn in). I probably could have just expanded through the waist above the pockets.

I used an olive suiting weight linen from Spotlight for the bottom band of my dress because it was in my stash, the colours worked and I didn’t have enough of my wombat fabric.

And the bias for the hem – same reasons

The ‘you can’t buy this’ tag turned out funnier than I expected – you can’t buy this and you probably don’t want to!

If there is a next time I will sew a larger size from the bust down, petite the bodice by removing 2 cm above the bust and round out the shoulder to sleeve transition.

Despite my lack of love for this dress I did end up wearing it for Christmas – for the meal prep part of the day. Then changed into the other “unsuccessful” dress for Christmas dinner. No longer unsuccessful because I saved that one from refashioning or donation with a tablecloth weight!

Pink dresses: McCalls 7922 and Butterick 6677

An invite with a request to wear something pink. Some people would add a pink accessory. Not Felicity. She needed a new pink dress.

It was no surprise that there were several pink fabrics in my stash. But, also no surprise, none of them were deemed suitable. Apart from the delightful silk charmeuse with some pink in it that I had earmarked for something else, but lets not dwell on that….

It has pockets

So for attempt #1, a light weight poly cotton gingham from Spotlight was wrestled into McCalls 7922.

McCalls 7922

I made View D in a size 14 out to a size 16 for the bust and shoulders with the neckline raised to that of a size 22. Why multi-sized? I wasn’t sure how to do an FBA on this style or how to petite the bodice so this was my fix for a fuller bust and a shorter torso.

Pretending to like it

I say wrestled because I really did not enjoy sewing this fabric. Perhaps it was the fiber composition. The end result was quite cute on but Felicity didn’t like how it felt. I’d say that was due to fiber composition, the knot and how that made it feel loose through the waist.

In other words, the dress turned out as the pattern designer intended, but that doesn’t mean it was a success! One wear and then donation was its fate.

Attempt #2 turned out so much better.

Obligatory matching mask

The fabric was a mid weight cotton woven in a very cute Australiana print (May Gibbs flannel flowers) lined with polka dot cotton voile.

Fully lined with polka dots. Because. Well. Why not?!

The pattern is Butterick 6677 and was previously used to make one of Felicity’s favourite dresses. This time I made View A in a Size 14 with an 2 cm FBA.

Butterick 6677

I lined the flounces with the same cotton voile I’d used to line the dress rather than hemming them.

Even the pockets got lined with polka dots. Love the way these two fabrics play together!

Attempt #2 went to the pink party.

This one’s a winner!

Silver crushed velvet dress: Burda 01/2018 #101

This is a story of going to the fabric store to buy fabric for a specific pattern but buying something we loved that wasn’t really suitable for that pattern. Anyone else do that? When we realised what we’d done, all the Burda magazines came out and Felicity and I spent a pleasant hour or so finding another pattern.

This is Burdastyle 01/2018 #101 in a size 40.

I did a ‘pivot and slide’ 2 cm FBA but it may not have been necessary given the stretchiness of the fabriv.

The waist twisty bit is a nice feature. The line drawing is a bit misleading for this bit (the tucks in this pattern piece end up on the part that you sew to the side seam – but the line drawing shows the side seams smooth). But, as the reviews on Pattern Review said, if you follow Burda’s instructions literally, it might seem nonsensical but it works out just fine.

The fabric is a crushed polyester velvet from Spotlight, and Felicity says its delightful to wear.

I omitted the zip because it is very stretchy fabric.

I wondered about changing the neck facings out for a binding, but thought this might give it too much of a sports look which seems wrong for crushed velvet so I stayed with the facings. Not sure I should have worried about a sports look being inappropriate. This dress is apparently perfect for riding a scooter in the city.

The facings are hand stitched down. But my commitment to hand stitching ended there – the hems were turned up 1cm and stitched with a simple zigzag. This made both the sleeves and skirt 3 cm long than drafted because I’d added a 4 cm hem allowance

So this is a story with a happy ending.

I still haven’t sourced fabric for the initial pattern though.

Jenny Shorts

This is another winner pattern from Closet Core Patterns! And I’ve only just scratched the surface by making the shorts.

The first version was a trial using an unloved fabric from the stash. Bright happy colours but not on my good list for showing some dye run during prewashing.

You know how this turns out don’t you? Much loved garment… worn multiple time since being finished….

The #KATM label on the pocket says it’s all. You really can’t buy this.

I confused myself when putting in the side lapped zip on the first version, so it goes the wrong way.

And that means the button tab on the waist band also goes the wrong way

This has not stopped Felicity from wearing the shorts. A lot.

For the next pair I moved the zip to the centre front and constructed it as a proper fly.

Why a green zip? It was in the stash. And it’s a lovely green. Also it’s vintage – from my mum’s notions stash)

Like all Closet Core Patterns, the instructions were excellent. Very happy with how the fly turned out.

This version has pockets on the back but not the front. Design choice by the client. Lack of pattern matching due to fabric constraints! We did spend some time selecting which dogs to feature though, from the limited choices.

The pockets on these shorts also have a #KATM label but you can barely see the pockets let alone the label. So here’s a photo I prepared earlier.

Loud patterns are really another form of camouflage

Both shorts are made from cotton drill from Spotlight.

Love this pattern! Did I say that already?

Flippy skirts for Felicity: #108burda02/2020

Simple pattern. Cute skirt. Gorgeous daughter. Stash fabrics. These are some of my favourite things.

This is Burda 02/2020 #108. In size 40 waist and size 42 hips.

The first version was in a poly cotton tartan cotton for spotlight. Horrid fabric to sew – the weave is too loose. It turned out well as a garment. I credit lovely bemsilk lining for that!

The second version is in delightful Italian cotton shirting purchased a hundred years ago for a great little shop in Turin. Not actually a hundred years ago but in our COVID-19 world it feels like this.

A vintage button adds to its charm. Yes it probably is sewn on upside down.

I didn’t line this version but it may have hung better if I had.

These pictures were shot in my new sewing space. l love having a large dedicated sewing space! Even if is a work in progress – there is still a lot of stuff in random spots and the pictures need hanging.

Just look at the light!

In conclusion. Great skirt pattern. The goldilocks of flounce. Highly recommended.

You are my sunshine: #117burda04/2019

“This is my favourite thing ever that your mum has made for you”

I’ve got to agree with that!

The lovely fabric I used is a cotton and silk blend Tory Burch gauze from The Fabric Store.

I used a double layer of fabric for the bodice and skirt. The flounces are a single layer and you can see how delightfully light this fabric is.

I love this design with its asymmetrical twist and flounces.

This pattern is from the April 2019 issue of BurdaStyle

I traced off a size 40 with a 2.5 cm FBA. It ended up a little tight through the bust and hips so I took the side seams out in both these spots.

I didn’t trace a facing for the neck or arms yes but instead used premade bias binding in beige. Somewhat regretting this because the difference in fabric weight has resulted in some puckering. Clearly not enough regret to remove it! And no complaints from the recipient!

Classic fitted shirt: #114burda04/2010

More #daughtersewing.

A simple shirt elevated by excellent fabric and custom fit.

This is why we sew

 

The deets

Pattern: Burdastyle 04/2010 #114 (or, in instagram speak, thats #114burda04/2010)

Size: 40 with 2.5 cm FBA

Changes: left off the breast pocket and back tab, interfaced with self fabric

Fabric: Jocelyn Proust printed cotton from Spotlight. Isn’t it glorious?

Buttons: from the stash.

And that snack she’s eating? Rory made them. Pork char siu in wonton wrappers.

No recipe. Just looked up the ingredients for the char siu spice and sauce mix and added it to pork mince. Then used this as the filling in wonton wrappers and deep fried the parcels.

They were delicious! He’s a star!

Corduroy trousers: BurdaStyle 03/2019 #102

Felicity and her seamstress (that would be me) are still taking inspiration from the seventies.

This time it is in the form of dark caramel coloured corduroy utility trousers. I know. It’s not the quintessential flares, but it is in orange/brown tones, and corduroy. That’s seventies enough to me.

The fabric is a mid wale cotton corduroy from Spotlight with just enough give in the fabric to be very comfortable to wear. How do I know that? They got worn for three days straight as soon as they were off the sewing machine. There are plenty of wrinkles because these photos were taken on day 3. I don’t think she slept in them, but I wouldn’t be surprised…

I used Burda’s utility trouser pattern from the March issue this year 03/2019 #102

I made these in a straight size 40 and added 5 cm extra to the length. Plus a 4 cm hem allowance. Woefully inadequate. They needed 14 cm extra to the finished length, which we both agreed looked best as a band with the wales running horizontally.  For the record, Felicity is 178 cm tall, but is short waisted so her legs could be longer than standard for that height.

All my photos are barefoot, so she turned the band up like a cuff, but, trust me, it is the traditional trouser length with flat shoes on.

The belt loop is something fabulous from the stash that originally came from a designer fabric sale. Any Adelaide readers still remember Gay Naffines fabric sales fondly?

I lined the front pockets and belt loops with a leafy green charmeuse remnant.

You can’t really see it ( I worked hard on that!). It has been reported as feeling great. And this is more what the colour is like in real life. The outdoor light with the autumn leaves seems to dull it a bit.

I also added an extra patch pocket to the back.

with one of Kylie and the Machine‘s great tags.

Slow fashion. That’s me.

 

Dressing like a librarian: BurdaStyle 08/2018 #109

Felicity’s love of 70’s style continues.  She requested this ‘waistcoat bodice dress’ for her Mothers’ Day outfit*

We went fabric shopping at Spotlight. I was uninspired by their offerings for the waistcoat bodice dress but we did come home with a lovely dark floral rayon that was destined to be a tie neck blouse.

And become one using this very appropriately name ‘Seventies style blouse’ Burdastyle 01/2016 #114

… modified to include the neck tie of the dress version:

I don’t yet have a good photo of the blouse because it didn’t make the Mothers’ Day outfit cut. I’m confident Felicity loves it, though, because it has been worn already several times. Here it is in a poorly lit and blurry photo and with her green velvet 70s coat and cross body bag covering most of it up, but still looking fabulous! Even if I do say so myself.

The next step was to make the pinafore dress. A lovely deep green crepe was ordered from EOS. Deemed unsuitable by Felicity (secretly very happy because now I get to use it for me!).

Plan B. We went to The Fabric Store in search of a suitable fabric. (Yes we now have The Fabric Store in Adelaide. So happy about that!)

And we found a beautiful cotton boucle with sparkle. We are both in love with this fabric.

Lets talk about the waistcoat bodice dress pattern. This is BurdaStyle 08/2018 #109.

I did a bit of pattern manipulation to a straight sized 40 to make it work for a D Cup, and this added a bit to the depth and alignment of the buttons above the waistband.

It was supposed to have the buttons in a vertical line, but I didn’t get the redrafting perfect and bringing the overlap over further gave a better line through the bust, so that’s what we went with.

I lined both the bodice and the skirt, and used lining  on the inside of the waistband and under the flaps to reduce bulk.

I was seduced by sparkly silver bias binding I had in my stash and used that for the hem.

I like how it looks, but it is a bit stiff and really not at all in keeping with the style or the fancy fabric. Will I go back and change it? Hmm. So many other more interesting sewing tasks to do…

Dressing like a librarian. She could not resist with a sign like this!

*Our church group schedules an event (“special meetings”) on the second Sunday in May every year. Yes that’s Mother’s Day in Australia. And yes, a new outfit is traditional.

Here’s three of them…

My dress is a modified sheath dress from Burda (it’s become my TNT) made from a polyester jacquard purchased from The Fabric Store. Our dear friend M of Nonsuch Sewing is in Victory Patterns Hazel made up in a silk twill.

I’ll finish up with this delightful photo of my ‘adult’ children. If you take a zillion photos on your mum’s phone you’ve got to expect at least one of them to turn up on the blog!

Love these crazy kids!

Seventies coat: BurdaStyle 02/2010 #126

I’ve never liked seventies fashion. I blame it on seventies hand-me-downs from my older cousins that didn’t fit me until the eighties. By which time they were just so uncool.

Felicity, however, has no such bad associations.

We came across a coated denim in the newest store of The Fabric Store in Adelaide. It’s coated in a velvety forest green faux suede sort of layer. Almost upholstery like. Reduced to $12 per metre because it was a bit marked from transport. As you can see above. I just saw a lovely distressed look that would make a great casual coat. So did Felicity!

I used a simple classic coat pattern: BurdaStyle 02/2010 #126. And made it unlined, with flap patch pockets instead of welt pockets, the buttons spread out a lot more and swapped the contrast to the collar instead of the lapels. You know, almost exactly the same.

I normally do an FBA for Felicity but I did a lazy grading instead: a size 40 at the shoulders then out to a 42 elsewhere. It’s not perfect (those drag lines!) and the stiff of the fabric meant easing the sleeve cap in was a challenge (those puckers!), but it’ll do.

I used another The Fabric Store purchase (a mid to heavy weight denim) for the collar and pocket flaps. It’s really a lot darker in colour than these photos would lead you to believe.

It has a bit of stretch so I interfaced these pieces. I didn’t interface anything else –  my coated denim already had lots of structure.

And this coat was completed with vintage buttons might even have come from a coat from the seventies – they were part of a sewing notions collection gifted to me from an elderly sewing friend.

Pretty happy with how this turned out. And so is Felicity. I’m still not attracted to seventies styles for me though…

Happy pants: BurdaStyle 01/2017 #110

These are Burdastyle 01/2017 #110 in a woven Indian cotton from my local Spotlight fabrics store and made without the hem bands – I just added length to the legs.

I made these in a size 42 and they are too big for Felicity through the bum and thigh. But. Happy pants. Is fit something that should even be in the same sentence??

To be frank the poor fit does irritate me, but she’s happy to wear them so I’ve decided I’ll just do a better job next time and not stress about these ones.

This pattern has a nice design of a flat centred waist insert and then the rest of the waist is elasticised.

I didn’t have elastic in the right width so I improvised with two lots of wider elastic rather than three and then stitched through the middle. This gives the appearance of four channels of elastic and prevents rolling (at least it does for the elastic I had in stash. Better elastic to start with might not need this)

Bottom line (see what I did there?!) is that this is a good pattern, the fabric is lovely to wear, and a very cute outfit can be made by putting these trousers with a top Felicity scored from M of Nonsuch sewing.

Happy days!

No natural fibers were harmed: Burdastyle long line vest 12/2015 #107

Vest in plastic. So fantastic.

This story started with a gift of some very cool fabric from Jann. It is some sort of perforated synthetic double mesh, with excellent body.

This fabric said “long line vest” or some other dramatic and impractical garment. Right from the very beginning.

I knew it would be perfect for BurdaStyle 12/2015 #107.

I chose not to line it. The see through effect is kinda cool.

There’s pleather on the ‘lapels’, another bonded leather type strip on the armholes, acetate for the pocket bags and polyester satin bias binding on the edges. See? No natural fibers anywhere!

That theme continued for the rest of the outfit, the top was made from a viscose nylon spandex ponte and the skirt from a viscose ottoman. Then… Felicity added her own natural beauty, and all that synthetic-ness was balanced out!

Err, maybe not.

Technical details

Pattern details: BurdaStyle 12/2015 #107

Size 38-42, I made a 40 with a 42 bust on the front only. No FBA. Seemed to have enough ease.

Sewing with pleather. And no walking foot. What to do?

The tissue paper trick worked a treat.

The nice clean edge of the pleather on top of the mesh and a edgestitch foot made it very easy.

Tear off the tissue

and viola!

For the armscye binding, I used a piece of strapping (I think? ). It was purchased in Fill2000 (65, rue Réamur, 2^nd arrondissement, Paris) a few years ago with a belt in mind, but I used something else instead. So it was waiting for this project.

It’s a bit like bias binding, with the edges turned into the centre on the back of the strap, and glued down. I split it in two and then took advantage of the stickiness to hold it in place for the first round of stitching.

Then I turned the trim onto the front and stitched in place..

Never leave your phone with teenagers.