Rome Collection in Spain

I want to add my love for Closet Case Patterns Rome collection.

I’ve made at least one of all the patterns in this collection. And tested them out on holiday in Spain.

Firstly, my least favourite, the Fiore skirt. This is nothing to do with the pattern, but is all to do with me – I’ve never been a fan of A-line skirts. But the asymmetric wrap style  of view C drew me in, and I succumbed.

Here it is in Madrid.

I’ve got to admit that this is a glorious skirt to wear. Love the pocket, love the easy breezy style. Just don’t think A-lines are the best style for me.

And now let me tell you about the Pietra pants. My first test version was the cropped straight leg view in a red cotton twill of dubious provenance. A long term stash dweller.

I lengthened the legs, and then chopped the extra length off again. They got taken on holiday too and they’ve seen quite a lot of wear! Pictured here in wonderful Salamanca.

I prefer to wear them without my top tucked in but the clever pattern design of a flat front means they look okay tucked too, in a retro-ish high waist sort of way.

The second version I made was the wide legged full length pants in linen.

These went to Spain too. Here they are in Seville. Glorious! Just what you need in hot weather.

Let’s move on to the Cielo top.

In front of Madrid’s palace glowing in the early morning light. Feeling smug about my top!

And back home. Still love it just as much. This first version was in an embroidered cotton linen blend. I added extra to the length but ended up hemming it only 3 cm longer. So a totally unnecessary modification!

The bust darts from the armscye are different but perfectly functional.

My second Cielo was made in a cotton with an embroidered border purchased in Barcelona.

I didn’t have enough fabric to include the bottom part of the lantern sleeve, nor did I have enough of the border for the sleeves. Red ric-rac to the rescue.

I very quickly moved onto the dress version. I so want to make several hundred more of these and a couple of millions other versions of the top.

I’ve had this glorious pink boucle in my stash for years. It was a souvenir from Paris and had a lot of expectation built into it. One of those “too good to use” fabrics. I’m so happy to be wearing it at last!

I used a very light weight interfacing on the pocket openings just in case they sagged. To reduce thickness in the pockets I used a lighter weight fabric for part of the pocket bag. I also interfaced the back yoke and facing. But nothing else. I’m hoping the loose weave of the boucle stands up to wear and tear.

Such a great shape. So comfortable to wear.

In conclusion. A fabulous set of patterns. Perfect for holidays and everyday life.

Highly recommended!

Orange dress: BurdaStyle 09/2010 #122

Despite the fitting woes with sewing stretch fabrics into garments for me, I’ve had a success with sewing for Felicity.

This dress is made from a very orange viscose based ponte and BurdaStyle 09/2010 #122: one of Burdas best patterns, IMO.

Look at all those fabulous style lines!

Pretty good IRL too

I made a size 20 with a 2 cm FBA. Not so easy to work out how to do it with this pattern. I winged it by sticking the upper front pieces together, pretending the gap out to the side was a dart, did a regular FBA, then redrafting them again as single pieces. Clear as mud? Mmm, not so much to me either. Wish I’d taken photos. Luckily this was stretch and there was some negative ease, so it all worked out okay

The sleeves have a bit of a Star Trek vibe to them. And they are not sitting as well as they should on the right side. But we love them anyway!

This is a very cute dress. Felicity is wearing it here with a RTW roll neck sweater, tights and ankle boots, but its also good on its own.

In other news, I’ve had a business trip to Spain. And managed to squeeze in a tiny (tiny =  less than 10 metres worth) of fabric shopping.

This is my haul from Barcelona

Clockwise from left:

• An embroidered navy viscose woven
• A red polyester jacquard border print
• A light grey embroidered prefaded cotton woven
• A darker grey woven linen with a coated surface.

Aren’t they lovely? They’ll likely have to spend some time in the stash until I’m ready to sew for summer again though.

I love souvenir fabrics!

Tarragona

Ancient roman city in Spain. Still a bustling university town today.

Great food.

Great roman ruins, too. This was the view from my hotel room. The scaffolding was from a recent concert held in the amphitheater

The Priorat wine region is close to Tarragona. It’s a very hilly region with most of the vineyards terraced. Hard to believe this region is still commercially viable!

It’s a great place to visit, and some of the wineries are particularly picturesque.