Finished Project: A psychedelic dress.

 

I don't know if I can/should even tag this post with the label "McCalls 5845" any more since the only original part is the front bodice, and even that has a slight alteration... so I apologise to the people who stumbled on to my blog when googling "M5845". 

You've heard it before, the 5845 is my favourite sewing pattern of all time.

The 5845, a simple darted bodice with a high front neck, low cut back and fitted skirt. 

The version I have made has a low scoop back and full gathered skirt.

I found this cotton sateen in my stash, washed it, dried it, then stared at it for days. Days. Not even exaggerating. I couldn't decide between making another strapless M6349 (with short full skirt) or a M5845 with short full skirt. In the end, I stuck with my TNT pattern - M5845.

The bodice is the same as my floral version with outside darts except I did a swayback adjustment, a proper one. The skirt is from M6349 so it's slimmer than my "self drafted" full gathered skirts. I prefer this skirt, it's less poofy and less hem to handsew.

I lined the bodice with red sunsilky polyester, installed a waist stay, and handpicked the zip.

Here is the low down...

Pattern: McCall's 5845 bodice with alterations, McCalls's 6349 skirt
Size: 4 bust, 10 waist, 6 skirt.
Fabric: 1.5m cotton sateen (Darn Cheap, I think! I don't even remember buying this fabric), 0.5m sunsilky lining
Notions: Gutermann thread, dress zipper 14" (black), 80cm grosgrain ribbon, bikini hook,
Cost: Fabric $20, Lining $5, Zipper $2, Grosgrain Ribbon $2, Bikini hook $1

Hours: about 8hrs
Pattern Modification/Adjustments:

• Lowered front neck
• Scoop back
• 1cm sway back adjustment
• Replaced fitted skirt with full gathered skirt

Techniques Used:

• Waist Stay (great tutorial by Sewaholic here)
• Hand picked zip
• Gathering (skirt)
• French seam (skirt side seams)

I did my best to match up the squiggles at the seams. Looks pretty rad!
I added a grosgrain ribbon waist stay to take some pressure off the zip and to cover up the waist seam. Love waist stays, they look so pretty.

The best part of this dress is the hem. I deliberately hemmed the skirt so that the solid black would sit on the edge of the hem.The hem is quite thick - 8.5cm to be exact!! I wanted to leave the hem thick, kinda like a faux-hem-facing. Can't get enough of the psychedelic print.
I french seamed the skirt side seams for a neat finish.

The print is so crazy, my sister nicknamed it 'psychedelic' so I stuck with the name. It is kind of mesmerizing to look at. Maybe that's why I was staring at it for days. Maybe I was in a trance?

Cos it's such a crazy, colorful print I found it super hard to style cos I suck at ANYTHING to do with accessorizing. I will never be on of those girls that can pair up a printed dress with bold accessories and crazy shoes. I tend to stick to plain jewellery (sometimes no jewellery) and plain shoes. Boring, plain Jane. Boo.

I tried the dress on with a pink envelope clutch to bring out the pink in the dress, and plain black patent leather heels and tweeted for help! The #sewcialist ladies gave me the thumbs up on my outfit so I wore it to my builders awards night on Friday.

It was a cool evening so I ended up wearing a black ASOS blazer over the top of the dress. Borrowed the hot pink clutch my my sister. The event was wonderful as usual, great food, awesome drinks and it was great to see builders win awards for houses that they put their heart and soul into building.

Initially I was hesitant to wear this dress out. I even had a back-up outfit planned!
I'm so used to wearing plain colors or florals so this crazy print was a challenge.

I am more critical of myself when I wear a handmade/me-made dress, everything has to be perfect, because I can't really blame "the dress" if I look like a fail... cos I made it myself!

Does anyone else feel this way?

Read More

Finished Project & Pattern Review: McCall's 6349 View C with Maxi Skirt.

M6349 with maxi skirt.

I did it. I made my deadline to have the dress ready to wear on Thanksgiving, with a whole week to spare. I missed out on sewing for Halloween, but no big deal, didn't RSVP yes to any Halloween events on Facebook anyway!! Last year I had a ball on Halloween weekend. My bestie dressed up as a naughty school girl and I dressed up as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. I made the dress AND the shoes! Well, I applied red glitter to the shoes.

We went to a house party then ended up at a club event where I hung out with a guy who looked like Pitbull. Woke up with a massive hangover, had lunch with bestie who ordered the "blue-eye, medium-rare" cos she thought it was a steak!! It's fish, btw :)

That was last year. This year on Halloween night I ate a massive dinner (it was a 3-4 person serve and I ate half), then sat on my ass for an hour handpicking the zip on my M6349. Hopefully the handpicking burnt some calories :P

Lets start from the beginning...

I started on the muslin for this dress two weekends ago. The plan was to make a wearable muslin. I had dreams of pairing the muslin bodice with a beautiful lime chiffon maxi skirt. The dream is still alive, just on the back burner for the moment. Need to find a lime chiffon that does not make me look like a walking hi-lighter. Was also thinking burnt orange to bring out the orange flowers.

Would love your thoughts! Also, if I make the skirt out of chiffon, what should I line it with?

The wearable-muslin.
This is the same fabric I used for my Burda 7371 pants.

I chose View C of the dress because I like the sweetheart neckline, but the "front bodice" piece (piece #13) had me stumped. I could not get the gathering right, I could not get the bodice piece to match up with the underlining piece. I gave up. Then I realised that the underlining/lining piece also had a sweetheart neckline, duh, but without all the gathering business, instead it had princess seams. Even better.

I dug through my fabric stash and found this beautiful floral printed cotton voile I purchased from Darn Cheap (Heidelberg) ages ago. It feels amazing on my skin - soft, slinky and cool. I had over 2m of this baby so there was enough to make a 1m long maxi skirt and a self lined bodice.

The bodice pieces are stabilised using whisperweft interfacing (82% Rayon/18% Poly).

Iron-on whisperweft interfacing.

To add more structure and shape, I made padding and handmade bra cups for the bodice. 

I used Sewaholic's tutorial (here and here) which is where I learnt about abutted seams.

I attached the padding to the shell, like an underlining.

My WIP/bodice construction post with more photos and info is here.

Bust padding to give it some oomph!

Abutted seam..

.. or is it butted seam? Who knows!

The bodice is boned using plastic polyboning. 

Polyboning is easy to use, no pliers required!!

Simply cut off the length you need, remove the plastic boning, sew the casing on to the bodice lining, trim 3-4cm off the plastic boning before inserting it back in the casing. 

You trim 3-4cm off to allow for stitching later on when you sew on the lining and attach the skirt - you don't want to break your needles sewing over the plastic!

On my bodice, I used 4 pieces of boning - 2 for side seams, 2 for the back (where the 'side back' and 'back' pieces join).

Polyboning, plastic boning.

I took a risk and didn't line the skirt. I'll just make sure to wear appropriate underwear with this dress, no grandma panties or g-bangers (aka g-string, thong). Because I didn't line the skirt, I french seamed the side skirt seams for a clean and non-fraying finish.

Apologies to Cozy Cotton, I forgot to take photos when I joined the bodice to the skirt!! 

I sewed 3 rows of gathering stitches (long stitches) using red thread so its easier to see and remove later on. Gathered the skirt waist, matched the notches on the skirt and bodice then sewed it all together.

To help the dress stay up, I added a grosgrain ribbon waist stay. This keeps the dress in place and stops the waist from stretching over time. Also takes pressure off the zip and comes in handy when you're home alone with no one to help you zip up.

The zip is hand picked. This 14" zip took just over 1 hour to handpick. 

I love handpicking zips for numerous reasons:

• dress zippers are cheaper in comparison to invisible ($1.49 vs $3.49)
• dress zippers are stronger - I've had too many invisible zip break my heart
• easier to match up the seam because you have more control
• the little pricks on the back look pretty

Hem - I overlocked/serged the hem then turned it up and machine stitched.

Grosgrain ribbon waist stay.
Handpicked zip, machine stitched hem.

Floralicious!

Pattern Review: McCall's 6349, View C, with no shoulder straps, lengthened skirt to maxi 

Size: 6

Pattern Pieces used: 7 (bodice front lining), 8 (bodice side front lining ), 16 (bodice back), 17 (bodice side back), 19 (skirt back), 21 (skirt front)

Fabric: 2.3m cotton voile (Darn Cheap) - enough for self-lined bodice, skirt is 1 meter in length.

Notions: Gutermann thread (000), dress zipper 14" (black), 1.6m polyboning, 0.5m whisperweft interfacing, 0.5m cotton/bamboo padding, 80cm grosgrain ribbon, bikini hook,

Cost: Fabric $20, Cotton/Bamboo Padding $5, Zipper $2, Whisperweft Interfacing $5, Polyboning $5, Grosgrain Ribbon $2, Bikini hook $1

Pattern Modification/Adjustments:

• No shoulder straps
• Lengthened skirt to 1 meter (floor length maxi)
• Took the centre back seam at the top by 4cm on each side! Big no-no, but it was too late for a proper adjustment

Techniques Used:

• Padded Bust
• Abutted seams
• Self made bra cups
• Self lined bodice
• Boning (great tutorial by Sewaholic here)
• Waist Stay (great tutorial by Sewaholic here)
• Hand picked zip
• Gathering (skirt)
• French seam (skirt side seams)

Things I will do differently next time:

• I'll figure out if I need a SBA or if I just need to adjust the back bodice
• I'll turn the waist seam upwards like I usually do, but on this dress the seam was too thick and boning got in the way so it keep flipping back down
• Trim the boning more - maybe 5cms, so I can turn the waist seam upwards

Pretty princess seams, Waist stay and Handpicked zip from the inside.
All zipped up. Zip is practically invisible!

I love maxi dresses but it's hard for me to find ones that are the perfect length.
I know, I know, I can take up the hem myself, but I HATE doing alterations. Hate it! Love sewing from scratch, hate alterations. 

I only own three RTW maxi dresses - a green one (too bright to wear frequently), a floral print wrap one (my fav but it's very booby), a simple black one (with a modest bodice) - so I'm desperate for for maxis! 

I used to love above-the-knee dresses, but now I feel so naked in them. They feel so short. I must be coming of age!

I love the Anna dress, so that pattern's going on my wishlist for Christmas. Thigh high slit, yes please!

Next up on my sewing table is a dress I need ready by this Friday 8th November! I have Monday and Tuesday off work (Melbourne Cup long weekend) so I should be able to pull it off!

UPDATE: This morning I was told that the Thanksgiving feast isn't till the 23rd Nov! Don't know why I thought it was this coming Saturday, LOL!! (11.3.13)

Read More

Finished Project & Pattern Review: Butterick 6582 Retro 60s Dress.

Finished project, yay. 

The Butterick 6582 Retro 60s dress was conceived in my "sewing room" about 5 weeks ago and I put the finishing touches on it tonight.

I absolutely love my sewing room (though my gas bill won't!!) it gets cold in there so to heat the room up I crank the heater up high during the evening. During the day it gets awesome warm sunshine so it's a really nice space to kick back and sew!

Last weekend I finished the bodice. The bodice is fully lined - no facings. I didn't have time during the week to sew so I had to wait till the weekend.

On Saturday after a day of kettlebells, brunching and a four hour nap; I cut out my gathered skirt, gathered it and attached it to the bodice.

On Sunday morning I woke up early and hand picked the zipper. I used a black 18" dress zipper I found in my stash... you could say I was 'stash busting'! Haha, not really, I just didn't want to go all the way to the shops for a $2 zip.

I love the handpicked look. I still have to work on my 'zip positioning' technique - the zip is not dead centre so the pricks are not even on both sides.

Waist seam matches, clap clap!!

I love the faux wrap bodice and the gathered shoulders. Too cute!!

The one feature of this dress that I liked was the fact that the front bodice was one big pattern piece, and one small shoulder piece, which joins the main bodice piece to make the "faux wrap".

Because of the way the pattern pieces were designed, I had the option of laying the pieces out on the fabric to choose where the flowers would end up (like I did with my V8511 floral/collared dress and my M8545 floral dress) and the with the small shoulder pattern piece, I chose a big flower to sit in the centre, like a corsage! Ahh.

Gathered skirts rock but next time I want to make the wiggle skirt.

Butterick 6582

Faux wrap baby!
Faux corsage too, hehe!

Yes, my dress form is wearing a bra. Haha.

Gathered shoulders.

Nice, evenly gathered skirt.
I always sew three rows of gathering stitches.

Bodice lining - white sunsilky polyester.
You can see where the small shoulder piece joins the main bodice.

No waist stay this time.

Shell: Cotton Sateen
Lining: Sunsilky Polyester

I know I said I'd hand sew the hem... forgive me!!
The shoddy looking stitch above is enough to scare me back to handsewing my hem next time. 
Shudders.
I think my machine needs a service.
Or I need a new machine.... 

Can you believe that I still don't have my camera back??
#Dodgy iPhone mirror #selfie!!

I like the back. It's perfect. 

Pattern Review: Butterick 6582, View 3

Size: 6 all the way! Usually I have to grade out to an 8 waist, but not this time! Either the pattern has more ease... or my healthy lifestyle is paying off!

Fabric: 1.5m cotton sateen (Darn Cheap), 0.7m sunsilky lining (Spotlight)

Notions: Dress zipper 18" , Gutermann thread

Time:  Can't remember the hours, but it was 4 sessions over 5 weeks

Cost: Fabric $20, Lining $7, Zipper $2

Pattern Modification/Adjustments:

• Fully lined the bodice instead of facings for the bodice

Techniques Used:

• Darts
• Lined bodice (bagging tutorial here)
• Gathering
• Handpicked zip

Retro 1960s dress with full gathered skirt <3

I love this print! I thinks it's "autumn-y" so I'm keen to experiment with stockings and boots and see if they will suit this dress. It's way to cold in Melbourne to get around bare-legged.

Has anyone else (besides Laika Doll and Dapper Duds) made this dress?? It is such a beautiful dress!

If I had one piece of advice, I would recommend making a muslin/toile because the finished measurements on the pattern seemed large for my bust, but when I tried on the muslin it fit perfectly.

Read More

Finished Project: A self-drafted asymmetrical collar.

Pattern Review: V8511 (bodice only)

Size: 6 bust, 8 waist

Fabric: 1.5m cotton sateen (Darn Cheap), 0.7m bemsilk lining (Spotlight)

Notions: Dress zipper 22", Gutermann thread, 0.8m grosgrain ribbon, 1 bikini hook

Time: 10-12 hours, over 4 days.

Cost: Fabric $20, Lining $7, Zipper $2, Grosgrain Ribbon $2, Bikini Hook 0.50c

Pattern Modification/Adjustments:

• Added self-drafted asymmetrical collars
• Replaced tulip skirt with full gathered skirt

Techniques Used:

• French seams (skirt side seams)
• Princess seam
• Lined bodice (bagging tutorial here)
• Gathering
• Handpicked zip
• Blind catch stitch on the hem
• Waist stay (tutorial here)

WIP

I am head-over-heels for this fabric! 

Sometimes all you need to get you out of a sewing rut is some oh-hot-damn floral cotton sateen.

This is my jam. Definitely.

I found this baby last Saturday. After having lunch with @SixInchHeel and fam bam I decided to do a drive around town looking for fabric. Ended up taking these four home.

I was in love with the it because it reminded me of the forest, foliage, butterflies? When I got home I washed and ironed and got to work cutting out the V8511.

Favourite part of sewing process - stepping back and admiring the perfectly cut pieces.

Like my 'corsage floral dress' I didn't cut the bodice on the centre fold. I wanted the perfect butterfly to adorn the centre of my princess seamed bodice. 

Same deal with the collars, I wanted a nice big flower so this meant that the collars used up a chunk of fabric I reserved for my skirt so the skirt ended up not as full.

The skirt length was 19" (SA and 3cm hem included).
The finished skirt hem measurement was 62".

Stay stitched around neckline and arm hole curves.

I re-used the collar pattern I drafted when I made the red V8511 work dress. 

By midnight Saturday I finished the shell and collars. Rewarded myself with back-to-back episodes of Californication and some wine :D

Hard at WIP on a Saturday night.

Sunday afternoon, I cut out the lining, bagged the bodice, understitched and prepped the skirt pieces (side seams frenched, three rows of gathering stitches).

Bodice lined with cream bemsilk.

Side seams matching perfectly.

Parfait!

Monday night I attached the skirt to the bodice. My unpicker was my BFF that night cos fabric kept getting caught, zz. 

Green grosgrain ribbon waist stay went on, and final fitting. Hurrah it fit. 

I took a couple of days break to focus on work and gym (went twice this week, yay... dined out 7 times, lol) and Wednesday I handpicked the zipper and handsewed the hem.

I love handpicking - more control and it's therapeutic.

Love those pricks!

I finished the dress in time to wear to my friends 30th birthday dinner last night at Rosetta.
All the bread, pasta, potato, pannacotta and wine I consumed was nicely hidden under the full skirt. DRESSES FTW.

#OOTN
ASOS Linen blazer, ASOS glitter skinny belt, ALL THAT JAZZ handmade vintage look clutch.

Waist stay!

#selfie :P

I love the V8511 bodice. I've perfected the fit and have used it to make many dresses. This is almost overtaking the McCalls 5845 as my favourite because it has no darts (I don't like marking darts!!)

Collars - Slit & Cummerbund - Scooped Back & Full Circle Skirt 1 & 2 - Gathered Skirt - Full Gathered Skirt & Collars.

Once I find a pattern that works, I tend to get obsessed and addicted to hacking it... nothing wrong with that hey, and I'm not the only one, my interstate blogger mate Erin of I-Heart-Fabric is currently in love with beautiful BurdaStyle 120 and has made soooo many versions of the same pattern. 

I didn't even realise they were all the same pattern cos the fabrics make each dress look completely different. Go check out Erin's dresses, they are to die for <3

I hope you all had a fun weekend. I definitely did. I ate way to much good food (blogged here), caught up with a few of my friends and to top it off the Melbourne weather was marvelous :) 

I have a long weekend next week so I'm planning to make another dress... don't be surprised if it's another V8511 with self-drafted collars and a full skirt.

If it ain't broke....!!

Read More