50's-style party dress, or knock-off of a knock-off

I saw this beautiful dress some time ago on this blog. It was a knockoff of this Oscar de la Renta dress:



It was actually the knockoff, not the original that grabbed my fancy. I just loved the floral print and the tutu-like silhouette.

The February 2011 issue of Burdastyle magazine featured this dress pattern:



I had a wedding to go to in 2 weeks, so what better excuse to go shopping at Britex Fabrics where I paid a relative fortune for the perfect print in 100% Japanese densely-woven cotton and I made this:



It had a deep 4-inch hem so it puffed out pleasingly, but I think I will need to make a petticoat with tulle layers to get the appropriate tutu silhouette.

My mother-in-law just emailed me directions on how to make a petticoat so that's what I'll be attempting this coming weekend. The dress looks fine without the petticoat, so there's no pressure to get one done, but it sure would be fun to have one made in time to wear to the wedding. I'm suddenly into tutu silhouettes because of this new book I got:



I am in love with all of the dresses in this book, which all have the 50's-style skirt that requires a petticoat for the shape.

Stay tuned for an update if I get the petticoat done and it works out!

Knit Top/ Burdastyle 09-5-103A

I am way overdue for a sewing post. I have been sewing lots but if I don't get a picture immediately and end up wearing the outfit a few times, I lose interest in documenting my creation.

I recently re-made this top and managed to get a picture of it upon the first wearing!



This is the top that made me realize that I'd been sewing one size too big in Burdastyle knits! I first made this top in a black cotton jersey about a year ago and it was far too large in the chest and had major gap-osis problems. So I remade it one size smaller at the shoulders and bust, this time in a navy blue cotton/lycra knit. Much better!



I have to remember that I am a 38 in Burdastyle wovens but a 36 in knits. Somehow this makes me happy, as though I have magically gone down a whole size!

Cute top

This cute top (#129) from the February 2009 Burda magazine has been reviewed favorably by many people and I suddenly had a desire to wear it to dinner this last Saturday:



So at about noon the same Saturday I wanted to wear it, I started tracing the pattern and got the fabric cut out and partly sewn, but of course I did not make it in time for dinner. What was I thinking!

I finally finished it some time this week. I love it in black-and-white print I finally decided on, which had been in my stash for a long time. I don't think the actual fabric, a cotton blend with a slight stretch, was a great choice, being a little stiff. Dave likes the top too, mostly because he likes black-and-white abstract prints on me.



The pendant on the necklace I am wearing is a likeness of a yeast zygote. See, I'm not just a domestic scientist, I am a real scientist who did yeast genetics many years ago. When yeast mate, they form this distinctive structure called a zygote. Here's a picture of a real yeast zygote, and below it, a close-up of my necklace.





I like the top a lot, so much so that I went out and bought some nice silk in a silvery color to make the same top to wear for fancier occasions. I think the pattern would work better in a softer, drapier fabric. The cotton blend I used is a bit stiff, and I also interfaced the bands, which is a bad idea. The stiffness causes the top to sort of poof out under my bust, which is precisely where you don't want your clothes to poof out!

Sheer tunic

I found this great sheer fabric with an interesting geometric print and decided to make this Burdastyle February 2009 top #110



Here's my version, with fabric-covered buttons. I left out the elastic gathering on the sleeve bottoms, although I am thinking maybe I should put them in afterall with drawstrings.





The dritz button kit for making fabric-covered buttons came from Grandma Laura's stash of cool sewing gizmos and buttons. It is very cool, this is the first time I've made self-fabric buttons.

I'm not sure I like the tunic all that much, but then I'm not sure I like colors other than black all that much... on me, that is. Dave isn't a huge fan of the tunic style. He says that it makes me look like a worker on a farm collective. I wore this to a show and dinner with nice wool pants. Maybe next time I'll try it with jeans for a more dressed-down version which might be more my style. I do still like the fabric, though, just to look at. Perhaps I should go back and buy some more for a different kind of top. I still like the idea of having a top with those colors and crazy swirling print.

Tailored tops for the summer

After sewing all those knits, I was ready for a change of pace and since summer is upon us (even though it never gets very hot in San Francisco) I thought it would be nice to have some short-sleeved shirts made from woven fabric.

I made this February 2009 Burda magazine blouse (#125) from a black cotton blend, sort of as a wearable muslin because of reports from some people that the sleeves come out a little tight.



Here's my version



It fit fine, although I don't know why there are wrinkles across the upper chest in the picture. I think I'm going to make the same pattern in a different, brighter color.

Next shirt is a shortened version of this dress (#116) from the April 2010 Burda magazine



When I was tracing it out, the collar came in two sizes, and I accidentally made my shirt in the larger size destined for a different pattern. I didn't like it at first, but I think the unusual large collar is starting to grow on me...



That's it for the woven shirt-sleeved shirts for a while. The weather got cold again and I'm thinking about warm wool jersey tops again...

Going crazy with the serger

I have not been blogging lately because I've been busy sewing, or should I say, serging, instead! I've re-discovered knits because of my new toy, the serger my mother-in-law gave me. It is a breeze serging seams instead of sewing them and I love the professional-looking finish I get on the inside of my garments. Also, it is very easy to stabilize the shoulder seams and the neckline with clear elastic by feeding it into the serger foot.

My first dress made with the serger is this pattern (#129) from the June 2009 Burda magazine:



I made it from a aubergine 100% wool jersey and the weather turned cold enough briefly for me to wear it once last weekend:



Dave actually likes this one, despite the gatherings at the waist, which he says usually make me look like I have something to hide. He says that the gatherings in this design look good, for a change!

Following the dress, I decided that I needed more knit tops, so I made this interesting one with the puffy sleeves (#118) from the February 2009 Burda magazine:



Here's my version, and I love it for the fit and how comfortable it is to wear:



Then, because the weather got cold briefly, I decided I needed a long-sleeved top, like this one (#114) from the October 2009 Burda magazine:



Here's my version:



Dave dislikes this one, he says the gathers at the front make me look pregnant, but the girls at work complimented me on what a nice top it was. I think it's not really one of my favorites, but it is very comfortable to wear so I'm sure I'll wear it a lot. Dave also wonders what the tab is for, and what would happen if he removed it. The answer is nothing, it's just a design element; it looks like it's holding the gathers together but it doesn't really do anything structural. It actually gave me a bunch of problems, I installed it incorrectly and while I was ripping it out, I ripped a hole in the garment. Luckily, 1. jersey doesn't fray, and 2. I had read about someone repairing a tear by ironing on a piece of fusible stretch interfacing over the tear, which I did and then I stitched the tab over it and now it is hidden. My goodness, that could ruin your whole day, finishing a garment and then tearing a hole in it at the last step!

I also made this cute flounced-sleeved top (#106 from the January 2009 Burda magazine) but haven't worn it yet so I don't have pictures to upload:



And lastly, although I made the following dress a while ago, before I got the serger, this seems like a good place to post a picture, as it has become one of my very favorite dresses. It's from the January 2010 Burda magazine, dress #130:



My version is made out of stretch velvet and lined with brown cotton/lycra jersey. Because it is lined, the inside of the dress looks nice and there are no exposed seams. I wear this dress everywhere whenever we go out!



Next I think I'll do something different for a change, some short-sleeved, collared tailored tops from cotton or linen wovens for the summer. Stay tuned!

My First Serged Garment!

I know I said two posts ago that I wasn't going to make another one of this draped top. However, I had just gotten a serger (my mother-in-law, who is also a fantastic quilter, gave me hers) and was just raving to make something with it. I wanted my first serged garment to work out with a minimum of fussing, so I decided to go with a pattern that I had used before that I knew would fit and chose the draped top pattern. I was pretty happy with the original version that I had made, but after wearing it a couple of times, I decided that it could have been cut a little smaller and, in particular, the the back neckline could be reduced down one size for a better fit. For my second attempt, I also had much nicer fabric: a nylon lycra knit which felt nicer against the skin and also draped much better. I moved the center back fold line about half an inch closer to the side seam and was going to leave the front piece alone but then discovered that this new fabric was narrower than the 60 inches I had assumed it to be and so, to make all the pattern pieces fit, I also moved the center front fold line slightly less than half an inch closer to the side seam. I reduced all my 5/8 inch seam allowances to 1/4 inch because the serger was going to trim everything down to 1/4 inches anyway. Viola! Here is my first serged garment:



The nice draping is much easier to see in this fabric. It was a snap incorporating clear elastic when I sewed the shoulder seams, using the feed function on the serger foot. All the nicely finished edges made me very happy. Here is a view of the serged inside of the garment:



Wow! All I have to do now is figure out how to get professional-looking labels for my clothes and I will be all set! I've been making them by using the letter embroidery function on my sewing machine to sew the words "HuxleyWuxley" onto wide ribbon but they look sort of home-made. If you sew and put labels on your clothes, please leave a comment letting me know how you get your labels made.

Draped top 118B, March 2010 Burdastyle magazine

When the latest issue of Burdastyle Magazine arrived, this top caught my eye:




I like such tunic-y styles, although Dave hates them on me. He prefers me in clothes that are more fitted, but I only listen to him some of the time. I was in any case so eager to start working on the top that I went to look for fabric as soon as I could. I thought a nice slinky sort of drapey fabric would look great in that style. So last Saturday, I took the dog for a nice long walk to our neighborhood fabric store 10 blocks away, where I knew they had a bamboo section with nice slinky. When we got there, there were all these people and a terrier standing mournfully outside the store - there had been a power outage and the store was blanketed in darkness! Having walked all the way there and being anxious to procure some fabric, I took up their offer of a flashlight and tied up Huxley Beagle to the railings and descended into the darkness. A nice young man helpfully held up the flashlight while I tried to make my fabric choices but in the end I gave up. I couldn't see enough of the color and texture to be sure what I was getting, so I told them I would just come back next week.

But I also had a backup plan, you see, which was to hit the other neighborhood fabric store on the way home. What a great neighborhood I live in, abounding with fabric stores within walking distance of my house! (Now, if only they were open on Sundays... but one should just be grateful for what one has, right?) So we went to Darlene's, and I tied up Huxley Beagle at the door and then asked the nice man minding the store if that was OK and he said I should bring him in! What a great day for Huxley Beagle - he loves to follow his human owners wherever they go, although he really wishes it was the meat market he was allowed into, not the fabric store!

They didn't have exactly what I was looking for, which was a nice quality slinky made from natural fibers, but I settled for a drapey slinky in polyester. I figure the tunic was so loose there wouldn't be a breathing problem even if the top was made out of polyester. Now the pattern called for 1 and 3/4 yards of a 60-inch wide fabric and they only had 1 yard left but I bought it anyway, thinking that I would use it for something else if it wasn't enough for the top.

When I laid out the pattern pieces, they just fit on that 1 yard. I had to piece the drawstring tie from two pieces, but that was alright! If I had bought the prescribed 1 and 3/4 yards, I would have had too much fabric left over and there won't have been enough of it to do much with anyway! So it worked out great.

Here is the finished top:




The picture on the right has been adjusted so that you can see the draping on the fabric. It was a really easy top to assemble, or would have been really easy if the fabric wasn't so darn slippery to work with! I really didn't do my usual precise job on the gathered darts but the fabric and style was rather forgiving, luckily. I stabilized the gathered darts as well as the shoulder seams with clear elastic. What a great invention clear elastic is, and to think I didn't use to know what it was! Now I have a great big roll bought for a great price from Cleaner's Supply. (If you sew, check out this place - the best place ever to buy Gütermann thread, zippers, buttons, etc at a great price, and they deliver fast!)

I don't think I'll sew this top again - one is enough, as it is a distinctive style. I haven't worn it yet, still waiting for warmer weather, which is hopefully upon us soon in foggy and rainy San Francisco!

Recycling fabric

This is a story of how I recycled this shapeless turtleneck that I can't believe I used to wear 10 years ago



to this top



It all started when I noticed this top in the February Burdastyle magazine:



I liked the neckline and the gathered bust, and had actually traced out the pattern some weeks ago but then discovered I didn't have enough of a leftover fabric that I had planned for it. I didn't really have anything else suitable, so the pattern lingered for a while.

In the meantime, I sewed some other stuff, including the Eva Jacket and the accompanying skirt from the same fabric.

Then about two days ago, I was rummaging around my long-sleeved knit drawer for something appropriate to wear on a rainy day to work and pulled out that turtleneck. I think I probably bought it in like 1997 or so back when I was living in Connecticut and wore such things during the winters there. Well, I would never wear such a shapeless oversized thing in 2010 in California, that's for sure! That's when the inspiration struck me to recycle that grey knit fabric into the Burdastyle top.

Luckily, the top was so oversized, I was able to fit all the pattern pieces on intact pieces of fabric, the only concession being that I had to make the sleeves half-length. From reviews of this pattern, a commonly-cited problem was the tendency of the neckline to be too large and to fall off the shoulders. So I raised the neckline half an inch, and also re-drew the neck edge of the raglan seams on the bodice pieces to be about 1 inch closer to the center front and center back, grading back to their original positions at the side. Finally, I applied clear elastic to the neckline and this helped a lot with the neckline gaping problem a lot of people mentioned.

Well, I won't say the final top is a great success - it's wearable, but I think it really would have benefited from a crisper knit. That old knit from the old turtleneck had stretched quite a bit. I took in the seams but it still hangs sort of large, probably from stretching out some more. I think a knit with a bit of lycra in it would have held its shape a little better. But this was a great muslin for figuring out how to construct the next top I'll make from this pattern. Maybe something in a bright color for spring!

Eva Jacket from www.burdastyle.com

I've made the Eva Jacket before, about a year ago when I first started sewing garments. In fact, it was the first jacket, and first really complicated garment, I'd ever made that was wearable. I was so proud of it and so impressed with myself that I went out and bought more fabric to make a second jacket from the same pattern on the same day that I had finished the first one! Here is a picture of the first jacket, made of some mystery garbardine fabric bought for cheap, compliments of Huxley Beagle's official web site. (Check out that cute beagle in the picture!) For the second jacket, I initially had a weird notion that I would make it in dark brown with teal piping around the collar and pocket flaps, but I couldn't find teal piping, so I settled for black rick-rack instead of teal piping, which was just as well, as attaching piping would have been too much for my sewing skills at that point and teal would probably have been too gaudy for me. Here is a picture of the second jacket, made of some mystery fabric, again bought for cheap. In those days, I was so uncertain of my sewing skills that I was afraid to spend the money on quality fabric in case I screwed it up!

Anyway, I wore the two first Eva jackets a few times, and but then never really took a shine to them. I now think it was because I had made them out of such cheap fabric I didn't like wearing them. Since those two first jackets, I have made a lot of other garments and improved my sewing skills greatly. I had also upgraded from my very basic Kenmore (bought originally so I could sew curtains) to a Bernina Activa 240, which allowed me to sew with even more precision and with perfect stitches. (I never figured out how to set the tension correctly with the Kenmore, with the result that the stitches always looked sort of home-made, but with the Bernina, I get perfect stitches every time). I had also learnt a lot more about the kinds of fabrics I liked to wear and to have next to my skin.

So it was that one day, while contemplating my problematic fabric-hoarding habit, I decided to make something with the plaided houndstooth 100% wool fabric that I had bought and had done nothing with for over a year. I initially contemplated making a BWOF swing jacket with the fabric, but I had never worked with plaid fabric before and I wasn't sure I would be able to match the plaids up properly at the princess seams. Then I remembered the Eva Jacket, which was made up in a plaided houndstooth fabric in the promotional photos at www.burdastyle.com. I checked the pattern, and the pieces even had guidelines printed on the pattern that told you how to match up the plaids! So it was a no-brainer: for my first time working with plaid, I would make the Eva Jacket. I loved the pattern, obviously, but I never wore the two Evas I had made because I didn't like the fabric. This time I would make it out of 100% wool and line it with rayon for breatheability, and I expected that I would get a lot of use out of it and can finally retire my first two Evas.

Anyway, here is the completed new, third, Eva jacket.




I have to say, I managed to match the plaids up alright! (Although, perhaps in another year after more experience sewing with plaids, I might not be as happy with the matching on this jacket; then I'll have to make another jacket with even more perfectly matched plaids to replace this one!) I added the sleeve bands this time (I had left them off the first two jackets because I couldn't figure out the instructions; I still haven't figured out the instructions but I just did my own thing this time). Then and now, I consulted my copy of theVogue Guide to Sewing for installing the flapped pockets. I drafted the lining from the pattern pieces by following the instructions in this great instructional video from Burdastyle.

I love my new Eva Jacket - I've worn it to work every day this week. It's really nice and warm and both the jacket and lining fabric breathe and feel great.

As for that swing jacket I was considering - I'm thinking of attempting it next with some wool with tiny houndstooth (not plaided) in this nice earthy, but bright, color scheme. But as for my very next project, I think it will be to make a matching skirt from the rest of the leftover fabric I have after making the Eva jacket, perhaps this one. I'll keep you posted!