Pattern Reviews Archives - Page 7 of 10

Lucinda November 14, 2016

Finished Project – Toaster Sweater #2

Pattern: Toaster Sweater #2 by Sew House Seven
Fabric: french terry knit from Indiesew (sorry, sold out)

So yeah…this whole “slow sewing” movement is my jam because that’s all I seem to do these days when it comes to sewing. Sewing time is now few and far between – I started grad school this fall and work kicked into high gear two months ago. I thought after the wedding I’d have the time to get back into the swing of things with sewing, but I guess not!

(Oh, and I got a hair cut and chopped off 6″ since my last post – I swear my hair is not that poofy IRL)

Since my time is so limited now, I need to really focus on garments that I will absolutely enjoy making (and wearing) or will challenge my sewing skills – no more time to waste on garments that I don’t have 100% of my heart into.

Toaster Sweater #2 was a perfect jump-start to get back into garment sewing this fall.

When all was said and done, I made this sweater in an afternoon. I have a weakness for funnel necks/turtlenecks and jumped on this pattern as soon as I saw it as part of the Indiesew Fall Collection (now I need to check out Toaster Sweater #1!). The fabric is such a soft, yummy french terry and I just want to wrap myself up in a giant french terry burrito with this fabric. If you’re thinking about making this pattern, make sure to pick a fabric that has some body to it for the neck to sit correctly, anything jersey-like will result in a flimsy neck and the neck facing may flop open.

I loved the construction of the funnel neck – it’s a brilliant way of drafting the facing into the neckline and constructing the curved shoulder seam in the beginning of making the sweater. Hard to explain, but pretty cool when you make it.

I’m gravitating towards loose-fitting tops and dresses these days and I love the a-line fit of this sweater – see how roomy it is? The only thing I would change next time is to lengthen the top – I love the split hem and the hi/lo design, but I feel like it’s a smidge too short in the front for my liking. I’m also wearing a tank top underneath because the splits go pretty high on the side and I would be flashing some skin without an underlayer.

The mitered corner instructions were great, too, and made it easy to hem everything in place with professional-looking results. I used my twin needle for both the sleeve hems and bottom hem, pivoting around the slit opening.

Did you know there’s a Toaster Sweater #1 as well? I’m itching to try my hand at that one since I love #2 so much – I wore it twice already in the last week!

This post is part of the Indiesew Blogger Network – pattern or fabric may have been provided by Indiesew, however all thoughts and opinions are my own

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Lucinda December 15, 2015

Pattern Review: Eleanor Cardigan

Pattern: Eleanor Cardigan, c/o Indiesew
Version: mid-thigh length with extra long sleeves
Fabric: ribbed knit from Indiesew (sorry, sold out!)

Boots: Nine West
Top: JCrew
Pants: Macy’s

Perhaps not the most original garment I’ve made (*cough* Allie’s version *cough*), but I absolutely love my new Eleanor Cardigan. For those of you who subscribe to my newsletter, I committed a few weeks ago that I would be strict about not sewing any other projects until I got a major chunk of my wedding dress completed. Well, since I’m in a “holding pattern” until next weekend when I can cut out my real dress at my parent’s house, I figured whipping up a little instant-gratification project wouldn’t hurt.

I actually attempted to make this pattern back in September for Selfish Sewing Week, but ended up chucking the project since the grey french terry I used made it look like a bathrobe. Not a good look, and a sad waste of nice fabric! It was also too big for my liking; I cut out a small when I made the first version but didn’t like how baggy the fit was or the fact that the sleeve seam was way off my shoulders. Fast-forward to October and Allie’s launch of a new fabric collection – I saw this fabric in action during one of her Periscope broadcasts and knew I had to have it.

The fabric is pretty nifty – it’s a rib knit that’s white on one side, black on the other. However, the print of the pattern doesn’t follow stretch of the fabric, the ribs run horizontally across the body. I had to cut the sleeves so the ribs ran vertically, increasing the degree of stretch like a normal knit fabric, and it changed the orientation of the print on the sleeves. Not a big deal, but it would have made the sleeves much tighter if the fabric was cut like the rest of the cardigan. I also had to be a little creative with cutting out the long neckbands, and utilized a section of the print repeat to create a zig-zag look down the front.

The Eleanor Cardigan is a super-fast make and you really don’t even need the directions to make it. I found Allie’s tutorial on serging bulky knit fabrics really helpful – I had wavy seams on some of my knit garments in the past and it didn’t really bother me, but now I know how to fix that on my serger and prevent it from happening in the future. Everything lays so nice and flat and neat, it feels very RTW!

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Lucinda November 5, 2015

Old Is New – Vogue 1194 DKNY Dress

Pattern: Vogue 1194
Fabric: ITY jersey from Metro Textiles in NYC

Shoes: Anne Klein

Fact: I made this dress almost two years ago, wore it once, and never blogged about it.

However, thank goodness I had it handy for our engagement photos we took a few weekends ago! Originally, I planned on wearing another “never blogged” wrap dress I made last year to coordinate with the plaid shirt my fiancé was going to wear, but I opted for the contrasting color of this DKNY dress instead (and I’m glad I did). I seriously don’t know why I only wore this dress once – maybe I didn’t like the fit? I think I was crazy, because now that I “found” this dress, it will be in heavy rotation in the next few weeks for upcoming customer meetings at work.

What I clearly do remember about this dress was that it wasn’t fun to make with all of the fiddly pleating on this flimsy knit fabric. The neckline was also way too deep for my liking, which I read about others running into over on Pattern Review, so I stitched/tacked the center of the “v” higher up to avoid the neckline gaping open too wide. I also omitted the pockets since they would have shown through the fabric and wouldn’t have been very functional out of a stretchy jersey.

The twisty band around the bodice was also finicky to get right. There was a lot of strategic tacking to get the band to lay correctly and to spread out the twists evenly across the front. This could also be attributed to the slinky nature of the fabric, but it’s a nice enough touch that I was determined to get it to look just right.

I don’t own a lot of solid dresses, and haven’t made a lot of solid dresses (#prints4eva), so this one saved the day when it came to figuring out what to wear for the engagement photos that will be on our “Save the Date”s, wedding website, and printed and framed for family (as well as for our house). I’m so glad I took a chance on this dress that I didn’t think I liked, and re-discovered something in my closet that wasn’t getting a lot of wear.

All photos by Maria Burton Photography

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Lucinda October 9, 2015

Pattern Review: Lindy Skirt

Pattern: Lindy Skirt by Itch to Stitch
Fabric: ponte and double knit from Metro Textiles

Jacket: Michael Kors

Looking for a quick, instant-gratification project that’s perfect for any season? Say hello to this cutie – the Lindy Skirt from Itch to Stitch Patterns. I made this skirt as part of the Itch to Stitch birthday blog tour (1 year old this week!), but there was a catch – I needed to “hack” the pattern somehow.

How to hack a knit skirt with an elastic waist that’s just three pattern pieces…I was stumped for a bit. Do I add a pocket? Some trim? Nah, how about different fabrics for the skirt overlaps!

The solid black fabric is a nice, beefy ponte I’ve used for various projects, and the polk-dot is a double-knit I’ve had kicking around in my stash for awhile. Nothing like a stash-busting project! I thought it would look cute to have the polka-dot peek out as the bottom layer of the petal skirt, a detail that would take this skirt from another basic black skirt to something a little bit more fun.

See? Looks like a basic black skirt in the back. Business in the back, party in the front, my friends.

I honestly made this skirt in one evening, from cutting out to finishing the hem. The sizing was a little tricky to get right since I fell smack-dab in-between sizes, and I ended up cutting out an extra-small instead of a small, because the small ended up being too loose in the hips and waist. The fit is a little bit tighter than I normally wear, but I think it’s necessary for a knit skirt.

Now, the fun part – there’s a ton of free stuff you can win! Kennis got a bunch of great sponsors for her birthday celebration to throw in some fantastic sewing goodies – we’re talking free fabric, Craftsy classes, the whole lot. Scroll to the bottom for your chance to win great prizes by these sponsors:

Itch to Stitch First Anniversary Sponsors

The Fabric Store – $100 Gift certificate

Elliott Berman Textiles – Fabric bundle from France & Italy

Craftsy – three online classes of your choice

Girl Charlee Fabrics – $25 Gift certificate

Indie Sew – $25 Gift certificate

UpCraft Club – $25 Gift certificate

Quarto Publishing Group USA – the SHIRTMAKING WORKBOOK by David Page Coffin

The featured designer of the day will give away 2 patterns to a lucky winner:

Baste + Gather

Straight Stitch Designs

Megan Nielsen Patterns

Follow Itch to Stitch’s blog closely to win these patterns!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Lucinda September 29, 2015

Selfish Sewing Week – Breton Stripe Lane Raglan

Pattern: Lane Raglan by Hey June, via Indiesew
Fabric: textured double-knit from Metro Textiles

Jeans: Gap
Necklace: Madewell
Sneakers: Reebok

The timing for this round of Selfish Sewing Week, hosted by Imagine Gnats, Kollabora, and Indiesew, is perfect – it’s fall sewing time! This past weekend, I converted my closet over to my fall wardrobe (sniff sniff, summer is over) and saw some gaps that I need to fill. One of the most glaring holes in my closet are knit tops that are a little more substantial than the tissue-knit type of long-sleeve tees good for layering – you know, something that can be worn on its own without needing to layer a tank top underneath. Seems so simple, but I’m in need of more of those. Hello my old friend, Lane Raglan pattern!

As bratty as it sounds (yup, total brat over here, I admit it), I never need an excuse to sew “selfishly” – just about everything I make is for me. I have a firm and fast rule that I’ll only sew/knit gifts or garments for those that truly appreciate the time and effort it takes to make something by hand: my mom and my sister. They’re both makers and “get” the thought and energy behind a handmade creation – and all three of us had experiences in the past with giving handmade gifts to others that don’t understand what handmade is, and we got burned. No more.

Of course, I’m sure once kids enter the picture, this will all change (like many things in life)…I’m already thinking about the adorable things I want to make my niece once she’s big enough, too!

I wish I had a picture to show the texture of this knit, it’s pretty cool. The knit itself is very stable, like a double-knit, but the navy stripes are ribbed on the right side and its smooth on the wrong side. The drape is perfect for a mid-weight top, almost sweatshirt-like but much dressier. It just goes to show that the fabric choice for a garment can really change the look and feel – here are two other Lane Raglans I made last year, one from a sweatshirt knit and the other from a bamboo jersey. I also opted to not add a neckband and instead turned the neck edge under and stitched it. The fabric is really stable, so I’m not worried about it stretching out (read: I totally botched the neckband when I sewed it on the first time and didn’t want to bother with fixing it….so there).

Also – check out that matching stripe action, what what!

The Lane Raglan is one of my few TNTs I own that I seem to turn to over and over. Can’t go wrong with a raglan anything in my book!

Oh, you know what I was saying earlier about only sewing for me? Well, that’s not going to be the case soon…I have a couple’s Halloween costume that I need to whip up next month for Chris and myself. It’ll be two firsts – sewing a garment for someone else, and sewing for a dude!

Make sure to check out the other lovely ladies sharing their makes for Selfish Sewing Week: