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Lucinda April 2, 2013

Pattern Review: Laurel Top [Colette Patterns]

Pattern: Laurel by Colette Patterns, pullover top version
Fabric: Swiss dot from Mood Fabrics
Size: 2 graded out to a 6

Jeans: Levi’s
Earrings: Francesca’s
Sunnies: Tommy Hilfiger
Nails: Essie “Play Date”

My first wearable “practice” garment! In preparation for sewing the dress version of the new Colette Laurel pattern, I pulled out some Swiss dot I bought at Mood several summers ago in NYC and thought, if the fit worked out, it would make a cute top to wear for Easter. I love this pattern! My fabric is all washed and ready to go to make the dress and I can’t wait to see how the fabrics come together (I’m layering eyelet over silk habotai).

These pictures were taken after eating Easter dinner, so please excuse the wrinkles from sitting! 😉

Unlike a lot of pullover tops, this one has a good amount of shaping. I cut a 2 for the bust, graded to a 4 at the waist, and then a 6 at the hips, but I probably should have cut the bust as a 4 since it’s snug to pull on and off over my head. Or, in the next version, I could do a cool exposed zipper in the center back seam. Other than that, I didn’t need to do any other fitting – even the bust darts were spot-on perfect, didn’t need to move them up like I usually do. The back waist darts add a nice amount of shaping as well that keeps the back from poofing out. At no time did I feel like I was wearing a blousey maternity top!

The bias tape finishing for the neckline and sleeve hem was a nice, neat touch. Being the lazy sewist I am, I opted to sew the bias tape in place with my machine instead of my hand. I will probably hand sew my dress since it’s going to be made out of special fabric.

The reason I held on to this fabric for so long in my stash is because, as you can see in the picture, it’s really sheer (and wrinkly!). I felt like if I made a dress with it, it would look like I was wearing a nightgown, plus I’d have to line it – no fun. This top is really fast to make but took me a little longer since I French seamed alllll of my seams, even the sleeve seams. I think I’m addicted to French seaming, it makes everything look so clean and tidy inside, plus it’s perfect for sheer and lightweight fabrics. The hem is a teeny tiny narrow hem I machine stitched using this tutorial from Jen at Grainline.

That’s pretty much it! It was in the mid 50’s in Boston on Easter and this top was perfect for the early spring weather. If you’re looking for a no-brainer, instant gratification project, the Laurel top is a great garment.

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Lucinda March 4, 2013

Finished Project: Stripey Renfrew Sweater

Pattern: Renfrew by Sewaholic Patterns
Fabric: Sweatery jersey from Metro Textiles in NYC
Size: 4 graded to a 6 from waist to hips

Skirt: Tommy Hilfiger
Leggings: DKNY

Yup, another Renfrew! I can’t get enough of this pattern, I wear my two Renfrews all of the time when I’m out of work or on the weekends. When it’s not warm weather outside – you know, dress season – I live in basics like long sleeve shirts and leggings. It’s no-fuss dressing, especially in the blah, grey days of pre-spring.

Look at that stripe matching, what what! I really do suck at stripes, though. Somehow, I couldn’t even tell you how, the stripes allllmost matched up when I attached the sleeves to the body of the shirt. I didn’t even think about making sure I matched those when I cut out the pattern pieces, but the sewing gods said yes, the stripes shall match at the seams on this Renfrew. And so they did.

Ok, except for this front shoulder. But I was pretty darn close!

And no, I’m not done with the Renfrew. Wait until you see my other rendition later this week…

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Lucinda July 2, 2012

Pattern Review: Vogue 8723 [Fit and Flare Dress]

Warning: twirly poofy skirt pictures ahead. And lots of cheesiness. Of course.

Pattern: Vogue 8723
Fabric: Cotton twill-like fabric from Metro Textile in NYC
Size: 10 bodice, 12 skirt

I don’t think I believed everyone who said that this is a huge skirt. Even the drawings on the envelope and the model on the Vogue Patterns website didn’t quite illustrate the poof-factor of this dress. But I’m in love with it and that’s all the matters, right??

1) The Pattern

Can I just say, I am so glad that Custom Fit exists now and that pattern developers are realizing that even if you follow their measurements for different sizes, it’s still a challenge to get garments to fit correctly. It really is the best thing ever for ladies like moi who are “bust challenged” and avoid tops with darts like the plague. If you’re not familiar with Custom Fit, the pattern comes with different size pattern pieces to fit different bra sizes ranging from A-B-C-D. Every time I make a top with darts I always have to do a SBA and move the dart up because my cup does not runneth over and there’s always too much fabric for my chest. Not the case with Custom Fit! I picked the pattern piece for an A cup and didn’t have to do a single modification at all. It fit perfectly!!

I’m sure this also a great thing for you ladies who need to do a FBA…

2) The Fabric(s)

The dress called for something a little bit lighter than what I chose, like cotton shirting or gingham, something with not a lot of heft. I’m sure my using a heavier cotton with a twill weave explains why I got more of a poofy skirt than the pattern drawings. Another thing: patterned fabric is your friend. It hides mistakes very well…

I was surprised to find out the the dress is completely lined, which would explain why I needed to buy so much lining fabric of course! I probably didn’t need the skirt to be lined and would omit it in the future, but I got super confused how to add in an invisible zipper with the skirt lining. I left the entire back seam open, since that’s what you do with invisible zips, but I couldn’t have the skirt lining seam sewn the correct way with the seam allowances facing the wrong side of the dress fabric. I guess that’s something I should have looked up before I installed the zipper.

The graffiti in the picture adds to my street cred.

3) The Skirt

Ooooboy, what a skirt it is! The front and back are essentially two huge rectangles that are gathered along the top and attached to the bodice. Everyone was right about one thing: it’s really difficult to gather the skirt up using two rows of basting stitches. I originally intended to sew a wide zig-zag stitch over a length of cord and gather up the skirt that way, but I discovered that I could only adjust the length and not the width of the zig-zag stitch on my trusty Bernina 1005. So of course I did what everyone else did and suffered through pulling on basting stitches and sliding gathers across the skirt one by one. That part was easily, hands down, the most difficult part of this dress. At least the hemming was pretty simple.

Now where am I going to wear this thing? I feel so fancy in it, probably due to the poofy skirt. My boyfriend joked about it and asked me who I was taking to the square dance….boys are stupid.

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Lucinda June 5, 2012

Pattern Review: Simplicity 2418 [Tangerine Tunic]

(The sleeve caps stick out more than I’d like them to)

Pattern: Simplicity “It’s So Easy” 2418 (OOP)
Fabric: Cotton gauze from Mood Fabric in NYC
Size: 10 graded to a 12

During last year’s shopping trip to NYC (you know, the one that I bought fabric for this top) I also found this yummy orange cotton gauze. Orange isn’t a color I wear much (not at all, actually), but there was something about this bright pop that jumped off of the shelves and beckoned me to buy it. And I’m not one to buy fabric without having an idea first as to what I’m going to make out if it! The fabric has great drape and seemed perfect for a tunic pattern I picked up a few years ago and had hanging out in my stash.

(I’m a pretty bad pattern hoarder, btw. I’ll buy them and not sew them up. Hmm I should sell some of them…)

(This is a little see-through but I don’t need to wear a tank underneath)

Construction:

Honestly, the hardest and most time consuming part of making this pattern was cutting out the fabric. The pattern is cut in a single layer on the bias, which gives it such nice drape, but was a pain in the ass getting a nice and smooth cut edge! Once the pattern was cut out, it took about two hours for me to stitch the top together.

The best part of this top is that there are no exposed seams. I used french seams to enclose the side seams and narrow turned hems for the cowl and bottom hem. The yoke was a little fussy – the wrong sides of the front and back are attached to the yoke and the yoke is then top-stitched over the raw edges of the front and back to completely enclose the seams, as can be seen below:

It makes it more RTW, but still fussy. I love the gathered detail in the back.

I’m not sure if I’d make this again. Sure, it was an easy top to put together in a short amount of time and fits well, but it was more of a “what can I make with this fabric” type of situation (that way I could justify buying more fabric on a recent trip to NYC). It’s a great basic, but I think I’d rather try and make some other patterns before coming back to this one again.

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Lucinda May 28, 2012

On the Needles: Gemini

Knitting is usually something I do more of during the colder months and conversely, sewing is something I do more of during the warmer months (like right now). I always associate knitting with projects like warm and cozy sweaters and scarves, and since I like to knit primarily with wool, it makes it difficult to sit underneath a growing wooly project in the summer when there’s no AC in my apartment. Yes, there’s cotton, but I’m not such a fan…

However, I’m absolutely in love with what I’m working with right now – Classic Elite Cotton Bam Boo. Here’s four reasons from the label on why you should knit with Cotton Bam Boo:

Incredibly soft hand

Great stitch definition

Beautiful drape

Uses a renewable resource

So far, I agree with all of the above! I found this yarn at Windsor Button in Boston when I went shopping with the girls from my knitting group and was searching for some kind of drapey yarn to make Gemini. It feels soft on my hands and isn’t abrasive at all like some cottons, and although it’s a little splitty, the stitches are quite defined as you can see above. I can tell that this is going to be comfortable and cool to wear on hot days this summer.

This is knitting up in a flash now that I’ve finished the lace, increases, and divided the sleeves from the body. I had to start this five times because of stupid mistakes like twisting the beginning of the round – rookie mistakes, yeesh! But now that all of the “complicated” parts are done, it’s smooth sailing from here just knitting rounds and rounds of stockinette, great for TV watching or chatting at knit night. This is definitely a project I’ll finish in time to wear this summer.

BTW – I’m a big Jane Richmond fan! Check out her original designs on her site and her blog for tutorials.