style 2622 dress - update

i wore my dress to work today.  here's a phone pic when i got home at the end of the day.  the binding remained intact yay.

i wore the dress with my new black jacket.  i love this jacket even though i didn't make it.  i actually bought it at woolworths!! yep woolworths in south africa sells clothes much like m&s in the uk.  oddly they stock the australian brands country road and trenery.

this fully lined jacket is trenery brand and i paid $79 aus for it, i love both the fit and the style -  a very happy purchase.  i don't think i will ever commit to being 100% made by me as i do enjoy buying a well fitting RTW piece every now and then!

emma

2014 make 1 - its a winner (style 2622)

here's my first make for 2014 - i'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

the pattern is TNT OOP Style 2622.  i have made this dress too many times to count. i'm pretty sure i even used it for the dress i wore to my 21st birthday party, may see if i can dig out an old photo...

its a great straightforward a-line shift dress.  an uncut version is actually currently listed on ebay.  the fabric came from darn cheap fabrics in heidelberg vic from this trip.  it was $12.95m and i purchased 1m. its a soft cotton sateen with a bit of stretch.

for this version I decided to finish the neck, arms and hem with black bias binding.  i also finished the back centre seam allowances with bias binding and did french side and shoulder seams to keep the inside neat.

some shots inside and out:

i make this dress up in a size 10, even though my measurements fit between a 14-16 and the fit is generally ok.  some alterations i did this time include:

• lengthen hem by 1" so i can wear the dress to work
• took an additional scant 1/4"off the neck and arms - next time i probably wouldn't do the arms as well as the neck
• raised the bust dart slightly, by using the marking for size 8 - really should do a SBA
• slashed and overlapped the back neck line to reduce gapping - mostly fixed it but perhaps could go further next time

there are some wrinkles at the back but i am fine with them - unless someone can tell me an easy way to remove them!

key lesson learnt: i originally bound the neck, arms and hem with commercial black 12mm bias binding from a packet because i couldn't be bothered making my own or sourcing some better commercial stuff.  downfalls were: 1 it felt like cardboard, was crazy fiddly and a waste of time - i could have made my own binding in the time i ended up wasting to put it on; 2 the first time i washed the dress the binding came away in 2 spots; 3 the look i was hoping for for the neck, arms and hem wasn't achieved.  grrR times 3.

i bought some new wider bias binding at tessuti on the weekend at the shopping trip with kirsty, amy and maria. It went on quickly, easily and the wider binding stands out more now.

here's a pic from amy via maria, of the shopping trip - a first for me meeting other bloggers.  it was a super way to spend a saturday morning, fun times!

emma

kirsten kimono on safari

happy new year!

having made my kirsten kimono dress, i always knew i wanted to make several of the tees.  when girl charlee had a sale in november i snapped up a bunch of yard cuts with a plan to make several kimono tees for summer.

i cut out 4 tees in early december and worked on them when i could in among christmas parties and festivities.  i finished them late on 27 dec in preparation for a trip the following day.  mr flagg does a lot of travel for work and sometimes i am lucky enough to go with him.  i hadn't been on a trip for several years though and 28 dec saw us flying to south africa - kimono tees would be perfect!

cotton jersery $3.85 yard

slub cotton jersey blend $4.20 yard

cotton jersey $3.84 yard

cotton jersey slub $3.50 yard

before i started sewing the tees i glanced over the instructions again and noticed that while the pattern has you add your own seam allowance you are not supposed to do this for the neckline - no wonder my neckline for my dress version didn't look like the photo on the front page of the instructions!

i rectified this issue for these versions, constructed them on my sewing machine and used a twin needle for the neck binding, arms (which I again added a binding to) and hem.  i also used a knit stay tape on the hems.

this is me in our accommodation on a game reserve just before going on an afternoon safari.  i also made the shorts.  i made them around oct/nov last year, i had great plans of trying a new shorts pattern like here, here or here, but in the end to get a quick outcome i used now OOP lisette 2245 which i used the year before to make up a pair of shorts, using the pants pattern.  next summer's sewing will definitely involve trying a new shorts pattern!

the fabric is a red sateen from spotlight. i didn't consider it when i purchased it, but it has no stretch - i do prefer to have a bit of stretch when making shorts/pants.  but these shorts are comfortable enough and i like the colour.  the construction is pretty straightforward - darts at the back, waistband and side zip.  i used a black conventional zip from my stash. i bought 80cm of the sateen on sale, i think it was about $8.00, but i did need to cut the back pieces on the cross grain. 

here's kirsten on safari checking out some rhinos - wow safari is amazing.  we saw heaps of animals including giraffes, zebras and hippos as well as this elephant below who wasn't too happy about letting us past.

this is me at lunch on the second day in the game park.  its another kirsten i made prior to the colourful ones and prior to sorting out the neckline issue.  cheesy i know but i wanted to take this version on safari, the fabric came from rathdowne fabrics from a trip to melbourne in the middle of last year.  again a cheap but cheerful make at something like $8.95 - i can't quite remember.

at the entry gate to the game reserve there were some craft markets, i picked up some fabric for $15 AUD which is probably outrageous, but i wanted something to remind me of the trip.  am not sure what i will make from it, perhaps an a-line dress or boxy top as it is quite stiff.  i really like the colours and pattern.

one more pic kind of related to sewing and fabric - a lasting impression of driving through the country side to the game reserve was the colourful clothes lines, they were everywhere - this was snapped out the car window.

emma