a sewing schmorgesborg (a dress, a top and two skirts)

todays post is a sewing schmorgesborg of 1 dress, 1 top and 2 skirts.  i've been doing a bit of sewing lately, but not much photo taking.  so yesterday when it was 29 degrees in sydney in april i took the opportunity to dress up in the clothes i've made for autumn and winter and take photos.

first up is simplicity 2054, a cynthia rowley dress pattern for knit fabrics.  i have made this pattern a few times before and wore my black and white spotty version to the sydney bloggers meet up (see third photo of this post).

i got the fabric for this one from darn cheap fabrics in melbourne.  its a knit that is of medium thickness. i cut a straight size 10 which is the same size i have cut previously, even though i measure around a size  14 according to the pattern.  for this version however, given the thickness of the fabric i reduced the side seams to the edge of the foot.

i finished the neck and arms with black ponte bands and put 2 darts in the back to create shape as the pattern as designed is a bit baggy.  i also lengthened the dress a bit.

next is a grainline scout using the same altered pattern i used in the lurex mini challenge.  the fabric is a soft stretch sateen from spotlight that i bought with a birthday gift card from my sisters - thanks gen and caz! 

i constructed the top using french seams throughout and finished the neck and arms with some home made bias binding.  this top is extremely comfortable and great for work.

on to the skirts.  first up another deer and doe anemone in a cotton from darn cheap fabrics.  i love this pattern and was keen to make another after my first one.

i made this using the same alterations as my first one, but didn't try it on during construction as my other one fit so nicely.  this one is a little big as the fabric is lighter in weight than the ikea furnishing fabric i used for the first one.  its ok but i wouldn't be unhappy if it shrunk a bit after a few washes. i also made the length on this the largest pattern size, adding a fraction more length but still keeping it short.

lastly its new look 6228, which i have also made previously - wow it just occurred to me i have made all of the patterns in this post previously.  the black ponte part of this skirt started life as the cynthia rowley dress at the top of this post, but the black ponte was not very forgiving for my lumps and bumps so i never finished it.  i hate the thought of sending fabric to land fill though so kept it in a screwed up heap.

one day it occurred to me i could make it into a skirt, but it turned out i didn't have quite enough ponte to make the whole skirt and upon checking my other black ponte in the stash found that none matched. so i decided to go with charcoal ponte for the front side panels and black everywhere else.

i made this using a straight stitch on my regular sewing machine and used a twin needle for the hem. again this is a comfortable skirt which is great for work.

phew after all that i need to sew something from a new pattern.  lucky for me i did a tessuti pattern fitting class on the thursday before easter which was excellent and have a new to me pattern ready to make up in the next couple of days.

hope you had a great easter, i am just starting to think i should ease up on the chocolate...

emma

heart anemone (deer and doe)

i love this skirt - deer and doe's new anemone skirt. the photos in this post are slightly weird having been taken indoors this afternoon while it was raining outside, but hopefully you get the picture.

deer and doe describe the pattern as "fitted high waisted skirt, lined, in two versions: short with peplum, or knee-length with decorative buttons.  i went with the short with peplum version - or 'peplets' as amanda from bimble + pimble named them when some of the sydney spoolettes met up with amanda for dinner on friday night, which btw was fun!

the only changes i made were to:

• lower the waist height by 1 inch prior to cutting the fabric as i thought the waist looked a little bit too high for me.  after trying the skirt on during construction i used a 2cm seam for the waist to reduce the height a bit more.  i am very happy with how the height of the waist turned out.
• add 4 belt carriers where the front and back pieces join the side pieces as i prefer to wear a belt with high waisted skirts.  I used the same great collette tutorial that i used for both my kelly skirts.
• use a standard zip and do a lap insertion (the instructions are for an invisible zip). i only did this as i had a suitable standard zip in my stash.  i did the zip 3 times, once just eyeballing it in, but it was a bit wonky and obvious with the contrast thread, 2nd time i drew the sewing line on the fabric and pinned it in place, it was still a bit wonky so i ended up basting it in and finally got a pretty straight line. 

i used a pre bought bias binding for the hem to keep as much length as possible as i want to wear this skirt to work. the pattern contains pieces for the lining and i used 'elegance' from martha pullen again -  i used it recently in my laurel.  this is great lining fabric.  

here's a close up of the 'peplets' i really like how they add design detail and interest to the skirt, while not sticking out too far from the body.

the main fabric came from ikea.  i have seen this fabric in the navy colourway made up in the moss mini on blogs. but on a recent ikea trip i saw this orange/red version for the first time so i grabbed 1m for $7.99.  the pattern suggests a fabric requirement of 1.6m for the long version and i got this skirt comfortably from the metre while matching the circles as best i could.

i cut a size 42 which pretty much matches my measurements for waist and hips and i didn't make any alterations for fit - yahoo!

oh yes i love this skirt. there will be more.

emma