jaywalkin' & some new duds for elvis

on friday 13th june i was overwhelmed to find that i won the tessuti jaywalk competition.  as i said in my last blog post there were some fantastic entries and i am over the moon to be named the winner.

i had never entered a sewing competition before and i am really grateful to tessuti for putting on the competitions they do and offering such generous prizes. there are not many opportunities to enter australian sewing competitions and the tessuti competitions are great in offering a challenge to sewers, as well as showcasing the amazing support and positivity in the australian online sewing community.

on to some recent makes (er well, maybe from may…).  first up some oliver + s raglan t-shirts for elvis.  i'd never made raglan sleeves before, but am a big convert, given it eliminates the need to set in the sleeves.  i combined a variety of sizes for arm length, torso length etc based on elvis' measurements.  all of the printed fabrics came from either fabric.com or girl charlee.

i also used the oliver + s pattern to make a jumper from some fleece from spotlight.  for this i used smaller seam allowances and added cuffs to the sleeves and hem.

in this pic he has teamed the jumper with pj pants, made from some japanese cotton with bullet trains, purchased at pandora house in narita by mr flagg on a work trip. 

and this time with some different pjs, made from flannelette from either spotlight or lincraft - can't remember.  i also made him some black cords and one more pair of pj pants, all using my TNT kids pants pattern OOP simplicity 3584. phew that's enough sewing for him for a while. 

are you getting the picture that my kid has a thing for 'transport'??

lastly can i say a big hello to all my new readers, i hope you find some interesting things in my posts and thanks for all the lovely comments i received on my jaywalk dress!

emma

tessuti 2014 jaywalk competition - my entry

wow may is a busy month at our place - my eldest son (elvis) has his birthday and thanks to having a great bunch of friends from mum's group when our first bubs were born may is one long party month.  added to that a few kids from elvis' day care also have may birthdays, meaning at least one weekend day and sometimes both are taken up with parties.  i did get a chance to do a bit of sewing during may but not as much as normal.

one of the main things i worked on was my entry for the tessuti 2014 jaywalk competition. here's my entry, a close fitting dress with three quarter sleeves.  i used simplicity 2054, similar to the one i made in my recent post.

i made the front by cutting the black/neutral jaywalk into strips of various widths and sewing them back together.  i also used some black ponte for the sleeves and one horizontal stripe.  for the back i made a yoke and used the contrasting white/neutral jaywalk. similar to last time i made this dress i added back darts.

i sewed the strips together on my regular sewing machine using a small zig zag stitch.

i also used my regular sewing machine for all of the dress construction.  the one place i ran into a bit of trouble which i hadn't considered was at the neckline due to the bulk of fabric i created.  i used a walking foot here and it went together ok.

i am pretty happy how this turned out.  its great to challenge yourself and try something new.  i'm enjoying checking out all the other great entries - good luck everyone!

hopefully i'll be back soon to blog a few of the other things i made in may.

emma

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

gekkeiju (japanese laurel)

'gekkeiju' as i am reliably informed by google translator, means laurel in japanese.  this is a sleeveless colette laurel in a soft japanese cotton from tessuti.  one of the things i love about a sleeveless shift is the ability to wear it all year round - when it is cooler i wear them with a long sleeve tee, tights and boots.

i bought this fabric during the recent sydney sewcial - a fantastic day of eating, drinking, chatting sewing and fabric shopping.

here's an awesome pic taken by susan from measure twice cut once inside tessuti's surry hills store of little betty, sew amy sew and i having a great old chat behind these amazing japanese cottons.  i loved them all but decided on the blue.  actually looking at this pic i wouldn't mind getting the pink for a laurel top.

here's another one of susan's pics of me purchasing the fabric.  i had no idea she was taking these - i was too engrossed in the sewing chat and buying fabrics! i do love having a photographic memory of purchasing the fabric - wish i had susan out fabric shopping with me all the time.

on to the dress.  i hadn't made the laurel before, i bought it recently as i like the sleeve and top options.  i was a bit turned off previously that colette patterns are drafted for a c cup, but decided i really should just buy the pattern and do a sba.  i didn't realise it before i bought the pattern but the front does not have waist darts, meaning the pattern on this fabric remains intact.  like.

you can see the back waist darts here which mess with the look of the print.  overall i am pretty happy with the fit - i can still do some slight tweaking for future versions, but in general am pretty happy. particularly as the photo below shows my first muslin.

according to the pattern size chart i am a size 4 bust and size 8 waist.  i hadn't read anything on any of the blog reviews i read saying the pattern ran super large for them so i cut a straight size 8 and did my first sba. though i must admit i mainly just checked out the photos and scanned the reviews.

looking back i really should have flat measured the pattern and paid a bit more attention to the clues in the blog posts i read, particularly posts from similar sized sewists noting that they cut size 0 - 2.    after a couple of muslins i finally settled on cutting a size 2 bust (no sba) and graded down to 0 for waist and hips, with the following alterations:

• 3/8" forward shoulder adjustment (next time i will do 5/8" - this alteration was a first for me)
• redrafted armscye for a sleeveless version, i did this using style 2622 as a guide, as well as trial and error - as i wanted to be able to wear this dress in winter with a black tee underneath
• i also tapered the side seams further from the waist down when sewing up the dress.  i will probably taper a bit more next time.

i lined the dress with 'elegance' from martha pullen - 55% cotton and 45% silk, which i purchased online for $5m during a sale.  i read about this fabric on gertie's blog when the topic was suitable linings for summer dresses.  it was great to sew with and feels really nice on.

i finished the neck, arms and hem with black bias binding also from tessuti.  i sewed it on with the sewing machine and hand stitched it down.  it was a great job to do in front of the tv, particularly as the opening round of the afl took place over the weekend.

it's great to have a dress to remember the fun of the sydney march 2014 sydney sewcial by. 

just one last pic of the first outing for the dress - billy bragg @ the sydney opera house.

emma

plan b: vogue 8805

in the spirit of the real ernest flagg i am going to start a 'plan b' series on this blog.  plan b meaning a pattern that i make up twice or more.  i often seem to do this - while i'm making a pattern for the first time i am already thinking about another look for the pattern.  this is plan b: vogue 8805.

this pattern was popular on blogs a while back. i have been keen to make it up in ponte so i can wear it for work when i ride my bike and stuff my clothes in my panniers - we don't have ironing equipment at my office.

lucky for me i was able to check out some blog reviews and knew the pattern ran large before cutting.  according to the pattern i am a 12 for the bust and 16 for waist and hips, but i cut a straight 10.  its a straightforward quick make and am happy that it fits quite nicely.

the only change i made was to omit the back neck opening and cut 1cm from the neckline so i can pull on the dress over my head. for my taste the back of this dress is a bit boxy, i will probably go back and put some darts in.

for the second version i used a printed rayon and black cotton sateen after seeing this version on the tessuti blog. i also cut a 10.

i made a few more alterations to this one:

• extended the length of the middle piece and reduced the length on the lower piece
• cut 1.5cm off the neckline so i could again omit the back opening and still be able to pull the dress on
• added back darts
• tapered the sides at the waist fractionally 

i gathered the rayon to ease fit it to the top piece.  I did get a couple of small puckers but they aren't really noticeable.  i bound both necks with bias binding. i also finished the arm holes on the first version with bias binding as i sewed up the side seams before pressing up the hems, so used the binding to avoid fiddly turning and pressing.

for the second version i pressed up the arm hems prior to sewing the side seams and finished with a regular sewn hem. i went for red bias binding on the neck, as if you follow this blog you may have noticed there has been a lot of black and white around here.  some regular coloured programming will return soon!

emma

when lola became suzy

i have been meaning to sew a pair of loose elastic waist pants all summer.  i had been eyeing off the lola pant by style arc.  i like the waist detail - being a flat front and elastic back and also the elastic at the back cuff.  from the art work they look to be a narrow'ish fit, plus i haven't sewn style arc before.

when i finally decided elastic waist pants would be next up and looked into buying the pattern and i realised how gen y my sewing can be - even though i am clearly not gen y!  i was actually shocked when i couldn't find a pdf option - what wait for postage?? how could i?? this is something i haven't really done for patterns before since my return to sewing. i therefore made a last minute switch to suzy.

the suzy pattern from tessuti comes in pdf.  it seems i am in a minority in the sewing blog world, but i really like pdf patterns.  they are so now!  i don't mind putting them together at all.  i do all the cutting in a comfy chair then move to the floor or table to put them together depending how big they are.  lately i seem to be doing a better job at matching them nicely.

according to the tessuti website the suzy pant is a fun and relaxed pleated front pull on pant.  i used a rayon from spotlight but cut the pattern pieces on the cross wise grain so the wiggly lines of the pattern are vertical not horizontal.

the only thing i did different to the instructions was to use 25mm elastic, instead of 12mm.  i did originally use 12mm, but found that the pants dragged down a bit and therefore looked quite large around the hip area - perhaps this is because the rayon is a bit on the heavier side.  the 25mm elastic keeps the pants higher up and less baggy around the hips, but the trade off is the crotch seam sits a bit high.  next time i will consider lowering the crotch seam and lengthening the leg a smidg.

i went with the in seam pockets and was a bit confused at first by the instructions, but if you read them carefully and thoroughly (which often i don't do) it all makes sense and is quite easy.

i constructed them using my sewing machine with straight and zig zag stitch. am happy with this make - would like to try lola sometime, but have a feeling i will make a few more suzy's first.

am getting the itch to get stuck into some autumn and winter sewing now, is anyone else??

(lastly i should also say for a beautifully made and presented pattern from a great indie company i would be happy to wait for a hard copy in the post, but a quick pair of elastic waist pants really appeals to me in an immediate pdf format!)

emma