it's all about the fabric - pitt trading double knit (cynthia rowley simplicity 2054)

in my sewing i often seem to sew a lot of one type of garment for a while before swapping to another garment type.  at the moment its dresses, and more particularly the knit dress.

the fabric is a double knit from pitt trading.  i was drawn to the fabric as soon as i saw it on the pitt trading IG feed.  i wasn't able to get in store so called and ordered the fabric over the phone - the service was very helpful and quick.

the girl i spoke to at pitt trading initially called the fabric 'scuba like' when i was describing it.  i was a bit worried as i don't find thick scuba suitable for dresses, but she assured me it would be ok for a dress and she was right.  i have worn this many times already and the material breathes fine.  the fabric is also reasonably slippery so perfect for wearing with tights.  but the thing i love most about this fabric is the COLOURS!! the bright colours are perfect to brighten up dull winter days.

the pattern is my tnt for knit dresses - cynthia rowley simplicity 2054.  i have made this pattern many many times before.  i make a size 10 even though my waist and hip measurements are between size 14 and 16.  i vary the seam allowance width depending on the stretch and thickness of the fabric - for this fabric i used 3/8".  i also add two darts at the back to get a fitted result.

for this version i went for 3/4 length sleeves as i was worried that the fabric would not breath well - but as i said i haven't had any troubles with this.  the pattern has a binding for the neckline but for this dress i turned the neck under 1/4" and used a twin needle which worked out fine. 

so yes its definitely another 'no iron work wardrobe' win woot woot and yes i really need to make a grainline morris blazer as i only have one rtw work jacket and a whole bunch of cardys.

while i do love this pattern i am keen to try some new knit dress patterns too - next on my to make list is the named inari tee dress, hopefully i will be blogging one soon!

emma

darn cheap fabrics seasonal challenge - autumn 2015

woot woot it's a blog post, it's been a while and i am very happy to be back posting.

firstly, i should note that my blog graphics have been vastly improved by the very talented alex from when all you need is...  she has done an AMAZING job for me and am really happy that my graphics now reflect a bit of the real ernest flagg.

back to the challenge - a seasonal challenge where lara and i use the same fabric from darn cheap fabrics and make up whatever takes our fancy.  i had some surgery on my leg and haven't been able to travel to melbourne for a while so lara did the choosing this time.  when she messaged me a pic of the fabric i loved it immediately, if i had been at dcf with her it is definitely a fabric i would have been drawn to straight away. lara's message said it was a poly knit, almost like a fine gauge jumper knit. its a lovely fabric and very stable to sew.

my make is a moneta / lady skater mash up and i am thrilled with how it worked out.  i have never hacked patterns together before but figured a knit would be very forgiving so went for it without a stunt run.

i have made the lady skater previously, a great pattern but the main problem for me, as rachel points out is also an issue for her with the dixie diy ballet dress is that it hugs the tummy a bit too much for me.  hence i thought the moneta would be a good option as it has a gathered skirt.

i bought the colette moneta pattern before googling for reviews.  once it was in my inbox i started to look for some reviews and rachel's was one of the first that came up.  she points out that she got excess fabric in the upper bust area.  when i stuck the pdf together it struck me that the bodice looked like a weird shape at the side seams so i decided to do a mash up with the kitschychoo lady skater.

i did the following simple mash up:

• used the lady skater bodice, straightened off the bottom and added the moneta neckline
• used the moneta skirt

i used 3/8" seam allowance throughout, except for joining the bodice to the skirt where i used 1/2" to give me a smidgen more allowance to help get some nice gathers. when joining the bodice to the skirt i started the gathers in ernest from about 1 and 3/4"from the side seams so that i don't get extra bulk near my hips.

i constructed the entire dress on my overlocker (a first for me) and used a twin needle on my sewing machine for the neckline and hems.  about a minute after sewing the shoulders and sleeves on it occurred to me that i really should have lined the bodice but at this stage i couldn't be bothered unpicking the sleeves. its ok, but i might look into getting a slip to wear underneath it for a bit of extra warmth in winter.

this will be a great dress for work and works well with a black jacket.  it is a perfect addition to my 'no iron' work wardrobe. win!

doing all of the construction on my overlocker made this an incredibly quick make and i will be on the look out for another suitable fabric to make this dress again to add to my no iron work wardrobe. i am quite new to turning under necklines and sewing them down with a twin needle.  does anyone have any tips on how to approach the shoulder seams? my machine struggles getting over the seam bulk.  having said that i really should just start using my cover stitch machine now i seem to have conquered my fears with overlockers… 

even though its been a while since posts i have been doing a lot of sewing so if i can get some photos taken i have lots more to show you in future posts.

now i'm excited to go and check out lara's make.

emma

scout pops and boo

i saw this new season spring 2015 liberty called pops and boo on tessuti's instagram feed recently and decided there and then that i really wanted some.  i quite like the colours and design, but am wondering if i am drawn to it because it reminds me of my kids drawings?! given the busy pattern i thought a grainline scout would work well.  i've made a few scouts previously, but have only blogged one of them.

for this one i used the same modified pattern that i used for my lurex one, which is just a bit tapered at the waist so its not as boxy at the original pattern.

i cut a size 4 and taper the the sides, although my measurements fit with size 4 for bust and size 10 for waist.  the fit i get is pretty snug, but i'm happy with it.  the pattern suggests you need 1 2/3 yards for a size 4, which if my google converter is correct is about 1.5m.  I bought 80cm of the liberty and comfortably cut the pattern with left overs for future facings - NOTE: see below for discussion on using contrasting bias binding.

 
the skirt is my last (for now) megan nieslen kelly in midi length.  its made from some fabric i bought at clear it at a melbourne blogger meet up.  i originally made it up into simplicity 2215, but found that the medium weight of the fabric was not great for the amount of pleats in the simplicity pattern, particularly around the hips.  so i cut it apart and re-made it into this skirt.  i am really happy with how it turned out and am glad i persisted.  the only reason i persisted though was because i bought the fabric at a fun meet up and wanted to make sure i put it to good use!

 
for my scouts (or any garment that requires bias binding finish really) i use a contrasting fabric, usually left over lawn or rayon or something similar.  i do this so i can keep my left over fabric of the garment i am making in a large usable size without a big bias cut in the middle of it.  for this one i used some lemon coloured lawn.

 
for the neck bias binding i used the pattern piece, but instead of making double fold bias binding i made single fold.  it worked out fine, however the bias binding finish is narrower than intended.  i also finish the sleeves with bias binding on the scout as the curved hem on the cap sleeves makes it a bit fiddly to hem - i find the bias binding easier.  all seams are finished with french seams.

i am sure this will get lots of wear for the rest of this summer and then SS2015 and sew on and sew on!


emma

darn cheap fabrics seasonal challenge - summer 2014/15

welcome to instalment no.2 of the darn cheap fabrics seasonal challenge - summer 2014/15.  for background info on the concept see my post on the first challenge.

my family had christmas in melbourne which gave me a chance to visit dcf with lara (and a bunch of other great melbourne bloggers) to choose our challenge fabric. it was really fun shopping trip!  lara and i settled on a summery linen printed with pineapples, toucans and zebras.  we could have actually settled on a few fabrics as we purchased 3 of the same fabrics and a fourth that we both bought in a different colour.

i went for another megan nielsen kelly skirt lengthened to be a midi.  i made one in pineapple linen from darn cheap fabrics recently and really like it so i decided to make another - actually it's my third as i have made another from the african wax print i bought in johanesberg shown at the bottom of this post, yet to be blogged.

there is not much to say about the construction of this skirt that i haven't said in previous kelly posts.  i am just really rapt with how it looks.  one thing i didn't mention in my pineapple kelly post is that the black tee is a maria denmark kirsten kimono tee (a free pattern!) that i made to wear with the pineapple skirt.  the fabric is a soft dkny jersey from the fabric store.

as with my other kellys i bound the pocket seam, in purple bias this time and did french side seams. 

this is my second last kelly midi for the moment. i've got another in black that i am nearly finished, i just need to sew the buttons on.  but my midi love affair is not ending as i am eyeing off the sewaholic crescent skirt which i want to lengthen to midi.  i also want to start making a few shorter a-line skirts for winter too. skirts skirts skirts!

i saw a sneak peak of lara's make on IG but am very keen to see the full dress and make up the pattern myself!

i'm already looking forward to the next challenge - autumn 2015.

emma

simplicity 1366 - cheap whales

happy new year - it's another simplicity 1366! my others are here, here and here. i really like the style of this pattern and how easily it comes together.

i got this whale fabric at darn cheap fabrics at a blogger meet up in melbourne just before christmas. i had seen the white colour way in the dcf online shop previously and although i kind of liked it i couldn't imagine what i would make with it.

at the dcf store they had the mint green colour way with a photograph of a designer whale tee - i really should have paid more attention though as i can't remember who the designer was.  i figured i should be able to get a short sleeved tee out of 80cm, so for the sake of $13 i should give it a go.

i'm really happy with how it turned out, but realise that whales won't be everyones cup of tea!

the dcf website says that the white colour way is a knit fabric with stretch. however the mint green colour way that i purchased has no stretch.  to accommodate this and ensure that the back sat nicely i made a high low hem line (future ernest notes: add 2 1/4" to back and 1.5" to front to make high low hem line).

i originally planned to add binding to the neckline and sleeve hems using some left over royal blue ponte, like the inspiration photo in the dcf store.  when cutting though i forgot i was going to change the neckline from boat to something more circular so i could use binding. in the end i just left it plain and used the blue ponte to bind the neckline instead.

for the neckline binding i use a single strip of ponte (rather than doubled as per the instructions) to save on bulk.  i cut the strip using a rotary cutter so the finish is pretty good even though it has an exposed raw edge visible in the above and below photos.

yes there are still more 1366ers coming!


emma

pineapple kelly midi

my personal fabric buyer lara has certainly come through with the goods recently! after seeing a great linen printed with pineapples on darn cheap fabrics' instagram feed my personal shopper was kind enough to pick me up 1.2m.

my first thoughts were it would make a great skirt.  i love the megan nielsen kelly skirt, which i made here and here last summer.  so i thought a midi kelly would work for the fabric.

i lengthened the skirt by 6 inches, mainly because that is the length my 1.2 metres of fabric would allow and am really happy with how the length looks. i didn't make any other alterations.

construction for this skirt is the same as my two previous kellys. i really love the kelly pattern. i like how easy it is - mostly straight line sewing, but that the finished skirt has a really nice shape to it.  the fabric was a dream to sew, it has a nice linen feel and you can finger press it well as you go along.

i have read a few bloggers say that the back pleats on the kelly add volume at the back where its not really wanted, but given the busyness and weight of this fabric i think it works ok in keeping a slim look.

the weather of late in sydney has been quite tropical, hot days and late storms - its actually hailing as i type this.  the light has made photo taking challenging with my limited abilities, the pic below was the best of the full length shots, but still blurry and dark.

like my last two kellys i finished the pockets with bias binding and french seams for the side seams to keep everything clean and neat on the inside.

i used bias binding on the hem too to keep the length close to what it was cut at.  i absolutely love this skirt and have already cut another in the wax print i bought in south africa at the start of the year, but have added 7 inches to the length so i can turn up a proper hem.

yep this one is a winner!

quite a few other bloggers have this fabric and am really keen to see what they all make up.


emma

darn cheap fabrics seasonal challenge - spring 2014 (+ giveaway winner)

in august i took a trip to melbourne and went to lunch, drinks and fabric shopping with a bunch of melbourne bloggers.  i got to meet lara from thornberry. i've always admired lara's style, envied her output, but best of all we both share a love for darn cheap fabrics.  even though lara lives in melbourne and i live in sydney and we have always shopped at dcf separately we have actually bought quite of few of the same fabrics in the past.

lara kindly bought and posted me some fabric from dcf that wasn't available online after we both liked the fabric on instagram.  when talking over email about this purchase i asked lara if she would like to do a dcf seasonal challenge, where each season we collectively choose a fabric, make it into whatever we want and then post on our blogs.

so here's our first challenge - spring 2014.  lara bought the fabric as i haven't been down to melbourne for a few months.  the plan was for lara to take a few pictures of fabrics she liked, sms them to me and we would choose the challenge fabric.  unfortunately lara's phone battery went flat at dcf (i totally know the feeling - it happened to me when i was looking at some merino for kirsty one time) so lara chose the fabric and i decided to wait til it arrived in the post to find out what it was.

lara chose 2 fabrics, but i decided to go with the knit and make a matching top (simplicity 1366) and skirt (new look 6228) both of which i have made before here and here. am sure lara will have better details on the exact fabric type/content on her post - she has great fabric knowledge, needless to say i love her selection.

there is not much to add about construction and fit for these versions.  i made an 8 in the top, added 2 1/4" to the length and shortened the sleeves the same as my previous version.  i made the skirt with 1 piece for the front and 1 piece for the back, rather than cutting it in panels, as per the pattern.  to do this i cut out the panels using an old sheet, sewed them together so i had 1 piece for the front and 1 piece for the back and then used this as my pattern.  i also added 4 1/2 inches to the length.  

i'm pretty happy with how it turned out, the one thing i am a bit disappointed with is the way the top pools near the hem at the back - you can kind of see it in the photo above left. none of my other versions have done this, but they are made from heavier knits.

i am planning on wearing the skirt and top together at times, but will also get a lot of wear from the pieces as separates too. below is how i wore the top to work today.

here's another pic showing the pooling at the lower back.

i had to cut the waistband across the stretch as i didn't have enough fabric to cut it with the stretch, so i didn't need to use any elastic in this version.  i can't remember how much fabric there was but i think it was around 1/1.5m or so, so am very happy i was able to get 2 pieces from it.

i'm really looking forward to seeing what lara has made, i have seen a few progress shots on instagram - but am looking forward to seeing the final product.

finally if you got this far, the lucky winner of the fabric from my giveaway is Christy - whose name was pulled out of a hat by the other mr flagg. congratulations!! i will send you a message on instagram to get your postal details.

thanks for sharing the fun of the challenge lara!

emma