Dot Dress & Hiatus

My end of summer project was McCall's 5845, a fairly basic sheath dress with a low back that will be great for work.  I've had this dot fabric since I started sewing but was never sure what to make with it.  This dot top/black skirt combination reminds me of (and was probably unknowingly inspired by) Assorted Notions' version of the coffee date dress.

The only thing I changed from the pattern was to raise the back about 3 inches so that it will cover my bra.  Unfortunately I didn't think to check this before cutting out the back but luckily I had plenty of leftover fabric and was able to cut new pieces.  I fully lined the dress (it looks a little hybrid because I used an old dress lining for the skirt portion and made the top new).  I attached the invisible zipper by hand--it did take forever but I love the result!

This is my first time doing slant pockets and I really like them.  I didn't have a pattern but had checked out a few dresses with pockets like this at Ann Taylor and figured they would be easy enough to make...and they were!  This will probably be my new go-to pocket as I'm finding that side seam pockets on fitted skirts tend to splay open too much.

My next project for the fall is a jacket inspired by this one from Gap.  This will be my first attempt at sleeves and buttonholes so it will be quite a project.

This will probably be my last post for a while as I'm starting a part-time master's program next week while continuing my full time job.  Between school and work I won't have much spare time to spend on sewing, but any projects I do manage to complete I'll post here!

Tie-Front Top

I've been wanting to make a tie-front top for quite a while, since trying one on at Ann Taylor (not available anymore) and seeing this cute dress version from Very Purple Person.  So I scooped up McCall's 5884 at a Joann's sale a few weeks ago and found a great cotton shirting on clearance.  The fabric is very very tiny checks and pale green, not a color I wear a lot but it's so pale it almost becomes an off-white.

I love how the shirt turned out and am so glad I checked out Pattern Review before making it--according to almost all of the reviews the front is cut way too low, and I followed their advice and raised the front neckline almost 3-4 inches.  Thank goodness I did: if I hadn't the keyhole formed by the slit and the tied tie would have been down at my belly button!

I used a new technique (for me) to finish the armholes: bias binding.  I sort of followed Amanda's instructions but I didn't look at them until after I'd sewn the bias tape onto the raw edge, sandwiching it.  The fold under and sew took me a couple of tries but I followed her advice and used lots of pins and went really slowly and pulled the fabric as much as possible and I think it looks great!

I'm so happy with my tie-front shirt and am excited to have mastered the bias binding technique.  After cutting this only took me about 4 hours to complete--and it probably would have been 3 if I'd gotten the armholes right the first time!

Projects

My last few projects have either been from patterns or too straightforward for tutorials.  I made my first (successful) shirt from a pattern, Vogue 8495.

I love the yoke top and especially the sleeves (well way the should piece extends out to a point)!  This fabric is actually the Liberty of London scarf from Target.  They've been getting such great reviews and they're big enough to make shirts!  I got both patterns but haven't decided yet what to do with the darker one.

 My other pattern project was this bag from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing.  I used another pattern from this book for a gardening tote, and had a bit of a tough time following the written instructions with very few illustrations.  But after having done one pattern from her book I found this one much easier to follow and it took surprisingly little time to complete!

The strip of bias tape here is actually the opening of an outer pocket where you can put a magazine or newspaper.

I used a little of my favorite ginko fabric for the inside pocket.

I also made another skirt/shirt to dress creation.  The top I got at Target on clearance and the skirt came from a Betsy Johnson dress that I found at a thrift store years ago and could only wear as a swim suit cover up since it was huge!  I love the color combination and the dress is very comfy!

And finally now that I've been sewing for 8 months I decided to organize my fabric closet (instead of having piles of fabric hidden around the house in various bags and boxes like some very bizarre squirrel).  I doubt it'll last long but it looks great now!

Spring Skirt

I found this amazing fabric on sale at Joann's a few months ago and thought it would make a really cute spring skirt.  I used this Cynthia Rowley pattern for Simplicity--it has a nice high, defined waist and pockets (although now that I found this tutorial I can add pockets to anything!)

This was my first use of an invisible zipper and I didn't really understand the instructions so kind of messed it up (instead of it being completely invisible you can see the stitching around the sides).  But that's ok--the pattern is so busy you really don't notice.  Also if you look closely in the back the two sides don't line up--oops!

From cutting to finishing the skirt only took me a couple of hours--its so cute and easy I'm sure I'll make more, although maybe with a bit less volume.

I also wanted to share some better pictures of the first skirt I made:

 

My First Shirt

This is my first real shirt (buttons, sleeves, collar) and I think it turned out pretty well!  I used Simplicity Pattern 2601 and am obviously still not used to the sizing differences-again I was cautious and cut the fabric much bigger than I needed, especially for the back piece.  It was too big around the waist but I was able to put in a couple of darts in the back and it looks just fine and fits well.

This was also my first use of French seams.  The fabric definitely needed them as it frayed very easily and was sheer enough that you could see through to the seams.  I used this tutorial from Freshly Picked to get started and once I had done the first few it got pretty easy (although when attaching the lower sections of the shirt I had to repin a few times before it lined up correctly).  I really like the look of the French seams and am going to try to use them from now on--the extra ironing is a pain but in the end the inside of the piece looks so much better!

I also used bias tape to cover the neck and front (as in the pattern) and also on the seam where the sleeves attach to the shirt.  Unfortunately I didn't realize how much fraying had already happened when I got to this point and ended up with some frayed parts showing beyond the bias tape.  I was able to trim most of them and the rest will disappear over time (I hope).

If I were to make this shirt again the only thing I would change would be the width of the panel with the buttons.  It's a bit too narrow and when I'm wearing the shirt little gaps show between the two sides, nothing a few safety pins can't fix, but it is kind of annoying.  Overall I'm very happy with my first shirt attempt and can't wait to make another (my next one will be from my new sewing book: Sew U by Wendy)!

UPDATE--Next Project: Spring Dress from Simplicity Pattern

I've almost finished this dress (just need to add the sleeves and hem the bottom) and I've been really disappointed by the pattern.  It was impossible to understand the directions as to how to attach the pockets so I just ended up making something up on my own.  It worked fine but they don't lay as flat as I'd like.  I have, however, discovered my new favorite sewing trick: binding tape!  I'd never used it much before but had a packet lying around and decided to use it on the hems with the zipper, since the fabric was fraying a lot and kept getting caught in the zipper.  It makes it look so nice and finished!  I ended up putting it around the neckline as well (I had some problems with the liner) but I'm not sure yet if I like it...I'll have to wait until the sleeves are on to know for sure.  It'll end up being a cute dress but I'm glad I'd already used a dress pattern before, otherwise I would have been completely lost!


As I've mentioned a few times recently I kind of went overboard at the last Joann's sale and got a bunch of patterns and fabric.  My next project will be this dress with the sweetheart collar and cap sleeves (just like the picture on the left, but probably without the buttons.)  I love pockets in dresses and am really excited to learn how to make them!

 

I cut out the pattern pieces Monday night (even though I'm a 4/6 in real life I appear to be a 12/14 in pattern world!) and cut all the fabric last night so I'm ready to start sewing!  I'm using a great Simply Silky print from Joann that was 50% off on top of already being on clearance...it's a large print that kind of looks like brushstrokes in blue, brown, purple and yellow (hard to describe but very cute).  I realized after cutting the fabric that I didn't allow for matching the pattern where the 2 parts of the back meet, so hopefully it won't look weird!

My First Pattern

 I've been hesitant to buy patterns thinking that they will be too complicated and confusing but I actually found this one to be fairly straightforward.  When I first opened up the package and looked at the instructions I was a bit worried, especially since I didn't know all of the terms, but once I took the time to go through them slowly and was actually working with the fabric I found it to be pretty easy.  The hardest part was cutting out the fabric, since no matter how many times I looked at it I could not figure out how the diagram of how to place the pattern pieces on the fabric was supposed to work.  So I just cut out the pattern pieces and fit them on the fabric in my own way which worked just fine.

The pattern for this dress was unlined but I decided to do a lining since the gray fabric is fairly thin.  I spent a lot of time looking at dresses I had bought that were lined to figure out how it should work.  In the end it was really helpful to do a lining because a) it was sort of a test run before cutting the outer fabric to make sure all of the pieces were big enough and b) I didn't have to hem or make a different neck interfacing piece.

The hardest part of the dress (besides the cutting) ended up being the zipper.  The way I learned how to attach zippers is incredibly easy but I didn't realize until I was at the point of attaching it that I had already sewn up too much of the back.  I ended up having to undo that sewing and then put the zipper in the way I know how, which took a lot of time but was worth it.

I wore this dress to work last week and it was great--very classic and simple but easy to accessorize and the fabric is versatile enough that I'll be able to wear it almost year round!