Friday 30 May 2014

Finished Lolita paterns Sugar Plum

May I present to you - Sugar Plum!





I thought i would post this up this afternoon seing as sewing indie month was drawing to a close. This was the first time I had used a PDF pattern and to be honest it wasn't as bad as i was expecting! (bar the fact my table is faaar to small to construct the pattern on!!) although i still prefer having a paper pattern as they store so nicely!



I cut a size 10 and graded out to a size 12 on the waist on reflection i didn't need to cut the 12 as there was so much of the skirt I had to cut out. I removed about 3/4 of an inch (evenly over the centre front) and then another 1 1/4" from the centre back pieces. You can kind of see in the pic below that i still need to fix that little runkle in the back still. When I do that i think i'll also fix that back seam - I get the sneaking suspicion the tension wasn't set right


Runkle in the back skirt
The main changes made when constructing sugar plum were to omit the pockets and the zip - there was no need to put it in as the dress fit fine without it and I could easily get it on and off without the zip. and in saying that I don't even need to undo the buttons..... The pockets were also omitted because I didn't want to worry about lumps and bumps due to a forgotten tissue!


The fabric I used for this was cotton lawn for the top - leftover from a previous project (which ended up as a fail :-( ) and a ponte knit for the skirt. Both of which were purchased from Minerva Crafts in two separate shopping trips.

Strange instagrammed light effects!


and another picture of me lurking in the close. There was seriously no better place to take these pictures and my on call cameraman wasn't being all that compliant...



and finally it's good to see glasgow gearing up for the games - george square was getting dressed up at lunchtime anyways and our tickets arrived last week!


Have a good weekend guys - i'm off to the David Livingstone Centre :-)

JCS

Wednesday 28 May 2014

Finished a Colette Patterns Zinnia Skirt!

Hello :-) good day, good evening if you will.

So finally here is my entry for the stitchery studio's zinnia sewalong!

Colette Zinnia Skirt Version 2

So you may have seen this fabric in one of my previous posts and I only just realised that it's been a month since I started this skirt (and finished it too) however two mini breaks and a complete dress size weight fluctuation later ...and it fits again (almost)! Yuss!

So I wanted to give my zinnia skirt a summery feel and from the get go I was looking for something that I could wear day to day. The fabric is a lightweight 100 % floral cotton from remnant kings. I chose this fabric because I love wearing light floral clothes not only in (the three days of ) summer but through most of the year; this fabric fits in well with my wardrobe plan (thankfully) and will integrate well with my existing pieces. I altered the pattern slightly and omitted the belt loops as I don't intend to ever wear a belt with this skirt. I kept the pockets though. Everybody loves a good pocket (in fact I put on a similar Primark equivalent today and was devastated that it was sans pockets!!)


The skirt seemed to be a good length and I just used the standard hem length - for once i didn't chop inches off the bottom!!

I also changed the zip length as I couldn't find a 9 inch zip in a matching colour and couldn't be bothered going to at least two different shops in my lunch break, so went for a slightly shorter 8 inch zip which worked just as well. I was particularly proud of the invisibleness of the zip too :-). Cue close-up!




 The button I used was from my stash and is just a plain coloured button. I think it's probably intended for decorative use only however i think it goes pretty well with the colour scheme!

In terms of sizing for the skirt, I graded out from an 8 at the hips to a 10 at the waist. It could maybe do with moving the closure a little bit so i fits better but i'm hoping to shift those final few pounds :-D




I added this side view coz i think it shows the length quite well. Its sitting just above my knee.


and finally the obligatory twirl shot :-)


So all in all apart from the fact this skirt is still a little bitty too small I think i'll be making another one of these and making the waist another 1/2 size bigger.

Have a fun week all!

JCS

Thursday 22 May 2014

MMMay

Although not actively taking part in MMMay2014, I have been using this month as my own time to reflect on the current state of my wardrobe and identify where the gaps lie and what I can sew to fill these gaps.

I wasn't intending on doing this however my daily uniform of skinny levi's was eaten by the tumble drier and so I had really little option. Thinking about Colette's Wardrobe Architect silhouettes, my evolving personal tastes and what I actually already own, I have been wearing as many of the clothes as I can that have not seen the light of day in a good year to determine why it is that I no longer wear these items. The reason mostly is that they do not flatter my shape. Younger me clearly got the colours right - no yellows or anything too pale - however I did not know how to style my body shape correctly.

Whereas I'm a pretty standard height and my bust and hips seem to fit smack bang on most of the pattern sizing guides I usually have to grade up about two sizes for my waist. Something I never considered before I started to sew my own clothes. Previous skirts I have bought like this one from River Island just hung there and to put it simply just looked dreadful the whole day I wore it. I had no shape and had a boyish figure.



On the positive however, I rediscovered my tailored wardrobe, fitted shirts, belts and pencil skirts, which nip in at the waist and of course peplum tops which provide an illusion of a more hourglass figure.

My dress wardrobe remained largely unscathed - it would appear that my range of day dresses and evening wear is pretty much spot on in the shape stakes - again this involves a number of very fitted styles - a mixture of asymmetric and strapless included as well as a number with peplums and belt loops. (Yes I have a dress wardrobe, Yes it is full, Yes I love it, No the boyfriend does not- I get the feeling it's life is limited). Other more relaxed styles here include fitted bodices with full skirts. As long as there is a waist the style seems to work.

Having determined the styles which I like and which I love wearing every day has helped me come up with a sewing plan of items which can replace the jeans and give me the styles I desire and not replace the forgotten wardrobe items!

The first on the list is to remould this skirt into a a more fitted version of itself - i love the belt loops and the band on the bottom so I think it will be a case of unpicking the waistband and removing some of the excess material.

Other items on my list include:

Image from www.simplicity.com
A retro shirt dress - fitted top with a full skirt

image from www.victorypatterns.com
The Ava pattern has been on my to do list for a while in the top version - again I think the peplum is flattering on my figure

Image from: www.colettepatterns.com
Another shirt dress. I love this style and think it fits with my desired silhouettes
Image from www.tillyandthebuttons.com

The lilou. this has gone in straight to the top - a perfect styling of fitted top - waist detail and full skirt.
So hopefully after some self assessment in the styling stakes i'll be able to give my wardrobe the overhaul it deserves and at the same time sew with some clearer direction. how does everyone else choose what they will sew?

I do have another make which has been finished a while however the sizing issues occurring from another holiday has prevented any picture taking of this one!

Happy Thursday all!

JCS 

Friday 9 May 2014

Burda 8186 Progress

I'm going on a stag do he said.....I need to wear a waistcoat he said.....

A waistcoat??? This sounds like a sewing challenge! muahaha. Now my boyfriend does not do waistcoats - apparently they're not manly enough so this was the perfect opportunity for me to practice something a little different and sew something for someone else - also a chance to try making men's wear.

So after about half an hour on the minerva site (directed viewing as the initial 'you find a pattern and I'll make it' resulted in a 'where do I get a pattern?!' lost look), the choice was made:

Burda 8186

Now I'm not sure how noticeable it is however that's a 4* (bloody) difficulty rating! The challenge has commenced however with literally about 3 instructions and 8 pictures all squished into the area of a double sided postcard i think im gonna be on my own on this one :-(. It seems that you don't realise how much you depend on pictures as opposed to the written instructions!

That being said...the lining was easy enough to put together






(As usual) I got my fabric from one of Glasgow's stores Mandors. They don't have an online site but I don't mind the love the chance to look around the store! So I picked up a lovely paisley print red lining fabric. It still needs pressed but the back pleat to allow movement and all the darts were quite apparent as to where they go. I'm thinking it's maybe the rest of the suit which merits the difficulty!

Hopefully get this finished up tonight..

Have a good weekend all!

JCS

UPDATE: Here is the link o view the finished waistcoat

Friday 2 May 2014

Sewing Indie Plans

Soo what better news to start the weekend with than the news of...


Sewing Indie Month


Yuss! The perfect inspiration for a very grey and uninspiring weekend here in Glasgow!

I even borrowed the works printer to pint off the 18 pages of my intended design:
Image borrowed from (http://www.lolitapatterns.com/sugar-plum/)

This will make THE most ideal item of work wear for my wardrobe.

I love it when I have inspiration for my next make! Hopefully also I will get the chance to source some other awesome designs before the month is out.

Have a great weekend all!

JCS