unseasonal skirts

I've done quite a bit of sewing during COVID working from home, but have been slow to post things here. I aim to add a few of my makes before the end of the month, starting with these two skirts which were both made about three months ago.
First up is the Dolores Skirt from Le Maison Victor magazine in May Gibbs Flannel Flowers fabric in midweight cotton from Nerida Hansen. The May Gibbs print is lovely, and such iconic Australiana. This is the midnight shade - the fabric also comes in pink, summer blue and lemon, but I felt those paler shades did not show the print as clearly. This deep blue allows the flowers and bush babies to stand out.

This skirt is a very simple style and straightforward make, just a gathered button up skirt with a waistband and pockets. The gathering is uneven and almost pleated at parts, but because it's relatively full I felt the imperfections don't really show up enough to be worth redoing. The attention is drawn to the print, rather than the size of the gathers.

The buttons are dark wood from Spotlight. I considered white buttons to fit with the print but in the end the wood buttons suited the fabric better, by matching both the tone and feel of the print. 

I really like the length of this skirt. I have a few skirts in this below the knee length, all with moderate fullness. They're relaxed and easy to wear and dress up and down.

This second skirt is from Burda magazine, issue 12/2016, pattern 105. The pattern is a very basic fitted skirt shape, but with the curved zip closure. The pattern actually suggests also having a hidden side zipper, but it isn't necessary so I omitted it. The zipper is a double slide zipper, with slides at top and bottom. I've had it in my stash for a while after picking it up for 50c at an op shop a few years back. When I bought it I didn't have a pattern to use it for, but it really seemed like it would suit a skirt. The zipper is slightly shorter than the pattern asked for so doesn't quite reach the hem, but it didn't affect the making of the skirt.

Construction was mostly straightforward. Inserting the zipper along the curved seams was a bit fiddly, but mostly just required careful pinning in place and sewing slowly to ensure it remained even. It was slightly bumpy when I finished sewing it but that was easily fixed by pressing the stitching. The harder part was attaching the facing behind the top of the zipper curve. The extra bulk meant that the front of the skirt sits about half a centimetre above the back to accommodate the seam allowance even after it was trimmed back. If I'd thought beforehand I might have made the right front (the lower curve) finish half a centimetre lower to help the waist align properly, but it's a minor imperfection.

The fabric is a Liberty of London cotton twill bought from the fabric store, although I can't remember the name of the print and it doesn't seem to be available on their website anymore. The weight is perfect for the pattern, because it has body and holds shape but was still able to handle curved seams. I liked the print as well - it's colourful but still pretty simple and versatile and works well with a lot of things.

Gathered Traffic Blouse

It's Me Made May once again, so with lots of sewists around the world I'm aiming to wear me-made clothes every day this month. Hopefully it will also prompt me to post my unblogged makes here as I wear them. Like this blouse started late last year and finished last month.

The pattern is the Gather Blouse from Japanese pattern book She Has A Mannish Style (English-language version now called She Wears The Pants). The oversized shape gives it a more masculine line which is softened by the gathered back, curved hem and close-fitted round collar. The fabric is a Liberty tana lawn from The Fabric Store. The print is Hunter Truck C which The Fabric Store don't seem to have in tana lawn anymore but the corduroy is still on their website. I thought the more stereotypically masculine car print in feminine pinks made it a perfect match for the pattern.

The piece of fabric was not quite large enough to fit all the pieces on it. So I had a look through my stash to see what else I had that would work with the print and match the weight of tana lawn. I'm not sure when or where I bought this basic black cotton, but it was exactly the right fabric to complement the cars. I decided to cut the front yoke, placket, sleeve cuffs and collar stand out of the black fabric so that it would be enough contrast but not become the focus. I think using the black for contrast helps the blouse not be so overwhelming with its print and also highlights the design lines of the pattern.

I made most of this blouse last year, except for the collar, buttonholes and buttons. I really wanted to make this blouse look as polished as I could, and collars and buttonholes have tripped me up a bit before so I put them off initially. The collar includes a collar stand, not just a basic top and undercollar piece, and my copy of the pattern book is entirely in Japanese with just illustrations to guide me, so I was a bit daunted. I did it very slowly over a number of days, doing one step or part step at a time, then taking a step back to look at it and check it looked right. Sewing the front and back collar stand down evenly was difficult and I had to redo it because my first attempt was uneven and didn't catch both layers. The curved edge at the front doesn't look fantastic, but it's not really visible so I'm happy enough with it.

I then still needed to do the buttons and buttonholes. At first I delayed because I hadn't decided what buttons to use, then had to go and buy some black buttons to match the placket. But I'm really not a fan of doing buttonholes, and had just finished making a skirt (not blogged yet) with a button front that my machine had some real issues with, so I wasn't in the mood to do another set of buttonholes. In the end when I pulled this back out last month the buttonholes were very quick and easy. The placket is interfaced and the black fabric has a slight stiffness to it which meant it was stable and smooth through my machine, so the buttonholes were all done in about half an hour. It took at least twice as long to sew the buttons on!

I used a twin needle to do black topstitching along the around the pockets, on the front and back yokes and along the hem. Because the pattern is quite busy the topstitching is not particularly visible - with the possible exception of around the pockets - but it gives a much neater and more professional finish, especially in keeping the seams flat along the yoke.

It took a long time but I'm incredibly happy with how this blouse turned out. I think the fabric and pattern complement each other perfectly. The style is also good for the current social distancing work from home situation - it's not a formal workwear blouse, but it is dressed and a few steps above pyjamas. It's a relaxed style but with professional touches, and I'm sure it will get lots of wear for many years.

Temperatures Climbing Dress

What do you do when it's going to be 40 degrees celsius (104 fahrenheit) and you still need to go to work? You make a light, loose dress the night before in preparation.

It's already been a hot summer here, and we're barely two weeks in. When the forecast for Thursday was for a 40 degree day I had a look through my wardrobe but there was nothing that was cool enough and ok to wear to work. So I decided I'd grab some cotton from my stash and make something.

Initially I was thinking of making a more typical sundress and even selected a pattern, but then realised its large number of pieces, zipper and fitted shape would be more complicated and be hard to get done in one night. So I decided a loose shape would be best, something with minimal shaping and only a few pieces.

I didn't use a pattern for this dress, instead drawing a quick sketch of the image in my head on my phone's note taking app. I decided to make the front with three pieces with diagonal seams to give a hint of shape. Although I didn't use a pattern the trapeze shape and lines are similar to a few other patterns, such as the Collins Top from In The Folds or the Sway Dress from Papercut Patterns.

The fabric is a Liberty of London tana lawn, Howells Ladders in orange/yellow from The Fabric Store. Tana lawn is beautifully soft and light, which makes it perfect for the heat. And the ladder print goes well with the "climbing" name for the post.

Because I didn't use a pattern the dress isn't quite perfect. The neckline is a little deeper than planned, the shoulders a little wider, the length a centimetre or two short. It's probably more of a beach coverup than workwear, but on extreme heat days comfort is the key.

It has been a long time since my last update, but I do have a few makes from this year that are ready for photographing and posting. Now that this very busy year is almost over, hopefully I'll have time to catch up a bit.

Lorenzo Jungle Dress

This is the Lorenzo Jungle Dress, a casual winter/trans-seasonal dress.  The fabric is a Liberty Lantana called Lorenzo from The Fabric Store. It's 80% cotton and 20% wool, so it's a similar weight to a flannelette but nicer feel and quality.

My initial thought for this fabric was to make a pinafore. But the fabric is very colourful and the print pretty kitschy so I was concerned it might be a bit too childish made into a pinafore. I flicked through my patterns to see what else I had that might work for the fabric and saw the dress on the cover of Stylish Dress Book (pattern E in the book) and thought it could work. I couldn't decide between the two so posted both options on Instagram asking for opinions, and the stylish dress book pattern narrowly won out.

I have made this before in a wool a number of years ago and retired it from my wardrobe earlier this year. So I knew it was something I could make easily, and knew the changes I'd want to make sewing it up a second time. Given how loose and full the dress is I decided to lengthen the hem and also narrow the pieces. The front is pleated and the lower back of the dress is gathered, so it was easy to reduce the bulk by placing the pieces over the fold line so that they were smaller. I also cut the pieces straight up the sides as the weight of this material didn't need anything extra.

This dress is an incredibly easy make. There are very few pieces, one for the front, two for the back, sleeves and patch pockets. The sleeves are cut a little narrow and do not have much in the way of fullness and the sleeve cap. Combined with the loose trapeze shape this can mean that the dress rises up when lifting up your arms, another reason why I lengthened the hem. For the hem I added around 10cm so that I would have enough extra fabric there to do some trial and error on deciding the right length.

In the end I think this dress struck a good balance in using the kitschy fabric but not turning out too childish. It's a fun print, and while it's probably designed with childrenswear in mind, I love a great print and don't think there's any problem with adults wearing something bright. This definitely isn't work wear, but I think it will find a good place in my wardrobe.

The Liberty Blouse

Although it's been a while since I posted, I have done a fair amount of sewing in the past few months, and even photographed a few things, but haven't gotten around to editing the photos and writing about them. This blouse is one I started making in August, although it took over a month to finish.

The fabric is a Liberty of London Tana Lawn from The Fabric Store. The print on the fabric has an art deco feel, so my initial plan was to use a 1930s blouse pattern. Unfortunately the only 1930s blouse pattern I own needed much more fabric, so I took a look back through my patterns to find something more classic that would let the fabric do the talking.

The pattern is a re-released 1940s pattern from Simplicty, number 8243. Despite the stylised art on the pattern envelope, the sleeves are nowhere near as full. I was almost unsure about using this pattern because I didn't want big sleeves, but in the end the fit of the pattern was much slimmer than the drawing suggested.

While the blouse mostly sewed up very easily, one of the buttonholes on the sleeve cuff was very petulant. Part of the difficulty was that the cuffs are close fitting, so the buttonhole needs to be close to the edge. This meant that if I wasn't careful I'd sew over the seam allowances inside the cuff which pushed my stitching out of line. Fortunately, after two failed and unpicked attempts, the third try worked and I was able to finish the blouse off

It took me longer to finish this blouse than I'd planned because of the problems with the cuff. I had worried that I wouldn't finish it in time to wear before the weather warmed up, but since finishing I have been wearing it to work regularly. The Liberty fabric is soft and comfortable, so it's still comfortable to wear the long sleeved blouse in Spring.

The Making Summer Happen Dress

A dress in this fabric has been a long time coming for me. It's Liberty of London Madras Check Hyderabad E. I've taken the bolt out at The Fabric Store probably every time I've been in there in the last two years but always put it back because the pink is very pink and the roses are very yellow, so I worried that the fabric might be a bit overwhelming. But restrained colours and prints just aren't me. So when the Fabric Store had one of their one-day sales last month I finally bought 1.5 metres ot make a dress.

The name of the dress comes from my work. Each year at my work we have a christmas/end of year decorations competition on our floor. This year there was a theme, one person's trash is another person's treasure. Our branch made a beach-themed diorama, complete with offcuts of the roses on this fabric as garden and repurposed sign edited from making it happen to making summer happen. I wore the dress - and we won!

The pattern is Weigel's 1358. Madame Weigel was an Australian pattern maker from the late 19th Centure to the mid 20th Century, most of that time run by Madame Weigel herself. I'm not 100% sure when this pattern is from, but based on the cut of the dress and the styling of the pattern envelope I'd guess it's from the mid 1950s.

The dress was very easy to make, but the instructions are very brief, just two short columns on an A4 piece of paper and one diagram of the cutting layout. I've noticed this on some older patterns - there was a clear understanding that women learned how to sew and didn't need much in the way of specifics of how to make a dart or insert a zipper.

I made a three changes to the pattern when making this, all to the skirt. The skirt is meant to be cut all in one piece with only one side seam. But the fabric is a check, and the lines would have sat at a strange angle along the centre front cut that way, so instead I cut two skirt pieces on the grain. I also raised the hem and gave it a slight high-low shape, ending just above the knee at the front and at the bottom of the knee at the back, and added pockets.

The only slight annoyance I have is that I cut the bodice slightly off centre. I was very careful when placing the skirt piece on the fabric to  make sure the centre front was in the middle of the check, but I didn't take the same care on the bodice, so the blue stripes are just a bit mismatched.

I love how this dress - or this "chic little model" as the instructions describe it - looks. The square neckline is a nice difference, and having a side zipper instead of a back zipper gives it a cleaner look. It has very simple darts in the front and back, extending up slightly over an inch from the waist. The very minimal sewing still allows the dress to fit well but also have a lot of ease of movement.

It's a very simple and versatile pattern, so I can see myself making many versions and variations on it. But for now I'll enjoy the bright pinks and yellows of this one.

The Pais-Liberty Skirt

I've been a bit slack on posting for a while, and very slack on my Vintage Pledge for this year but with this post I'm starting to rectify that with this colourful paisley print skirt.

This skirt is a very simple and classic A-line. The pattern is Simplicity 8363 from 1969. I made version 1, without the pockets or suspenders. It's a teen sized pattern which are sized a bit differently (they generally have a wider waist and narrower bust) but I didn't have to make any adjustments. Given the skirt is A-line, it simply needed to fit my waist and the shape would be fine on the hips.

This was a very straightforward sew. I've made this skirt before, version 4 in a fabric almost identical to the envelope. This time it's the plainest version of the skirt possible. I've done French seams again, so everything is neat and tidy inside. The waist facing was hand sewn for neatness, but the hem is machine done. I don't tend to like visible stitching, but the fabric is so busy that the stitching doesn't stand out.

The fabric is from The Fabric Store. It's Liberty Darlington Twill. I haven't sewn with Liberty much because it is pricey and I don't want to mess it up, but it is so lovely to sew. It cuts easily and evenly and glides through the machine, and the colours are so wonderfully vibrant. The fabric also simply feels great, unlike some others, especially cheap polyester. I have a few more pieces of Liberty in my stash, so maybe I will be motivated to pull them out and use them.

The jumper I'm wearing with this skirt is another new make, which should be up very soon too. And I have a few more things finished, partly made or ready to go, so hopefully this blog will become a bit more active - at least for a while.