The Meridian

This is the Meridian Dress from Papercut Patterns. I've made quite a few patterns from Papercut and always find them well designed and clear to follow. The styles are relatively straightforward but often have nice design details that make them a little more interesting. The shape of this dress is pretty simple but the shaping the waist ties give to the bodice a lovely shape.

The fabric is a vintage Viyella I was given by a friend of my parents. Her aunt had a large fabric collection, and I was given this Viyella and a few pieces of raw Thai silk from the 1940s/50s. I have no ideas for the silk, but this Viyella obviously had to be a winter dress. Luckily it's the right time of year here to make a long sleeve wool dress. Being Viyella it's beautifully soft, light and warm.

This dress is the shorter length version of the Meridian Dress with long sleeves. I didn't make any adjustments in making it, and made a straight size XXS. The dress is pretty straightforward to sew. The front bodice pieces are a little confusing, and there was initially a slight gap when connecting the bodice and skirt pieces together. Because the bodice has a centre front seam as well as the ties it is a bit awkward joining it to the skirt. What I found worked was following the pattern and the stitching up the small gap the was left in the centre front. Given that the ties wrap across it also doesn't matter if the stitching is perfect because it will be hidden anyway when worn.

Viyella tends to fray so all the seams are overlocked, including inside the waist ties. The back is closed with a zipper and button. The button is a self cover button made with one of the leftover scraps. I bought an invisible zipper foot for my Janome machine so this invisible zipper is properly sewn in. I was even able to match the print up almost as close to perfect as possible. I had been pretty careful with the layout of the pattern on the fabric to try and make sure it would match on the back as that's the most visible seam, and the bodice back worked out really well. The bodie front is not evenly matched, but given the wrap ties it isn't really noticeable.

The dress sits at just above the natural waistline on me. I find Papercut's patterns are often slightly short in the waist. I'm 5'6" but longwaisted so with the skirt this pattern is still the correct length but I have found a few of their patterns in the past ended up a little shorter than I wanted. However being a narrow build, for this pattern the ties wrapping around at a low empire line probably works better than if they sat at my natural waist.

I made this dress back in June and photographed it in early July. It's been worn a few times in the last two months and has gotten many compliments. It's a very easy dress to wear - really the only thing slightly awkward with this dress is ironing the ties without leaving creases in the bodice. But overall it's a simple thing to throw on and a relatively easy sew for something that looks fairly elegant and much fancier than it is to make, which is generally my favourite type of pattern.

Linen Legs

And a third Me Made May post! I made these trousers in the summer to be a lightweight pair to wear to work on hot days. But they are still getting wears little more than a week before winter because the temperature hasn't cooled down yet. They're soft and light and very easy to wear, work appropriate but not overly formal. The top was also made a few months ago, mostly to wear to work but also as a step above casual.

I'm pretty sure the fabric for the trousers is a linen/cotton blend. I bought it as a remnant from an op shop for $2 and there was no tag or detail, but it feels and looks like linen but without so much creasing. I did a burn test and it turned to grey ash, so it is either cotton or linen or a combination. Luckily because it isn't pure linen they don't crush too much, but they do show some creases by the end of the day.

The pattern is Simplicity 8243, a 1940s blouse and trouser pattern described as 'sportswear'. While this is my first time making the trousers I have used the pattern before, making the blouse as my Liberty Blouse. They are a vintage pattern but they don't look costumey. The line drawings on the pattern envelope make the trousers look very loose and wide-legged, but they are actually fairly fitted from the waist to the hips. I noticed the same thing when I made the blouse, the 1940s illustrations are more exaggerated than the final product. 

These are very simple trousers, wide, straight legged, with small pleats at the front. The pockets are stitched closely in to the side which holds them a bit too tight, unfortunately as with so many women's patterns they are also on the small side. The trousers have a centre back invisible zipper and a hook and bar at the waistband. The zipper is an invisible zipper, but I didn't have an invisible zipper foot so it isn't the best insertion, but at least being charcoal in colour it doesn't stand out too badly. Because the fabric is a linen blend all the seams are overlocked to prevent fraying.

The top is the Tonic Tee from SBCC Patterns, made in a floral lycra jersey I got last year from a Spoolettes fabric swap. I'ts a very soft yellow-cream with a touch of pink, with small floral and leaf print. I made the extra small, which was the second smallest size. I chose that size as it's just a little looser which works well for a top that can be worn for work. Because it's slightly looser it looks better when tucked into something with a fitted waist.

 I've been wearing this top and trousers since I made them but only photographed them this morning. Me Made May has been good for getting me to get around to post my backlog of makes, as I document what I'm wearing each day. Whether I keep this pace up after the end of the month is a different question!

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 Spring Garden Pants

I've been meaning to learn how to sew pants. I have tried a few times, but it's always daunting and I'm never as happy with how they turn out as with my other makes. But I wanted some new pants to wear to work, so I decided it was time for my next attempt at them. I own a few pants patterns and am planning to work my way up through them by difficulty level. Fitted side zip pants seemd like the easiest place to start.

The pattern is Vintage Vogue V9189, a high waisted pattern with two shorts lengths and two pants lengths originally from 1960. The amazing floral fabric is a cotton sateen with a bit of stretch from My Hung in Hurstville. I've seen a few floral pants around lately, and given it is almost summer here I thought bright floral would be the best choice. Plus, being a plain slim-fitting pattern these pants can handle a print better than a more traditional trouser.

One of the really good things about this pattern is that it comes with three different lengths: short, medium and long. Given one of the problems I've had making pants before was where the curve of the hip sat on the pattern compared to where it is on my body, it was good to know when I opened the pattern up that I'd be able to use the different lengths to make those adjustments before cutting out if I needed to. In the end I made the medium without any adjustments, but for others who are taller or shorter, or who have different leg and waist lengths, this pattern effectively does those adjustments for you.

These are definitely the best fitting pants I've made, but that was partly by accident. I'd almost finished sewing them up - except for the waistband and hemming - so tried them on. With other pants I've made they have often been a bit loose at the crotch and inner thighs, and these were as well. Given the slim fit of the pattern it really stood out, so I decided I would sew the seam in closer. I had intended to evenly take in 1cm and see how it looked, but when sewing the crotch curve the pants back pulled a bit and I ended up sewing it in 2cm. I noticed because the seam was not straight just after I'd sewn across the centre of the crotch so I stopped stitching.

I was going to immediately grab my seam ripper and unpick it all, but thought I'd first try them on to check if I'd at least dealt with the loose thigh issue. When I put them on not only did the leg fit better but the crotch on the side I'd taken in was also fixed, which was great. Of course, that meant I somehow had to recreate my accidental fix on the other side. Because I'd started sewing from the thigh for my accidentally correct adjustment, I decided to do the same for the other leg. I also marked where I'd become uneven between the front and back, and very carefully sewed it, using my fingers to adjust the back until I reached where I'd initially stopped. 

There are slanted side pockets which are angled very close to the side seam making them slightly hidden. The pockets are understitched to try and stop them from turning out, but for some reason the righthand pocket facing doesn't always stay down. The side zipper was nice and easy to put in, just like a skirt's. The waistband also went in well - I have had patterns in the past where the waistband piece was too short or too long, but this one was just right.

As a finishing touch, the button is from my tin of vintage buttons I inherited from my grandma. I like that it's vintage, so fits with the era and style of the pants, the colour matches perfectly, and it's nice to have that connection to my grandma, who sewed a lot herself.

 I am really proud of how these pants turned out. The fabric and the fit are just right, and they are just fun to wear. They've improved my confidence in making pants, and I plan keep working my way through the other patterns I own increasing the difficulty, including doing fly finishes. In the meantime, I'll be wearing these as much as I can.

Messy Artist and Geographer Skirts

Two new skirts for today's post, one work and one casual, so this post is a bit longer than normal but that makes up for the recent infrequent posting.
Both of these were made without a pattern, and both fabrics are from Spotlight.

While I didn't use a pattern for the Messy Artist skirt, I did do a quick google about how to draft a knit skirt. I found a useful how-to on Maria Denmark's website with instructions on how to measure. It's quite straightforward: you use your waist and hip measurements minus four centimetres, then divided by four, and the distance between the two.

The skirt is just two identical pieces, one front, one back. On the fold, you use the waist minus four then divided by four measurement, then measure down the distance to work out where to widen for the hips. I used my french curve to angle out from the waist to the hip. This is a bit trickier, because the curve of each person's side is different, But with a bit of attention and awareness of your shape it's relatively straightforward to measure. After that it's just measuring the desired length for the skirt.

I had been going to put elastic into the waistband, but given the fabric is a scuba knit a separate waistband wasn't necessary. I'd planned to use a wide elastic, so had added 10cm to fit it in. When I'd sewn up the sides I tried the skirt on it fit well enough that I decided not to add elastic. I also liked that the extra fabric allowed me to make the skirt either a normal waisted or high waisted skirt, so decided not to cut it back.

The entire skirt was about 20 minutes of work. It took longer to decide on the right placement of the print for the front and the back, working out which bit of paint and which colour I wanted where. It's all sewn with a zigzag stitch for stretch. I made the skirt slightly A-lined, so it's a snug fit to the hip but then hangs down a bit looser to just above the knee.

The fabric for the second skirt is one I've had for a couple of years. When I saw this fabric I loved it immediately. I am a geographer, so I felt like I had to buy it. It was always going to be a skirt, but it took a while for me to get around to it. I bought two panels of the fabric because I wasn't sure what would work best. The width of the panel was wide enough to fit around my waist, but adding darts would have meant losing some of the map. With the two panels I could have one front and one back, with the option to gather or pleat the waist.

In the end I decided to make the skirt pleated. The fabric is a cotton duck, so it has quite a bit of body and I felt it would be too full if I gathered it, and the waistband would be too bulky. I also put pockets in the side seams, although I initially sewed them inside out.

Even though I used two panel pieces for this skirt, for some reason I decided to put the zipper in the centre back instead of the side seam. This meant inserting it into the middle of the back panel, Given cotton duck tends to fray quite a bit this was a daunting - and honestly stupid - challenge. I folded the skirt to find and mark the centre back and used fusible interfacing to try and stabilise the fabric. I then marked the length of the zipper and stitched around the sides and bottom of the line. Next I cut along my marked line, with diagonal cuts at the bottom to the corners of my stitch line, folded the fabric back to the stitching, and pinned my zipper in.

Unfortunately when I stitched it in it didn't quite work. I hadn't folded enough fabric over, so my machine didn't catch it to stitch down properly. And at the bottom it didn't catch the triangular piece of fabric at all. So I pulled the zipout, did a new wider line of stitching, and tried again. Fortunately, this time it was successful.

After putting in the zip, I needed to work out the pleats. I pinned the side seams to my mannequin and started arranging the pleats. I didn't do any measuring, I just eyeballed where to fold. I tried to make the folds opposite on the back to the front so that in theory all of the world is visible around the skirt. I pleated and pinned until the skirt fit the dummy, then stitched the pleats down.

The skirt is finished off with a bias binding waist and a narrow hem. The hem is just double folded narrowly to not lose any of the print. I used 12mm bias binding for the waist. I stitched the binding on the inside of the skirt, folded it over to the front, and stitched it down.

 I'm really happy with how both skirts turned out, and have already worn each of them. They also both received a lot of compliments when I wore them, and questions about where I bought them - especially the geographer skirt. It was great to be able to tell people that these are made by me.

Faded Mosaic Top and Classic Grey Skirt

Two new makes today, a top and skirt to wear to work. Both are simple makes in classic styles, making them very wearable.

The top is the Betty Blouse which was in Simply Sewing magazine last July. I rarely buy sewing magazines, but I'd been looking for a non-button up short sleeved blouse pattern with no closures or complications. This pattern was pretty much exactly what I wanted. It's a simple woven blouse with just a front and back piece and pintucks.

The fabric is a viscose from Tessuti called Running Out Of Blue. The print is mosaic style and changes from peacock blue through to rust about every two feet. I hadn't realised the print changed colour when I picked the bolt up - I'd just liked the peacock blue - but when it was being rolled out to be cut I saw the rust colour emerge. This meant I had to decide how I was going to use the shifting colours in the blouse, basically which colour I wanted at the neckline and which at the hem. After holding it up against myself each way I decided the blue at the neckline was the way to go.

The fabric is beautiful with a lovely hand, but being a lightweight viscose it was a bit slippery to pin and cut out. Fortunately the print gave me handy lines to cut along to even out the hem and shoulders! The print was also very helpful for making sure my pintucks were nice and even - I could fold in the middle of the squares and stitch along the second outline and know that each pintuck would be exactly the same.

The skirt is an adjusted version of the straight skirt pattern in the Blouse Skirt and Pants Style Book. The fabric is a lightweight grey wool check from The Fabric Store, lined with some grey stretch woven cotton I'd bought for another project but found was the wrong weight. The zipper was stitched in by hand to try and keep it looking as neat as possible.

I used my French curve to slightly widen out from the waist to a more A-line shape. It was mostly an easy make, except that the two different fabrics do handle differently. I had measured them the same, but when I went to sew it up the shell was wider at the hem than the lining. To fix this I stitched in the side seams on the shell, It was still a little too wide when I sewed the hem, so I had to slightly fold it at the seams, but hopefully it isn't visible!

Because it's such a straightforward pattern and I'd used it once before I didn't look at the instructions, and so forgot that the pattern doesn't include seam or hem allowance. It didn't matter for the seam allowance given I'd already widened the skirt, but it did mean the hem was shorter than I initially planned. I had some fabric left and was going to put a flounce on for extra length, so I measured a curve, cut it out, and then realised I'd measured the outside rather than inside length of the curve, so the flounce was too narrow. So I folded the hems of the lining and shell in towards each other as narrowly as I could and stitched close to the edge. The length is actually fine, it's just not quite what I'd planned, but I'll get used to it.

Leopard Bow Blouse

And another blouse.

The pattern is from the Japanese pattern book Les Couleurs Francaises. I'd post a link, but can't find anything other than a handful of blog posts. Which is unfortunate, because it's quite a nice pattern book. It's mother-daughter patterns, with lots of matching or similar styles. They're all fairly safely classic and feminine, so they're unlikely to become too obviously dated. It's worth picking up if you ever see it.

Now about the fabric. I do like my kitsch animal fabrics. I'm not particularly excited by standard animal print fabrics, but fabrics with animals on them? Those are great, and I've made clothes from quite a few animal fabrics. So how could I not buy this leopard fabric?

The fabric is a poly with a nice drape. I bought it on a trip to Cabramatta with the Sydney Spoolettes. I think it cost $5 for a metre, which is actually mid-price range for Cabra. The number of fabric stores there make it well worth a visit. The quality of fabrics is variable, but given you can get things as cheap as $2 a metre that isn't surprising. And most of the fabric is pretty good quality.

 As I said the pattern is from the Japanese sewing book Les Couleurs Francaises. It's pattern W, a tunic style pussy bow blouse with elbow length sleeves and front and back yokes. It's one of the patterns that made me buy the book about five years ago, but this is the first time I've made it. In the book they've made it with a broderie-edged cotton, and I'd always thought I'd do something similar. But a fabric printed with a member of the feline family is obviously the perfect choice for a pussy bow blouse.

Being poly the fabric is easy to care for and doesn't seem to crease. However it can fray, so as usual I did French seams to give it a cleaner finish. I also stitched down the yoke seams, both to keep it neat and flat and to highlight the yoke. I didn't have much of the off-white thread I used as topstitching left so all the inside stitching was done in white At first I worried that the topstitching thread might still be a bit too white, but in the end it doesn't stand out much, just enough to accentuate the seam but not so much that you look at the line.

 The pattern was a very straightforward make. Although it has both yokes and ties, it doesn't have anything that's difficult to do. It's loose fitting, so there's no buttons or zippers to worry about. Setting sleeves always requires patience, and a bit of attention is required to get both the keyhole neckline neat - both having the yoke pieces just overlap and stitching the tie to the neckline - but it isn't hard to do. It's probably a good pattern for someone who knows all the basics and either wants to try out Japanese patterns for the first time or just wants to slightly challenge their skills.

 In the pattern book this top is worn untucked, but in most of the photos I've worn it tucked. I think it works better for this fabric, and as a blouse to wear at work I think tucked in is neater too. Although it possibly could stand to be an inch longer, or I could wear it with higher waisted trousers or skirt. But overall, I'm really happy with this blouse and think it will get lots of wear.