Cover Designs!: #34 Last Christmas in Paris

 

Cover Designs is a feature in which I try to match up the outfit on a book cover with a dress pattern and sometimes even potential fabric matches as well. Today's pick is a seasonal one: Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. 

Summary from the publisher: 

August 1914. England is at war. As Evie Elliott watches her brother, Will, and his best friend, Thomas Harding, depart for the front, she believes—as everyone does—that it will be over by Christmas, when the trio plan to celebrate the holiday among the romantic cafes of Paris.

But as history tells us, it all happened so differently…

Evie and Thomas experience a very different war. Frustrated by life as a privileged young lady, Evie longs to play a greater part in the conflict—but how?—and as Thomas struggles with the unimaginable realities of war he also faces personal battles back home where War Office regulations on press reporting cause trouble at his father’s newspaper business. Through their letters, Evie and Thomas share their greatest hopes and fears—and grow ever fonder from afar. Can love flourish amid the horror of the First World War, or will fate intervene?

Christmas 1968. With failing health, Thomas returns to Paris—a cherished packet of letters in hand—determined to lay to rest the ghosts of his past. But one final letter is waiting for him…

The startling red of the coat on the cover of this book calls out for a copy! There are a few options to make a classic coat like this. You might start with Vogue 9367. Even though you can't see the front of the cover image, you might want a coat with some interesting detail on the front, like this Vogue pattern has. The back looks nearly identical to the cover image, if you use View C for length.

You might also try the Closet Core Siena Maker Jacket. It would just need to be lengthened a bit from its above-knee option to replicate the look of this coat quite well. 

Or, you could try the free Hydrus coat from Mood Sewciety. While this pattern was created with cosplay in mind, it's quite a nice coat, with the perfect silhouette to copy this cover design. 

While you're at Mood you could check out their red wool blends, like this cashmere/wool coating

Or for something a little more fiery red, you could use this mohair wool coating from King Textiles. 

Whichever pattern or fabric you might choose, coat making could be a fun winter project accompanied by listening to this book in audio format. 

Merry Christmas!

 

Merry Christmas! 

to all my readers who celebrate - and wishing everyone very happy holidays of every kind. 

May you enjoy the peace of making sewing plans and relaxing during the days to come!

Happy Holidays!

 

A Very Merry, Magical Christmas to all my readers! 

Wishing us peace, rest and a much, much better 2021 

Black Burda Christmas Dress

I wasn't really planning to sew a new dress for Christmas Day this year, since I had to work up so near to the day itself. I had bought some gorgeous crushed velvet from Fabricland, a muted floral print on a black ground, and thought it would make a beautiful festive outfit, if only I had time.

I even had the perfect dress for it: the "Sequin Dress" from Burda (#101 in the Sept 2018 issue, or here on their website). While the pattern has glitzy fabric contrasted with rib knit sleeve cuffs (love!) I just used all velvet for my version. Though I did add side seam pockets, but just slightly too low, argh.

In any case, I found I did have enough time to complete the dress. My husband took over the cooking duties for the vegetarian main I make every year for our family gathering (and did a fine job) so I could continue sewing. Even though I was hemming on Christmas morning, I still had it done and wore it all day.

It is a super comfortable shape and perfect for eating big Christmas dinners in! I liked the long sleeve with the lightly-gathered-to-the-cuff finish, too, even if I don't often go for full length sleeves. I hemmed it to just above the knee so it didn't feel too overwhelming -- while the original is a bit shorter, knee length is about as short as I go, considering I'm only barely 5'2.

Construction Details:

I of course had to smallify the whole thing: shortened the skirt length somewhat, shortened the sleeves by 2.5" and the cuff width by 1/2". I should have taken up 1/2" to a full inch above the waist, but will do so next time. With the loose fit, it's not too apparent anyhow. I'd also cut the shoulder to underbust area at 40 instead of 42 next time, and grade out from there.

I added side seam pockets but miscalculated the waist a bit and so the pockets are just a touch too low. They work fine but it annoys me with my short arms! I used a scrap of a smooth black polyknit for the neck binding so that there was nothing to irritate my skin on the inside of the neckline. And it all seemed to go together nicely. The only alterations I'd make next time are just the slight sizing adjustment at the underarm area and raising the pockets by an inch. So I'd say this one was a success to end the year with! I was even able to wear my "Made in Bethlehem" mother of pearl brooch with it.

I am really loving this velvet trend. More to come in 2019...

Little Black Christmas Dress

Happy Christmas - even though black is so hard to photograph!

I unintentionally made a little black dress for Christmas! Well, because it wasn't really made FOR Christmas as much as AT Christmas. And then I wore it to our holiday dinner.

I have been feeling that I needed a basic black dress that could be dressed up or down for work or events for a while. A few weeks ago I was rummaging through my stash and found quite a lot of a lightweight black matelasse knit that I'd completely forgotten I had.

a bit fuzzy but an attempt to show you the texture of the fabric, at the yoke seam

And in addition, someone had asked on PatternReview if I'd ever made my TNT t-shirt pattern (KwikSew 3559) in dress format as it was originally designed to be made. Nope, I wasn't sure a dress would suit my figure. But when I saw this fabric I thought it would be a perfect match. So I tried it.

Wow! This dress is fabulous! It has no waistline, but neither does it hang like a sack. It's fitted but not too much so. I *love* it. The only flaw is that I didn't add side seam pockets as I wasn't sure about this fabric being able to support them, so I'm going to add on some patch pockets instead, now that I know I love this in dress format.

You can really see my glittery tights in this picture!

If I use a slightly heavier knit with a bit more body next time I'll probably add the side seam pockets. There always have to be pockets in order for me to really like a dress ;)

I'm glad I tried out my favourite pattern in dress length. The only change I made was the same one I make when using this as a tee -- I cut the neckline at medium and grade to large between the waist and hip line. I did the same for the dress but followed the large all the way down and didn't flare any extra at the bottom. It turns out that this is exactly the basic dress I was looking for. Hurrah for TNT patterns!

Pre-Christmas "Selfish" sewing

Lucky me -- I've finished all my Christmas prep and can get to some of my own projects again! Well, really I snuck this first one in while I was making gifts, but since it only took 15 minutes to make I didn't feel too guilty.

I found such a fun knit fabric on the remnant table at my local fabric store. But it was just a little too loud, a little too child-friendly, to make a dress from. So I decided to make a quick infinity scarf. I sewed it together, put it on, then realized that it looked very festive from a distance!

I've already worn it at least 3 times to work, and had comments on it each time. Some were about its festive colours, and then after a closer look, some of the comments came in the form of song. Thanks, coworkers, for the earworm...

Check out the irresistible detail in this fabric. You will see why I had to buy some.

At the ladybug's picnic!

The other thing I've been doing with my time -- that isn't sewing -- is cleaning up, or trying to clean up, my sewing area. That's my goal for the end of the year. You know you're an adult when you realize you are happy for upcoming holidays so that you'll have time to clean your basement...

But in more entertaining things, I've also picked up an embroidery project that I prepped in the summer. I've started on the flower garden and plan to make each kind of flower in a different kind of stitch. Most of the greenery will probably be in stem stitch with a bit of leaf stitch and/or satin stitch for accent. I couched the green thread for the words, although on second thought I should probably have left that for last. Oh well! This is a pattern that I both sketched and cobbled together using a couple of images from google and a nice font - since it's just for my own stitch practice I figured it would be okay to do so this time. This should take me a long way into the New Year!

What about you? Are you finished with your seasonal sewing for others and ready to get back to your own projects?