A Green Grass Print for Sisters of Grass

For my project for this round of the Literary Sewing Circle, I went with the overall impression I got from this book. Right from the title onward there is such a strong sense of place, of the grasses and sunlight and the landscape that the story is set in. I had been thinking about a print I've had in my stash for a few years now, a lightweight knit that has a grass-like print. I knew I really wanted to use it, but couldn't quite come up with the right pattern match for it. 

But then I put this sense of grass together with an almost throwaway moment near the end. Margaret is shopping for new clothes in Kamloops in preparation for her travels to New York. 

Margaret found the shop where she had bought trousers the previous May -- John T. Beatton, Clothier -- and bought dresses to supplement her rose muslin gown, one of dark blue and a simple green one of soft wool. The saleslady showed her some collars, one of lace, one of beaded silk, that could be worn with the green dress to make it versatile.

While my dress isn't wool, it is green(ish) and it is versatile. I've used my TNT knit pattern, KwikSew 3559, which I can wear in a variety of weather depending on the jacket or sweater I pair with it. I might not be wearing collars but the neckline is a great spotlight for jewellery! This is definitely a daily wear dress that will get much use, likely just as Margaret's green dress would. 

This pattern is pretty straightforward. I am very used to making my adjustments to it, as I've made about 8 tees and 2 dresses from it already. I add width to the hips on the front and back pieces and both narrow and raise the neckline by about an inch. This time I also added pockets to it, although with the very light weight of the dress I'm not sure they will sit right -- but I'll wear it a couple of times and decide. I can always snip them out and sew up the pocket openings if I find I don't like them! 

Since I had some leftover fabric I whipped up a sash as well. It adds options to how I can wear it. Lightly tied it gives some shape to the silhouette but on days I want more swish I'll wear the dress loose. It's super soft and comfy and I'm so pleased to have finally used this fabric that I've had for a long time and have always loved the feel of. And also pleased to have used it in conjunction with such a truly lovely book.  

TNT + Blue & Yellow

This week I whipped up another of my favourite tops, from my most used TNT pattern, Kwik Sew 3559. I know this one fits me and it's so easy to make up now that I've made nearly a dozen of them in both top and dress views.

 

This came about because I was in the fabric store and my eye fell upon this very cheery blue and yellow knit print. It's so bright and fits right in to the blue and yellow sewing I've been doing over the past few months. I knew I could whip up this top and wear it almost immediately. This is a light stretchy poly knit, and there is plenty left over to make a matching Drew headband also! 

I chose to make this with mid-length sleeves so that I could wear it alone into fall, or under a jacket later on as well. Many of my jackets have 3/4 sleeves so this had to have shorter sleeves to work with them. 

Because I wanted to make this one quickly, I just turned under and stitched the neckline and the hems. After a quick press they all looked fine and I'm sure they'll last as long as this fabric does. I did notice, however, that the many times I've used this pattern has resulted in tattered pattern paper (I was using gift wrap tissue paper for tracing back then). So before I put it away this time, I think it's time for a retrace using the proper tracing paper I use now (medical paper). That way I won't be guessing and pinning rips together as I go ;) 

Have you ever worn out a favourite pattern with multiple making? If so, which one?

Floral TNT: Kwik Sew 3559

Sometimes you try out new patterns and muslin things and get frustrated at the changes and the difficulties you're having.... so you pull out a TNT as a refresher!

This floral dress was a quick sew made from my favourite knit pattern, Kwik Sew 3559. I've made it many times -- six times as a top and three times now as a dress. It's a simple pattern with nice lines and fits me really well. The only catch is no pockets. Though I add pockets to everything, I didn't to this one, mostly because my recent sewing streak was a series of fails, so wanted to be sure this would fit right first!

I did get it to fit properly, using my usual adjustments (cutting a M at the shoulders and bust and adding to each side by the hip level to make it just a touch larger than the L size line).  I pulled this pretty poly knit out of my thrifted stash, and was planning on making a tunic length, but fortunately had enough to make it dress length instead. And I have enough bits left to make up some pattern-matched patch pockets for the front that I'll be adding shortly.

I love this pattern for its easy fit and the shape. I like the little gathered front yoke and the way that the cut-on sleeve fits (although I did add an inch to the length of the basic sleeve on this version).

I've made in everything from a t-shirt weight jersey to this stable poly knit, and it works each time. Sometimes it is nice to make something that just works! One more piece from my stash used, as well -- I bought it because it was so pretty, so I am glad it's now out in the world.

Day & Night Dress Challenge

Because I have nothing better to do and so much spare time (hahaha) I decided last minute to join the Day & Night Dress Challenge hosted by Elizabeth Made This.

I highlighted my "Coffee Dress" yesterday -- this sunny day dress is made from a soft and lovely cotton flannel, and the Jennifer Lauren Laneway Dress Pattern. It's perfect for day wear and cozy enough to sit around in having coffee and danishes, I think. I will have to test that hypothesis immediately.

My "Cocktail Dress" is made from a sparkly knit I picked up at the Goodwill a few years ago now. I thought its nighttime feel contrasted well with the sunny feel of the Laneway. Also, as you can probably tell by now, prints are really my thing.

I used a favourite TNT pattern, Kwik Sew 3559. I love the way this pattern looks, either as a dress or a tee, and how it changes its feel according to fabric. I would definitely wear this one with some sparkly beads and heels to a cocktail event. Or with these gold accented flats for after work drinks.

It's such a simple pattern, really 3 pieces and a bias neck facing. I quickly turned under and stitched the sleeve hems -- probably too quickly, as I didn't press, and looking at these pictures I can tell! Time to toss it under the iron... But I started it at 9:45 last night, and was hemming it by midnight. So it's really a quick and easy standard for me. I really love how it fits and the overall shape.

It's loose but not baggy; in fact I might have benefitted from an extra inch across the lower back. But then each version is different, according to stretch of the fabric. This particular fabric was a thrift store bolt -- I had 5 m. of it, and since this only takes 1.5 metres, I still have a fair bit to use in future.
I think this dress suits this sparkly print, and can see wearing it in many different settings.

Here is how I wore it today, accessorized. I was also wearing a little black cardi but took it off for photos so that you could actually see the dress ;)

Thanks once again to accommodating coworkers who will snap pics of me on our breaks!

I'm also participating in a "Dress a Month" sewalong on Pattern Review so these will go right into my count there. It's fun to have some incentive to stitch up something new.

Speaking of new, I'll soon share some first looks at my project for the Literary Sewing Circle & our  reading of Dance, Gladys, Dance. I've been inspired by Frieda's colourful canvasses... hope you have some ideas too.

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!

Reusing a Favourite Pattern x2

I didn't join #MeMadeMay this year and one of the reasons, as I mentioned in my previous post, was that I knew I'd have guests for two weeks and that I'd be offline and out of the sewing room for most of that time. 

The guests were my Mom and younger sister, and we had a marvellous time together. It was great fun showing them around my town and its surrounding area; we drove all over the place, ate out constantly, and did shopping, shows, and staycationing to the max. (well, at least for me it was a staycation).

But one of the other things I did was make a blouse for my Mom while she was here. The first day she tried on one of my tops -- the True Bias Sutton Blouse -- and loved it. So I offered to make her one, as it fit perfectly and I wouldn't need to make any fitting adjustments, thus thought it would be quite achievable in a week. And it was. 

She picked a nice drapey fabric out of my stash; I believe it was a rayon challis though I'm not 100% sure. It was a gift to me from a friend's mother who was clearing out her own stash, along with about 10 other pieces of varied fabrics. I received it and washed it a couple of days before the visit, and then it went home with my Mom as a finished blouse. Never has a piece of fabric entered and left the stash so quickly - it must be a record! 

The top went together so quickly and easily. The only issue is that I think I slightly stretched the neckline when attaching the bias binding, but probably only me and other sewists would notice at all. The construction notes can be found on the post detailing the first time I made this -- I just made it the same way, though even faster this time as I did not include any piping or trim in the yoke seams. 

Here it is:

The week before they got here I also finished up a couple of summer tops. Here is one I made from an old favourite, KwikSew 3559. I love this dress-into-top; I think it's my fourth rendition. Nothing too new for this one, which I made from a remnant I couldn't resist buying.

I had to be creative with the layout though, to fit all the pieces, which really made the top in the end. It was a 60" wide piece that was just a metre, so I folded it just enough to fit front and back on it, and then cut the yoke lengthwise on the remaining edge.

Since it was most stretchy lengthwise, that worked very well for the design and for the visuals. I love the contrast direction of the stripes in this shimmery green. Otherwise it would have been impossible to match up the stripes and would have driven me mad! 

Do you have a fave pattern that you use and reuse? I love finding a simple standard to fall back on when you want something in a hurry, especially when you have a special fabric that you want to make sure works out!

Denim Knit KwikSew 3757

I made something! Yes, I finally finished a project in 2017.
 

It's a dress that I've been wanting to make for a long time, KwikSew 3757,  a casual dress that originally caught my eye with its cool pockets. I had just enough of a denim coloured knit in my stash to make this, in View A (I had no interest in a drawstring around my hip area).

So I cut it pretty much as the pattern shows -- I added a couple of inches to the bottom when I cut it out so that it wouldn't be too short, but there was no need. I ended up having to trim it by 3" before hemming, so I just added and removed the same amount of fabric, grr.

The pockets do end up at  the widest part of you, assuming you're average height - I think I'd raise the pocket by at least an inch next go round. They are great pockets though, and pretty close to the right placement.

I was planning on copying Patti from PR & adding in some flat piping to accentuate the seams, but decided that I didn't want the curve of the pocket highlighting my hip/thigh, so just ran it to the top of the pocket. It adds a bit of a vertical line and I think that helps with my figure and this dress. I just used the reverse side of the fabric for the silvery piping & made a neckband as well, instead of using facings.

Simple back view, all one piece

It was a fairly straightforward dress, other than adding in the piping & neckband, and went together quickly. I like the casual feel of it, and have worn it both alone with funky tights and with a matching cardigan (with deep enough armholes to accommodate the fairly large sleeve on the dress). It's a very comfortable, simple dress but I feel quite put together in it. So nice to get going with a quick project again! I feel like this dress would fall a bit more smoothly if the knit was a bit more fluid, though. I love this denim knit but it is very lightweight and yet somehow with body. The good part about that is that it isn't inclined to cling, too badly.

Anyhow, a fun, easy and comfortable dress that I could take pictures of, outside, in February! That's weird enough in itself, never mind the weirdness of finally FINISHING a project ;) Some of the old KwikSew's that I've made have turned out to be my favourite things, and this dress has a good chance of being added to that list.

A TNT "Tea" Tee

This month's Monthly Stitch theme is "Cheers for New Years!" -- making anything inspired by your favourite drink.  While I had initially thought about doing something a little more flashy -- hmm, maybe a martini-inspired cocktail frock, or perhaps a hot chocolate inspired sweater knit tunic -- I found this immensely soft piece of fabric on the sale table and snapped it up.

Well, my actual favourite drink is tea, all kinds of tea, at all times of day. And this print looks like tea leaves, or tea bags, in every colour of tea, Assam, Darjeeling, Green, Oolong or White. Perfect!

And I even have a "Matcha-ing" sweater! :)

Since there was only just a yard in this remnant, I went with one of my only TNT patterns, Kwik Sew 3559. I love this pattern. While it's a dress pattern, I've only used it to make t-shirts, 3 in total now. I'm already looking at the next one, and planning on cutting the neckline a little higher. I'd forgotten that with a light and thin stretchy knit the neckline scoops a little lower when you are wearing it. The second version from a heavier knit doesn't have the same effect.

first version

second version

It's a quick and easy pattern, with only three pieces if you don't make a facing for the neckline as called for in the pattern. I just turned under & stitched, but am thinking about a contrast neck binding next time for variety.

It's a soft, lightweight tunic that it forgiving to the figure and in its short-sleeved version especially, it sits nicely under a sweater or jacket. I never blogged my second make, and don't have too much new to say about the construction details this time either. Read the original review if you would like my first thoughts on it -- my current thoughts are just that the type of knit that you use really affects the way the final product fits. Again, a softer and more stretchy knit will, not surprisingly, stretch a bit when you wear it. So be aware of necklines and shoulder widths; mine both need to be adjusted a little, which I will remember to do next time round!

I took these photos at my local tea shop, Distinctly Tea, run by a mother & daughter team of tea sommeliers. They are wonderful; friendly and knowledgeable, and they've partnered with me for the last two years to produce an Evergreen tea which supports both the Evergreen Award (a provincial reading program) and my local library. What goes better together than tea and books, after all? PS - this tea can be shipped to the US, and with our exchange rate, it's a steal! Just saying :)

Hope you've enjoyed this little tea break with me.

Kwik Sew Two-for-One: Bookish Inspirations

 

My "Book Dress" -- you can vote for me at

patternreview from Sept 3 - 9, if you like

PatternReview has a regular series of monthly contests; this month's was the "Inspired By A Book" contest. As a librarian, how could I NOT enter this one?

I went back and forth with ideas, but finally decided on using the idea of a physical book as my inspiration. Rereading a favourite author, Ray Bradbury, made me think about the importance books play in civilization. There's a scene in Fahrenheit 451 in which a woman refuses to abandon her books when the Firemen come to burn her house down -- she'd rather not live without them. As Montag (our hero) encounters her:

"Come on, woman!"

The woman knelt among the books, touching the drenched leather and cardboard, reading the gilt titles with her fingers while her eyes accused Montag.

"You can't ever have my books," she said.

The idea of physical books vs. ebooks is also a constant refrain in my job -- I love both, in different settings. But the book as object is what inspired my idea for this dress.

Because I really wanted this to work, I first made a (hopefully) wearable muslin from a grey printed sheet and some leftover grey cotton from last summer's sewing. 

I'm very glad I did, because KwikSew 4098 is one messed-up pattern. The sizing was way off from what I expect from KwikSew. The finished measurement for the Large waistband, for instance, was indicated at 37". It was close to 34" in reality. Even with that, the Large skirt didn't quite fit itself to the waistband either, so I did a lot of last minute fixing and trimming and restitching of seams to get it all together nicely. My fault for not measuring all the pieces before cutting, so I'm glad it was a first go, not my good marbled fabric! 

I added trim to the grey dress, to try out the idea of piping my final make. Thanks to Facebook groups Monthly Stitch & MAGAM for their advice -- I decided to place the trim against the patterned fabric. It turned out very pretty, I think.

Then I added sleeves -- I chose two patterns, McCalls 6503 and Kwik Sew 4068 (both patterns with a sleeveless & sleeve view) and tried out each sleeve style. I ended up going with the other KwikSew for the grey muslin, and leaving it ungathered as I liked the bell shape. But for the final dress, the McCalls' narrower shape worked better. 

When I made the grey muslin I realized that I was going to need a big sway-back adjustment. I've never had to use one before, but adjusted the pattern to take a wedge 1/2" in length at the sides but nearly 1" in the middle. It seems to have worked nicely on the finished Book Dress, but I have to redo the original grey one.

I used a centre back zip in the grey, as called for in the pattern, simply because I couldn't find an invisible zip in the right colour. It worked okay, but was another reminder that I like invisible zips better, and so that's what I used in the final Book Dress. 

So I was super happy that I did a trial run on this one, and with a few unpickings & resewings, the grey one will be wearable as well. I tried out the cute patch pockets on the grey and really like them, but went with side seam pockets on the final make as I didn't want to interrupt the regular pattern of the marbling. 

Cute patch pockets

I don't think I'll use this particular pattern again, I had so many problems with sizing. Lots of redoing got the dress to the wearable and fitting stage, thankfully. But having to put in a zip three times is not my idea of fun. Still, I ended up with two very nice dresses so I am grateful for that, and the final Book Dress was exactly what I'd imagined in the first place.

closeup of bodice

closeup of back -- the piping is *nearly* perfect.

I match my marigolds!

So this is a two-for-one pattern in many ways -- I made two dresses from the same pattern, meaning I had 2 full weeks of cursing and jabbing myself with pins and washing blood out of fabric and having to do everything twice (hey, another two!) For some reason, this pattern was a massively complicated affair -- besides the sizing issues, there seemed to be something going wrong with nearly everything at some point. I'm so glad I had TWO reasons to continue.

I've entered the Book Dress into the PatternReview contest (and hey, you can soon vote for me there if you like) and this is also my project for the Monthly Stitch August theme, Two is the Magic Number!