Velvet Mash Up Dress

This is a love-hate kind of dress. Love because I adore the fit and the mix of two patterns which turned out just as I'd imagined, and I absolutely love the print & colours of this fabric. Hate because it's a polyester and because of the print I broke my rule about not buying plastic poly, and this fabric sheds fibre like the dickens. It's so bad. I feel environmentally shamed by it.

It's so bad I had to wear a dust mask while sewing it. And when I washed and dried it, I had SO MUCH lint to clear out, more than once.

Other than that confession, I do like the final product.

I used the bodice of the Colette Moneta dress, which I've made twice before. This time the fabric doesn't have quite as much stretch, so it is a little snugger than my others (but I like it). I didn't want any gathering on the skirt with this print, so I matched the bodice up with the skirt of Butterick See & Sew 5870, which I've made in bright magenta ponte and really liked.

They went together beautifully. I only had to square up about an inch all around in size differential. And the shape of this skirt really skims the body -- it's perfect for pear figures, I think. I did add pockets (of course) as I always do. This time I just used a cotton broadcloth scrap for my pocket bags, so they won't stretch out. There isn't a lot of vertical stretch in this fabric either, so it all works together.

After figuring out how to fit these two patterns together and cutting, this went together easily. It was a quick sew, with a turn-under-and-stitch hem at sleeve and skirt, and a neckband sewn on. The neckband actually worked fairly well on my first go this time! I used the formula that another blogger shared -- the size of the neckline opening minus 15% equals the band length. It is good enough that I didn't have to redo this one. Success!

The most difficult part of this project was (and is) the fabric. After all that, it is still shedding! I recall why I don't buy cheap poly velour often, and won't be doing it again. But I can still enjoy the beautiful colours of this, and the fit, nonetheless.

It's so pretty!!

Have you ever made something that you love and hate equally?

Art Deco Moneta

I made my second Moneta this week, having found the most beautiful fabric on the ends table at my local Fabricland. There was only 2 m. of it, and I immediately thought of the Colette Moneta when I saw it; it's a great pattern to highlight a fabric, as there are few interruptions from seams and so on to distract the eye.

The fabric is lightweight, with more horizontal than vertical stretch. It is also really interesting texturally. I don't know what it's called but it's the kind of fabric that has two layers -- when I cut it, the black dots are raised from the base in the middles, they are more textural and crinkly as well. In any case, it's beautiful, reminding me of an Art Deco interpretation of spacetime curvature.

I changed just a few things this time around: I added a sleeve cuff to finish & extend the sleeve slightly. I also fixed the bodice by taking a half inch wedge out of the lower back, tapering to nothing at the side seams, as I found my first one needed a bit of a swayback adjustment. I raised the waistline by half an inch as well to get it to sit at the right place on me. The most obvious change is the neckline: I love my first Moneta, but the neckline is very wide on me, so to avoid bra strap visibility this time, I cut the neckline one inch higher and narrower. I think I could have had the front curve a bit deeper, but I still like it. I finished the neckline with a 1.5 inch facing strip that I stitched down, rather than just turning and stitching, to give it more solidity.

I was fortunate that this week at work, we were all getting official photos taken for publicity purposes. Because I live in a small town I already knew the photographer, having worked on other events he was photographing. When we got to chatting he offered to take photos of my new dress just for my blog if I wore it this week. So of course I rushed to finish and he did! Thank you, thank you to Scott Wishart, a photographer and a gentleman.

Speaking of photography, something I've discovered over the past few years is that I am much less nervous or alarmed at the idea of having my picture taken. I attribute this entirely to the habit of taking pictures of myself for this blog. I know from experience that I'll have to take a lot, and that most of them will be deleted, but that eventually I'll find a few I like. I also know that I look how I look, and no camera can change that for me. I'm owning the reality of my appearance, and not feeling obliged to camouflage or apologize for it. The habit of posting images of myself makes me less self-conscious, since I'm now used to looking at snapshots -- I don't take glamour shots of myself, both because I don't know how, and because I'm not made for traditional glamour, not being tall or willowy! I just share myself as I am. So when these work photos came about, I found I wasn't anxious about how I'd look, as I'm pretty aware already of how I look in photos. Not always the way I wish I did, but the way I am. What about you? Does the habit of taking pictures of yourself in your own clothes make you more comfortable with yourself and your image, or are you still getting used to the idea?

Monthly Stitch Hack It Week: Floral 'Lindeta' Dress

This week at the Monthly Stitch, sewists are challenged to Hack a pattern -- whether that's changing up one pattern or combining a couple. I thought about this challenge, and looked through my fabric and pattern stash, finally deciding on this project.

I started with a pretty dark blue/pale blue/mauve floral knit that was given to me by a friend's Mom who was weeding out her own stash. It's a thin and stable knit, not overly stretchy, but enough so for a comfy fitted dress.

\Lightweight, as shown via the Petal Skirt crossover

I trialled a few ideas, and settled on this combination: an Itch to Stitch Lindy Petal Skirt, with cut-on pockets added, based on the Sewaholic Cambie dress, and a Colette Moneta bodice.  

The bodice was the most straightforward part: I cut my usual size but added a bit of width at the waist to compensate for the lower stretch of this fabric compared to my last Moneta. I also cut the neckline much higher and narrowed it slightly, to give a more retro feel to this make. I used the short sleeve version, and used a bias binding at the neck rather than facings.

Then I got to the skirt. I used the free Lindy Petal Skirt pattern from Itch to Stitch (my first make from this company, btw) and found it well-drafted and with solid instructions. It would have been quite straightforward but I decided to add on some cut-on pockets as I can barely stand to wear pocketless clothing. But I didn't want the pockets to interrupt the lines of the skirt, so cut-on it was.

I used the Cambie pocket design as my base, though I found that I had to reshape the pocket bag to fit this pattern -- only a few inches and different angles here and there. It's still not exactly right but fairly close to what I was going for -- a smooth pocket in this shaped skirt. On my first try, I cut an angle at the side seam on each piece to add the pockets, and only realized as I was putting the skirt front together that it meant that one pocket would be completely covered up under the seam - doh! So on the second try, I cut one layer of the skirt piece normally, and added the pockets to either side of the piece I wanted to go on top of the skirt. That means that on one side you sew through a few more layers than the other, but it works out if your fabric isn't too heavy.

The only real difficulty was with the waistband. I wanted to maintain the waistband of the skirt to give the dress some definition, but had to totally change the construction, as it's not a folded over elastic casing any longer. I basted in on to both skirt and bodice and then tried it on. I had to take about 1.5" out of the full width to make it balance & fit right, and then narrowed the side seams from 3/8" at the skirt edge to 6/8" at the bodice edge (seamed on an angle). This gave it the correct shape and made it fit both edges without any gathering or puckers. I also stitched it down permanently with some clear elastic in the skirt seam to give it some support and structure. I should have interfaced the waistband piece with some knit interfacing but didn't think of that until I was done.

I really like the look of this combination, and the fit is both close and yet comfortable. I am also considering making a detachable collar that I can add to this dress whenever I want to change up the look (something like this one)

I don't think I would have gone to all this effort if it wasn't for the Hack It challenge, so I really do appreciate the impetus to try something new! I really like this new dress.

All my photos were taken on a lovely evening at one of my favourite local churches, St James Anglican Church. I get to walk through this gorgeous garden-filled churchyard on my route to work, always a pleasure. This church has a 15 Bell Chime & gives chime concerts, and it also is the site of the *best* local rummage sale every spring, notorious for multiple rooms chock full of things, including a linens room where I've found many treasures over the years. They have some spectacular volunteer gardeners among their parishioners and I've always wanted to take photos there. I'm glad I finally did...and so are the mosquitoes!

M-M-M-My Moneta!

I was singing a song when I finished this dress! I love it.

I've had the Colette Moneta pattern for ages, but just hadn't got around to taping the pdf together & tracing it -- a common issue with many of my pdf patterns -- love them for accessibility, but hate them for how long it takes me to get around to tracing them. I found a great tracing material at the dollar store a few weeks back, though (it's a plant covering material that is almost identical to interfacing) and so I went crazy and traced off four pdfs in one weekend. Now I'm starting to work on them.

I'm glad I tried the Moneta first. Not only have I had the pattern for a while, I've had this gorgeous rayon knit earmarked for it for months now as well.It is an astonishingly soft and smooth fabric.

The Moneta is marked as an easy, beginner pattern. Not too many pieces, and with fairly simple techniques. All the fold under and stitch finishings are not exactly to my taste - while it worked on the sleeve and fortunately on the hem as well, with a bit of a press, folding under and stitching the neckline gave me a (sadly predictable) wavy neckline. I don't know why I thought it would save time to do it that way. 

To fix it, I measured the neckline and it was about 28" around. I certainly didn't want to enlarge it with a facing & seam, as it is already as wide as I could bear without major bra strappage going on. So I cut a neckband that was 26" by 2", and attached like a t-shirt neckband. It worked well, smoothing out the waviness of the original neckline as well as filling it in by nearly an inch. Perfection.

I love the side seam pockets and the gathered skirt. So comfortable and useful. I used the clear elastic method of gathering the skirt which Colette recommends, and I found it very easy and very convenient. No shifting around gathers while sewing to try to evenly distribute them. I even had a friend (who is not a sewist) comment on my even gathers the first time I wore it :)

This dress went together very quickly. I cut it and sewed it all on a Sunday. I had to make a few minor fitting adjustments; I cut Medium at the neck and shoulders, grading out to Large at the waist. I also pinched a 1/2" out of the centre front, as per usual on most things I make. Next time I make it I'll make a 1/2" swayback adjustment so it sits better. Otherwise this was a pretty darn good fit on the first go.

I'm enjoying my colourful Moneta, and know I'll be making another in future. This is the only Colette pattern that I've tried for which I hardly had to make any adjustments. Knits are so forgiving...and swishy!

 

 

 

Location: Confederation Park, Stratford. One of my favourite places, with pines and birches galore.