Liesl & Co Advisor Circle Project One!

I announced earlier on that I'm a part of the Liesl & Co Advisors Circle for the year -- well, I've done my first project for their blog! You can find the post here.

The idea for these projects is to take one or more of Liesl's patterns and adapt it in some way, or show another way to fabricate it. This time around the challenge was colour blocking. I had bought the Fira top when it was first released, and thought that this pattern would be a great option for colour blocking. Fortunately, Dyann from the Advisors Circle thought the same, so we did a joint post showing our versions.

For mine, I divided up the original front pattern piece into two, remembering to add a seam allowance to the new centre front seam (I used 1/2" for ease of measuring). The front yokes are already separate, so I only had to divide the back yoke into two rather than cutting on a fold as well. The back of the top already has a centre seam so no problems there! 

I used some denim scraps from an earlier dress, which coincidentally happened to be Butterick 6567, a Lisette dress, one of the patterns that Liesl designed for Butterick in the past. That wasn't planned! But I had a fair bit of these lightweight denims and thought that the low contrast would be visually pleasing; I had used the contrast in the dress and liked it. 

The hardest thing about this top was just making sure I cut the pieces in the right orientation, so that I'd have the correct pattern of colours to put together. With such limited fabric, I measured more than twice before cutting once ;) 

I used the darker fabric for the inner yoke since I had quite a bit more of that, and ended up using a strip of it as a hem facing as well, since I had to shorten the pattern quite a bit to fit onto my fabric. Thankfully I'm so short that it still worked, as long as I didn't turn up much of a hem, so 1/4" seam hem facing it was. 

This was a real puzzle to work on. Since I was quite low on larger pieces of the paler blue denim, I had to piece together remnants to get chunks large enough to cut the back yoke from and ended up having to also piece little corners of the front yoke and the lower back edge as well. Fortunately piecing looks great in denim, and also goes with the scrappy colour blocking feel, I think. 

I'm really happy with the top and found it a fun challenge to make. Aside from having to give it a press every time I want to wear it, it's great ;) The pattern itself is pretty simple, although the yoke construction can be a bit of a stumper for a minute. The inner yoke is sewn together with the body, then it's flipped to the outside and topstitched down on the outside. This isn't a way I've done a yoke before, so I had to think about it and play with my fabric a bit to get the hang of it. But I think it was worth it -- a fun top and one that used up some really nice remnant pieces. A win!

New Look 6936 in Denim Knit

As many of you know, last weekend was Pattern Review Weekend 2018, and it was held right here in my town of Stratford, Ontario. I was lucky enough to be one of the organizers this year and we had a wonderful time coming up with a program and fun activities for everyone to enjoy.

It was enormous fun and all the hard work paid off -- I had such a great time meeting new sewists and visiting with those I've met before. If you weren't able to attend, check out the #PRW2018 hashtag on Instagram for some great photos, and of course, also take a look at PatternReview for a roundup of the event, coming soon.

Anyhow, one of the things I did for Pattern Review Weekend was try to finish and wear some new makes. Now it is time to review some of those pieces!

I'm starting with a repeat of a pattern I've made twice before, New Look 6936. I think this may be out of print by now, unfortunately, because it is the best secret pyjama pattern ever. Especially in a fabric like this one!

I found this very stretchy, quite thick denim coloured knit on the remnants table at Fabricland ages ago. I've been trying to use more of my stash fabrics this year so I matched this bit up with this pattern -- perfect combo. The knit is very soft and stretchy, but heavy enough that it holds it shape and doesn't cling. The denim colour matches with everything! I've worn it with red, cream and purple accessories and each time it looks great.

Of course I added pockets - a very easy addition using my favourite pattern piece from another dress which I've traced and keep pinned to my corkboard in my sewing space in order to reuse it whenever I need to add side seam pockets to a dress. This time I used scraps of the very stable knit from my recent Margot Peplum top for the pocket pieces.

Because of the amount of fabric I had in this remnant end, I did have to add a centre back seam to the bodice in order to fit the piece onto my fabric bits. That was simple enough to do, and is barely noticeable in wearing.

Because of the weight and stable nature of this knit fabric I just did a quick turn-under-and-stitch finish on the hem, sleeves and neckline; usually I avoid that quick and dirty finish but it seemed reasonable to use it here. I've had no puckering, stretching or waviness so it seems to have worked well. I'm all for the easy route if it seems like it'll work out.

One thing to watch with this pattern is the bodice length - the seamline is quite high so if you don't like an empire-ish waistline be sure to adjust to your taste. Also, there is extravagant ease in this pattern: I cut a 12 at shoulders and 14 at bust, instead of 16, but did grade out to 16 at the hip/derriere area. So be sure to figure out just how much bodice ease you really need.

But once you have those little things sorted, this is a workhorse pattern. So, so comfortable and flattering, with a number of bodice and sleeve options. Great way to use up a nice knit!

An Embroidered Lisette Butterick 6567

I've been working away on a project for Fabricville over the past few weeks, one which was a bit derailed by, first, the work I was doing on the local refashioning show I mentioned in my last post, and then secondly, by a terrible cold that has kept me home for a week. But I have persevered! And today was a lovely sunny day so I was able to snap a few pictures of my now finished dress in the evening calm. (and my Fabricville blog post is now live, so you can check it out there too!)

Nope, I will have to move out of the sun!

The project is a new Lisette pattern, Butterick 6567. I liked the potential of this pattern, but wasn't fond of the contrast yoke all on its own. So I chose two denims of similar tone from Fabricville's spring fabrics -- it is the dark wash and medium wash lightweight denim, both of a shirting weight and very soft and pliable to work with.

I pictured my dress made with a lighter yoke, carrying this over to the whole shoulder & cuff pieces as well. And when I saw that distinct yoke, I knew it would be perfect for a touch of embroidery! My first thought was to create a folkloric floral spray, but then I pondered on it -- perhaps with the denim, primary coloured florals would give it too much of a country feel. My husband suggested going with an abstract or geometrical design, and I thought that sounded good! So I looked through a few old books for inspiration, and ended up adapting a pattern from this 1920s era book online at the Antique Pattern Library, Broderies pour Robes. (fabulous little book!)

I drew the outline of the yoke on paper and then used handy circular objects in my sewing room to add the circular motifs: a couple of spools, the middle of a roll of tape, and a small PatternReview tin from the last PR Weekend I went to in Chicago! I scattered the circles onto the pattern and then drew in some wavy lines behind them. I had fun embroidering over a few nights. I used purples and greys from DMC's newest set of colours, and filled in the circles randomly with whichever stitch I felt like using: chain stitch, lazy daisy, stem, french knots, buttonhole and more. I did use my favourite, stem stitch, for the wavy lines and some of the circular outlines. The only repetition is the central, largest circle -- I decided to copy that one on the back neck of the dress to carry through on the design. I rather like the postal air it ended up with!

The dress itself is billed as "easy". I wouldn't call it a beginner pattern, though. It was very time consuming, especially with the odd angle of the front pleat as it attaches to the yoke. It took me three tries and some hand basting to get that on and all lined up correctly. The pockets are a really neat feature and not difficult, but again, not "easy" either. Because there are no closures to worry about it does finish up quite simply which may be where the "easy" comes from.

One thing that makes this pattern difficult to fit is that there isn't an easy way to petite size it. I thought I'd got the sizing right, but after I finished it, I ended up taking a half-inch up at the neckline side of the shoulder seam, tapering out to nothing. That helped get the bustline a little higher and made the dress fit a little better. If you are short like me, pay attention to the length of the pattern in all areas; it was the only sizing issue I had.

I only noticed after taking the photos and looking at them that I'd made a few errors while stitching -- some little gathers to unpick and hand stitch down correctly now -- and the denim really does need to be pressed every time you wear it. I hesitated to really give the yoke a heavy press because of the embroidery, but I can see that it does need one, especially around the outer edges!

But over all, this was an interesting make, and I learned quite a bit while doing it. I'm not sure it's my best silhouette, but I enjoyed the creative touches to this pattern, and it is certainly a light and loosely fitting dress for warm days. This denim is a lovely weight and texture, and I look forward to trying out more embroidered projects.