Burda Magazine swing top

I've been going through some of my Burda magazines recently and tracing off some patterns. I prepped this really interesting swing top a few months ago but have only now got around to trying it!

It's a jersey top, #115 from the 11/18 issue. I really like how the neckline and sleeves are fitted, with an extra swing in the back. A nice fit at the shoulder & neck makes oversize items look like they are intentional, and aren't just too big for you!

Feeling pretty Rock'n'Roll here with this painting by local artist Blair Yeomans

I used up the last of my "test" jersey for my first trial of this top. This was a huge 6m or so piece of lightweight knit I got at the thrift store for $2 a couple of years ago, and have used to test many pieces. I've only kept and worn these two, though -- my Itch to Stitch Lindy Petal Skirt (a free pattern which I highly recommend) and now, this Burda swing top.

This one is an easy Burda; their lack of complex instructions doesn't really matter here, since the top is only 3 pieces: front, back and sleeve. The extra features that make this more special than just a straightforward top include gathers at the shoulder both front and back, and a shaped back hem that has a bit of an angled shape to assist in a nice drape. I also really like how the sleeve is 3/4 length and quite close fitting. It adds a nice structure to the shape.

This was an easy sew, but one difficulty I had was getting the neckline to sit smoothly. It's just a turn-under-and-stitch finish, but the gathers are pretty close to the edge of the neckline, and the turn under is thus not totally even. Also, I needed to pinch about 3/4" out of the centre front, which I didn't do on this test garment, and it throws the balance off a bit. Not enough so that I won't wear it, but I did correct it on my second garment which I've already cut out ;) I've also moved the gathering over closer to the shoulder by 1/2" to give myself a little more room.

When I traced this pattern, I made the decision to add 3" to the hem and make this more of a tunic length, to suit my own preferences. I've left the original hem line traced on the pattern as well in case I ever want to make the original shorter length. However, I'm not 20 and don't usually wear short tees half-tucked like in the styled Burda photo so that's not too likely. I prefer it the way I've finished it for my own habits.

It was an easy make, with minimal adjustments for me, and it feels comfortable and stylish to wear. I think this is definitely a winner in my books -- like I said, this test garment is one I will wear (and have worn twice in the 6 days since I've finished it) and have already cut a fancier second version! I have a couple more Burda tops that have been traced off for a while and I'm hoping to also get to those this fall.

You can really see the side drape here

And if you can get this little Boomerang video to work, you can really see the fullness of the swing!

Spotted Gauze Sorbetto

Hazy summer day!

I bought some double gauze in the sale at my local fabric store -- I've had my eye on this particular bolt for a long while but when I finally decided to buy some there was only one metre left.

So what to do? Make another TNT -- that I way I know it will use the fabric well and it will fit me.

Excuse my squinty eyes -- I just got back from the eye doctor!

So I got out my Sorbetto pattern and went back to a variation I've used before when I have barely a metre of fabric to play with. I lay it out with the pleat placement line for the front actually on the front fold, to eliminate the pleat and fit the top onto limited fabric.

And I use an old add-on short sleeve pattern.

It worked -- it just fit onto this small piece of polka dotted double gauze. I made a few changes due to the fabric though. I sewed it all using French seams, to avoid any fraying or separating along the seam lines. It gives such a nice finish. With a 5/8" seam allowance, I like to sew my first go at 1/4", trim that down to about 1/8" and then finish it off with a 3/8" final seam. Trimming the first line helps to avoid loose threads and fabric coming through the final stitching.

I didn't want to press this much, since I wanted to keep the hand nice and crinkly, so to hem the sleeves and bottom, I stitched a line at 1/4" then just folded it up at that line and over again, finger pressing and then stitching it down. I then gave it all a light press with steam and that got all of the waviness out of the hems.

To finish the neckline, I magically had the perfect denim blue cotton bias binding in my stash that I thrifted a while back. I finished it with the binding and gave it another gentle steam press to get the neckline smoothed out. The binding is slightly heavier in weight that this airy fabric so it did sag outward a bit, but I think the pressing fixed most of that.

This was a straightforward make that I took a little extra time with to use the fabric to its best advantage. I'm glad I went a bit more slowly because I really love this finished top.

Butterick 6185 in Blue

This poor Butterick dress has been cut and waiting to made since the beginning of July. Other projects kept leaping ahead of it!

But if I wanted to wear it while the summer weather was still here, I knew I had to get busy. So I sewed it up this week, while listening to an audiobook of Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. I can't usually stand audiobooks, but this one was good!

I had a length of thrifted mystery fabric in my stash that reminded me of the cover look for this coordinates pattern, so of course I went for the dress view.

It's a loose a-line dress, and the striking feature of it is the double collar. I had to piece the back centre seam of the collar to fit it onto my remnant of fabric, but I don't think it shows too much with the irregular dot pattern. And I had a lovely white linen scrap that worked perfectly for the undercollar.

The only issue I had with the collar is that four layers of collar (and interfacing), one layer of dress and one of facing makes it very bulky at that neckline seam. And with the light weight of the fabric, the collar feels a little bit heavy. I think if I made it again, I'd experiment with making the collars both one piece and just hemming them neatly, to reduce two layers and interfacing. You can see that my collar isn't perfectly even, but I thought it was good enough not to redo!

I'm not 100% sure of this one. It feels a little housedressy to me, really loose and casual. Maybe with a belt or sash it would feel a tiny bit more structured. But it is awfully good for a hot day without any waist constriction! 

Of course there are side seam pockets, even there weren't any in the pattern I'd have added them. I did extend the length slightly -- and I am short. If I'd had a bit more fabric I would have added another inch, but it's wearable. I just like my knees covered, it feels more secure to me with my short legs!

 It's a loose fit but not super baggy. Here I am twirling, and you can see that there is not an excess of fabric in the skirt. It slips on easily over the head. This morning I did take in a 1/2" wedge from under the arm to about the waistline area on each side, because it did feel a little too loose in the bust area - I had cut it at 16/18 according to measurement but should have stuck to my more usual 14/16/18 combo since my shoulder area is narrower. I find that if something fits in the shoulder/bust it can be as loose as you want elsewhere and still look like it fits.

 I think I like this back view best! It really shows off the cute print. I was worried that this dress, with its dots and wide collar, might be *too* cute, but it's growing on me. I have a little navy sweater to wear with it when it's cooler and that also tones it down a little. Still on the fence though. Wear it? Cut it off to blouse length? I'll have to see.

Fabricville Project: Purple Dot McCalls 7834

For my most recent dress for the Fabricville Bloggers Project, I chose this very sweet McCalls 7834, a Laura Ashley design. I had my eye on View B (the blue one in the middle) as the most likely to suit me.

I had also seen this amazing fabric in the Fabricville online store -- it's purple, it is polka dotted, and there is text in those dots! It's everything I love! Plus it's a nice weight of quilting cotton, with a tiny bit of stretch to it; I really like using quilting cotton for clothing, despite any snobbishness in the garment sewing world... you just have to select the right pattern for it.

In any case, I received these two things and got right to work. I was sidelined for a bit by my bout of flu the week before last, but finished it this week and just had to wear it immediately, despite the chilly & very windy weather ;)

I really love how it turned out. The fabric has a nice weight to it, not too heavy but not too thin either. It holds the shape of the skirt really well, with the gathers at the waist and in the lower ruffle. I did alter the skirt quite a bit with the properties of the fabric in mind: I reduced the width of the top ruffle by about an inch on each end of both front and back panels to reduce excess gathers. And the bottom ruffle was supposed to be made of *three* panels -- I immediately chose to reduce that to two panels, with two inches added on to each end. That way the amount of gathering would be more balanced, and more wearable in this stiffer fabric. In a challis or chiffon, the gathering indicated in the pattern would work well.

I had to increase the bicep in the sleeve by about an inch as well, and decided after I tried it on to leave the sleeves at a longer length, as I like the effect. And the collar was straightforward, with a nice shape.

I also decided to make my own covered buttons for this dress. I didn't want to waste any of this fabulous fabric! Plus I didn't have any buttons that seemed to work well with this dress, so when I remembered that I'd picked up a covered button set at the thrift store, and they were the right size, it was my immediate choice to use them. I read somewhere that to make really nice covered buttons you should add some padding between the fabric & the button form, so I put a layer of felt in between and it gives them a nice roundness.

I was in such a hurry to wear this that I didn't get all the loose threads picked off!

This is rated as an "easy" pattern, and it really is pretty easy! It slips on over the head -- there is an elastic casing in the back waist to gather it up a little but still allow for expansion. Thus the waist is not fully fitted, so if you prefer a very close fitting waist this is probably not the pattern for you. But it's a comfortable fit, and I think the shape is nice enough as it is.

I, of course, added pockets -- why would you have a gathered skirt without them? I used my standard side seam pocket pattern and sewed it in with the top of the pocket even with the top of the skirt. When you do this, just remember to gather the skirt first, leaving the pocket free, and then pin the pocket down over the gathers prior to attaching to the waist seam, or you'll have some weirdly uneven gathers in a front skirt! And I was very pleased with the blind hem on this dress - I finally figured out how to use my blind hem foot properly and it looks so nice - in fact you can hardly see the hem stitches :)

The fabric really appealed to me for the text within the circles. When I received the fabric I realized the text was from a news story -- you can see Obama, Situation, Haiti, Emergency, firefighters, & more in it -- but I'll just pretend that it's found poetry ;) Thank goodness it doesn't say "Trump" anywhere, or I'd have sent it right back.

This was a really fun dress to make, pretty straightforward, with good instructions, and lots of variations available in the pattern. I found that everything went together well, even the collar, and the proportions are nicely balanced. The only thing missing is pockets ;) 

 And I just love this fabric! Perfect to wear in the library. Another text based dress for my collection!

Margot Peplum top in purple polka dots

I tried out a new-to-me indie pattern company this month! For some reason, I recently got it into my head that I wanted to make a peplum knit shirt, and when looking around I found this design by Love Notions, a company I hadn't really paid much attention to before, thinking that it was a lot of children's patterns. I was wrong -- I found this lovely Margot Peplum top, at a time that there was a sale on. So I bought it, traced it off, and finally got around to making it this month.

I used a thrifted poly knit which is kind of heavy and less stretchy than is optimal. But I thought for a first try of this pattern, it would be sufficient, and besides, I loved the polka dot print.

There are a few options to combine in this pattern - this time, I chose to make the solid bodice, with elbow sleeves and the swing skirt. It all fit together beautifully. I fall smack in the middle of M & L in the sizing so cut about midway between those sizes. I used a narrow zigzag stitch on most of the construction and it seems to have done the trick -- this knit is not going to fray or ravel, or probably ever self-destruct in a million years.

I did extend the length of the peplum by an inch or so, as I like a bit more of a tunic-y length to my loose tops. And I finished the neckline with a bias facing. I really like the way it has turned out. I think this might be another reliable pattern that I will end up making more than once -- I'm even thinking of extending the peplum and making this into a dress, as I like the bodice fit a lot. Perhaps I'll even try the princess seam version sometime!

The only thing to note is the the peplum attaches to the bodice essentially at an empire line, so on a windy day like the one on which I took my photos, attention must be paid to gusts! At least it keeps you cool ;)

This pattern was a winner for me, and I look forward to trying another of Love Notions' designs. I've already downloaded her Laundry Tee, let's see how long it takes me to get around to making that one...

The I.T. Dress: Simplicity 1419

I had cut out this pattern -- the Lisette Simplicity 1419 -- in April but got distracted by other projects, like my Cambie and the Simplicity Jiffy reversible dress. But I've finally got back to this one and finished this week, staying up late to finish the hem so I could wear it the next day (actually I cheated on the hem and instead of hand stitching as originally planned I just used some Steam-A-Seam. Don't tell...)

This is the dress for which I cut out a skirt lining from a pink sheet, which was the instigator of my recent reversible Simplicity dress. I added underlining because this dotted fabric, while cute, was also quite see-through if I was standing in any kind of light. I love the underlining -- it makes the skirt stand out crisply and hold its shape. It also makes it less likely to blow up scandalously in a strong wind, as I discovered to my relief when I wore it this week!

A look at my Steam-A-Seamed hem, which
allowed me to press it up right over the
underlining  and even gather slightly to keep it
nice and  straight-hanging from the outside.

This dress fabric is a recycled sheet I found at the Goodwill recently, I think it's another IKEA branded one. Good quality cotton -- it has a light, crisp hand, and is quite solid, in the sense that I had to be careful with pins -- it resisted any slightly dull pins and didn't want to recover from any pin or stitching holes. That quality gives it a nice polished appearance though.

Fitted but with room to move comfortably

Back view. So close to
being perfectly lined up

I call this dress my "I.T." dress -- the dots look just like those buffering circles that spin every time you're waiting for your computer to do something! I was extremely pleased to find that the dots had lined up exactly at the front waist, except that it's more of an oval than a circle, but hey, it is pretty close :)

Centred dots!

I like the pockets, the collar, the shape of the bodice, the pleats -- I like all of this one. The only changes I made were small fitting ones, like shortening the bodice by 1/2", although I do wish now I'd have shortened the back bodice by another 1/2". It does feel like it sags a little in the back waist, sadly. Not enough to stop me from wearing it, but I know it could be better.

I also lengthened the sleeves -- mostly so that I could cut them on the preexisting deep hem of the sheet and have halfway self-lined sleeves with no extra effort. I also ended up taking off the button loop at the front and just leaving this open as a V (which I had shortened by 1/2 " so it wasn't so deep). When I had a button on and had it closed up, it looked just too frumpy on me -- funny how one tiny thing like that can change the look completely.

Close up of neckline - you can also see
my perfectly matched earrings here too!

This is the first Lisette pattern I've used, and I really like it. I thought that the collar might be a little too much, but as it turns out I love it, and it was the element that most people commented on when I first wore it.

The pattern was very easy to follow, with well written instructions and techniques that are simple enough even for a beginner sewist who is looking for a bit more of a challenge than a 'very easy' dress. The pattern also includes a little jacket that looks like it could be interesting too -- perhaps I'll try it eventually.

I enjoyed wearing this very bright dress on a rather blustery day. It brightened my mood as well as my wardrobe!