Silver New Look 6469

I've had this soft and squishy silver stretch velour in my stash for ages. So just before the holidays I decided to make this up, and chose New Look 6469, which I picked up earlier this year from PatternReview. 

I made View D, but with a straight hem line like in View C. I like it...but I don't love it. I'm thinking that it's perhaps because the fabric is a bit thick, and yet it's also not quite fitted enough in the bodice/sleeve area. I think this is another one that I'm going to have to redo just a bit to be happy with. And boy, do I hate mending/altering something, even if I've just finished it. Sigh! 

Anyhow. The fabric is very soft and comfy, and the fit is extremely forgiving. It's a comfortable wear -- kind of like wearing a bathrobe around all day. But is it wearable as an actual dress? 

Short answer, yes. I added side seam pockets to it; I can't stand a dress without pockets. I'm always losing my key if I don't have a pocket to put it in. This time I chose a woven to make the pockets -- I didn't think it would look very nice to have stretchy pockets in this stretchy fabric. I had a nice remnant of rose & white toile cotton that looks very pretty as a pocket bag. Usually I'll stabilize the seam that attaches a pocket bag to the side if I'm using stretch fabrics (with twill tape or seam binding or iron-on seam tape, etc).  But this time I just carried that over to the whole pocket. We will see if it stands up to use. So far the pockets sit very nicely and invisibly.

It's quite swishy, which is something I really like. And the fabric is so soft and stretchy that I left out the back opening at the neckline and just sewed the collar on as a band. It's not quite as even as I'd like, but the fabric is so slouchy and reflects the light at different angles that you can't really tell -- it all looks like it is different tones and folds anyhow.

I'm not 100% convinced on this one though. Some suggestions were to wear a bright coloured scarf (I like that) or to shorten it slightly - also a good idea. I'll give it a fix, and a few more wears, and see if it grows on me.

The pattern itself is easy and straightforward; if I use it again, I'll make it with a lighter weight knit. The only flaw is no pockets, but that is easily fixable. This was my last project of 2019, and I'm moving forward with my 2020 plans now. I'll be sharing some of those soon, too. Hope you have lots of ideas for the new year as well!

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?

Rose Pink Butterick Tunic

After my last Fabricville project, I was just in love with stretch velour. I couldn't resist using more of it! So I also bought some deep rosy pink in the same fabric from my local store, and this time I used an old See & Sew pattern, Butterick 5907.

I'm not a big wearer of pink overall, but this colour was so luscious. It sewed up beautifully, although this time I decided to hand stitch the hem and sleeves rather than machine finish them. The hem is therefore a little softer and rounder, which I think suits this pattern.

This is truly an easy, quick pattern. Four pattern pieces; the sleeves are sewn in flat, which is such a lovely knit technique, so simple. The cowl in this pattern is cut on the bias, which means you do use up quite a bit more fabric but the drape is worth it. Having this deep cowl in this soft fabric all squishy around your neck is a little bit of heaven.

I like that the pattern has simple lines, to focus on the fabric. It drapes and shines and feels so luxurious. The colour is warm and brightens up gloomy winter days, and I just feel happy when I wear it. That's always the measure of a successful make, I think!

I used View A, and think I'd add just  an extra inch of length next time. I shortened the sleeves slightly, but otherwise didn't make any changes. This was a quick and satisfying project that will be a favourite for a long while.

A Fabricville Velour Vogue Tunic

I am once again sharing a project which I made up for Fabricville Canada, as part of their blogging program. This is a beautiful velour tunic which I just *love*! (check out their blog here -- you will recognize a few other sewing bloggers there too!)

I used Vogue 9275, a wardrobe pattern, focusing on View B, the tunic. Although the pattern calls for lightweight knits for this item, I saw it made up in velvet by Lori at Girls in the Garden last fall, and thought it was such a gorgeous idea that I had to jump on this stretch velour when I saw it.

Actually I spent quite a bit of time in my local store petting the bolts until I received this maroon piece from Fabricville. Then I bought some more in pink. More on that later this month... This is such a wonderfully soft fabric, it's like you are wearing a Gund. My coworkers couldn't hold themselves back from petting my shoulders today. Really, though I usually don't go for polyesters, I had to have it. There is still a medium gray and a navy that I have my eye on....

In any case, the tunic is a great pattern -- so easy to make -- three pieces, a front, back, and cowl. This is a cowl which is cut straight across the grain, so it's more of a slouchy tube neck than a drapey cowl. It's warm and cozy. The feel of this cushy fabric on your neck is marvellous. I left out the drawstring ties as they don't seem to match a more luxury fabric, plus I wanted to wear necklaces with this.

I cut a large as I did want this to have an oversize and long look as on the pattern illustration. The only alteration I made was to raise the arm openings by 2 inches -- quite a lot but I wanted to be able to wear this without another shirt underneath. I wore it with just a cami under it for warmth today, and it was perfect, but there is still room for a t-shirt underneath if you'd wish to wear it that way as well.

The sewing was really straightforward, with attention to the slippy fabric of course. I sewed with a long and narrow zigzag, and went slowly to be sure there was no shifting. It was only when I had to sew the neck on with the fabric face up that I had any difficulty, but I switched to my plastic foot made for vinyl, pleather etc. and it slid over the pile lightly and smoothly.

The part of this top which took the longest was deciding how to hem it. I couldn't decide on what to do that would give a simple clean hem that didn't stretch or get wavy. I considered hand stitching but then looked up some tips online. The best one came from a PatternReview forum, which I then tried out on some scraps and liked. So ended up pinning carefully and then stitching a narrow zigzag on a single layer of once turned up hem -- I used a .5 width and 3.0 length zigzag stitch and it seemed to be quite effective.

I finished it this morning and wore it to work this afternoon. It's a great pattern, and using a soft velour knit like this one ensures that you are both comfortable and feel glamorous. Win-win!