Travel Clothes

In the weeks before going overseas in late September, apart from my new bikini pants I only found time to make a t-shirt and a dolman-sleeved jumper.  Both were intended to round out my travel wardrobe (wow, that sounds pretentious!) - and neither are very exciting garments, but they worked well for travel and if I post them I can share some travel pics, so...

The t-shirt was very simple to make: I just traced around a RTW top with curved shoulder seams, rotated the shoulder seams to the back and added darts to the shoulders to recreate the curve that was lost when I rotated the shoulder seam. The new "shoulder" seam starts about an inch below the shoulder at the neckline, and ends at the curve of the underarm.

I know that the seams don't show up very well in photos, but I like knowing that the top is a little different to your average t-shirt, and the yellow fitted in with my red, white and blue travel wardrobe really well :). The skirt is this one I made late last year as part of a set.

The front of the top is super plain - just a basic neck band, and cut on sleeves with the curved shoulder seam - I didn't photograph the shoulder darts, but they're like the ones in this orange top I made for winter.

The fabric I used was good-as-new, but taken from the skirt of this dress I made a few years ago.  I loved the colour but only wore the dress rarely because the elastic waist felt uncomfortable and the wrap top crossed too low on me, necessitating a slip. It's a viscose jersey from Tessuti fabrics, and since it was bought a few years ago I don't know that they'd still carry it.


We snapped these photos in the Vendicari Nature Reserve after a morning spent exploring Noto and before just relaxing on the beach and swimming. It's such an amazing spot!

Here are a couple of photos taken in the old tuna factory (the "tonnara") - a t-shirt is never really going to be the focus in a place like this:

If you're ever in Sicily and want a break from bustling about being a tourist, this park is the place I would recommend.  It's a terrific, quiet place for long, easy walks, bird watching (like flamingos, in the next photo), spectacular views and swimming in the sea - just BYO picnic and relax.

I really want to show you some more photos of the park before showing you my new jumper - just looking at these pictures makes me feel relaxed:

So, as I said above, not very exciting but the sort of summery top that goes with everything AND covers your shoulders (in case you pop into a church).


The other garment I made was a dolman-sleeved jumper, specifically intended to fit over this white linen top as well as my many other tops and dresses with dolman and kimono sleeves, which I don't wear as often as I should because nothing fits over them.

I expected Italy to be quite warm in the daytime, but wanted a basic light jumper that I could throw on over anything in the evenings and early mornings.  If you've flicked over to that white linen top post you'll see I used exactly the same pattern for the jumper as for the top, namely Vogue 8877.  The fabric is a merino wool from The Fabric Store.

While making it, I thought it was terribly boring - dull blue colour, simple pattern - but this jumper has filled wardrobe gap very nicely indeed, and quickly become a wardrobe mainstay. Not only does it fit on top of everything, but it also goes with everything.

These photos were taken in the rambling gardens of the converted stables we stayed in just outside of Florence.  I hadn't found the iron at this point, so please excuse the rumples.

There's not a great deal more to say about this jumper - it was worn pretty much any time there was a chill in the air, and took preference over a fancier RTW jumper I'd brought with me simply because it was so comfortable and cosy.  It even did double duty as an oversized popover dress for my daughter a couple of times when she got cold!


A bit more self-indulgence now - more photos of the inviting Florentine gardens! These gardens included an olive grove, a prettily set out floral area, sunny fields, herbs, fruit and vegetables, as well as several relaxing spots to sit with a book:

That's it for my travel photos - next up I've got a couple of Vogue dresses to share with you; one from my birthday and one from Melbourne Frocktails.

Happy sewing!

- Gabrielle x

Blue Danni

I made another Danni!

June was the second annual Indie Pattern Month over at The Monthly Stitch, and the inaugural Indie Pattern Month (announced here, and blogged all over the place). While I'd disagree strongly with the sentiment that the only good pattern is an indie one (of course no one said that, it's just the impression I got from some very passionate pro-indie blog posts), there is undoubtedly much to love about indie pattern companies. Personally I love how they engage with, encourage and promote the people who sew their patterns, and I appreciate the different aesthetics and body types (I'm paraphrasing Mari here) they cater for.

Most of the bigger name indie pattern companies aren't really for me though. I'm waaay too old for cute or mini, I'm not short or particularly curvy, I don't exercise, I'm not a hipster and I'm not a beginner sewist.  I have a huge pattern stash ranging over many decades, so I've probably already got something similar to any straightforward pattern that gets released. Oh, and the Big 4 patterns already fit me pretty well when approached with a standardised set of adjustments.

Having said that, I'm as enamored of beautiful branding as the next sewist, and I really like the idea of supporting local companies. So this June, although you didn't see any indie blog posts from me, I was doing plenty of local indie sewing using StyleArc and Papercut patterns: Danni in stripes, my Denim Pleated Pants, and this Blue Danni:



The Danni Dolman dress is described on StyleArc's site as follows: "This Dolman sleeved dress features a slight boat neck, there are 4 tucks falling from the left side seam softly over the hip line making this dress easy to wear and such a simple dress to sew. Suitable for all seasons." 

That mural in the first photo is fun, but I know you couldn't really see the dress against the blue background. I've lightened these photos taken against a less exciting concrete backdrop to try to better show you the way the tucks look in the ponti fabric, and the way the dress flatters rather than flaunts in a ponti, but dark blue is hard to photograph.

I liked the look of my Danni in stripes, and jersey IS the recommended fabric for the pattern, but I don't feel confident wearing something that feels so clingy, so pretty much as soon as it was sewn, I started Danni #2, with a nice firm ponti di roma from the stash. I think this fabric is 2 or 3 years old, and bought at Lincraft before I knew much about the joys of fabric shopping (that's why it's such a sensible fabric). 

Switching to a ponti fabric, the dress loses the super cling factor; much more suitable for corporate life, and becomes warmer (yay! cosy!). However, when I sewed this up initially the ponti looked loose rather than drapey in the top, so I took the dress in from the waist up (side seams from the waist to the dolman sleeves around elbow level, also centre back seam from the waist up) to make the top more fitted to my curves. It clings to my tummy, but I do have a tummy! The dress was also lengthened a few centimetres (I'm about 5'8").

I think I showed you the pattern last time, but to save you flicking back here they are again:

Yes, I like this one, it's a keeper... 

Thanks for reading, and see you soon.


- Gabrielle x

Danni in Stripes

I've discovered a local indie pattern company!

I know people have been making StyleArc patterns for years - and they're an Australian company - but somehow they only registered as a pattern company I should check out this year. Maybe it was all Jean's makes in May, maybe it was K-Line's Rosie drafts, and maybe it was Lara's knits - I don't remember who prompted me to go LOOK at the website, but a few weeks back I looked and promptly bought a few patterns. Including the Danni Dolman sleeve dress pattern.

It was so cold taking these photos (brrr) even with a coat on standby! That sunlight looks so good but it ain't full of warmth!

The patterns took a couple of weeks to arrive from when I ordered them (just like Vogues when I order them from the US).  I heard somewhere that they're printed on demand, which probably slows things a little, plus my postie seems to work part-time. StyleArc don't have the to-die-for packaging and cool branding / photoshoots of the newer indie brands, but on the other hand they seem to issue new patterns every month, and many of them very up-to-date with RTW styles. They're cheaper than the "cool brand" indies too, AND they send freebies :). The patterns are printed on sturdy paper, and include a fabric sample instead of a fabric recommendation. Instructions are succinct, though longer tutorials for specific techniques you might need (eg how to insert a zip fly, or how to level a skirt) are available here on their website. So even though many of the designs have quite straightforward lines, the assumption seems to be that you've sewn a few similar garments before. Which is fine by me :)

As the Danni dolman dress is a very simple shape I figured it would be a good pattern with which to verify how StyleArc patterns fit me - they claim to have a RTW fit, and patterns are ordered in a single size, but my measurements seemed to put me in a size 8 whereas in Aussie RTW I'm more like a 10-12!

Here's the pattern illustration:

Judging by this test dress, the areas I'll need to modify for StyleArc patterns are pretty consistent with the areas in RTW that don't fit me well: shoulders; length; and waist-hip curve. 

I made just 2 modifications to the pattern in making this dress:

1. The neckline looked very wide, so I measured it and brought it in by 2cm on each shoulder to ensure my bra straps would be covered. The pattern illustration shows a slightly draped neckline, but I have rather narrow shoulders, and I didn't want to risk making the neckline unwearably wide.  I'll have to confirm with my next StyleArc pattern whether they draft for medium or wide shoulders...
2. I took the sleeves in by about 2cm along the shoulder / sleeve line. This has made them quite tight and meant I also then needed to remove some sleeve length (2-3cm) where they were too tight on my lower arms. It also would have slightly reduced the dress length. I did this to correct my own stripe placement error - I'd forgotten to cut out the fabric so that the stripes would make nice chevrons down my arms! Stripes not aligning on noticeable seams is one of those things that really bugs me, so I *had* to make these stripes align even though it affected comfort :(.  

OK, so let's have some photos:

There's a centre back seam, which is very easy to match stripes along as it's dead straight. And having that CB seam reduces the amount of fabric this dress consumes.

The fabric is a piece of stripey viscose/spandex that I found on Tessuti's remnant table last year, and it's a lovely quality fabric but definitely not warm enough by itself for winter! If you can't tell the colours, it's a black stripe on taupe. Made up into a dress I like the way it looks a lot more than I thought I would - though to be honest I'm not sure when or where I'll wear something so body-con.

Effort: Minimal! A couple of hours?

Cost: $20 for the fabric, + $15.60 for the pattern (including part of the postage cost) = $35.60

This may be the start of a beautiful thing ;)

See you soon

- Gabrielle xx