Top 5 of 2016: the Hits

Taking a lead from Gillian, here are my personal top 5 from 2016:


The flying squirrel Rachel Comey dress (V1482) - I don't wear this that much but I LOVE it; it feels really special on and is incredibly comfortable and eye-catching (in a good way, I hope).

My D&G inspired polka dots and carnations dress - a great work dress, and one that gets a lot of compliments too:

My Japanese seersucker checked Gabby top - I wear this soooo often, and I don't care that Mr UpSewLate hates it (too shapeless apparently, but I won't listen to that!):

My Tessuti Chloe pants and Vogue 8877 linen top - love these as a combination but also as separates. The pants go with everything, and the top feels very designer-ish even with basic jeans:

And another Rachel Comey dress, the super summery Vogue 1501:

I'm sensing a colour theme here... I seem to be a bit obsessed with blues! 

Honourable mentions also go to my StyleArc Edith top (worn very frequently), the Vogue 1264 black pants shown in this post (a work staple, and I should really wear the cute vintage top more often), and the Vogue 8993 dress that I would be wearing now if I hadn't put on a bit of weight - these are all favourites too - and in terms of post popularity, I guess I should include my only "how to" (on mitred self-faced vents). 

It may look like 2016 was all beer and skittles, sewing-wise, but that's of course not the case - I made several garments that I'm not at all interested in wearing, and I'll share that list with you soon. 

Till then, happy sewing!

- Gabrielle xx

Vogue 1501: The Birthday Dress

A couple of months ago now my mum brought me back several delectable fabrics from her trip to New York (no, not from Mood Fabrics, if you were wondering), and we agreed they could be an early birthday present - hooray! This pebble-patterned crisp cotton was one of them - such a great pick, given my current obsession with blue fabric - and I'm delighted to have been able to sew it up in time for my birthday, early last month.

The pattern is of course the very recognisable Rachel Comey dress, Vogue 1501 (aka the Delane dress, and related to the Klein dress).

I wasn't sure of the fabric composition of the original dress as shown on the pattern envelope, but then I did some searching on the internet, and interestingly all of the RC Delane dresses looked to be made from 100% polyester! So I guess the dress on the pattern envelope is polyester too; maybe a polyester crepe.  Mine is cotton :). For our humid summers I will always choose cotton over polyester, and I suspect the sewing's easier this way too :).

Here are a few of those original polyester dresses - although I'm not a fan of polyester in summer clothing, I have to say the design does look great in a drapey fabric:

 

And apart from using a very different fabric I stayed pretty much true to the pattern.

I sewed a size 12 in the bodice, size 14 in the waist and below, and then made just a couple of minor deviations:  I lengthened the skirt a couple of inches (I'm around 5'8" with an average torso length), and while I tried and liked the idea of the shoulder pads, I left them out so as not to lose any bodice length.

Oh and I didn't have quite enough fabric, so my facings were cut from a contrasting white cotton, which feels very summery. 

Looking at these photos, perhaps I should add those shoulder pads back - I thought the bodice was verging on too short and pulling up the front hemline, but if anything the opposite looks to be happening! Hopefully that's just my lazy posture...

The bodice is roomy (hell, mine's even puffy in the front!) with a loose hanging back bodice over a more fitted back skirt.

I'm not convinced this is a particularly flattering garment, but it feels breezy without being revealing and I really like that - it's a pleasure to wear on a hot day, and that's the main thing!

In case you're tempted to make one of these dresses for yourself, let me get into a bit more detail in reviewing the pattern.

Firstly, you've probably noticed the pattern is rated Easy - and I think that's a fair rating, as there are no complex acts of sewing involved. Having said that, this is the sort of pattern that requires patience: there are a lot of little steps involved, and several of these demand you pay attention to your cutting and/or stitching. Which is absolutely fine, but if you're in the mood for slapdash sewing you might want to delay the attachment of your bodice to the skirt at the front waistband, for example :).

The instructions are pretty comprehensive: they show you how to make and attach a button loop, how to prevent your pockets from flapping around, where to understitch, which stress points to reinforce, how to insert an invisible zip without a bubble at the end, and how to include a bias bound finish on the inside of your waistband. I suspect the instructions wouldn't be quite detailed enough for an absolute beginner, but I think they'd be sufficient for someone with a few garments to their name.

My only quibble is with the suggested seam finishes in step 19. The pattern suggests you finish your raw edges on the bodice side seam, but I think this can make for too thick a finish on light fabrics so I just overlocked these edges. The recommended fabrics for this pattern are crepe, linen blends, jersey and chambray, so maybe I've just used an inappropriate fabric, and maybe bias tape would work on less summery fabric.

One quibble isn't much (not from an analyst!) and there is LOTS to love with this pattern: roomy and well placed pockets, hidden under the folds of the pleats; armholes that are not too low and not too high; an interesting design that keeps you cool in summer without resulting in horrendous sunburn; lovely facings; neat finishes; a choice of a tucked in bodice or a loose and breezy one; and great instructions.  That's heaps!

I should also say I'm also pretty happy with my own sewing on this dress :).  I restrained myself from bolting ahead and taking shortcuts, and I even unpicked some of the narrow hems and resewed them when they weren't looking neat and symmetric, even though I abhor unpicking!  I really like the look of the pebble print on this dress, and I'm pleased to have had a go at balancing the pebbles over the front bodice and on the waistband - though I'm not sure if this is at all noticeable to anyone else :).

Hmm I think I like the side back view best - there are no idle thoughts of Teletubbies creeping into my subconscious from this angle:  

So will I make this dress again? I might! I'd like to make it in a white linen jersey, with the skirt lengthened and the darted, zipped up back skirt replaced by an elastic waist and just enough gathering to get over my hips. I know the narrow hems would be a bugger to sew in a jersey though. I'd also like to play with the shape of that loose back bodice with a more structural fabric...

If you're thinking of making this dress, here are my final thoughts on what to pay attention to and what to skip: 

• If there's plenty of fabric you can skip the centre front seam on the skirt
• There's no need for bias bound seam edges except at the lower edge of the waistband 
• The shoulder gussets can be omitted if you're not using shoulder pads 
• The pleats need to be carefully aligned above and below the waistband, and should be symmetric on either side of centre front.
• Don't skip the understitching 
• The neckhole is not huge - you will probably need the back button and opening
• Pay attention to the waist band and hip sizes, but the rest of the garment is loose
• Check the front bodice length if you are taller or shorter than average 
• The front bodice has very visible, angled hems so don't skip the ironing steps here
• Follow the directions for reinforcing, stitching and clipping the front bodice carefully so you don't get a mess at the junction of the waistband and front bodice

I hope that doesn't put you off! 

Oh and once the dress is sewn, there's one further challenge - how to hang it in your wardrobe! By the shoulders, like a regular dress? From the waist, like a skirt? Folded over a hanger, like umm... like a tricky thing? 

Thank you and goodnight!~

See you soon

- Gabrielle xx

Vogue 1482: Antidote Dress

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who left a kind message on my last post.  I have yet to reply to them all, but I really appreciated your words. Knowing friends were thinking of us made life feel a little less sad, so please accept my very sincere thanks.

And of course life has been getting back to normal. Work for the adults, school for the kids, and the usual hobbies - sewing for one.

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This dress is a pretty good representation of my current frame of mind: predictably, I'm feeling like life's too short. Too short for not sewing your favourite fabrics, for worrying about embarrassment, and for dressing staidly.  Too short for being a wuss. Too short for putting off the small pleasures that don't hurt anyone.  It's time to be bold.

So this dress is bold and abstract and sack-like - a reminder to relish life; an antidote to fearfulness.

Now one of the really cool things about this dress (I think) is that worn normally, the print looks semi-abstract - just interesting lines and blobs on a lovely blue background.

And yet when I assume Australian Sugar Glider pose, the abstract reveals itself to be an illustration for an interesting story involving animals of the air and sea:

The pattern is of course Vogue 1482 by Rachel Comey (Vogue patterns listing here), aka Wades dress. The tech drawing already gives you a hint of sugar glider-ness, doesn't it! 

The pattern is described as follows by Vogue:

"Very loose-fitting, tapered, pullover dress has bias neck facing and loop, front seam with left side pocket, sleeves, cuffs, stitched hem, back neck slit and button/loop closing. Note: No provisions provided for above waist adjustment."

I didn't think the back neck slit was necessary - the neckline looked wide enough to get over my head, and I had enough fabric width to cut the dress without a centre back seam - so the back of my dress looks like this:

My dress has I think ended up at the original length - I cut the dress out significantly longer but then trimmed away some of the length and used a deep hem. If you're shorter than about 5'8" I think you'd need to remove length in that space below the angled seam on the dress front - if you take length out higher up the dress you'll need to change the degree of the angled seam and the pocket.

It's probably also worth noting that most of the original Rachel Comey Wades dresses that you can find online are made from light looking silk or polyester georgettes that drape in thinner folds than my fabric - as does the one on the pattern envelope: 

My amazing Japanese fabric came from Tessuti Fabrics' Surry Hills shop last year. The blue is my idea of stunning, and I think the stylised drawings on the fabric are gorgeous too. In other words. this fabric immediately joined my favourites list.  And I've pulled it out of my stash so often since buying it - but you know, always held back by the usual excuse: "what if I mess up my amazing fabric with a dodgy make?"

Well once sewn up, I have to admit my first reaction was UH OH!

I'd cut the dress out in my usual Vogue size (12-14) but that size looked oversized on me; the curve of the side seams was swamped by excess fabric and the fabric hung on me with curtain-like vertical ripples. The kids gave me the side eye and extracted a promise that the dress would not be seen by their teachers :(.

Happily when I pinned out the excess down the side seams, the dress looked much improved.  I removed 5 centimetres from each side seam in the size 12-14 I'd initially cut out, tapering to 2 centimetres at the hemline and nothing at the cuffs -  basically a size smaller than I'd usually wear. It's possible that with a lighter weight fabric my original size would have been fine, but my fabric is quite heavy, with a reasonable amount of give despite its not being a stretch.  Due to that weight I included clear elastic down the length of my shoulder seams - I think it'll prevent the weight of the fabric from distorting the sleeves.

I had some great suggestions on Instragram as to what that creature flying across my chest might be (a seal? a pigeon seal?), but I'm now thinking it must be a seagull. The creature crawling over my pocket is a lobster, of course, and I'm really pleased with the way I placed this critter, ready to snap.

From my kids' perspective the dress is still not a safe enough choice for parent teacher meetings, but in my eyes changing the fit has made a huge difference.  This is definitely the kind of look I want to wear out.

A favourite fabric, a bold shape and very little embarrassment in the scheme of things - I want to make more of these dresses!

Finally, thank you mum for taking these photos for me!  We had a lovely afternoon out last weekend, and mum took these pictures in front of some grand historic houses on a very busy Johnston Street in Annandale (in the inner west of Sydney). 

Happy sewing (be bold!) and see you soon

- Gabrielle xx

V1247 Rachel Comey Top in Orange Ikat

This is my orange ikat variation on the top from V1247, a Rachel Comey pattern.

front view

back view, unfortunately bunching up the fabric with my hand!

Again, as with my original V1247 top, I am rather pleased  :-). 

Construction: 
This time around I sewed the top in a straight size 12, and didn't grade up a size at the waist and hips. In fact, when I tried the top on it seemed too loose for the way the fabric hangs, so I took the top in at the sides starting from a miniscule amount at armpit level to about 1.5cm at the waist, then grading out again to nothing at the hem. And to give the top even more shaping at the waist I also added a fold-over pleat that lines up with the shoulder pleats. I can still get the top on and off easily, but I have really narrow shoulders and upper chest - otherwise this may not have been possible. I probably should have also moved the shoulder darts in a little closer to the centre to account for those narrow shoulders.

front view

Because the fabric didn't lend itself to French seams I just used normal seams. I would use French seams on a sheer or silky fabric in this top though. 

I cut fronts and backs so that my fabric's border print would be on the sleeve edges, and this meant that these pieces of fabric were cut on an angle to the grain - which I hope makes my shoulders look bigger!
 

border print dictated cut of the fabric

Also to create a stronger impression of a waist I changed the orientation of the other pieces: I cut the lower front pattern piece (piece 4) on the fold and on the grain (it's intended to be cut as 2 pieces on the bias) and cut the lower side front pattern piece (piece 5) on the bias ( intended to be cut on the grain).

Finally I omitted the bias-cut fabric strip for the neckline and the sleeve cuffs as I wanted enough fabric left over for a skirt for my daughter. On the neckline I used satin bias binding instead, and I think this looks alright although I probably prefer my original version's neckline treatment. With the sleeves ending in a border print I didn't think a cuff was necessary. 

pinning satin bias binding in place around neckline

Fabric details
I bought this fabric last year from Sukarara village in Lombok, Indonesia. This village is a weaving centre which makes a lot of traditional ikat and songket fabrics.  My recollection is that we were told that traditional ikat fabric isn't very wide because it's the width that's comfortable to weave by hand - certainly the women we saw weaving were making quite narrow cloths, and the larger standing looms we saw were I believe for use by men.

My fabric is an ikat because the pattern is woven and doesn't have gold or silver threads inserted between the weft threads the way a songket fabric would, and I'm guessing it would have been woven by a man because it's wider than the women's looms we saw.  The woven patterns are specific to and passed down through families - and although this may be surprising given the muted colours of batik, colourful ikat fabric did seem to be authentic in Lombok!

Photo from Wikipedia, but this is similar to the displays we saw at Sukurara

I don't want to bore you with too many travel snaps, but here are a couple of photos taken at two different wedding processions (yes, if you're wondering, I did get permission to take these photos).  Everyone in the wedding processions seemed to be wearing traditional sarongs. It looked to me that the brides and grooms wore long sarongs made of songkret fabric, but I think others also wore smaller pieces of songret.

Children in a wedding procession - the blue sarongs would definitely be ikat, as would the red/yellow one on the right

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The official band in what looked to be an affluent wedding procession

Quite possibly if there were a few of these ikat V1247 tops in a room we might be mistaken for a gathering of celebrating APEC officials!  I hope not!  Thankfully few of my colleagues, friends or family have ikat shirts - and of course I don't get out much - so the risk should be pretty low.

Official photo from APEC 9 in Indonesia

Hmmm... actually those people are all men, aren't they! Risk = infinitessimal!

Finally I should warn you that the likelihood of your seeing many more incarnations of this top is high - I'm curious as to how it would fare in a wool jersey or in a t-shirt material, also in a silk or other drapey fabric and in a formal looking fabric. Too much, too much, I know - but I never had a TNT before, and this could be it!

V1247 in Charcoal

A new Vogue pattern, and a new top for me - woohoo! This top is made from Vogue 1247, a new Rachel Comey pattern.



I love, love, love the shape of this top, and even though it's intended for warmer weather I think it also works layered over long sleeve tees (yes, I'm still cold!).  I've made it in a semi-transparent charcoal coloured fabric of unknown fibre content.  The shop owner I bought it from said it was a linen-silk mix, but it was ridiculously cheap without being on sale - seems all wrong for Sydney! 

Yet again I've used fabric that's hard to photograph... sorry :-)  Maybe these photos on the dummy will help you see the structure a bit better - lots of french seams, darts and pleats - and pieces cut at different angles to the grain of the fabric.

 

Construction:
After checking out Adonising's top (and she made the skirt too!) and making some rough and ready measuments of the flat pattern pieces I went with the size 12, and added 1.5cm of fabric all the way around the neckline as I prefer a higher neckline. I graded out to a 14 at the waist, but the top is in a loose style so that may not have been necessary. 


I made a few more small changes... instead of turning the neck facing to the inside of the neckline I left it as a sort of narrow flat band, which of course made the neckline a bit higher again. To match this band I also varied the sleeve cuffs, and didn't turning them over as shown in the technical drawing below. Because my fabric was a very loose weave it also stretched out along several edges, particularly at the waistline, so I took up this excess fabric with some pleats on the waistline to align with the front shoulder pleats. 

Here are the technical drawings of the top and skirt from V1247:



and here's the back view from the pattern envelope pictures:

FYI this pattern is rated Average /  Moins Facile, but the instructions for the top are really straightforward. There are some french seams but that's about as hard as it gets. I haven't made the skirt (yet - it's definitely on my projects list) but apparently it uses Hong Kong seam finishing, which I've never tried - I'm guessing the skirt is harder than the top!

And I'm planning on making this again very quickly in a bright Indonesian cotton - I'm tempted to make it in a whole lot of different fabrics, but it'd be a bit crazy to build up a whole wardrobe of tops that were all the same shape wouldn't it???