More a Miaow than a Roar

Let me quickly try to blog against my Vintage Pattern Pledge target - I was aiming for 4 garments from vintage or reproduction vintage patterns, and though I'm pretty sure I've sewn 4 and a half, I've only blogged 2: my graphic alert dress and my frocktails cape; this broderie anglaise top doesn't count because I sewed it late last year. 

So here's vintage pattern garment number 3 for the pledge: a pink animal print (is there such a thing as a big cat with pink fur?) top made using a 1980s pattern. 

This next photo is the best I have - I'm not sure why the rest of my photos are so washed out! 

 

The fabric is a spongey, crepey, slightly stretchy fabric from Lincraft - it's got to be a cheap polyester. I bought it a few months ago (before I learnt my lesson) for a ridiculously cheap sale price, thinking it would be good "test" fabric, though it's unlike anything else in my stash...  On the plus side it needs no ironing, which makes the top useful when I'm running late for work.  In the below picture I'm doing a terrible job of acting "running late for work". Terrible! 

And the pattern is one I picked up very cheap in a second hand store - there is not that much demand for these 80s basics! I thought it looked like a good pattern though: firstly it's a designer pattern, and secondly it includes three very different tops: a shoulder-buttoned pullover top with cut on, fluttery sleeves (A); a drop shoulder, side-buttoned (!!) long sleeved top (B), and a forward shoulder, front-buttoned blouse (C).  I'm kind of staggered that these three tops were considered good for a single pattern back then - they are all so different!  

On first glance the pattern looked too small for me - it's a size 10, I know the sizing is the same as in modern Vogue patterns, and I currently fit a size 12 in modern Vogue top patterns. However, back then clothes were worn a lot looser than now - yippee!  For 80s patterns I get to go down a size (unless I want an 80s fit!), just keeping an eye out for nipped in waists :).  

I wanted to make something simple with my stunt fabric, so I went with variant A, and left off the shoulder buttons. On the pattern envelope photo the neckline on this top looks absolutely comfortable, but I assume a very slim model was used, as when I cut this out I found the neckline quite constricting - and so small that those shoulder buttons would have been a necessity - so I recut my neckline and facing a couple of centimetres bigger all around to fit my head.  

Without the shoulder button detail all that's left is the shape, with what turns out to be a rather lovely sleeve - I think these sleeves would look beautiful in a drapey silk. The arm scye is quite low cut but not so low cut as to show any bra. 

I sewed this very fast and carelessly, and the result is absolutely wearable but nothing special.  I do like a simple top though, and I think I may be able to square the shoulders on this pattern to make for an even more fluttery sleeve - and a pattern that would then work with a border print along the shoulder line (ideas, ideas, ideas!). So in short, I'll definitely be coming back to this one.

Happy new year, and see you in 2016!

- Gabrielle xx

26 & 27 March: with a nip in the air...

My me made pool of clothes not yet worn in March is getting more limited, but on weekends there's no corporate dress code to consider so everything is possible!

The weather today was cool and damp, so I decided to wear this summery dress with a cosy cardigan. The dress is from Vogue 1179 DKNY, made in a good quality jersey from Tessuti fabrics, and the cardigan is an ancient one from Witchery.  I was barefoot most of the time, but when I did go out briefly I wore the shoes pictured (from Wittner). I used to wear this dress a lot until the combined effect of "sack" comments from my partner and a large rear-view in a lift mirror put my off it. I think I did a good job with the dress, but the design may accentuate certain curves seen from behind :-).

 





And here's a photo that shows the dress better - taken when I'd just finished it:





Yesterday was cooler, and I was out and about a bit going to the GP, the shops and a family dinner, so here's what I wore...

Trenery jeans and jumper, camper shoes, Witchery sunnies, me made t-shirt and bag.

I blogged about the t-shirt back in December; it's a hybrid made from V1013 and V1128 that looks like this up close:


The sleeve shape means it layers well over a close-fitting long sleeve t-shirt too.

The bag was  made using a small piece of loose woven cotton from No Chintz in Sydney, with a layer of wadding then some interfaced thin cotton.

The pattern came from Ric Rac's blog, but I had to make a shorter strap - not enough fabric.  It nearly matches my jumper - near enough was good enough for me!




PS I should mention my daughter also chose a bit of me made today: she's wearing a Gap skirt, a Bonds singlet and blouse made from cotton voile using a pattern from the Japanese book "Cute Clothes for Good Girls" (or something like that). The original in the book is shown in a heavy cream linen, with pocket flaps, but my version is good for summer - and for building ponds in the garden beds.



Hope you have a good week!

21 - 22 March: Vogue-ing

This is what I wore today - as it looked by the end of the day:
 

* a new Vogue skirt (Vogue 1038 Donna Karan Collection), which I thought I'd finished late last night.  On getting dressed this morning the lining hem proved to need taking up more - so some rushed machine hemming happened before heading out. I used stash fabric for this - a loose weave fabric with what looks to me like a small herringbone pattern (please correct me if you know better). I love this pattern, but I am still making my skirts too big! I think I will have to re-measure myself. And maybe start factoring something else in... do waistbands grow a lot???
* my old faithful (well, a MMM repeat) Vogue 1128 Anne Klein top (originally posted here) 
* a much older (10 years? more?) RTW houndstooth jacket. A few weeks ago a woman in the supermarket queue commented on this jacket - she told me her grandma had just given her the exact same jacket as a hand-me-down, and now she'd seen it on me she was going to wear hers too. Except mine isn't vintage - perhaps just dowdy! I thought the two similar patterns, skirt and jacket, would be interesting together - not sure.
* nine west black flats


Here are a couple more photos from this afternoon, including genuine creases from a day in the office:

 

Yesterday I wore my black V1013 DKNY dress, which I showed in my inaugural post.  Here's what it looked like yesterday:

The fabric was a stash material - some kind of moire maybe? It's heavy and feels fantastic on.  I love the puff sleeves on this dress (which really challenged me at the time) and just the shape of the thing - and somehow in this dress I feel as though I'm wearing something vintage!  I wore this with a bizarre necklace with little feathers on it from Diva. And the same black Nine West flat shoes to and from work as today, changing into the same plain black heels at work. 

I've had to overexpose this photo so you can see the way the dress falls... black dress in the late afternoon of a rainy Autumn day - tricky!









Below are a close-up of a sleeve, a close-up on the dress form of the back opening, and a close-up of the front of the dress. In the dress-form photo you can see the fabric a bit better.

I can't think what I'm going to wear tomorrow!

Saved from Scrap (Vogue 1128 Top)

A couple of months ago I bought some $4.99 Vogue patterns, among them V1128 (Anne Klein New York: Misses' Coat, Top and Pants).  This one appealed because I had had some success with Anne Klein pants before, and the top had pleats - I am a fool for pleats, and if I didn't sew myself lots of pleated tops I would be spending a fortune buying them! Here's a close-up of the pleated top as shown on the pattern envelope:

and my finished top, rather unimaginatively made up in a jersey of the same colour:

The top didn't require much fabric, so when I got a serious urge to make it, I went trawling through my stash and came up lucky - some hot pink jersey with a lovely sheen on the right side, purchased at Tessuti Fabrics last year. Unfortunately the hot pink jersey had already been made into something; a dress consigned to the scrapheap.


If you're wondering how to turn a lovely piece of jersey into a disgrace, I can guide you now. Take a scoop-necked pattern from BurdaStyle magazine (eg 07/2009 #123), do not do a paper fitting to check whether Burda has lowered the neckline by about 3 unnecessary inches, and sew with confidence. Try the garment on. Observe the result in horror. Attempt to fix, make silly errors. Consign item to the scrapheap. I believe the BurdaStyle magazine archive has been decommissioned so I don't have a picture of the originally intended dress, but you can find some poor reviews (think mu-mu) here at PatternReview.

The BurdaStyle dress looked like it had enough fabric in it for a cute little top, but fitting the pattern pieces in was a bit tight...  The Anne Klein top has about 20 pleats and tucks around the neckline, so this means the bodice is shaped like a chunky, flattened down "Y". There are also facing pieces and cap sleeves. The bodice pieces fitted in the skirt front and back of the scraphead dress. The facing pieces came from the bodice facing of the scrapheap dress (already interfaced, Hooray), and the cap sleeves only just fit into the scrapheap dress bodice.

Re-sewing this fabric was fun. Folding all the pleats and tucks in place was not so enjoyable, and I only basted them across the neckline as I thought the stitches would show after the basting was removed. The facing fitted perfectly, and I staystitched it in place but the facing still tends to roll out a little (I think I know the answer to this problem, which I'll talk about in a future post on my Melbourne Cup Dress).  The cap sleeves are fitted but there is no extra fabric so they are what they are. I used a twin needle to finish the sleeves and the hemline and I sewed a bit too close to the edge of the sleeves, which seems to have increased the raised effect that I've somehow achieved between the 2 rows of stitches.... if someone knows what this raised effect is caused by or how to prevent it, can they let me know?  Here are some pics of the details:

the pleated neckline, with rolling facing

a small cap sleeve with double stitched hem showing raised effect

the hemline of the top with raised effect again