To Work: Vintage Calvin Klein

Ta daaaa!  Yep, it's another top...


This one is sewn from a vintage pattern from my 80s/90s pattern collection (which is NOT a "carefully curated collection", though seriously, what even does that phrase mean? Does it just mean "a group of things I like"??). The pattern looks pretty boring in the envelope photos, but it's a designer pattern, which I find usually guarantees good bones, and the back of the envelope shows three very different tops, one of which (this one) only needs a metre of fabric.

The pattern is described as follows:

Loose-fitting pullover top or wrap blouse has cap or full-length sleeves. A and B mock bands, A: buttoned shoulder and sleeves closing. B: dropped shoulders and side-buttoned closing. C: extended shoulders, front pleated into self-lined yoke with forward shoulder seams and two-piece sleeves with buttoned cuffs shown pushed up.

I have a few of Calvin Klein's top patterns from the 70s, 80s and 90s and they seem to have quite a consistent, minimalist aesthetic, but this pattern is from 1986 - even though it has no shoulder pads. Vogue magazine anticipated the 1990s Calvin Klein designs would inspire Raf Simons' 2017 Calvin Klein collection (article and links to collections here), so maybe this is nearly fashionable?? Probably not, haha!

Anyway, these next photos of the pattern come from an etsy shop (linked) that had the pattern for sale as at the time of writing, but I can see it's available in lots of other online shops too if you like the look of it.

So obviously I made view A, the one that takes only a metre of fabric, and I left off the lovely buttoned shoulder detail - with my drapey silk twill I was worried I'd mess up, and the top gets on and off without any closures anyway.

This little top is intended to slot into my work wardrobe - black pants and skirts mixed with more interesting tops and jumpers - and though it looks summery with its fluttery cap sleeves, I think it's going to suit winter too in my current, very warm office.

These pants by the way are RTW, but if you could see them in person you might notice they're quite similar to Vogue 8909, with a loose fit (looser than the Hudson pants) and elasticized waist and ankles.  I'd make a pair except I already have a pair!

Vogue 8909 pants

Not Vogue 8909 pants, but a similar style

Because I left off the shoulder and sleeve buttoning closure this was a very straightforward top to sew.  The fabric, a gorgeous Italian silk twill from Tessuti Fabrics (sorry but it was purchased ages ago so I doubt it'd still be in stock) was a bit shifty to sew so that made things a little slower, but it was still only the matter of a few hours.

I used French seams on the shoulders and side seams and a rolled hem on the sleeves, and I should have but didn't use Lena's gelatine trick for shifty fabrics (here's Lena's original tip blogged in 2011, and here's the link to the 2012 Threads article inspired by Lena's blog post).  The rolled hem is wonky over the French seams, so perhaps French seams weren't such a good idea - that seam area was such a lot bulkier than the rest of the hem.

And I'm not sure if you can see this in the first of the detailed photos below, but I also used Debbie's trick for neat interfaced facings with no messy edges.

One of the nice things about a pattern like this is that it's really easily adjusted up or down a size.  My copy of this pattern was a size 10, but by widening the neckline and adding to the width of the top (including sleeve length) my top was effectively made as a size 12.

Not smug but happy - and that's all!


Happy sewing

- Gabrielle xx

Frocktails Sydney: Dark Floral Vogue 1228

Frocktails always feels to me like an opportunity - and close to an obligation even - to make a new dress. So although I'd made a formal dress (not blogged, barely worn) late last year for Melbourne Frocktails, Sydney Frocktails called for something new.

Plan A was another formal dress in a divine duchesse satin layered with tulle and boning and organza and lining (hmm sounding a bit like my Melbourne frocktails dress...), but the pattern I had lined up for all these materials was the wrong size. Cold feet and procrastination ensued - I will make this dress another time though. 

Plan B was to make something quick, with fabric from the stash, and using a pattern I'd used before - learning from Blogless Anna, who always rocks up to the Melbourne Frocktails in simple, elegant garments made impeccably from beautiful fabrics. 

Here it is then: Vogue 1228 (previously blogged here, in what I admit was NOT a particularly useful review), sewn from a small length of gorgeous fabric from The Fabric Store that I'd previously earmarked for a mildly flared midi skirt:

Apologies for blending into the background in so many of these pictures (but that's introverts for you, right?) - I don't know when I'm going to have the free time to re-take them, so I hope they're good enough for you to see where the dress starts and ends.

Pattern:

This Vena Cava pattern is rated easy in the Vogue rating system, and is definitely rated correctly. Mind you, Vogue's "easy" is not the same as Simplicity's "easy" - there are still some interesting techniques going on! This pattern is described as follows on the envelope:

"Close-fitting (through bustline), above mid-knee length dress has front and back stitched pleats, kimono sleeves with sleeve band and narrow tabs, stitched facing at neckline, invisible side zipper, very narrow hem at lower edge."

Between making the dress way back when and now I misplaced a crucial page of instructions (yes, the page that tells you how to make the front and back stitched pleats and how to then finish the front neckline without showing the pleat), but luckily for me another blogger had documented these exact steps in her review. 

I found the fit to be consistent with other Vogue patterns I've made before, but if you do sew this up, as usual, I'd recommend measuring the pattern pieces. On me the dress is a little close fitting through the hips because I just assumed I could still wear the size I'd cut out last time :(.

Sadly the pattern is way, way OOP, but there look to be lots available on eBay and etsy. 

Fabric:

This heavenly fabric is from The Fabric Store, though they don't have it in stock anymore. It has a lot of body, which I love in the sleeves of this dress. Although the right side of the fabric is very dark with a lovely sheen, the underside is a pale grey and matte. I don't recall the fabric composition but perhaps it's a viscose-silk blend?  It's beautiful up close but the right side is quite fragile; I ended up snagging the dress on the sequins of my handbag while we were out.

The handbag - which I didn't make, though it'd be an easy sew - is another story.  Those big sequins show different colours when you flip them, which made for lots of fun with certain cheeky people writing messages on my bag while I wasn't looking :). Let's just say I wouldn't be surprised if Christy made a bag just like this one day...

Modifications:

Having made the dress before I knew I could skip the side zipper (one benefit of being slightly pear shaped!). 

I also knew the neckline was a problem - as drafted, the neckline is quite low. This is a problem on me because the square shape is also quite wide, and the corners of the neckline end up showing a triangle of bra cup on each side. Obviously this is not going to be an issue for people with a lower set bust, but I needed to either raise or change the shape of the neckline to remedy this issue. If I'd raised the neckline, this would have raised the point where the bust pleats release, and I felt those pleats need to be quite high to do their job. So my solution was to narrow the neckline by a centimetre all the way around (back and front) and then also to taper the sides of the square inwards from the shoulder line to the lowest point on the bust, changing the shape from square to isosceles trapezoidal (I love a bit of geometry in sewing!).

Fabric limitations brought the hemline up several inches, but I was then able to make up some of this length with a hem band sewn from fabric cut on the cross grain (and it doesn't hang quite right, but since this dress is generally worn in the evenings I don't think this is very noticeable). 

And instead of making tabs to hold the sleeve bands folded over I used small, invisible hand stitching to hold the bands in a permanent fold.

Yay or Nay?

This dress is definitely a "yay" dress!

Give the fancy fabric I thought this dress would end up languishing in my wardrobe with all the other fancy dresses, but it's had heaps of wear - I don't go out much, but this dress has still managed about half a dozen outings over the last couple of months!  I'll have to remember this for future dresses: a simple design makes for a more adaptable dress than a complex one.

This particular dress shape is also perfect for running down the street, catching the train, playing with the pup... it's not voluminous, but there's enough width in the skirt for lots of motion. Alternatively you can pretend you're running for a train while your pup lies around in the grass:

And the frocktails event itself? Well, it was every bit as fabulous as you might imagine :).  The venue was cool, the cocktails and snacks were delicious, there was a surfeit of frock inspiration, and too TOO many people to chat with - locals, Queenslanders, Canberrans, Melbournites - these events always go too quickly!  You can see lots of portraits from the night on Caroline's Instagram feed (thank you Mr Usefulbox for this lovely photo of me!), and you can read Caz's wrap-up blog post here.

I'm already looking forward to the next frocktails, and if you're even slightly tempted, I'd encourage you to come along too! see you soon

- Gabrielle xx

Jungle January: Kielo Wrap Dress

Kielo wrap dress?   Certainly.

Jungle print?   Is an Aussie-bush-floral-sort-of print close enough?  With a touch of rope?  The rope part sounds right - but is that going to be enough to swing it?

January?   I finished this dress on the 31st January, and did quite a bit of its sewing in January, but it was started months ago. And it's being blogged in February (only just February though!). Is that January enough? 

Let's have a look at some garment photos, and we'll just assume all the paperwork's in order.


First up, with the ties at the front:

Then with the ties at the back:

And then with the ties as hand entertainment, or <<amuse-mains>>: 

So, as you already know, this is the Kielo wrap dress by Named patterns.   Judging by all the versions of this dress I've seen on other people's blogs, this dress pattern is a bit magical - it works in knits and wovens, full length or cropped, sleeveless or sleeved, and on all body types.

I bought the paper version of this pattern some time last year (or maybe even the year before), traced my size (EUR 38), and then waited to think of the right fabric.  Looking at my traced pattern pieces now, I don't think I added seam allowances - I'd only skimmed the instructions when I traced the pattern, and the snippet about adding seam allowances was in the middle of a paragraph that I didn't read properly - and this is probably why my dress is very fitted around the lower legs. Oops!

Removing about 7 cm from the hemline to bring the dress to a length I prefer to maxi length didn't really help, so if I make another Kielo I'll have to remember to add seam allowances and I might also make the slit in the centre back higher for easier striding.

The fabric is one that I've been holding in the stash for a long time - possibly a few years even.  I bought it from Tessuti fabrics, initially just a small remnant, and then more because I loved it and the remnant didn't look enough for a dress.  It feels soft and drapey and natural, and I vaguely recall it being a silk cotton mix.

My beautiful fabric was too transparent by itself, so under the dress is a 3/4 lining in a medium weight champagne coloured satin lining. The lining was made as another Kielo dress that stops at about knee length, just above the walking slit, then sewn to the dress proper at the neckline and armholes.

If you look closely you can see where the fabric's background colour darkens, below knee length, where the champagne coloured lining ends.

When I was sewing the outer and the lining together my fabrics stretched out in the shoulder straps and neckline, but I took the shoulders up about 3 or 4 cm and that fixed the problems without messing up the design.





My side seams also stretched and moved as I sewed them - I don't sew fine fabric too often, so I was probably being too cavalier with it - and that movement made me decide to skip the back darts. I think their absence is absolutely fine in this light fabric.

The natural rope ties were sewn into the seams, and the points where these ties come through were later hand stitched to the points of the lining.  The ties are wide and made of cotton - I think this a kind of webbing that's sometimes used in bag making, but please correct me if I'm wrong -  and I'm really happy with the way they juxtapose the airy dress.

To save cutting into my second piece of this fabric I pieced the upper back of the dress.  I wasn't able to match the print so I matched the colours instead:

And that's it - an imperfect dress that I'm very happy with!

-------------------------------------------


And now I have a question for you, my clever readers.

I've been invited at short notice to a fancy cocktail party with people I don't know (I'll be going as Mr UpSewLate's plus one), and I'm wondering, would this dress be appropriate, or would it be better to go the traditional route with something knee length and fitted - or something else entirely? What would you wear to a cocktail party?

Happy sewing, and see you soon


- Gabrielle x

My Frocktails Cape

Finally, let me tell you about my frocktails cape!

Yes, this wonderful, draping floral coral thing of beauty... I'm making an exception today; that gushing can stay.  Seriously, it's my favourite garment ever made.  I absolutely L.O.V.E. this cape.

Apologies in advance, but there are going to be lots of photos in this post.

Not the hardest thing I've ever made, but the best I can recall making - made with care from start to finish, and looks just like I hoped it would.  It's so rare for me not to make at least one irreversible stuff-up!

My cape story started with a random fabric find; a small and beautiful half price remnant at Tessuti Fabrics in Chatswood.  When I last looked for the fabric in-store there was still some, but I don't know if there would still be.  I haven't found this fabric in Tessuti's online store, so if you're lusting after some it's probably best to just call them. 

The fabric is a woven viscose, medium weight and terrifically drapey with a loose weave that's prone to fraying. That coral colour is one of my favourites, and the fabric looks amazing on both the right side and the wrong side where the colours of the woven pattern are inverted.  Each panel is nearly 2 metres long, with the white flowers growing inwards from each end of the panel cut and a section of coral colour between the tops of the two plantings. My 90 cm remnant was just a little smaller than a half panel, but it had me thinking of 40s-style dresses for winter so I bought another full panel too. 

The fabric came home with me, and was subjected to lots of my admiration over a period of weeks. 

And then frocktails drew nearer and nearer.  I made most of my frocktails dress, and then it came time to make sewing decisions for an outer layer.  I wanted to use a pattern and fabric from my stash (qiuckly narrowed down to this fabric, of course), and I wanted to be able to accommodate my dress sleeves without crushing them. Surprisingly that still left me with several choices in the very wide sleeved jacket and cape departments.  Laying out the fabric on the floor and measuring the floral heights and widths from the two panel ends, it seemed that a medium length, not too flared cape that was made from several panels would allow me to have the flowers climbing up nice and straight from all around the hemline, with a plainer coral fabric at the top of the cape. 

Frocktails Cape - front flat view

Frocktails Cape - back flat view

Vogue 7231 from the 1960s fit the bill perfectly.  Judging by the pattern illustrations it had a lovely shape and some attractive, slightly curved seams, one of the variations was designed to hit just above knee length, and its panels looked about the right width to fit my flowers without pruning them too much.  

Vogue 7231 on Etsy

The photo above comes from Etsy (unfortunately now sold); my copy of the pattern came from a second hand store in a size 14.


The pattern as drafted has a back inverted pleat and a martingale belt, but as I wanted the cape to be all about the fabric I removed these elements and made a back pattern piece that was cut on the fold. More time on my knees shuffling pieces of pattern tissue on fabric confirmed this modified version of the pattern would fit nicely on my fabric - IF the pattern fit me!

Obviously removing a pleat in the back removes some wearing ease, and I suspected a 1960s size 14 might be equivalent to a modern-day size 10, so I sacrificed some gingham to a muslin - and was absolutely relieved :).  The cape sewn to knee length looked fine, the shoulders fit well, the neckline sat in a comfortable position (some vintage necklines are VERY high), and the body of the cape fit me, though it felt a little too fitted.  Based on this fit, I left the shoulders and neckline alone but added ease in the panel seams of the cape (ie all the vertical seams except those at centre front), starting at around shoulder level.

Frocktails Cape with some extra ease

Now at this point, when I could very well have cut out my cape, I stopped the practical work and let Google lead me astray.  My pattern instructions were very simple, and I was worried they might be dumbed down, so I started searching for cape construction and jacket tailoring tips online.

Everything I read seemed to tell me I needed to underline my fabric as well as line it, so I popped back to Tessuti Fabrics for supplies, and was very lucky to catch Colette before she dashed out for lunch.  Colette advised me that underlining would take away the lovely drape of the fabric (of course!!), and that a layer of interfacing and a lining would be plenty. I mentally breathed a sigh of relief - so much less work!  And then even though Tessuti's had some plastic buttons that were the right size and style and nearly the right colour for my fabric, Colette suggested I get fabric covered buttons made up at a little specialist button shop in Newtown, All Buttons Great and Small.

The cape fabric drapes beautifully, even after it's been interfaced and lined

Back home I serged the cut edges of my fabric, warm machine washed and line dried it, ironed it and then block fused all of it to make it more stable before I cut out my pattern pieces.  I hadn't ever block fused a whole panel of fabric before - and with a small domestic iron and ironing board in a small room it's slow and painful - but I think it's very good practice to fuse the interfacing to the fabric before cutting out the pattern pieces, so I'll definitely do it in the future.

And then I spent a few hours on my knees moving pattern pieces around on my fabric to try to fit everything in without chopping up the flowers, and with the aim of getting a feeling of symmetry, or at least balance, in the cape.  I know most people hate the cutting out stage, and the painstaking layout work is a really slow part of the cutting out stage, but when I mess up the pattern layout I tend to hate the finished garment - for me it's very much worth the pain, and lets me do things like including a single bloom on one side of the collar :).

Frocktails cape: print placement

To add ease to the cape I just adjusted the angle of the panel lines so as to add about an inch at the fullest part on each side (except centre front) of the panels at the hemline, tapering away to nothing at around shoulder level.

With my pattern pieces all cut out on the Sunday before Frocktails, I caught a train to Newtown the very next day on my lunch break with a bag full of interfaced fabric scraps. All Buttons Great and Small made up my buttons on the spot, and the resulting buttons looked perfect - just the right style and colour, and they even threw in an extra (slightly imperfect button) for free.

Beautiful fabric covered buttons for my frocktails cape

With such perfect looking buttons, I was worried my machine's button holes wouldn't be up to scratch - in fact, I wasn't sure my buttonhole attachment would cope with the large buttons - so I decided to outsource this step too. 

Normally I mark my buttonhole placement with pins at either end of the horizontal, but that often results in buttonholes that are only very nearly parallel.  This time around I used more pins and rulers and lots of measurements before marking the buttonhole placement on my fabric with a washable pen (and yes, the marks came out later without a problem). 

I was cutting it fine by now, with only a matter of days until frocktails, but I remembered reading this post about the Quick Buttonhole Service in Alexandria.  Monday evening was a mad rush of sewing - the main seams, facings and collar, and lots of basting to hold the outer and facing layers in place - and on Tuesday I rushed out to Alexandria at lunch with my cape and a sample button.  Mick wasn't able to do my buttonholes till Thursday, so I used Tuesday and Wednesday evenings to finish my dress, cut out and sew together the cape lining pieces and prepare some welts for the cape, 

And look, my buttonholes are perfect too! Perfectly straight, all the same length and inset from the edge of the opening, and all very neat.  

Buttons in their buttonholes

Two evenings to go... Sewing the cape facings to the lining pieces was straightforward, and the collar fit perfectly (it's a simple camp collar, which is why I wear it with the top button open).  I pressed the cape carefully to check that everything was hanging well without any seams puckering, and then it was time for the cape's welt pockets.

But two evenings before a big event is a bit late to try to work out something you haven't tried before...  Up until this point I'd intended to skip all the top stitching suggested in the pattern (for a cleaner look and less stress!) but to include the welts and pockets in my cape.   I could see how I'd sew the welts to the openings in the cape, but I couldn't understand how to attach pockets behind the welts that would also let my hands move in and out of the cape, and when I got to this step I discovered my pattern was missing  the critical last page of instructions. (I can see now that the welts were to be sewn on from just behind the openings and the pockets were to sit forward of the openings, between lining and outer fabric.)  Argh! I took the easy approach and skipped the welts and the pockets.

At this point it became clear that I should have added another layer of interfacing to the cape opening where it had extra stress from buttons and buttonholes - the fabric was looking too "worked" around the buttonholes. On the buttonhole side I cut pieces of interfacing of about 4 inches in width to fit above, between and below the buttonholes, and then pressed in this extra layer of interfacing retrospectively - it was a very fiddly and irritating job, but well worth it for the improved look of the fabric. It was an easier job to then add the same width of interfacing to the button side of the opening, where I hadn't yet sewn on the buttons, and then to add strips of interfacing around the fabric at the hand openings in the body of the cape. 

Nearly done!

Hand stitching the lining to the outer fabric at the slit openings was easy when the fabric was pressed and pinned, sewing on the buttons was straightforward with lots of pins to help with my button placement, and I was able to bag 90% of the lining using my machine, with just a short length to hand stitch.

Small hand stitches on the hand openings

A bagged lining on my frocktails cape

A careful press, and all done! 

I've heard people say they couldn't possible wear a cape; that capes are impractical and that they just don't work, but I found mine a delight to wear.  Obviously I couldn't wear a shoulder bag over it, but it worked well with an evening clutch, and it did a much better job than a regular jacket in not crushing my silk organza dress sleeves.  I like too how a cape makes what you're wearing underneath - even the shape of what you're wearing underneath - a surprise.  I don't think I need another of this type of cape in my wardrobe, but I'm tempted to sew up a more modern cape, like Vogue 1322: 

Vogue 1322

As you may have guessed, I took these photos at the same time (and place) as the photos of my frocktails dress.  I think they've turned out really well, much better than photos in my garden or on my balcony, but they were a bit of an effort - I really need to find a quieter place for photos!

With Gillian's Better Pictures Project in mind (and specifically the ideas of taking photos out and about, and more is more), let me tell you about taking these pictures.

First of all it although I took these photos many weeks ago, we were having a bit of an unseasonal heatwave. It was a really hot afternoon; too hot for a warm dress let alone a cape on top - my flushed cheeks are partly the result of the heat, but mostly the result of bucketloads of embarrassment (more on that later).

I had a "location" in mind for these photos, a short drive away from home with easy parking, so that's where I set up my camera and tripod.  It just didn't photograph as well as I'd imagined though; my camera's photo review function showed me it was too bright and contrasty and any photos I took there were overexposed. What's more, people kept walking through the space, on their way to and from a big apartment block!  So I packed up my stuff and tried another spot nearby which I remembered as having consistent shade and interesting geometric backdrops, set back from the road in a quiet square.  I was taking some test photos to determine which angle would look best when the entire family of a good friend of my son's walked by and waved hello (oh, embarrassment!). Very soon after they'd left a security guard appeared and told me I had to move on immediately, and that I was not allowed to take photos there (oh, mortification!).  I felt so embarrassed at this point that I really didn't want to stay in the area and take photos, but I'd been promising myself all week that I'd take the photos that day, so I swallowed my pride and walked around the corner to a road with some nice walled sections of footpath.  The road was much busier than usual as it had become a temporary bus route while the nearby train line was being repaired, all those buses were driving slowly due to a couple of small roundabouts, and across the road was a high-rise apartment block with plenty of spectators, I mean residents. At least the light was good!

I took a LOT of photos in this position.  At first I was so embarrassed that I looked cranky in the photos, but after a while I got used to the people watching from their balconies and the passersby staring, and decided I should just laugh at myself for being such a spectacle.  Hence the smiles and the flushed cheeks :). All up with three attempted locations, a little travel time and pauses between larger groups of passersby the exercise took me an hour, a lot longer that photos in my garden take - but I got photos that I think are good enough to represent how much I love my cape.

Well, that's a long blog post, and a lot of pictures - I'd better stop!  Thanks for reading (or just looking at the pictures), and see you soon!


- Gabrielle xx