StyleArc Philippa: Camera, I Beg to Differ

If the camera never lies then it's certainly true that mirrors lie. But maybe both do?

I've got a top to share with you today that proves that mirrors and cameras disagree - though in my opinion, cameras have happy days (everything is beautiful - that includes YOU!) and grouchy days (everything sucks, I hate you!). This particular top looked terrifyingly bad in the mirror, but looks a lot better through the camera lens.

UpSewLate: this top looks better through the lens than in the mirror! 

After a couple of StyleArc successes (mind you, just the one pattern - two Danni dresses blogged here and here) my confidence was strong. The style of the Philippa peplum top really appealed to me - slim line, attractive seam lines, understated peplum, and a sleek V-neck. Yes please!

StyleArc's Philippa Peplum Top

I had a beautiful soft pink ponte lined up, and I was on the verge of cutting it out when a nervous little voice in my head pleaded with me to make a muslin. [OK, OK, I'm sure it isn't necessary, but I'll humour you this time.]  Hence this cheap red ponte version of the top...

I sewed Philippa in the same size I'd used for those Danni dresses, and it looked small... a quick try on at the "nearly constructed" stage confirmed it - it FELT too small! I was going to scrap the top then and there, but in the interests of my own sewing education and the general documentation of sewing fails on the internet I thought I should finish the top and share it here.



So here you go.  At first glance I thought the top *looked* OK in these photos, so let me explicitly point out the fitting and sewing problems.

First of all, the whole top is too tight - I must need the next size up! The pattern is designed for ponte fabrics, but this top is so fitted on me that even a jellybean in my belly would be visible (these photos were taken many, many hours after lunch). It's fitted both above and within the peplum; clinging to rather than skimming over my hips. I envisaged this as a work top, but it's too fitted for the office - all my lumps and bumps would be on display; hello, mutton dressed as lamb! On the plus side, the shoulders feel like a good fit, so I guess they're a size smaller than the rest of me in StyleArc patterns (just like they are in Big 4 patterns).

UpSewLate: I need to go up a size or more for my waist! 

The bust darts are too high. The darts look to end a few centimetres too high on me, so either my sewing was very inaccurate or my bust is lower set than StyleArc's standard - or a combination of the two.

UpSewLate: A classic case of bust darts that are too high

The V-neck gapes. The V-neck is too deep for me. The gaping means I risk flashing my bra cups with the slightest movement, but if I pull the neckline taut the low apex of the V overlaps my bra strap - and I mean the strap that goes UNDER my bust! Given the height of the bust darts, it looks like the pattern is imtended to be very low cut - probably that looks fine if you've got some bust cleavage? but I hate the way it looks on me.

UpSewLate: Yup, that's what a gaping neckline looks like!

UpSewLate: so long as I leave a hand on my hip whenever I bend forward I'll be fine... but is that practical?

The back is too long on me - it desperately needs a big wedge removed. I guess this might be less noticeable if the top weren't so tight...

UpSewLate: A back bodice that needs a swayback adjustment

The sewing is sub-standard. My invisible zip is rubbish, with the fabric not lining up properly on either side of CB, and with the zip not really invisible. And my sewing is probably responsible for the facings popping out of the neckline - I don't think I was accurate enough in following the CF stitch line at the bottom of the facings. I have to say though that it's hard to do your best on something you already know you're getting rid of. 

UpSewLate: The blinding red hue hides the flaws! 

There are obvious solutions though, aren't there? Yes...

• I could go up a size or more through the body - either by having a crack at grading, or by using smaller seam allowances - and that would make the top a lot less fitted.
• I could lower the bist darts.
• I could raise the V, pinching out a dart from each side, though I'm not confident I'd get the upper bust CF line right...
• I could make a massive swayback adjustment.
• I could take a bit more care with my sewing :-P.

UpSewLate: it's too late for this Philippa! 

Yes, I could do all that, but this particular top has already been donated to charity, and for now I don't think I'll have another go.  Philippa is a winter top, and it's now summer, but more importantly, my mind has already wandered off to other patterns.

I hope your sewing is going well!


See you soon
- 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

Invisible Cities Dress

Do you ever save up favourite makes for "special" occasions? And then not end up wearing them....?  Or do you save up favourite fabrics for that magical future date when you'll be such a talented sewist that you just *know* you'll be able to whip up clothes that exactly match your creative ideas - only better?

Guilty as charged, m'lud :(

This dress is a good example of those crimes against sewing. The fabric was bought ages ago (11 months ago?), the result of a coup de foudre in Tessuti Fabrics, then lovingly put away. When I finally got around to making something of it - this dress - I loved it. So does that mean I wore it? Hmm. Worn on 1 May as an opening splash for Me Made May. And that's it.

OK, enough of the beating up. My skills are not perfecto, but I'm detetermined to change my ways and sacrifice (I mean sew) more of my pretties. Is it too late for a New Year's resolution? Too early for next year's? And I AM going to wear this dress again and again in June and July and so on.

As you can see this is a simple dress shape but an amazing fabric. I'm calling it the "Invisible Cities" dress because it reminds me of the Italo Calvino classic (reviewed here in NY Books some years back) - not sure why exactly, but maybe because the print looks like it's showing an idealised, fictional city?

I do think less is more when your fabric is a stunner - too many details in the pattern and you lose the excitement of the fabric. In this case, when I bought the fabric I had Anita ponti pants in mind, but the idea just didn't convince me - I was pretty sure it'd be nigh on impossible to position those buildings without drawing attention to the wrong body areas. Finally I realised that a simple dress would be a great alternative with less pattern placement risk. As you can see, I positioned my fabric to give myself a natural belt and belt loops in the fabric design - and I hadn't thought through what this would mean for my tummy, so I now have a lovely glowing tummy builder in my dress. I also didn't have enough fabric to do more than match horizontal lines in the fabric. If I'd had more fabric I'd really have liked to match vertically as well, so that the darker areas on the front hips joined up with darker areas on my back hips.  

Here's the front of the dress, followed by the back, so you can see what I mean about the pattern placement and imagine for yourself what I wanted to do with it:

Here's a close up of my hemline and a side seam (not perfect, even on the horizontal lines, but the pattern print wasn't exactly straight) - and check out the cute architectural details:

I top stitched with just a single line of straight stitching, with a stitch length of about 3.5 I think.

Now, did you notice that the sleeves look awkward when the dress is laid flat? That, my friends, is called over-adjusting!

Let's talk about the pattern I used and how I changed it, and then I'll explain what went wrong with my sleeves. I used this pattern, Vogue 1314, a Tracy Reese designer pattern which is intended for lightweight knits and has a whole lot of gathers, front and back:

This pattern comes with separate lining pieces, which as you can imagine use the same dress shape, with the gathers omitted. So I used the lining pattern pieces for the dress, and the original sleeves shortened (fabric limitations - I even used the selvedges in lieu of sleeve hems!). After measuring myself and checking the pattern measurements (on the pattern pieces), on a size 10 in the shoulders and bust, grading out to a size 12 for waist and hips I made a bunch of adjustments. I added 3/4" to the length above the waist, raised and narrowed the neckline and shoulders, and removed the bust dart and redrew the arm scye. I lengthened the skirt by 3", though half of this length is used in the deep hem. And I narrowed the sleeves and massively reduced the sleeve cap, aiming to minimise gathers in attaching sleeves to the dress. I also drafted a neckline facing (cut out carefully for more pattern matching, of course). On trying the dress on before hemming it, I took the dress in from the hips down, and I can see now that the dress is a looser at the waist than in other areas so I guess with this stretchy firm fabric I could have sewn a size 10 throughout. 

When you remove length from the sleeve cap, you make the length of the sleeve shorter, which means less easing or gathering of the sleeve fabric when you attach the sleeve to the dress - and it's much easier to attach neatly. However (learn from my mistakes!) you need length in the sleeve cap for comfortable arm mobility. If the sleeve cap is too short for your arm, the sleeve will feel unpleasantly tight and will pull on sleeve fabric at the underarm as well as pulling up the outer sleeve length. More of a problem with a woven fabric, but still worth watching out for in stretch fabrics...  

Next time around I'll be less aggressive with the sleeve cap and leave in the bust dart. I'm sure there are different schools of thought on bust darts in ponti or other thick knits, but since making this dress I've been thinking about them as a 3d shaping concept: they're obviously used to shape the fabric, and when you leave them out you always seem to get excess fabric in the front under arm. They seem less necessary to me for small busts (the bigger the curve to fit without a bust dart, the more fabric will be folding on itself at the armpit) but I still think they make a noticeable difference. If you're using a super stretchy thin knit, and your garment is very fitted, your fabric may well stretch enough over the curved bust shape all by itself, but looking back on my own sewing I think they're useful even with a thin stretch merino.  

Here you can see what I mean - I've got a fold of fabric above my bust in this merino top: I should have added a dart!  

My son was kind enough to take photos for me just when finished the dress, so I'd better show you some of his photos too:

  

And the very serious expression here is due to photo exhaustion:

Overall, even though I made a couple of silly fit issues, I think the fabric more than compensates - I love the dress! 

I'll try to get some more blog posts up soon on my Jaywalk dress (I made a vintage shirt dress, I didn't win but I know I'll wear the dress) and Papercut patterns pleated pants (fitting challenges overcome with a fun design feature), as well as my daughter's Princess dress for her cousin's bat mitzvah (a nightmare make of sequined chiffon and silk), a vintage Barbie suit (I won a giveaway!), and some self-drafted knit tops. I'm way behind! 

See you soon

Gabrielle xx