Striped Linen Lacey

Does anyone write blog posts anymore? 

Does anyone read them?

I made this dress over a year ago - it's a StyleArc Lacey dress sewn up in a gorgeous striped linen from Tessuti fabrics - and it's one that gets a LOT of wear in summer.  The fabric was meant to be for a collared shirt for my son, but he doesn't ever choose to wear collared shirts, besides which he's been growing so fast that it felt crazy not to wait for all the growing to stop.

Hmmmm... come to think of it, he's now taller than me, so there may be a couple of years before the next growth spurt... (is that the way teenage boys grow? catch up to mum first, then a few years later catch up to dad?)

Whatever, we can call it selfish sewing ;).  I have a very forgiving son. He takes pretty decent photos too.

The Lacey dress is listed as being suitable for knit, jersey, rayon or silk fabric - in other words you want stretchy or drapey. If you choose linen you may end up with something a bit Scandi retro reminiscent, and a quick internet search ("sasha doll striped blue dress") will take you to the dress I think I must have accidentally copied.  I haven't become blond or doll-like, but the dress makes me feel good, so some subconscious desires have obviously now been fulfilled!

As usual, I should tell you about the pattern, right? 

It's a very easy sew and a forgiving fit (ie just check the waist measurement and if that's big enough to get your shoulders through you'll be fine). The shoulders are dropped and the sleeves are then basically cut on, and the skirt is simply gathered. Because there's a "feature" panel on the front and back bodices, this is a pattern you could go totally Beccy Home Eccy on - or mock pinafore - but hopefully not.  I only made very basic simple modifications in my version: extra length as usual in the skirt, and skipped the sleeve cuffs. 

These photos were taken at a beach not too far from Byron in January this year. Just to the right of the breakwater is an area where you can watch dolphins surf. We didn't see too many - one couple catching waves to the shore, swimming back out, then catching the waves in again and again - but even watching two dolphins was pretty cool.

 I can't wait to get back to the beach - but preferably a quiet one like this one!

I'll be back!


See you anon
- Gabrielle xx
Easy slip-on dress with an extended shoulder, square line bodice and slightly gathered skirt.

StyleArc Tully Pants

I only meant to step away from the blog for a week or two while work was insane, but somehow that turned into a few months - oops!

Anyway, I'm back now, and I've got a backlog of sewing to share.  I'm keen to get everything blogged by the end of the year, so please excuse my too quickly edited writing and photos - and let's start with these Style Arc Tully pants:

  

This fabric BTW came from Jen's glorious stash - she has an amazing eye for op shop fabric! It's shirting weight with a bit of stretch, and I suspect its composition is a blend as it didn't respond well to a hot iron. 

The balloons in all these photos are left over from my recent birthday party - seemed a shame to pop them all, so although I've taken them down I'm leaving them around the house for now :). They also make good props for people who've forgotten how to take blog photos...

I liked the look of this pattern when I saw it as a new release on Instagram, but I was a bit concerned that the paper bag waist and bow on the tummy might not look great on my rectangular shape. And to be honest this is not the most flattering style of pants I've ever worn, but I like that they're different to all the other pants in my wardrobe.  Actually I think a few frills on the shoulders or bust might help - or alternatively a strong sleeve could do the trick (I'll try that next time!). 

The pattern is a straightforward one to make because the pants have no closures: no zips or buttons whatsoever! Basically you need the pants to be wide enough at the waist to get on over your hips, and then you bring in that extra width with elastic - easy. The distinctive ties on the front are decorative, and slot neatly into pleats.

The elastic is only supposed to be set in around the sides and back of the pants (ie not over the tummy) but I set it in all the way around, stitching the elastic in place under the ties so it doesn't gather on the tummy.  

Oh - and I should mention the pockets! The pockets are very comfortable:

I believe Style Arc drafts for a women 168 cm tall and I'm about 5 cm taller than that, but my body is a little short for my height and my limbs a little long, so these pants feel a bit short :(.  I sewed a rather narrow hem on the cuff, but it I'd still like another 5 cm or so in length, and preferably added higher in the leg, so next time I make these I'll be chopping up the main leg pattern piece and inserting about 7cm of length there. 

OK, one back view for my sewing friends:

I've seen a few fashionable women wearing this style lately in the CBD, in both stripes and block colours, and if I can find the time I'd really like to make these pants again in a block colour.  The style is also really comfortable to wear, and the pants are a much easier sew than they might look. 

That's it for now! 

I'll be back soon with another quick post - till then, happy sewing!

- Gabrielle xx

 

D&G Sundress: Vogue 8974

There was an icy wind blowing down the street the other night as I walked home from the station, trying very hard to imagine being warm. Despite the sunshine in these photos, Sydney weather has turned the corner, and the evenings have a bite to them.

I thought about this summer dress, waiting to be blogged, but frankly it didn't warm me up at all...

...all it did was remind me I needed to get cracking and write the blog post!!

The dress is Vogue 8974 which I imagine you've already seen blogged here and here, or in one of its many other blogged incarnations.  I started sewing this dress back in 2015 (!!), tweaking a muslin till the fit was perfect, but when I applied my adjusted pattern to the good fabric (Dolce & Gabbana textured cotton from Tessuti Fabrics - and no, pretty sure they don't have any more of it), the fit was completely off, and much looser than in my muslin.

I focused on aligning the centre front and back chevrons, then put the dress aside till the following summer.

In 2016 I got thinner, and when I came back to this dress the fit was even looser.

I sewed the main seams, set in an invisible zip in lieu of side snaps, moved the shoulder straps to line up the stripes (oops, a cutting out misalignment) and then spent hours and hours pinning and re-pinning the dress to take in all the saggy areas.

And then I put it aside again, wary of committing to so many adjustments.

I got it out AGAIN a few months ago, and hooray, I'd gained lots of weight and the dress now fit me perfectly!  #silverlining

Unfortunately by the time I'd finished up all the hand stitching on the inside of the dress (sewing opened seams flat, attaching facings to seams,sewing up the hem... ) I'd gained yet more weight, so in these photos you are not seeing that wonderful moment of perfect fit; you're seeing my "this is slightly too tight but I'm smiling anyway" version of fit :(.  Bugger.  

At this rate though I am hopeful it could fit brilliantly next summer ... or the one after?

Pattern

Vogue 8974 is a nice little pattern - the dress has interesting lines, a fit and flare profile that's a bit different from the usual, and I think it looks good on a variety of figures. It's a fun one to use with a striped fabric, and it's not super hard to sew.  The pattern includes instructions for side snaps to fasten the left side of the dress, but this is easily swapped for a zip, and you can also omit the belt if you don't happen to have belt-making paraphernalia to hand.

I haven't tried the little unlined jacket pattern that comes with the dress but I think it looks pretty sweet too. I was originally thinking to make a matching jacket with the piece of fabric I have left over from the dress, but then that might just be stripe overkill.

If I make the jacket, or make the dress again, there is one point I'd like to change: I'd add interfacing. How modern, right?  The pattern only shows the belt being interfaced, and while I noticed this vintage feature in time to retrospectively interface the dress facings, the upper edges of the bodice and the side seams, I wish I'd noticed before sewing the strap tubes.

Fit / Size

Arghh. Well, fit is the real challenge with this dress pattern. I found it was a bit of work to adjust the bodice to fit nicely, with darts in the right place, straps laying flat (I didn't quite achieve that - I needed a fitting friend for the back) AND side bodice not too low or high under the arms. You might be lucky and the dress might fit you out of the envelope, but I think it'd be realistic to go into sewing this dress expecting lots of try-ons and adjustments as you go.  For the record my dress is mostly a size 12-14, but ranges from size 10 above the bust to size 18 at the waist.

Modifications

I made a few "modernification" modifications to the pattern:

• An invisible zip instead of side snaps - I'm too lazy for side snaps! 

• Front straps without buttons (couldn't think of what sort of buttons I'd want)

• Moved the front straps to align the stripes (they shouldn't be set back from the "V" but should continue its line), and next time I'd angle the back straps to make them sit flush against my back

• Used my overlocker instead of turning under and stitching down seam allowances on the facings

• Used interfacing on bodice edges, side seams and facings

• Added height to the bodice as when the dart was in the right place the bodice cut looked too low 

• Skipped the belt in favour of showing off the chevrons at the waistline

From memory I think I also changed the grainlines of the pattern - I really, really wanted those chevrons down the front and back, but that meant cutting the centre front (CF) and centre back (CB) seams on the bias.  I intended for the chevrons from the bodice and the skirt to meet at the waist in a double ended point, but I mustn't have measured carefully enough when I was cutting out, and that double point doesn't quite work out.

MIA

On a completely different topic, in case you were wondering where I went between February and April... I went nowhere; life just got crazily stressful, both at work and at home.

The full time job I mentioned towards the end of this post grew a couple of months ago when my colleague in the team left the company for an amazing overseas role, and I've been stretched trying to cover both our roles ever since.  We've recently been interviewing to fill the position, which was going to report to me (yay, a manager job!), and I was hopeful we'd be making a job offer in the next few days, but on Thursday night I was given the bad news that my Department has decided to save money by not filling any vacant positions for the rest of this FY.   I'm not sure what I'm going to do now, but I know I'm not prepared to kill myself for another 6+ months doing two jobs.

On the home front things are going nicely at the moment, but that's after a couple of pretty intense months with my daughter spending a few weeks in hospital, my son starting high school, the cat developing severe allergies, and my dad and his partner both in and out of hospital for surgery and tests. My daughter is hopefully having a preventative operation in a few weeks, and dad's having more surgery next week, but hopefully after that the health worries will ease off.

So - that's why I was MIA! I used to think sewing was my form of relaxation, a contrast to the frustrations and stresses of work and family life, but it turns out that when the stress is ramped up I just don't have the mental bandwidth to sew.


#VintagePledge2017

And back to the sewing... Marie of A Stitching Odyssey has been running the Vintage Pattern Pledge since 2014, and I joined in last year (somewhat unsuccessfully, you could argue) and the year before.

Here's all I managed last year against my vintage pledge:

Vintage Vogue skirt

Vintage DVF dress

This year I'll be having another go at pushing myself to sew from my vintage patterns - and I'm delighted that after three attempts this dress finally counts towards my pledge!

During 2017, I, Gabrielle of Up Sew Late, will sew up or finish sewing at least four of my vintage or reproduction sewing patterns. 

I'll try to blog again soon - I've got swimmers, frocktails dresses and a couple more tops to share with you as soon as I can get my photos in order :).

Happy sewing

Gabrielle xx

Stripey Tee

Another top, yes. And I've already got so many, right? Are you wondering why I haven't branched out and made other garments lately?

Well despite (blog) appearances to the contrary I have; I've made a frocktails dress and a little jacket, and I'm mid-way through a skirt, but the question is absolutely valid - why am I making so many tops?

Well to be honest the reason is very boring: it's easiest for me to fit tops at the moment.  I've put on weight recently, and my upper body size doesn't change as much as my lower body when I gain (or lose) weight. See, boring!  Pants are on hold for now, but I will make some more dresses and/ or skirts soon.

So back to the top. This one is "self-drafted", but it's based on tracing around a RTW t-shirt, the same one I used for the citrus yellow travel top in this post. So not much drafting skill involved really!  I was working with a very small but lovely viscose remnant from Tessuti fabrics - quite wide but less than 0.8 metres long - so I didn't have room for anything but these short kimono sleeves and this slightly cropped length.

Basically I used my earlier tracing and just folded the sleeves and body length back till the pattern width doubled fit my fabric width and the pattern length fit my fabric length. The stripes are across the top because I like the idea of drawing the eye upwards.

Oh and if you like this shape and don't have a similar RTW top of your own to trace around, I suspect it's very similar to that of the Maria Denmark Kirsten Kimono tee (which I have, but cannot be bothered to unearth - sorry).

So many wrinkles! I would normally iron a garment before photographing it, but without forethought (or ironing, obviously) I was just madly trying to get photos of as many of my unblogged garments as possible while everyone (including crazy puppy) was out.

I'm not sure if you can see it even in the close ups, but after a failed attempt at sewing twin needle finishes around the folded over neckline and sleeves I opted to instead finish these edges by hand. My pick stitching isn't invisible but it's even enough and I like the fancier-looking finish this gives on the outside of the top. I was a bit concerned the neckline stitches might pop as I put the top on and off, so I've sewn a bit loosely and added knots every now and then around the neckline so that if stitches do pop, only a small section will come undone.

So, not much to say about this one - a very simple sew - but as it turns out, this little top slots into my corporate wardrobe very nicely. The beige/light brown colour is not one I'd normally choose to wear, but maybe I need to rethink colours - besides which the top is as comfortable as you'd expect a t-shirt to be, and its lack of sleeves means it fits smoothly under even my more tailored jackets. Sold!

I've got one more top I want to try to post before the end of 2016, along with my top 5 sewing misses (I haven't yet checked - not sure how many misses there were, so perhaps it will be top 3, and perhaps top 20). And then I expect my normal (irregular blogging) program will resume in 2017...

See you soon!

- Gabrielle xx

In Theory, Yes : Vogue 8916 Jacket

In theory I should be very fond of this new little jacket:

but even though I love the fabric (a small and sparkly cotton/ viscose/ poly remnant from Tessuti fabrics ages ago - stripes AND sparkle!), and love boxy cropped jackets in general, something about the way this fabric and this pattern have come together doesn't work for me.

And yet I look pretty happy in these photos, don't I!

Well, I was happy! I was thrilled to discover a new and secluded photo location at home, after another of those frustrating afternoons of trying to take blog photos at different places in my garden and discovering neighbours in all directions, monitoring my suspicious antics (well, more like gardening and being curious about the weirdo taking photos of herself).  SUCH a relief.  Though it's only secluded if I sit down - when I stand up I become visible to a few neighbours again.


The jacket itself - well, let me tell you the positives...

• The pattern (Vogue 8916) itself is a positive - an extremely easy jacket pattern that comes together quickly and neatly, with shoulder darts and princess seams that would let you work on fit without too much hassle. 

• Oh and the fit on this jacket was pretty good for me without any fiddling. 

• The fabric is very interesting - it has stripes AND sparkle, as I mentioned above. The side I've used as the fabric outer has silver flecks, and the reverse side is matt with the stripe colours reversed. 

• I love the midnight blue silk I've used to line the front panels of the jacket, and after interfacing, these pieces felt like a good weight for facings.

• Due to fabric limitations (I had just 0.95 metres of the striped remnant) I went for a "misaligned stripes" look and was surprised to find I like that look.  

• I love the little pockets I've included on the jacket. The original pattern has small pockets that are set into the princess seam at about waist level, but no matter how I moved my pattern pieces around, I just didn't have enough fabric to make them. So instead I decided to try making pockets in a new horizontal seam in the front panels - and I think they worked really well: 

• I ran two strands of white thread as a hand stitch around the sleeve opening and all the lower jacket edges except the front panels and although my hand stitching is a bit chunky looking, I like the result. It does an OK job of holding the lining at bay too!

And now for the negatives: 

• My lovely fabric is too stiff for the pattern, This pattern would look much better sewn in a linen or wool.

• My lack of fabric. The front facings are meant to be made from the same fabric as used on he outside of the jacket, but my 0.95 metres wasn't enough to include facings. I also didn't have enough of the blue silk to use it for anything but the front facings. 

• A simple and quick to sew jacket pattern means shortcuts. I wish this pattern included a neckline facing pattern piece, and that the lining lengths were shorter - I could have drafted a neckline facing for myself, and I could have cut the lining shorter but didn't think of it :(. And to me, lining fabric that comes right the edge of a garment looks a bit shoddy. (Edited to add: Though both amcasey and Sharon have pointed out to me in the comments below that lining to the jacket's edge is what Chanel did, so I guess it's more my own lack of skill in finishing the jacket that's annoying me - I hate the way the lining peeks out at the end of the sleeves and at the back of the jacket!)

Put it all together and sadly, I'm not a fan. I'll keep the jacket in my wardrobe for a little while in case distance from its sewing helps me overlook its shortcomings, but for now, I suspect this little jacket is just not going to get many outings. Oh well, they can't all be winners, can they! 

Happy sewing!

- Gabrielle x