Adelaide in chambray

I didn't even know it was "Pattern of the month" when I selected the Adelaide pattern with my Seamwork credits. Nice!  And this is only the first of two I've made...

I really wanted another chambray shirt dress after I chopped off this one to make a top (scroll down the page a bit), so I bought a bunch of chambray fabric at Stonemountain and Daughter.  I still haven't found the perfect shirt dress pattern, so when I saw Adelaide, I thought it was a good stop-gap for the summer.

As a student in Apparel Production, I looked at the printed pattern and immediately recognized some issues.  The back arm scythe was shaped a little weird (see above, the original line is the solid blue line and dotted white line) so I redrew it to have a more shallow curve.

Additionally, the seam at the shoulder strap was angled the wrong way, at least for the smaller sizes (see pattern section, above). I really can't fathom why the shoulder seam would angle up for the smaller sizes and angle down for the larger sizes.  In any case, it should angle down, so I redrew that, too.   Final alteration was to reduce the bust dart intake, for a quick-and-dirty small bust adjustment.

After the minor adjustments, I sewed up the pattern as written and it fits beautifully!  For sizing, I went with size 0, grading to 2 at the hips.  In the end, I don't think I needed to grade up, but having a row of snaps down the front made me want to allow for a bit more wiggle room.  No one at the boys' school or the grocery store wants to see a peep show, so best to be a little conservative.  

Speaking of snaps...I've always used the standard blue pound-it-with-a-hammer snap tool.  I hate that thing for so many reasons.  So I splurged (with my 40% off coupon at Joann's) to buy the next level up in snap tools (kudos to Shams for going all the way!).  Holy crap, kids, how did I live without this?  It makes applying snaps FUN.  And QUIET.  Seriously, guys; fun AND quiet.  I planned another Adelaide so I could apply more snaps (and bought specialty colored ones to match my garment!).  Then, I applied snaps to the cuffs of the top chopped from my former shirtdress. I {heart} snap pliers.  

Initially, I thought the dress did a good job of hiding my bra straps, but then I saw this photo (above), so I'll modify that to say that it does an OK job at hiding bra straps.  Certainly better than most tank-style dresses, so that's cool.  

Overall, I'm really happy with this garment.  It's a work-horse type of dress for me.  Something I can wear to the park, class, strawberry picking (like I did on Mother's Day, in this dress, in the mud), woodworking (like I did today in my son's Kinder class, in this dress, a mere three days after I wore it last), cycling (well, maybe next week) or cleaning toilets, and feel comfy the whole time. Multifunctional, I tell you!  Final words: by the snap pliers, and, I'd definitely recommend this dress, with the caveat that I had to make some drafting changes to the pattern.  Once my navy blue snaps arrive (tomorrow!), I'll be done with version 2!

Handful of Haydens (and a fix to a fit problem)

In all honesty and seriousness, it was the Hayden pattern this month that convinced me to finally subscribe to Seamwork.   Mostly, I just I love the idea of a woven t-shirt with style lines.

If you plan to make this top, you really MUST make a muslin.  Seriously, I can't stress this enough.  I raced right into the project, using the last of some precious fabric, and the fit was a disaster.  I cut the pattern in a straight size 0.  The waist and hips fit fine, but the top was tight across the upper chest. When I moved around at all, the top would bunch up above my bust. This is particularly weird since I am decidedly NOT well-endowed in the bust department!  On me, the shoulder width across both the front and back was way too small.  It looked like I was wearing a child's top:

Too tight across the upper chest.  

Simply sizing up wouldn't have made much of a difference, so I altered the Shirt Back and Side Front pattern pieces by increasing the width by about 1/2" in the upper chest and back arm scythe.  I also dropped and widened the neckline by about 1/2".  I hashmarked the parts I added.

My second version, made of striped chambray fabric, fit perfectly!

The shoulder seams fall at the right point, and it doesn't pull over the upper chest.  And when I move around, the whole shirt doesn't creep up.

I only had one yard of fabric, so I had to be creative in cutting out the fabric.  Happy result: the subtle and amazing chevron effect on the front band.

Both front and back are cut on the folded bias, so any stripes or print will be diagonal there.  Best to approach with caution and intention!

The button and loop are made with self-fabric, but I used a bias strip made from the stripey fabric of my failed top.

I was so excited by the result, I sewed up another the very next day! This time, I used a Cotton + Steel double gauze, and I like this version EVEN BETTER!  (And it plays nicely with my Birdie shorts!)

The top is so soft, and I can imagine it will be amazingly comfortable when it gets hot and steamy this summer.

Even more so than with the chambray version, the bias cut bottom panel flares out a teeny bit, which I like.  I took all the necessary precautions to avoid stretching the bias panel with this fabric, and it's a good thing I did.

I used self fabric for the button, loop and bias tape for the neckline.  Man, I {heart} covered buttons.

All in all, I am really pleased with this top.  The fit issues were resolved easily, and the resulting top is amazingly wearable.  This style fills a huge gaping hole in my wardrobe, which is what to wear with shorts.  If my queue wasn't already enormous, I would buy fabric and sew a ton of these...but all in double gauze.

My "very happy" face :)