Rooibos, with mods

As my prize for my Spring Top Sewalong Reader's Choice award last year (has it been a year already?!), I chose one of the gorgeous designs from Colette Patterns: the Rooibos.  There's so much to love about this dress--piping, pockets, fitted midriff, work appropriateness, etc.  The design is very close fitting, and since I was mostly concerned with the fit of the bodice, I decided to abbreviate the dress to make a top for my wearable muslin.

The fabric is an interesting, thick-ish faux-eyelet polyester.  I don't usually wear polyester, but the fact that I wore this top to work, lunch with a friend and then grocery shopping before I took the photos, attests to its functionality (at least in the no-wrinkle department.  It's also a miracle that I didn't get any barbecue sauce on it :)  The "right" side is this cream color, with flesh color in the eyelet "holes".  The "wrong" side is the reverse, so I highlighted that with the little mini-collar.

I did an initial version of the bodice with some actual muslin and quickly discovered that the distance between the bust darts was a bit wide for me.  To move the darts closer together, I just shifted the piece over about 1/2" and extended the sides by the same distance.  The rest of the bodice is the correct fit around, so only the dart breadth had to be adjusted.  Probably not the most scientific method, but it seems to have worked well enough!   The panel on the left shows the original location of the three darts on the bottom, while the panel on the right shows where the rest of the pattern was cut:

For the peplum part of the top, I did some quick and dirty drafting.  I simply placed the finished bodice on some tracing paper to find the width of the front and back pieces (separately) and eyeballed the angle to get an A-line shape.  Clearly, using a low hip measurement would have been the better option....and obviously some dart shaping would have been more flattering....but some days you just want to get it done, right?

I also raised the back neckline.  I'm not a fan of showing too much back, especially for work-wear, so I opted for a little more modesty. 

One thing I don't like about this pattern is the bodice facing.  At least for this fabric, I can see the outline of the facing from the outside.  Maybe a thinner lining fabric wouldn't have this problem?  For the dress version, I plan make a full lining, so that will take care of that.  I'd also like a version with cap sleeves....perhaps I'll have to work on that, too!

Here's my sad face: today I went to school only to tell my students that the class has been canceled.   Bad for teaching, good for sewing I guess! 

Farewell apron

I was sad to learn that one of the lovely teachers at my son's daycare is leaving this week.  She is a former elementary school teacher in Japan and is just an incredibly hardworking and dedicated teacher for the children at the daycare.  My son has learned so much!  Anyhow, I had given her this apron for Christmas; she wore it every week like a pinafore under a cardigan and told me all the time how much she loved it.  I had plans to make her another one already, but when I found out she was leaving, it was an obvious, and perfect, going away gift. 

She said she loved spring colors, and green in particular, so the main fabric, from the Summersault collection by Erin McMorris, was perfect (and on sale!).  The contrasting fabric felt risky when I was picking them out, but I like the combination in the end (Frippery by Thomas Knauer).

Fabric covered buttons...so pretty, so easy (especially this kind, with the teeth on the inside).

Another application for handmade bias!  I get a ridiculous amount of use out of my bias tape makers (I have two, and may need to invest in more sizes!)

Miho-san opened the gift and immediately put the apron on over her dress at her farewell party today.  I think she liked it :)

Heidi top for spring

Heralded by beautiful pink cherry blossoms in our back yard, spring has officially arrived in Northern California.  All the gorgeous wool and plaid fabrics I purchased this winter, with unrealistic dreams of making warm and toasty work clothes, must be packed away for another couple of seasons.  But remember this fabric, purchased on our trip to Zurich, Switzerland, last summer? 

With the beautiful, crinkly yet crisp texture, I envisioned a structured, yet pretty blouse.  With only one meter,  a pattern with separate sleeves wasn't an option.  So, I used the bodice of this Vintage Vogue dress pattern V1044, with cap sleeve integrated into the yoke, and drafted a basic peplum.  (Yes, another peplum.  It's really becoming a signature staple in my wardrobe and I still love them!)  The yoke lining and inside button placket were made from white cotton lawn, to get more mileage out of my meter.  Yup, mixing my units of distance right there :)

In my mind, this top reminded me of Heidi, and then I did an image search to refresh my memory.  Clearly, it's only vaguely referential (at best!), but I'm sticking with it; I like the idea of making a Heidi-inspired top from Swiss fabric.  On an previous trip to Switzerland, we stayed in Hirzel, within walking distance to Johanna Spyri's childhood home.

For the pattern, I lessened the depth of the waist darts and made some fitting adjustments (I cut a Size 10, but ended up taking in the sides about 1/2").  Overall, I like the design, but this pattern was not simple!  The pretty pleats were about the most straightforward bit of the whole top.  The directions for the button placket seemed unusually complicated, and sewing the yoke to the bodice (and then the yoke lining to the bodice) was absolutely curse-inducing. 

I used to avoid garments with buttonholes, but my new(ish) machine makes them truly effortless.  Love that. 

Super happy to have finally put this lovely fabric to the machine (and especially happy that the result is worth wearing!).  Happy Spring!

Tutorial: Double-drawstring bag

 My son loves those little Velcro wooden fruits that you can cut into pieces with the wooden knife.  The set Santa brought was in a cute little wooden crate, but at the end of the day, a wide-open, boxy crate isn't going to cut it as a storage vessel at our place.  Instead, I wanted to make a little drawstring bag to keep them all together (without taking up a crate-sized amount of space).  And I had the perfect fabric. 

Here's a little tutorial to create a handy double drawstring bag.

Peplum silk blouse

I've been dying to share this silk blouse with you all!  As a resident of the Bay Area, I am absolutely thrilled and honored to be collaborating with Britex Fabrics as a Guest Blogger, and this is my first official project!  I remember my first trip to Britex in San Francisco; after spending decades shopping at big box fabric stores, it was completely overwhelming (in the best possible sense of the word) to see so many beautiful fabrics. And  fabric actually intended for apparel! I don't get into the "big city" very often, but after my most recent trip and using some of Britex's fabulous fabrics, I made this cute dress and silk top.

Pura seta

The anticipation!  After three silk muslins, the good stuff was finally cut into and sewn.  I'll be revealing photos of the finished silk blouse soon in my first post as an official Guest Blogger for Britex Fabrics!

Me, pinable

For Christmas, my husband gave me the most perfect gift: a dressmaker's form!  Until now, I spent a lot of time topless (or bottomless) pinning and repinning in-process clothing in front of the bathroom mirror.

Apron times two

As my last post of the year, I wanted to share the two aprons I made for my youngest's daycare teachers. Both were based on this vintage pattern, though I made enough changes to the first apron that it's virtually unrecognizable as the same style:

Merry Christmas!

Hands down, my favorite decoration for the house is this advent calendar, made three years ago.  I based it on my in-laws wood version, but ours is all felt, with tiny rick rack, ribbon and seed bead decorations for the ornaments.  Clearly made before child #2 came along, each number was hand cut with an exact-o knife from freezer paper and then stenciled.  I still can't believe I went through all that trouble!

Dumplings for Christmas

Other than the tree skirt, I only set out to make aprons for my son's daycare providers for Christmas this year in a conscious effort to reduce holiday stress.  The 2 year old goes to a Japanese immersion small family daycare**, and the teachers wear cute little cobbler-style aprons every day.  Clearly, I had to make one for each of the two main teachers!   So, in preparation, I purchased Japanese import fabric months back and ordered a vintage pattern from overseas.  After a few muslins to try out the pattern and making some alterations, I sewed up the first apron and it just fit oddly (though admittedly, I was trying it on and I'm not the same size as the ladies to whom they will be gifted.)  I loved the fabric so much, though, that with some scraps left over, I scrambled and made some cute little dumplings using this tutorial (and thanks to my Sewing Buddy, Jennie, for pointing me toward it!).  

Christmas tree skirt

After seeing this tutorial, it was immediately imperative that I make a tree skirt.  Not that we needed one; on the contrary, I own a beautiful skirt with rows and rows of cute little pompoms that I actually like quite a bit.  No, I had to make one because despite not being a matchy-matchy type of person, I had some extra fabric left over from the stockings I made for the boys in previous years and I just really wanted it to be made-by-me!  Here're the boys' stockings (I designed them myself, so no pattern to reference):

That 2-D Zoo (Alexander Henry) was just spot-on perfect for my animal-loving eldest, and well, the youngest just got a pattern that matched his brother's!  I love rick-rack, so it had to be incorporated into the skirt.

The original pattern called for ties to close the back of the skirt, but I chose to do buttons and loops to make it look more clean.  With all color options laid out on the skirt, I opted for a light pink to make it modern and pull from the 2-D Zoo print.

Here's the whole lot together, in all their matchy-matchy glory!

Notice, mom and dad's stockings are missing.  I made ours many years ago, and my husband insists that I keep them as-is (though I think I've convinced him that they need to be pulled apart and stiffened with fusible fleece so they aren't all floppy).  

Unfortunately, we have this big, tall tree stand, and the skirt is definitely not designed for that kind of thing, so it doesn't lay as nice and neatly as I'd like.  Oh well...once it's buried under a heap of Christmas presents no one will care anyway!  

Cozy PJ bottoms

I bought that sweet mug at a student pottery sale at my college yesterday!  

Even in a land where I know the location of 3 pairs of sunglasses and no idea where my umbrella is (and it's currently raining), cozy pajamas are a must-have in the "winter".  I purchased this fabric (In the Clearing Winter, part of the LouLou flannel collection by Anna Maria Horner) online, not knowing that the printed flowers were in lines across the width of the fabric , and not as an edge print.  Luckily I'm short, so I was able to cut the pattern using the width of the fabric, placing the floral pattern at the sides of the pants (the back matches the front).

Peplum blouse, pattern review

During my recent visit to Britex I purchased a beautiful stretch silk floral fabric, the most expensive piece of fabric I've ever purchased (but so worth it!).  I only got a small amount, with some kind of sleeveless shell in mind.  After making the Minna blouse by Salme patterns, their Peplum blouse caught my eye.  E-downloads make those impulse pattern buys oh-so easy!

I made not one, but two muslin versions of the Peplum blouse.  The first was so awful that after massive fit and style alterations, I had a to make a second before committing to my special fabric.  I'm still not 100% in love with the fit (pulling at the shoulders and bust in a weird way), but I typically wear these types of blouses with cardigans, so no biggie.

Ready for lecture!

Okay, so for the review.  I love the style of this blouse.  Love the front and back keyhole, love the peplum, love the interesting way the lining is sewn in.  But man, I wouldn't suggest taking on this project without a good understanding of fitting a pattern to your own body.  As mentioned in previous posts, I have a small bust and am relatively straight from waist to hips.  The pattern appears to be designed for a woman with a very large bust to waist ratio, so after measuring myself and the paper pattern (there was only a garment measurement for the bust), I graded out from bust to waist and made all of the darts shallower.

The shoulders were too narrow for my apparent football-player body, so I had to adjust those as well, grading out several sizes.  Deepening the arm scythe may improve the fit a bit, now that I'm looking at my pattern alterations...

My final front bodice piece looked like this after my changes with similar alterations made to the back bodice:

I had a suspicion that the peplum would have too much flounce for my taste, so I slashed and reduced evenly around the peplum.  Here's the before:

And the less-flouncy after:

 Love that my peach necklace matches perfectly!

 Here's the back view.  I had to extend the button loop, because of my broad shoulders.

 Side view of the peplum, and invisible side zipper:

The bodice is lined with nude Bemberg (and I think I still have enough left to line a dress!):

Overall, I'm happy with the final product.  I will wear it, which indicates my satisfaction, but there are still improvements to be made to the fit.  Mostly, I'm just happy that my expensive fabric purchase amounted to something worth wearing!

Henry Turtle pin cushion

I could not resist this pin cushion pattern from Heather Bailey.  Truly, the price was a bit high at my local boutique fabric store, but I bought it anyway--it's that cute.  In an ongoing effort to reduce my fabric stash, I used what I had on had: some leftover Lotta Jansdotter "Bella" dotted yellow for the body (and the stripe for the belly) and Anna Maria Horner "Good Folks" for the shell.  Instead of French knots for the eyes, I used tiny seed beads since I had them on hand.  

This was a rare instance when I sewed the entire thing during the day (as opposed to after the kids' bedtime).  I cut the fabric while the little one was playing with trains, and did the majority of the sewing during a single naptime and a bit of cooperative playtime between my two boys (when they were setting up a tea party outside my sewing room :). Three cheers for a quick, adorable and useful sewing project!  

Now, hopefully I can get over the feeling that I'm using him as a voodoo doll when I poke him with pins (you know, use him as intended...) 

Pleated clutch

Samantha from At Home with Mrs. H has created a lovely new pleated purse/clutch pattern and I had the opportunity to test it out!  For my version, I used an upholstery-weight linen/viscous blend. I adore this orangey-pink nubby fabric that I snapped up from FabMo--it's perfect for a vintage-y clutch.

The bag is lined with a Robert Kaufman quilting cotton.  The only changes I made to the pattern were to omit the topstitching around the flap and opening of the purse (my fabric didn't seem to suit that detail), and omit the slip pocket, since those just aren't useful to me.  I kept the inside zipper pocket, of course!

Seriously, it is only due to my mother, visiting from the other coast, that I was able to do any sewing this week, since my husband is away on business to Ireland.   Once he does return, I plan on using my little clutch for date night!  So, thanks mom!

 Once Mrs. H has the pattern finalized, I'll do a giveaway so some other lucky lady can have her own!