Finished Project: Vogue Sundress Hack Attack Take 2

If I kept all my failures to myself, what kind of (virtual) sewing bee buddy would I be?

Because we all have them (right, people? Right?). And if my M.O. is anything, it's keepin' it real. So check out this, my second sundress sewn (partly) from Vogue 8766 — a scroll-down nightmare.

Try it. The bodice looks great...lovely fit...nice spaghetti halter straps....cute daisy print...sweet button placket detail...and then (scrolling down), oh dear, that skirt:

My husband tells me it's adorable. I think he likes that it's, er, defining through the bodice. I do love the daisies. I choose the print because it had a Sassy magazine-circa-1992 sweetness to it.

But that gathered skirt...I thought I swore those darn things off a few years ago? On a lady like me, they just look dumpy. And, if this dress looks shorter at center front, that's because it is. I was trying for something...but it just looks like a mistake. Also, that white eyelet trim is a little twee. (However, if I were a Sassy magazine stylist, I would pair this with combat boots and a beekeeper's hat and maybe it would look cool.)

I once again used shirring to gather the back bodice. This time I used a single large rectangle for the back bodice and skirt. Last time,  I cut the bodice and skirt separately, and it turned out much better. I think the fabric choice this time around had a lot to do with it:

Also, I should iron more

I like this dress just enough that saving it somehow is important to me (After all, it's a lot of work shirring all those rows!). But how? Swap out the skirt entirely? Chop the hem straight and use some other kind of trimming to add length? What would you do?

Seeing *Your* Fabric Out In the Wild

So the other day I was picking my daughter up from kindergarten when I saw it: a lady wearing a peplum top made from the same fabric I bought at Girlcharlee.com for these Hudson Pants I made.

My hand-made pants

Yes, this is what some women wear to pick their kids up from school in the Bronx (she didn't have the matching mini): 

 And then, a couple days later (also on my way to pick up my kid from school), I saw another lady wearing a maxi dress in the same fabric (this is not her; I found this pic online after much googling):

Of course, I wanted to ask both women where they bought their "nautical striped" ready-to-wear, but neither looked especially open to questions from strangers so I let it be. The fabric is pretty cheap (it pilled after just a couple washes) so I'm guessing it was not sourced from a high-end designer.

Meanwhile, in my latest sewing class, one of my students brought in this fabulous toile du jouy, which she bought at Mood and had been told it was John Galliano. It has a brocade sort of finish on top:

We all loved the fabric and I was dying to see how Galliano used it. After a few minutes googling I discovered it's from Oscar de la Renta's Fall 2013 collection, though in a slightly different variation:

 You can see it's the same print, but with a black quilting-style finish on top rather than the brocade (apparently the same toile du jouy is available in different colorways at Mood NYC). My student was using this fabric for a skirt, which was clearly a good choice considering that same collection featured a multitude of skirts in similar toile du jouy prints.

We're lucky in New York to have such exciting, high-quality designer rollends at our disposal. Often you can find something that cost a fortune in ready-to-wear for a steal at the fabric store. A few years back I bought this bow print cotton by Marc Jacobs for just $5/yard from Metro Textile:

Curious to see what Marc Jacobs had made with it, I googled:

 Once I saw what Marc Jacobs had done with that bow print, I wished I had bought the entire bolt.

Recently I saw another Marc Jacobs print at Metro — this navy heavy weight cotton printed with his initials:

It was available in several colorways (at $5/yard), so I grabbed some for a friend's daughter whose nickname is MJ. I figured anyone with the initials MJ would be happy to have something special sewn with his fabric. Try as I might, I could not find any items made from this print.

Do you ever search to see what a certain designer has done with the fabric you bought? (Or have you ever run into someone wearing ready-to-wear made from your fabric?

Taking care of DIY

There comes a moment in every DIYer's life when she/he must make a decision: how to wash your me-made garments?

Every load is a risk

Because even if you take pains to pre-wash and shrink your fabric, there's still plenty that could go wrong in the spin cycle:

• Seams could unravel
• Fusible interfacing could unfuse itself and create ripples on collars and cuffs
• Painstakingly pounded-on snaps could pop off (or buttons can go MIA)
• Jersey could pill
• The lining could shrink while the rest remains the same

And though all of these issues could come up with ready-to-wear, when you made it yourself you know the true cost in time and effort — which makes suffering any of these laundry room indignities that much more painful.

Handwashing or spotcleaning can preclude some of these issues, and avoiding the dryer is enough for others. Of course, that means you can't always rely on your dryer to get the wrinkles out:

Knowing your fabrics and how to wash them can help avoid some of the pitfalls of washing DIY. I try to avoid machine-washing anything that is lightweight or combines fabrics — and never put anything that might melt into the dryer, like this Scout tee with a pleather pocket:

Luckily, it matches the shower curtain

However, even that level of care has not been enough to avoid pilling:

Handwashing stretch fabrics does not always produce nice results:

Drooooop

 Particularly with stretch fabrics that don't have good recovery (bounce back), a good wash and dry can actually make your me-made Tee look better again. And I find that after a few wears even pants I've made from pricier fabrics need a wash to restore their shape.

I know what you're thinking: dryclean, dummy. But most drycleaners still use carcinogenic solvents, which are bad for public health and the environment. Also, I need my money for fabric, so I'm not spending it on cleaning.

How do you care for your DIY garments? Spotcleaning until it's absolutely necessary? Or throw it all in the washer and say a little prayer?

Pattern Review: Salme Patterns' Double-layer Camisole

Don't you hate how your favorite TV characters never repeat their outfits? (I'm not talking about the Sex and the City ladies; the most unrealistic thing on that show was the fact that New Yorkers would walk four abreast down a busy sidewalk. Everyone knows only tourists and middleschoolers do that).

Displaying my daily me-made wardrobe this May has me actually caring about week-over-week repeats. I could just wear what I had on yesterday (oh look! It's still here on the floor where I left it!) but I won't because it seems gauche to re-gram the same selfie. Looking at my grid of pics on Instagram is a good push to dig through the far reaches of my closet for those items I've sewn and then never worn.

Simplicity 1872 is one such project. Sewn at the behest of Kollabora.com when it first launched, I was never really thrilled with this dress. The flare on the skirt was unevenly distributed, creating too much fullness right at the sides (I have drafted many skirts so I could tell by how it hung that the flare wasn't evenly distributed). I have enough fullness on my hips, thankyouverymuch. I do like the bodice but that sleeve gathered with elastic is just two precious for me:

So in an effort to avoid wearing yet another Scout Tee or Tiny Pocket Tank, I turned this dress into two tops this week. Numero Uno, an easy peplum top, which retained the bodice and an underneath piece that had been attached to one layer of the skirt:

And Salme Patterns' Double-layer Camisole:

This is the first Salme Pattern that I have worked with though I've been lurking her shop for some time. I completely adore how it turned out and was high-fiving myself for the fact that I was able to squeeze this tank out of the remaining yardage from my pillaged skirt. Her guidelines suggest you only need 5/8 yard for this top, and she's right. I used even less, I think, because I raised the waistline by two inches (I had no choice due to fabric limitations — and also, I am quite short-waisted). 

This top comes together so easily: you sew the outer layer to the inner layer with the straps sandwiched between, which finishes the neckline all around. The little spaghetti straps are easy to make (though in this lightweight voile they feel pretty skimpy, which worries me that they will not last). The darts are nicely placed. The only change I think I would make is to pinch out some excess along the front neckline. It gapes a little, but that excess can be rotated into the dart the same way that I did it with Burda's Cap Sleeve Dress (another dress I never wear but that's another story!) 

 

One thing about Salme Patterns: you have to add your own seam allowances, which I am fine with. In fact, I think it's a good idea; depending on how you plan on finishing your seams, you may want a different size seam allowance. (Also, it makes it easier to edit a pattern when you are not also mucking around in seam allowances.)

But for a beginning sewer, I think that would be a deal-breaker. I can just imagine the blank stares I'd get if I told my sewing students that they had to add seam allowances.....(crickets).

So there it is: one unworn dress transformed into two wearable tops — and two more days of no-repeat Me Made May! How have you turned a dud DIY into something you can actually wear? And can you think of a TV character (other than Wonder Woman) who wore the same thing more than once?

All the Leggings Fit For Print

All of New York: it's possible you can thank ME for this gloriously hot (and unfortunately pollen-encrusted) weather we are having. Because just before it hit, I sewed up the raddest pair of printed leggings in some spandex-with-poly-blend that probably won't be practical again until late-October. That is how life works: you sew something you love, and then the weather changes so you cannot wear it. Somebody hand me some linen.

Seriously. I just single-handedly installed an AC in our bedroom AND I DIDN'T EVEN KILL ANYONE. I could have, you know. But I was willing to take that risk because it is heat-wave-in-May hot here today and my seasonal allergies mean I can't crack a window (I wiped down my windowsills yesterday and they were all greenish-yellow. What a fool I have been. Also, we went to the Botanical Garden for Mother's Day, an unfortunate decision I regretted all last night in bed, where I lay with a cool cloth on my eyes like some Victorian invalid).

Anyway, leggings:

I bought this printed stretch fabric at Metro Textile, intending it for my stretch sewing class at Bread & Yoga. Nobody snapped it up for their kiddie leggings (our first project) so I swapped it out for some other...perhaps less offensively bright and patterned prints. Last laugh? I'll have you right here:

I made the pattern for these leggings by cutting open a raggedy old pair of Steven Madden leggings and using them as a guide. It's a one-piece pattern, with just an inseam. I like not having a seam along the side to interrupt that print. That print, after all, is the one that will do all the interrupting.

It is the kind of print that you have to plan for carefully, lest you end up with two red whatever-those-ares on your tush. These leggings could have gone baboon-butt so quickly.... And because I am a generous mom, I plan on making a pair for my kid because she asked so nicely — AND was the one who sweetly brought me that cool cloth I mentioned earlier. How sweet it is when our kids grow up enough to take care of us from time to time.

Are you in the thick of summer sewing yet (for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere)? Just tell me to make a Gabriola skirt already...

Faux Accents Done Four Ways

Anyone who has shopped NYC's Garment District knows the wonder that is Spandex House — an entire store dedicated to just the stretchy stuff (On the web, it claims to be "one of the largest collections of Spandex in the world"). Packed with printed, spangled and laser-cut stretch fabrics, Spandex House makes me long for the few short years in which I figure skated (I was in it for the outfits, obviously).

On one shopping trip with several esteemed NYC sewing bloggers, I picked up a yard of perforated stretch faux leather. What did I plan to do with it? Play!

To date, I have used it four ways.

1. As a pocket embellishment on a striped jersey Scout Tee by Grainline (using the Tiny Pocket Tank pocket pattern, also by Grainline):

2. As a contrast bag bottom embellishment:

3. As a contrast yoke, again with a jersey Scout Tee by Grainline. I re-cut the pattern, drafting this yoke detail, which I love:

The yoke wraps around to the front, creating an epaulet-style look:

 4. As a contrast raglan sleeve on a short-sleeved sweatshirt I am working on. The pattern is self-drafted. Long sleeves would have been better, but I didn't have enough left for that. I'm still figuring out how to finish the sleeve hems.

From the front: 

Of course, it's a little shiny and very faux-looking, but I still think it's a fun add-on for casual clothing items like the above four pieces. Any other ideas for ways to use faux as an accent in your me-made items?

It's Da Bomb! (er jacket) Big Reveal

I didn't notice until afterward how it looks like I'm doing two thumbs-up here. Call it subconscious, but I am pretty stoked about my efforts on this self-drafted silk bomber jacket with raglan sleeves:

The fabric is from Chic Fabrics (225 W 39th Street, # 11). I loved it so much (a subtle print with rows safety pins and needles!) so I really splurged: I bought three yards at $15/yard. (Susan from the blog Moonthirty bought the remainder of the roll and I really can't wait to see what she does with it.). 

The lining I had on hand and the waistband, neckband, cuffs and welts are sewn in a lovely Italian ponte I bought at Metro Textile (265 W 37th St # 908) for $6/yard. The zip is from SIL Thread (257 W 38th St # 1). Please, nobody tally up what this bomber jacket cost me; me-made is priceless, right? (RIGHT!?).

Anyway, after spending so much on fabric, I decided to sew my purse shut and draft my own darn pattern, working from a hoodie pattern I had created a while back. (I had my eye on the Rigel Bomber by Papercut Patterns and another by Burda. Though I liked elements of each, I couldn't afford the Rigel and was put off by a few bad experiences with Burda's insufficient instructions). 

Following the instructions in "The Art and Science of Patternmaking and Grading by Professor Harry Greenberg & Professor Leonard Trattner, it only took one failed draft for me to get the raglan sleeve seaming and fit just right. I opted for a dropped neckline similar to the Rigel though not quite so low. I hate feeling choked by my jacket collar — but I still don't want to expose whatever top I have on underneath! This neckline scoop is my Baby Bear's porridge: just right. So let's see how it looks open:

zzzzzzzzzip!

It feels like a dream, so comfy and silky. It is rather shiny, which made me falter at one point during the late-construction phase. Would it look like some fancy grandpa's Sunday best tracksuit? 

I love how the curved neckline matches up with the top of this tank when the bomber is unzipped.

I know... you want to see the innards. I lined the whole thing with yet more silk. I handstitched the lining to the outer jacket because by that point things were going so well....and I didn't want to risk botching it up!

Fancy grandpas aside, I love this bomber and how I was able to take a fabric like this printed silk and turns it into something casual and almost sporty — something that I could wear every day (unlike a dress or blouse, which I also considered. Had I sewn a dress instead, I would have ended up with something I wear once, maybe twice a year if I'm lucky).

My new silk bomber has already proven to be ultra wearable — so wearable I wore it thrice before I managed to make time with my husband/photographer for a photo shoot. So wearable it already has tea and yogurt on it. So wearable....I am considering wearing it again tomorrow.

Have you ever taken a fancy fabric and turned it into something suitable for every day wear? Tell me about it! 

Spring Break Sewing: Bomber Progress!

I have exactly five minutes to write a post before my child's daily allotment of Doc McStuffins comes to end, thus officially beginning Spring Break/No Time to Myself Week. (I already used one episode and three-quarters to shower, dress, and do some sewing, naturally).

I thought I would share some progress on my self-drafted silk bomber jacket. With my pattern tested twice and ready, I started cutting my bomber out. I thought about the weight of the silk and decided to completely fuse the front and back pieces with weft-weight interfacing. The silk is a charmeuse weight, and I thought the slant welt pocket would drag it down too much without a little stabilization. It still feels really nice. The sleeves I left unfused:

Speaking of welts, these might be some of the nicest I have sewn:



The pocket bag will be hidden by a lining eventually, but here it is for now:

I'm afraid of my neckline getting stretched out, so I won't actually leave my bomber-in-progress on my dressform...but here it is just to get a taste:

Times up! We are off to go hunt Easter Eggs in the city today (Faberge is hosting the "Big Egg Hunt" which is obviously a marketing ploy but my kid is super stoked to scan the eggs on my phone and "crack" them. Anyone else got some good Spring Break ideas? We are staying in NYC for most of it. Sewing, unfortunately, is off the table!

Sew Sexy? Or Sew Hard to Wear?

Things are heating up in the Sew Sexy Sewalong challenge with Sown Brooklyn's ab-baring two-piece outfit in houndstooth. (Have you seen it? I love it). I don't actually have any clue when this sewalong wraps, so I'm posting my entry immediately lest I miss the deadline. So, I present to you a sheer striped Scout tee, made from pieced organza and cotton with a back in solid black shirting. Yes, that is a one-inch section of my midriff showing. Feast your eyes: 

That face I am making is in response to my photographer/husband, who is saying to me: "Why are you standing like that with your toes together?"

"This is how sexy women stand these days!"

"Pigeon toed? You look like you're hunching."

If looks could kill:

Here, again, is the inspiration for my top, in a much more demure white-on-white stripe:



I used the Scout Tee pattern because it has good bones: I've made it before so I know the neckline (which I dropped) is flattering; the side seams are positioned properly; the hemline is perfect; and the ease is enough to create the casual shape that I hoped would contrast the sheer fabric I was using.

I created the striped piecing by cutting wide strips of both fabrics, and then sewing them together. I then pressed and topstitched:

I then cut the front pattern piece out, taking care to place a non-see-through stripe across the bust:

I modified the back piece of the Scout Tee pattern to create an overlapped open back. Unfortunately, in this stiffish shirting it looks a little like a goth hospital gown:

Though I feel like this was a pretty successful experiment, I'm not sure the sexy factor is high enough. It is see-through in places...but the overall shape is pretty boxy. (That was purposeful; I thought it would be kind of mod/sexy.) I don't exactly look thrilled, do I?

Though sheer fabrics aren't likely to make their way to the top of my sewing pile again soon, I will definitely attempt making my own stripes once more. I really loved how easy it was to create a bold, graphic look with just a few scraps of fabric. It's definitely a fun way to make a tried-and-true pattern all-new again.

Have you sewed with sheer fabric before? How do you (pigeon) toe the line between sexy and trashy?