Gemstone Staple Dress

When I learned that Cotton + Steel was going to release a rayon line, I knew I simply had to try it. No surprise, I chose the navy blue and white Gemstone pattern to make myself a dress. After I bought the fabric, I learned that it is supposed to be dry clean only. I don’t do dry clean only, so I was happy to read that several bloggers felt the same way and had machine washed their rayon without any issues. Originally, I had planned to sew a Myrtle Dress, but after whipping up a quick infinity scarf from the same fabric, I decided I needed a simpler pattern for my first rayon garment. Last month, I grabbed my tried and true Staple Dress pattern pieces and that was that.

I’m glad I tried rayon, but it’s not my favorite fabric to work with. It shifted a bunch while I cut it, pinned it, and sewed it. When I used my mock overlock stitch to finish the seams, it pulled in on itself, which I didn’t like. While I was working with it, I didn’t intend to work with it again. Then I tried it on and realized what all the hype was about. It feels really, really nice on. The rayon is smooth, flowy, and lovely for summer.

There’s not much more to say about this dress. As always, I love the pockets. Since I usually wear belts with my Staple Dresses, I omitted the elastic shirring. This dress is easily my new favorite dress. I can’t wait to try my hand at rayon again.

Blue Plaid Staple Dress

This dress was a happy accident. Shortly before Christmas, Drygoods Design had a sale and I purchased three yards of Moda’s Wee Bright Plaid Blue Brushed Cotton. I was looking for flannel and it was in the “Flannel/Brushed Cotton” section on their website. I’m still not exactly sure what the difference is between flannel and brushed cotton. Based on this one sample, it seems that brushed cotton is softer and warmer than quilting cotton, but not as soft and warm as flannel.

The fabric sat around in my stash until I made the Royal Oslo Cardigan and realized that it coordinated. I wanted something quick and easy, so I reached for my copy of April Rhodes’ Staple Dress. The first Staple Dress I made was in October 2013, so it was definitely time for another one. Even though the pattern wasn’t difficult the first time around, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was this time. Sometimes I’m frustrated with my amateur seamstress skills, but this was one instance where I could feel how much my skills have improved over time. As a result, sewing this dress made me very, very happy.

Initially, I thought I would try my hand at matching plaid for this dress, but it didn’t work out. After washing and pressing, the plaid pattern of the fabric wasn’t quite aligned. If I lined up the horizontal lines to make the pattern match at the side seams, then the vertical lines skewed to one side. I chose to optimize for keeping the vertical lines straight and decided that I was okay with not matching the plaid this time. I know matching plaids is supposed to be a mark of quality, but I like this dress well enough without it. I’ll try again another time.

What can I say about the Staple Dress that hasn’t already been said before? I sewed the same size as last time, but retraced the pattern so that I could use the straight hem instead of the high-low hem. I do love a good high-low hem, but thought that this fabric lent itself more to the straight hem. For this version, I omitted the elastic shirring at the waist. I always wear my first Staple Dress with a belt, so the shirring is rather redundant for me. Adding the pockets was a no-brainer, because I’ve learned that if a dress doesn’t have pockets, I won’t wear it.

All in all, I’m quite pleased with this dress. It coordinates with both my Royal Oslo Cardigan and my Navy Julia Cardigan, and is a pattern that I know I will wear, so I feel it aligns nicely with my Wardrobe Architect efforts. Also, it’s nice to have a more wintery Staple Dress in my closet, because Spring can’t get here early enough.

Pastry Line Staple Tunic

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I made a few shirts recently. Part of my Me-Made-May’14 pledge was to make one garment out of a new-to-me pattern or fabric type. Based on what I had on hand, I decided to modify the Staple Dress pattern by April Rhodes to make a top. While I enjoyed making my previous Staples Dresses, I felt that I could adjust the fit and length to make something that I could wear more often, as I don’t wear dresses very often.

To adjust the pattern to match the picture in my head, I started by grading from a medium in the shoulders to a large in the hips. That wasn’t as daunting as I thought it would be, but by the time I had finished adjusting the hemline to my satisfaction, two hours had passed! Pattern modification is not for the faint of heart, or those short on time.

The fabric I used was a Pastry Line voile by Anna Maria Horner that had been languishing in my stash for some time. This was my first time working with voile and it is every bit as nice as everyone says it is! While I found it a little more delicate than quilting cotton, it was still easy to work with. Best of all, it was softer and more pleasant to wear, and washed up nicely. I’m really happy that companies like Art Gallery Fabrics are including more voile options to coordinate with their quilting cotton offerings. I want more awesome prints in soft, easy-to-use fabrics!

After several days of deliberation, I decided to forgo the elastic shirring. The result is a comfy and casual shirt that can be worn out or tucked in. It think it will be lovely to wear in spring and summer. This shirt was definitely a confidence booster, as I managed to try a couple new things successfully.

Yes, I did mention at the beginning of this post that I made more than one shirt. Tune in later for more!

Me-Made-May’14: Week 3

Can you believe that May is more than halfway over? For Me-Made-May Week #3, I made a conscious effort to branch out from my standard Wiksten Tank/sweater/jeans/Toms uniform. For Mother’s Day, I wore the dressiest handmade garment I have: my Crazy Cat Lady Dress. While I’m still disappointed with it, the fit issues were adequately covered up with a sweater, and I received a few compliments throughout the day. This week was the first time since I finished this dress that I seriously considered trying this pattern again, as it really is quite comfy.

Speaking of trying patterns again, I closed out the week with not one, but two Staple outfits: my Domino Staple Dress from last year and my recently finished Staple Tunic, which I adapted from the Staple Dress pattern. I’m really pleased with how the Staple Tunic turned out, and will write up a separate blog post later on. All in all, I’m happy with my Me-Made-May outfits so far. 

Sunday, May 11, 2014: Crazy Cat Lady Dress
Monday, May 12, 2014: Pearl Bracelet Wiksten Tank
Tuesday, May 13, 2014: Cattitude Wiksten Tank
Wednesday, May 14, 2014: Twinkle Twinkle Wiksten Tank
Thursday, May 15, 2014: Grey Eyelet Wiksten Tank
Friday, May 16, 2014: Domino Staple Dress
Saturday, May 17, 2014: Pastry Line Staple Tunic (not yet blogged)

Me-Made-May’14: Week 2

Week 2 of Me-Made-May has been successfully completed! Since this event is all about actually wearing what you sew, I pulled out a garment that I was so underwhelmed by when it was finished that I never blogged about it and never even consider wearing it. Last fall, I sewed up a black Staple Dress as part of a costume. Since I was under a deadline, I cut corners and I’m not pleased with the end result. Some of the French seams are messy. It’s fine for a casual day with family, but I wouldn’t wear it around anyone I’m trying to impress. I also left off the pockets, so when I wear it, I’m constantly trying to put my cell phone in nonexistent pockets, which is rather annoying. Lesson learned: haste makes waste. The rest of the week, I relied on my ubiquitous Wiksten tanks.

Sunday, May 4, 2014: Black Staple Dress (previously unblogged)
Monday, May 5, 2014: Gridlocked Wiksten Tank
Tuesday, May 6, 2014: Twinkle Twinkle Wiksten Tank
Wednesday, May 7, 2014: Pearl Bracelet Wiksten Tank
Thursday, May 8, 2014: Cattitude Wiksten Tank
Friday, May 9, 2014: Grey Eyelet Wiksten Tank
Saturday, May 10, 2014: Gridlocked Wiksten Tank

Domino Staple Dress

I am determined to master garment sewing, no matter how long it takes. However, I’ve run across a few bumps in the road along the way. Last Fall, I make my first garment: a Wiksten tank dress. After that, I kept using the pattern again and again and again. As much as I love it, I really wanted to branch out and tried two different Colette patterns (Laurel and Taffy). Alas, I was stymied by fit issues and never got past the muslin stage on either of them. Instead of giving up, I decided I needed professional help.

 

In order to improve my garment sewing skills before I attempted a very fitted pattern again, I signed up for the Intro to Apparel | The Staple Dress at Drygoods Design. The dress is loose and forgiving, but called for the use of elastic thread and a serger, neither of which I had used before. It seemed a good next step in my sewing journey. Before the class, I washed my fabric (Waterfront Park by Violet Craft Domino Dot Navy), took my measurements, and traced the pattern onto freezer paper, which turned out to be a very good idea.

 

Did you know that Drygoods Design’s studio provides sewing machines (and a serger!) for you to use during classes? I didn’t, so the first night I ended up lugging my beloved Elna across half of Ballard, and arrived late to the class. Thankfully, my fellow students were still tracing their patterns, so I wasn’t behind! I spent a lovely two evenings sewing and soaking up Julienne’s tricks and tips. I think my favorite was that you can align the pocket pattern to the dress pattern before you cut it out, to reduce the number of seams you have to sew.

 

Sadly, the class ended before my dress was finished, and the elastic thread wasn’t cooperating. Luckily, the interwebs came to the rescue, and I was able to fix the problem. For my machine, I have to hand wind the bobbin assertively, leave it on the default stitch length, and apply generous amounts of water and ironing after stitching. (Due to an unfortunate encounter with a cat who thought the ironing board was her territory, my iron’s steam feature no longer functions. Otherwise, I would apply generous amounts of steam.)

 

What I love about this dress:

• Pockets!
• It’s easy if you’re comfortable with sergers and elastic thread.
• It has a high-low hem.
• It’s flattering (and not fitted).
• The sleeves are part of the main pattern piece.
• Did I mention it has pockets?

What I don’t love about this dress:

• The quilting cotton I used is too bulky for this pattern. I should have used actual apparel fabric.
• If I don’t wear a belt, the dress slides off my shoulder when I put my cell phone in my pocket.

All in all, this class did what I hoped it would do. At the end, I was left with a new garment, new skills, and increased confidence. Not bad for just two evenings!