Finished Project: Tiramisu (Finally!)

Posing next to one of our backyard saskatoon berry bushes.

Please allow me to (finally) introduce the denim Tiramisu! 

Okay, not really denim, but a denim-like knit Tira.  Poor thing has been cut and partially sewn together since January.  Why did I wait so long?!

For the people who don't know about this dress (I'm only assuming there's a few of you - although you must be living under a rock!), it's the Tiramisu dress, the first pattern launched by Cake Patterns.  Steph at Cake has put out a scad of them, and I've already made up her Pavlova and Hummingbird tops.

Saskatoons to the left of me, chokecherries to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with Tira.

Details
Pattern: Tiramisu Knit Dress #0144
Size: 35 back bodice, 40C front bodice, waist and hip cut to my size (can't remember what I cut, but my waist and hips measure at 36" and 45" repectively).
Fabric: A denim-like sturdy medium-weight knit bought at our Crappy Local Fabric Shop, a diamond in the rough and the reason I still wander through there now and again.  Sadly, I have no idea of the composition because our Crappy Local Fabric Shop doesn't bother to put fibre content on any of their bolts.
Alterations: Sigh. Because I cut this out so long ago, I don't entirely remember.  I do know that my first bodice attempt was way too small, so I recut with a larger size.  I also had this almost all sewn together when I picked this up again last month, so other than needing to resew the underbust seam to bring the bodice wraps a bit closer together, I don't remember any other alterations.  I do know that next time I make up this pattern, I'll probably try cutting out the front bodice in size 35D, since the shoulder seams pull toward the back and there's some extra fabric above my bust.  Well, I'll try a toile of it, anyways.  I'm pretty happy with the fit as it is anyways, so we'll see if it improves it at all.

I did make a mistake in the construction though.  I understitched the pockets in the back skirt piece, but I completely forgot to on the front skirt piece.  Who knew that there were 4 pocket pieces?!  This causes the pockets to gape and stick out a little bit on the front skirt, but it really doesn't bother me.

I'm pretty chuffed about all the gold topstitching I did.  Because it was denim-looking, I embraced the jean look by sticking topstitching wherever I could!  I did a lot on the bodice piece, at the centre back and shoulder seams, around the sleeve hems, at the faux-wrap edges, and a double stitch hem around the skirt.  I really wanted to add more, especially around the under-bust and waist seams, but I thought this might be too much, and also make me more self-conscious.  That second one strikes me as being stupid, but sometimes you need to let your insecurities win sometimes when it means feeling so comfortable in a dress that makes you look and feel good!

Need to harvest these berries this weekend! Winter is on it's way, here in Yukon.

There is some wrinkles, bumps and lumps in the back.  Some of it (like at the underarm) could probably be fitted out, and I suspect will be helped with a change in the front bodice size.  Others are just my natural bumps and lumps, and I'd rather not focus too much on those.  Silly back lumps.  :)

Mmm...saskatoon tiramisu anyone?

Seriously, this dress is probably the most comfortable and flattering dress I've ever made and worn.  While I love Cake Patterns, I don't find that I reach for my Pavlova or Hummingbirds that often.  But this dress?  I finished it just a couple weeks ago, and the only thing that's kept me from wearing it more often is that I'm a slacker when it comes to laundry.  It's comfortable enough for kicking around the house, casual enough for running around and meeting friends for coffee, and pretty enough to wear to a wedding!  (All of which I've done in the last few weeks.)

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some saskatoons to go pick.  Yes, in my Tiramisu!  Now where did I put that ladder...

Nattering on about nothing, really, but at least it's a post!

Yeah, I know, I haven't been posting at all of late. Between a family reunion 2 weekends ago, coming down with The Plague and being bed ridden all last week, a wedding this weekend, and then my laptop kicking the bucket, sewing and blogging haven't exactly been a priority.

This despite the fact that my wedding gift was supposed to be a pair of aprons I was supposed to finish last week, but they got an IOU in their wedding card instead. I was too sick to finish, or even start, his apron.

Thank you to those who gave me suggestions on how to applique the dragon on! I've revamped my plan, but your advice will be useful regardless. If and when I ever finish the bloody thing. Turns out the fabric I chose for the main part of the apron is crap - wrinkled like crazy when dried and won't iron out.

I'd include some pictures, but they all died with my laptop. Joy. I do have one I pulled from facebook, though.

Please forgive the disheveled look and gold flats. Picture taken at the end of the night after a whole lot of dancing! Did look cuter with brushed hair, dry face, and heels. :D

The wedding was fun though, and I got to wear a dress I picked up at Value Village. Never ever in a million years would I have thought this silhouette would work for me, but I guess I was wrong. It's quite flattering! Must keep in mind for future dress designs. Must also keep in mind that 100% polyester really does suck for a dancing dress.

I always have ideas for blog posts, but I never seem to get to them. One that I would like to do is a closer look at this dress. It's actually quite interesting, since it's fully lined, has boning, invisible zipper that is overlapped by the waist tie (ties at the back), and interesting seams. I adore how they mixed the bias and straight pieces with the plaid.

Maybe now that I've said that, I'll actually do the post!

I do have another me-made dress to show off, if I ever finish hemming it. I also had a plan for fall/winter sewing, but, well, laptop, so who knows when I'll get back to that. Maybe I backed it up 2 weeks ago, when my laptop first started hinting it was about to kick it, but I'm not sure.

Anyways, I'm done nattering. Until next time, happy sewing!

Finished Object: Navy Rose Dress

I'm back in Manitoba, and nearly all my sewing stuff is in one place! YES!! \o/

So of course I started sewing immediately. Actually, I bought the dress below on sale for $20. I adored it, but it was just too short on me. I considered trying to do something to lengthen it, but looking closer at the dress, I figured I could probably make it myself. I got a few quick measurements of the bodice and looked at how they did the back detail (elastic along the upper back to keep it in place. Neat!), returned the dress, and tried my hand at it.

Isn't the lace beautiful? Oh, I wish I could've made it work just for the lace!

Look at how it turned out! I'm pretty proud of myself, recreating a dress (sort of) I liked with only a few measurements and my own sketches. I've never done this (successfully) before! I used the floral cotton voile I rewarded myself with after my thesis defense, and blogged about here.

Oh, there's a few problems with it. The shirring turned out to be way too tight. It's wearable, but only just. I suspect that I wound the elastic thread on the bobbin too tight. Oops. The bodice has no structuring besides gathering along the bottom where it joins with the shirred skirt. There was a bit of gaping along the armhole, but taking in the sides 1 inch helped immensely.

I'm not a big fan of how the bottom ruffles turned out. I may yet tear it out and try something else, since it's borderline Little House on the Prairie.



I suspect that the lace I used on the bottom ruffles are too heavy or something. But I'm pleased with the colour of the lace, since I tea dyed it from blinding white to this beige-y brown. It picks up the subtle colour in the small background flowers nicely.

But overall, I really like how the dress turned out. I couldn't find a lace anywhere near as lovely as the one on the original dress (not a surprise with the limited selection at Fabricland), but I'm pleased with the one I used. I even cut out around the flowers to make it a little bit more interesting.

One of my favourite parts of this dress is the back. It's lower cut than the front, and the elastic along the top makes the fit snug without being too tight (or needing a zipper). The spaghetti straps look cute, and were made by making my own 1/4 inch non-bias tape (made the same way as bias tape, but cut on grain to prevent stretching).

Anyways, thanks again to you all for being patient and not abandoning me! I'm in the middle of job hunting right now, but I will be posting more often, and this time I mean it!

Fabric and Pattern Rewards!

Okay, so despite trying to reduce the amount of stuff I still need to ship home - including my fabric stash - I went fabric shopping yesterday. To those who suggested it in my last post, obviously we fabric fiends think alike!

These are both cotton voile (see! I'm getting better at keeping track of fabric type). I couldn't decide which one I liked best, so I uh..bought 3 m of each. But I do have a plan for them! Or one of them, at least.

I borrowed Fuss's copy of Burda Stype 9/2010 because I need to make that purple dress (pattern 137)! And also maybe everything else in this picture. My best friends little sis is getting married this August, and I think this would be a fun summery dress to wear to it. I really like the look of the line art, with the tie and front pleats, the shirred cuffs, and even those epaulets.


Of course, I couldn't decide which fabric and it requires 3 m, so I got both. Playing around with the fabric, though, I think I've made my choice of which I'll use.

I think the blue flowers (because these two fabrics are actually the exact same print but in different colour schemes) stand out too much from the background. It's sort of distracting. It'd probably be fine, but it's not the overall look I was going for with this dress. The later picture, with the pink flowers on the light blue background is much more what I was wanting. More subtle, I guess.

I think I need to try modeling my fabric more often! Definitely helps me 'see' how the fabric will work on me.

Also, I bought myself my very first Burda magazine, and I absolutely adore the latest edition. Maybe I'll do a recap of the patterns available in it (and which ones I'm drooling over) next time! Can't sew right now as my machine is in Manitoba, but a sewist can dream, can't she?

Musing on Thrifted Knit Dresses, and a bit on Self Confidence

I briefly mentioned it in my love letter to a summer skirt post, but I've temporarily moved back to Kingston to finish off my thesis. It wasn't going well at home, and considering that I'd like to defend first week of June (which means submitting around May 21st) and I'm still got a ways to go, I figured this was my best option.

Of course, in typical Heather fashion, I decided to do this Friday at noon, and was on a plane headed to Ontario by Sunday evening. But it's worked out well since I'm both house-sitting and bunny-sitting for a friend while she's out of town, so I have the whole place to myself! The downside is that I've left all sewing distractions supplies in Manitoba to keep myself focused.

However, when I was in Manitoba, I went thrift shopping a lot, and found some great gems, all of which have made their way to Ontario with me. Two of my favourites were a couple of knit dresses that I fell in love with, and has encouraged me to wear more dresses this summer!


This first one is a simple grey dress that is ridiculously easy to wear. I've worn it around the house as a casual house dress, but I've also worn it out for lunch with friends and studying in the coffee shop. Would you believe that I paid $4.99 for it? The original price tag - still attached to the dress - was $40!

Although the length is normally too short for me, I'm actually getting more comfortable with showing more of my legs. This from the girl who never showed her legs at all until last summer! I've always had a problem with them, feeling like my calves were too big and chunky. It's strange, ever since my 30th birthday, I've been feeling more confident about myself, and stressing less about insecurities with my body that has always bothered me. Which is funny, because I'm at my heaviest, at the moment. But seeing all these pictures helps re-enforce that confidence, because if I'm honest with myself, I don't think that my legs - or the rest of me - look bad at all. Maybe a little chubby, but not like I've always pictured in my head. Funny how we do such a disservice to ourselves, eh?


Anyways, I also like this dress with tights, although looking at this picture, I think black is too stark. Should've paired it with my green or dark grey tights.


Now this black dress, I absolutely adore. I normally wouldn't have pulled this one off the rack, but I was feeling adventurous at Value Village, and was trying on anything that caught my eye. I was pleasantly surprised by this dress, and immediately needed to bring it home. And I paid a whopping $7.99 for it!


I adore the cowl neck, which is normally an issue with my bust size, but worked out well here. The tie helps define my waist where I'm the slimmest, while the pleated skirt just floats away and covers any extra bumps.


I adore both of these dresses, and they've convinced me that I obviously need to make more like them! Poking around, I've found New Look 6722 that might do the trick for a look similar to the black dress, although I'm not a fan of the faux wrap bodice.


Hmm, can't wait to be done with the Thesis. It's interfering with my sewing! Speaking of, guess I should get back to it.

P.S. I think that I need to work on my modeling skills. For instance, I could turn my face in the other direction once and a while! Maybe it's time to re-read Patty's advice on taking good photos.

Finished Object: Mariana Trench Dress

I first came across McCall's 6279 a few weeks ago while preparing for a McCall's pattern sale at Fabricland, and while I was attracted to version C right away, I've fallen more and more in love with the pattern ever since. In fact, I loved it so much, I didn't even deviate much the colours they chose for it on the envelope.

Look at those white white legs. Yeesh.

A trip to Fabricland yielded a lightweight navy blue cotton poplin with a bit of stretch, a lovely funky floral cotton voile for the lining, grey swirly buttons, and a bunch of thread. I cut a size 16 out of some cheap cotton as a muslin, and only really needed to add some ease to the hip area and lengthen the fabric. For those who didn't see it, I talked about both the fabric choice and muslin here.

This dress required so much patience. While the pattern went together beautifully, my own blunders caused me a lot of grief. For instance, I originally fused medium-weight interfacing to the front panels, but then tore it out because it was too stiff. It caused a bit of distortion and shininess to the bottom of one of the front panels, but luckily it was on the side that gets overlapped, so it's not visible.

I chose to top-stitch along most of the major seams, and practiced (and practiced and practiced) before hand to make sure I wouldn't mess it up. I'd originally picked up some top-stitching thread for the job, but the sewing machine I was using hated it, so instead I used regular thread. Luckily, all that practice paid off and I didn't have to unpick anything.

Look at all that top-stitching

I can't say the same for the buttonholes and sleeves. Out of six buttonholes, I had to unpick three, two due to negligence while lining up the buttonholer, and one because of my bobbin running out of thread. I'm surprised the whole thing didn't wind up in the garbage.

ARGH!!!

The sleeves were another headache entirely. I left them until last because I hate gathering and easing sleeves, and this required both along the armscye, as well as gathering along the cuff. On the cuff itself, I thought I needed to add length, and inserted a small panel to widen it (I'd already cut it out to pattern specifications and was out of fabric). However, as shown on the left below, it turned out to be too big. So I yanked the panel out, and the cuff turned out to be perfect (shown on the right). Should've trusted the pattern.

Boy does this colour ever make my hair look red.

I do love these sleeves. They are loose and comfy, but the cuff makes my arm look more slender (in my opinion). However, the gathering on the sleeve cape has caused some other problems, specifically a nice big bump when I'm not standing perfectly still with arms at my side. I'm considering flipping the seam allowance under the shoulder and tacking it down, but any suggestions would be appreciated!

Any suggestions on how to deal with the shoulder bump?

I sort of messed up the hem, or rather, how the instructions say to do the hem. But because I added a lining to the dress, the instructions weren't going to work anyways, so I sort of jury-rigged a hem. I cut down the inner front facing so that it matched my lining (1 inch shorter than the shell), hemmed the entire lining, then attached the lining and shell together along the collar and front seams. For the shell hem, I sewed some hem ribbon along the raw edge, then slipstitched the tape to the skirt. I like the effect, especially when you catch a flash of the silver ribbon.

Note the change in thread colour from the navy blue thread on the poplin facing to the grey thread on the lining. :)

I paid a lot of attention to the details on this dress. I hand-stitched where ever needed, and even hand-basted where needed. This was a novelty to me, as I usually avoid basting whenever possible. It's amazing how much more lovely the results are when you baste, as opposed to simply pinning the tar out of the seam.

Yes, that's hand stitching. I'm getting better at it, when I pay attention.

I think the hem length turned out perfect. The picture below, while a little shoddy, shows the length perfectly.

I love this dress. It's comfortable and cute, and I think it'll dress up and dress down nicely. I fully intend to wear this to my thesis defense on the basis that an awesome dress - and feeling good about how you look - totally boosts your confidence, and I'll need all the help I can get!

Now I just need to find the perfect shoes!


ETA 1: Alright, so after a tonne of input from people here and in my review at PR, I think I've worked out why the sleeve caps are popping up so much. First off, thank you everyone for reassuring me that they're not actually that bad. It's funny how you can nitpick over something you've made that you'd completely disregard/love in RTW.

I believe the poof is meant to be there. This sleeve was a headache because it involved gathering along the top of the sleeve cap, and easing on either side of the gathers to about halfway down the armscye. This leads to a concentrated poof at the top of the sleeve cap. When my arms are hanging straight down at my sides, the sleeves are heavy enough that the gathers are pulled down and don't poof as much (as you can see on my right shoulder in the 'pondering' picture above).

Since these sleeves are elbow length, as soon as I bend my elbow or lift my arm, the weight is let off of the sleeve cap, and the gathers poof upwards. Most of the pictures above show some degree of this, since I'm posing with my arms oh my hips or bent or something (leave me alone, I'm a scientist not a model).

The sleeve poof has grown on me, and I think that once it's washed a few times and I take an iron to those babies, the poof will relax a bit.

Thanks again to everyone for your input, suggestions, and lovely comments. They all made me smile in joy!

ETA 2: The Mariana Trench has been featured on the McCall's facebook page! Thank you so much Kathy!

Progress on the Mariana Trench Dress!

I'm nearly done the Mariana Trench Dress (McCall's 6279), but I'm too excited to share my progress to wait until the sleeves are finished before showing it off. It's turning out so good! Probably my best work to date!

But boy have I been arguing with the dress all day. From the interfacing to the topstitching, the hem to the button holes, and even the buttons, this dress has been fighting me the whole way. But even after having to pick 3 different buttonholes, I've doggedly (and patiently) kept going, and I'm loving the results.

All I have left to do is sleeves, and I hate easing in sleeves. Obviously, since I'd rather deal with hemming AND troublesome buttonholes. I'd make it sleeveless, but I really do prefer the version with the sleeves.

Wish me luck!

McCall's 6279 Trench Dress: Fabrics Shopping, a Muslin, and a Call for Suggestions

Guess who got her major report in, just in time for her birthday? I DID I DID! So in celebration of both events, I'M SEWING!

As I mentioned in the last post, Fabricland was having a sale on patterns, and I insisted on going to pick them up. However, I guess the stores in Western Canada has different sales than in Eastern Canada, so McCall's patterns weren't actually on sale yet, not until after March 21. But that was fine. I picked up some fabric anyways, for McCall's 6279 Trench Dress.

I really want this dress to be formal enough to wear to my thesis defense, fabric choice was essential. I wanted a solid navy blue fabric, and really had to fight my tendency to gravitate towards the funkier colourful prints. Found this lovely cotton poplin in a navy, and then proceeded to spend the next hour trying to pick buttons. There's so many choices! Do I go with something to blend in or stand out? But since I'm loving grey and navy right now (and the navy-coloured buttons were all ugly and hard to match), I chose these swirly grey ones. Some grey topstitiching thread, and I'm good to go.

I'm a little worried that the poplin would be too lightweight. It's pretty thin, and after my experience with my awful pants, I'm leery of stretch cotton poplin. But then Fuss suggested I line the dress, and after a bit of research (and this great tutorial), I decided that's exactly what I was going to do!

So today, I ventured back to Fabricland to pick up the patterns (McCall's 6279, McCall's 5525, and McCall's 6286) and some lining fabric. Guys, I searched that store top to bottom trying to find exactly what I wanted, and what I wanted was a large patterned slightly funky but not sweet floral print. And as I was about to give up and settle, I found this cotton voile (look at me go, knowing my fabrics!) in the discount area for $5/m.

It's PERFECT. Almost a shame to be using it as a liner.

Anywho, this evening I came home after a birthday dinner with my Uncle and Grandma (mmm..brownie and ice cream), and got right into it. Worried about the fit, I decided to make a muslin (also Fuss's idea). I cut a size 16 (boy my measurements sure have changed since last summer!) and whipped up the dress in this horrid white teeny floral fabric.

I think it's a pretty good fit. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures (or maybe fortunately) since you can see my gotch underneath the white. It's a little too snug around the hips, so I'm adding about a 1/4 inch below the waistline.

I've also noticed that most tops I've made in the past look weird around the shoulders, and I think it's because my shoulders are narrower than most patterns draft for. When wearing the muslin, I pinned back the shoulder to about where I'd like the seam to lie, and I think I need to take in about 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch.

Despite it being a muslin, I practiced topstitching all the seams, and I'm glad for the practice. I was all over the place at first, but got used to it after 6 seams!

I don't even think I need to do a FBA!

I can't tell you how excited I am to be sewing again. I was dishearted after the failed muslin for the Simplicity 2254 top and haven't been able to motivate myself to go back and fix it (never mind the lack of time). But boy has this put the spring back into my step!

But I need your help. What should I call this dress? Since it's for my thesis defense (in late April? Early May?), I'd like to call it something along those lines. But I'm not very creative with naming things, so I'd love to pick your brains! Mmm...brains...

Thesis Trench
Trench Defense
Mariana Trench (Haha Fuss, this one's for you!)
Other? (Suggestions in comments please!)

Today was an awesome day. Perogy pizza, beer, brownies, fabric shopping, and sewing. Best birthday ever!