Second helpings

Posted in Coats/Jackets/Cardis, Completed Sewing Projects, Dresses, Seperates (tops/skirts/pants) by Andie Wells

With a little over five weeks until the wedding, things are getting pretty busy! I still have a ton of time to sew oddly enough. But not time to take pictures and blog. I just finished my wedding dress this weekend and will blog about it soon with the final reveal waiting for July after the wedding. I have just the sash left to make. I am also making a sash for my sister’s dress, which she bought, and a dress for my little flower girl, my niece. My niece’s dress will be red like the sashes and the vests for all the tuxedo wearing people. We’ll be quite the gorgeous wedding party!

On to the non-wedding stuff!

This month I made several seconds, thirds, and fourths of things. There’s nothing better than making up a pattern that you’ve made several times before and know what to do. None of them are perfect in spite of the fact that I have made them all before. You would think I would have all the fitting issues worked out, but nope! Sometimes that is down to fabric differences, like in these cases, but often it’s just down to not getting the technique completely down, like in the case of my floral bomber jacket.

M7100 Floral Denim Bomber Jacket

I made this jacket at the beginning of May. There are a couple of issues with it. The fabric is heavier weight from my first version so it ends up being a little tighter than the previous version. I think I will be doing an FBA for future versions to have it fit a little better through the chest.

I also messed up the waistband….er….again. The instructions for this are pretty vague, though. It’s basically: “and then attach the waistband.” Not much direction for that meant that I fudged it up again. It’s not super noticeable to the non-sewist eye so I am not going to fuss over it.

I am pleased with the welt pockets, though!

I really love the jacket, though, and have been alternating between the two jackets all Spring. It was incredibly sunny and very humid during all these pictures. So enjoy the progression of me melting. LOL.

Two Jennifer Lauren Vintage Bronte tops:

These tops have been cut out for a while, but I had fitting issues on my white one in the same cotton interlock fabric so I had been putting off making these two tops. After my post about what I need to fill wardrobe gaps, though, I immediately got to work on these two. I took some length out of the neckline in the front. The result is a much higher neckline, but a lot flatter and it sits better on my shoulders. The neckline also isn’t as curved as it is in the pattern. I am okay with that. I actually really like this style and have been enjoying wearing them. The resulting tweaks, however, make for a short top. I’ve made the changes in the pattern and will be lengthening future versions based on the changes. I think I may unpick the white version and cut the neckline in a similar fashion, as well, because this worked out quite well.

I also lucked out by having buttons in my stash that matched perfectly with the fabric!

Don’t you love when that happens?

Long sleeve shirts plus leggings on a hot and humid day made me rather melty….

Purple M6696:

This dress has also been cut out for a while (since writing my Spring sewing plans). Other than switching out the pockets for the straight skirt version pockets, I made no adjustments from my nautical version to this version, but perhaps should have remembered to cut the waistband a little longer (by about an inch) and to pivot and shorten the bust darts. Oops. There are always a million future versions for these adjustments! Not much else to say about the dress. I love wearing it. I also tried a little different thing for the buttons and am not pleased with what I did! Oh well. I thought I was getting the horizontal buttonhole in the middle of the band, but sadly it’s a little too far over and too close to the edge of the band. If I had started at the bottom of the dress, I think I would have done the others differently, but I started at the top. I tried unpicking, but it looked horrible so I just went with it. It looks fine, but the buttonholes are dangerously close to the edge of the band. I don’t have any more fabric or I would just have cut a new button band and redone the whole thing. Oh well! There’s always a million future versions! The fabric for this is quilting cotton that I stole from my mother’s stash a few years ago. Check out my other three versions (including the skirt version).

I need sunglasses. And a tan…. I’m brighter than the sun!

28Jan2015

Pink Denim Snapdragon skirt

Posted in Completed Sewing Projects, Monthly Stitch Challenge, Seperates (tops/skirts/pants) by Andie Wells

The challenge this month at the Monthly Stitch was denim never dies and the additional challenge was pink, because of their new pink logo (which I love since I loooove pink). Being the overachiever I am, I had to hit both challenges with pink denim. I took the opportunity at the beginning of January when a pink denim went on sale at Joann fabrics and I snapped it up along with a few other fabrics before I put myself on a buying freeze.

I’ve been on the search for a perfect pencil skirt pattern for my inner sexy librarian for a while and came across the Snapdragon skirt from Tenterhook Patterns. I fell in love with all the views and the bonus of the plus sizing. I love where the skirt is meant to hit: at the high waist or natural waist (your smallest point). For my shape, that really is the best place for the waistline. The Snapdragon skirt has three variations: straight pencil skirt, asymmetrical faux wrap and faux wrap style, which I have made.

I cut out the largest size (size G) to give my hips enough space. I knew I could take it in at the waistband and deepen the darts to adjust for my size, but I wanted to make sure the hips were well taken care of. I ended up taking in an inch on each side throughout and deepening the darts throughout. I likely could have made up a size E or F instead, but I didn’t want to chance it, because I didn’t make a muslin. I kind of ran out of time and wanted to get my pink denim challenge done. It ends up fitting really nicely and allows for details like the extended waistband and the button.

I wanted to add front slash pockets to this skirt but opted not to since I wasn’t sure how the fabric would respond or if there was enough room in the skirt to do that.

I used my own method for things like the waistband and the zipper (I haaaaate invisible zippers or break-apart-crappy zippers, as I call them). I made a lapped zipper and made the waistband overlap with button closure. I just love that detail. I considered adding belt loops, but really wanted those buttons on there.

I feel very prepared for Valentine’s day in this skirt. I’ll likely wear it then.

The raw edges are all finished on my serger, Rochester. Pretty insides!

You might also notice that the top is a Bronte top! It was the second garment I made on Rochester. The top is made from a soft interlock knit from Joann’s (part of the last biiig purchase).

This top is basically my best make ever. It’s so professional looking and well done that I stared at it for about two hours while I was supposed to be watching something that I will have to see again sometime, because I have no idea what happened or what it was called….

Loooooook. So. Pretty.

I have two other Brontes in different colours (black and blue) of the interlock knit cut out and ready to go. I really want more of them. It’s honestly the best top I own.

I finally have a sexy librarian skirt!

Shhhh…. I’m reading….

TL:DR Review

Pattern: Tenterhook Patterns Snapdragon Skirt
Pros: Tons! The pattern is nicely done. I love the instructions, even if I didn’t follow them, because I used my own methods. They are very detailed and great. Some things I followed and am definitely using for the future, such as pressing the darts over a tailor’s ham to give them more of a curve for my hip-tastic self. The different options for the skirt are also a bonus. I love having several variations to make the skirt again with an entirely new look. I also love where the skirt is meant to hit (high waist), because that’s where my smallest point is.
Cons: No pockets. I just really love pockets. I think I will add front slash pockets in the future. That’s not really a con….actually….that’s my personal preference….
Make again?: Absolutely! (I say that a lot, but I really want tons of these skirts)
Rating: 5/5 stars

2Jan2015

Wonder Woman!!!

Posted in Completed Sewing Projects, Geek crafts, Monthly Stitch Challenge, Seperates (tops/skirts/pants) by Andie Wells

I had the theme song in my head the entire time I made my outfit. In actuality, I never watched the show. I was born in 1980 and didn’t even get to see it in reruns. I saw the original Batman series with Adam West in reruns, though, and grew up on other DC Comics. It wasn’t until recently that I started getting heavily into Wonder Woman through image sets on tumblr. I follow a lot of comic book feeds along with my various other interests/fandoms.

My first DC Comics love will always be Harley Quinn, but I already made cosplay for her back in 2011:

I’ve only started reading Wonder Woman comics and only what I’ve been able to get my hands on so far. I won’t pretend to be the biggest Wonder Woman expert, but I really adore her.

Few super heros would blind themselves to kill Medusa (warning: image is graphic):

She’s cool. She’s tough. When Monthly Stitch announced their December challenge as g33k out, I knew this was my girl. I’ve been wanting to make casual cosplay for various fandoms for a while. Outfits that I could wear to cons and not feel all dressed up. I love costumes, but there is something to be said about not wearing a huge costume to conventions and just chilling with other fans.

Enter my casual cosplay of Wonder Woman.

Merciful Minerva! I know, technically, I am posting this in January, but I do have evidence on Instagram that I finished the shirt and skirt in December. 😛 I feel like Wonder Woman wouldn’t be super upset about the slight delay in the post.

The top is a Jennifer Lauren Vintage Bronte top. I graded up to a size 24 (the top only goes to size 20) and it fits perfectly. I may have been okay to leave it at a size 20, but I didn’t want to chance it. You can always alter things to be smaller, but making them bigger is a little tougher. The top is made from red jersey ordered from Joann fabrics. The star buttons on the top are from Kraftysian on etsy.

Suffering Sappho, the Bronte top was incredibly easy to make. I think I sewed it up in slightly over an hour and I find the style to be very flattering and the details in the neckline make me giddy. I already have three more of these tops planned out (white, black, and blue). I’ve been needing new tops for a while, especially since I’ve been going nuts for skirts lately.

The skirt is very similar to the Cressida skirt from Jennifer Lauren Vintage. Unfortunately, I didn’t use that one. I feel kind of bad for choosing one that is very similar but not it, especially when paired with the Bronte top. Does anyone else get weirdly guilty for strange reasons?

I used the skirt from McCall’s 6696, the popular shirt dress pattern this season. It’s the skirt from view A, but the pockets from view D. I am definitely making this skirt again, because I am in love with it. I will probably make a tutorial on this hack in the future. I want a million of these skirts. The skirt is made from blue bottomweight canvas from Joann’s and the star details on the pockets are iron on applique from Joann’s as well. All purchased during the Cyber Monday sales. I really went nuts this year with them.

The only slight crisis I had in making the skirt was cutting the button bands too short. Unfortunately, the button bands aren’t quite on the grain because the portion of fabric I had left to recut them was off the grain. It doesn’t really change the skirt, because the bands are interfaced and are given extra support that was, but I will be interested to see if there is any issue with the shape after a few wears.

There are french seams throughout the skirt and I kicked butt on the pleats. They are so pretty, I can’t even.

I made a few accessories for this outfit:

I bought a necklace from ebay. I used a printout of the Wonder Woman logo to embroider the headband onto felt and made the rope belt out of braiding jersey. I wasn’t happy with the quality of the jersey. Originally, I was going to make a belt that was a little more interesting, but this belt does work out as a lasso of truth as well.