Shift dress kurti??

I made Simplicity 3833  for my first ever sew- along hosted by Rosie Wednesday.

For the muslin (also my first ever!), I cut a straight 12 with the 1inch petite alteration.

 

 

After trying on the muslin, I decided that the bust dart needed to be moved 1/2inch towards the armhole and about 1/2inch higher.

I also reduced the height by a good 4inches from the bottom of the skirt and added a 2" lace hem band to match the sleeves.
The main fabric is a cotton from India, I bought the lace here in the US. The end product reminds me of a kurti!

Here are the other dresses from the Sew-along!

 

Turtleneck to cardigan pictorial!

Question: What do you do when you have a case of turtleneck choke-itis coupled with a case of can't-throw-that-away-itis?

Answer: Turn it into a cardigan!

Good for when you want to pretend its spring even as the snow outside is blinding!

 

basic black ribbed turtleneck circa 1998

 

draw a line (if you want) down the middle and .. cut!

 

make a double hem to keep things neat

 

wear it!

 

 

Wrapped in chains!

I don't usually buy fabric with a specific pattern in mind, but the minute I saw this chain print I knew I wanted to make a DVF style wrap dress. I had vogue 8379 in my stash (well, who doesn't?).. It has been reviewed more than a hundred times over at patternreview.com! It is somewhat of a rite of passage for most sewists trying to make their own clothes.

Construction:
I cut a size 12 for the bodice, without making any changes, but decided not to do the collar. For the sleeves I went with a 10 at the sleeve cap and then graded to a 12.
I reduced the  height of the skirt by 2 inches so it would hit me just above-the-knee. The skirt seemed  too full, I wanted more of a straight skirt. I read about the proper way to slash the skirt but it was a little confusing and I didn't have enough time to spend on it. While reading on the internet I came upon this blog review  and decided to do it her way.

On the front skirt pattern piece, keeping the waist the same, I folded a triangle at the side of the skirt where the bottom of the skirt will be reduced by 5 inches. This would make it a 10 inch reduction on the front. I did the same thing to the back skirt pattern piece.. for a total of 20 inches reduction in the fullness of the skirt.

   
I had trouble with the cuffs. I thought the dress was finished only to try it on and realize the slits in the cuffs were facing the same direction!.A few dates with the seam ripper :-)

This is a flattering dress on most people. Next time I might go to a size lower but lengthen the bodice, this might control wardrobe malfunction.

Perler bead flower headband!

This was my daughter's idea! She has a million plain headbands because last year "the headband making kit" was the most popular birthday gift for 5year olds :-)

She loves making these flowers using Perler beads..

 

 

She asked me to glue it on first.. but I thought it would be better if I sewed it on like a button .. it turned out beautiful and she loves it (which is what matters)

 

 

 

Vogue 8904

I made a few dresses back in September last year but didn't get around to writing a post until now. Vogue 8900 was one of them.



vogue 8904

Vogue 8904 ..this pattern has me at hello!.. all those stripes :-) . Originally I wanted it with the different striped fabrics like the picture but couldn't find a combination that came together so harmoniously. I settled for a monochromatic look and went for a slightly off-white with gold stripes for a night time outfit.

I made the inner dress in a plain white because the gold stripes felt a little rough.

Construction: I cut a straight size 12. I made view A without the sleeves. The length was a little long for me so I shortened it by 2 inches, which gave me a new waistline. This moved the placement lines for the lower middle tier and the lower tier up by two inches, but not the upper middle tier.

 The lower middle tier placement line starts at the waist (blue arrows), so I drew a new placement line for the middle tier (5) one inch below (green arrows) the placement line indicated on the pattern (pink arrows). This would make the height of the middle tiers different from the pattern picture but I was ok with that.







The layer pieces are supposed to be left unfinished on the bottom according to the instructions. After I sewed on the layers at the placement lines I felt they needed to be finished with something; all the layers were merging...the dress was too blah.. So I went out and bought some gold dancewear fabric from Joann and used one inch strips to create a bound edge just to define the layers and showcase the different angles of the stripes.

I love how it turned out !



Vogue 8900

Carven Spring 2013

vogue 8900

This pattern looks a lot like the Carven spring 2013 dress. I have a thing for racer fronts and a high neckline anyway! I would've loved to make it in a toile du juoy as well, but this was supposed to be for nighttime..so the perfect fabric presented itself to me in the form of this abstract brown and bronze batik which was shiny (and I was hoping, not tacky) from some angles.

 Construction: I cut a straight 10 after measuring the pattern; the envelope indicated that I cut a 12. I shortened the dress at the waistline by an inch. After cutting it out, I felt the fabric was not substantial enough and could do with a lining, but with all the cutouts, I felt intimidated and decided to take the easier way out and underline it with the same fabric. I cut out a whole other set of pattern pieces.. It soon became confusing, but I took my time and basted each dress pattern piece to its underlining first and then did the seams. 

 I also did not like the center front seam so I just cut it on the fold. I finished the neckline and the armholes with  bias tape. I used some bemberg rayon to finish the cut outs, as per the instructions. I did buy some black lace to fill in the cut outs but decided against it after a) my husband said this was good  and b) the instructions for pinning the lace and then finishing it with the lining were frustrating.

a dart to bisect my body :-)

I usually shorten most dresses by 3 inches or more, but this one was the right length for me after the one inch reduction.

The cut outs were in the correct position for me, but there was excess bunching in the middle, between the waist cut outs. I ended up using a dart to fix it.  I don't know what pattern changes would've helped that problem.

These pictures were taken during the day but I wore it for a night event and the dart wasn't obvious. Overall, a winning pattern! (And I received many compliments.)

Shift dress Sew Along!

For the past year or so, I have been sewing clothes for myself and my daughter. There is no issue of fit as such for my daughter. My usual approach is, if it's too big, she can wait to wear it and if its too small, well then, her cousin gets lucky. As for myself, I have been lucky with knit garments and the fit has been ok. For wovens, the fit can definitely be improved, for example this dress could use some alteration in the shoulders and in the bust area. (I still love this dress and wear it every chance I get:-))

I have wanted to participate in a sew along for a while, even before I started this blog. I always found out after the event had ended or the project itself was intimidating. I came upon this while catching up on my favorite blogger Ms. Carolyn of  Diary of a sewing fanatic, and just in time, too. I went out and bought the pattern and grabbed myself a badge for my blog!

The pattern itself is quite retro but its a simpler silhouette and quite wearable. I have a few fabrics in my stash that I could use for this.

A few people have asked whether I went to class to learn how to sew.. mostly my teachers have been all the wonderful bloggers out there and you tube. This sew along should be a learning experience for me.. can't wait!