The Sew Weekly

oona does it!: proud as a peacock, and paying for it.

i thought it would be fun to end this half year of posts with a nod to my first oona does it!

you might recall, that fowl challenge was my first try at colette patterns, the free sorbetto top, which i messed around with as per usual.  i thought i'd hack up another sarai sensation, this time, the pastille dress from her wonderful new book.

i scored three yards of peacock flamed 100% linen for a whopping $2.98.  there would be no feathers.

armed with the knowledge gained from six months of sewing a garment a week, i knew i would fly through this one.  oh hai: this dress took FOREVER.  on the fifth day of sewing, i informed the general public i would be finished with the *%^#)@! dress in thirty minutes. mother ruggy took me seriously, and set a timer.

three hours later, i emerged defeated.

my race against the clock was not aided by sewing the facing on backwards.  oh yes.  that there teal crumply bit is the FACING.  timer clicking, i stitched quickly and efficiently, grading my seams with my new pelican scissors and admiring my own speed, grabbing the iron and screaming into the beeping air when i realized my mistake.  at this point i couldn't take it out, since i'd already graded the seam.  so i threw an embroidery stitch on it and made it a design element.   the poor man's version of mena's awesome stitchery from last week.

oh hey, did i mention this dress was part of the chapter marked a perfect fit?

ah haha, i thought, i'm about to make a dress from the chapter that implores you to make a muslin.  i'm so past muslins!  my fitting skillz are the bomb diggity!  i'll just corrrect the tracing.  

only... i never adjusted the pattern tracing.  just patted myself on the back for the KNOWLEDGE of what needed to be done.  ?!  hence, le horizontal darts slicing across my mid back.  and how about that ghostbusters green zipper?  now that's class.

do you remember romeo?  the original inspiration from lady katza?  he was too disgusted with the outcome to pose with me.   instead, he decided to hold the first annual Peacock Hawk Brotherhood Convention.  it's right up there with Lions And Lambfest.

predator and prey having a powwow... electric green zippers on backwards faced hack jobs.... are the mayans right?  is the end near?  

now look.  don't get all silly on me and tell me this is a keeper.  IT IS NOT.  but i will use the rest of my linen to come up with a fix.   hopefully before 2012.

HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL!  may you drink enough to stop noticing your sewing mistakes!!!

An Emerald Encore Dress | Veronica Darling

   The Facts

Fabric: Silky Floaty remnant, $12 (from Rathdowne Fabrics) and lining from the stash
Pattern: Colette's Oolong
Year: c. 2009
Notions: nil
Time to complete: 6 hours
First worn: Boxing Day
Wear again? Maybe, if I'm daring

Total Cost: ~$12

 

I wanted to cut to the celebration part so badly this week! Singing 'Hurrah' at our achievements at the Sew Weekly, I decided to splash out on fabric at Rathdowne Fabrics (that's the main fabric shop on Australia's version of Project Runway) and stopped by my friend's bar for a quick glass of sparkling! Through the week I frequently paused for a sip of wine or a dash of beer or a good old pat-on-the-back in celebration. But I was far from finished and missed wearing this dress for Christmas Day altogether! AND, this is actually my second dress!

The first dress was from another silky but taffeta like fabric (a remnant around $8) that I made from a vintage slip pattern. It was white with dark green flowers (I've been on a bit of a green and blue kick thanks to the hair) and supposed to be form fitting (cut on the bias) but I decided to improvise and make it a One Shoulder number. But somehow, the silky taffeta dress turned grandmama looking and frumpy and wasn't cut well in my haste to celebrate. So luckily I'd also bought an extra remnant, but realised this emerald frou frou fabric potentially could be grandmama looking as well... 

I thought the way to avoid it looking grandmama, would be to make another Oolong (a smokin' pattern!) and always a success. BUT as I was worried I'd run out of fabric (it's also cut on the bias, with 6 skirt pieces) I cut it short. Perhaps a bit too short (my heart was beating when I had to cut some of the hemline to make it straight!)!

And sadly, I cut it a little too small. Whilst it does fit overall, with the lining and the extra Christmas food and celebratory wine it's now shaped a *little* tight. 

The sleeves are the best part, as the material is floaty and kinda see through, I made the sleeves with a 'facing' bit built in! As the Oolong sleeves are gathered, I attached a 'set in' or 'cap-like' sleeeve from another pattern to the Oolong one, as 'mirroring' each other... along the hem. I sewed the short ends together, and gathered the normal sleeve but attached it to it's 'sister sleeve' which then turning into facing. GOSH! You'd think after 52 weeks I'd be better at explaining sewing! I'll have to run a pictorial explanation on my blog soon!

With this Oolong, I've added a circle 'key' to cover up the gathers, as I'm not a fan of exposed threads at the bust area. Whilst it's not the huge finale of celebration I'd planned, it is a darling little cocktail dress, if I feel daring for NYE. (And it'll fit normally if I ever give up my festive diet!)

We're at my folks in country Victoria, and how wonderful, it's actually summertime! We've had humidity, sun, storms, rain, and even hail in some parts of the state! Happy Christmas Time from Mother Nature! My cutie companions are Dougal (my parents dog) and Bender (belonging to my brother) and were so curious to what Husbie and I were up to in the garden!

And now, it's my last post in 2011!

Thank you SO much Mena! You're a darling for letting us invade your blog each week! Congratulations on a wonderful 2011 and wishing you lots of laughs and blog fun next year!

Darling Adey, Sarah and Debi, you are all such sweethearts, it's been a pleasure to share this year of sewing with you! 

Always one up for a celebration though, is my Husband. My dear Vincent you've taken the BEST photos this year and you *will* be getting that man shirt the first week of January! I owe you an entire year of sewing, but first up, I'll try Colette's Negroni for you! Thank you sweetie!

And here's cheers to YOU! Thank you for supporting us all at the Sew Weekly, and for reading, writing comments and sewing along too! We can't do it without you! I hope you've been inspired to DIY in 2012! YAY!

xoxo

The "Celebration" Dress | Debi Fry

The Facts

Fabric: 2 metres of red velvet from a curtain £8 from a charity shop
Pattern: Butterick 8131 from the Sew Weekly Sewing Circle pattern swap
Year: 1950s
Notions: red zipper £1 and white ribbon for neckline and bow £0.50

Time to complete: 10 hours 

Wear again? yes!

Total Cost: ~£9.50

2 continents, 50 weeks, 55 sewn items, 33 different types of fabric and countless numbers of fabulous friends!  I feel like I've just won the Amazing Race! Woot! Woot! Wow!!! I can't belive I actually made it through a whole year of sewing weekly!!!  I'm absolutely delighted. 

It hasn't always been a smooth ride.  In fact, nearly the entire time I felt like I was just barely hanging in there!  I missed two weeks, had one UFO (well actually three but I finished the other two), moved house twice, lost someone in our family, almost got laid off, then had my job, then almost got laid off again (now I'm good), worked one, two and even three jobs at a time and met-up with 60 other sewists during the course of the year.....like Sarah has already mentioned, The Sew Weekly has been one of the few constants in my life. 

This week, in celebration, I thought it was the perfect time to use the pattern I received from the lovely Trish through the Sew Weekly Sewing Circle pattern swap organised by the wonderful Kat. 

You see, The Sew Weekly has been more for me than just contributing to the blog every week.  It's been a community of wonderful ladies that are so supportive and wonderful.  Seriously, you all have carried me through ups and downs and this celebratory post is for you.  Thank you so much--it's been so much fun to share our weekly projects, cheer each other on, meet in person (wasn't London and NYC a blast???), and share our love for sewing.  I look forward to actively participating in the Sewing Circle next year and cheering on the new contributors to the blog!!

I'm really excited that I got to work with the pattern that Trish sent me.  It's such a lovely pattern and was a dream to sew up.  It only took so long because I was working with velvet.   I took the advice of several commenters on my Scarlett O'Hara dress and ended up pressing the velvet on top of another piece of velvet and it worked like a charm. Thank you!

The dress has three panels in the front and three in the back.  The sleeves are cut in one with the dress so it's really quick to sew up.  I ended up using the same velvet curtain that I used for the ruffle collar and cuffs in the outfit from last week's challenge.  I absolutely adore this fabric.  It feels like a cotton velvet but it is fairly lightweight and a dream to sew with.  The lining of the curtain is actually fused to the velvet--so it acts as a underlining of sorts.  I changed my needle to a size 11 to work with this fabric and found that was perfect. 

This dress has lots of hand sewing... I hand picked the zipper and also hand basted the white bow trim before sewing it on.  The part that took the longest on this dress was the hem!  You see, my hem helper (David) was working and wasn't able to help me hem it.  So it required loads of fitting and adjusting of the hem, not to mention that pressing velvet is a slow process.  Since the fabric is a bit thicker and the dress is quite full, I ended up hand basting gathering stitches on the hem.  Then I drew those up and sewed seam binding over the edge before hand hemming the dress.  I think the hem alone took about 3 hours!

Overall, I love the fit of the dress and the way the velvet feels.  Perfect for the year end celebration!

Thank you everyone for your comments and for reading my posts each week.  Here's to an amazing year and to more sewing, more friends and more good times together in 2012!

The "Braving it Out" Dress | Adey Lim

The Facts

Fabric: Grape colored doubleknit from the 'unusable' stash
Pattern: Vogue 2787 reprint
Year: 1948
Notions: none
Time to complete: 4.5 hours
First worn: Christmas Day at Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel 
Wear again? Yes!

I knew I would be out of town this year end and needed a celebration dress that would go well with plans. Ideally, the dress would have to be crease-free, travel friendly and go well with whatever accessories I have for the trip as I tend to pack light. It would be even better if the garment can be dressed up or down. After getting my luggage packed, I quickly identified a pattern which even had a fabric that was bought specifically for it. However, there were some issues. 

Vogue 2787. A 1948 reprint. I adored the pattern but never had the guts to attempt it due to the 'Advanced' rating given to it. In fact, I almost didn't purchase this pattern due to its rating. But, thank goodness for pattern sales as I gladly picked this up with a bundle of others. Turn out, this was one of the easiest patterns I've used. It had two important 40s design elements- gathers and topstitching.  When I bought this pattern, I knew I wanted to sew the dress in knit so I bought a size 10 pattern rather than my usual size 12 and it worked fabulously. The fit was already good when I was done but I took in the sides a little more to make it more figure hugging. Using knit also meant I didn't have to work on the closures- side zipper and back buttons!

The second issue. The fabric. This doubleknit fabric was cast aside after its first wash many moons back. It nearly dyed my bathtub pink and left pink stains on my nails for days! It was only when I watched a TV programme (yes, I learn lots from the goggle box too:)) that I learnt that soaking the fabric in salt water could minimize the color run that I gave it a try and salt saved the day! 

I'm sure glad I made this gutsy attempt and gave this 'Advanced' pattern a try using a previously unusable fabric as I totally adored the assymetrical dress with a S-shaped curve, shoulder gathers and a curved gathered skirt which is slightly more poofy on one side. Dear hubby snapped this photo below while I was still dolling up in the bathroom and I love how the shoulder gathers looked. 

 The great thing about celebrating Christmas in Hong Kong? The weather! It's around 15 degrees celcius, felt absolutely fabulous and I was able to doll up the dress with some faux fur collar and leather gloves.

I had a totally unforgettable Christmas and the fireworks' still fresh in my mind.  With a totally unforgettable year of sewing weekly coming to a close, I have learnt so many things through sewing this year. I love the thrill of trying new things, using new fabrics, experimenting with color paint and even the chance of drafting a pattern from scratch. Sewing is such a wonderful ongoing adventure. I am so glad to have found this hobby I'm so passionate about and have definitely learnt to be more gutsy in the process.

Have you made your new year sewing resolution? Mine's to continue honing my sewing skills and to make the inside of garments look as good as the outside. Easier said than done :)

Have a blessed 2012 everyone!

The "Happy New Year!" Dress | Sarah Gabbart

Fabric: Green silk dupiani ($35 a yard - 3 yards)
Pattern: Hacked Truffle pattern from the Colette Sewing Handbook
Year: c. 2011
Notions: 14" invisible zipper
Time to complete: 3.5 hours
First worn: December 2011
Wear again? Absolutely!

Total Cost: $105

As 2011 comes to a close, I'm trying to wrap my head around all that has happened this year. Closing a business, wrestling with career direction, coping with a family emergency - through it all, the Sew Weekly has been a bight spot in a difficult year. Each week, the five of us came together to share something we loved and engage with other talented, kind people from across the world. I have LOVED this year of sewing and can't think Mena enough for letting us all be a part of something this great. Posting creations along side her, Debi, Adey and Veronica was an honor and each week pushed me to be a better seamstress. 

To give 2011 a good sendoff and welcome 2012, I decided to hack the Truffle pattern from the Colette Sewing Handbook and create a one shoulder dress with a bow detail (inspired by this Pattern Runway pattern). The construction was super easy - thanks to my first foray into the Truffle, which helped me get the fit perfect - and the transformation into making this a one shoulder top was as easy as lopping off one of the shoulder straps. Warning - make sure you lay out everything right sides together (front and back pieces) before you chop. You have to make sure everything will meet up the way it's supposed to (the lining and the back pieces).

After getting the cutting down, I simply pieced the front and smaller back pieces together, sewed the shoulders together and attached the front to the lining (right sides together), leaving one sides open. From there you pull everything right side out (using the shoulder as a channel). Finally, sew up the open side. At this point you might be like "Sarah - WHAT? This makes no sense!" I drew some pictures for you to clear things up (hopefully!)

Once the top is finished, I added it to the regular Truffle skirt, inserted the zipper as instructed, and constructed a simple bow. I used the one from the Pattern Runway pattern, but you can wing it and make any thing you think might look cool! After fooling with it for a few minutes, I came up with a design I liked and hand tacked it to the shoulder. Voila! Instant party!

I will be wearing this dress while ringing in the new year with those I love, kissing Ryan the Gabbart at midnight, and hoping for a year of sewing joy that matches this one - thank you all for being part of the Sew Weekly this year and for supporting us as we slaved away on this labor of love. Happy New Year! 

I am seriously contemplating what should be in my next drink - hmm?

Ask: 12/26/11

What has been your biggest sewing accomplishment of 2011?

Theme: Celebration!

As this year comes to a close, we're celebrating our year of sewing (being over!) and the start of 2012! This calls for fancy party dresses!

The "I Did It" Dress

The Facts

Fabric: Black lace and stretch velveteen, $35 from Jo-Ann's
Pattern: Butterick 5209, $1.99
Year: 1947
Notions: none
Time to complete: 7 hours
First worn: To be worn on New Year's Eve
Wear again? yes

Total Cost: ~$37

There are so many things about this week's dress that are representative of my past twelve months of sewing. First, it was the third attempt at a dress for the week's challenge. The first dress only got so far as a very well-constructed bodice. Based on a 1940s pattern, it we made from a floral taffeta which, paired with the pattern, looked too mother-of-the-bride for my tastes. I decided to take that same pattern and buy some black velveteen/black lace and make it look a bit more "youthful." Well, as youthfull a sixty-five year-old pattern can look. The velveteen, lace and flesh-colored spandex didn't want to cooperate with me so I gave up, completely defeated. That's when I decided to move onto a different pattern and try to make use of what fabric I had left. 

I'd love to say that after my initial struggles, Butterick 5209 was a breeze to complete. It may be an easy pattern when working with a bit crisper fabric. But, working with the stretchy velveteen just proved to be quite a pain. After a very messy bodice was near completion, I tossed it down and walked away. I wasn't happy with it at all and was terribly disappointed that I had wasted $35 on the fabric.

But walking away from a difficult project wouldn't be the spirit of The Sew Weekly! So I decided to try to make the mess work and just finish the thing. Since I planned to wear it on New Year's, I figured it will be dark enough (and people will be inebriated enough) for its flaws to be hidden. I finished it at 2am on the 24th and was able to go to bed pleased with persevering.

That said, after a night's sleep the flaws didn't even seem that bad anymore. 

So here's a dress that was almost headed for the trash -- a dress that I can say turned out quite nice. Yes, it's a bit of a train wreck on the inside (who isn't?), but on the outside, it's quite celebratory and fun.

And yes, there's quite a lot to celebrate: with this dress, my fifty-two weeks of The Sew Weekly 2011 are complete! I'll be writing up a wrap-up post later this week, but I just have to say it's feels pretty good to close the book on this year. 

oona does it!: out of arkansas

juliet, that crazy gypsy, is headed on vacay and had a parting query:

in a few months I'll be in South Africa on holiday and I'll be there for my birthday. I'll be dropping heavy hints for a party in a game reserve, you could be my perfect inspiration. Think you could come up with a totally awesome birthday dress, fit for a game reserve, with online sourced fabric (so little old me in NZ can copy)??

we're on holiday ourselves at the moment, which gave ruggy cause to wonder aloud, can't oona take christmas off?  feh.  as soon as i fed him the keywords: safari, game reserve, africa, his eyes grew wide and we were of one mind.  i had to go the meryl streep route.  a big sweeping skirt, leather boots, cinched belt and blazer.

but, juliet, it's your birthday in this scenario, yes?  that means meryl goes party frock. put that lassie in a strapless, please.  let's use cynthia rowley's simplicity 2250,  just add some length to it.  eighty six the gathers, pleat the skirt.  give her pockets for prizes (or, you know, leopard spray, if such a thing exists), and swath her in fancy mosquito netting (lovely crochet knit mesh lacey stuff, an approximation to be had here. who knew hancocks had cornered the market on this stuff).  for kicks, how 'bout a polyester khaki lining-- listen here, chap, is that the birthday girl's birthday SUIT, or have i had too much whiskey?

i made that sound pretty easy, yes?  you should have seen me ripping out the side seams when the pockets ended up at knee and calf.  or bribing mama ruggy into running out to grab a zipper for me on a lazy sunday.  and speaking of too much whiskey, juliet! careful on that ambrosia should you choose to go completely ditto. the bodice has twelve darts and two pleats, and though the instructions are stellar, those darts had to be marked on crochet knit. Not.  Easy.  (so not easy, i gave up marking when it came time for the skirt.  hence the drunken pockets.) 

so, crochet knit: i would strongly suggest underlining it and marking the underlining. i suggested it to myself right at minute 29 but did not listen.  HEY ME:  don't tell me what to do.

y'all, however, are very much allowed to tell me what to do.   if it weren't for your challenges, half the stuff in my closet would be UFOs... 

happy birthday in advance juliet!

The 'Deco the Halls' Tunic Dress | Debi Fry

The Facts

Fabric: 1.5 metres of loose weave wool and viscose blend tweed £8 from Croft Mill, 1 metre black flannel £2 from ebay UK, 1/2 metre black satin fabric from a charity shop £2 and 1/2 metre red velvet £4 from curtains I got in a charity shop.
Pattern: Vintage Pattern Lending Library's 1933 Tunic Dress pattern
Year: 1933
Notions: black zipper £.05 (also a charity shop find) and black bias binding for the underdress £0.50

Time to complete: 12 hours 

Wear again? yes!

Total Cost: ~£16.50

Look! I'm in a snow globe!!  When I met up with Kerry and Kristen a couple of weeks ago, we visited the Edinburgh Christmas market and spied this snowglobe.  It's been my mission ever since to take one of my outfit photos in the snowglobe.   So I'm really happy that I was able to stop by there tonight!

Many thanks to Mena for her patience this week as it's been a crazy couple of weeks around here (and I barely got this outfit done in time!!). Suffice to say that I am very much looking forward to a New Year.  Can you believe it's almost the end of 2011?

I've been wanting to sew up this pattern for exactly one year and I am so happy that I was able to do it this week.  It's a stunning reproduction pattern from the Vintage Pattern Lending Library and this is the first time that I've sewn up one of their patterns.  These repro patterns are beautifully packaged and there is such a range of stunning 1930's patterns available.

I chose view B with the ruffled collar and cuffs.  I used the same fabric for the tunic that I used to sew up my bombshell 'Kitten' dress and the underskirt was sewn from the same black flannel that I used to make the 'Promenade' suit.  I used another set of velvet curtains in my stash to make the collar and cuffs.

You can't really see from the illustration but this pattern includes a chemise underdress with a basic camisole top attached to the straight skirt.  It closes with a side zipper or placket.  Here is what the underdress looks like:

I styled it up with a belt from my stash and in the warmer summer months it could probably be worn as a dress by itself.  It's very comfortable and I like that I can keep this underdress and then make up lots of different tunics to go with it!

I absolutely LOVE the ruffles on the collar and cuffs of this pattern:

The collar was super easy to sew up and I found this velvet curtain much smoother and easier to sew with than the velvet curtain I used a few weeks ago to create my 'Scarlett O'Hara' dress.  Plus I have extra fabric left that I definitely want to make into a dress or part of a suit! The cuffs were much harder to sew into place due to the many layers of fabric and such a small wrist opening.  I could only sew part of it on the machine and ended up finishing the rest by hand.

The tunic fabric is a very loose weave tweed.  I cosulted Claire Shaeffer's fabric guide on how best to finish the seams and decided to try fusible interfacing on the seam allowances to provide a bit of stability.  It worked like a charm (though I wish I had used black interfacing rather than white--not because it shows through but just for aesthetic appeal).  I am now going to bind the edges over the interfacing to make it look a bit nicer.  That should take care of any fraying!

The tunic just wraps around and is held in place by a belt and several strategically placed snaps.  The pattern doesn't actually call for snaps but given that my tunic fabric is quite lightweight and my ruffles are a bit heavier--it was evident I needed a few extra closures!

Overall, the tunic dress is very comfortable and I just love how luxurious the velvet ruffles feel!

I wanted to wish you all a lovely holiday season!   Thank you so much for your support and all the lovely comments throughout the year.  They mean so much to me!

xoxoxoxoDebi