I Made Two [Mila] Dresses

I have had the Mila dress pattern from Style Arc for a while. I even have material stashed away I bought for it. After the relative success of the Adeline dresses, I felt like trying something new and pulled this pattern from the shelf.

I hadn't been to The Fabric Shop in Otara for months. My last fabric purchases have been at Drapers in Newmarket and The Fabric Store in Newton Road. I was pleasantly surprised when I visited the Fabric Shop on Saturday morning. They have 12 - 15 new season's rayons in stock. I restrained myself and bought only two lots, but am sure to go back for more! They are only $14m which makes a less than $40 dress. Can't complain about that. And that doesn't compare to the other two fabric shops.

I started with the pink as I love the navy and gold fabric more, so if I screwed it up I would not be too upset. However, it turned out ok. The skirt is a bit skew whiff (which I had to google to spell) though which you can see in the long shot. It's not so noticeable when it's on.

I tried it on when finished and decided to wear it to watch the horse race. She was not supposed to win - the race was only 1000m and she is better suited to longer distances and it was her first race of the summer season - but she did by a neck from a more favoured horse. So a finished dress and a horse win made for a good day.

Today, I made a second one. I lengthened the top of the sleeve by 1.25" for a little more coverage and I paid more attention to matching the notches between the bodice (weird word) and skirt. It is ironed and ready for a sunny day so I can wear it to school this week. It is a lovely fitting dress that feels nice to wear.

I have the Toni dress pattern on the shelf. I might try that next in black and white rayon.

I made an 'Adeline Dress'

I have been looking forward to Labour Weekend since the holidays! My holidays were spent working on a university assignment and then attending and presenting at a conference. When I was slogging through the same university assignment last weekend, the only upside was knowing that when it was finished I would have Labour Weekend free for sewing.

I ordered the Adeline Dress pattern from Style Arc before the hols. And I ordered a linen twill from the Fabric Store online.

You will have to trust me that it looks better on that hanging on a coat hanger on a tree!

It is a really good fit and a nice shape. I do think I would like it about 10 cm longer in the front though to get full knee coverage.

Since the hem facing was visible, I had the brainwave last night to make it a feature. Who can go past orange and brown - particularly if you were born in the 70s like I was (-: I had some Carolyn Friedlander leftover from my still partially quilted Botanics quilt so used that for the hem and back neck facings. I didn't have quite enough, so used a different fabric for the front neck facing.

The back hem facing doesn't sit super well. I unpicked the machine stitching and hand-sewed it. It still doesn't sit flat. I wonder if I cut it on the bias, it would sit better?

When I was searching for some interfacing, I found in the stash a navy and white linen mix, so will have another go ... maybe next Sunday as I have university on Saturday. Yeah, further study seemed like a good idea at the time.

I Made a [Pleated] Skirt

I made this last Sunday. I have had the textured green fabric for a couple of months. Predictably it comes from The Fabric Shop in Otara. (It also comes in bright yellow and a beige. I am kind of tempted by the yellow, but I know it would be a bit much!)

Again, fairly predictably I used a stylearc pattern. This time is is the Candice skirt. It was very easy to make and fits well.

I taught myself, via a youtube video, how to use my rolled hem foot. I can tell you that the hemming took longer than the skirt making and in some places, I had to go back and add a few hand stitches. I plan on wearing this to school with my navy cardi. I love blue and green.

I Made A Skirt

I am quickly becoming a fan of Style Arc patterns. I buy printed patterns from their website (because I hate joining seven million pieces of print your own A4 together) and they arrive in about five days from Australia. Style Arc is pretty generous because you always get a free pattern with your order. I received the Allison Skirt pattern as a freebie at some stage and I filed it away as it is for stretch fabric and "I can't sew stretch fabric." But after my success with the sweatshirts, I thought the time was right to give it a go.

I had been to The Fabric Shop in Otara for sweatshirt material and they had a whole table of Ponte de Roma which google tells me is a Polyester and Rayon mix. It is a nice weight. I was going to be lazy and whip up a simple A-line but found the Allison Skirt pattern on the shelf.

It has two inverted pleats inn the front and the back. I had not ever made pleats their way before - I guess it takes the excess fabric from around the stomach area. I followed the pictures/diagrams and it worked out. I used masking tape to make the top stitching lines.

I will probably make another one. My fave black and white 'school' skirt I made a couple of winters ago has faded and The Fabric Shop has some cool black and white ponte prints.

I Made a Sweatshirt

Way back at Easter, I found a really nice sweatshirt with a chiffon-like front panel that didn't come in my size so I visited Pattern Postie to find a pattern. McCall's 6992 looked about right. This morning I visited The Fabric Shop in Otara for some fabric for my first go.

I bought a merino/poly mix for a big $8 per metre and some chiffon-like flowers for the front panel. I didn't want to spend a lot of money in case it all turned to custard.

Attaching the cuff. Easy.

The neck band was a little bit more challenging because it required a bit more stretching of the band and I was worried about the 'gathers' in the flowery fabric.

At this point I tried it on and discovered the sleeves were waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long!

Everything else about the fit is ok. Just those sleeves.

I have never made a sweatshirt before and have only ever used stretch fabric in very basic slightly A-line skirts that just pull up! I consulted the internet for some advice on how sewing stretch fabric on a sewing machine. I bought ball point needles and used the triple straight stitch for the seams. I also zigzagged the seams to 'finish' them. I could tidy it up even further by using a twin needle - I need to learn more about how to do that first. I am quite pleased with this first effort. It will be worn.

Since I was feeling a bit confident about my new found ability to sew stretch fabrics, I decided to cut out half of Style Arc's Allison Skirt from some navy blue ponti I got this morning ($12 per metre). The pattern had been a freebie in a previous Style Arc order. Just half the skirt because when I bought the fabric I was going to do my usual budget A-line skirt. So tomorrow morning I will be heading back to Otara for another .7 of ponti to finish my skirt. They have a great selection at the moment - all between $12 - $18 per metre.

I did finish a quilt last night too. Story to come.

Making a Top

This long weekend I whipped up a Courtney Top by Style Arc, an Australian pattern company.

The upside from buying just across the Tasman is the exchange rate and reasonable postage. The downside from buying not local is having to wait a week for the pattern to arrive. In anticipation of its arrival, I visited The Fabric Store and purchased some black and 'beige' gingham style silk. It was on sale. It comes in a bigger check, but I thought I might look like a tablecloth wearing that big of a check. I sometimes wonder about that when I wear my navy checked top already!

Silk was maybe a little bit ambitious for a mere medium skilled sewer. It  frays like mad and I found it challenging to do the tiny bottom hem.

However, in saying that it was a pretty straightforward sew. I handsewed down the inside of the neck binding because I dislike fiddly machine sewing.
 

My favourite part, after the bias neck binding, is the little bit of gathering under the back yoke.

When I make my next one, I am going to lengthen it. I like the length of the back, but the front is maybe 5 cm shorter which I feel is too short for me.

I have spent too much of today doing school work, so I am now returning to sewing the flowers onto my Garden Party WIP.