Monthly Archives: March 2015

Sweet Carolina… a Mood Fabrics silk metallic brocade three-piece

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I know… it’s been awhile! 

I’m having a weekend ‘up north’ with Busy Lizzie… potentially shopping for shoes, buying fabric (who me??) or eating ‘high tea’.

After a bout of sensible sewing & lots of knit fabrics, followed by a bit of blog & sewing silence, I’m back with some very extravagant fabric, courtesy of Mood Fabrics, New York.

 

These pictures were very difficult to take. We have had a lot of rain… and when it clears it is soooooo hot & muggy. It was 30 degrees celcius and very humid…. and it was 4.30pm! Despite being lined, every item of clothing kept clinging to my skin. Fortunately this was not made with outdoor leisure in mind! I prefer to take all my shots outside as 1) natural light is kind, 2) the family happy snap camera doesn’t like playing nice inside, 3) my hometown is pretty & 4) I’m not big on putting my house on the blog – a bit precious I know but that’s me.

I confess I’ve had this fabric for months and the indecisiveness nearly destroyed me. It was so different to anything I had sewn previously and I was a little stumped… and terrified. 2.5m of Carolina Herrera silk metallic brocade from Mood Fabrics NY!  

 

The flowers are enormous… and the fabric shifts quite dramatically between light & dark.

So I spent lots of time draping a fabric over my dressform, wrapping about myself, sewing some small swatches and ironing them helps me better understand what type of garment the fabric might suit best. Then I bombard my sewing friends (thank you in particular to Lizzie, Jen and Susan for their advice) and the instagram peeps!

When I google Carina Herrerra there was an abundance of cocktail dresses, with fitted bodices and full skirts. I think this would be grand… but overwhelm my frame. This fabric would make a stunning sheath dress – which I own rather a lot of as it’s my typical work dress style – they often pop up in my Instagram feed.

I nearly made a Pauline Alice Quart Coat.  It would have been perfect… the fabric does crease beautifully into pleats… however I faltered at the last step and suddenly changed my mind. 

 

Due to the body of the fabric and the structural way it fell, I was haunted by the urge to make a cropped flared jacket that emphasised the body of the fabric. I finally settled on Vogue 8145. 

  

This was one of my very early pattern purchases, I’ve long adored the flared back of the jacket.This pattern is an unlined jacket. As the fabric is somewhat coarse in texture I used a lining from the stash. I underlined the body of the jacket and lined the sleeves. I used a bias tape to turn up the hem to minimise bulk.  

 

The sleeves are two piece raglan sleeves with a seam running down the top of the arm which provides some shaping.

I omitted the buttons as it felt ‘busy enough’. I also eliminated the centre back seam in the jacket body piece.

Once the jacket was complete… another bout of indecisiveness followed… should I make a long pencil skirt or a mini skirt? 

So I took the very practical approach of wrapping myself in fabric and the was very apparent that a long fitted skirt would be a nice counter balance to the very dramatic flared jacket. 

 

It was very tempting to indulge in a new pattern and I nearly gave in and purchased the Sew Over It Ultimate Pencil Skirt. In a rare bout of self restraint I decided to defer to my pattern stash. I really loved the fit of the By Hand London Pencil Skirt – which I had made and blogged way back in 2012.

I lined the skirt with more stash lining and added a walking vent (yes, a lined walking vent no less!) following A Fashionable Stitch tutorials. You can learn how to draft the walking vent here and how to line a skirt with a vent here. Thanks Sunni!

While this skirt pattern calls for fabric with some stretch, the long walking vent makes it easy to walk in – I do have a huge stride (fast walker!) so I’m slightly limited – probably walking in a more ladylike fashion. I actually adore the firmness of the fabric. It feels amazing to wear and I find the high waist is very comfortable. 

The top is a Burda 2964. I had this in my stash as well! I picked this up at a Spotlight sale as, despite the rather gawky pattern envelope art, I loved the square neck and princess seamlines. The top is cropped and I think the shapely yet slightly boxy fit suits the fabric and works beautifully with the high-waisted skirt. The top is a slight miracle of pattern cutting Tetris – I wiggled and jiggled the pieces onto the scraps of my brocade.

The pattern is unlined, features a side zip and slits in the seamlines. It also comes with long or short sleeves and in a longer length.
 

THE FABRIC  

This fabric freaked me out for a while as it was so unfamiliar. However… I’ve fallen in love with silk brocade and would now love a sheath dress! The fabric is just fabulous to wear.

The oversized print is spectacular of this particular Caroline Herrarra fabric is a unique blend of opulent and grunge. It does amazing things in different lights and settings. It’s just gorgeous. I’m never 100% comfortable in ‘pretty’ things however this rather masculine yet feminine blend of colour, print and texture is very appealing to me. 

I’d read much about the frantic fraying nature of brocade but didn’t find this fabric at all troublesome. In fact it was one of the easiest fabrics I’ve ever worked with. That’s not to say it doesn’t fray but it wasn’t shedding like a beast. 

I would advise lining this fabric.

Slip stitching the fabric is a joy as the stitches just seem to disappear. 

The colours of the fabric change quite dramatically – in the first image the fabric looks quite dark & moody. The light is behind me. The other pictures the sunlight is shining onto me, bringing out the yellow gold tones.

I doubt that I would wear all three items together… then again you never know! I do love to dress OTT sometimes, it’s fun! I’ve purchased several suits in my career and usually only wear the pieces together at the most formal corporate occasions. I prefer to mix and match. I love wearing jackets with skinny jeans and heels to more casual events such as dinner and drinks with friends. I also think I will wear the skirt with heels and a loose fitting shirt tied at my waist. 

Fabric: Caroline Herrara Silk Metallic Brocade, supplied by Mood Fabrics as part of my participation in the Mood Sewing Network. All opinions are my own. 

Pattern, Jacket: Vogue 8146 from the stash 

Pattern, Skirt: Charlotte Skirt from By Hand London (this pattern was sent to me in 2012 by the girls. Previously blogged and loved here.  All opinions my own). I’ve modified this pattern by adding a walking vent to the back and adding lining. 

Pattern, Top: Burda 2964 from the stash 

The Quart Coat will happen sooner or later… it’s just a matter of time & fabric…

I love sewing with Mood Fabrics, I’ve tried so many new things – anything you’d like me to try next – fabric or garment?

Sew Tired Confessions…

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I’ve been not feeling 100% and haven’t sewn anything too strenuous for a little while. I think disaster would  be the end result. Experience tells me so.

‘So tired sewing’ can result in some truly funny moments.

Earlier this year I was wondering what was wrong with my ‘walking foot’. I then realised it was the ‘buttonhole foot’ and decided I needed to ‘step away from the machine’!



Are you ready to confess your ‘so tired sewing’ moments? Let’s have a giggle…

Pauline Alice: the Eliana Dress

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aka The Wistful Dress. Life is has been busy and TBH ‘worse than yuck’ I need something/anything to go right… my girls love this dress so I’m taking it as a ‘win’.

This was one of those projects that I wanted to be perfect but just isn’t quite. Nothing major, I’d like the straps to be topstitched (see below), I should have made the elastic slightly tighter and the armholes are a little low.

Nevertheless I’m not lying on the sewing room floor in a state of abject misery… in fact I’m planning on wearing it tomorrow!

Back view. Pauline Alice Eliana Dress

Back view.

This is the Pauline Alice Eliana Dress. I’d never purchased a Pauline Alice printed pattern before and I must say I am impressed! I purchased the Carme blouse PDF ages ago but it hasn’t made its way into ‘The Queue’ for stitching just let.

The packaging is glossy cardboard, the instructions are in a neat little black-and-white A5 booklet (in English, French and Spanish) and the pattern is printed on large sheets of bond paper. The packaging is generously sized and it all goes neatly back together with plenty of room for your traced pattern – if you are the tracing type. The paper patterns are not cheap but the production quality is excellent.

I purchased my pattern from Caitlan of Indie Stitches. Her service and packaging was outstanding, I found via Pauline Alice’s site which lists Indie Stitches as the only Australian distributor of the paper patterns. I don’t mind PDFs but I avoid them if there is no A0 option unless I’m so keen I can’t wait for a paper pattern to be delivered – The Perfect Nose blogged about this today – and I agree with many of her points.

I contacted Caitlan via email as it didn’t appear to be in stock. She replied that it was ‘on it’s way’ and would let me know when it arrived. I was equally delighted by the detail of her business packaging when the pattern arrived (ok, it was ‘patterns’ as I’m besotted with the Pauline Alice Quart Coat & decided to purchase it as well). I do love thoughtful packaging… and the Indie Stitches envelope was stitched shut, the protective packaging sealed with fabric tape and the business card is gorgeous. That sort of thing makes me go ‘squee’ at the mailbox. LOL.

Pauline Alice Eliana Dress

Front view: Pauline Alice Eliana Dress. I have a nice new scar on my leg that I’m hoping will fade. A child’s toy box leapt out and bit me a few weeks ago… or I could have been tired and bumped into it. Whatever… it was ouch and quite a bit of blood!

PATTERN ALTERATIONS

I added half an inch to the bodice as I am long waisted plus I wanted a ‘blousy’ top.  The length wasn’t an issue for me as it is drafted for a height of 165cm and I’m 164cm tall.

I graded out to 36 at the waist and skirt as I wanted generous gathering & a swinging skirt.

I decided not to put in the pockets as I was concerned they might look obvious with the knit jersey.

WAIST ELASTIC

As confessed in my Japanese skirts post, I’m not a huge fan of elastic waists but I think I’m coming around… in some cases.

I decided to omit the buttonholes and forgo a waist tie. Sometimes it feels a bit like gym shorts to me. I added a line of stitching in the middle of the elastic casing channel and used two thin strips of elastic instead of one wide one. I just prefer the look of two gathered rows than one thick one.

A very simple way to soften a thick elastic waistband- just sew two channels and use thinner elastic. Eliana Dress by Pauline Alice

A very simple way to soften a thick elastic waistband- just sew two channels and use thinner elastic

I’m going to add some belt carriers at the waistline (I’ve already made them) as I hate how a belt sometimes slides above or below the elastic.

I do like the waistline casing on this pattern. You sew the bodice and skirt together, neaten the edges together and then fold the skirt up towards the bodice, sewing a 3cm seam to create a channel. This makes the waistline hug the dress against your body which I think is a nice finish.

NECKLINE

Sewing those jersey strips in jersey was NOT FUN – yes Busy Lizzie warned us about that in her jersey Eliana dress post… but I had my heart set on a khaki jersey Eliana. If you are making this in jersey, I did some googling and you don’t need to cut jersey ‘bias’ strips on the bias. You can cut them on the grain with the greatest amount of stretch – well that’s what I read on this post by Made by Rae. Worked for me!

I machined the strips to the bodice and then turned them over and hand stitched them in place. I also slip stitched the edges of the long back ties and shoulder straps together. Yes. It turned a quick make into a long make, however I found it difficult to get a neat line of top stitching over the strips & gathered jersey. I knew wonky stitching would bug me so I opted to hand sew. I had a hideous week so the downtime taken stitching was much needed & appreciated!

I stitched a ‘boho gold’ chain along the neckline to add some interest. I also like ‘old gold’ tones with khaki. The chain meets with a necklace clasp at the centre back. I chose to wrap the chain around the shoulder straps and leave the tails hanging down my back. I left the jersey ties in tact – in case I decide to remove the chain in the future.

Simple 'boho gold' chain added to the neckline and twisted around the shoulder straps.

Simple ‘boho gold’ chain added to the neckline and twisted around the shoulder straps.

ARMHOLES

The armholes are low. My wardrobe ‘fix’ was to wear a black bandeau top over my strapless bra (which is ‘nude’ colour – not so attractive as a ‘peekaboo’ option). It cut in slightly as you can see in the pictures – which of course annoys me so I’ll have a think about that…

I don’t think it would matter as much with long sleeves but it’s something you might want to consider with the sleeveless version – plus it’s not bra-friendly.

Pauline Alice Eliana Dress

The underarms are LOW.

HEM

I used some Emma Seabrooke Knit stay tape from Stitch 56 (popped up in my facebook feed on night) and a double needle on my Bernina machine. I have no idea why but it had never occurred to me to baste the stay tape the wrong side of the hem and then turn it up and iron in place (recommended on the package). I know – I’m an idiot. So much quicker, easier and neater – this tape is very nice too.

CONCLUSION

It’s a simple make & easy to wear. Apart from all my hand stitching & attaching the chain, fiddling with pliers etc, this dress came together quickly.

I think it would make a lovely maxi dress in a woven rayon. It would make a gorgeous winter dress with long sleeves, tights & boots.

I’m wearing it tomorrow. Win.

 

Pattern: Eliana Dress by Pauline Alice, purchased from Indie Stitches– the only place in Australia to buy the Pauline Alice paper patterns.

Fabric: a rayon knit from Spotlight. From my ‘Fabric Library’, purchased for about $15 a metre.

Accessories: Shoes for Manning Valley Shoe Store – ages ago from the ‘bargain table’ for a ridiculously low sum… like $20 | bangle from my workplace shop (it’s a hazard walking in the office)

Also see: Busy Lizzie in Brissie | By Maggot | Top Notch | Couleurs et chiffons

These sunnies on-off pictures amuse me. It's like a tic!

These sunnies on-off pictures amuse me. It’s like a tic!

 

Note: Caitlan kindly offered me a little discount – however I was purchasing it anyway. I like to spread my self-indulgent expenditure around the sewing business world. A good thing too… I’ve never blogged the size of my pattern stash… it’s considerable!