Ladybird Ballet

Guess what? I was working away on my Sew Bossy dress, and nearly finished, with only the hem left to go. Exciting! And then I tried it on properly after attaching the buttons. Yeah. Even though I’d been a good girl and tried it on a couple of times while making it, somehow everything went horribly wrong. Let’s just say – there’s gonna be a fair bit of unpicking of top stitching and gathers, and re-positioning of buttons and button holes, before it’s going to look any good.

So I got grumpy and made something else to cheer me up.

With ladybirds on it, because who can be grumpy when sewing ladybirds, right?!

I wanted to use a pattern I was pretty sure would work on me (didn’t want to risk two disasters in a row!), so I pulled out my trusty La Sylphide pattern from Papercut. I’ve made this up a couple of times before, in the dress version, and they both get a lot of wear.

My first thought was to make this up in the dress again, but turned out I didn’t have enough fabric. After a bit of mucking around with pattern placement, I figured I could get the peplum blouse out of the ladybirds. Been meaning to try the blouse for a while, to see if peplums actually look ok on me or not (or if it was just the knit fabric ones that look terrible on me).

I lengthened the neck tie by about 25cm in total, having learnt before that I like more length in my pussy bow. (Random sentence, no?)

I also lowered the bust darts by about 1.5cm, since they tend to hit too high on me. (A problem I have with pretty much all bust darts, ever. Vintage or modern. Maybe my girls are just in a weird place or something….)

And since I was eking this out of not-quite-enough fabric, I also shortened the sleeves, to a length that fit onto the fabric. 😉 (Since I shortened them, I didn’t bother with the interfaced hem on the sleeves either – I figured this fabric was stiff enough to cope without interfacing on the sleeves, and sure enough, all is good.)

And coz we all know how much I like sewing with hammers, I used white snap fasteners instead of buttons. Oh, I do love snap fasteners, so much fun to put on (and to take off again, heh 😉

The verdict? I’m liking it! And I think it’s converted me to peplums actually looking ok on me. (Maybe I’ll brave a couple of my 1940’s peplum top patterns now….)

Plus, it has ladybirds on it. What’s not to love about that?!?

To define where the peplum flares out, I’ll probably always sling a belt around the waist. I just like it better that way – it’s quite a busy fabric, and the belt breaks it up a bit and shows off the lines of the blouse more I reckon.

And check it out – we found a wall that matched my shoes and hair and belt! Matchy-matchy, oh yeah!

Mellow Yellow La Sylphide

This one’s been hanging around a while, waiting to be posted. I was actually about to post it when my laptop died (argh!!!!). And now, finally, here it is – my half of the twinsies La Sylphide dress photo shoot that Mel and I did together. 🙂

We had so much fun taking photos together of our Ensis tees last year, that we’ve decided to make it a regular thing – pick a pattern, sew it up at the same time, then get photos of it together. (And can I just say, taking photos with another sewing blogger is So Much Fun!!!!)

We’d both made up Papercut’s La Sylphide pattern once before, and loved the result, so decided we’d make another one, kinda to sew along with the sewalong that Lauren ran over on the Papercut blog. (Not that either of us are particularly good at going at the same speed as sewalongs. Oops!)

If you’re unfamiliar with the La Sylphide, it a cute little button-up dress, with a full skirt, sleeves, and a necktie. Surprisingly fun to make, with details such as using interfacing to create tidy hems on the sleeves, and attaching the sleeves in the flat (brilliant!).

Papercut La Sylphide dress

Since I’d made it before, I decided to make a couple of adjustments this time around to change the pattern up slightly and not have two identical-but-in-different-fabrics dresses hanging in my wardrobe.

This time around, I did the following:

• Lengthened the neck ties by 12cm at either end (I found them just a bit too short last time)
• Lengthened the skirt by 15cm (be warned if you make this – the default length is very short!!)
• Took a lot of the fullness out of the skirt (for two reasons – I live in a very windy place, and I was using a vintage fabric of a narrow width and there was no way I was gonna get the full skirt out of it)
• Shortened the sleeves by 15.5cm
• Cut the back skirt on the fold, rather than with a centre-back seam. (I did this last time as well.)

Folding out volume in the skirt

My verdict on the changes? All a success! Only thing I’d do differently with them next time is how I cut the sleeves and make sure I mirror-image the slope of the last inch of them so the hem is the same width as the sleeves when folded under. I had a heck of a time easing in the hem since it was shorter than the point of the sleeve I was easing it into! Oops – didn’t think that one through when shortening them!

Next time I make this there are two other changes I’d make. One is a change I planned to make this time – widen the shoulders by 1cm, as I have quite broad shoulders and the seams sit a bit too far in on me (as they do with pretty much everything). I remembered to widen while cutting out the back bodice, and completely forgot the front bodice adjustment. Duh. Next time, yeah? Other change I’d make is lowering the bust dart points by about an inch, which I’ve discovered is something I pretty much need to do by default for every pattern I make. (Heck knows why?) Oh, and I’ll add in-seam side pockets to the skirt. Because, you know, dresses with pockets are rather fantastic.

Just like last time, I cut a size S, grading out to a size M at the waist. Only it turns out that I’ve lost a bit of weight since then (baby fat vanishing – woo hoo!) and I had to take it in, so next time I’ll cut out a size XS bust, grading out to a size S at the waist.

For the photos, we went exploring and headed up to the top of Miramar Peninsula, to a water tower I’d spotted while flying into Wellington a couple of weeks beforehand. (Good way to find photo locations, no?) I’d never been there before – great views all over the city, and the contrast of a water tower with lots of graffiti – which I’m always a bit fond of for backgrounds to photos. 😉

So much fun doing twinsie makes/photos again! And this time my sister Jen joined us, with a skirt she’d made from a self-drafted pattern. (With teapots!!)

So much fun in fact, we’ve got another twinsie creation planned very soon….

The Purple Rain dress

Finally, here it is – my first creation as part of Indie pattern month! (Yes, right at the very end. Again. Oops!)

All month I’ve been talking about, and slowly but surely putting together, the La Sylphide dress from Papercut patterns. This is my first Papercut pattern, and can I just say – I absolutely love this company! The thought that has gone into it amazes me – Katie has put together a whole experience with a lot of care, and I found every part of it, from browsing her website to receiving the pattern, making up the instructions, and sewing up the dress, to be rather delightful. I suspect I am now a Papercut fangirl. Hah. (And I am also eagerly awaiting her next collection, so I can buy and make more pretties!!)

Anyway, enough gushing for the moment. And on to the dress!

La Sylphide is a short dress, with a quarter circle skirt, button-up front, and tie at the v-neckline. (There is also a peplum top and a skirt variation. I’m planning on making the peplum top sometime very soon. Coz that’s how much I enjoyed making up this pattern.)

Now, a little word of warning. When I say this is a short dress, I do mean short. I added 16cm to the length of the skirt, and it’s still a bit shorter than I’d like! (But that’s how wide my fabric was, so that’s how long it got to be.) The quarter circle skirt swirls beautifully, and I live in a very windy city, so I’ll have to be a bit careful about what I wear under this, just in case! (Too much information? Perhaps.)

I found working with this Papercut pattern quite interesting. Back when I was at university, I did a part-time evening pattern drafting course, where I got taught things like using 1cm seam allowances and assembling in the flat as much as possible. But, I’ve pretty much never come across that sort of thing in patterns. Until now. Papercut patterns have a 1cm seam allowance – which is fantastic! Less wastage, less bulk, and none of that cut-out-heaps-of-extra-seam-allowance-then-cut-it-all-off-again faffing around. The sleeves on this dress are also attached in the flat, then the side seam of both dress and sleeves sewn up all at once. Brilliant! So much faster, and easier, than attaching them in the round. (Yes, another reason why I am now in love with Papercut. *swoon*)

The use of interfacing with this pattern was quite interesting too. Strips of interfacing were attached at the end of the sleeves, and along the button placket, then the fabric was turned over and topstitched, which gives a great, clean finish both inside and out, adds a bit more durability for the lightweight/drapey fabrics recommended for this pattern, and in the case of the sleeves also gives a nice, crisp, almost-cuff-like finish.

Now, speaking of the button placket, I went with what seems to be my current ‘thing’, and used snap fasteners instead. Because I could. Sewing-with-a-hammer once more – gotta love that.

I decided to go with a turned-up hem, rather than the rolled hem the pattern called for. Not for any particular reason – I think just because I couldn’t be bothered doing a rolled hem that day. (Lazy seamstress, me? Um, yeah. Whoops.) I had some vintage seam binding in my stash, which added a bit of a contrast colour (I do like adding contrast colours when binding hems). Sadly, it ran out about 3/4 of the way around the skirt, so I finished the rest with some cream lace. (Note to self: next time, measure the lengths properly, rather than just holding the tape up to the skirt and thinking it looks about right, then heading straight into stitching it on.)

I found the fit of this pretty good – no modifications were made, although next time I will lower the bust dart points by about an inch and a half. Which is probably a modification I should just make to every pattern by default, since they’re always too high on me. (What’s that about?!?) Aside from adding the 16cm to the skirt length, the only other thing I did differently was construction order. Rather than stitching up the bodice and the skirt separately, then joining them at the waist, I attached the skirt pieces to the bodice pieces then stitched the entire way up the side seams all at once. For two reasons – I like working in the flat more than working in the round, and (the main reason) because it makes it a lot easier to take the dress in at the waist if I ever lose these last couple of post-baby inches. (But let’s face it – chocolate is more important to me than those last two inches, so chances are they’re not going to be coming off in a hurry!)

Had to go to Auckland for work last week, which made for a good opportunity for photos outside in daylight, without having to wait for the weekend. (Ironically, I then didn’t get a chance to post this until the end of the weekend, but whatever.) These were taken at Browns Bay, on the North Shore, right between the shopping centre and the beach. In the rain. That’s how dedicated I am to getting photos for you, people – I stood in the rain in winter, without my coat. I even twirled in the rain, on wet and muddy grass, in high heels, in order to show off the skirt’s twirl-factor. And people nearby looked at me like I was crazy. (And a big thanks to my lovely colleague Fiona, who very nicely took the photos for me and hopefully didn’t think I was too odd.)

So, there it is, folks – my Purple Rain La Sylphide. (Why Purple Rain? Well, the dress is dark purple and black, and it was raining in the photos. And I couldn’t think of anything better. Got any better suggestions? Let me know so I can rename this dress – my naming creativity is at an all-time low this evening!) Verdict? I love it! It’s fun to wear, swirls around while you walk, the necktie looks super cute over a buttoned-up cardigan, and it was fun and easy to make. More versions of this will be made, probably quite soon.

Here’s a last twirling-in-the-rain photo, just because I like it, blurry though it is.