Caramel Tiramisu

Guess what?

Yeah, I made (another) Tiramisu, from Cake patterns.

Back when I made the Chocolate Tiramisu (they must all be named after imaginary Tiramisu flavours, after all) for my mother, she expressed an interest in getting another one in a more summery fabric. Turns out she’s been wearing her Tiramisu quite a bit, so I made her another one for her birthday.

This time, I used a heavy-ish weight knit. No idea what the fabric content is, it’s been hanging around in my stash for quite some time. It doesn’t have a huge amount of stretch to it though, it’s quite a stiff knit. So even though the Chocolate Tiramisu is a bit too big on my mum, I decided to make the Caramel one in the same size as I had a feeling that the different properties of this knit would result in a closer fit than the chocolate stretch lace I used for the first Tiramisu-for-my-mother.

Turns out that was a good idea, and this one fits her rather well. 🙂 I finished it just in time to give to her when she was up visiting us for a few days last week, as a slightly-belated birthday present.

(Although my photographer-guy only took three photos, all of which were from the front, and it was too late before I realised to get any more before my mum went back home to Dunedin. So, you only get one photo of it to prove it exists….)

This fabric has actually been in my stash for a few years, waiting to turn into a dress for my mother. Better late than never, right?! (Oops!) It’s a colour scheme she likes for dresses – autumn shades and florals.

(And as per usual when I make something for someone else, I am now beset by doubt that she likes it and will wear it. Does anyone else get that? A semi-conviction after you give someone something you made that they only said they liked it to humour you? Or is it just me? Ah well, more reason to keep sewing selfishly, right? 😉 )

This is the fifth Tiramisu I’ve made now (and the third for someone else – turns out they make good gifts!), and it took me a grand total of 1.5 hours from start to finish. Including cutting out fabric. Yeah, turns out it’s a pretty fast make when you’ve got your fit sorted out! As with the others, I did it all up on my overlocker. Although my overlocker decided not to play ball completely and rather than doing a cover stitch as topstitching on the neck and sleeve bindings, I ended up having to do two rows of plain sewing machine stitching instead since the overlocker threads kept skipping. *sigh* But hey, it happens – overlockers can be temperamental little beasties at times!

Wish I could figure out how to stop the fabric from pulling a bit under the bust, where each of the neck binding ends gets caught in the midriff piece – anyone know how to do that? I think it’s just part of this pattern, where less-stretchy bits get attached to more-stretchy bits. *shrug*

Anyway, there we have it – another Tiramisu! Something tells me it won’t be the last….

Blackcurrant Tiramisu

Yikes! Somehow it got to the second week of November, and I still haven’t posted about the third dress I made at the start of October! Gah.

Anyway, here ’tis. Along with some more glimpses of our holiday. 🙂

Yep, it’s another Tiramisu! Going along with the ‘flavours’ theme of naming them, I figure this one must be Blackcurrant. (Coz grape flavoured Tiramisu? Um, no. I don’t think so.) I did toy with the idea of licquorice flavour, due to the black-and-white contrast fabric, but decided they can just be thought of as chocolate sprinkles on top instead. (Excuse me while I go and eat some chocolate now… Power of suggestion, and all that.)

Since last time I made myself a Tiramisu I ended up having to take it in by pretty much a full size, this time I cut one size down – a 30 B. Which fits a heck of a lot better! Pretty much perfectly actually, except for one small issue – I didn’t realise it when I was making it up, but the bodice on the size 30 is shorter than the size 35 bodice. Which is a bit annoying, since the size 35 midriff was hitting at the right place on me, and now the size 30 midriff is too high, and as a result does nothing flattering to my bust…. *sigh*

Aside from that annoyance (which, once made, I can’t really do anything about!), I quite like this dress. I spent ages deciding which fabric combination to use – I was thinking of making one entirely out of the black-with-white-dots knit, with red-with-white-dots for contrast. But it made my eyes go funny looking at it, so I decided to have a bit of sympathy for the rest of the world. Heh.

And I have to say – the Tiramisu is great for travelling in! I took both my Tiramisu dresses on our trip, and wore them soooo much. Every long-haul flight we did, I was wearing a Tiramisu. They’re perfect for flights, and even more perfect for flights-with-a-toddler-who-is-still-breastfed. Comfy, practical, generally rather awesome. Seriously – if you’re flying long distance, make yourself one. You’ll be glad you did.

Since we were going to Milan for a couple of days, I figured I’d better save this Tiramisu for photos there. Tiramisu, Italy – yeah, bit of a no-brainer, right? 😉 The lovely Mel did suggest I get photos while eating tiramisu in Italy. And I wanted to, I really did. But when it came down to it, well, I actually don’t like tiramisu-the-dessert. So I ordered something else instead. 😉

Dress details:
Pattern: Tiramisu by Cake
Fabric: purple cotton-blend tshirting (had in stash for years and I can’t remember where I got it from), black-and-white cotton tshirting for contrast (also been in my stash for years, think it was about $6 per metre, can’t remember where from?
Size made: 30 B
Adjustments made: none, but next time I’ll lengthen the bodice by an inch or two. (Oh, I did omit the pocket. Again. I’m just not loving the pocket on knit fabric, really.)
Construction notes: made entirely on my overlocker! Gotta love that thing. 4-thread knit stitch for all seams. Cover stitch to top-stitch down the arm and neck bindings. I left the hem raw, as I like it better that way. Oh, and since the neckband of my last Tiramisu is too loose at the back of the neck, I stretched the neck binding a lot tighter when sewing this one, and just cut off the extra inch that I no longer needed at one end.

These photos were all taken in Milan, wandering around near the main shopping centre.

And just because I can, here are some more photos from the Milan part of our trip. Enjoy!

Checking out the playground across the road from our hotel

Sforza castle

Peace Arch (with Steve standing directly under it)

Awesome fountain in the centre of Milan

Strawberry Tiramisu

Everyone, I’d like you to meet my amazing, lovely, talented and gorgeous friend-who’s-like-a-sister: Agi.

Agi and her family are the reason we head over to Hungary every few years. I stayed with her family as an AFS exchange student, back when I was 18. Such an amazing year – I met lots of lovely people, made great friends, experienced another culture, and saw a totally different part of the world. Agi and her family are fantastic, and even though I only get to see them every few years, they’re such an important part of my life. Agi and I are the same age, so I kind of think of her as another sister.

So our recent big trip was all about going over to see them and introduce our little guy to them. (All the other places we went were just opportunity visits, since we were around those places anyway. 😉 )

Since I’ve been enjoying wearing my Raspberry Tiramisu dress a lot, I thought I’d make one for Agi as well. She lives on a farm and has a young daughter, so I figure easy-wash/easy-wear things are a good choice. (I know they are for me these days, with our young lad!)

After going on a huge hunt through my stash, I pulled out this gorgeous dark pink mid-weight tshirting, which I thought would look lovely with Agi’s skin tone.

Just like the last two, this Tiramisu was nice and easy to whip up. I did the entire lot using my overlocker – four-thread stretch stitch for the seams, cover stitch for stitching the neck and sleeve bindings flat. And I left it unhemmed, because for some reason I prefer the look of that on tshirting Tiramisus, and this fabric won’t fray.

Unfortunately though, even though I made it to Agi’s measurements, it’s ended up a bit too big. Boo! 😦 (Has anyone else noticed that with the Tiramisu pattern? I found the same when I made one for myself and ended up having to take it in by a full size….) Luckily, it’s an easy pattern to take in, and Agi has a sewing machine….

Aren’t the dog and cat cute? Agi and her husband live on a small farm, and they have all sorts of lovely and friendly pets. 🙂

And just because these photos were taken in Hungary, here’s a few more photos from our visit to Hungary…. (Coz, you know, I can.)

Agi and her husband took us on a day trip to Eger. We spent a few hours wandering around the town, visiting one of the biggest churches, the Turkish minaret, and Eger castle.

Walking through the streets of Eger

Church in Eger

Painted church ceiling, Eger

Looking down on Eger from the top of the minaret

The following day, we went to Csongrad to visit Agi’s parents (who are also super lovely, and who were kind enough to have me live with them for a year). Imre (Agi’s father) took us for a ride on his river boat, along the Tisza river. So incredibly pretty, with all the trees changing colour.

Summer bridge over the Tisza river. It’s a floating bridge, and is only out for summer and early autumn, when there is low risk of floods.

Imre and I on his boat

Chocolate Tiramisu

Way back at the start of the year, I decided I was going to make something for someone every month.

And it’s taken until August for that to happen.

Yeah. Life gets a bit like that sometimes. Best laid plans, and all that.

Anyway, check it out – I made a dress for my mum!

A Chocolate Tiramisu dress, in fact.

Nice and fast and fun to make up – it fit her straight out of the pattern envelope, and no stripes to match either (unlike my Raspberry Tiramisu), so it was super quick.

Made out of a pretty textured chocolate coloured lace that she chose from my (crazy-large) stash.

I really like how it looks on her. 🙂

And there isn’t a lot more to say about this, really. The pattern is good, and after you get your head around how the measurements work, it’s easy to make up. So saying though, the gathers on the bust weren’t needed – heck knows how those actually work, as this version was with a D cup and even then there wasn’t enough fabric for gathers. Oh well, it fits fine without them anyway!

And it’s nice and swirly, too. For added fun.

Like the massive wood pile in the background? We were down visiting my parents (and the rest of my family) last weekend and I (finally) finished off the dress down there on my mother’s sewing machine. My parent’s live kinda in the country, and have a woodburner in their lounge, and a bunch of huge big pine trees on their property, so there tends to be large rounds of wood stored for winter. Something about piles of firewood gives me warm fuzzies.

I actually cut this out and stitched up most of it at the same time as when I made my Raspberry Tiramisu – I figured that since I was making one dress, I may as well make two! My mother was up visiting me at the time, so we both choose our fabric and I went crazy cutting and sewing. And this dress has been hanging in my wardrobe so the bias could settle (coz, you know, it takes a good month to do that. *cough cough*) ever since.

Photos by my super awesome sister-in-law Krysha.

I’m quite liking that I made this for someone else. 🙂 Must do that again sometime….

Raspberry Tiramisu

I’ve finally done it. I’ve gone and jumped on the Tiramisu bandwagon.

In case you haven’t encountered it before, the Tiramisu was the first pattern released by Australian-based Cake Patterns. It’s a knit dress, with a surplice bodice, short cut-on sleeves, and a flowing skirt. And it’s been getting rave reviews all around the blogosphere.

Normally, I’m not one for knit dresses, but what the heck – may as well give it a go and see what everyone’s talking about!

One thing that really impressed me about this pattern was the stripe placement guide. Steph (the designer) has put a lot of thought into the effects you can create with this pattern using stripes, and how to give guidelines to people so the stripes match up perfectly at every seam. All of the pattern pieces have stripe guidelines – if you use them correctly, you get chevron effects on the back bodice, and front and back skirt centre seams. You also have nice diagonal stripes across the bust, which perfectly meet the back bodice stripes at the shoulders. And the skirt front and back stripes match down the skirt side seams. And the midriff front and back also match at the side seams. (Unless you’re me and make a mistake cutting out which you don’t realise until it’s far too late. So, you know, don’t look too closely at those midriff side seams, ok?)

Admittedly, it took me aaaaages to cut this out, as my pink-and-navy stripe fabric not only has reasonably narrow stripes, it’s also a soft stretchy knit, so I had to painstakingly cut out every single piece individually, being supercareful not to stretch the fabric out of shape.

It was worth it, though. Check out those chevrons, yeah!

The sizing for this confused me a bit. I’m right between sizes, so could either make up the 30D or the 35A. Since there is no way (ever!) that I’m a D cup, I went with the 35A. And then had to take it in at the side seams to about where the 30 would have been. As a result, it’s not sitting quite right at the neckline, but hey, it’ll do. And I like the result of this pattern enough that I’m gonna try making it up again, with a 30 instead of a 35 bodice. (Still not sure what cup size to go with though… D just sounds wrong for my shape. Maybe I’ll go for a B and see how that works out….)

I also decided not to put the pockets in, as if I then went to put anything in the pockets while wearing the dress, you’d be able to see the shape of whatever was in them. So yeah, nah, not this time anyway.

I was worried about the cling factor of the skirt – since it’s a knit fabric dress and I. I needn’t have worried – the fullness of the skirt means it hangs nicely, no VPL or anything. Win!

Sadly the fit isn’t quite right on me, but I’ll try the size down next time and see how that goes. 🙂 And I can attest that this is a super-comfy dress, and there will be a next time with making it up!