A Parisian giraffe wrap

Just in the nick of time! Ever since I missed last year's launch of Anne's Jungle January I planned to join the next time. As soon as January got here I started planning. I looked through my fabrics (a beloved pastime) to find the animal prints, and began rummaging for patterns.

Then, what do you know, it's already the last week of January. Eeep! Panic, panic! A snake print coat? Yeah right! A zebra cotton blouse? Not at my usual speed. A snake print pencil skirt? Maybe but not in real leather. A giraffe wrap it is then!

I call it my Parisian giraffe wrap because this plushy awesomeness is my first souvenir fabric. Bought in 1996 during my first visit to Paris. I was sightseeing in Montmartre when I spotted the fabric shops at the base of the hill. I couldn't run fast enough down there and spent the rest of the day going crazy through all the various shops. This tiny piece of gorgeousness was just too good to leave behind, but on a graduate student salary all I could get was a scant 1/2 meter.

So what to do with half a meter? I always thought it was destined to be the furry collar on a coat or jacket. But I don't dare to cut a collar until I do have a coat to put it onto. How else would I know the precise shape it should have? So for now all I did was line the entire rectangle of fabric.

Which I can then wear as a sort of fur vest if I help it stay in place with a belt.

Then I thought about adding buttons and loops so that I could close the "vest".

And if I add the buttons and loops on both sides, I can also button it up into a cylinder that makes a couple of sleeves. And so voila, I have a furry bolero!

Well, the sleeves are a bit too wide and they pull to the front. Plus the back is definitely poorly shaped with all that bunching going on. But hey, I made it into Jungle January!

Two great office dresses, Burda 10-2012-118

My first item in the SG 2014 SWAP is now done, woohoo! I made Vogue 1915 Anne Klein's blouse again. This second version is also white and it turns out to be impossible to photograph... Every photo I took was overexposed. I will have to wait until next weekend when I can enlist my husband's better camera and skills.

So instead, I will share with you here a couple of dresses that I made last spring but hadn't gotten around to blogging about them. Both are made using that famous and well-reviewed pattern Burda 10-2012-118. My own review of this pattern is here at Pattern Review.

I first made this version in a pinstripe wool. I thought it would be perfect for the office. The traditionally masculine pinstripe wool balancing the very feminine shape of the dress with the side-draping and cowl neckline.

I barely had enough fabric for the dress, so I had to make a sleeveless version. I simply skipped the sleeves and finished the armholes with a lining bias strip. I also added a lining. I find that a lining makes dresses more comfortable to wear, plus also more appropriate for the office. To reduce bulk, I didn't want the lining to be gathered like the front. Instead, I took the paper pattern for the front, folded the gathers and held them with tape to create a "plain" front pattern. I also removed the top portion that is folded over from the draping cowl.

Also, since the cowl neckline is wide enough to fit my head without a zipper, I moved the zipper from the back to the side (the side that is not gathered). Back zippers often require gymnastics beyond my capabilities. A side zipper is much easier!

Finally, I converted the back walking slit into a kick pleat. I think that kick pleats look more polished and is definitely more demure, showing less leg.

After wearing this dress for a month or two, I liked it so much that I decided to make another one, this time with sleeves.

For the second version I chose a much less stable "Armani-look" fabric. I love the look of the fabric, and being less tightly woven it is very comfortable to wear. Unfortunately, after a whole day wearing the dress it begins to droop, which is what you can see in the photo. The fabric regains its shape after a washing, so that's how I've been wearing it. One wear, one wash, one wear, one wash.

I made all the same modifications as with the first dress, except that I forgot the kick pleat. Since I was forced to make a walking slit, I figured I could practice a tack to keep the slit from tearing open under the strain of walking and biking. I followed instructions for an arrowhead tack from Sherry's blog Pattern, Scissors, Cloth.

I'm quite pleased with how the tack turned out, even if not so much with the slit itself... I guess I should have interfaced it, huh?

Going back to why I love these dresses, can I tell you what is the best thing about them?

They are washable! Seriously, even the pinstripe wool!

All my hand-knitted wool sweaters are supposed to be washed by hand, but lately I've just been throwing them in the wool-program in my washing machine, and they turn out beautifully. So I got to thinking why couldn't I do that with wool fabric too. I hate bringing my clothes to the dry cleaners. They don't come back cleaner at all. I have a powder blue felt wool coat that came back from the dry cleaners with a "greige" layer. Ugh, just thinking about it makes me hugely upset all over again!

So, ever since this dress I've been pre-washing my wool fabric in the wool cycle of my washing machine and then drying them in the dryer with cool air. And it works perfectly. I do have to do some light ironing with an ironing cloth, but I don't mind doing that at all.

Of course, I would never attempt to wash a garment that has been tailored. Any shaping would be completely destroyed by the wash. But this dress has not been shaped with heat or steam at all, so washing is safe.

It is no wonder that this pinstriped dress is one of my favorites!

A coat that will stop traffic, Vogue 8548

The phrase "stop traffic" means to command attention. Few things have that sort of power. Things like:

A traffic agent

a traffic cone,

or a beautiful woman.

Imagine then the effect of a beautiful woman wearing a traffic cone!

Oh, the folly! I adore my new coat, even though I don't think I dare to wear this out in public, sober Dutch public, mind you.

It actually falls under the category of a wearable muslin. The pattern is Vogue 8548, which I had been wanting to try for a while. I especially wondered if I could make that wide collar stand out as it should, and whether it was practical to wear for real.

The fabric is a mid-quality wool double cloth remnant that I picked up for $20 at the fabric market. Up close you can see that the fabric nap is not as dense as in the high-end versions. But it does have a robust hand and that was precisely what I was hoping to try. I've always admired what people like Geoffrey Beene can do with this type of fabric, but had never tried to sew it up myself. This remnant offered the perfect no-worry opportunity.

The technical details are in my review of Vogue 8548 at Pattern Review. Here instead I'll tell you that sewing this as a wearable muslin was a fantastic experience. It freed me to try new techniques, like a fused hem (I know, don't wince, it's just a muslin, remember?) and to practice old ones, like topstitching.

Plus, once I embraced the folly of my traffic cone jacket, I just kept on going...

Wait, is that...? Yup, that is a carnival-print lining! Sure! Because why not? (and it truly was the best match from my stash, I swear).

Call me the "voorjaar" blogger

Happy New Year to all my sewing friends!

Oh, I know, I've done it again... I just went MIA and stopped blogging. And believe me, I've got lots of excuses: we finished renovating the house so my sewing room was plastic-wrapped, I hurt my back and it took weeks (and a miraculous infrared lamp from the 70's!) to recover, I moved to a new position at work, I gained a few pounds and got depressed about sewing one size bigger, blah, blah, blah. Whatever the reasons I think I see a pattern developing. In 2012 I also stopped blogging sometime before the fall.

Now, the Dutch think of the year in two halves. The first half they call voorjaar, the second najaar. So it would seem that I am a voorjaar blogger :-)

Well, better get on with it if I've only got 6 months to go... :-)

Since this is a New Year's blog post let me share with you my latest machinations:

Ambitious much? I know! It all started with a fabric binge, eh, visit to Mood Fabrics in LA. You see, the way I managed to justify buying so many fabrics was by making sure they all coordinate with each other. Then, back at home and catching up on sewing blogs I read about the Stitcher's Guild's SWAP 2014 Contest. And bingo! the wardrobe began taking shape.

Now, in my defense, the red brocade and the white embroidered cotton (middle on the set at right, not looking very white at all!) were already in my stash. And the knitted poncho is already done. It is one of the things I made while not sewing last year. In fact, I had a more modest wardrobe in mind, but I had to make it this big to comply with the contest rules. Reach for the stars, right?

And then it turns out that Pantone has declared Radiant Orchid the Color of the Year 2014. That is precisely the dominant color in my coordinated group. I'm taking that as a good omen!

My Christmas lace dress Burda 02-2009-124

SETTING: A middle class suburban home. A family is getting ready to leave for Christmas dinner at the grandparents house. The wife has sewn a lace dress for this special occasion.

HER: Love, are you bringing your fancy new camera to dinner at your parents?

HIM: Of course, I'm looking forward to trying it out. Why?

HER: Oh, great, then can you please take some nice pictures of me in my new dress? I want to write about it on my blog and your pictures are always infinitely better than mine.

HIM: No problem babe!

Ummmm... Yup, that's them. Those are the best 3 out of the gazillion photos my DH took of me in my new lace dress... LOL! Do any of you happen to know a good fashion photography course? :-)

So here are a couple of pictures I took later so you can actually see the dress.

What do you think? I looove my lace dress. I only wish I can find more reasons/occasions to wear it!

The fabric is a guipure lace with a flower motif in that lovely shade of "greyple" that I always gravitate to only to later kick myself for it because I cannot match it with anything. It took me months to find a lining/underlining that would complement the lace nicely. As often happens, after trying out many, many different options (silver, skin color, white, tone-on-tone) when I found this China silk in a very light mint green I immediately knew this was it. The mint color really brings out the purple shades in the lace, enlivening it. And the shiny surface of the silk sparkling under the matte lace makes for a wonderful contrast.

I made the dress using Burda 02-2009-124.

There are lots of great versions of this dress at Pattern Review. My favorite is sewingelle's version in a gorgeous cherub print. Amanda made a super cute version in yellow flower print. Trena from the Slapdash Sewist made it in a beautiful geometric lace that looks both sweet and modern.

And Cindy-lou's 4 great versions show how versatile this simple dress pattern is.

For my lace version I made a few significant modifications to the pattern:

1. Moved the zipper to the side seam (since the neckline is wide enough to fit my head comfortably).
2. Removed the back seam on both top and bottom. The shaping from the back seam I redistributed to the darts making them deeper. This and #1 I did to keep the lace with as few seams as possible.
3. Raised the back neckline to the neck, closing it completely.
4. Converted the front neckline to a squarish "U" shape by closing it at the shoulder seams and bringing it a bit down at the front. I find this shape more flattering than a very wide neckline.

I've never sewn lace before, so I was more than a bit nervous about cutting into this lovely fabric. But the thing is, half the fabrics in my stash are by now "too good to cut into" so what are my options? Sew nothing?! Well, I tried that for many years already and it is obviously not the right answer. LOL!

Instead, I thought carefully about what pattern would work best and then I made a muslin. I also researched techniques appropriate for lace and made a few samples first. Nothing groundbreaking, just the good advice I've always heard from every teacher and experienced sewer but I somehow always ignored. And I think all that preparation work paid off!

I still had a few scary moments, like when I realized how stretchy lace can be, yikes! All that empty space I guess. Luckily the China silk underlining helped me keep it in its correct shape.

I used the flat lining method so that the raw edges would be nicely finished and the lining would act also like an underlining and give more support to the lace.

I love the clean finish this gives to the inside of the dress, so I have to show it off a little. Looks nice, no? It also makes it more comfortable to wear against the skin.

I used the scalloped edge of the lace for the hem and after some deliberation and research, I decided to scallop the lining as well and sew it to the lace by hand. I was a bit worried that the lining would be baggy, but it has held pretty well after a few months of hanging and the one wear for Christmas dinner.

For the neckline I added a facing in the same China silk as the underlining. To keep it from flipping out I edgestitched it and then tacked it further down to the lace by hand.

For the sleeves I simply did the same flat lining finish and then folded the edges over and sewed a hem by hand. With lace and a good color match for the thread, the stitches are absolutely invisible.

So, do you ladies have any ideas how I can dress my new lace dress down for more casual wear? I want to find a way to wear it to work. It is not a very conservative office. About half the people wear suits and the other half come a bit more dressed down, though there are very few jeans, mostly only on Fridays. I have seen a few colleagues wearing lace skirts, but not a full dress. Is it a simple as finding a top to turn the dress into a skirt?

Ah, yes, here is my review of Burda 02-2009-124 at Pattern Review

A solid-color version of Burda 02-2012-117

Here's another dress I've been wearing for a while now but hadn't blogged about.

Ever since I made my color-blocked version of the wonderfully geometric Burda 02-2012-117 I've wanted to make one in a solid color. Catherine Daze's version in particular looked wonderful in that daaaark shade of blue.

So I bought a heavy, super dark navy ponte knit and set about chasing my visions of solid sophistication.

What do you think?

If you thought "OMG, that is too much undifferentiated darkness!" I have to say I agree with you. :-)

I really must laugh at how I am constantly improving my sewing skills, constantly getting better at this or that technique, and still I find a way to make new mistakes! LOL!

In this case, the mistake was my deciding to topstitch all the seams. I usually love the definition that topstitching brings which is why I thought it would be a great idea for this dress. And if I may say so myself I did a pretty good job keeping this topstitching straight. But what I didn't expect is that in ponte knit the topstitching actually makes the seams less visible instead of more.

What I've now figured out is that seams in ponte knits are quite visible because the fabric doesn't lay perfectly flat. The shadows that are thus created are what make the seams so apparent. But of course, what the topstitching does is flatten the seams hence making them less visible. Why didn't I figure that out first? Oh, well!

As you can see, I added long sleeves so that I could wear it in winter. I used the sleeves from my TNT t-shirt pattern (which I will blog about one of these days) and modified the dress's armholes to fit the sleeves.

I still love the dress, I have to say. It is incredibly comfortable and in real life the seams are not really that invisible, really! :-) It's been in constant rotation as part of my work wardrobe.

Plus, I've figured out that it is the perfect background for my so-ugly-it-is-beautiful-again bat pin.

Well, what do you think?

Don't worry, you don't have to answer that one. LOL! :-)

My Galaxy dress!

Celebrities (and me!) in Roland Mouret's Galaxy dress. Original photo from Diamonds and Lions blog

Roland Mouret's Galaxy dress has got to be one of the most famous dresses in the world. Obviously I couldn't let Dita and Cameron and the rest of the girls have all the fun, so I had to have my own Galaxy, even if I am 6 years late to the party!

Mine of course is made using pattern Vogue 8280. I made view A and added 3/4 sleeves, and from what I can now see in these photos I didn't do a very good job, hmmm.... I wonder what causes all those wrinkles on the sleeves? Did I have the sleeve on twisted for the photo? I'll have to investigate...

Vogue 8280 technical drawing, courtesy of Vogue Patterns.

Anyho... I do like my Galaxy dress and have worn it many times to work already, but there are two things that I must definitely change for v 2.0. First, is that I feel a bit too sexy with such an open neckline at work. So I think in the next version I will try to bring up the horizontal piece by 2-3cm. Or maybe I'll try the version with the sweetheart neckline.

The second thing I would change is something that many of the reviews on Pattern Review already pointed out: the side flange pieces are a bit too large and stand away from the body. I should have made the alteration that Pattern Review member Cristinagf describes in her Galaxy dress review. Instead as usual I forgot to read any reviews until after I was done with my sewing. My solution for the too large flanges was to ease some of the additional length at the bottom where they join the front bodice piece. Well, that worked to keep the flanges close to the body, but it also brings the bodice up a bit. That distorts the front skirt by bringing the hemline up a bit on the front compared to the back. You can see this on the side view, middle photo above. Not a good solution!

But I would say these two things are somewhat minor. I am quite happy with my Galaxy dress and I do wear it often. It looks stylish and because I made it with a pin stripe wool it brings just the amount of serious business for the office. Perfect combination if you ask me. :-)

I usually finish my posts with a link to the pattern review, but there are enough reviews of this pattern at Pattern Review, so I got lazy and decided to skip it this time...