FO: Drapey Drop Dress in stripes

So it is the beginning of a new year and time for me to catch up on unblogged items. I don't think there are too many this year....

This dress was a spur of the moment make.  It was blisteringly hot in the UK in the summer of 2018 and I decided that I wanted a simple jersey dress that I could just throw on and that wasn't too clingy. The pattern is the Madeit Patterns Drop Dress.  I had made the Drop top previously and had thought that I would make the dress sometime.

I had some stripey fabric in the stash, and I just about had enough and I mean just....

I concentrated on whether there was going to be enough fabric, rather than on any chance of stripe matching, but as it  happened I think it matched reasonably well.  The neck binding technique gives a great finish, but feels a bit bulky in this fabric.  I toyed with the idea of taking off the neckband and just turning the neck under and stitching, but it clearly didn't bother me that much as I still haven't done anything about!

I think next time I make this I will look at doing a small forward shoulder adjustment as both this and my previous version pull to the back  a little and make the neck feel tight when it isn't.

 So, a very successful quick make that was perfect for the sunny Norfolk coast.

FO: A Summer of Stripes - part 4 - A Plantain Tee

I am playing catch-up here again, lots of sewing, not much blogging...

Towards the end of the summer I posted this picture:

asking for opinions on the elbow patch.  Nine out of 10 respondants went for the lime green patch for a pop of colour.  The 10th respondant (aka Middlest daughter) said along the lines of 'ugh, what do want to put a patch on for anyway? they're horrible!'. So, lime green it was!

The Plantain Tee is a free pattern from the French pattern company Deer & Doe and it seemed fairly straight forward to sew up - I finished this in the summer holidays so I can't really remember too much about it.

I do remember finishing the sleeve and shirt hems with my twin-needle, but they are not as stretchy as I thought they'd be.  Every time I shove my sleeve up my arm I think the stitching will snap.

I used some fabric that I bought in NZ when we were living there. It wasn't my first choice of colour, there was a lovely turquoise/grey that I loved, but I procrastinated so long that that colour was sold out by the time I had decided to buy it. I don't know what the fabric content is, but it is very stretchy.

Here are some photos:

 
and a couple of the top in action:

Having worn it quite a bit since I finished it, I have decided that whilst I will wear it, it is not my favourite shape of top. It is a touch too wide (for my taste) at the hem and I think that if I were to make another I would bring the shoulder seam forward, probably by about 1cm. Also looking at the photo with the hedgehog, I might do something about the arm hole as well...

I have included it in the Summer of Stripes because of when I made it - I am very aware that it is not summer in the Northern Hemisphere now!

A Summer of Stripes- part 3 and a sad summer

This pattern may look a little familiar - it is the Burda Raglan sleeve top 2/2013#127 that I have made 3 times before, but this time it is a dress (seen first here):

I got the fabric from Lisa (formerly of Small Things now blogging at Paprika Patterns) during the Spring Sewing Swap hosted by Kerry of Kestrel Makes, earlier this year. As soon as I saw the fabric I thought it would be perfect for a little t-shirt dress to take on my summer holiday to Italy. There-in lies a tale...

I started the dress during a quiet weekend right at the beginning of the summer holidays. My eldest two had finished school for the summer and my youngest still had 2 days to go. Husband and Middlest had travelled to Norfolk with the aim of Middlest doing some sailing and Husband and one of his nephews cycling from Norfolk back home (roughly 100km). Unfortunately not all had gone to plan - I had a phone call from a very distressed and disorientated Husband, who had come off his bike in the middle of nowhere. He was clearly in a bad way and ended up being taken to hospital in Kings Lynn. My dress was left forgotten mid-stitch on the machine, while I sorted out the other 2 children and hot-footed it to the hospital (an hour and a half away).  Husband had been unconscoius, was found to have 3 broken ribs, a black eye, very painful shoulder, severe bruising and multiple grazes and gashes. Luckily he was with his nephew who had called an ambulance, unluckily he was very injured, and was told by the hospital that he couldn't fly for six weeks - this all happening 2 days before we due to fly to Italy for our first hot family holiday since we got back from living in NZ.  Cue cancelled holiday and very sad, worried and disappointed family. We did get all our money back including extenuating circumstances refund from RyanAir - surprisingly.

Moving on a couple of weeks, Husband was being to feel his recuperation was going well and he was a little more mobile. This was not to last, we had a phone call from my brother-in-law asking me to collect all the children that were at my mother-in-law's house and keep them out of the way. My father-in-law had collapsed whilst playing tennis and there was an ambulance crew in attendance. By the time I got there (5 mins away) it was clear that my father-in-law had died, and I had to go home and break the news to the rest of my family. This was completely and utterly unexpected, and was a huge shock to us all. Husband found himself suddenly having to be much more active and under stress whilst being in pain, at the same time assisting with the arrangements that go with organising a funeral.

So, as I said in my previous post, this summer has been pretty awful and it wasn't really a holiday for any of us. Husband's recuperation is going reasonabley well now, but getting used to my father-in-law not being around will inevitabley take time - if indeed one gets used to that kind of thing.

At some point in Husbands early recuperation I managed to finish this dress.  I think it spent 2 weeks mid-stitch on the machine, needle down. I was fully expecting the dress to have a hole in it where I left the needle in and/or to be stretched out of shape where it was hanging over the table, but all seemed fine.

After the traumas of its beginning, the dress was finished quite quickly without out any further drama, and I am really pleased with it. It is quite figure hugging, and I have to be very aware of my posture (and what underwear I choose) when wearing it, but I love it.

I have hemmed it just above my knees and have worn it like this since finishing it. I have included a picture where I have pinned the hem a lot higher with a view to wearing it with leggings and potentially making it more versatile, but having said that, I am not sure I would wear it that short as a dress...

Shorter length - why don't my legs go brown?

 I am particularly pleased with the neckband on this one - the previous ones have been a bit loose and gappy, even when I reduced the length on my last one.  This time I reduced the length by 12% rather than 10% and it is perfect - and looks rather fetching with the stripes going in the opposite direction. I finished the neck with a twin needle, but I may redo this bit as I think a single line of stitching may look better.

Anyway.... happily Husband's physical recuperation is going reasonabley well, although coming off Tramadol is not for the fainthearted - withdrawal symptoms anyone? Also we have booked a holiday somewhere hot for half-term, so I will get to wear this on holiday after all.

I am not normally one for unburdening myself of woes, but I couldn't do a post on this dress without it really.

On my sewing table ...

Sewing has been achieved this summer, but blogging not so much. I have several draft posts waiting to be finished, but life has a habit of putting a spanner in the works and it is safe to say that this summer has, for our family, been awful.

However, sewing is my way of switching off and I need to revitalise my wardrobe. 

On my sewing table I currently have an autumnal shirt (although I don't think I'm done with summer sewing yet). I think the shirt will be recognisable - I just need to decide which elbow patch to choose...

The sleeves are in green and greyish  horizontal stripe. One sleeve has a lime green patch and the other has the sleeve fabric with the stripe going vertically.

The family have given me their views  - what do you think?

FO: A Summer of Stripes - part two

The second top in my Summer of Stripes is a direct copy of one of my rtw tops. Again I have had it for some time and either I have got bigger, the top has shrunk, or a combination of the two, but it didn't seem to fit as well as it could when I last put it on. I loved this top, but it never really felt quite right on - I felt I had to tweak it regularly when wearing it.

Original top

Rather than try to wrestle with the finished top to get a pattern, I actually decided to cut this up to get the pattern. This was interesting - when I laid out the pieces to cut my fabric, it was quite clear that the original had been cut inaccurately. Quite noticabley in fact - the back was not symmetrical and the two front pieces were different shapes. All of which might explain why never felt like it fitted properly!

I laid it all out and made sure that everything was cut out to include enough fabric to make it a bit bigger and to include seam allowances. You will recognise the fabric as the same stuff my previous top was made of (and I still have enough to do a Kirsten Kimono T hack or a skirt for a child)

how to give yourself a headache

back piece folded in half - you can just see that it is not symmetrical

This top has two front pieces cut on the diagonal so that there is a chevron effect and a cut out section with a hoop thingumy in it. I pinned, basted and sewed the front pieces very carefully so that the chevron matched perfectly

I harvested the original hoopy thing and ended up sewing it in by hand as I couldn't begin to work out how to do it by machine

The back was cut on the straight grain with the stripes going horizontally. I turned and stitched the neckline, armholes and hem, although the original just had overlocked edges. The original also had a mostly decorative halter necktie thing. To copy that I cut a strip a few stripes wide and sewed it right sides together, then turned the right side out with the aid of a safety pin. I have made it a bit long and have yet to cut the ends to the correct length.

Despite my careful cutting out the finished item is as tight (or tighter than) the original. I am pretty sure that I will wear it, but may be just around the house

Very pleased with the cherons and hoop at the front. Not quite so chuffed with the skintight nature of the top!

And finally, a pose in honour of Rachel (House of Pinheiro)!

FO: A Summer of Stripes - part one

I seem to like stripes particularly in tops. I have a number of ageing rtw knit tops in stripes and in an effort to replace some of my rtw items, I have made some more stripey tops. Today is top number 1:

This top has already been seen in my polka dot skirt post...

This is the Burda raglan sleeve top 02/2013 #127 that I have already made here and here. In the magazine, one of the photos showed a red and white stripey top in the short sleeve version, which I liked the look of. (Although you can't see much of it under that mac!)

When on Goldhawk during during the NYLon14 meet up, I found some red and white stripey jersey, which I think is probably a viscose jersey.  It is quite thin and drapey and I thought it would look good with the gathers in the sleeves.

The last couple of times I made this I haven't really followed the instructions properly. Previously I sewed the side seams and sleeve seam all in one, having already attached the sleeve to the body. This time I did follow the instructions which have you sew the body seams and the underarm seam, then set the sleeve in. It was a phaff and I wished I had done my own thing again. Doing it their way also meant that the sleeve seams just didn't want to sit properly the first couple of times I wore it, but it's ok now.

I shortened the neck band by about 10% on this make as I felt the neck was sagging in the last one I made, but I don't think I did it enough as the back neck still sags a bit. It also looks like I need a sway back adjustment in the back view above. I think it is because the fabric is so drapey.

I love this top and have already worn it loads. It is probably my most worn top this summer! Somehow I have managed to get a teeny tiny hole in the front, so I may end up shortening it at some point.