The Accidental Zero Waste Dress

I’m all for zero waste, but the last time I attempted a zero waste garment it didn’t turn out so well.

What can I say. Not great unless you are after a Japanese look.

This time zero waste wasn’t my intention, but this is all that was left of 2m of batik, 120 wide. Not quite zero, but pretty darn close!

We are about to treat ourselves to a holiday in Vanuatu, after a very stressful and extremely busy year. Once upon a time I had 3 weeks off for my Christmas summer break, but this year it appears not only to be late, but to have shrunk as well. Still, one week is better than nothing. I am so tired I intend to veg and do nothing but eat and sleep. Forget sightseeing, culture and shopping, I intend to be almost exclusively in the pool or in the horizontal. (Well, maybe a bit of fabric shopping, if there is anything interesting.)

What I thought was needed to swan around the resort, on my way to meals, was a tropical style caftan. Not the sort of garment I need in my everyday life or will wear once back home, but I had some batik left from my last Bali trip and was going to give it a go.

I started off tearing a 6cm strip off along the end of my fabric, for the shoulder strap. Then I sewed the fabric length into the round with a French seam and topstitched that. I made this the side seam opposite the draped side and used a bodice pattern piece (Eva dress) to cut the armscye. I didn’t bother to make the front and back armscye different, just layed the back piece onto the doubled fabric and cut the armscye and shoulder with a rotary cutter. I sewed up the shoulder seam and finished the armscye with a bias trip in a matching colour. This resulted in a rectangle with an armscye in the top corner, worn on an angle.

The shoulder strap had to be placed carefully to hide my bra straps and this would have been a great deal easier with some help. But DH was at work, as he always is right now, and I eventually managed to get the straps in the right place. This took longer than all the rest of the sewing time on this garment! Then I sewed up the open fabric below my armpit and let it drape down.

All that was left now was to use the cut off piece from the armscye to make a tie to gather the straps on the top of my shoulder into a sort of simulated bow and hand sew this in place. Mission accomplished!

…and some location shots…

Wedding Guest

My niece was married a couple of weeks ago and it was such a happy occasion! You could tell that the brides had been planning this event for years and had put a lot of thought into the service. Not a dry eye in the house! Each wore the wedding dress of their dreams (not the same, that would have been weird), but both traditional long and white, one featuring lace and the other beading.

It was a daytime mid week summer wedding, so quite informal, and a hot day. I have quite a lot of dresses I could have worn, but at the last minute I decided to use a beautiful cotton/silk print I have been sitting on for years waiting for the right occasion. It had arrived!

It is the sort of fabric that wants to do all the talking, so a very simple style without too many seams to interrupt the design was in order. I used my trusty TNT, the Tessuti Lily Linen dress, hybridised with the armscyes and short sleeves from the Tessuti Eva, another trusty TNT.. The sewing took next to no time, including the cutting out and some frog stitching after a brain blip when I attempted to attach the bias binding for the neck to the hem. 🙂

I thought seriously about ballooning the hem by attaching it to a cotton slip, and possibly twisting it a bit, but work has been very busy lately, and time and energy are at a premium right now. So I folded back the hem at the sides by about 15cm to add some interest to the hem. Flat sandals with bling, a straw hat and a baroque pearl necklace completed the outfit. I felt very comfortable and stylish.

The StyleArc Sydney Designer Dress

Even though I am quite short (1.61cm), I always have and still do like oversized clothes. The Sydney has tempted me to try a new pattern,  but like all oversized styles it is designed for the tall and slim. It was pretty clear that it would need some modifications to make it suitable for short, round-ish me.

Lets look at the drawing on the StyleArc website.

And now the fashion pic.

I think you need to be pretty tall for it to look like this. The pic below I found on the net gives a better idea of how much volume there is, although unfortunately it is slightly sideways.

 

Too much volume for me, as I discovered when I made up a muslin. I cut a size 12, which should fit me pretty well according to the size chart. It was huge, as I more or less expected.

I have said it before and at the risk of sounding like a cracked record I will say it again: a lot of volume in the skirt only looks good on me when the bodice is fairly fitted. so I took in the bottom of the bodice by about 10-12cm, which is a fair whack in anyone’s book. I know there are some wrinkles above the bust, which make it look as if it is too tight, but there is plenty of room. I get those wrinkles all the tim when taking photos, even with loose garments, because my camera is up quite high and I need to lft my arms to turn on the timer to take each shot. The fabric seems to be getting bunched up on my bra when I raise my arms and I never remember to pull it down for the photo. Anyone else have this problem?

After I had narrowed the bottom of the bodice I took a good 30cm out of the skirt circumference as well, divided up between the 6 vertical seams. The result was much better.

But what I also discovered was that the front of the dress has a lot more volume than the back. So for the real version in a light cotton I decided to use the pieces for back of the skirt at the front as well. Then I made 1.5cm seams, which would have taken a further 6-8cm out of the circumference all up. Even 2cm at each seam wouldn’t have hurt.

I skipped the front pockets because I wanted to top stitch the vertical seams. This looks nice but would have been difficult with the pockets. If you really want them it would be very easy to put them in the side seams instead.

All the sewing details are on PatternReview and here are the pics.

The Tessuti Iris Dress

I finally got around to buying and making the Iris dress, after my first attempt at it using the Eva as a base and winging it from there. Of course it is the depth of winter now, so linen and sleeveless wasn’t going to cut it. Fortunately I found some Ponte in a suitable colour combination (always a problem!) at a sale, for a winter friendly version.

The actual Iris turned out to be a bit more slimline than my fudged version, and as much as I like the extra volume in a light batik for summer, I do love the more neat and trim version in Ponte. There are other differences too, the lower skirt is wider (I think I had lack of fabric issues with the batik) and the bodice seems a little longer, — not to mention the long sleeves and cowl!

For those who want to know, all the sewing details are on PatternReview.

The StyleArc Maisie Dress

Well, this is a prime example that first impressions can be deceiving. I remember a lot of scoffing online when the pattern first came out, fellow sewists saying how ridiculous it looked. I wasn’t so sure, I thought I could see potential, but the fabric combo of the example put me right off.

I have to confess at this point that I have zero talent when it comes to combining fabrics, especially if this involves prints. I have seen some beautiful examples, created by other people, that I would be thrilled to wear, but my own efforts in that direction have never even made it to the cutting out stage. And so the Maisie was tucked away somewhere in the back of my mind, percolating with the rest of my creative maybe-one-day ideas.

That was until I had bought some Ponte and was looking for a pattern to make this into the type of cocoon dress Rundholz does so well. And as much as I love the Tessuti Eva and Iris, I wanted something new freshen up my small, carefully curated, sure-to-work TNT dress pattern collection.

So I had another look at the Maisie, ignoring the fashion drawing and zooming in on the line drawing. Forget the two colours, I thought, and certainly forget the print and plain combo, the bones are good. Really, really good. The only doubt I had was whether the bodice would be a little long on me, but I decided to cut as per pattern. Lopping a few cm off later is relatively easy, adding on much less so. Looking at the photos, shortening the bodice by 3-4cm is probably worth a try next time.

I toyed with the idea of piping the angled horizontal seams, but simple is much more my style. Topstitching is quite enough as a decorative accent.

The round neck is just right for a blue silk scarf, or one of my blue gemstone necklaces, picking up the tiny blue slubs in the dark grey Ponte.

So here it is, the Maisie in an almost plain fabric, with and without a big infinity scarf and one of my me-made necklaces.

Ikat dress

It’s been a hot summer and even though we are well into March now the heat doesn’t seem to want to let up. The ikat I bought in Bali last time I was there is ideal for these sort of temperatures, apart from being a gorgeous handmade treasure.

There are, however, some design restrictions with this type of fabric, because it is made on a traditional loom and it is therefore only 100cm wide, with a border on both selvages. I opted for the same pattern as for my last ikat dress, a sleeveless empire bodice with a pleated long skirt, because it shows this gorgeous fabric off beautifully and the loose style is so comfortable in the heat.

I have had the pattern I used for the bodice for donkeys years, bought second hand for 50c and it is certain to be no longer available, so I can’t recommend a specific pattern. But any bodice without bust darts and with straight sides would probably do the trick. I have used the bodice of the Eva dress before, straightening the curved bottom edge and making it around 37-40 cm long, including the 4cm flange that hides the top of the pleats. I flipped it partially up in the photo below so you can see.

An undarted bodice generally has enough ease to get on and off without a closure, but if you are more generously endowed you might need bust darts, in which case you might also need to make the back of the bodice in two parts with buttons, or put a zipper in the side seam. The sewing details are on PatternReview.

 

From Eva to Iris

I might have mentioned before that the Eva dress by Tessuti is one of my all time favourites. I have been sewing it for years and one of the summer versions I made a few years ago needed replacing.

I have seen the Eva made up successfully in prints, but I think it is best suited to plain fabric to show off the top stitched seams. I had some medium weight linen marinating in my stash that fit the bill nicely. It is a light-ish indigo, just a little more purple than a straight dark blue. I pretty much love all shades of purple, especially the more subtle ones. Purple suits redheads almost as much as grey.

So here is the result.

 

 

If you are interested in the sewing details, they are on PatternReview.

On a roll, I decided I wanted another summer dress. It is so hot at the moment and dresses are definitely the coolest option for work wear. Cotton batik is a superb choice for hot weather, cool and not as high maintenance as linen can be, and I had a lovely piece that I bought as a remnant from a roll of sheeting. It was only 85cm, but 2.8m wide, so enough for a dress. I would have been tempted to make another Eva, as the painterly batik was different enough to the plain linen not to be too obvious, and with the flowing colours there was no problem with an awkwardly chopped up print, but unfortunately the Eva is a little fabric hungry and there was no way to cut it efficiently from such a narrow and long piece.

So I had a look for a pattern I could use, and found the Iris dress, which is a variation of the Eva.

The bodice looks the same, but the skirt only has one horizontal seam. A four-piece skirt produces less fabric waste than one with eight, and as I am rather keen on bubble shapes at the moment it was settled.

Unfortunately I had not planned ahead, and had taken my printer to work. I was far too lazy to go in just to print off the pattern. What to do? I thought I could modify the Eva pattern enough to make the Iris, which is probably what Tessuti had done in the first place.

Bad idea! I did get there is the end, but it took me a lot longer than it would have with a proper pattern. For a start I sewed the bottom skirt piece in upside down, not the end of the world but I only discovered this after I had overlocked and top stitched the seams. Both front and back! Unpicking long seams with multiple rows of stitching is only recommended if you like boring hand work and have oodles of time you want to kill. 🙂

The second problem was that I made the bodice with too much ease. This was ok with the Eva dress, because it is quite long and the proportions are different. Even though the Eva is a bubble, it is not particularly voluminous. The Iris bubble is wider before it goes back in, as the top half of the skirt flares out more because it is longer, at least it is in my version. I would be interested to know if this is the case with the Tessuti pattern as well, so I will be buying it to have a look. Judging by the pictures, my bottom skirt piece is narrower, making the dress shorter. This was due to fabric constraints, but I quite like the shorter look.  Unfortunately it all added up to make the silhouette quite square, courtesy of the loose bodice on top of everything else. So more unpicking. I took a total of 7cm out of the bodice width, quite a lot, but it now looks much better. I can still get it on and off without a closure, always good news as far as I am concerned.

I ditched the short sleeves I had been toying with, again because they made the top of the dress look too wide. I think a deep U neckline might have helped make the bodice look less square, but I had already finished it with a self bias and I had well and truly enough of unpicking. The original Iris pattern had a little stand up collar which I rather like, but I have so many necklaces that I feel I need lots of clothes with plain round necklines to get some wear out of all this jewellery.

 

 

A Bubble Dress

Now that I feel that I have done Lagenlook to death, I am casting around for a new style. Time to experiment a bit! My latest is the StyleArc Eme dress, rather a change for me because, even though it is still oversized, it is much shorter than my usual length. Just below the knee. Gulp.

 

I do like it. I had planned to wear this with leggings, but decided to be brave and just go ahead the way it is. I felt totally comfortable with the shorter length, a bit of a first for me. The only thing that makes me hesitate is that I am rather used to tight-ish fitting bodices and this one is very loose. I cut the size according to the StyleArc size chart, but I still feel I could go down a size. Or two.

It could be that I need to acclimatise to the change. What do you think? I might wear it for Christmas, it certainly is roomy enough to accommodate an enormous lunch, and see what the fashion police, aka DD has to say. If it is a thumbs down it would be really easy to take in the underarm and side seam a little. Or a lot, depending.

Your candid comments would really be appreciated.

The sewing nitty-gritty is as usual on PatternReview.

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Several months later
I did take it in and here is what it looks like now. Not sure if it was worth it, but I am still wearing it. The left is before and the right is the after shot. I think maybe I should have taken it in over the hips too, not just the bodice. It’s not too late, there might be a next iteration!

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Block-Printed Toni

The StyleArc Toni Designer dress is one of my favourite patterns, although I dispense with the collar and pare it down to its basic silhouette. I have posted about other versions of this dress here, here and here.

This time I wanted to make a long sleeve version, using a lovely cotton jersey that would be a great canvas for a bit of block printing. I used the same motif as for this t-shirt, except for mirroring it into a sort of abstract leaf shape.

I am very happy with the design, although the actual execution leaves a bit to be desired. This is due to the nature of block printing, where every print looks somewhat different and none of them are perfect, most with random bits where the ink didn’t quite cover. This is unlike stencilling which has a more solid application of the ink, but is more difficult to use on large areas such as a nearly maxi dress. Still, the block print seen as a whole doesn’t look too bad and close up the unevenness of the prints has a certain artisan charm. You can tell it hasn’t been done by a machine, at least that’s my story and I intend to stick to it. 🙂

But looking at the photos, I really ought to slim down the width of the bodice a bit, when I compare it to the dark grey version below, which has a more pleasing overall shape, because it looks quite tight below the bust and only flares out from there.

The two dresses are actually cut identical, but the lighter grey jersey is not as drapey as the darker. Or is it the large print that makes the difference? It has been a truism as long as I can remember that large scale prints are only for the super-skinny, but aesthetically I just like large prints so much better than small ones. It is a trade-off, but fortunately seeking to look as slim as possible is no longer my top priority when designing my clothes. Still, there is scope to slim done the bodice, and I will try it as soon as i can find the time and see if it will do the trick.

To get a winter version of the Toni, I combined it with my TNT t-shirt pattern, the Burda Lydia, for the upper part of the bodice and also used the long sleeves from that pattern. The sewing details are on PatternReview.

An Eva in Winter

Our kitchen reno is dragging on. Three weeks ago it was 90% finished, but then we had a slew of social and work commitments: grandchildren’s birthdays, weekend away we promised my daughter’s family ages ago, unreasonable customers demanding things on weekends. Everything slowed to a crawl. Now we are 95% finished, but have come to a screeching halt over the colour of the walls. I bought the paint a while ago, feeling quite confident that I did not need to do any tests to get the right colour.

Well, that was a mistake. I picked quite a dark shade of gray, being a bit bored with light, wishy-washy colours. But gray can be tricky, with undertones of blue, green or yellow. The gray I chose is too blue, making my cupboard fronts look somewhat beige in comparison. Grrr! So back to the drawing board regarding the paint. I will need to get a few sample pots after all to get it right.

In the meantime I thought I might do a quick sewing post, to keep my blog warm so to speak. 🙂

I might have mentioned before that I have made one of my all-time favourite dresses, the Tessuti Eva, in a Ponte for colder weather, and I happened to have a few photos I took ages ago. Winter is just about finished in the Southern Hemisphere, but those of you living in the northern half of the planet will be starting to think of autumn sewing.

The pattern is for a woven, but that only matters for the bodice. To adapt it to the knit, I merged the bodice of the Eva with the armscyes and long sleeves from my TNT t-shirt pattern, the Burda Lydia. The latter is unfortunately no longer free, but at $1.99 it is still a bargain, at least for those of us who don’t have access to the $1 sales of the Big 4. It is a great classic t-shirt pattern, very well drafted as you would expect from Burda.

Beware that Ponte is heavy, there is a lot of fabric in the skirt and this stretches the bodice downwards. That makes it especially important to shorten the bodice if you are not tall, or the proportions will be off. I am 161cm and take 5cm off the bottom of the bodice if I am using heavy, stretchy fabrics, which is about right for me. Because the bottom of the bodice is curved this also takes a few cm off the circumference and you need to adjust the top of the skirt accordingly.

I don’t adjust the skirt part for my height, or lack thereof, as I quite like the finished length.