Party potato sack - another Simplicity 2147

I needed to whip up a party dress real fast for Saturday since we're invited to celebrate a friend's 40th birthday. I had already discarded all my other me-made dresses (too non-festive...) so of course (!) I needed to make one. I wanted something to look AND feel fab in, and which dress has rendered me more compliments than any other? Well, it's actually my green and blue simplicity 2147.

So why not use what you works? I just had to find a festive fabric... Looked through my boxes of fabric and landed on the fabric I used for the bridesmaid's dresses I sewed for my sister C's wedding.

Sorry about the picture quality, it's a photo of a framed photo. BTW, that's me on the right WITH HAIR! The bridesmaids (me and sister E) are pregnant in this photo, me 6 months and she 5 months! I think I did a good job on the dresses because you can't tell right away... :)

It's extremely crinkled and kind of slippery and just as I remembered it is kind of difficult to sew in. But I managed to produce this, which is a smash hit for me!

A simple dress in a festive fabric, it turned out great. I'll try to take some more photos on Saturday when I'm all made up and accessorized!

Well, what's new with this version? The obvious of course, the wrap neckline and it's sleeveless. I put on some buttons on the shoulders as suggested in the pattern, which gives the dress some more character I think.

So, yet again... IN YOUR FACE, everyone who calls 2147 a potato sack. I think it's a great pattern!

Bye for now,

Johanna

Coat info

Here's some more info about the coat I'm going to make. The pattern is from the Swedish sewing magazine Sömnadsmagasin issue nr 11/2011. It's a plus size pattern and making size EU46.

Here are the fabrics I will use. It's the fantastic polar fleece/bouclé in petrol/teal (though it looks more like blue in the photos) and some cheap satin fabric for lining.

Here's a close-up of the bouclé side:

 I hope my coat will be great and I feel positive about the project, even though I'm totally terrified of sewing in satin and putting in a lining, two things I've never ever done... Well, let's just see how it goes, I'm in no hurry, I probably won't need the coat until 2-4 weeks from now (yep, that's the climate in Sweden for you...).

Bye for now (but back soon with a post about my party dress),

Johanna

Coat prep

I've started work on my coat-to-be. And one of the first things to do is to trace the pattern pieces onto pattern paper. It's just that the pattern I've chosen is from a sewing magazine, which means I have to deal with this...

I have to find all of the pattern pieces below on that big sheet of paper above... 20 pattern pieces...

Wish me luck!

Bye for now,

Johanna

Projects for this week

1. Choose or make a dress for a birthday party on Saturday.
2. Take photos of the fabrics and samples for the kids' t-shirts and put on the blog.
3. Start on the coat (!) I've decided to make. (Bought a fabulous fabric where one side is polar fleece and the other is bouclé, the colour is petrol/teal.) Exciting!
4. Research trouser patterns, since I'm working up the nerve to try to sew trousers again (still remembering the jeans debacle from this spring).
5. Look into changing and expanding my sewing space. My husband(!) thinks I should have more space to sew...
6. I'm sure there was something else.... Had the list perfectly clear in my head while cycling home from town...

Later,

Johanna

Oh, finally remembered the next project on my list...

6. Sew one or more new headscarves!

Macaron 2.0

 

 

So, here's my second Macaron dress... Not quite like my first one, in several ways... Let me tell you...

 

 

I thought it would be a breeze sewing up my second Macaron, since the pattern was already cut out and fitted. I already knew what issues there might be and I had my mind set on a gorgeous knit fabric from my stash. I could use black thread for it, which I already had. So, it looked like a smooth sail, but oh no...

Since the fabric was patterned and I wanted to use the fabric pattern  a ccertain way, I had to cut out the pattern pieces the "wrong" way. This made the dress extremely stretchy lengthwise and for the first fitting, the waistband was on top of the hips. Not a very pretty sight. So I had to shorten the bodice about an inch and it doesn't look pretty on the inside, but OK on the outside.

The next issue was the fit around the upperbody, much too loose for was I had envisioned. So I had to take it in about an inch on each side, due to the stretchy/heavy fabric. I might to take it more, but I'll let the dress settle for now, wash it and then we'll see.

I also could have cut out the upperbody pieces as one front and one back piece instead of two bodice and two yoke pieces. That cute sweetheart neckline doesn't even show now...

A recommendation for anyone (especially me) who will make this dress is to attach the skirt pieces separately to the bodice before doing the side seams. It's just so much easier to make adjustments when the side seam goes all the way.

Did I make any other adjustments? Yes, I did. I lengthened the skirt by about 2 inches (not quite necessary since the dress stretched) and I omitted the zipper, since I don't need one to get in and out of the dress (streeeeetchy fabric).

I do like the dress, even with the fit issues and it was great to use the overlocker/serger for finishing the seams. It was very comfortable when I wore it for work today and I guess that's something to be happy about, even though it doesn't look like I had planned.

Bye for now,

Johanna

Crafts magazine inspiration and Macaron update

It's no secret that I like crafts magazine like Burda and the Swedish one, Sömnadsmagasin, but it can be difficult to find reviews of the patterns from those magazines. Well, while browsing the internet I found a fantastic site called Burda addicts, a sewing community. much like we sew retro, but formed round the Burda magazine patterns. It's in French though, but even if you don't know French you can always look at the photos!

BTW, I have made (almost finished) a second version of the Macaron dress, in knit fabric... I'm still contemplating my satisfaction with it, since it didn't turn out like the first version (Duh... Two very different types of fabric... Sometimes I'm not very smart... :)). Well, I will finish it, just some hemming left, and then I will post about it and you can make your own opinion about it...

Bye for now,

Johanna

Compliments

I started work last week and this week the students are back too. So I wanted to look nice off course, it feels good to wear nice clothes. For Thursday I decided on my polka dot Simplicity 2363 and yesterday (Friday) I wore my Macaron muslin.

I got a lot of compliments on both dresses and I felt very comfortable in them, so now I've decided on making more of both patterns! At first, I wasn't sure about the Macaron dress, but after wearing it for work a whole day, I will make another one. The polka dot dress I liked from the start, but after wearing it several times and liking it more and more, I must make another one.

So, let's go fabric hunting in my stash.... :)

Bye for now,

Johanna