Shannon (my mother) and I have decided to end the dual-blogging setup and return to our individual blogs. We created this one with one idea in mind, but it shaped up a bit differently, and it makes more sense now to disperse.
She can be found at Five Gallon Bucket, and I’m now at Today is the Day. All our sewing and quilting archives have been transferred over.
See you there!
~Alice
At last, I have photos of a finished object! Expect more coming soon! After a summer of sewing, I have quite the backlog in my closet, and mean to get them photographed ASAP, before I forget all the construction details.
This is, obviously, the Anna dress by By Hand London. Mother bought the pattern and had it shipped to me, which was quite exciting, since I rarely get the chance to make a pattern while the blogging world is so abuzz with it. I’m not much of a maxi girl (too short), but the short version is such a simple, versatile sort of dress!
I made it up in this cozy, soft corduroy from Fabricmart, with a fair bit of stretch (yikes, stretch!). The print is lovely, and reminds me a porcelain teacup, but I knew it had to be paired with very simple lines. The Anna dress is very simple, and a nice slim silhouette to boot. I’m very pleased with the overall look (and it goes smashingly with my blue beret, which I practically live in these days).
For sizing, I was a bit worried, as the smallest size is still a couple inches too big for my upper bust. I cut a size US 2 at the back, grading out to a size 4 at the waist. For the front, I cut a size 2 at the neck and shoulders, a size 6 at the bust, and a 4 at the waist, and took out half an inch horizontally a couple of inches above the bust. I cut a size 4 skirt.
I ended up sewing the side seams at 1 inch, to accommodate for the stretch. I also hemmed the sleeves shorter than the pattern called for, though I don’t know by how much. I’m pretty pleased with the sizing for the bust down, but it gapes something awful at the neck with regular movement, and the neckline is so wide as to be almost off-the-shoulders. I will definitely do some more alterations before I make my next one. I did make a muslin, but the neckline didn’t seem problematic.
My corduroy raveled dreadfully, and the only appropriate seam finish I could think of was french seams, so I french seamed it! They’re pretty bulky and don’t lay flat very well, but it’s not an issue while I’m wearing the dress. I bias bound the waistline seam and the back seam along the zipper with homemade bias tape from the teal sheet I used to make my shorts.
From the inside it looks like the waistline seam doesn’t match up. It does, though, I promise!
See? I didn’t have an invisible zip, so I just used a regular, hand-picked one. I like it.
At first I truly intended to match the stripes in this print, but somehow it didn’t happen. It mostly happened on the bodice, and I managed to get the front stripes lined up, but that’s about it. Luckily, the print is so busy, no one will notice.
Overall, I really like this dress! The stretch makes it so comfortable, and the corduroy’s really cozy. The fit issues are frustrating, but I’ll fix them for my next one, and they won’t stop me from wearing this one. I like the silhouette and the pleats-instead-of-darts (I used them on a couple of shirts I made this summer and I really like the look) and the boat neck! My current favorite t-shirt has a similar neckline.
I’m thinking of another Anna in lawn, perhaps with a slightly wider skirt for dancing. But in the meantime, my next project is a corduroy red-and-pink Macaron!
I’ve been wanting shorts all summer, but I didn’t want to spend money on a store pair. Shorts are exactly the sort of them that I would spend an hour trying on and considering, and then decide that it wasn’t worth it and I would just do without. So the obvious solution is to make some. If I don’t like them, then at least they provided entertainment value, and I didn’t spend money on them.
These shorts are really more of a muslin or a practice piece for future pairs of shorts, but I did make them, they are my very first pair of shorts, and I do on occasion wear them, so I thought I’d share them here.
Disclaimer: they are very wrinkly. Also, you can see the line of my shirt tucked in. Oh well.
I took the pattern off my best-fitting non-stretchy pair of trousers, which I got secondhand somewhere and which are clearly hand-sewn! I love them, and they fit really well except for a bit of gaping in the back waistband. I tried to eliminate that gape with the shorts, but they still do, a bit, and they are dangerously low-rise… It looks fine in the picture, but it can be uncomfortable to wear.
The fabric is a teal poly-cotton bedsheet. I meant to use the wrong side, which is less shiny, but halfway through inserting the fly I realized that the shiny side was going to be showing, and I didn’t have the heart to take it out when everything was going so well.
The waistband doesn’t match up quite as well as I had hoped. I don’t entirely know how it worked in the original trouser pattern, but I think it needs to be longer. The fly’s a little narrow, too, but I do know what went wrong there.
The hem does an amusing flippy thing. Something about it not being quite even, perhaps. I’ve made another, modified pair, which I finished last night, and it’s not really an issue with them, so I’m not sure.
Something about wearing shiny teal short-shorts can be really tricky. I believe with the right circus-inspired styling (lace tights, blousy top, vest tall boots) they could be kind of fantastic, but usually I just wear a longer top so there’s, well, less teal.
Now that I know what a few of the pattern’s kinks are, I have plans for a cuffed pair in green wool for wearing over tights in the winter. It’s still the heat of summer, but I fear limited sewing time once school starts, so I’ll have to finish my summer sewing list in the next couple of weeks and move onto my fall/winter one (haha! dream on).
I’m sewing my Macaron muslin today, and thinking about things I want to do with it. One of those things is to make only the shell bodice, add straps, and sub in a circle skirt, essentially making a sleeveless summer/dancing dress that I can swing and ceili in. Has anyone ever made the Macaron without the contrast yoke? Did it work?
SIDEWALK STYLE, DIRT ROAD DIGS 