Deer & Doe Bleuet

I present, my first make from Deer & Doe patterns: the Bleuet dress.

I had been eyeing up this pattern for a while. Although, I’m sad to say, I’m not a big fan of many of the versions I’ve seen, I still loved the style and details (Jo asked me why I decided to make it when I haven’t seen any versions I love. My answer was “I figured I could make it better). Weirdly, I’ve loved almost every version of the Belladone, but actually dislike the pattern itself.

After making it up, I’m not sure how I feel about this dress.

Pros

• Cute as hell
• Look at that bow in the princess seam!
• Details that I love: sleeves and collar (with a stand)
• I like linen! And it was only $3/m, crazy talk.
• My first collar stand went pretty well.

Cons

• The fit is not great. I awesomely didn’t make a muslin, and so the waist sits too high (about 2″) and the hips are too flared (I measured the pieces and determined I needed more). Consequently it’s not as flattering as I’d like, because it’s missing the narrowest part of my waist.
• The construction.. ugh. When I tried it on half-way through, it was going to be too small over the bust – so instead of folding the placket over twice, I folded once – leaving an overlocked edge exposed (inside). If I left it at that, it would be too big above the chest, so I took more of a wedge there…. messy.
• The pattern instructions are sparce. Whether that’s how they started off (I think so) or because they’re translated I’m not sure. They’re fine, and you could easily get away with not using them at all, but one of my favourite things about indie patterns (particularly Sewaholic and Papercut patterns) is the attention to detail in the instructions, ensuring a nice inside to the garment.
• Despite being careful to put a button over the breast point, it still gapes a bit, so I’ll always have to wear a slip (I need to make one – currently I just have op-shop polyester numbers) and even then it’s a bit dodgy.
• I did horizontal buttonholes because I figured that way they wouldn’t have any chance of popping open. It’s true, but the placket wasn’t wide enough so the buttonholes go off the edge of the interfacing…

You can see the dodgily tapered button placket on the left.

Despite the issues, it is wearable and looks quite nice on, so I will continue to wear it (can you tell I’m in a negative mood as I write this? Goodness knows why, just one of those days). I’m just not sure I’ll make this pattern up again.

This is in response to Mr. Guy telling me to straighten my posture. Mega-gape.

Details

Pattern: Bleuet (blueberry) by Deer & Doe Patterns

Fabric: navy textured linen, $3/m from The Fabric Warehouse pop-up sale, $6

Notions: 15 buttons, $1.20 each. Thread and interfacing, stash. Total = $18

Total: $24

My question to you: why do you choose to sew with indie patterns (if at all)? Is it because of the designs, the instructions, certain fits (like those drafted to pear shapes), supporting small businesses, or a sense of loyalty to the sewing community and mistrust of The Big Four?

PS what the hang is with wordpress’s spellcheck? It doesn’t know the words “waist”, “sew”, and “pear”. Wut

It’s a zoo out there!

Late last year Juliet had an idea for the January Wellington Sewing Bloggers Network (WSBN) meet up: zoo at the zoo. The idea was to make clothes with animal fabric/animal themed, and visit the zoo to celebrate. Apparently it’s also Jungle January, although I’m not so sure what that even is.

January worked out well because there was two-for-one tickets at Wellington Zoo, and the day worked well because my sister-in-law was working and I was able to watch her try to excite kids in games about Australian animals (it was Australian day… Jo was not impressed with all the pro-Australian greetings from staff!)

My skirt is, of course, Gertie’s high-waisted skirt, made in a bottom-weight Zebra-printed cotton from The Fabric Store. I bought it on another WSBN outing (the Craft Crawl run by The Dreamstress) – Zara grabbed the bolt from a part of the store I rarely look at, and I immediately rushed over and nabbed some for myself. This type of fabric is one of my favourites – it’s not obviously crazy patterned from far away but when you get close you see how awesome it is.

(I hate this Glassons t-shirt; the seams twists like crazy which is uncomfortable and not nice aesthetically, but the slouchy yet fitted shape is exactly what I want to wear with skirts.)

Construction wise, the skirt has no surprises. I used my already-altered pattern (and have realised that I need to take about 2cm out of the front panel, as it’s a touch loose and the side seams sit a touch further back than they should). Everything is sewn then overlocked, with an enclosed waistband using my stich-in-the-ditch foot (I love this thing!). The zip is lapped and I used the last black button from my stash (my red Gertie skirt is still lacking a button and I have to safety pin it up).

I got clothing tags! The quality is so-so (they’re polyester and unravel so bad at the sides that I have to burn each edge) but it’s really cool having labels in my hand-made clothes – seems so much more professional. I’ve been adding them to newly made stuff but should go back and add them to clothes I made a while ago.

I only bought 0.8m of it (the PERFECT amount for the skirt – I usually end up rounding up how much I need but end up having annoying 20cm scraps left over, so luckily Leimomi convinced me I didn’t need more than 80cm). I therefore didn’t bother pattern matching (too busy to need it, I figure) but I did end up with a lovely two-headed zebra over the zip (the magic of fusible stay tape. I would also like to point out how nice my darts are sitting – a combination of using my tailors ham and starting the dark from the top and sewing off the edge (of the point) means they don’t bubble.

My husband tells me this is not what Zebra’s do.

Details

Pattern: Gertie’s high-waisted skirt (from her book), used for the 6th time

Fabric: 0.8m or heavy cotton from The Fabric Store, I-don’t-remember-how-much, approx $16. Black fabric (for waistband) is leftover from another skirt.

Notions: zip, thread and button, stash

Total: about $16. Frick yes! This is why we sew, ladies and gents.

And, a WSBN group photo:

Clockwise from top-left: Jo, Juliet, Joy, Zara, Gemma, Sandra, Kat and Myself.

Wellington Sewing Bloggers Network

Elisabeth – The Sewphist and Hand Make Me Over

Emma – The Takahe Bites

Gemma – Sixty Six Stitches

Gillian – Sewing Down Under

Holly – Polucraftual

Jenna – Ruby Dust

Johanna –  Making It Well

Joy – A Charm of Magpies

Juliet – Crazy Gypsy Chronicles

Kat – Modern Vintage Cupcakes and Pieces of Us

Leimomi – The Dreamstress

Maryanne – Made Marion Craft and Sent From My iRon

MaryLouise – Thanks! I Made This Myself! 

Melissa – The Curious Kiwi

Nicola – Piccolo Presents

Nikki – Nikki’s Stitches

Sandra J – Sewist Stitch

Sandra M – Flossie FT

Sophie-Lee – Two Random Words

Teresa – Adventures of a Girl from the Naki

Wendy – Sew Biased

Zara – Off-grid Chic

The January meet up, at the zoo. There’s so many of us it’s hard to get us all in the same place at once!

Reaffirming my love for Sewaholic Hollyburn

You will have to excuse the wrinkles – I wore this skirt two days in a row (!) before taking these photos, and forgot to iron it first.

This pattern…. well. It is, in my opinion, expertly drafted, especially for me. It’s quick to cut and to sew – I cut it out during some down time at work, and it probably took 2.5 hours TOPS to make. The pockets are the perfect size and sit nice and flat. Both this and the other version I still wear (in silk, see here) are cut on the bias so the fullness of is spread evenly around. I’ve also made this a few others times – one was version C and too short for me (so got given to Tough Chick – photos to come), another I made in the wrong fabric and gave it away.

It’s also comfortable and easy to wear – it fits snugly around the waist (good) and flares out over the hips (good). This is version A and is my favourite length for a skirt, just under the knees (good). It’s a perfect work skirt as it’s modest, cute and, well, I could run to an emergency while keeping my dignity if I really needed to.

I made this version out of a sturdy cotton twill from The Fabric Store. After making this up so quick I very, very much wanted to run off and get more but I’m trying desperately to restrain myself – I’m going AWAY damnit, and don’t need more fabric.

Mr. Guy and I went for a drive and took these photos at Island Bay, Wellington. I’m surprised none of the photos show the crazy wind and waves.

Although it took me so little time to sew, I did do it over a few days because I forgot to buy a matching zip at the store. I’m lucky enough to have an excellent friend that owns a craft shop, who will create a parcel of things I need, and leave the door unlocked 15 minutes past closing time so I can run and get it when Mr. Guy forgets to.

I did a lapped zipper and this time could actually get my head around doing one when the zip hits the top of the waistband (you just… fold it). I loved lapped zips, I never really did a nice centered zip that didn’t gape, so I’m glad I found this technique (as mentioned before, I use Scruffy Badger’s mothers technique).

My favourite bit is the hemline – I decided to use bias binding as a hem tape, because the skirt is quite full. Mrs C chose the bias binding based on my description of the colour as “grey-navy” and it is perfect. I just wish I could show it off to strangers more.

Even now my folding and stitching isn’t, erm, the straightest. If you’re looking at the binding side is looks a bit wonky, but I sewed it with right-side-up keeping an even distance from the edge, so it’s straight where it counts.

 

Details

Pattern: Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt

Fabric: Cotton twill from The Fabric Store, $18/m with 40% off VIP sale, $21.60

Notions: Zip ~$4 and bias binding $7

Total: $32.60

I would also like to mention how amazing it is that someone found my blog yesterday by googling “erotica better than my husband”. It obviously directed them to this post but what were they really looking for?

Tough chick dressed by Sophie: Part One

Meet Tough Chick, my soon-to-be-sister-in-law (the wedding is one week away!!). She doesn’t like shopping, but does love receiving the clothes I’ve made and for whatever reason don’t want any more. There are more that I’ve given her that she ended up taking to the op-shop because they didn’t fit her style either (and plenty more that I’ve made and gotten rid of other ways).

Please note: most of these items were made a while ago (>9m ago) and I feel, thankfully, that my sewing skill has improved dramatically since then.

This will be a rather photo-heavy post because I don’t have much to say about the clothes! I’m really just presenting my awesome SIL to the blogging world AKA the blogosphere (that’s for my husbands benefit, as he HATES that word. Blogosphere, hehe)

This dress is made from a pattern I have since got rid of, because the style didn’t suit me at all. So, can’t even remember the name or brand.

The fabric was a steal at $5/m at the Spotlight in Nelson (my home town). It’s beautiful but really not my colour! This dress was made early 2012 and was the first thing given to Tough Chick. She was excited but didn’t know there was so much more to come.

The next lovely number modelled by Tough Chick also features Jane The Dog:

It’s made in a really really nice cotton sateen in pale blue with almost-Sakura like flowers (from Nelson Spotlight. I loved this but too short and the skirt was a bit too small, I think. This was also made in Nelson in early 2012 and was first worn taking my grandma out to High Tee. She was very impressed at my sewing prowess!

I thought this was made from New Look 6824 – but I remember the pattern came with the bow belt, so it can’t be. I have obviously got rid of this pattern too.The next is a cotton-drill skirt made in Christchurch in late 2012. Note, all the tops in these posts were also given to her by me but were RTW. I’m now wondering why I gave this navy wool one away…

Lucky for you, Tough Chick is a great dancer:

This skirt is just too dang small for me 😦 But check out the completely-accidental-sort-of-pattern matching on the zip and waistband!

Okay, as well as being a photo heavy post, it’s not very intellectually stimulating. Probably because I haven’t had nearly enough sleep this week and agreed to do an extra half-shift tomorrow (only 7 hours rather than the usual 15 – do you know I work about 50-60 hours a week?), and I’m sitting here freezing my butt off because Wellington doesn’t know that it’s SUMMER.

Tomorrow will be dealt with by lots of coffee, and by dreaming of all the fabric and I can buy with the extra money…

Birdy dress – Anna with gathered skirt

A summer dress to present to you all.

The bodice is made from By Hand London’s Anna and the skirt is a plain gathered “dirndl” style skirt (just two rectangles gathered and attached to the bodice).

I’m interested in the feelings I have about this dress. I think a lot of us who sew are a lot more judgemental about our own items, as compared to the RTW (ready to wear) clothes that we buy – it seems that I have always been rather accepting of all the fitting issues of RTW, so long as it mainly fits (perhaps that’s largely due to the fact that I’ve always been overweight, so clothing fitting/zipping up has always been a bonus. With my own clothes, however, I get caught up on quite minor issues that no one would ever notice.

I think it’s helpful to reflect on this in order to be happier with our craft. I don’t really go clothes shopping any more (RTW-free for 8 months so far) but I have gone into a couple of shops and tried things on and.. well, let’s just say it gives you a good perspective! The fabrics are not very nice, and the fit tends to be terrible.

Take this dress, that I bought from MAC several years ago to wear to Mr. Guy’s brothers wedding:

If you excuse the fact that I was a bit heavier, and the photo is blurry… this dress fits me terribly! Too short, too low, the waist is crazy high (it’s a gathered skirt on an empire line dress for goodness sake), it’s 100% polyester, and the pattern placement on the bodice leaves something to be desired. And yet, I loved this dress, put it on lay by and paid it off over several weeks. I think I only wore it that once.

In terms of my bird dress today, I feel like the waist is too high (by ~1″ rather than 3″ on the RTW version), the darts are definitely in the wrong place (as with all FOUR of my Anna dresses!) the shoulders sit a bit far back/the whole dress wants to slide back a bit (balance is off), and it’s perhaps a touch too long. The bias binding neckline didn’t work so well (I’ve decided I dislike these even more than facings, which I thought I disliked the most). That’s it, but I’m still so critical of it.

It can be so off-putting sewing something up only to be unhappy with the result, that I would encourage you (especially beginners), to not be so hard on yourselves! This dress cost me very little for the fabric quality, fits me well, is going to be really comfortable when Wellington decided to be summery (although I’m a bit worried about the skirt in this wind!)

I constantly have to remind myself that whatever fitting issues I have, my clothes are still better than RTW. There may be construction issues, yet – but that’s okay, I’m still learning and my main problem is actually impatience.

Anyway, I guess I should say a bit more about the dress itself. This is a simple dress made from a birdy rayon from Arthur Toye. The bodice is made from By Hand London’s Anna and the skirt is a plain gathered “dirndl” style skirt (just two rectangles gathered and attached to the bodice).

The dress is sewn in the flat and all seams finished with the overlocker. I hemmed it using the narrow hem feature on my overlocker (I LOVE this). In making the skirt, I just made it as long as I could and forgot to leave some fabric to make a facing from. I decided to do a bias binding neckline, which ended up looking like crap so the dress hung in my wardrobe for a month or so before I unpicked it and did it again – instead of sewing all the way around, I’ve just tacked it down at about 6 different spots. Seems to have worked alright, and saved me a lot of hand sewing.

This dress is going to be especially good for Camp A Low Hum, the best music festival in the world, that we’re going to in early February. Hopefully it’s super sunny like the last time I went (3 years ago) and this super-light weight rayon will be a life-saver. I also have another rayon that’s waiting to be made up into a ground-length Anna (hopefully after I’ve sorted out the bust pleats) for the same festival.

Let me cuddle you!

Details

Pattern: By Hand London’s Anna bodice with a gathered skirt

Fabric: 100% rayon from Arthur Toye sale, originally $25/m, 2m = $25

Notions: cream zip, stash (for some reason) and thread, stash.

Total: $25

I don’t know what I’m doing here but I look pretty fab.

Giveaway winners

Alright! Thanks to everyone for participating: we had 67 entries/comments in total, and I had a HUGE amount of people start following the blog (leading to increased strutting at work). Thanks to Jo and Thread Theory for spreading the word.

My dear husband put all the numbers into a random number generator, and the winners are:

• Number 65, Cammie, has won the hardcopy – looks like your dad is going to get an awesome cardigan!!
• Number 29, Fenna, has one the PDF copy  – your husband is also going to get his cardigan 😀

I bet this is you two right now:

Thanks to all those that entered! And thanks so much to Sarah, Morgan and Matt for providing the patterns. For those who didn’t win, Sew Squirrel will have the paper versions in stock soon to order (I’d like to buy all three, even though I own all the PDF versions already).

And sorry there’s no finished garment today – there could have been, I even finished a dress today in sunlight hours ready to be photographed; but I left my camera at my SIL’s house. Dang.

Stashbusting 2014

A lot of you will be aware of the 2013 Stash-busting challenge, where people pledged to sew a certain amount of their stashed fabric. Last year, I mainly wanted to join in because the button was so cool… but thought I was too late to join + didn’t have a blog for most of the year.

Well, it’s back for another year, and I’ve decided I will join in this year. My stash isn’t as big as some people I know but still, a stash is a stash. I actually start feeling uncomfortable when it gets too big (I’ve had nightmares about that hoarders TV show), and am less likely to sew, so last year I actually got rid of a lot of fabrics I wasn’t all that keen on sewing up – I was very tough on myself and, at an estimate*, probably got rid of half my stash (most of which was given to one sister-in-law).

Nonetheless, a made garment is a hang of a lot better than fabric sitting on a shelf, and I never want to have pieces that are so precious I’ll never sew them up. Yes, I have a piece of chiffon and a piece of silk cotton that will be in there for a while, but only until I feel I have the skills to not balls them up.

So, without further ado: I, Sophie-Lee, commit to using half my stashed fabric in 2014.

I actually just counted my stash and it comes to 53 pieces in total. I have an average of 2m per piece so that’s about 106m of fabric. Plus, there may or may not be a 40% off sale at Global-That-Was this coming week (I see some wool crepe in my future…) Some of this fabric is for other people (two pairs of pants for Mr. Guy, leggings for my mum, merino’s for people) but most, of course, is for me.

Luckily I have a 3 month contract up in the far north (several hours away from any fabric stores) so I’ll be doing my very own Desert Island Sewing. So if I take up a reasonable amount of fabric I should be able to churn through it, because I WONT BE DOING 15 HOUR SHIFTS FOR THREE MONTHS! Yipee!!

This is my “I could sew any of these, any time” pile. Plus notions on the left.

These are my more specific pieces that wont get sewn in the near future (wool felt, chiffon, laces etc)

Are any of you thinking of pledging? I’m not sure how well I stick to challenges like this but it was good to actually count how much I had (and I separated some more that I’ll be selling at the next Fabric-a-Brac). Do large stashes make you nervous or do you love the idea of rolling around in that much fabric?

* I’m very bad at estimating. Once, my husband asked me how tall I thought some trees were, and I guess 100m. Also, I hate the word “guestimate”.

My blog: now more popular than erotica. Plus, a giveaway!

Edit: This giveaway is now closed – congratulations to the winners and thanks to all those who entered.

This week I’m celebrating my 50th (and 53rd) blog followers! Woot. When I first started my blog four months ago, if you googled “tworandomwords” (and asked google to actually search for it rather than separating the words out), the first result would be an erotica writer. Who hasn’t even submitted anything to literotica. But now, I take up the top four posts.

So I thought to celebrate I would have a giveaway from one of my favourite indie pattern companies, Thread Theory. As lots of you will be aware, they’re a Canadian company designing menswear patterns that dudes will actually want to wear. Their patterns include the Newcastle Cardigan (see here, here and my version here), the Strathcona Henley Tee (examples here, here and my version here), and the Jedediah Trousers (see examples here and here; my versions will come when Mr. Guy gets around to tracing the patterns). They are also working on a Pea Coat which is currently being tested.

Thread Theory’s patterns are really nice to work with; well drafted, excellent instructions and great customer service. I highly recommend them if you’re wanting to dip your toe in menswear, or even if you’re an old hand. Previously they’ve only been available as PDF files (although luckily I’m friends with the clever Mel from Curious Kiwi, who can wizard them into a wide format and print them) but Morgan and Matt have just started printing them in hardcopy. So lush!

I’ve been lucky enough to be offered TWO patterns to give away – a PDF version from Thread Theory themselves, and a paper copy from Sarah of Sew Squirrel. Sarah is a sewer herself (ugh that word, sewer. But I hate sewist or sewista even more, and seamstress is usually reserved, in my mind, for someone who makes their living on sewing) who also has a shop selling indie patterns from Australia, making them much more accessible to those of us in the Southern Hemisphere. Her international shipping is only $3 and items arrive very quickly – and the one time when NZ post decided to faff around for two weeks, Sarah offered to re-send the patterns even though it wasn’t her fault. THAT is amazing customer service.

In addition, because Morgan and Sarah have been so generous, I have decided to donate to the Fred Hollows Foundation. Fred Hollows was a kiwi ophthalmologist (eye doctor) who did countless operations restoring sight to people in developing countries; and the foundation carries on that work by doing cataract operations in the Pacific Islands, and by training local healthcare professionals (doctors and nurses) in eye care. It only costs $25 for each cataract operation so even with a small donation, you’re changing one persons life completely.

So, the giveaway

To enter, simply comment on this post: tell me which pattern you’d like, and who you’d make it for. I’ll do two draws, one for the paper hardcopy and one for the PDF version. Edit: they both include international postage (and erm, emailing of the PDF).

May I also suggest that it would be an awesome idea to follow my blog – see links on the top right sidebar in order to follow with Bloglovin or by email.

Good luck – and thanks for reading! I’ll finish with my favourite picture on the entire internet.

For bonus points, I love puns and cheese one-liners.

Disclaimer: I’ll never actually be more popular than erotica.

Late Christmas dress & sewing in the flat

This dress was supposed to be a party dress to wear on Christmas day; and to meet the December challenge for The Monthly Stitch. Unfortunately, I’m terrible with deadlines and despite almost finishing it, somehow it got hung up in my WIP closet with only the hem and neckline to finish.

Last night I had plans to make the Deer & Doe Pavot coat – even had all the fabric washed, ironed and laid out ready to cut – but couldn’t find the pattern. Darnit! In the end I found it (in a plastic bag in the back of the wardrobe – why?) but not before I decided to just finish this dress.Argh, my legs looks BLUE!!

I made it from my bodice block and sleeves (long-ish sleeves in summer, good thinking), with the skirt from New Look 6824, edited a bit to make it fit the bodice and match the princess seams. And, for fun, I added a huge bow which is (poorly) handstitched on in the middle, and on each side to hold the bow up.

The fabric is a polyester rayon blend that’s woven to look kind of like a linen. I think it would be best for autumn or spring, but also works when Wellington doesn’t realise it’s summer yet.

Not much else to say about the dress, except I thought I’d mention how I put the dress together, as I could never find information about sewing in the flat. Basically, it involves constructing the whole dress while leaving the side seams until last (but before the hem).

Sewing in the flat is a technique I use when I think a pattern is a bit too big and am going to have to take in the side seams; when I’m using bodice and skirt pieces from two separate patterns (that won’t necessarily be the same size); or just when I feel like it. It’s similar to what you’d often do in knitwear, such as used with the Renfrew t-shirt and Tiramisu dress.

How to sew a dress in the flat

If using princess seams, sew and finish (using an overlocker, pinking shears etc) the front sides to the middle front; and the center backs to the side backs; if using darts, just make those. Leave the side seams and center back open (unless you’re going to use a size zip, then you could do the center back seam now). Now, stitch each bodice piece to the corresponding skirt pieces. If you’re using two different patterns, one piece may overlap a bit as mine did at the side seams, because the skirt pattern is slightly bigger than the bodice, or vice versa.

Next, stitch the shoulder seams together and finish. For this dress I used an overlocker, then topstitched 2mm from the edge of the seam.

Despite today being incredibly sunny, my house is always in the dark, making it hard to get indoor photos in natural light.

Now add the sleeves (gather before doing so if you need to ease them in).

I decided to do the zip next, using a lapped zip. A white one because, you know, that’s a great idea for a nectarine coloured dress. I would probably recommend doing the side seams first, because all that fabric laying around made it a bit difficult.

Now, you sew up the side seams. Start by pinning the underarm seams and waist seams so they match, then pin the rest of the seam to your hearts content and sew away. I awesomely didn’t take any more photos (thought I did, can’t find them) but I know you know what a side seam looks like.

So, now I only have three unfinished dresses in my cupboard. Which annoys me. One just needs a hem; another needs a hem and the bias binding neckline swapped to a facing (I’ve decided that I dislike doing bias binding necklines, as much as I thought I would love them, because I can NEVER get them to lay flat); and the third needs the hem finished, the front stitched up somehow, and more fabric for the dickie.

This is how I feel about unfinished garments:

It’s also how I feel about still being semi-nocturnal after finishing a set of nights – sleeping in until 1pm (wasting almost all the day!) and not being tired until after midnight.

Details

Pattern: Bodice and sleeve block (from a Made on Marion class), skirt originally from New Look 6824

Fabric: 2m of 78% polyester 22% rayon from Arthur Toye sale, down to $7.50/m = $15

Notions: thread, zip and bias binding, stash.

Total: $15. Wowsers!