Bridesmaid dress sewing

My best friend is getting married in March next year, myself and her sister are the bridesmaids. We'd planned on getting a custom made dress from a website overseas but the good/bad news is her sister has just found out she's pregnant (that's good), which means with a changing shape the chance of the dress fitting properly is not likely as she'll be just over 8mths at the wedding (that's bad, lol).

So, I offered to make the dresses, which I'm actually excited about but have a big learning curve since I've very rarely sewn with lace or chiffon and have never fitted a pregnant belly before.

The current dress plan is a princess line bodice with a lace overlay and sleeves. The skirt will be a chiffon pleated one. I figure I'll make a couple of mock-ups, not only to check the fit but to play with the technique. I've got 2 of Claire Shaeffer's books (Couture sewing and Bridal Couture), so I'll be reading up on sewing with lace. Pattern wise, I have her Vogue 8943 which is different to how I want the dresses made but will give me a good idea on finish and overlay

Here's the inspiration photos, the skirt is like the top photo and then add sleeves like the second photo with the lace overlay only being on the bodice. It will have more of a scooped neckline at the front.

She would like buttons down the back like in this pic, I'm wondering if I make it like a placket that would hide the zipper, still have to play around with that idea though. It may be easier to add a side zipper and have the back non-functioning but geez I hate side zippers! I like the idea that the zipper would be completely hidden and potentially the skirt overlay and back buttons would be not attached to the dress underlay for a couple of inches on either side and then do up and cover the zipper....not sure if its possible of how hard it would be to finish it neatly.

I figure for C (the pregnant bridesmaid), I'll fit her a few weeks beforehand and make her dress with extra wide seam allowances and hem and then fit her properly the weekend before. I'm figuring that fitting a belly would be similar to an FBA? More length and width to fit over the bump?

If anyone has suggestions for books, patterns or blogs to check please let me know!

McCalls 7199: Drape jacket

I am a sucker for a drapy knit cardi and McCalls really do seem to do the best ones. The sizing is pretty predictable though, I always have to size down a few sizes (I think I'm a 20 or a 22 on the size chart and I made a sz16 here), the arms are always too short and way too tight. There's something a little funky going on at the back of the armhole, I want to wash it a few times though and see if its the fabric being a bit stiff or if I need to trim some off next time.

Adjustments;

• Size 16
• 2" FBA
• 3" bicep width
• 1" to arm length
• 1" to armscye height
• 1" back width
• 1" to hips

I like the seam lines on the back especially and I really want to make a contrasting version eventually.

I read in the only review on patternreview that the weight of the facings dragged the top forward when wearing so I decided to leave the facings out and left the front edge unhemmed. This meant I stitched the back neck seam the other way from the instructions so the seam would be hidden

The fabric is a purple/grey ponte knit from Spotlight

I wore this to work this week and its one of those tops that looks so much nicer when you are moving around instead of standing still, it has great drape and I love the seam lines. I thought about making it look more fitted by taking it in at the back by adding a centre backs seam but I have been way over-fitting my clothes lately and need to just take a chill-pill and relax so I left it long and swingy.

Closet Case Files: Blue gingers

 

Another pair of pull-on ginger jeans -

Same adjustments as last time, main difference is I found they were hitching up at the back knees a bit which was because I had shaped the outer leg on the back pattern piece and it must have added extra length so the back pattern piece was about 1" longer than the front causing the buckling. Since fixing that they are hanging a lot straighter now.

 

The fabric is a lovely stretchy reversible denim from Rathdowne fabrics, with blue on the top and black underneath. Thread is Guttermann  #392 upholstery thread and the rivets are ones from etsy

I saved a blog post from a while ago by meggipeg - I really liked her jeans and the quilting on them so in tribute to them (which sounds so much nicer than saying I completely copied her!!) I quilted a section on my back pockets, using some scraps I had of fleece to beef them up with. I thought about using batting but figured the fleece wouldn't shed or unravel

I read another post the other day from notes of a mad housewife about sewing the back crotch seam up so the seam is exactly in the centre of the pants, not to the side like it is if you flat fell or even faux flat fell the seam. I tried the first method with the zig zag and it worked really well, I should have trimmed down my seam allowance from 5/8" to 3/8" though (I get a bit mixed up with the whole imperial measurement thing sometimes!) and next time I think I'll run a line of basting stiches along the fold lines as I found it a bit hard to measure it exactly evenly when you fold it over.

Gotta love an elastic waistband!

Grainline Studio 16001: Cascade Coat take 2

Its hard to show how much I love this coat in photos - I made it a couple of months ago and have been wearing it non-stop (apologies for the cat hair all over it, as soon as I put it down the cat is on it sleeping!)

I learnt a fair bit making the first version and therefore changed a few things on this version. The adjustments are the same;

I made View A with the hood

Size 14 through the shoulders graded to a sz 16 at the hips

Narrowed the shoulders by a further 1/2"

Added front princess seams from Simplicity 2446 with the equivalent of a 1.5" FBA

Changed the armscye  by also using S2446

Added to the upper sleeve width and to the sleeve cap (approx. 2" to each)

Wide back adjustment 1.5"

Added a centre back seam

Interfaced the fronts

Plus;

Took out some size of the hood (next time I'll be making it smaller again)

Added about 3" in length to the body and about 1.5" to the sleeves

 Catch-stitched down all the hem facings, I found on the first version they tend to flip out and not sit right, so I catch-stitched these down and then hand stitched down the hems on the sleeves and body. Its makes for a lot nicer coat to wear and didn't really take any more time.

I used a heavier poly coating this time and the coat sewed up so much nicer and is a lot nicer to wear too. The hood doesn't drag it back as much and its just so more wearable.

 

I made my own toggles again, the half circle toggles are a lot harder to sew on so I made these into a triangle shape. I made my own leather cording too, just by cutting strips, doubling them over and stitching. I used pre-cut leather strings last time and I found they have stretched out a lot and they don't have the heft and secure feeling that these do.

I used a brass zipper I salvaged out of a jacket from the op-shop (the same jacket I used to harvest all the leather from for the toggles)

Lining is a green rayon from Great Nan-in law's stash. I used plain black for the hood and pocket linings incase it shows.

This has been my main jacket so far this winter, and I bought some really nice plaid wool blend coating from Lincraft for next years version!

Recycle Runway Challenge: Part 3 - Runway

This is Part 3 (Part 1, Part 2)

My daughter agreed to be my model, we went with dark stockings and Doc Martens to finish off the outfit. I did her makeup and hair (I back-combed and teased her fringe up following the tutorial here)

They had a proper photographer, unfortunately the next two photos are the only ones they got of Amber (and I have no idea what's happening with her face in the last one, she looks kind of terrified!), but you can see the lighting and the runway - they projected our starting garments up on the back wall while our models were walking

 

Overall thoughts; I found the challenge really fun, a nice break from normal sewing. I'm not sure if I would enter again, the night went forever (5hours standing the whole time) plus Amber said she wouldn't model for me again (same reason, the whole night just dragged on).

I didn't place, as far as I can tell the judges wanted the outfits turned completely upside down, ie - jackets into skirts, jeans into tops.

If you are interested, the library posted all the outfits on their facebook page

 

 

Time to get back to some normal sewing!!