Completed: 40s Wool Crepe Wrap Dress

I know, this dress looks strikingly similar to the 40s wrap dress that Peter made for his identical cousin Cathy earlier this month, not to mention I’ve already dabbled in wool crepe for summer wear, as well as a full 40s wool crepe dress. Yeesh. Ya think it’s possible for me to branch out a little here? Nuh uh, no way. Not me.

I actually bought this fabric ‘way back when I was visiting Mood Fabrics in NY. I’m sure y’all are sick of hearing about it at this point, but heyyyy I’ll be working through that stash for at least the next couple of months. Just so we’re clear.

Anyway, fabric. As I mentioned before, I wasn’t planning on buying any wool crepe – but again, Carolyn talked me into it. She’s SUCH a good enabler! This wool crepe is actually a bit thinner and drapier than most wool crepes I’ve come across, making it a good weight for a smart summer dress (oh god, did I really just describe a dress as “smart”? I am totally stuck on this 40s thing…). With Carolyn’s advice, I underlined the entire dress in a lightweight cotton batiste, to combat the slight sheerness and make the dress more comfortable to wear in the heat.

I used McCall’s 6113 to make this dress up. Isn’t the pattern gorgeous!? A friend found it (along with an entire paper grocery bag full of patterns – ranging from the 40s to the 80s, all in my size. I MEAN COME ON, WHAT ARE THE ODDS) in her attic, and gifted the whole stash to meee! Yes!! The pieces are intact, but unfortunately… the instructions are not. Wah wah. Thankfully, I’ve made a few wrap dresses in my day, not to mention I feel fairly confident in my assemblage skills, so I decided to give it a go.

… this is what I found when I pulled the pieces out. Not only is everything labeled (thank you, printed patterns!), but there are construction notes printed ON the pattern sheet, AND the notches are numbered in the order that things go together. PRAISE THE LORD. Although, in all honesty… I probably could have put this together without the help. But MAN, it was nice to eliminate most of the guesswork!

Despite the pattern being in my size, I did have to make a few adjustments to get everything to fit nicely (I generally like to go down a size or two – sometimes more – since I find most patterns tend to have more ease than I prefer to wear. Yep, even vintage patterns. What gives; am I just in denial of my size or something??), mainly in the form of taking in the side seams and shortening the shoulders, as well as hacking about 5″ off the length. I made a muslin for fit, but it ended up also giving me a great idea of how the pattern was put together so I had less guesswork with my wool crepe. Which is good, since wool crepe can be a sneaky little bitch when it comes to ripping out stitches.

In hindsight, wool crepe is definitely a little on the bulky side for the gathers in this dress. I’m afraid I look a bit boxy at the waistline here Oh well!

I do love the little tucks in the back

And the curved hem at the overlap.

I don’t know what’s going on with this picture, I just thought it was funny. ~Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline~

Oh, did you notice my pretty embroidery? This all happened entirely on a whim – I finished the dress, put it on and looked in the mirror, and it just looked… red. Overwhelmingly red, and plain! I decided to add a small punch of (neutral)color by embroidering the shoulder detail. The embroidery is from the Hoop Love Vintage Transfers Flickr Group, and it’s all just a basic back stitch with french knots in the middle of the flowers. Ha, that sound so easy but it seriously took me about 6 hours to do. Embroidery is definitely a time-suck!

Here you can see the underlined inside, as well as the series of snaps and hooks that hold the dress together.

And there it is closed!

How many of you will groan if I finish this post with something like, “WELL I GUESS THAT WRAPS IT UP!!”

Sorry.
Not sorry.

Birthday Wishiesss

You know your birthday is just around the corner when you can see it on the 10 day forecast (which, btw, let’s not have rain on my birthday. Please?). I’ll be 28 this Tuesday, but age has not stopped me from treating my birthday like a fucking holiday. It IS a holiday! Let’s celebrate by looking at pretty things!!

Sooo at this point, I think you’d have to be living under a large rock to have not yet seen Megan Nielsen’s Breakwater Collection, but just in case you haven’t… GO LOOK. Everything is amazing, the pictures are glorious, and I NEED THOSE CULOTTES.

I would use this gorgeous Thakoon cotton to make them up, because yes.

I know… I’m, like, light-years behind everyone when it comes to the Archer Button-Up. I have totally been eyeballing everyone’s versions and I think I’m ready to try my hand at it too!

Perhaps in a lovely double-faced blue plaid cotton?

Classic polka dots?

Or, ooh, how about this preppy green striped shirting? Sorry, my inner Nard-Dog is showing.

I would love to ease myself into bra-making with this Bambi Soft bra pattern from Ohhh Lulu. This would make the perfect lounging bra, and the size would be easy to customize (since I can never find anything my size in stores).

I think it would look lovely in this Marc Jacobs embroidered silk. The fabric is a bit expensive, but thankfully bras don’t take much yardage, so you can splurge a little :B

… or maybe whip a few up in this gorgeous Thakoon Crepe de Chine (ohhh Thakoon, why can’t I quit u). Because what is the point of making a bra if you’re not having fun with the fabric, amirite.

I just love the new Deer and Doe patterns. I have the Bleuet (and have I made it up yet? Nope… still waiting for fabric inspiration to strike), but I’m pretty sure I also need the Belladone. I have a beautiful striped silk shantung that would look PERFECT with that back cut-out.

Speaking of patterns I already have… I’m gearing up to make a few pairs of these Ooh La La Leggings from Papercut Patterns and while I initially settled on some lovely basic solids, I’m thinking I need crazy prints now! I’ve started running (very very VERY slowly, I might add!) and I love dressing like an idiot when I exercise :B

Like this giant floral jersey…

… or maybe this crazy geometric jersey?? Ok, the latter is probably too thin for leggings-as-pants…. but, actually, we all know I’m not ashamed to show my ass. Whatever.

This purple floral cotton is EXACTLY what I need to make up this pattern… aka my 2013 Sewulution!

I love this green ombre cotton. I don’t know what I would do with it; probably just carry it around everywhere with me and sleep with it under my pillow

More of these labels, please! I also love these, but I think they need the real word on ‘em

Hm, looking back at this post, it seems like all I care about this year is fabric and patterns. Oh, and a gravity feed iron, but that is gonna have to wait until my Rowenta completely dies

What are you lusting after right now? Any other May babies out there? Bonus if we are birthday twinz!

EDIT Juli has generously given us a discount code for her shop, we can all celebrate Use the code LLADYBIRDBIRTHDAY for 15% off everything in the Sweet Little Chickadee Shop – patterns, embroidery kits, or those amazing labels. Yay! Thanks, Juli

Completed: Rite of Spring Short-Shorts

Wooohoooo y’all, Katie was NOT kidding when she described this pattern as “Pin-up style shorty shorts.” These puppies are SHORT.

‘Scuze my white legs. Sorry not sorry.

These are the Rite of Spring shorts from Papercut Patterns and I am 1000% in LOVE with them. I couldn’t imagine how they were going to turn out based on the pattern art and photos – in some ways, they kind of look like underwear, almost – but having made them, I do they think they are definitely just like those pin-up style shorts that we are always gawking over in Time Magazine photos or whatever.

Just be sure you’re ok with showing a LOT of leg because, well, they’s short.

I cut these in the very smallest size – XXS – and shaved an extra 1/4″ off each seam to get a close fit. That’s it! I am actually surprised – and DELIGHTED – at how well these fit straight out of the package, especially considering how much trauma I went though to get my Clovers to fit. I was expecting to have to mess with the crotch length, the depth, the rise, all that shit – but they’re pretty perfect. So yay!

I have so many favorite parts about this pattern, I don’t think I can just narrow one thing down. I love the curved side seams that make your waist look half the size it actually is. Piping is optional – but if you’re making these, I strongly encourage the piping, especially if you’re working with a busy fabric.

I love how the back curves down too – for a little extra butt coverage. I think my very very favorite thing is that the back hem is actually faced with self-fabric – so if it flips up, you still see the right side. I mean, I might be showing asscheek or whatever but GOD FORBID you see the wrong side of the fabric amirite

Oh, and the rise is super high – like past the belly button high – so these are totally suitable to wear with crop-tops.

And look at how the hem flips out on the sides! DARLING, JUST DARLING.

Putting these together was surprisingly quick and easy. There are only a 4 pieces, and even with the piping and the zipper I still had them done within a couple of hours. They also just use the tiniest scrap of fabric (I mean, duh, they’re tiny as it is – but sometimes shorts suck up a surprising amount of fabric, you know?). I should’ve measured, but I think I used something like half or 5/8 yard. The fabric is actually leftover from my Miette Wrap Skirt, and the piping is leftover bias binding from my Blue Lace Robson Trench.

The pattern calls for an invisible zipper in the back, but I was in major stash-bust mode so I subbed in a lapped zipper. I think an invisible zipper would definitely look nicer, but this isn’t so bad!

I’ll confess, I was hesitant about adding a zipper right up the middle of that back seam because I wasn’t sure if it would backfire and look terrible. I don’t think it does, though – it’s totally inconspicuous!

I didn’t do the best job of putting these together, as they’re more so a wearable muslin (oh you just wait and see what I have planned for this pattern…), but I think they’ll actually get a lot of wear during Me-Made-May! Polka dot shorty shorts, yay!

Here you can sort of see the polka-dot piping. Unfortunately, my fabric had the polka dots printed so that they kind of don’t show up on the bias strips… so my piping is only half-assed polka dots. Oh well!

If you’re lurking on this pattern as hard as I was, be aware that Papercut Patterns is currently offering free worldwide shipping. HOT DAMN, Y’ALL. Butt shorts for everyone!

Completed: The Blue Lace Robson (!!!)

Ok folks, here ya go – big reveal time!

LOOK THAT GORGEOUS BLUE TRENCH COAT.

JUST LOOK AT IT.

For the full nitty-gritty of this project, see my posts part 1 and part 2 for the making of.

If you just want quick facts, here ya go! The pattern is the Robson Coat by Sewaholic Patterns. I cut a size 2 at the shoulders/neckline, graded out to a 4 at the bust, and then down to a 0 at the waist/hips. I removed about 3″ of length from the bottom, and about 1″ of length from the sleeves.

Both of the main fabrics are from Mood – the blue lace for the top (and yeah, sorry, but I bought the last of it! HA!), and the cotton sateen underlining. The polka dot batiste I used for the bias stripes came from my local fabric store. I’m sure Mood had something perfect in the store, but it’s hard to color-match from several states away (and if you were wondering… I had one of the employees help me pick the underlining to make sure I had the right color).

Fair warning: this coat eats up a LOT of fabric! Not the full 6 yards as suggested by the pattern envelope (at least not in my size!), but I still wouldn’t recommend this for a very expensive fabric unless you are just really really in love and willing to deal with the cost. I spent about $175 on materials for this coat – that includes the blue lace, the navy underlining, the polka dots that I used for the bias strips, the interfacing, the thread, and the buttons. Yes, part of this *was* subsidized for Mood as part of the Mood Sewing Network, but I still had to pay quite a bit out of pocket. I’m not saying it’s not worth it – because it isssssss – but be forewarned that this coat can get very very expensive, very fast.

Still, it’s a helluva lot cheaper than that $2000 Burberry trench I see floating around Pinterest. Forreal!

Plus, it’s not a boring neutral color. That fucker is BLUE.

Anyway, I used a little under 4 yards of 54″ wide fabric to cut the coat. Keep in mind that I did shorten the length (and my ONLY regret is that I shortened at the hem instead of at the waist because the pockets are a bit low. Oh well! I don’t use pockets that much anyway). My cotton sateen was 50″ and I used about 4.5 yards of that. For the bias tape, I bought 2/3 yard of 45″ fabric and made my own 1/2″ tape…. I did not use the whole 2/3 of the yard, as I stopped when I got to 20 yards. I did however, end up using about 15 yards of the stuff to bind my seams. I know the envelope calls for less than that, buy an extra package if you’re unsure!

I can wear the lapels up or folded down. Which one do you like better?

Here it is open. Omg I felt like such a flasher taking that picture, ha!

Ok, I’m running out of things to say so here’s a picture dump.

I could not be more thrilled with my finished coat – all the workings of a classic trench, but sewn up in a beautiful (and colorful!) lace! Yes!!

Special thanks to my friend Jenna for taking these gorgeous pictures (oh yeah, you didn’t think I took these, did ya? ) and capturing our beautiful city in the background. She is the best, and if you don’t already follow her you are SORELY missing out. Also, sorry not sorry for the picture overload… I’m just elated, ok!?

Yay Nashville!

Sewing the Robson Trench Coat, part 2

Following up on last week’s Robson progress post, I have a few more bits and pieces I’d like to share before the ~big reveal~. I normally hate dragging these types of projects out over several posts, but I think this coat deserves more than just a single post (plus, I haven’t taken pictures of my newest projects! So consider this filler, ha!).

Last week, I left off with the main body of the coat completed – everything from the collar, to the facing, to the hem. All that was left was the sleeves, the belt and belt loops, and the buttons. Easy enough, yeah?

I WISH. I about killed myself over those dumb ol’ sleeves! Putting them together was easy – even with the added step of trimming/grading the sleeves and adding the bias binding – but setting them in took me close to 2 hours, and there was lots of scream-cussing involved. The hardest part was getting the bias binding on the sleeve seam allowance once everything was set in – mostly because the area was obscenely thick with all those fabric layers, and also because I’m an idiot and I trimmed the seam allowances to super short before putting on the bias binding.

PROTIP: Sew one side of the bias binding on before you trim down those seam allowances. It will give you much more leeway in an area that’s already pretty tight to maneuver around.

I will say that, despite my troubles, those sleeves set in perfectly the first time – and they look beautiful! The drafting on this thing is pretty amazing.

Hemming the sleeves was also kind of tough, because the total circumference of the sleeve was smaller than the circumference by the throat plate. Which means I couldn’t just slide the sleeve over the arm of my sewing machine and go in the round – I had to do some horrible wedging and go VERY VERY slowly. To keep my hem even, I stuck a piece of tape on the arm of my machine (you can barely see it in this picture, if you squint) and used that as a guideline. My hems turned out pretty straight and even – not that you can see it with that busy lace pattern :B

I did come across one problem when sewing the sleeve tabs – the pattern calls for you to sew 3 edges, right sides together, and then turn right side out and press. Well, I tried that…

And, um well, I’m not sure exactly what happened. HAHA. I guess my loop turner just grabbed the lace and not both layers? Anyway, I was able to shove the underlining back inside the lace tube with a knitting needle, but it made me think about how I was going to tackle the belt and belt loops, since they are also sewn the same way.

To make the belt loops, I followed the same procedure as for the Thurlow belt loops. You can see a tutorial on that here (from my Thurlow sew-along!).

For the belt, I folded in 5/8″ along each edge and pressed it.

Then I folded the whole thing in half…

And topstitched along all four sides. This made for a nice, crisp belt – without having to worry about turning a long tube and ending up with that… thing.

Here is my finished belt. As you can see, I made a few changes – I decided to use a buckle instead of tying the belt, as I think it makes the coat look a little more trench-y. It’s just a basic self-covered buckle that I pulled out of my stash, and covered with the navy sateen that I used for underlining (also, the sticky guide in the kit was all dried up, so I used spray-mount on the fabric to get it to stick aaaaand I didn’t go outside to do this, so my sewing room may or may not be covered with spray glue jsyk). I also narrowed the belt by about an inch – I’m not sure exactly how much, I just kept hacking at it until it fit in the buckle. With this in mind, the belt loops were also shortened to accommodate the narrower belt.

With all that done, it was time to add the button holes and buttons! Not much to report on that – I used my button hole cutter to slice through the holes, and I am pleased to report that they are decidedly unhairy. The buttons were sewn on with silk thread, which I first ran through beeswax – I wanted them to stay on that damn coat! I moved the bottom buttons outward slightly, so the coat is more straight than A-line (I just think that suits my figure better!). Oh, and I didn’t bother with the interior buttons – I don’t ever use those things anyway, meh.

As it stands now, the coat is finished! I am so proud of it and I can’t WAIT to show it off I even got some super-fancy pictures taken, and damn it looks good.

Here is a sneaky peek because I can’t help myself.

Stay tuned!

Sewing the Robson Trench Coat

Spoiler: There are no finished projects in this post, sry2say! I’ve been working on this coat for the past week, and I thought it might be beneficial to show some progress photos as well as share some tips

Anyway, let’s get down to business. Have y’all seen the newest addition to Sewaholic patterns – Robson Coat?! AHHH. I’m on Tasia’s pattern tester email list, and every time she sends out an email for testing, I’m almost always too busy with current projects/too poor to buy fabric (as was this case) so I have to pass… and I always think, “Man, I’m going to regret passing on this.” Sure enough, when the official announcement came out, I considered punching myself in the face out of frustration, because, FUCK. That coat is awesome and I need one, weather be dammed.

What really sealed the deal for me was getting an eyeful of Novita’s lace version. It’s just jaw-droppingly beautiful, and I immediately wanted to be a shameless copycat and make my own version (of course I asked first ).

This is the lace I am using for my coat:

It’s from Mood, of course, and I think I bought the last of the bolt in the store so you can’t have it nyah nyah nyah It’s labeled an outwear fabric, and it’s nice and weighty for a trench coat. At $20 a yard, it was definitely a splurge (and remember – I had to buy underlining, bias binding, buttons, thread, interfacing, all that fun stuff!), but I recalled Novita saying she only used 4m to make hers, so I ordered 4 yards and it was just enough. Yay! The lace is underlined with navy cotton sateen, and the bias binding is made with white/navy polka dot cotton batiste.

I’m not going to sugarcoat – this jacket requires quite a bit of stamina to make, as it takes a loong time. I spent at least 8 hours just prepping the dang thing, before I even got to sewing! Cutting the fabric pieces (twice, since they are underlined), making my own bias binding (because I clearly don’t have enough to do as it is), attaching the interfacing, basting the underlined pieces together, marking the notches, etc etc. I chose to do all this before I started sewing, just to get it out of the way.

My garment press made fusing interfacing fun! I just stuck the pieces in the press, sprayed them with water, and set a timer on my phone for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, I flipped the pieces, sprayed them again, and fused for another 30 seconds. Since the press doesn’t require you to stand over it and hold it down (like an iron), I could get other things done in the meantime…

Such as prepping my thread and winding bobbins. My bobbin winder is amazing and self-motorized (no holding down the pedal!), so I was actually winding bobbins, fusing interfacing, AND dicking around on Instagram at the same time! GLORY.

Since my coat has several different colors going on, I am using three different thread colors. Part of what is making this take so long is that I have to keep changing out the thread with practically every step!

Deciding on how I would handle the underlining took a lot of thought. Since my lace is see-through and the inside of the coat is not lined, I had to take that into consideration when it came to fusing the (BRIGHT WHITE) interfacing to my pieces. Thankfully, all the interfaced pieces do require a facing on the opposite side, so I simply fused my underlining to the wrong side of my cotton sateen.

Then I stacked the lace on the sateen and basted the pieces together – all 30+ of them (yeah, there are a LOT of pieces in this pattern!). THAT PART TOOK FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER. Thankfully, I was able to get them machine-basted, which definitely sped up the process – I think I would have cried if I had to hand-baste all that!

More info on underlining can be found in this blog post, fyi!

I also had to consider how my button holes would look on the lace. Fortunately, my machine makes pretty awesome button holes, so combined with my new button hole cutter, I think they look pretty profesh, yeah?

I was planning to do a whole series of posts on this coat – but honestly, once I started sewing (like, actually sewing, and not prep :B), it’s pretty fast and straight forward! There isn’t a lot to elaborate on as far as the instructions are concerned. I did want to share a how I dealt with the binding, though – the instructions just have you fold the binding in half and wrap around the edges of the seam allowance (as like this), which is fine when you’re working with a lighter weight fabric – but not two thicker fabrics sewn together! I actually tried to bind a seam as per the instructions, and then laughed for about 20 minutes when I saw how ugly and sad it turned out!

So here’s my advice to you~ for those bound seams-

First, pull your seam allowances apart (you will need to remove the basting stitches holding the layers together) and trim down the shell fabric to 1/4″. This will greatly reduce the bulk of your seams, making it easier to wrap the bias binding around the remaining seam allowances.

Here is the seam with the shell fabric (blue lace) trimmed down. You may also want to trim down your underlining at this point – not too much, just enough to get the edges even if they aren’t already. As a sidenote, sorry about all the thread/cat hair. Apparently, cotton sateen is a magnet for EVERYTHING. Who woulda thought?

Open one side of your bias tape and pin it to the seam allowances, right sides together with raw edges matching.

Sew the bias tape to the seam allowances – try to get your stitching line right along the opened fold. I use a long basting stitch for this step; it’s really just to keep things in place while you top stitch.

When you flip the binding to the other side, it should naturally fall into place.

Top stitch with a matching thread. See how nice that looks? It’s an extra step for sure, but totally worth it in my opinion. With a thicker fabric, it can be hard to get that tiny bias tape folded around the edge with an even stitch and both sides caught in the fold. I’d rather take my time and get things done right the first time, rather than try to take short-cuts that result in a personal one-on-one with my seam ripper

Another tip if you’re sewing the Robson is to be sure to aggressively grade those seam allowances by the collar, because they can get real thick real fast.

I have the body mostly done at this point and it’s become quite a beast to wrangle under the sewing machine. I’ve taken to pulling my top drawer out and using it as a tabletop for the bulk of the coat.

Since all the interior seams are finished with binding, I haven’t needed my serger at all for this project – so I took the opportunity to take it in for it’s yearly cleaning/maintenance. As you can see, Amelia is pissed that she has to share her ~window seat~ with that dumb ol’ machine.

Anyway, it’s look great so far-

I love how nicely that collar rolls! Just beautiful!

I plan to have this finished within the next week or so. Since it’s for the Mood Sewing Network, The Big Reveal won’t be until May – sorry! I’m such a tease.

Completed: My Easter Outfit

Remember that wool crepe I bought while I was in NYC? Remember how I was afraid it was going to be too winter-y for a climate that’s already rapidly approaching summer weather?

WELL, CHECK THIS SHIT OUT:

I made me a fancy lady flouncy pencil skirt! Totally banking on Carolyn’s reassurance that wool is a lovely fabric to wear during the summer, I decided to test that theory by making it into a skirt. I really wanted a whole ladysuit – or even a dress – but unfortunately, this kind of saturated yellow doesn’t do favors for my coloring. I went with a skirt so there would be plenty of space between my face and the yellow.

I felt pretty silly making a wool pencil skirt just as we’re creeping into 75* days – I mean, I’ve always thought of wool as a winter fabric (and I’d guess that a lot of people feel the same way). The best coats are wool – why would I wear wool in the summer heat? Isn’t that just asking for a sweaty disaster?

So here’s my little wool crepe pencil skirt for spring – in the kind of bright yellow that would almost be embarrassing if it wasn’t so awesome. But sit back down for a spell, there’s a lil’ surprise in the back…

… a circular flounce insert! I call it a party in the back, Landon calls it my tail. Either way, it’s a fun little addition to jazz up an otherwise plain pencil skirt (well, as plain as a *bright yellow* wool crepe pencil skirt can be, I suppose!).

This pattern is Vogue 8317, which I received during a sewing swap (also while I was in New York – thanks, Oona!). Just based on the envelope art, the pattern is a bit dated looking (I originally thought it was from the earlyl 90s, but the copyright date is 2006 wut), but the line art showed promise. I made a 10, although I probably should have done a smaller size as I needed to take in quite a bit at the waist. I also shortened the skirt by about 2″ before cutting into my crepe.

The skirt is fully lined with Bemberg Rayon. I originally wanted a bright yellow like the crepe, but there wasn’t any in the store when I was there (nor was there any white – at least not in rayon!), so I ended up getting a light peach that is very close to my skin tone. Surprisingly, it picks up quite a bit of the hue of the wool and almost looks like the exact yellow I was trying to obtain. Love it when that happens!

I also made my bow-neck blouse, using polka dot cotton batiste (from Mood, of course) and Simplicity 4676, a vintage pattern. The batiste is quite sheer, so I underlined the body with white batiste. I love this stuff – it’s incredibly soft and lightweight, and the black and white pin dots go with EVERYTHING. Seriously. I will probably end up wearing this top all summer, it’s so good!

I made this outfit to wear for Easter dinner with my family, but I can definitely see myself wearing it all throughout summer, as well as pairing up the individual pieces with different tops and bottoms. Oh, and to answer my own question at the beginning of the post- wool crepe gets two thumbs up from me when it comes to summer wear. Just make sure you pair it with a lightweight, breathable lining, and you can wear this amazing fabric year-round.

Do I sound like an advertisement, yet? WOOLCREPEWOOLCREPEWOOLCREPE

Pattern Testing: The Miette Wrap Skirt

Ohhhh, I’m so excited to finally post this! Keep secrets is not exactly one of my strong points

Ladies and Gentlemen (… are you there??), may I introduce the Miette Wrap Skirt:

Our now-famous Tilly has released a new downloadable pattern – the Miette! Miette is a gently flared wraparound skirt that ties at the front in a delightful bow. The skirt has a wide back overlap (no danger of flashing!) and optional practical patch pockets. Guys, this is the perfect beginner pattern – wrap around ties (no fiddly closures!), simple to fit, and it’s actually cute and wearable… not to mention highly customizable. Can’t you see this with a contrasting waist tie, or even some embroidery or applique on the front pocket? Another bonus is that the simple shape works with a variety of fabrics – even the scary ones, like silk or plaid – and since there are only a few pieces, it’s a great pattern for testing the waters without a huge commitment. I love it!

I also love that it’s a non-flashing wrap skirt. I took these pictures on a windy day, wore it out on a windy day – even stood on the street corner and waited 15 minutes for my ride to pick me up – and things stayed exactly where they belonged. I haven’t had a chance to fully test this theory, but I very strongly suspect that this skirt will also work well for cycling.

In addition to being a simple skirt design, the instructions are also super easy for even the most amateur of beginners to comprehend – think full, in-depth tutorial, with scads of color pictures and lots of words to guide you along (there is also a set of basic instructions for those of us who don’t need quite so much hand-holding ). Consider it a sewing lesson with a bonus pattern!

I cut my pattern in a size 2, omitted the pocket (otherwise it would’ve gotten lost in the sea of dots) and shortened the length by about 4″. The fit turned out perfect; I couldn’t be happier!

Isn’t my fabric gorgeous!? It’s a lovely medium-weight linen by Marc Jacobs… from Mood, of course I actually chased the bolt around the store, which made me spend an extra long time cutting and thus made me late for the round-up at the end of our first shopping segment during my NY meet-up. Totally worth it, though – this stuff was a dream to sew, to wear, to just look at. And it goes with half the tops in my wardrobe! YUS.

Psst! It comes in other colorways as well… I have an entire fistful of swatches to prove it. Who wants to be twinsies with me?!

As you can see, here is an entirely different set of pictures. I didn’t like the way my first batch turned out! I was also super eager to try pairing this skirt up with a mint top, after seeing my homegirl Kaelah’s mint+navy outfit and being jealous of her color-matching skillz. This is my Pavlova Wrap top.

Since this is a wrap skirt paired with a wrap top, I will be calling this outfit the Wrapper’s Delight. Go ahead, groan.

Speaking of groaning, I know I shouldn’t be wearing black tights with this outfit. I promise I didn’t go out in public like this. Just ignore them, please and thanks.

I love my new skirt and I can’t wait to find new combinations to wear it with (as dorky as that sounds!). I also can’t wait to see all the different versions that are sure to start popping up – judging from the maker’s gallery, I think we’re all in for a treat

Want one for yourself? GET IT GET IT (you know you want it!!). And thank you, Tilly, for letting me be a pattern tester!

Pattern Testing: The Avocado Hoodie

Remember that little blurb last Thursday about the kickstarter campaign for this hoodie pattern? Well, it looks like in the time since then, Mari has 100%+ funded her goal! Yay, paper patterns! There’s still about 6 hours left until the campaign ends, so if you haven’t had an opportunity to contribute and you want to snag the pattern at a discount price, now’s your chance!

In the meantime, let’s talk about why I even brought this up today…

I got to test the pattern over the weekend, and now I’m the proud owner of my own Avocado hoodie! Woohoo!

I’m not normally a fan of pullover hoodies… which now that I think about, it’s kind of dumb since I *always* zip my hoodies up. I can’t stand that shit flapping around! But anyway, for whatever reason, I don’t normally spring for the pullovers. Maybe because they remind me too much of those oversized college hoodies, I dunno. This one is surprisingly nice, though – the princess seams give it a bit of shape, so it still looks nice even though it has way more ease than what I would normally prefer to wear. And it’s sooo comfy, forreal.

Confession: After I took these pictures on Saturday afternoon, I wore the hoodie for the rest of the day – to clean, cook dinner, and lounge-y LT time. I love that it’s comfortable and snuggly, but it’s not so huge I feel like I’m swimming in something that belongs to a dude 4 sizes bigger than me.

In addition to being a basic, princess-seamed pullover hoodie, this top has a few neat features that differentiate it from similar hoodies…

Thumb-holes in the cuffs!

Pockets in the back – so when you are walking with your arms around a loved one (or fling, or friend, or whatev. I ain’t here to judge you), they can put their hands in the pockets. GENIUS, amirite?!

The hood is a great size – not so big that it gets floppy and falls off (ew, I hate that), not so tight that it pushes down on the top of my head and makes it hard to move around (hate that, too). I feel like hood size is kind of a delicate balance, and this one is drafted exactly to the size that I find most comfortable.

As far as how the finished hoodie fits… I opted to sew it as close to the suggested measurements as possible, and I think the bottom hem ended up a bit loose. Of course, you don’t want something like this to little or negative ease, since tightness can cause the hem to ride up. I cut a 4 for the front bust/hips, tapered to a 2 at the waist, and cut the back at a 2. I think the ease in the bust, waist, and arms turned out great – yes, there is ease (more than I typically wear, even!), but I feel like it still looks pretty flattering. I may take it in just a bit around the hips, but even as it is now, I think it looks fine.

One thing I do think is worth mentioning is that the length was a bit too long on me after adding the hem band. Here is how it looks with the band folded up – I think it suits my proportions better this way. Keep in mind that I am petite (clocking in at about 5’2.5″ on a tall day ), so it should be the perfect length for an average height/torso.

Putting the hoodie together was quite easy – despite there being a bunch of little pieces. I did have a bit of trouble figuring out the pockets, but as I was testing the beta pattern and left lots of feedback, I think it will be much easier after Mari adds more clarification and diagrams. With that being said, after I finally trolled through the pockets and started really assembling the hoodie, that part went FAST. I think it took me maybe an hour and a half, tops. I sewed the entire thing on my serger, minus a couple areas of topstitching.

The fabric I used is from Mood in NY – my first completed post-NY project! It’s a cotton french terry, and the lining under the pocket is cotton jersey. I loooove this fabric, it’s so soft and warm, and I think it will feel really nice in the summer when I’m dealing with air conditioning The only downside to this stuff is that is sheds tiny terry pieces like it’s going out of style. You will definitely need to finish every single seam if you use this type of fabric… and make sure you do a thorough sweeping after!

Ooh just look at that lovely terry.

Here you can see inside the pocket on the back – the dark is my pocket lining (the cotton jersey). Wouldn’t this be fun with something super bright and contrasty, like teal with yellow polka dots?? Which I almost bought, btw. Hm maybe I should have.

All in all, I think this turned out pretty good! I may end up removing the band and just topstitching the bottom, to relieve some of the length, as well as shortening the sleeves – this climate doesn’t exactly dictate the need for sleeves that cover most of the hand I’m also thinking about screen printing something on the front, since it’s so plain! What do you guys think??

I must say, I was a little nervous on Saturday while finishing this up, since it was 70* outside and I’d spent the whole morning doing garden and yard work (yay, Spring!), I was thinking I wouldn’t have a chance to wear this hoodie at all! But just in case you were wondering… it got all cold and rainy again. And by “cold,” I mean 50*. What can I say? I’m a delicate Southern Rose who wilts at any temperature below 65*

My Trip To NYC!

I’m baaaack!! Hope y’all have a big ol’ Lauren-shaped hole in your hearts that needs filling, because this is about to be a super long post, filled with lots of pictures that I mostly stole from other people’s blogs. What can I say – I was too busy ~enjoying the moment~ to be bothered to take pictures. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself Rather than break this up into a bunch of posts, I’m just going to do one megapost so it’ll be easy to skip if you’re not interested!

Sonja kindly offered to let me crash on her couch while I was in town, so that’s where I stayed the majority of the week (a couple days were spent visiting some old Nashville friends up in Ossining. I took the train by myself and everything – so proud, you have no idea ha). Sonja was a GREAT hostess – with some of the cutest, no, THE cutest pugs ever! I would now like to take this opportunity to introduce you to my new girlfriend, her name is Peggy and she’s the cuddliest darling in the world:

LOOK AT THAT FACE. LOOK AT IT.

After an afternoon of eating cookies and lurking dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum, we met up with some of the in-town Mood Sewing Network bloggers for dinner and drinks. I had a few people ask me this, so I just want to clarify – Mood didn’t have anything to do with my NYC trip. I mean, duh, fabric shopping was a big huge giant to-do at the top of the list… but I planned and paid for the trip on my own accord. Once that was set in action, Oona actually handled most of the meeting up deetz, including the Mood dinner. Honestly, I would have been totally lost and probably flailing in the dark somewhere if it hadn’t been for her and Sonja taking control of the plans. Thanks, ladiez!

Meeting Sonja and Oona made me feel like I was part an epic trio. I feel like I talked about this nonstop during my trip, but it’s so cool to meet people ~in person~ and realize that they are even more awesome than you guessed from reading their blogs. That’s how I felt about everyone I met. I don’t think I stopped the smiling the whole time I was there (and still smiling now, fyi!)

Meg from Mood joined us, as well as Carolyn (who I was super excited to meet!)

Peter showed up too!

Friday morning, I woke up bright and early to…

SNOOOWWWWWW!!!
Southerners will understand my delight. Snow! That sticks! And the whole city didn’t shut down! Such novelty!

Friday was the first day I spent fabric shopping – what started out as a pizza and spandex date ended up a 7 hour shopping spree, no lie! We started out just me, Sonja and Oona, then after lunch we added Peter and Carolyn for my first foray into Mood.

What can I say about the garment district? In one word, it is OVERWHELMING. The stores go on forever, all selling completely different stuff, and the prices vary wildly. There are specialized notion stores, stores for different types of fabric, stores that seem like they should be the same thing but aren’t (Spandex House, Spandex World). Some of the places I went in were cheeeeeap. Although, to be fair, Mood is pretty cheap compared to the prices I pay here in Nashville. Most of what I bought cost at least half of what I’m used to… some were even cheaper. I’m just going to say this right now: I bought a lot of fabric. Like… well, we’ll get to that in a minute. Anyway, the employees in Mood were so so great – every time I pulled out a bolt that I wanted, someone was standing behind me ready to drag it to my pile. The customer service in that place is great, I never felt like I had to track down someone for swatches or help finding something. Especially George. I loved George, he was my favorite!

Here is my first ~Mood Experience~. See? Overwhelmed in the best way possible. So glad I brought a detailed shopping list!

Saturday was meet-up day! I was SO EXCITED for this shit, I barely slept and actually woke up at 6:50A (woof… I don’t even get up that early to go to work!). But first, before meeting up at Mood for round #2, a boozy brunch was in order. Devra hosted at her seriously gorgeous/fancypants pad, where the champagne and coffee flowed freely (although not together, ew) and her badass cat kept jumping into my lap and we were BFFs within 5 minutes. Also brunchin’ with us was Wanett, Christine, and again Sonja/Oona/Peter.

Also within 5 minutes was Oona breaking a plate. She was smiling at me right before it happened, which means this is also partially my fault. SORRY DEVRA.

We also had a mini-swap, in which the cat showed us just how much of a badass he was by making himself at home right in the middle of the pile while everyone was digging.

GOD, I love that cat ♥♥♥

After we finished, I realized I was running late TO MY OWN FUCKING MEET-UP and hightailed it to Mood.

And look at how many people showed up!! Awww!! You guys!!!!!
We took names and blogs and Oona shared the list with me when I got home (see what I mean about getting nothing done without her?!) – of course, this was after we spent about an hour in Mood, so I may have missed someone who slipped out early. Speak up if you don’t see your name here; I want to lurk aaaaall of you guys!
Gaby, Carly, Lee, Charlotte, Devra, Cindy, Janice, Allie, Lisette, Kim, Meredith, Kayleigh, Sonja, Oona, Rosie, Wanett, Shelley and Christine. Whew!!

We spent a good chunk of time in Mood, split into cackling packs and talking each other into buying fabrics (I like to think I’m very good at peer pressure but Carolyn proved on Friday that she has that shit down to an ART). Post-Mood, we ventured further into the Garment District to check out a few stores… specifically, Pacific Trimming, Chic Fabrics, and Fabrics for Less. Guys, if you have not shopped these stores… I have three words for you: $10 Wool Coating. ACK OMG.

We ended the meet-up at Houndstooth Pub, which we discovered when we tried to go to Stitch and realized they were closed. Houndstooth pub seemed like a good substitution – I mean, it being named after a fabric and all Although I feel kind of bad for the bar having to accommodate our enormous group on a moment’s notice – they were good sports about it! Also, the food was amazing.

Thanks again to everyone who was able to make it out to the meet-up – I’m so bummed that I didn’t have time to talk to everyone one-on-one, which means obviously there will need to be a round 2 in the future I really enjoyed getting to meet other sewists and I just love fabric shopping with people who actually get excited about that shit, ha! Y’all are the best!!

HOLD UP THOUGH because my trip is not over yet!!

I woke up bright and early (too early… damn Daylight Savings Time. Wait, no, I actually love you) Sunday morning and took the train solo to meet with Devra, Wanett and Peter at the Chelsea flea market. I’m actually super proud of myself for getting there – considering I don’t understand how that public transportation shit works at all. I didn’t buy anything at the flea, but I had a lot of fun looking at all the stuff and gawking over some of the prices (guys… come to Nashville. I’ll show you my flea and you shall weep.).

We did run into Kenneth King, though! Holy shit, I was so starstruck!! He’s so funny and a great storyteller – and that jacket is way way way more amazing than any picture could convey. Trust me.

Ok, one more surprise star-studded meet-up…

Yep, that would be Karen, just dropping into NY the same weekend I was there! What are the odds!?!?

I don’t even remember where we ate, except that I had a lamb burger and the dessert was amazing and the girl sitting at the table next to us kept giving us the stink-eye. She was clearly on an awkward date, sux 2 b her. Karen is just as sweet as you would expect from her blog – and that accent! GOD why don’t I have an accent like that!?

My trip actually wrapped up on Tuesday, and I rolled back into Nashville late Tuesday night (my flights kept getting delayed waaah and LaGuardia airport sorta sucks, there I said it). I actually left the city on Sunday night, stayed with friends Monday & Tuesday in Ossining. I did go back into the city on Monday, to check out Soho and Chinatown… and also make a third trip back to the Garment District. Whoops.

Oh, I guess you wanna see the spoils, huh?

Here it is in a big giant pile on my sewing room floor. SO MUCH FABRIC, it barely fit in my suitcase (and spare duffel bag) haha. I actually spent most of the day yesterday prewashing it all and reorganizing my sewing room. I have plans for every single piece I bought.

Here are some individual pictures, collaged as not to overwhelm this already huge post! Almost everything is from Mood, anything that isn’t is indicated in parenthesis.

Starting at top left: chambray, lightweight non-stretch denim, medium-weight linen from Marc Jacobs (confession: I chased this bolt around Mood on Saturday, as it switched dozens of hands. I have really exciting plans for it too, although I can’t tell you right this second!), striped ponte knit, striped cotton sateen (the colors look black, but they are navy and white), french terry, lightweight red wool crepe, yellow wool crepe (Carolyn talked me into both of these wool crepes… I was resistant because I live in such a warm climate – it’ll be 70* this weekend, ugh – but that woman could talk me into anything. Also, I’m really glad I bought them and I can’t stop touching them and admiring how lovely the colors are), swimsuit fabrics (Spandex House- the stripes are navy and white, and that weird underwear-looking shit in the background is the lining).

Starting at top left: red seersucker (this was intended for my 2013 Sewlution, but upon further inspection I have realized the fabric is quite stretchy, so it might not work for it’s intended purpose. I will, however, find a use for it!!), red floral voile (Chic Fabrics), floral print swiss dot, leopard ponte knit, mint and red cotton jersey (Fabrics for Less), tiny bows Betsy Johnson silk (also from Fabrics for Less – I looove that guy, go buy his fabrics!), hot pink wool coating (Chic Fabrics), polka dot cotton batiste, gingham.

Starting at top left: plaid seersucker (Oh god, I don’t remember where this is from… help? Was it Fabrics for Less??), assorted chiffons (from the swap), white cotton twill/brown lightweight corduroy (from the swap), bemberg linings and cotton batiste.

YEP.

A big chunk of Sonja’s yarn destashing also went straight into my suitcase… check it out!

So that’s my trip to New York! Thanks again to everyone who made this trip so fucking amazing – Sonja, Oona, Meg, Carolyn, Peter, Devra, Wanett & Karen for taking me out/showing me around, and every single one of y’all who came out for the meet-up. It really means a lot to me and I look forward to more meet-ups in the future. Hopefully some more in New York (must go back!!), but hey, if you’re ever in Nashville… holler at me

Before I dump out of here, I have a few more things I wanted to mention!
- I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining a slew of talented ladies for Miss P‘s Refashioner’s Challenge. I remember watching the challenge unfold last year and loving all the makes that came out… and now it’s my turn!! Yay!!
- My girl Mari just started a new pattern line and is currently trying to raise funds for it! You can donate to the Kickstarter Campaign here. The first pattern up is a pullover hoodie – with pockets in the back so you can keep your hands warm while wrapping your arm around someone. GENIUS. The new goal is $1640, which will enable her to produce actual printed patterns. And she’s SO CLOSE. Please, donate if you can!
- I just found out yesterday that on July 1, my beloved Google Reader will be no more. First of all: Fuck you, Google. Second of all: Does anyone have reader suggestions that are similar to the look/feel of the gReader (I mean, other than Bloglovin)? Ughhh I’m so lost. Third of all: Now I guess is the time to claim my blog on Bloglovin, so following me there is an option!
- Speaking of RSS feeds, I had a few people tell me over the weekend that they were having trouble getting the Mood Sewing Network to show up in feeds. I had the same problem in the beginning – which meant I didn’t read the blog, since I’m not about to click back to something every and and see if maaaybe there is an update, you know? Anyway, I talked to the Mood staff about it and they helpfully pointed out that you need to click on the RSS button near the top-right corner, and copy that address into your subscription bar. I tested it in my reader and it worked like a charm, so I thought there might be other people who would want to know the solution too!
- And one last little Mood tidbit – I got a small shout-out in this month’s issue of Threads. AMAZING. Check it out – that’s my name in print, omgomgomg!!

Ok, I think that’s it! Thanks for hanging in there and letting me gush about my trip