Me-Made-May'14 Week 2

Turns out that wearing me Mades everyday isn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I already do that because I'm so proud of my makes. Even the less than perfect ones. so let's take a look!

Day 5: Wool circle skirt 

Worn to: work in an office

Pattern: circle skirt

Thoughts: this skirt is fun but the wool coating that I used is so thick that it has some serious body to it. I also noticed that due to my posture the skirt hem hangs much lower in the front than in the back. I'll have to cut the front about 1" shorter to make it feel more proportional. I felt like I needed to pull the back of the skirt down all day as I felt the difference in hem lengths. 

Day 6: Mabel skirt

Worn to: work

Pattern: Colette Mabel skirt

Thoughts: incredibly comfortable. This skirt is great. I do need to readjust the waistband as it's larger than is comfortable for me. But I like my waistbands to really hold everything in. I used black Ponte on the back and side panels and this cool zigzag Ponte I scored while in Los Angeles at the end if March. Great for work and it transitions well into the evening. 

Day 7: spring flora!

Worn to: work

Pattern: Flora Dress By Hand London

Thoughts: after altering the pattern pieces to all my adjustments I think this is the first dress that is almost perfect to my measurements. It also marks one if my first successes using a non-stretch fabric.  Love this dress. And everybody else compliments it too. 

Day 8: fail

Why? I was sick all day and I have yet to made myself any pj sets. 

Day 9: The perfect knit dress

Worn to: work

Pattern: McCall's 5974

Thoughts: this dress is so comfortable. Yum. But after a day of wear I noticed that I'll need to go back and stabilize the neck and cross front pieces with clear elastic to make it a little more safe and help maintain it's shape all day. Otherwise this dress is still great for hiding my tummy yet being so stretchy and soft. 

Day 10: splotchy goodness

Worn to: shopping and lunch

Pattern: vogue 1395

Thoughts: easy dress to wear. Fun colours. Cute back bodice ties that wrap around front. I'll have to super iron my neck line as the rolled hem I did is slightly wavey. great length. Finished and worn the same day! Unblogged.

Day 11: deep v drape drape

Worn to: fancy brunch (with a lace shirt underneath)

Pattern: drape drape no.5

Thoughts: although this dress certainly is revealing and unless I was going to the beach, I doubt I'd wear it just as is, but with a lace top underneath this dress is super comfortable. the back is super low though and the materials recovery isn't great so my unstabalized shoulder seams  stretch out as the day continues. 

Another week down and another week happy. I think I'll try to make another cardigan this week as I depend on the two black ones I purchased so much it would be wonderful to replace those with me Mades!

Hopefully I can get outside this week to photograph all my new makes! There's my belladone, Mabel, v1395.... Woots. 

Happy me-made-may'14 Mother's Day!! I'm the proud mommy to a wonderful pupster!

Read More »

The tale of two Flora's

Day after day my Feedly was swamped with various versions of the new By Hand London girls Flora dress. The fabric patterns, the fit, the happiness it brought to everybody's face lured me. I couldn't resist and purchased my own copy (After much waffling only because those patterns are NOT cheap, especially to ship to Canada - yikes).

I received and within an hour had my size 14 traced out and ready for making. I grabbed a purple gabardine I had in my stash and got cracking. cut cut sew sew. Instructions were simple to follow. Lining went together perfectly. Inserted my first invisible zipper with my new invisible zipper foot for my machine (what a joy! I'm no longer scared of zippers!) from start the finish it took me under 5 hours. With the majority of time spent sewing the 12 total darts (too Many darts!!!).

I tried it on all excited. Wait, I'll back up. I measured the pattern and everything seemed fine in flat measurements and I don't toil so just got on with it. now, back to me trying it on all excited - zipped it up, ran to my full length mirror, slipping on hard wood underfoot, and stare at my new creation. But wait, why doesn't it look as nice sad everybody else's? This bodice is gaping. So is the back bodice around the neck. So are the under arms. What the!

So, turns out, this pattern isn't perfect for me. And my shoulders are too narrow for the standard pattern drafting. So the dress fits bad across the top. To solve this I ironed interfacing across the front neckline to stiffen the material and provide more support, but because of how wide the bodice is across my cheat, putting my arms down pushes the bodice inwards causing it to gape. sad. I should simply cut the bodice narrower, but that's so much work, and I still think this is wearable.....so I made a second flora!

let me break down my alterations I made to the pattern for my second flora!

- took a 1/2 inch wedge out of the bodice front and back in the middle of the neckline to reduce gaping issue

- cut out the arm hole and moved the entire piece 1 inch towards the centre (this narrows the front bodice while maintaining the bust and waist proportions)

- removed a 1/4 inch wedge from under the armpit to reduce gaping under the arms

- moved the front bust darts towards the centre front by 1/4 inch

- widened the front bust dart base by 1/8 inch tapering it the fit the original dart about half way up. (To reduce the fabric pooling just under my bust and at my waist) (alternatively I could have adjusted the bodice side shaping , but dart adjustments are easier for me)

- reduced the shoulder piece length by 1 inch

Phew. That sounds like a lot of alterations, and in fact my pattern pieces are looking really mangled (especially with the blue painters tape!) but hey - this flora turned out near perfect! And just LOOK at this print!! It SCREAMS spring! It's the first pattern that I made alterations to, on my second round, to produce a better fit. And you know what? It was totally worth my time!

and next time I'll stay stitch the bodice waist as it stretched and is a little loose. I might take in the sides another 1/4" each and sew the waist seam another 1/4" just across the stomach to reduce the slight drooping that's occurring. Little things.

Beautiful invisible zipper (Especially considering it is my FIRST invisible zipper with my zipper foot!). Front knife pleats and back pleats. So beautiful

This flora is my demand to the Canadian weather gods to give me spring!!

Pattern: By Hand London Flora dress - Variation 2: Tank

Size: 14

Fabric: purple gabardine & floral polyester

Alterations:

• front dart placement and width
• narrow shoulder adjustment
• hollow upper chest adjustment
• rounded upper back adjustment
• gaping under arm adjustment
• shortened shoulder strap

Read More »