Comfy Blue Knit Jacket - Lekala 4163

Let me introduce you to my weather appropriate sweater. 

This sweater comes custom sized from Lekala. The only problem is, one must remember that seam allowances are not included when cutting the fabric. I forgot. Thus, it is slightly snugger than it needs to be, but thank goodness for knit fabric. 

This knit fabric is a royal blue with black scratch lines on it. A nice subtle pattern for a sweater jacket. It is unlined and I added bands around all the edges to make the finishings easier so I could do everything on my serger. 

The back of the sweater has princess seams. That is the reasoning behind calling it a sweater jacket. 

This was my first garment that has two-piece sleeves. I will openly admit that I didn't even look at the instructions. Lekala instructions may possibly be worse than Burdas; they are vague to say the least. So I aligned my sleeve seams to the bodice and stitched. Errr... Nope. Got it wrong. Wrong seam alignment. Step in magical seam ripper and try again. Set the sleeves in correctly the second time! 

Overall, I do love this sweater. It's fancy enough for work but is still utterly comfortable. The front draping is fun, and in this thicker knit fabric adds great shape. I think this would be a perfect sweater to remake in a plain black rayon knit. Drapier, thinner fabric would produce a garment similar to the photo, but would be an amazing staple!

I'm just realizing that my hair has gotten really long! Everybody keeps telling me this, but I had short hair the majority of my life, I still feel it's short. These photos are proving me wrong. Yay it's grown!

Details

Pattern: Lekala 4163 - Knit Jacket

Fabric: Acrylic double knit fabric

Cost: $7

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Drape Drape no.5 V-neck Drape Dress

oh Drape Drape. You are so quickly becoming my favourite patterns. you're made of knits, your shapes are unique, and flatter the figure. Simply magnificent!

This is dress no.5 from Drape Drape. With extreme V-neck in both the front and back, gathered bodice, draping at the hips and a dipped hem at centre back. Such a beautiful design. 

This dress in no way is bra-friendly. Nor is it modest. So to retain some sense of mystery, I wore a tank top underneath (I'm thinking a bandeau would be beautiful too - for next time)

Another thing to note is that I cut the XL size which again is for a 90cm bust. 14cm less than my bust size. I think it fits fine. I don't feel it pulls across the chest to the sides but the back is more exposed than in the models photo. But, it still fits me so realize the sizes are very forgiving in a knit fabric.

When I started to make this dress, I feared that those hip drapes might look horrendous on my already prominent hips. But I'm extremely pleased with the outcome, as the drapes don't make them look larger so much as showcase their shapely appearance. Which I like! 

But that draped skirt didn't come easily. This fabric is a lightweight rayon knit. Beautifully soft to the touch but freely clings to tights and leggings. I spent a long time arranging the pleats and basting them in place as I knew that anything out of place would ruin the drape and effect of the dress. Manouvering a rayon knit into pleats while trying not to stretch the fabric is no easy feat; especially when the cut edges have a tendency to curl. I had these skirt panels in needle shackles by the end; one needle every 1mm apart - ridiculous right? but oh the end result is SO worth it!

But, like the idiot I am, I forgot to add a seam stabilizer to the shoulder seams. And not having shortened the shoulder length, the straps do appear to be growing with wear. Sad. I don't want to take it apart as it's fully lined with all seams enclosed, but I may have to if they don't shrink back in the wash. 

And, as I noticed the fabric didn't have a lot of elastic to help with stretch recovery; I added fold-over elastic to the inside waist seam to help keep the waist-shaping, carry the weight of the skirt, and reduce the stress on the shoulder seams. I may have made the elastic too tight as it is making my back bulge over a little, but what I can't see I shouldn't care about right? Right!

All and all this is a wonderfully easy dress to wear with some great features! I wore it many times to the beach and around the city!

Details

Pattern: Drape Drape no.5 V-Neck Drape Dress

Size: XL

Fabric: Rayon Knit

Required: 2.10 metres

Price: $14
Alterations:

• Omitted the back zipper
• Added fold-over elastic to the waist seam

These photos were all taken while wandering El Matador Beach in Malibu on a beautifully sunny day!

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Los Angeles Fabric Haul

Where's Chrystal?

I was excited for the Los Angeles Fabric District. I read many articles about what stores to visit and the etiquette (or lack there of) in buying fabric in the district. 

The most important points before you go shopping to me are:

• Bring cash, smaller bills required. No where but Michael Levine's takes Credit Cards
• Carry a backpack or suitcase to carry all your fabric in - it gets heavy really fast
• Be prepared to haggle over prices. It is expected that you counter their offer.
• Don't wear bulky clothing or anything that restricts your movements - you'll be navigating through tiny shops with many bolts sticking out at off angles and it can get really hot.

The fab

Now lets check out my haul shall we?

So. Much. Knit!

Floral Knits:

Rayon sweatshirt knit

Rayon Knit

Tissue Rayon Knit

Tribal Knits:

Rayon Knit

Double Knit

Sweatshirt Knit

Sweatshirt Knit

Tissue Knit

Rayon Jersey

Polyester Jersey

Stripe Knits:

Cotton t-shirt material

Acrylic Sweatshirt Knit

Cotton Jersey

Cotton:

Cotton

Silks (Mood Fabrics):

TL: Silk Charmeuse TR: Silk Jersey BL: Silk Charmeuse BR: Silk Crepe

Not shown: Green Double Knit, Green Wool

Phew. I'm so in awe of my fabric haul!!!

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The Green Flowered M6553 that Could

Hello from California! I've just finished up a wonderful week in Los Angeles visiting my brother and to soak up some much needed vitamin D! and of course I brought as many Me-Mades as possible to showcase in the sunny weather!

I planned this trip a few months ago to celebrate my 25th birthday (champagne birthday all!!), but after the unexpected passing of my father at the beginning of the month, this trip became a time to be closer to my brother during a difficult time, to remove me from the emotional stress of home, and to help start the healing process. 

This is the pretty version of M6553 that I made the test garment for in my last post. but this one has much more beautiful fabric. I added some dimension to this version to help break up the print by using a solid charmeuse in the same green colour on the back yoke. The fabrics were the exact same except in a solid. Horray for easy matching! And I used a plain 9mm silver button on the yoke. 

You'd think that this would be an easy make since I finished the test garment only one day before, but alas, life does not continue without encountering a sewing quibble every once in awhile. And a perfect second make would just be too predictable now wouldn't it?

This fabric is the love and Bain of my existence. It is a satin charmeuse. Betcha didn't guess that by the look of it eh? Well, this fabric pattern is my favourite! It is actually a greenish-yellow hue (green=Love) and has the large floral in muted tones (adore)! So it Did seem like the perfect fabric. But it was shiny; bad-middle-school-prom shiny. ew. I don't do shiny. I can't. but the pattern and colours were so perfect. I needed it. I turned the shiny away and immediately realized the back side had the same pattern but with a matte appearance. perrrrrrfect. I like matte. And this also means the slippery side is against my skin. Mmmmm soft!

But like I said, this is satin charmeuse, and as it turns out, my serger has a huge appetite for charmeuse (om Nom Nom Nom says Mr.Serger). And this fabric did not want to do as told (And I spoke real firmly to it), it was slippery and went all nimbly bimbly on me. I had to strong arm it a lot to combat the liquid fabric qualities and my hungry serger. But I made it! Phew!

It is interesting to see the difference that fabric makes to the fit and appearance of a dress. My original is heavier and holds its shape well. This one has a fluid drape and lays flatter. Except for when the wind blows. This baby has some serious flow folks! I'm thankful for the modesty the hi-lo hem provides during the gusty weather a top the mountains in Joshua Tree National Park! I was flashing people left and right! I'm a real class act my friends ;)

The other thing I noticed with this version, as the fabric has no stretch, is that the arm scythe is much tighter and pulled at my armpit. I tried to remedy this by serging 1/2" out at the under arm. It helped alleviate some of the stress, but next time I'll know to deepen them to make room for my chubby armpits (serious issue folks! Haha).

And finally, due to the lightweight fabric, the pockets are rendered somewhat useless as just putting my phone in one pocket pulls the entire dress towards the weight in said pocket. I don't like the look; as if my flowy dress is being restrained. Flow free floral M6553 stallion! Flow free!

But alas, the time has come to say farewell. I've had a wonderful week in California with my brother and I look forward to returning in the future!

Details

Pattern: M6553

Size: 6

Fabric: Green Floral Satin Charmeuse

Cost: $12

Alterations: 

• lowered the arm scythe by 1/2"

All photos were taken in Joshua Tree National Park. Beautiful place! My dress appears camouflaged to the scenery which I kind of love!

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McCalls M6553

When I saw the technical drawing of this pattern I didn't think much of it. But as soon as I saw it made up I fell in love with it. This is M6553 and it is beautiful.

I wanted an easy flow dress. It had to have some structure to prevent the moo-moo look. This dress style fits the bill exactly. The pattern envelope description is: Very loose-fitting, pullover dress has princess seams, self-lined yoke back, side openings for self belt, back pleats/ neck slit with button/thread loop closing, and shaped hemline. Exactly what I needed; shaped front while having a flowing back. 

Surprisingly, I did no alterations to the length of the pattern. For me it turned out the perfect length; hitting at my preferred height in the front 3" above my knee and the back hem 2" below my knee. I only double turned the hem and sewed so only reducing the original length by 1/2" - a very tiny hem.

This dress is included in my Project Sew LA. But before using my beautiful fabric I wanted to make a test garment to check the sizing. I used a green suiting fabric. As per usual, the sizing of this pattern is ridiculous as it says the finished measurement for size 6 (the smallest size) has a 42" bust. Really McCalls? The smallest size is 42" bust? I decided since I'm a 42" bust I needed to make the size 6. It fits me exactly as I wanted it to fit. Because of this, Making this pattern for anybody with a smaller bust will most likely result in a significantly baggy looking dress. 

Also like every great dress it has pockets! Pockets make every dress THAT much better. They are in-seam and they were drafted at the correct height. The tie is what really makes this dress. It cinches the front of the dress and slips through two side openings and wraps around the back inside the dress, thus allowing the back to flow free. To help the dress slip over my head I attached one sew-on snap at the back neck. It is hidden from view on the back as I only sewed it to back facing.

And after this test garment I know that I absolutely adore this dress. It fits almost perfectly, and I have already started to make it out of my fashion fabric! Project Sew LA I will complete you!

Details

Pattern: M6553

Size: 6

Fabric: Green Polyester Suiting

Cost: $8.50

Alterations: None

This dress has some incredible flow my friends. So much flow that when I went for my favourite jump shot the dress flowed right on up and almost made me indecent. That hem is about 1cm from showing my lady bits off, but because it shows nothing but leg, I wanted to share the photo because it is hilarious. My necklace came upside and the photo snapped at an opportune moment - to make it look like I have a silver mustache! What A Beauty!

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