Bruyere Ships as a Dress!

And then there were two.

This pattern was a dream. After finishing my first Bruyere out of Robert Kaufman Chambray and wearing it, I knew there needed to be a second. During the same purchase as the dots I purchased this Ships chambray fabric. It is a great fabric, it's light and crisp, but it doesn't feel AS buttery as the dots chambray. But it has Ships so they are kind of equal.

The one significant difference for this Bruyere is......I made it a dress! I've never had a shirt dress. This goes back to me never fitting button up shirts. But now that I can make my own - YAY! I simply lengthened the bottom pieces by 4 inches each. Shows you how short I am eh?

This time I also sewed the side seams up at 7/8" instead of the given 5/8". Because of the length, I wanted to make sure the waist was snug to give me some definition. My other Bruyere fits very comfortably around the waist but it is loose. This one sits perfectly snug to my skin with almost no ease. The one thing I do notice with reducing the shirt to minimal ease is that I could use 1/4" length added to the top bodice pieces - it pulls up slightly if I raise my arms.

I also shaved off 5/8" from each bodice sleeve so the sleeves sit directly on my shoulders instead of hanging slightly off.

I bought these cute silver anchor buttons, but I realized I'd have to hand sew them and that just wasn't going to happen on a shirt with so many buttons. I didn't want it to look sloppy and my hand sewing certainly looks sloppy. I replaced them with these cute blue buttons with a unique swirl pattern on them. Each button is different.

I made the shirt exactly the same and yet on this dress perversion, one side of my button placket is 1 inch longer than the other. I very much wish it worked out evenly on the bottom, but this imperfection enables me to prove that this is handmade - and people believe me now!

I tried to place the ships perfectly on the collar to help showcase them. But they didn't end up centred. I also centred ships on the upper biceps of the arms. Otherwise the ships are haphazard and when I look at it, I feel like most ships are upside-down.

Had you not noticed, the colours are fairly saturated in my photos. I have a bad habit of taking photos immediately after work; the sun is up and shining brightly, so you often cannot see anything on my handmades without much alteration. So excuse that.

Love my new Ships Bruyere shirt dress! Me and Bruyere sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g......

Details

Pattern: Bruyere shirt by Deer and Doe

Size: 14

Fabric: Robert Kaufman Nautique Chambray SRK-14276-62 Indigo 

Alterations:

• Lengthened the bottom pieces by 4" to turn Bruyere in to a dress
• Sewed side seams at 7/8" for reduced ease
• Reduced top of arm scythe by 5/8" to have sleeves sit on my shoulders better 

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Ahoy hoy V1102

Ahoy hoy friends of summer! Long time no bloggy blog.

So, I've been sewing.....just not blogging. The weather has been terrible for the past month until recently. And the sun is now shining so bright you hear me protest loudly every time I step indoors. I want to relish this weather. And how does one do that? In a beautiful sun dress of course!

This is V1102. The first paper pattern I ever purchased. And, it took be over a year to make it. But my love for this pattern persisted and I found this luscious anchor 100% cotton fabric that I just knew would keep this dress style in a playful mood for me.

I cut the size 16 and did a 1 inch full bust adjustment. Through flat pattern measuring I knew that both the neckline and the armholes would gap. To mend these, I took 1/2" wedge out of the neckline as well as 1/4" wedge out of the armhole and twisted both of those into the dart. I made a muslin of only the bodice and realized that the back was gaping so I removed two sets of 1/4" wedges, one of each opposite curve, on the back piece and removed 1 inch from the centre back as there was lots of overlap there.

Phew, adjustments right?

Well, they were all worth it. I went ahead and cut my anchors fabric, making sure that the grainline was straight as could be, and put my faith in my body molding to this new pattern cause I did everything I could to make the pattern mold to me! And it worked!

The get a crisp edge to my bodice, I lined did a full lining out of Bemberg Rayon. (Ps, Fabricland was switching lining distributors and sold their entire lining selection for $1/m. I bought 40 metres of lining. Black, Navy, light Grey, and a very soft yellow. Yay for cheap!)  I also tried really hard to avoid anchor nipples, but I only partially succeeded  with one anchor not getting FULLY hidden into the dart. Whatcha gonna do right?

Now, the instructions for this pattern are a little wonky because there are too many pattern pieces. They have you do both a full lining AND facings. What? WHY. That's ridiculous. So I opted to only do a full lining. I actually didn't follow the instructions because after one read through I was thoroughly confused and didn't need them. My preferred lining method is to sew the shoulder seams, sew the lining to the neckline and armholes, and finally pull the pieces through the shoulder seam, then finally stitching the side seams together.

The only difference with V1120, is the back ties, this made the full lining slightly more difficult. I simply sewed the back ties to the bodice, and sewed the lining really carefully, being careful to not sew the ties to the lining. It got a bit snug, while attaching the lining with the ties tucked underneath, so I sewed really slowly.

After I made the bodice, I decided against the recommended circle skirt. I have a lot of circle skirts, wanted it to be a little more casual. I opted for a simple gathered skirt with in seam pockets. I used the entire 60" width of the fabric for the front and back pieces. Gathered with my sewing machine with the tension on 9, and serged all seams, including the waist seam.

I finished this dress in a day. The only problem with sewing a dress in a day, on a Sunday at that, is having to work with what you have on hand, and I sadly only had a purple invisible zipper on hand. I worked with is, but I do regret it as the back tab is very visible in the back, but I don't care enough, because CUTE DRESS FOR WORK ON MONDAY!

I feel like a cupcake in this dress and it makes me SO happy!

Details

Pattern: Vogue 1102
Size: 16
Fabric: 100% Cotton
Alteration: 

• 1" Full bust adjustment
• 1/2" reduction to neckline twisted into dart
• 1/2" reduction to arm scythe twisted into dart
• 1" taken out of back middle seam
• 1/4" wedges removed from back pattern piece to reduce gaping
• Used a gathered skirt 

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