Let There Be Ships! New Look 6067

One day while browsing on Fabric.com I fell in love with a sweet little fabric covered in ships. The background was white and the tiny boats were blue, the stretch factor was just right, and a click click click later for $7/yd I owned three yards of it.

The bodice is the beautiful New Look 6067. with three bust pleats up the centre front. 

I must say - New Look patterns are wonderful - they all fit perfectly out of the package - which clearly I'm a big fan of - and many of the patterns have very cute bodices.

The fabric is a cotton poplin - slightly see through so I lined the entire dress with another plain white cotton poplin. 

Since I didn't really like the skirt pattern too much as pencil skirts aren't really my cup of tea, I swapped it out for my preferred skirt pattern from Sewaholic's belladone skirt and using three box pleats instead of two knife pleats. 

Nothing like a little breeze to emphasize your derriere....thanks wind.

Pockets. I LOVE pockets. The Belladone pockets are perfect too. Nice and deep - aint nothing falling out of these babies when I sit down!

I worked hard to line the rows of boats up across the bodice front. They are straight across the front which is great but I should have worked harder so the print matched down the centre seam - I kind of shrunk the boats in half.



Gathered sleeves add a nice shape in poplin fabric. I also fully lined the bodice and sleeves so I have a nice clean finish.



My handsome boyfriend took all these photos for me while we were in New York City. These are from the Coney Island Aquarium - we rode the subway for 45 minutes one way just to say we tried a Coney Island Hotdog (it was a let down but hey my pretzel was amazing!

Details
Pattern: New Look 6067 + Sewaholic's Belladone Skirt
Size: 8
Fabric: Cotton Poplin
Alterations: Added darts to the back neckline to reduce gaping.

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Flocked Flower Belladone

Finally, after a long time, I am a part of the Belladone lovers club! And I'm infatuated. This dress is just adorable. I always loved the pattern, especially that green fabric the sample dress is made of. And OH I love this dress!

The fabric is a grey cotton with black flocked flowers. It has the slightest amount of stretch, just enough to make a tighter dress still breathable. I found the fabric at the value village in town and I'm fairly certain it is supposed to be curtain or pillow fabric. It's a very nice fabric that I found absolutely perfect for dress-making.

Fitting wise I took the advice of many many many other bloggers that I follow online and adjusted the back pieces to reduce gaping. I took out 1/2" out of the neckline pieces as well as another 1/2" out of the front bodice. About 2 inches up the V from the centre of the lower piece of the back bodice I removed a 1/2" to accommodate my rounded back. And finally, one last adjustment, I took a 1/4" dart out of the front arm scythe and twisted it into the bust dart.

After attaching the waist band, I realized the bodice was a little short so I sewed it on at 3/8" instead of 5/8" to add some length to the bodice so the skirt would sit more naturally. And let's talk about this skirt. I LOVE this skirt. It is by far my favourite skirt pattern I've used. The slash pockets are beautiful and the front pleats sit beautifully. The only skirt adjustment I made was turning the back skirt darts in to pleats for added bum space.

I decided to use black bias tape to finish the dress as I like the way it accentuates the back cut out and the beautiful lines of the pockets. My bias binding it's perfect and you can see the ripples in some spots - I don't mind that, it isn't horrendous. I opted against black piping at the waist seam as I felt it would make me look wider. Also, since I could slip into the dress, I sewed the centre back together at the bias tape and started the invisible zipper just below. I like the clean finish this adds to the back instead of a hook and eye.

All and all this one of my favourites. It fits nice and snug and all the cute details make me so happy. I feel adorable when I wear this dress in public and isn't that what we all want when wearing our me-mades? This one is a success - There will be many more Belladone dresses in my future.

Details

Pattern: Deer & Doe Belladone
Size: 12
Fabric: Cotton?
Alteration: 

• 1/4" dart from arm scythe twisted into the bust dart
• 1/2" removed from front bodice neckline to reduce gaping
• 1/2" wedge removed from upper back piece
• 1/2" wedge removed from lower back piece near centre back.

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Me-Made-May'14 Week 1

Only 4 days In my first "week" of me made May ! 

Last year when I started reading sewing blogs and I came across the concept of me made may I was so ecstatic. I've secretly been waiting for May to come and sewing as much as possible in anticipation of participation! Come faster. I'm so happy it's here. And that I can participate! 

Day 1: Maroon baby doll dress

Wore to: Work in an office

One of my first makes and still one of my favourites. It's an Ottobre design and I'm smitten with their simple flattering patterns. I wear this at least once a week because it's so convenient to toss on and head out. No fuss. Just the type of dress I like to wear!

Day 2: blue Lekala sweater 

Wore to: Work in an office

My work is fairly casual, with my co-workers frequently wearing jeans, but that doesn't mean I can't wear business casual right? I actually don't own a pair of jeans, or pants that I like for that matter. Form fit knit skirts are my go-to, so I decided to make a sweater that can go with them easily but is still casual and comfortable. I wear this sweater a lot as I find it flattering and forgiving across my stomach in a tight skirt!

Day 3: Green Belladone

Wore to: Work in a bookstore / welcome home party at a friends place

I've made a lot last month that I haven't captured photos of yet. Posts are written, they are just unaccompanied, and who wants to read a post sans photos? Not this girl! But here's a sneak peek at my green belladone dress! I 100% copied the sample dress. It's a great casual dress with full coverage, but the back keeps it fun! 

Today I had to make my outfit work both at work with a dark clothing dress code as well as for a friends get together. I wanted to look both work appropriate and fun. This dress matched both criteria!

Ps. I also downloaded an app to make the collages. fancy for me!

Day 4: Green flower M6553

Wore to: Sunday shopping and dinner with friends

This dress is everything I want in a dress and is utterly comfortable with satin charmeuse. Again, it is easy to toss on and look nice without trying hard. The flowy nature is forgiving while the print is happy and distracts from my terrible hair!! I should have ironed the back better. Oops.  

Ps. See my new ballet flats! Super excited about how adorable they are! they make me feel like dancing through the streets cause they're so cute!

So one week in and I'm having a blast wearing all my hand Mades! All four of these makes are some of my favourite items and are in high rotation within my wardrobe. All fit well and are super comfortable!

As the next 3 weeks pass, and I wear more of the items I've made, I'll identify which items are uncomfortable with a days wear under my belt and make a list of alterations I should make to them. Hopefully any alterations I make will increase their wearability. I feel that if I've invested the time to create something, I should invest the time for adjustments to make it more appropriate (albeit poor fabric/pattern combo is not fixable).  

Happy first successful week of Me-Made-May'14

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