BWOF 06-2009-101 Pleated front knit dress

Thank you to the Sydney people who suggested lovely shops to visit and invited me to meet for coffee. Unfortunately only my children are having a 10 day holiday in Sydney (with their grandparents). My husband is accompanying them for the first weekend, then my in-laws will bring the children back after the following weekend. I am staying home to work, but am planning an intense remaining 3/4 of a weekend spent on sewing. I will subsist on a diet of chocolate and ginger and do no housework. It is lucky my husband will only be away for 2 nights!
I will be in Sydney for a long weekend at the beginning of October, and again over Christmas, so maybe I can take advantage of the shopping (and coffee) later on.
Due to a full day, instead of a half day at work on Saturday, I did not finish the BWOF dress in time to wear to the drafty party last night (I wore last year's wool jersey SWAP dress instead) but I was easily able to distract myself from the urgent calls of camo pants and long sleeved t shirts, and to sew the dress today. I am hoping to go out to dinner with my husband whilst we are temporarily childless so I have an excuse to wear it.

 

I am much happier with this pattern as a dress than as a top. The fabric is a lovely teal wool jersey from Michael's Fabrics. It looks a bit too green on my monitor, in real life it is a beautiful colour. Although the fabric is thin, the pleats seem much better behaved in the wool jersey. However, I did not trust them at all, and topstitched them for a few centimetres, top and bottom before pressing them with lots of steam. They drape quite nicely IMO. Maybe lycra is not such a good thing for pleats! There is still a slight poufy tendency. I did cut the pleated bodice 1cm shorter than the lining to encourage the pleats to pull in against the body, and I think this has helped a lot with the fit.

 

As Elizabeth pointed out in the comments on the last post, the t shirt length version seemed to ride up a bit in front. In the dress version, the weight of the skirt pulls the bodice down, so the dress fits better. However, I did need to shorten the back bodice a little after construction.

 

After my experience with the shoulder seams showing at the neck in the t shirt version, this time I sewed both the front and back shoulder seams by sandwiching them between the front and back pieces and their linings. I like the enclosed seams on the inside.
The dress is rather plain at the back. My daughters like the dress with this wide purple belt, but I am not so sure.

 

BWOF 06-2009-102 Pleated front top

Elizabeth has gently reminded me that I am supposed to be participating in the June Capsule Contest at Stitchers Guild. I am, I am, it is just that I am sewing a lot of other things as well :)). I will tell you my list for June. Next, my dress 101, for which this 101 top is a practice run. I need the dress (teal wool jersey) to wear to an icy cold dinner meeting location this Saturday. 2. Camo pants for my daughter to wear on camp (she goes next Wednesday) 3. Concurrently, helping my daughter with the waistcoat from the June BWOF which she wants to take to Sydney 4. A white blouse for my daughter to wear under the waistcoat - to Sydney 5. A long sleeve t shirt or 2 for my younger daughter, again for Sydney,6. A black cord straight skirt for the same daughter, for the Sydney trip, and finally, a whole weekend without husband or children in which I plan to sew for the June Capsule around 10 hours a day, bliss (although I am working a half day on Saturday). I think I can do it! I will have a few child free, but not work or husband free days after this before I run out of June. I forgot to mention the bra I am sporadically working on, although I think it may have just shifted itself to July.

So here is the pleated front top from BWOF that I promised in the title. This version is pretty much straight off the pattern sheet in a 38 other than sleeves extended to 3/4 length, neckline raised 4cm and a double layer in the waistband. I was not happy with the front pleats. They give a pouter pidgeon effect. The fabric is a medium weight cotton lycra knit.


Following the suggestion in BWOF that the pleats could be topstitched, I decided to hand stitch the pleats. I like this much better.


My reason for handstitching was to control the puckering you can still see in the finished top. The pleats are not on grain, and did not particularly want to stay in a nice straight line. I have used DMC perle cotton in a jeans topstitching type shade of brown. I also used the same coarse and uneven running stitch around the neck.


I altered the construction of the top by omitting the facing, and binding the neck edge of the sleeves, as suggested by LyndaC at Stitchers Guild. I sewed the lining to the front at the v neck, right sides together, turned, and treated the fronts as one layer. It was tricky to obtain a neat edge at the neckline on the seam, I ended up handstitching the allowance down.

For the back, ( I added a lining to prevent bra back show through) I sandwiched the back arm sleeve seams between the two layers of the back piece instead. You can also see how much I enjoyed playing with my new cover stitch machine. I think this will be a very useful tool.

This evening I plan a tiny bit of work on the dress version of the top, 101.

Jalie 2795 Hoodie

Sewing just lately has been a bit mixed up, with several projects waiting in mid stream due to missing parts. This hoodie Jalie 2795, was waiting on a 60cm open ended chunky zip. I had a difficult time sourcing the zip.

 

As far as I can determine from speaking to Birch, Leutenegger and Sullivans, this size is not available in Australia. Instead I ordered 3x 56cm zips in purple, (as in 56 cm many colours are available), and 3 x 61cm zips in grey, there being far fewer colours available in 61cm. 3 was the minimum order I could make, but I am sure to use the extras for something, one day. This is why I have a large notions stash!
I ended up using the 56cm zip. It is a little too short at the neck end, but my daughter much preferred the colour, and it is not so cold here that 5cm of missing zip will make her neck freeze.
The fabric is Polartech300 with a sherpa face and a smooth face. I bought it from Seattle Fabrics last winter, and it has been lurking under the bed in my son's room for the last 12 or so months. I did buy some zips from Seattle Fabrics when I bought the fabric but seem to have used them up on something else! There is still a lot of polar fleece under the bed. I am really hoping to use most of it over the next 2 or 3 months, as I am sure I could fit a lot more yardage of other fabrics in the same space!
Uta commented on my jester hat post that
she was suprized that it is cold enough for polar fleece where I live. Where I live in Australia is officially the subtropics, so it does seem a bit strange to need polar fleece, but we are about 80km inland, so in Winter, we have some very cold nights, evenings and early mornings. It may not seem very cold to someone in Germany, but if it hits 0 degrees, we really layer up. Of course by 10 am we can wear shorts and a t shirt, but that is just boasting :. I will be making more polar fleece jackets soon, as my children are visiting their grandparents in Sydney in a few weeks, and will also be visiting the Blue Mountains, where we even have snow occasionally. My daughter has requested mittens to match her jacket.

 

I am happy with the pattern for this hoodie. It is a properly technical cut garment with a high neck and close fitting hood that can be worn under a waterproof shell. My daughter will be able to use this for hiking, not just as a casual jacket. (I made a Gortex jacket last year, so I am off the hook for the outer layer)

 

The sizing is true to the measurements. I made my daughter size R (European 34) which approximates her bust, waist and hip measurements and the only fitting adjustment was to the length of the sleeves. These were a little too long. My daughter is 168 cm tall, which is pretty average, and I do not usually need to shorten sleeves for her.

 

The only design change I made was to line the hood. I think this looks nicer when the hood is worn open, and it adds another layer of fabric for warmth. Due to the bulk of the fabric, I should have allowed a little extra room in the outer hood for the space taken up by the lining, but I don't think the hood has suffered too much from my omission.
Jalie has added their own label as a zipper pull tag. I liked this idea, but don't have a label, so cut a scrap of cotton print on the bias, sewed a tube, then hand sewed it through the zipper pull. This will make it easy to use the zip, even whilst wearing gloves.

Jester Hat

Last year my daughters made jester hats from polar fleece. They really enjoyed it, but a few weeks afterwards, my son complained that he did not have one, so I started to collect scraps for a boy version.
Being a bad and neglectful mother, I did not get around to finishing the hat, (I did not start until the end of August) and the warm weather beat me. However, in an attempt to redeem myself, I finished this off on the weekend.


I did not use a pattern for the hat, just 8 long strips with a triangle end sewn together to make 4 peaks. Each of the peaks has a few strips of polar fleece sewn in. The hat is reversible, with as many colours as we could squeeze in. He is quite happy with it, and it is lovely and warm with all those layers of polar fleece.

Below is a sneak preview of my next post. I started making BWOF 06-2009-102. I am not happy with it in this state, but (after dark - therefore no photos) I made some improvements. I am keen to make a second version with further adjustments, it is an interesting pattern. The ultimate plan is to make the dress version 101 in wool jersey for a dinner we are attending next Saturday - held in an unheated heritage listed building with 15 foot high ceilings, very drafty. I am hoping to be warm and reasonably dressed up, hard to pull off both at once!

Lin gerie Sewing

I guess you were expecting frillies or pretties with that title, no, we are in shed territory.

I do not want to use the wires from my kit for my practice bra, so decided to work on some retrieved wires from an old bra. I had to clip them to make them a comfortable height, so then I needed to coat the ends to stop them piercing me. My husband suggested this electrical wire coating stuff. It is nasty, toxic stuff, so I had to wear a respirator and work on the shed verandah, very rustic.

I wanted a little extra coating on the inner side of the wire, so used clothes pegs to sit the wires up to dry.
I did progress in the bra sewing this weekend, but as I kept sewing until after sunset, I do not have any good photos. I do not think the first one will fit, but I am learning a lot.

Jo Sharp Knit 5 - tank

I love this top. I would love it 100% if I did not sew and knew nothing about fitting.

I have just finished knitting it from Jo Sharp's book Knit 5. It is knit in 8ply soho summer DK cotton in colour currant 234. I really like the yarn. Some people on Ravelry have complained that it is splitty, but I found it beautifully behaved on bamboo circular needles, only showing separating tendencies if I happened to un-knit a few stitches.
You can see here, however, that the soothing round and round rib knitting seduced me into fitting errors. The top is too long in the middle section, and too short in the bust section. I did slip in a few short rows across the bust to try to fix this, but I was too late (and not keen to un- knit)

I tried two different methods of attaching the straps to the front, mattress stitch and back stitch. To my surprize the back stitch seemed more messy, so I put some buttons on this side rather that unpick. I was feeling very lazy, and I really like the buttons. There were only 3 left, so it is a perfect use for them. I used garter stitch on the edges of the straps so that they would not roll inwards due to the rib.


I will have to remember to keep pulling this down when I wear it to disguise the rolls. Perhaps I will just have to make another one in a different colour. I am tempted!

June Capsule, Marlene pants (again)

I am participating in the June Capsule Competition at Stitchers Guild, where the challenge is to make a 4 piece wardrobe, and an accessory, which co-ordinate with a wardrobe orphan.
My orphan is a lace wrap top from Witchery that I bought to wear to a party. This was several years ago, and the garments with which I originally wore the top belonged mostly to my sister. I did wear the top later over some beige linen pants, but was not really thrilled with this as an outfit, and the pants have since been retired.
Today I finished a pair of BWOF 08-2008 105 Marlene pants. Only Beebee has more pairs of these pants than I !

I was quite happy with the sewing of these pants. As the tropical wool fabric is quite thin, I lined these pants with batiste. After 4 pairs the construction is becoming straightforward, although still rather slow. This may be due to my delaying tactics when faced with a welt pocket (my sewing cupboard is remarkably tidy at the moment)


Unfortunately, I do not like these pants at all worn with the orphan top. I think these are now work pants, and the top is not suitable for work.

Additionally, despite desperate attempts to develop a TNT selection, I do not think I am a good candidate for this form of sewing.
1. My weight, size and fitness fluctuate. These pants (and all the other pairs) are now much too big.




2. I find sewing the same pattern rather boring if it occurs too soon after a previous attempt. I made one pair of these pants with different pockets, but it did not improve the boredom factor. I have sewn them from cotton gabardine, linen and now wool, and different fabrics did not improve the boredom.
3. I have some perfectionist tendencies. If I have one garment made from a particular pattern it seems possible for me to excuse the faults. With 4 pairs of these pants, I am unable to excuse the faults common to all pairs, and every time I wear any of these pants, the faults annoy me a lot.
4. I am unbearably tempted by new patterns and have a BWOF subscription.

I guess I need to become very, very quick at alterations!