Flowery Dress

I must say I am being quite proud of myself and my stash-busting efforts. Since May 2015 I oblige myself to keep track of all ins and outs of my stash and even though since this date I am still in the red numbers (more bought than sewn), I believe it helps me to buy less and look for fabric in my stash.

Yes, there are still big purchases at the beginning of the tracking and then, during my Asian vacation. But since, I have remain on track. Also, half of my purchases in April 2016 were linings which enable me to sew more from my stash.
The positive news is that I also used some fabrics which I thought a complete misses when bought and finally, I really love the garments:
Example in case: this mid-season dress which got a lot wear since it has been sewn.

I also realized that I am more motivated to sew when I slide and buy too much fabric in order to at least minimize the final impact.

All this does not mean that I will stop buy fabric completely, but I like seeing that I am making some progress. And I still have a secret dream of reducing my stash by one third (I currently have 3 containers, and would like to only have two).

As for the sewing, I can see I am currently in my busiest period - kicked off by Me-Made-May, I must admit that sewing summer dresses is the most fun for me, so I usually sew the most between May and July. August is vacation and September too crazy work-wise.

So this brings me to my newest dress. The pattern is a combination of Anna By Hand London top and Kay Unger skirt as sewn here (could have been ANY pencil skirt, though).

I guess it looks better in real life than on the dummy :

The fabric is a silk-cotton of fabulous touch bought last year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I am not 100% sure about the pink and orange on myself, I was afraid it was too busy, but kind of like it on the final dress.

The dress is fully lined with black silk (see, I needed to do some purchases in April), invisible zip is a must :o)

There is only a small hic on the front fit of the skirt, but honestly, with the busy and quite fine fabric, I might be the only person to see that.

Time to Complete: not remember, probably a week

Total Cost: 32 EUR

Kay Unger Lawn Dress

This dress was actually a wearable muslin, but an extremely successful one, I dare say! So the original plan was to test Vogue 1270, Kay Unger dress, just to sew the pattern without the pleats (version lining, actually) to test the fit basically.

The point is that the more I went forward, the better the final result seemed. Ok, I need to admit that the fabric is little bit out of my comfort zone but I liked it a lot. It is a simple quilting cotton, so everything worked just so smoothly, it pressed like a dream and sewed even better. When sewing with silks, I always forget how easy and trouble-free sewing can be :o)

I like how simple things work well. I tweaked the fit little bit around the shoulders, but apart from that - no major issues. The pattern reminds me of NewLook 6968 which I admire all the time on Kristy's blog - over here. But this pattern is just desperately out of print and cannot be found anywhere. So hopefully, I have just found my basic dress pattern.

The dress is lined with fine white/cream silk. The lining was sewn in by machine, apart from the armscyes which were attached by hand. All the lining/fabric border is stabilized with running stitches. Many of the dress seams are also fixed with catching stitches, just for the calm of my mind.

I love this finish, it just looks so crispy and neat. And even if the lining might peak out, the colours match perfectly together.

The dress is also a part of my MMM challenge, so I one more good point, I am now ready to go with the original Kay Unger.

Inspiration: search for a basic dress pattern

Pattern: Vogue 1270 from Kay Unger

Pattern changes: shoulder tweaks

Technique: running stitches

Fabric: 

Time to Complete: one week-end

Total Cost: 19 EUR

Black-Blue “Lace” Dress

This dress was my single make in March, even though I must have started other things. 

And surprisingly, it was not a very well planned project, I even used a piece of fabric bought in the beginning of my fabric stashing. I remember buying this fabric over the internet (before learning that buying fabric on internet is not the best idea, as the reality rarely corresponds to what I thought originally) and it was meant to be a jacket to accessorise my blue silk dress for the weddings I attended that year. 

However, sewing on the deadline, I barely had time to finish the dress and also had only a meter or so of the fabric. Not talking about the fact that it is little bit stretchy and would not be the best option for a jacket.

I somehow found this piece of fabric and figured out that a little mid-season dress would actually be cool. I used my true and tested pattern which is actually a copy of a RTW dress adjusted to my little frame and which I have already sewn here. Quick decision, quick project which got worn a few times already. 

The fabric is a blend of rather stiff cotton and lycra which means that it keeps perfectly its form while being quite comfortable.

My previous version was lined only on the bodice and I think it was a mistake. So this time, I lined the dress completely.

I was thinking about matching the pattern, but

•        I did not have enough fabric to do that
•        the pattern is so messy it does not matter much
•        the colour difference is not enormous, so I can totally live with this

Just check my seam matching here….

And that is about it, I am happy I could take pics of it (merci Me-Made-May) and finally post it, which makes half of my MMM posting objective attained :o)

Inspiration: just wanted to finish a project

Pattern: RTW copy

Pattern changes: none

Technique: seam matching

Fabric: false lace in black-blue cotton

Time to Complete: 2 weeks

Total Cost: 28 EUR

Black Period

In many senses:

January has been just a one crazy month and I still feel some impact of it now. But, I managed to sew little bit in December (not blogged) and finished things in February (not blogged either).

I am also very late on posting about one of my November makes. But I am speeding things up, took a few pictures this morning, so hopefully will be posting everything soon.

Then, all of my last makes are completely black or with majority of black. Oh well. That is probably because not having too much time for sewing, I focus on making practical things which I am sure to wear, aka dark colours. I would like to promise that it will get better soon but even the blouse I am making this week-end is black-and-beige.

So let’s review this black dress. It is the same 60’s pattern as this dress which got sooooo much wear this winter even though it is an illogical combination of wool flannel and short sleeves, but I figured it goes well with sweaters, as well as jackets and I just love it. Unfortunately, it shrank little bit in the process, because I wash my wool clothes in the machine (and yes, I did preshrank it before sewing).

It was quite obvious that I needed another one like that before the winter is over, this time with longer sleeves. Small details include invisible zip, inserted pockets and that’s pretty much it.

The pattern is nice, the waist is not very fitted, so this is a perfect dress for your bloated-belly days :o)

The fabric is black wool flannel, lined with batik silk I bought last year in Indonesia to add little bit of fun to this dress. I actually had almost 2m of this crazy fabric and figured out that a whole dress in black-yellow would never get worn. So I used a part for the lining and the rest for a small summer top (yes, yes, still to be blogged).

Inspiration: 1960s

Pattern: Burda 110-09/2015

Pattern changes: none, pattern already adjusted on my previous model

Technique: hidden pockets

Fabric: black wool flannel, batik silk for lining

Time to Complete: a month

Total Cost: 24 EUR

Remnants’ Dress

I am quite late on posting on the blog, as December was a pretty hectic month, so I did not have much time to take pictures of this make. In addition, the blue/black difference is almost impossible to see in pictures taken inside. On the other hand I can already say that the dress was already worn many times.

I was quite inspired by my last success on the 60s line, so I went straightly for another one. The pattern is a vintage re-edition – Simplicity 3833. And again, I am not disappointed by the result.

The dress was also a great opportunity to use up many remnants:

It is sewn from dark blue and black suiting fabric which is stiff without being uncomfortable and holds the form perfectly.

The lining is from different remnants of black silk of different brilliance and weight between the bodice and the skirt, probably not the best thing to do, but it works.

So yeah for using up the small pieces from stash!

The only thing I did not like with the pattern is the fact that they propose to cut the front in different colours while the back is in one color. I decided to cut the back in two as well. I was long ruminating about whether to make it blue-black or black-blue, in the end, I figured out that I needed to use up more of the blue fabric and cut it from blue.

What to say more: I am very happy with this dress, the fit (without a muslin), the fabric choice, the finish, the perfection of my sewing when matching the seams, and I am pretty sure I will be sewing a summer version of this pattern.

The outside pictures are from our trip to Malta, from a day when it was so nice and sunny, I could have walked only with my dress the whole day.

Inspiration: 1960s

Pattern: Simplicity 3833

Pattern changes: shoulder-sleeves, two-color back

Technique: topstitching (just to say there is a technique necessary)

Fabric: black and dark-blue suiting wool

Time to Complete: a week

Total Cost: 31 EUR

60' Dress

Yes, it is true I already have a grey wool dress, yes, it is true I wear a lot of grey/brown/black in winter, but yes, it is true I really love this fabric.

It is some kind of thin wool flannel and it is so soft and such a pleasure to sew with. And I had bought a 3m coupon in the beginning which means that even after having sewn 2 dresses out of it, I still have some left for another one. The first one is here. 

More importantly: I bought September Burda and I think it is one rare great number. Not only did I sew this 60’ style dress, but I have an eye on two others.

So to the details: the dress is Burda 110-09/2015, the version with short sleeves and I have to admit, I got completely inspired by the magazine picture.

Note to myself: get better at ironing, the pictures were taken after several wears already.

As usual with Burda I had to adapt the shoulder area and took it in on the sides from the waist down. This time I am very proud of not only my invisible zipper, but also the invisible pockets. 

Yes, ye, there IS a pocket in this seam!!!

I like the minimalism of this dress which lets me accessorise it according to the circumstances. The dress is extremely confortable, be it for work or traveling. I just love the silhouette and the ease of movements.

I will not say that I will sew it again in another colour, but I think I just need some more 60’ inspired dresses. Thinking about some vintage ones, maybe…

I already talked about the fabric, warm enough for autumn/winter period; the dress is lined with black cotton-silk and so are the pockets. I know it is a risky one, but I just love the feeling of silk when I put my hands in the pockets :o)

Ok, a few pictures of the dress when worn, visiting the Chambord castle in Vallée de la Loire: it was an amazing autumn week-end with great weather and nice light, with all the autumn colours.