Stashoholism Confessional: Gifts from Foreign Lands

*Somebody* went to India without me (for work!) at the beginning of the month. India is one of my top destinations, so I was pretty jealous. I let him know that he would need to bring me back a present, and it should probably be a sari. I like a man who can take direction, because when I surprised him at the airport he forked it over. It is gorgeous! And I took a tiny sample from one end (the ends aren't finished) to burn--it is 100% silk. This is a truly special gift, and I was completely touched by it.

I don't want this gift to sit on the shelf, and Burda has totally come through for me the past two months. When I got the fabric I immediately thought of the Antik Batik exclusive design from August, Burda 08-2011-142 (line drawing on the left). Love the drapey look and luxurious use of fabric (the sari is huge, I think something along the lines of 7 usable yards). But then September arrived, and I was equally drawn in by the cover dress, Burda 09-2011-104, the line drawing on the right. The Antik Batik is still the front runner, I think, because I like the long sleeves. However, I have read through the directions several times and am still completely in the dark about how the skirt construction works. I'm really going to have to figure out that fabric starching-for-cutting thing before undertaking this project.

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My next indiscretion I blame entirely on my participation in the Dandies & Quaintrelles Full Moon Ride! I wrote about it on my other blog, but suffice it to say it is incredibly fun and an opportunity for dress up. I wore my McCall 5045 50s style dress--the dress code is white or light colors, and vintage style is always welcome.


So when I went to G Street Fabrics for the usual Fashion Sewing Club meeting the next morning I mind was buzzing with Full Moon Ride outfit ideas. I had to check out the $2.97/yd table and the $6.97/yd silk table, as usual. And was tempted, as usual. And fell, as usual. The silk is totally excusable, I just bought a yard for lining the bodice of my final Burda 08-2009-128 boatneck dress. The houndstooth, though, I mean I was in such a vintage frame of mind. The fabric is polyester, make no mistake, but it is definitely the old school kind. The houndstooth is woven, not printed. How great will this be in an unfitted shift with a white jacket (not that I currently own one) over it? So great, that's how great. Totally mod.

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Thank you so much for the nice comments you left on my McCall 6363 knockoff post! So, here's why the photos came out so well.

First of all, I was taking the pictures in the afternoon. My photo "studio" is a piece of fabric looped over my canopy-less canopy bed. I usually take photos in the morning before work. It faces west, so when I try to take pictures in the evening the setting sun reflects off my glasses. I took these photos before going out for the evening so I didn't wear glasses to avoid the glare. I have made my peace with wearing glasses, and consider them fun face jewelry. But let's face it, nobody ever had the mousy secretary put glasses *on* in the movies to reveal that she is a gorgeous vixen.

Since I wasn't going to wear glasses, I figured I should put makeup on to define my eyes, as I have blonde lashes and eyebrows.

Then I had taken a shower. My hair was taking a long time to dry so I used the blow dryer. While I was blowing it dry, I figured I might as well haphazardly apply a round brush.

So, that is me when I actually make an effort. Don't get used to it.


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I have a bunch of questions I plan to answer soon, but today I need to work on my birthday dress! I am being whisked out of town for the weekend (far enough inland to avoid the hurricane, it looks like) to celebrate my birthday with hiking and nature, so I've got work fast today to get my dress ready for Wednesday.

McCall 6363, Mock Wrap-ish Knit Dress (Self-Drafted)

I first became aware of McCall 6363 when Debbie Cook did a series of posts on it. You all know how I love a knit dress, and a knit dress with interest and tummy disguise? Fuggedaboutit. I had to have it. When I went looking for the pattern I realized why I'd never seen it before, as it is available only in plus sizes.

Debbie's ultimate conclusion on the pattern was "Don't buy it," so perhaps it is lucky it only comes in plus and I had to draft my own. I bought the pattern to study the pieces and use the instructions.



To draft this pattern, you start with a basic t-shirt dress. I used Burda 01-2009-106. Can I tell you how nice it was to trace a pattern that already came in size 34 and didn't have to be graded, and is on the old, less dense pattern pieces? It was sooooo easy. I raised and slightly widened the neckline, but otherwise used it as is.

The back is used as is. All I did was alter it for swayback.

For the front pattern piece, I first doubled it so I had a full size piece (the front is cut single layer).

Next, I marked the waistline all the way across the piece and cut from the left side almost all the way over to the right, leaving a little hinge in the seam allowance. If I were to do this again, I would split it 1" or 1.5" above the marked waistline. I found that having the growth right at the waistline means that the weight of it falls below the waist, so I lose a little bit of waist definition.

I spread the bodice up almost to 90 degrees (in examining the M6363 pattern piece I extended the grainline full length and then created a horizontal grainline to determine the angle at which their bodice is tilted) and then filled that in with a diamond of tissue, rounding the extending edge.

The front grainline runs down CF of the skirt, and the bodice bends over to be almost on crossgrain. I was surprised by how little fabric this took (my fabric was 60 wide, though). I had only 1 5/8 yard, but the front and back fit together along the width of the fabric so I only needed the length of the dress, a little more than a yard. I have plenty left for making panties.

My pattern piece is not shaped entirely like the McCall's. On theirs, the right side (without the tissue extension) runs straight down from the armscye, while mine is sharply angled. I think they did not split the pattern all the way to the side seam, but stopped short of it and added the extension to 2/3 of the bodice rather than the entire bodice (a possible alternative I discuss in my video).

Debbie Cook observed (and I confirmed) that the front neckline and shoulders on M6363 are not symmetrical. She thought that might be necessary to compensate for the differences in grainline and volume. Mine is symmetrical and I have no trouble with the way it sits--but keep in mind that I am flat-chested, which makes things easier fitting-wise (in this instance, at any rate).

Once the pattern is created, it is very simple to cut out and sew. The dress is just four pieces, a front, back, and two ties. I cut my ties 6 inches wide and about 25 inches long.

To construct, you first create "the growth." It is my guess that the drafter of the McCall pattern was influenced by Japanese design. The idea of adding a growth seems similar to some of the pieces in Drape Drape 2, as well as what I've seen of Pattern Magic (never seen the book in person, just on blogs).

Anyway, you first hem the tip of the growth to create an opening. The sew together along the edges until you get to the waistline (i.e., the end of the tissue extension and back on the original pattern).



Next you place your ties and sew the side seams. This is where I found McCall's directions confusing. In the McCall version, both ties are sewn to the right side, a fact that they do not actually come out and say. The growth radiates from the left side and then is pulled across the body to the right. One tie is sewn to the outside of the dress, and the other to the inside. The inside tie is pulled through the hem on the growth. I did mine differently, with the outside tie sewn into the left side, the side from which the growth radiates. It is pulled across the back. The inside tie is sewn to the right side, the side to which the growth will be pulled. This closeup shows the draping.

I found it hard to take photos and explain how this works, so I used my new favorite blogging toy and made another video:


To finish the neckline and armscye I used a twin needle. For the neckline, I used clear elastic slightly shorter than the length of the neckline to ensure that it stayed snug. I have never made my base pattern, Burda 01-2009-106, as drafted. A Burda size 34 is usually perfect for me at the shoulders and bust and #106 is meant to be close fitting, but I found this somewhat large. I'm not sure if it's all the result of my added tissue or not.

The hem on the M6363 pattern is straight and I used the same on mine. I think that is the right call, though the hem drapes a little weird at the front. Tweaking the depth of the hem didn't seem to correct it, so I think it's just a function of the extra fabric. I did not want to call attention to the not-perfectly-parallel-to-the-ground hem by using a double line of straight thread, so I used a machine blind hem. It came out truly invisible in this fairly substantial poly knit.

It would be fun to experiment more with this pattern. As mentioned in the video, I would like to see if there's a way to make the growth work if drafted smaller and pulled the other direction (pulled left instead of right). As I was playing with it, I realized the design principle is somewhat similar to the Vogue 2064 Donna Karan top and dress I made several years ago, only without the wrap skirt.

I didn't know exactly what to expect when I had this all put together, but I was pleasantly surprised! I love the casual-chic vibe this dress gives off, and the slightly bloused front is right on trend.

I made this as a muslin for my Very Special Silk Jersey that I am determined to sew after 3 years, but unfortunately it came out more trendy than I thought. I don't know how long that blousing will be in style, so it's out of the running for the Very Special Fabric. I definitely plan to make another for Fall/Winter, though. Maybe my chain link fabric, to play with the stripes? The snakeskin pattern on the fabric for this dress is vertical, and I love the way the vertical design gets modified by the front pattern piece.

This was a totally fun project, and I promise you that anyone with a t-shirt dress pattern can make this happen. I urge you to give it a try!

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Burda 08-2009-128, Classic Boatneck Sundress

As mentioned about my backless walkway dress, although I have avoided boatnecks in the past as unflattering to a small chest, I found that I really liked the neckline on that dress. I liked it so much that I immediately made a back-ful version of it. The bodice is from Burda 08-2009-128.

I bought this fabric from Fabric.com in May 2010. This print is part of the Alexander Henry "London Calling" collection, a not so subtle attempt to cash in the public's love for Liberty of London. At $8/yd, it was pricey for me. I was disappointed in the print when it arrived, as I expected it to be more saturated. I don't wear much by way of pastel. The fabric itself is nice, though nothing like Liberty lawn. It is thicker, a little coarser, and although was listed as 100% cotton has a small degree of stretch that can only come from lycra. That said, it is still nice fabric. Anyway, I couldn't picture this as much of anything because of the pale colors, but it seemed perfect for this project.




The full-skirted boatneck dress is a classic look, which is partly why it appealed to me. Although I guess by "classic" I mean "50s" since both of these images are 1950s. Audrey Hepburn is genuine '50s, of course. She is the ultimate wearer of the boatneck. Betty Draper is meant to be in the 50s. Yes, I am finally watching Mad Men now that I have the Netflix. I've only watched the first two episodes, but I felt it was too perfect that she was wearing this dress in the second episode as I was working on this post!

I have one more of these planned. I made this one in the last few days of the One Pattern, Many Looks contest last month and briefly considered trying to bang the next one out, but decided to wait. I think I will lower the front neckline slightly in the next version.

I found when I muslined the front bodice for my backless dress that the neckline was much too wide. I consulted Fit for Real People, which I finally purchased, for a narrow shoulder alteration. I had to bring in the shoulder 3/4 of an inch, and after completing this version see that I can probably bring it in another 3/8 of an inch for a total adjustment of over 1 inch! I knew I had narrow shoulders, but wow. The photo on the right is not the actual pattern piece, just an illustration I quickly drew up. The pencil is the original line and the purple is the new shoulder. I basically just moved the shoulder over, then redrew the armscye and neckline, tapering to the original line.

Because the fabric has a little stretch, I didn't want to lose that quality by using non-stretch lining. I visited the stash and found this light blue with black pin dots and a little stretch. Perfect! I used the all-machine clean-finish technique illustrated in this post. I took the opportunity to make a video of how to turn it right side out! I'm not going to be winning any cinematography awards, but it hard to do this yourself with a tripod and know exactly where the frame is.



I'm happy with the way the lining came out. Trimming the armscye and neckline edges of the lining 1/8" before lining up the cut edges of the lining and fashion fabric and sewing really makes a difference. It creates such a lovely turn of cloth, as you can see on the straps and the armscye at left. The polka dots also turned out really cute with the fashion fabric.

When it was finished I found that the back neck was rather gapey. As back neck darts are a common feature of 50s patterns I figured adding them would look appropriate rather than an ad hoc fix (ahem). The darts worked perfectly to snug up the back neck, but created a little bit of gaping in the front neckline. This is what makes me think I should narrow the shoulders even more.



As usual I pleated the skirt lining rather than gathering it to reduce bulk at the waistline. I used french seams on the skirt, and took a deep machine blind hem to get plenty of weight to it.


All in all, I am happy with the way this project came out. I think I managed to find the best use for this fabric, and I love the classic look of the dress. It is also very comfortable to wear.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

My Walk Away Dress (as in, watch me as I ...)

I always felt the vintage reissue Butterick 4790 Walkaway Dress was misnamed. First of all, I made this dress and let me tell it did not just take me an afternoon! I made my bias tape so that added some time, but even if you use commercial bias tape all that binding takes a while. And second of all, to me the term seems to mean that people might not notice you coming but all eyes will be on you as you walk away. So this is *my* walkaway dress! Demure and sweet from the front, and eye-catching (if not eye-popping) from the back.

I've already described my pattern drafting process for this dress, so now on to the construction. I made it out of a sturdy wax print cotton that a dear friend who is living in Liberia this year bought at the market in Monrovia. She said that this fish print is all the rage, and every time they come out with a new colorway all the women rush down to the market to get it.

The cotton has plenty of body and opacity and didn't need to be lined, so I finished the neckline and armscye of the front bodice with bias tape. As mentioned in the pattern drafting post, in order to get in and out of this dress I needed a variety of closures and release points. There is the back tie, of course; and also a side zip in the skirt and buttons on the shoulder straps.

To get a nice finish at the shoulders I first interfaced the self-facing where the buttonhole or buttons would be sewn.

Next, I sewed the bias tape to the shoulder edge with a half inch seam allowance.

Finally, I folded along the self-facing line. I am not a technical writer and every time I try it does give me new respect for the writers of pattern directions. So this description is inartful. So, you have your seam allowance with bias tape attached. What you want to do is have the self-facing extend beyond where the bias tape will be. So you fold along the self facing line, so the two layers of self-facing extend above the sa/bias tape. Then stitch, right sides together.

When you turn it right side out you end up with a beautiful clean finish. Although I could have used a touch more length on the self-facing, as it turned out.


I did a similar type of finish for the back strap shoulder edge, although it's less complicated to explain and the photo is more useful. Interface and fold down the self-facing, stitch in place, turn right side out. Use the seam allowance at the self-facing as a guide for turning the rest of the seam allowance under. I could have done something fancy, like double-folded the seam allowance to hide the serged edge, or more bias tape, but I didn't want it to be too thick and plus I kind of enjoyed doing some simple, basic style sewing.

After all this was done I put in the buttonholes and buttons.

Because the wrong side of the tie would show when tied, I did line the tie portion of the back. Here I chose a contrasting navy rather than a self-lining, which I think helps emphasize the knot in a cute way.

To get a nice-looking, non-droopy tie, I interfaced the tie portion of the lining. I caught the back strap between the tie and lining, as shown in the photo, and stitched the tie and lining together along the top and bottom edges, turning right side out at the side seam.

Once the tie portion of the back bodice was complete, I stitched it to the front bodice at the side seam. I spent some time debating whether I wanted to put in a full side zip, running from armscye past the waist seam, or just a short skirt zip. I concluded that I wanted to be able to press the seam allowances at the side seams onto the front so I could get a neater finish at the armscye and there would be no danger the SA would peek out at the top and bottom of the back bodice. If I made this again, I would probably do a full side zip. It is a pain to put the dress on, as I have to tie it in the front, then turn around, and if I need to tighten the tie it is nearly impossible. I think it would be a little easier with a full zip.

However, I did get a nice finish at the side seams, so I got something for my trade off! I lined up the finished upper edge of the lined tie with the finished upper edge of the front bodice, allowing the bias tape to extend, then stitched the side seam and pressed the seam allowance toward the front bodice. Then I folded the bias tape down over the seam allowance and hand-stitched in pace for a neat finish.

The skirt was easy, just a dirndl rectangle with one seam. I put an invisible zip into the seam and used it as the left side seam. Then I gathered the front half of the skirt and stitched to the front bodice, pressing the seam allowances open. I turned down the remainder of the seam allowance on the back half of the skirt and stitched it down for a casing. The elastic is tacked near the zipper and near the right side seam. I had to pull it fairly tight to keep the skirt from drooping in the back.



I could find no evidence on the internet that it is a tradition in Africa to use the selvage as the hem, as I have heard asserted. It makes sense to me, as it saves you hand-stitching. Certainly, the elaborate printing on the selvage of this fabric was meant to be enjoyed and appreciated by someone! So I made it as my hem.

Love this dress! It is so much fun for our super hot days and I feel like it is a great use of the print. I have never cared for the boat neck on me, because I have always felt like it emphasizes the smallness of my chest. However, I found this very flattering. So much so that I actually made a full-bodice version of the dress shortly after finishing this one.

I did not have my usual stylist to take these photos so the knot in the real life photos is a little wonky. The dress form photo illustrates the ideal.

I did not even realize there was a similar Simplicity pattern, as pointed out by Amanda S. I made the real thing contemporaneous with the muslin and was in it as much for the thrill of pattern drafting as the style itself.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Pattern Drafting: Backless Dress

There are two reasons I will never be a real designer. Well, many more than two, but two specific to this project:

1) I don't really have any of my own ideas. For this project, I saw a girl on the street wearing a dress that showed a triangle of skin in the back above an elasticated waist and loved the way it looked. So I took off from there.

and

2) I cannot draw. Man, I really cannot draw. And believe it or not I took art classes for a few years in the not too recent past. I liked the watercolor abstraction part, but the drawing part had me in tears every week. On Project Runway when it's a contest to see whose look(s) will be produced in a group challenge, they have 30 minutes to sketch and then do a presentation to whomever is doing the deciding (usually the celebrity judge of the moment). A few people have gone in without sketches. They haven't fared well. The ones who get chosen are generally not necessarily the best designers, but the best illustrators, who draw not only the clothes but fabulous stylized girls that everyone wants to be. Needless to say, my fabulous stylized stick figures would not get me very far. Nor would my beauteous drawings of clothing, as seen above.

From the glimpse of the girl on the street in her dress with back interest I moved on to my idea for a dress. I contemplated how to draft the back pattern piece, as you can see in the sketches, and then worked out the construction details, as you can see in the notes (you can see the largest version of that photo here if for some reason you have a desire to read it).

My plan was to start with an already drafted bodice and alter it from there. I thought that was another reason I'd never be a designer: no knowledge of how to draft from scratch, and no desire to create my own blocks. However, Kathleen Fasanella wrote that real pattern makers take existing patterns that fit well and alter them for the details they want. This is sort of the block or sloper concept, but if I understand her correctly it's even less formal than that. It is, in fact, exactly what I do when I "design." Of course, as Kathleen often points out, there is a different between designing and pattern-making, but they are somewhat blurred in the context of a home sewist creating patterns to fit her own vision.

I figured it would be easy enough to find a pattern that I already know fits me well, but, if you can believe it, I have apparently not made a dress with a plain darted bodice in the recorded past. I mean, I'm sure I've done it at some point, but I looked at all my 232 pattern reviews on PR and unless I accidentally missed one, there are no plain, darted bodices on the list. Wow. So I had to start with an untested pattern. I thought of The Selfish Seamstress's Paris dress, Burda 08-2009-128. I looked it up and it was perfect.

I traced out the pattern and then got to work marking up the back bodice. I followed my original drawings, marking the line for the back tie piece starting right at the armscye for maximum bra coverage. The tie gave me some trouble, as real life didn't match my drawing. If I had stayed inside the armscye curve it would have ended up really skinny, so I extended into that curve. In the end this worked out fine and is not restrictive or weird.

The front was not so great. I mean, the general shape was fine, but the shoulders were way too wide, like falling off wide, and the bust dart was oddly long. I have finally purchased Fit for Real People, so I looked up how to narrow shoulders in there rather than making it up by taking the width out of CF as I have it pinned here. I'll talk about that alteration on a later project, but suffice it to say that I had to narrow the shoulders 3/4 of an inch. The boat neck on this pattern exaggerated the problem, because the shoulders are drafted as wide as possible for the neckline, but I should probably alter the shoulders on every pattern I make by at least 1/2 inch. It is so annoying to do a thousand alterations so I'm not committed to it.

From the side I could see that I needed to lengthen the back tie piece to run down the entire side seam. I had intended to have a gap there of about an inch, to keep the back as bare as possible. To check the fit of the muslin I pinned a piece of elastic in the back to signify the skirt. You can see that the front bodice buckles in that inch between the bottom of the tie piece and the elastic of the skirt. I had no reason to believe it wouldn't do that in the real thing, so I determined to extend the tie piece along the side seam all the way to the seam allowance for the skirt.

I had *no* idea how long to make the ties, so for the muslin I made them super long and then determined the proper length from there. Although I had folded out the back dart when drafting the tie piece, I saw that it needed a little more width pinched out like a vertical dart from the bottom. And the straps needed to be a little wider on the inside. I added about 1/2 inch of width to the upper straps, and really wish I had added more for the final product as it is still a little skimpy and therefore fussy with bra straps (yes, there is a bra under there!).

When I showed her the finished dress on Skype, Cidell felt that the back was obscenely low. However, that is truly an optical illusion. The bodice sits slightly above natural waist, and as you can see by the line of elastic marking the skirt placement it is a good six inches above any kind of plumber's crack situation, and 3 inches above these relatively high-waisted shorts.

Here is the final pattern, as cut. The drafting actually went quite smoothly and was much easier than expected. Although the sewing got a little complicated in terms of finishes, when I realized that for a person who lives alone and has to tie herself into this dress rather than have a helper do it, I had to be able to separate the straps at the shoulder. You can see the extensions on the shoulder for the button "placket" (there is an identical extension on the front bodice shoulder).

Stay tuned for the final result...