Sweetheart Jersey Dress Knockoff

I posted a bunch of inspiration pictures a while back, including the very cute ABS Sweetheart Jersey Dress (not so cute in that blah solid brown, in my opinion, but great design). I got encouragement in the comments (thank you!) to give it a shot.



Rather than try to draft from scratch--I have only done this a few times and it takes me 8-9 muslins for even very simple designs--it seemed that frankenpatterning would be a more efficient process.

I started with Vogue 2980, the Sandra Betzina bolero shoulder top for the fauxlero, bodice back, and sleeves. I also drafted the midriff based on the front and back width of this top. The first time I made this top I cut a size A at the top, transitioning to a C at the hip and found it a little snug. This time I cut a B (since I was only using the top portion I didn't need to transition larger).

I don't know if it is the difference between my two fabrics--a sturdy cotton jersey versus a lightweight poly/lycra--or what but the back shoulder on this dress came out waaaaaay too wide and floppy. It kept wanting to open up around and slip off my shoulders, creating sagging and bagging at the underarm. To "fix" it without taking the entire thing apart and starting over, I took up as much width as I could by "easing" the back neck/shoulder seam onto twill tape. By "ease" I mean almost to the point of gathering. This helps the dress wear more comfortably, but I am curious what happened there.

Then I went to Burda 05-2009-103 for the front bodice. It was a good match, as it has pleats to create bust ease in the surplice/crossover pieces, rather than gathering, as the original dress appears to have. The V2980 top is designed so that the front bodice is not a full bodice piece that attaches at the shoulders, but instead is matched with the bolero at the lower armscye and stitched about halfway up the armscye, and then the square neckline goes straight across. At first I tried tracing the V2980 armscye curve onto the Burda piece, but it was just not happening for me. This sounds simple, but somehow it was insanely complicated. So I gave up on that and just used the Burda armscye curve as it had been drafted on the original pattern piece.

I then measured the depth of the armscye on the V2980 front bodice piece (i.e., how far up the armscye the front bodice goes) and marked that on the Burda piece. Using that marking, I created a new diagonal line to the pleated tip of the bodice piece, creating the neckline.

I decided to get fancy and self-face the front bodice piece. The neckline looks right, but in the end I'm not sure it was the best plan. Where the pleats overlap, the bodice is 8 layers thick. Even in a lightweight poly knit, 8 layers is really, really, really thick. Add in the midriff and midriff lining layers and there are 10 layers in spots on the front. Had I changed the pleats to gathers self-facing might work, but I think a better plan probably would have been either to create a separate facing piece with the pleats folded out and just a little gathered ease, or just to have a single layer bodice and finish the neck edge with a twin needle and clear elastic as I often do for (faux) wrap necklines.

The other issue I had with the bodice, which I knew I would have, is that I didn't do do a small bust adjustment on my fancy self-faced piece. Normally, I adjust a wrap style so that it won't gape on my bust by taking out some length on the diagonal neckline edge, as seen here. I didn't do that here (too impatient, truth be told), so to get a good fit on the bodice I had to stretch the bodice pieces way beyond their intended meeting point. The front midriff is about three inches smaller than the back midriff, if that tells you how much stretching I did!

Once the bodice was figured out the rest was cake. The midriff is just a straight piece because it's high on the ribcage where I don't have much contour, and the skirt is straight out of Simplicity 2754 (with the inverted V folded off to have a straight edge at the top as I'd done for the back in the gray and yellow fan dress version of S2754).

After it was all put together not only were the wide back shoulders slipping off, but the bolero was flopping open like crazy. In the first iteration of this top I'd had to hand-tack the bolero onto the bodice because it was bunching under my arms, so I wasn't surprised I had to some post-construction molding. I did a little hand-sewing magic (aka slapdashery) and gathered the bolero below the neckline to stop it from looking floppy, and then stitched the bolero and neckline edges together to keep my bra straps covered. In the photo at left, one side is hand-tacked and the other is not--you can definitely see a difference.

I could certainly have done a less slapdash job on this knockoff, but I don't know that I would have been *that* much more satisfied with it. That is why I am slapdash. It doesn't take too much to make me happy. `-)

And I am satisfied with this dress! It is really cute in a nice print and the shapes come together in a very flattering way, making the most of nice collarbones, giving the illusion of a bust, and emphasizing a narrow ribcage while accommodating a larger belly and hips. Plus, sewing problem solving is fun and you feel so accomplished when it's done. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement to give this project a shot!

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

A Fond Farewell to 2009 and Looking Toward 2010

Last year's resolution was pretty much just to keep on keeping on, which I've done. I actually had a bit of a resolution to sew less, as discussed in my stash resolution post, as crazy as that seems! I devote a lot of time, energy, and head space to sewing and it seemed possible that I was using it as an excuse to hide from the world a bit.

Although I didn't really end up sewing that much less I felt like I did slow down a bit--no fewer garments (actually a couple more than last year, based on my imprecise counts for both years), but I think overall the average of my projects was much less complicated so there was less time involved. And it totally worked out for me, whether setting my intention really did have an effect or it was just random. I know it has been a bad year for many, so I hope my happiness doesn't seem inappropriate but 2009 has been *my* year in my personal and professional life. One of the best years ever for me. I still love sewing and have missed it when I haven't had time to do it, but the tradeoffs I have made have been worth it. I am happy, and this is not something I've always been able to say.



The Stats

50 Pattern Reviews for the year (some of those were for garments made in 2008, which is why the numbers don't seem to add up).

photoed and reviewed: 42 garments (I'm calling the hat a garment since it took a fair amount of sewing)
5 knit tops
3 woven tops
5 skirts
15 knit dresses
12 woven dresses
1 coat
1 hat

Awaiting photography and review: 18 garments
3 knit tops
1 woven top
4 skirts
2 knit dresses
4 woven dresses
1 pair PJ pants
1 bathing suit

Totals: 60 garments
8 knit tops
4 woven tops
9 skirts
17 knit dresses
16 woven dresses
1 coat
1 hat
1 PJ pants
1 bathing suit
Plus
Misc. projects: 2 belts (braided ribbon and obi), 4 aprons, 1 refashioned sweater, several pairs of underwear

UFOs:
Suit Jacket. Ugh. I need to recommit to this project and either tackle welted pockets with flaps or just leave the damn pockets off already.

On the bright side, I think that's my only UFO from this year. I cut out a skirt of the same fabric at the same time but haven't started sewing it. I don't know if that's a UFO or not.

I had a UFO of a crappy attempt to alter a so-so pattern out of horrible fabric that I hated but I threw it away. It was very liberating.

Failures:
Two projects turned out awful. One was my fault, the other was a gross pattern. I haven't reviewed them yet. The Butterick 5079 Twist Dress was so so. Another unreviewed project needs some fixing, I guess; it's not wearable as intended at the moment, but is still not horrible. Everything else ranges from fine to awesome.

Favorites are very hard to choose this year! I had a ton of projects I loved. It's a lot easier to choose the duds.





Favorite special occasion dress: Birthday dress of silk jersey from Drape Drape Japanese pattern book. I've only worn this once, but I love it.













Favorite Knit Dress: BWOF 03-2009-102















Best day-to-night piece: BWOF 02-2009-124 Lace Dress










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So for 2010 I will continue to maintain my balance, in all senses of the phrase.

Stash balance, of course, is part of it. In the end I greatly exceeded my six yard monthly allotment--around 166 yards. *gulp* I had no idea it was so much. I thought I had bought way less than in years past and in fact began composing this blog post to that effect. But it turns out that when I actually tallied it all up it was almost half again as much (my average the past two years was about 110 yards). I guess not keeping track didn't work.

I found a place to give away my 2008 stash cull (DC Threads), and gave a few more pieces away this year. My shelves look emptier than at the end of last year, but maybe I just did better at distributing the fabric. However, with the huge exception of all the fabric I bought in NYC in June--I have sewn only four of the fourteen pieces I purchased--I have done better at buying fabrics that I am inspired to sew right now, and I love most everything that has been added to stash.

Knit and woven balance is also something to contemplate. I fall back on the easy knits quite often. I enjoy wearing them, but sometimes I'd like to be a little dressier. But sewing "too many" knits doesn't really bother me. They travel so well!

Dresses and separates are another imbalance in my sewing life. I love dresses. In Spring/Summer I wear them almost exclusively, which is what I want. In winter I am always wanting more separates. For some reason I am a little dressier in Fall/Winter, so those separates are more work than their summer counterparts, and then I get impatient and end up in knit dresses for Fall/Winter. So I'd like to add a few more separates to my closet.

But above all, I want to maintain my work/sewing/gym/life balance. I am prone to going overboard in one area of life so it is not an equilibrium that is reached and then easily maintained. Mindfulness is always useful to me!

Here's to a wonderful, healthy, happy 2010!

Sweater Refashion: A Hole New Look

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday! I was in Texas last week visiting my family. I missed DC's big snow (boo) but experienced the biggest snow"storm" that I've seen in Texas, which was fun. My nephews thought it was a blizzard. It was nice to see family, but I am very happy to be home!!!!

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I bought this sweater last year when I was gathering materials for sweater refashioning. I debated about it because it is an XS, so there was not enough fabric there to cut down into anything else. However, it was so nice I couldn't leave it there and just wore it as is. It is a really soft lambswool, and the sleeve and sides are straight rather than having a dated cuffed look at the bottom.

It wasn't until the second time I'd worn it that I got home from work and realized one of the elbows was worn through! I am guessing that's why the previous owner donated it to the thrift store, because it was a well cared for sweater. On the one hand, I thought it was kind of rude to donate a holey sweater to the thrift store. On the other hand, I was so I glad I happened to be the one who picked it up! Because there is no need to throw away a sweater that is otherwise in good shape just because of one little hole and now the sweater has a new life.






The first step was to cut off both sleeves at the hole. The other side wasn't worn all the way through, but it was definitely thinner at the elbow.

Next, I went in my stash and found some gray wool jersey (Nikki so kindly gave it to me ages ago and it has come in handy many times!). I cut out rectangles for the sleeve puffs, each at 22 inches by 12 inches. Then stitch the short edges together. If you don't have wool jersey, you can use cotton or rayon.

I put strips of tulle inside the sleeve puffs before folding them in half to keep them poofy. For additional poofiness I also followed the technique in BWOF's balloon skirt dress 10-2008-117 of twisting the balloon when folding it in half, so that the side seam is offset rather than matched up.

Next you put in your double row of gathering thread, pin the gathered puffs to the sleeve edge, and stitch in place.


This was all well and good, but because my sleeve puffs were a lighter gray than the rest of the sweater I needed to bring the jersey in another way so it didn't look like a non-sequitor. Also, the fancy sleeves needed a little added fanciness. I have been enjoying the crazy feminine ruffles that Ruffles and Stuff and My Mama Made It are into lately, so I decided to go with that. I can't find the exact tutorial I used, but here is one for a rose made of strips of jersey fabric. My fabric strips are one inch wide, and rather than machine stitching I hand-stitched (I thought I could do it on a long car ride at Thanksgiving, but it made me carsick). I didn't gather the ruffles, but made them "ruffley" by twisting and looping them.

I finished it off with a layer of gathered tulle on top of the rose to emphasize it, and a few sew on jewels I had purchased in Hong Kong. Despite my best efforts that the jewels be random, they are in fact quite evenly distributed. *sigh* I am completely incapable of asymmetry.

After I'd sewn on the jewels, I wasn't sure if I loved them. I can't tell if they are Eighties or Aughties. The 80s sweater is from Leslie Hall's Gallery of Glamore gem sweaters project; it is awesome and if you've never seen it you must go check it out. The current embellished top is from J. Crew.



All photos of this project are here.

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I love sweater refashion, as you may be able to tell, so I check out the web for project ideas. Here are the most recent ones I've found.

This is such a clever way to get a drapey front cardigan. The result is almost like an overdress and would be great to winterize a sleeveless LBD.

I like this cardigan idea with the inset fabric at the waist.

There are tons of refashion ideas on the Craft blog (although not limited to clothing). There are *hours* of entertainment to be found at the Wardrobe Refashion blog, which is mostly clothes and a fair number of sweaters (although unfortunately the posters don't generally use tags so you have to wade through some introductory and other miscellaneous non-project posts).

PatternReview just announced a quick challenge for the first two weeks of January and it's...refashion! I have another sweater project in the hopper, so I just have to wait a few more days to start!

Patrones 284-24, Twenties Inspired Knit Dress

While I was in Spain I managed to find three issues of Patrones. The first (the one this dress comes from, which was the most recent at the time) I picked up my first night at a regular ol' newsstand on Las Ramblas in Barcelona. This is the main tourist drag, not exactly a hotbed of sewing. Can you imagine being able to get Patrones at whatever newsstand you happen to pass? Crazy! The other two I found in the train station in Sevilla. Random back issues of Patrones, just sitting there. I bought two copies of each, one for me and one for Cidell. The woman working the newsstand was baffled, but I explained that I had una amiga who wanted them also.

One of the things that's great about Patrones is the photography is appealing and fashion-y (not catalog), but at the same time actually shows the clothes. What a novel idea. Alas, this dress came from a spread where the dresses were just laid out flat, so I couldn't tell what it would look like on a person. However, it looked cute, I loved the line drawing, and it seemed well suited to some fabric I'd gotten from G Street's $2.97/yd table back in October so I traced it out. Although I can translate Patrones instructions without too much trouble, there was nothing confusing about this so all I checked was the collar application (fold in half, right sides together, and stitch across short ends and to markings for tie ends; turn right side out, fold wrong sides together along unfinished edges and serge to the neckline).

Although I knew I was going to sew down the pleats in the Burda 06-2009-101 knit dress, I wasn't sure how I was going to handle the front bodice pleats here. Sewing them shut would defeat the purpose of the design, but I also didn't want any bagginess. I sewed them about 3/4 of an inch past the seam line at the top and bottom before putting the dress together. While I normally hate baggy, somehow I really like the look of these blousy pleats. They have a bit of a 1920s vibe. I always feel like the 20s are due for a revival, and there is usually something on the runway to evoke them. For Spring 2010 Proenza Schouler had an art deco vibe going in some of its pieces; here's another look from Balmain. Nobody really went full on 20s inspired (though I haven't looked at all the shows), but the ideas are there.

I was somewhat short on fabric based on what the pattern called for, so I did not use the skirt pattern. My fabric was 60 inches wide, so I just cut a rectangle and then eyeballed approximately even pleats all around. It was a little fussy and I probably could have just used the pattern and saved myself some trouble, but the skirt flows well and is fun to wear so whatever.

This pattern is called "Vestido Manga Larga," which means "Dress with Long Sleeves." I had to cut the sleeves on the cross grain due to my somewhat limited fabric, but I have not noticed any ill effects. Because I was cutting on the crossgrain I had plenty of room for length and cut them really long. I do the sleeve and lower hem last on a project, so I was fussing with the sleeves trying to get them to look right. I experimented with gathering them up or having them very long but it just wasn't looking great. Finally I pinned them up to 3/4 length and WOW what a difference it made. It reduced the target age for the style by at least 10 years. It had been kind of matronly looking, and suddenly it was young and fresh. It was startling how much a small alteration changed the entire look. To add a little interest to the sleeve I added an inverted pleat at the hem. This means it is snug below the elbow, and the blousing echoes that of the bodice.


What I really loved about this pattern was the loose cowl-y collar and tie. Unfortunately, the tie really disappears in my dark fabric. I'm not sure a lighter fabric would be that much better because a knit bow is always going to be floppy. It took me several experiments to tie the tie right; the key, it turns out, is not making a knot first. I keep thinking I should tie it perfectly and then hand sew to keep it from ever coming untied, but I'm not sure it will work. The tie is rather heavy when tied in a bow, which distorts the shape of the neckline a little bit and pulls it open. If you look closely you can see that my clear bra strap is a little exposed.

I am happy with the way this dress turned out. The style is fun and a little different than I would usually wear. And I'm glad to have sewn from my Patrones!

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

'Tis the Season...

...not to have to time to sew. Boo. But there are compensating factors



Three friends and I have been making mounds of cookies for the holidays for about 6 years now. One of the girls is in Moldova, but her roommate joined us in her stead. We skyped her in and it was almost like she was actually there.

Let's take a closer look at those cookies, shall we?



Clockwise from top left: Sugar Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Peanut Butter & Chocolate Whirls, Rolo Cookies (also at lower left), Snickerdoodles, Macaroons, Chocolate Crackles, and Chocolate Chips. There would have been lemon bars but I managed to burn both pans. There were more cookies on the cooling racks, but this is most of them.

This is an all day affair!

I leave for Texas on Friday so no more sewing for me until I get back. I'm scheduled to be back home on the 26th so maybe I'll have time for one last project in 2009 when I get back. Although I won't be sewing this week I hope to review a couple more projects before the year ends!

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I have been getting a rash of spam comments lately. Is this happening to anyone else lately? For now I am just deleting them as they come and don't intend to change anything (they're not anonymous comments, so disallowing anons won't help), but I'll keep you posted.