Colette Rue Dress–Sewing Bee Round 3

Okay, I did finish my Rue dress. It's kind of a mess. The bodice is cute in theory but obviously didn't work for me. I used size 2 (I think? I'm trying to think of it like pushing out a baby - once it's over, you forget) and added three inches to the bodice for my torso. Admittedly, I do have a long torso. I usually add an inch to Jalie, Burda, and KwikSew patterns. This is still higher than my natural waist. Maybe adding another inch would have helped? In these pictures, it looks fine. Well, it looks okay. I do, do, do super love the fabrics and colors together.






Here it doesn't even look bad. And I love the little belt I made. I'm keeping that even if the rest of it is going to donation.





But this, siiiiiiiiigh. Look at those bodice wrinkles. It's like I've got the Eye of Sauron on my torso. Well, I guess only if The Eye had a horizontal slit and not a vertical one. It's really too bad too, because I love this fabric.





If I stand perfectly still, The Eye goes away. The sleeves are wonky and, ugggggggghhhhhhhhhhh, well . . .  I'm just not going to be surprised when I get "invited to not progress to Round 4 of the Sewing Bee." There are so many good versions of this dress at PatternReview.com. I think most people made many muslins and did quite a bit of pattern drafting. Those are not skill sets I have. Whatever.




The red is a thin, crinkly gauze.





I really love the belt.





The zipper is put in perfectly and the lining is great too. Oh well. I tried my hardest, right? I'll be curious to see what the next challenge is even though I won't be in it.

Sewing Bee–Round - Bias Dress

Woof. This dress wrecked me. It’s not a hard dress, it’s not super technical or anything, but those arrows. . . and fitting everything on fabric on the bias . . . and more matching of arrows . . . yikes.

So here’s the backstory. I was pretty annoyed with this challenge for a few days. I actually could not sleep one night because I was so worried about figuring out a stupid pattern. In my head, I kept thinking of flowy, billowy, clingy bias dresses. I am not that gal, I hate slippery fabrics and hate wearing them. They always feel cold to me and I’m an Alaskan. I do not enjoy cold fabric on me. Then I realized that “bias” is just how you are cutting it. Ding, ding, ding! Once I got over that hump, I realized that Burda had tons of simple bodices that I could add a circle to and be done. Then, I realized that back in 2012, I actually made the perfect pattern for this dress. Really, my only change was to make there be a CF seam, length it, and to, of course, cut everything on the bias.

 

I spent so much time getting these arrows to match. So. Much. Time.

 

Under some sewing miracle, the side seams also match. This was not planned, it was just good luck.

 

There is a slight hi-low hem and the waist seam also goes down in the back.

 

This is a canvas from Cotton + Steel. Yes, a canvas. And it still spins like this! It’s a great fabric.

 

I did not line it because it was so pretty. I love how the inside makes chevrons too.

 

I bound the sleeves and neckline with bias strips.

 

I totally nailed this invisible zipper. The chevrons match, you can’t see the zipper, and there are no ripples or bumps at the end of the zipper.

 

I love how each chevron is unique because they are not all arrows meeting in the middle. My favorite is the gold metallic dots that meet in the middle.

 

I pinked every seam and pressed almost all the seams open so you can see the fun chevrons on the inside too.

 

This was the original pattern. I added 8.5” to the peplum to make it a dress. I lowered the neckline by 2 inches and I left off the sleeves.

 

 

I spend so much time on my knees marking the skirt panels on this fabric. I had to move them over and over again and try to fit everything on this fabric while making sure that the stupid lines matched. You can see I barely had enough fabric.

 

Woof, indeed. Even with all the hard work, I do really love the dress.

Sewing Bee - Round 2 (EEK!)

So I made it to Round 2 of the Sewing Bee. Go me!!

Here are the rules with the pertinent ideas in bold:

Rules:
1. Sew a garment using fabric cut on the bias grain.
2. The garment may be made from any woven fabric. Knit fabrics and stretch woven fabrics are not allowed in this round.
3. The entry must be intended for an adult. It can be for a man or a woman; it can be for yourself, members of your family, friends, acquaintances or charity - basically, any adult! As always, items intended for sale are disallowed in this contest.
4. One entry per person. As with all contests, the entry must be made entirely by the entrant, although advice and input from others is allowed.
5. Write a complete review including photos. The review must be self-contained; no links to blogs or affiliates allowed. (Any embedded links to pictures within the review will be ignored)
6. You must include a minimum of 3 photos in your review. Composite pictures are fine. At minimum one of the photos must be of the garment being worn. One picture must clearly show the grain compared to the cutting lines or seam lines (this can be taken during or after construction of the garment).
7. Self-drafted or commercial patterns are allowed. Combinations of multiple patterns or self-drafted and commercial patterns are allowed.
8. You may NOT make any changes to your review after the Round 2 deadline.
9. Failure to adhere to these rules will result in disqualification.

Well, crap. Seriously, I'm not a fan of working with the bias. The last thing I made on the bias was a dud. As in, I actually cut it up and recycled it into cute pencil purses. That wasn't even all the way on the bias, just the back was on the bias. First, I have to find a pattern, so I'm looking through my treasure trove of Burda patterns. I'm also going to be perusing the web for help with sewing bias garments. Ripply seams be damned! I would love to do something with stripes too. The other thing that is messing with me is I have very little non-stretch woven material. I will probably have to buy it which means JoAnn's. That is really the only fabric store here. Siiiighhhh. This round may knock me out of this competition. 

Research and things for me to read:
Seamwork magazine has an article about working with the bias. 
Threads also has an article. 
Tilly and the Buttons - 5 Tips for Sewing on the Bias

My Sewing Bee Entry #1

What a busy week!!! The Sewing Bee at Pattern Review started and, of course, I was out of town for the three out of the seven days. When I got back to town, I had four days to sew up my shorts. The challenge was to make a pair of capris or shorts. The full details and rules are here. 

I chose to make shorts and I chose the Burda Style July 2013 pattern #105. These are called "short shorts" and understandable so. They are frickity-frackin' short. I was originally thinking these would be cute for work, but no. Just no. I really love them but they are going out shorts, not work shorts. They looked longer in the model photos.

I used a pink wool boucle I had in stash and love the way they turned out. Love them!!  Granted, they are short bootie shorts made in wool. It amuses me and I will still wear them. 

I couldn't even find tights that had designs that went that high up my leg. You can see in this picture. Oops. Slutty-McSluttertin, anyone?

 

I did make a muslin out of a non-stretch woven. The fit was okay, but I've been finding that adding a little length in the CB of pants is really a good thing for me. Sometimes they get a, um, little high. High in a bad place if you know what I mean . . . Here is the adjustment I did on these shorts. 

Eep! Here you can see how short they really are. This is a really cute pattern though. I can totally see me making these a few more times once I add a couple of inches to the length. The fit is great, the pleats are cute and there are big pockets. 

I lined the inside because they are wool and I plan to wear them with tights. Of course, I couldn't resist zebra print. Hellz yes. 

The waistband is just a rectangle folded in half for the facing. Usually I need something a bit more shaped, but this one fits well as is. I used a black narrow bias tape for trimming the bottom of the waistband facing. 

Pockets are also lined with the zebra print. 

How cute are the pleats? That is my favorite part. Overall, I really like how they turned out. I'm hoping they get me into Round #2. There are so many great submissions to this first round. I'm a little intimidated by the competition! I'm terrified of the "creative" round. That is NOT one of my strong points! 

End of the Year Wrap-Up

I enjoy graphs (I’m a nerd like that). I made 78 garments this year and used a variety of pattern companies. No surprise to me is that I used Jalie and Burda magazine more than any other company. I used zero McButtKwikOgues and instead tried a few new (to me) companies. I did branch out this year and make a lot more kid’s clothing. I tallied up 11 Jalie leotards. Eleven. That’s a lot of leotards. I have several stand out garments that I love and a few that I don’t. Overall, I think it’s been a good sewing year. Some highlights: I won the Pattern Review Sewing Bee contest (sqqqquuueeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!), I successfully completed my Burda Challenge, I made a lot more clothes for my runner-girls, and I have come a long way in construction (in my opinion). Good sewing year indeed.  

Burda Challenge (each picture is linked to the blog post about the garment):

Overall, I’m really happy with my garments this year. I plan to continue on with the Burda Challenge and make at least one thing out of the current Burda magazine.