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! 

Pattern Review's Sewing Bee

I'm in this year! Wish me luck! Here are the rules for the first challenge. I emphasized some of the more salient points.

Dates: September 1 at 9:00 AM Eastern Time through September 7 at midnight. All times are per the Pattern Review website.

Rules:
1. Sew a pair of shorts or capri pants. (Not allowed in this contest: full length pants, ankle length pants, 7/8 pants, overalls, rompers, jumpsuits/onesies, pull-on/elastic waist pants or leggings.) By definition, capri pants are meant to be calf-length.
2. The shorts or capris may be made from any woven fabric. Knit fabrics are not allowed in this round. Stretch wovens are allowed.
3. The shorts/capris must have a closure. They may include elastic as part of the waistband, but there MUST also be some sort of closure- button, zipper, snaps etc. Ties are not considered a closure. So Wrap Style Shorts are not allowed.
4. The entry must be intended for any adult: man or a woman it can be for yourself, members of your family, friends, acquaintances or charity - basically, anyone! As always, items intended for sale are disallowed in this contest.
5. One entry per person.
6. Write a complete review including photos. The review must be self-contained; no links to blogs or affiliates allowed.
7. You must include a minimum of 3 photos in your review. Front view, photo of the closure and a photo shown worn on a live model.
8. Self-drafted or commercial patterns are allowed. Combinations of multiple patterns or self-drafted and commercial patterns are allowed.
9. You may NOT make any changes to your review after the Round 1 deadline.
10. Failure to adhere to these rules will result in disqualification.

I am choosing to make shorts because I think capris can be tricky. The sewing of them is not tricky, but the fitting of them and the length are tricky. Here are some options from Burda that I’m mulling about in my brain. I like them all. I am thinking of doing a wool coating type of “business” shorts that could be worn with tights and still look work professional. Maybe. Also maybe not. At this point, the challenge came out this morning and I’m thinking of all possible shorts that I like. I won the first ever Sewing Bee and I chose patterns I had already muslined and used at least once before. I haven’t used any of these patterns before. Here are some inspiration pictures from Pinterest that caught my eye.

 

All of these shorts are kind of the same with minor differences. They all have some sort of pleat or tuck in the front. they are all pretty short, and I think they might be perfect for inspiration photos.

 

These are not like the others, but I like the tie detail.

 

I really like the seaming on these but they are very different than the others too.

 

Hmmmmmmm . . . I’ll muslin something together in the next couple of days and then I’ll make my shorts. I’m thinking of a pink wool coating. Too much? It might be. It might also be just enough. :)

Burda 01-2014-111–Jodhpur Pants and Sewing Bee Final Round

I made it into the final round of the Pattern Review Sewing Bee. I think there were 11 of us for this last and final round. Our challenge was to make a pair of pants out of non-stretch material. Of course, I decide that it would be a great idea. to try to make a pair of very fitted jodhpur pants. Because those need no stretch, right? Yea, well, they didn’t turn out as badly as they could have. Here’s the line drawing. They are in the petite sizing. Usually a size 17 (the petite version of a 34) works really well for me, but since this was going to be out of non-stretch fabric, I went up to the 18.

 

All in all, I think they turned out pretty well. They are much different than my normal style so that takes some getting used to. I think these would rock with black ponte doubleknit on the back leg sections and in a smaller size.

 

I do love the inside black inner legs. I think those are a really good accent. I think in order for these pants to really work though, they need to be much tighter. Like real riding pants.

 

Arg. I love the back seaming which you can’t see very well here. What I hate is that the back doesn’t chevron. I had the great idea of cutting them so they would be mirror image and then couldn’t do it because the plaid is uneven. Someone mentioned on PR that I could have turned the pattern piece around and it would have been the mirror image. That is a head slapping moment right there. Arg.

 

I think they fit well although that little hip wrinkle popped up in the photos and I hadn’t really noticed it before.

 

This is the first time I had sewn an in-seam pocket like this before. They are super easy to do and really cute.

 

I inserted invisible zippers in each leg at then ankle.

 

The seaming is awesome and could have been AMAZING with butt-chevron!

 

I’m embarrassed to show you the inside of my pants after seeing the inside of everyone else’s pants. Theirs were fully lined, or all the seams were bound, or whatever. Mine are just serged and pinked. Eeeek. Okay, people, I work full-time and have four kids. I tried. I did. 

 

My fly front turned out really well. I haven’t made pants in a long time. I should make more. I enjoy them. 

 

 

I really only had to make one adjustment. I have a prominent swayback so I took a wedge from the back to suck it in a little bit.

 

I took a corresponding amount out of the waistband.

 

Overall, I like the pants, but they aren’t my best work. I’m glad to have made it to the final round, and I’m in awe of the other ladies. They are amazing and I can’t believe that I was lucky enough to be among them for the finals. If you go to the 14th page of this discussion, you can see all the finalists and their garments they made. The winner is based on all the things we made for this contest, not just the pants. I have zero chances of winning. Really, that’s not me being humble, I’m a realist. It doesn’t hurt my feelings, they are really amazing sewists!

On a side note, I cleaned my sewing room tonight. It was like a hurricane hit it. I can’t image doing a Sewing Bee for more than four weeks!