Easter 2016 – Part 1

by alwaysacraftylady

I promise! Pictures of cute girls in adorable homemade Easter dresses are coming soon! Today I’m going to talk about momma’s Easter dress. The one that I decided I needed to make less than a week ago!

And oh my goodness I am thrilled I took the plunge.

It all started when I saw By Gum, By Golly’s review of the book Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book. A whole book about making dresses? Yes please. But ugh. I’ve been having so much trouble getting a good fit lately. Did I really need another book. Well, Tasha’s review mentioned how well the neckline fit using Gertie’s patterns so I decided to give it a try, but not before going to our local book store to give it a quick look first. What I found was a book filled with exactly the style of dresses I love most!

Lots of different styles of bodices and different kinds of skirts (non of them dirndl, thank goodness).

I was immediately smitten with the dress in the upper right corner. It features a v-neck, puff sleeve, and pleated skirt. I took a quick dive into my stashed and pulled out the dress quantity of Tiger Lily lawn I’d stashed several months back. Originally I’d planned to make another Washi for the winter, but I’ve been excited to make non-elastic waist clothes lately. Plus butterflies are totally Easter appropriate!

This pattern did end up needing some significant alteration. Like, I had to make the front darts smaller and the back darts larger. I also had to make the same alterations to the skirt. That wasn’t such a big deal. Normal for me. The hardest alteration to figure out was the sleeves. Those are always always always too tight on me. But this time I was determined to get the fit right.

There was a lot of swearing and seam ripping in my house last weekend as I tried and tried again to get the sleeves to fit. Then I had a light bulb moment and pulled out my sleeve sloper. My sloper is a little old, but I figured my shoulder shape hasn’t changed that much. Worth a try.

Oh yeah, that is a big difference! My sloper shows I needed a much taller sleeve cap! Once I made that discovery the whole pattern alteration process went smoothly.

The sewing process wasn’t without its bumps though.

I’d really wanted to use white piping in the neckline like the rickrack in Gertie’s. I even had white piping on hand. But ugh! I just could not get it sewn in correctly no matter how I tried. Of course 2 days later I realized I’d been trying to sew piping with a zipper foot. Whoops! No sense in ripping it out by that point. I’ll save that plan for next time.

I also tried sewing in my zipper 4 or 5 times. Every gosh darn time the fabric puckered at least a little bit. I eventually settled for matching facings and waist seams figuring that after taking a seam ripper to lawn 3 or 4 times it wouldn’t survive a 4th or 5th attempt. Moving on.

And really that is a minor complaint in a dress that looks really great and is so light and comfortable I’ll be able to wear it to work all summer long.

Lastly, this is what happens when you ask a 4 year old for modeling ideas. Ha!

14Mar2016

Old Stand By

by alwaysacraftylady

The Washi Dress is turning into an old standby when I need something quick and simple to sew. After a couple of failures I needed something I could wear as our weather goes through the ups and downs of spring.

And I really like this pattern. I made one more tweak to the pattern to take out the gaping neckline and it worked like a charm!

In fact I think I’m going to take this pattern and make it into a full bodice pattern with a back zip and darts. We’ll see. Might be worth playing around with because I feel like it is one of the most flattering things I’ve made in a while.

The fabric is my favorite print from the Good Hair Day line by Kim Andersson from Winham Fabrics. As far as quilting cottons go, this is top quality. It hardly wrinkled after its initial washing or after being worn all day which was a pleasant surprise!

Now back to sewing Easter dresses and testing out my ideas.

11Mar2016

Birthday Girl!

by alwaysacraftylady

My older daughter Lu turned 4 years old last week! Hard to believe these past 4 years have gone my so quickly, but here she is all tall and gangly and full of opinions.

And of course the birthday girl needed a new dress!

I’d had my eye on this fabric from Sarah Jane for about 2 years, but this was the first time I really saw it becoming a dress. Oh yes, a Fairy Tale Dress from Oliver + S. So classic! And perfect to use with a border print. Then I topped it all off with some sweet pink voile and tulle I found at my local quilt shop. What girly girl has resist a poofy skirt?

My husband is so good at making bows! Clearly the birthday girl loved it.

But I couldn’t only make something for Lu. A few days before the party I decided to make the little one her own spring dress!

This is the trusty Geranium Dress pattern. At this point I can make one from printing the pattern to sewing on buttons in about a hour. I just don’t get sick of this pattern.

And I had some sweet little vintage duck buttons that work perfectly with Ann Kelle’s cute fabrics.

So pleased to be able to make something springy for the girls! Next up, Easter Dresses!

2Mar2016

Photographs Can Be So Helpful!

by alwaysacraftylady

February was a pretty frustrating sewing month. As you already saw with my previous post, finding the fit I want has been a bit elusive. But I’m okay with that. I knew I was going to encounter some issues as I tried my hand at new and non-cup size specific patterns. But the weather has also been really warm recently. We had the warmest February on record and all those long sleeve jersey dresses are not quite as practical as I planned!

I’ve also been thinking about shape. What kinds of skirts shapes am I gravitating towards and where do I want the waist to hit? I had this epiphany while taking a ballet class. I hadn’t taken a ballet class in over 4 years, but decided to go back to it recently. And this is what I’ve been wearing (sorry about the red-faced post class photo).

So something somewhat fitted, but not overly clingy on top (t-shirt from MischiefMadeMe), waist defined at it’s smallest place, and a skirt that is more of a circle shape that ends above the knee. I feel good in this. So good I don’t have the desire to cover up going to and from class.

Now lets look at what I was sewing this month.

First up is the Emery Dress. I’d made one of these before in corduroy. It’s cute, but the dark fabric made it hard to see the fit issues. So I bought some very cheap quilting cotton to work up another version.

From the front I’m really happy with the shoulders and bust. I ended up going down a full size then adding a FBA and I think it works. Some slight pulling on my larger bust side, but not bad. Looking at this in the photos I can see the waist is too low. The neckline is also pretty high for me. I feel it makes my bust look lower than it is and doesn’t leave enough visual space between my bust and where I’d like the waist to hit.

And then there is the back. Whoops! I’d asked Christine Haynes what she thought of the back gaping and from the photos I sent it did seem like maybe the shoulders were too wide. But she also had suggested maybe the back was too long. I didn’t think that was true from studying myself in the mirror. Wrong! My husband took this photo and d’oh! Yeah. Back is too long.

So in the very near future I plan to wack off the bottom of the bodice and also add a sway back adjustment and see how I like it. It is such a classic pattern that I’d love to figure out the fit so I can adapt.

I may removed some of the fullness from the waist of the skirt and make it more a-line. We’ll see.

February was also when By Gum, By Golly’s had a series on a wrap top. I haven’t spent too much time on vintage styles lately, but a knit wrap top ticks all my boxes. Vintage inspired – check! Comfy yet chic – check! Creates a nice neckline and defined waist – check! Pairs well with dresses – check!

Turned out I had Cake’s Pavlova Wrap Top pattern. It is so similar to the pattern Tasha used that I figured it was worth a try.

The day I made this pattern was one of those days. The kind where you apply fusible interfacing to the right side of your fabric, and accidentally seam rip holes, and sew on the sleeve bands with the wrong side facing (but only on one side).

But overall not bad! I only wish I’d learned my lesson from sewing Cake patterns in the past and sized down. This is a size 40 and it’s pretty generous. Next time I’ll try the 35.

I also might play with the way the ties are done. Maybe. I have some gorgeous pink wool jersey I’d like to use for a future version, but I think I need one more test in the smaller size first. And now that time has passed since I made this I’m feeling more positive.

Anyways, what do you think? Are these worth trying again?

Also thank you to everyone who commented for a cause on my anniversary post! I ended up making a a flat contribution instead of just going by the number of posts, but the feedback you provided was incredible helpful. Thank you!

23Feb2016

Taking a Chance on Lisette

by alwaysacraftylady

Not much to say lately as I’ve been toiling away working on fitting patterns made with woven fabric. And so far…the progress is not great.

This week I decided to try my hand at one of Liesl Gibson’s dress patterns from her Lisette line, B6168. Let’s just say it didn’t go well.

The first version I made was a size 12 with a full bust adjustment and a large bicep adjustment. I did this based on the finished measurements of the pattern. But it was too tight. I got it zipped, but it was too tight to breathe. I also made mistakes every single step of the way. Every make a mobius bodice? I did!

So then I moved onto a size 14 with a full bust adjustment and full bicep adjustment. This time in a linen blend for the top and a length of Loominious for the skirt.

And ugh! That gap in the front is terrible. I put a snap there to see if it will help, but nope! This is also after trying various things to get it to lay better. I think partly the fabric is too stiff. And that might get better with wear. The bodice also seems too long maybe? But above the bust? Perhaps.

I also put in a sway back adjustment which made the back fit a lot better! But the biggest pain are the sleeves. They are still so very tight. I always knew I have large upper arms, but it feels very sad to know you already made them bigger and they are still much too small.

My husband said I should do a sassy pose, but ugh! I feel anything but sassy in this.

So I think I’ll move onto another pattern for now. I need to try something with fewer pieces.

2Feb2016

First Anniversary!

by alwaysacraftylady

I’ve officially been blogging for one whole year! Many thanks to everyone who has stopped by to read about my sewing and knitting projects!

To celebrate I’d like to ask you these questions so I have a better idea of what you like seeing most.

What is your favorite post?

Anything topic you’d like to see more?

My sister in law is raising money for Global First Responder as part of her journey to running the Boston Marathon. I’ll donate $1 to her campaign for every comment on this post through February 9th*. Hope you’ll considering commenting for a cause and thank you for reading this far!

(*or until I hit my budget.)

29Jan2016

Fabric Choice Matters

by alwaysacraftylady

I only started sewing knit clothing for myself less than a year ago, so I have a lot to learn about fabric choice! I tend to lean towards using natural fibers whenever I can. They just breathe so much better than most synthetics and it is hot so much of the year here. But sometimes I forget a blend can really help, especially when mixed with cotton.

Both of these dresses are made with my Washington Dress hacked to have a lower neckline and half circle skirt. Someday soon I’ll get a tutorial written up.

This first dress is in Valori Well’s Wish Knit in Passion. I saw someone made an Appleton dress in this fabric and I loved it so I bought some. And it is so pretty in person, but also much heavier than I expected and 100% cotton it seems. I got shy about doing an Appleton as I had planned because this fabric doesn’t have great recovery and doesn’t seem well suited to being pulled tight and tied. So new plan.

I juuuuusssst made it with the 3 yards since I wanted long sleeves. So the pattern matching isn’t quite perfect, but pretty close. But what isn’t quite as apparent in the photo is it pulls across the bust when I first put it on. Then as the day goes on the dress relaxes and then relaxes some more.

But I have to say I don’t hate it. It is incredible comfortable to wear. Plus, even as the dress relaxes the silhouette still shows off my waist. All of this was a total accident! A happy one.

The second dress is in mystery fabric I picked up off the $3/yard wall at M&L Fabrics. Who knows what this dress is made of. I’d guess cotton with something else. Maybe bamboo? Nylon? Something with a bit of sheen. Like I said, still learning.

And another fabric I bought with Appleton in mind, but then this one seemed too sheer. So hacked Washington Dress to the rescue again!

Derp! I’ve had to take photos first thing in the morning recently and I swear I’m still asleep in these. But dang, this dress was another happy accident. I’m not keen on the flower placement in the front, but again only had 3 yards to work with and tried my best.

Regardless of fabric content the drape is great. Just perfectly falling toward the hem. And even though it has long sleeves I should be able to wear it well into spring since the fabric is so light.

I’ve been on a big quilting kick lately, but I dug through my fabric bins lately and remembered all the gorgeous wovens I’ve been hoarding, so soon enough I’ll have to move on to those. Spring is not far away!

23Jan2016

Starflower Quilt Block Tutorial

by alwaysacraftylady

I am in love with the Starflower block from Ellison Lane. It so so pretty and I can think of endless ways to adapt her pattern for many different color combinations. So when I was looking for which block I wanted to pick for my month of the Super Fun Times Quilt Bee I thought the Starflower block would be perfect. The problem is as written her tutorial makes two blocks and it is also smaller than I wanted. So at the advice of a couple friends here is my adaptation of the the Starflower block from Ellison Lane.

Starflower Quilt Block Tutorial

Adapted for the use of 4 prints and enlarged to an 18.5 inch finished block.

Here are materials needed

4 – 5 inch squares of background fabric*
4 – 5.5 inch squares of background fabric*
8 – 5.5 inch squares of colored fabric (2 of each print)
cutting mat
rotary cutter
rectangular ruler (preferably at least 24 inches long and 5.5 inches wide)
square ruler (at least 5.5 inches square)

* If using a fat quarter to cut background fabric make sure to cut the strips parallel to the longer edge of the fabric.

Start by deciding how you would like your colored square to be arranged in the final square. I opted to have mine go roughly from brightest to darkest.

The next step is to pair the fabrics in order to make the half square triangles (HST). Pair 1 of each of the brighter colors and 1 of each of the darker colors. Then pair the remaining colored fabrics with a 5.5 inch background square.

Now make your HSTs! Place the pairs with right sides together and draw a line diagonally to mark the center. Then sew a 1/4 inch seam along both sides of the line.

Cut each square between the two sewing lines to give you two triangles from each square and press them open with the seam towards the colored square. Then square up your block to 5 inches.

Now it’s time to start assembling the block!

Lay out all of the pieces to check that all the HSTs are as you would like them in the block. This is a great time ensure you are happy with color placement before connecting the squares.

Now sew each row together.

Then the lower half and upper half are connected.

And lastly carefully connect the two halves paying close attention to matching the points as much as possible!

Ta-da! All done! Here’s a shot of the back of the quilt. I most often pressed the seams towards the darker fabric, though where two white pieces are connected I pressed the seams open. This worked well over all. Also to help match the center point more easily I sewed that seam from the center out.

Here are the colors I’ve picked for my quilt. All my favorites! These 4 were so much fun to put together that I almost didn’t want to stop.

18Jan2016

Modern HST Sampler QAL – Block 1

by alwaysacraftylady

I don’t usually work on really long term sewing projects, but its January so instead of starting a new diet or cleaning out my wardrobe I’ve decided to embark on a year long quilting project. I’ve never done a quilt this way before. Usually I pick up a fat quarter set and then make a quilt in a short period of time, but then I came upon the Modern Half Square Triangle Sampler Quilt-A-Long.

I’ve been spending a lot of time working on my skills for making clothing, but it feels like a good time to work on my quilting skills. I’ve only made a few and without giving much thought to technique. The QAL from Blossom Heart appeals to me because it is a shape I haven’t worked with very much yet and it is starting easy and getting more complicated as time passes.

So this weekend I dug through my stash and came up with a couple different fabric bundles to use.

Bundle 1 is Wildflowers by Alisse Courter. I really love her fabrics. They are so pretty and feminine. This is the only collection I’ve purchased so far, but I’ve been really tempted by her others.

My collection only has 15 fabrics (I might have one more floating around somewhere) which is not enough to finish the whole year since I’m using the background as well. That’s okay though. I should be able to have enough squares to make a throw quilt once I add sashing. The first block is so sweet in these prints.

Bundle 2 is Hilltop by Wee Gallery. This collection came out and for some reason Westwood Acres put it in their clear out sale right away. I couldn’t believe it! Our daughter’s favorite toys are a fox and an owl, so I snapped up a 1 yard bundle.

This is only 8 of the fabrics in the line, but I find it so cute. With so much yardage I should be able to do the whole year, but if not that’s okay. The whole goal is to improve my skills. I’m not sure what kind of quilt will come from these, but it could be for my girls or for one of the many little boy babies my friends seem to be having.

I feel a little crazy to have started two of these, but hopefully I’ll be patting myself on the back in several months when I have a stack of quilt blocks all ready to go!

15Jan2016

Goldilocks and the 3 Monetas

by alwaysacraftylady

Colette’s Moneta is an incredible popular knit dress pattern. It has a wide size range (33-54 inch bust), is simple to make, and a nice easy silhouette to wear. But I seem to be the one person in the blogiverse that was an utter failure at making this pattern.

Exhibit 1 – This dress is too big!

Here I am in all my weekend mom glory. Comfy dress, Anna stickers from Frozen, and slippers because I was spending the afternoon sewing.

This was my first attempt at making Moneta and at first I really liked it. It is super comfy! But with time it has gotten saggy and frumpy looking. Based on the pattern envelope recommendations I made a L in the shoulders and graded out to an XL from the underarm down. Mistake! The sleeves have huge bags of extra fabric. The neckline is huge! The only part that worked was the waist.

Oh my gosh, the back is just as bad. Look at how low the waist sits! The whole thing is huge. Thank goodness for cardigans to hide most of this when I wear it. Did I mention this was the length for 3/4 sleeves? WTF is that about? I do not understand patterns that mark elbow sleeves as 3/4 sleeves. Not the same pattern companies!

The fabric is a lovely interlock from Robert Kaufman that my friend gave to me, so I am sad this dress was such an utter failure.

Exhibit 2 – This dress is too small!

So then I regrouped and made another version in some Art Gallery jersey I had on hand.

This time I cut a large for the shoulders then graded to an XL at the waist. I also narrowed the neckline and swapped the sleeve for the pattern from Cashmerette’s Appleton Dress pattern.

Actually the dress looks okay from the front. Sleeves look a tiny bit tight, but not too bad. So let’s look at the back.

Eek! What the heck? Still too long in the back length of the bodice, but the worst part is my arms look like they are eating my sleeves. Sob! Another dress that looks okay with a cardigan, but I feel awkward wearing it on its own.

At this point I put the pattern in time out. Bad pattern! Bad sewist for not thinking the fit through!

Exhibit 3 – Goldilocks gets it right!

Well then last week while I was coming off the high of finishing a few well fitted dresses I thought I’d pull out Moneta and see if I could hack it into something better. Plus I’d stocked up on some $3/yard bargain fabric so if the dress failed, I’d only wasted about $10 including tax.

Bam! Success! The elusive 3/4 sleeve didn’t quite happen, but that’s a very easy fix next time. Beyond the sleeves I love everything about the fit.

So, how did I make it happen? Well I did it by drafting the Moneta neckline onto Cashmerette’s Washington Dress bodice. Then I used the Moneta skirt as is. The drafting took a little time, but now that its done I could make this pattern again in a snap. Plus doing a little math can be fun!

The back turned out pretty perfectly too. It’s meant to be clingy, especially in this Robert Kaufman jersey, so I don’t mind the closer fit. At least its a dress I can wear without a cardigan and feel comfortable which seems like a huge achievement in getting used to my post two kids body.

In the end, I am starting to think that even with the extended sizing Colette’s patterns just don’t suit my shape. I’ve made 3 or 4 now and they have all been terrible flops even with careful measurement and fit tweaks. The problem is that most indie pattern companies design super casual clothes. So, anyone know of a pattern company designing slightly more professional dresses that go up to a size 16 or 18? Otherwise I fear I might be headed towards drafting my own, but I’ve always been better at modifying than drafting from scratch. Hmmmm, something to ponder.