Fancy Pants in Abu Dhabi

Ok so these aren't that fancy, but they are finished, and I am in Abu Dhabi! 

I made these using the Craftsy class  Pant Fitting Techniques with Sandra Betzina which come with vogue pattern 2948.

I have written a full review of this pattern for the Curvy Sewing Collective which is up on their site now. In brief, this pattern is great for apple shaped figures with princess seam details which with added top stitching can really lengthen the legs and are useful for a flat seat adjustment. They are also useful for a simple flat seat adjustment.

The class has lots of useful information except for on measuring the crotch, you are directed to measure a pair of well fitting trousers that you already own, a problem for many people who struggle to buy well fitting trousers. She offers no alternative method and only demonstrates minimal crotch adjustments which is a shame because the rest of the class is very good.

Textile Adventures in Jewellery

A few years ago I did some experimenting with textile jewellery.

I even thought about opening an Etsy shop but family life got in the way and next time I had some time for crafts I decided to turn my attention to garment sewing. I still have a lot of these pieces, most of them have been packed up in my mother-in-laws loft in Ireland, but one or two made it with us to sunny Saudi. Craftsy are running a competition for handmade accessories so I thought I would pull them out and photograph them. I love this necklace, textile necklaces can be quite stiff, this was an experiment in creating movement. I used groups of four felt balls, three orange one black sewn together, then threaded the cord through the middle. The balls can move around and the necklace has nice drape.

This second necklace I wore on my wedding day. I love that when working with felt you can match colours to any fabrics or texture.

My dress was a greeny silver chiffon and the silk in these beads reflected that texture and the colours complemented perfectly.

These beads were part of explorations of texture that included using silk to imitate pearls and fun ways of using them in designs. These are the more sensible designs I made which I would wear often. Next time I'm in Ireland I'll photograph the rest, some of them are quite experimental and I've more ideas that one day I'll get back to. 

Finished Vintage Day Dress, Burda 01/15 126

My first vintage pattern. This was reproduced in last months Burda Style, but unfortunately didn't make it to their website. Here it is in the magazine:

The recommended fabrics are silk chiffon and pongee for lining. I used cotton voile for lining and polyester chiffon like fabric for the shell which are both a bit heavier but I think it worked equally well. Here is the line art:

The skirt is a full circle skirt and as drafted came to my ankles so if shortened before cutting this could be made in a lot less than the 3.1-3.2 metres suggested.

I did an FBA which was tricky as I didn't want to add a side dart as there was already a lot shaping the seam attaching the front yoke to the front. I did it in two stages, first adding width:

I cut as shown,

then moved the right side section along, overlapping the left so it laid flat. I redrew the dart, but should have left it to the end as I did it again then any way. Then I attempted to add some length. I spread the pattern in half horizontally keeping the side seam intact.

I needed to keep the centre front straight so I slashed up through the dart again and moved the bottom right piece up and in. My dart is now taking up all the excess. A bit improvisational but it worked! I laid the back over the front to check the side seams. Although I didn't alter the side seam the back was longer so I added to the bottom of the front to match.

There is a lot of nice neck shaping in this pattern but I couldn't get it to fit me nicely, it needs to be a really close fit in the back of the neck to work as it is supposed to hug the back of the neck. Perhaps it is just the shape of my neck and shoulders but I had to cut it much straighter as the fabric was drooping down not sitting on my neck as intended.

The instructions were hard to follow, no diagrams at all. I'm not sure if they were reproduced exactly from the original from the 50's, if not they certainly didn't add much. One tricky point was when stitching the front yokes to the front the front is supposed to extend past the edge of the yoke but there is no direction for how far. This is to create a small underarm seam. I copied the shape on the back piece and used that as a point to start stitching.

Easy Peasy!

Completed Shirtdress!

So I made a shirtdress. It started off as Mccalls 6696. In admiration of Mary at Idle Fancy I decided to join in the Autumn of 1000 shirtdresses.

I planned to use my newly drafted bodice sloper to assist in fitting. The shoulder was quite different so I decided just to use the sloper, despite the fact I hadn't even begun to watch the sleeve drafting class I signed up to. I manipulated the front darts to match the pattern and cut off a back yoke then roughly slashed and spread the remainder to form the gathers. I used the original pattern for the sleeves with a small fitting change for a bit more room in the bicep, and original collar and placket. This was not such a great idea, the armhole needs work and it would definitely have made sense to have started with a simpler garment with no top stitching. I had to take the waist in by 4", not sure how that happened! My placket was too short so I had to slightly shorten the dress, the collar fitted ok.

I am pleased with it overall, and pleased to participate in the challenge. Check out the flickr group to see the other participants.

The fabric is a mid weight cotton from les coupons saint pierre, a fantastic shop in Paris which sells great value 3 metre lengths. The quality is always lovely and this fabric was only 10 euro for three metres. I still have not found anywhere here to buy buttons, hundreds of fabric shops selling polyester in every colour of the rainbow, but no buttons. Our sea shipment has arrived so I now have all of my sewing supplies and these buttons were in my stash.

I knew I would not have access to my fabric and sewing supplies for a few weeks during our recent move to Saudi Arabia so I decided to use the time to do a project that needed few supplies. I signed up for Craftsy's Bodice Sloper Class with Suzy Furrer. I think these classes are ridiculously overpriced, I paid a quarter of the list price by waiting for a sale, I would recommend to anyone to do the same as they come around quite frequently.

Lots of bloggers have put this a New Year's resolution, so I felt very clever to have started this in November! Every dress or top I made in 2014 had fit problems in the neck and I ended up pulling it in with gathers and finishing with bias. This is my chance to fix these problems. The class is very good, Suzy is incredibly thorough, she is completely clear at every step and makes sure everything is checked. She answered my questions promptly. I was concerned at first that despite all the measuring we were still using industry standards for measurements such as waist to hip, this felt to me to defeat the object, but I now  think she is right about this. As a first attempt at drafting it is helpful to keep some consistencies as a starting point and to make it easier to evaluate the fit. First we drafted a moulage:

This is supposed to fit like a second skin, much closer fitting than a sloper. It has 4 darts, shoulder, arm hole, side and waist. We bowed out the waist darts for a closer fit and I bowed out my shoulder dart and managed to get a really good fit in the neck, which is brilliant. I realised that this shaping is only possible with some sort of shoulder dart or seam so that is really useful to know and seems so obvious now, not every pattern or style line is going to work for everyone. We did a bit of dart manipulation to make a princess seamed pattern to sew this up.

Then we turned this into a sloper by adding ease in a few places:



It still has 4 darts in the front, 2 in back, you can see where I marked in the shaping of the shoulder dart I did, I took in quite a lot. I realise now I have forward rolling shoulders which cause this, it is nothing to do with having a large bust. I'm not sure if the armhole will need some refining. She doesn't suggest making a muslin of this, maybe a simple garment would be better to test it. There is very little information on drafting in this class.

I initially want to use this for fitting patterns, to do this I will have to make a new version with 2 or 3 darts as a better point of comparison.

This process is quite dry, I found myself desperate for colour after this, but it is so worthwhile, a very good class despite the price.

Hi, I'm Izzy, and this is my place to record and share my creative ideas, projects and inspirations. Most will be textile related including garment sewing, but will also soon include new adventures in print making and art quilting. We have just moved to Saudi Arabia with our young family of Tadhg 8, Blathnaid 5, and Maeve 3, so hope to have many adventures to share from this new exciting place.